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Ducati 1199 Streetfighter Concept by Shantanu Jog

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One of the reason we show concept sketches here on Asphalt & Rubber is to help churn the imagination of our more creative two-wheeled brethren, so it warms my soul a little bit when a reader sends me something they’ve produced, which is due in part to their daily A&R patronage.

As such, A&R reader Shantanu Jog sent us these sketches he did of a 1199-based Streetfighter. As good Ducatistas will know, the chassis of the Panigale creates some challenges for a fairing-less machine, and then there is the whole thing about how the Ducati Streetfighter as model never really sold well for Borgo Panigale.

Still, for those who like their superbikes with a little less plastic, the idea of an 1199 Streetfighter is certainly appealing — we even hear that Ducati considered such a model, but has since forward with the liquid-cooled Monster 821 & Monster 1200 takeover that niche from the Streetfighter line.

So while Ducati might be breaking our naked-bike hearts, we hold true to our original ethos, and provide you again with some fodder for your imagination. Enjoy the sketches after the jump.

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Yamaha MT-09 Triple Cross Over Concept by Oberdan Bezzi

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We’re really digging the FZ-07/FZ-09 based concepts from Oberdan Bezzi, if you haven’t noticed. It is probably because the FZ-09 is such an affordable, yet potent package, from Yamaha that it begs to be built-up and modded upon. We’ve already seen street tracker and world crosser concepts from Bezzi, and this “Triple Cross Over” design builds upon the same themes as before.

We already know that Yamaha has gotten the hint, and is expected to show a TDM-style version of the FZ-09/MT-09 at this year’s trade shows, but here is another design to whet our appetites and pique our imaginations.

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Yamaha MT-07 Street Tracker Concept by Oberdan Bezzi

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We have seen a lot of concepts use Yamaha’s new MT line as their starting point. That is probably because the MT-09 (that’s FZ-09 to us Americans) and the MT-07 are very affordable versatile machines.

With rumors abound that Yamaha will use the MT-09 as the basis for a Yamaha TDM revival, the creative juices are certainly flowing. Not one to let the MT-09 have all the fun, Oberdan Bezzi has inked an intriguing street tracker concept from the Yamaha MT-07.

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Kawasaki ZX3-RR Concept by ICON

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Icon might not be the first brand you think of when you talk about road racing apparel, but the Oregonian company is certainly trying to evolve from its Stunt Life roots, into other aspects of two-wheeled culture.

Pushing into the more lifestyle, adventure, and sport segments of the industry, we have already seen Icon’s penchant for concept bikes, which I can atest haven’t really resonated with our sport-bike focused readers. I think today will be a little different though.

Teaming up with Kawasaki, Icon has built what it calls the Kawasaki ZX3-RR concept. Based off the Kawasaki Ninja 300, the Kawasaki ZX3-RR sees new bodywork and a slew of performance parts added to make a spec-series cup bike for young riders. It looks the business.

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Bimota BB4 Concepts by Oberdan Bezzi

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I had to check the last time we showed you some of Oberdan Bezzi’s work, and it was over three months ago. The Italian designer has certainly been busy since that time though, as he has produced a number of BMW/Bimota concepts for us to ponder about.

Imagining the Italian company’s current trend of using BMW power plants — as has been seen with the Bimota BB3 — Bezzi’s drawings instead use BMW Motorrad’s popular boxer engine as their base.

The effect is an interesting one, as the BMW’s boxer engine has proven to be the base of the German brands Top 3 selling bikes, and has found interesting applications in the BMW R nineT modular machine, and the BMW Roadster Concept motorcycle.

Here dubbed the “Bimota BB4”, these concepts come in a variety of sporty standard, cafe racer, and streetfighter varieties that Bezzi’s simply calls a “Café Fighter” concept.

It’s hard to pick our favorite from the bunch, but we are enthusiastic about the idea of a boxer-powered Bimota. We doubt we’ll see such a move from the now Swiss-owned brand, but like a good concept sketch, it’s good to dream.

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Ducati Café Fighter Concept by Gannet Design

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Last year we brought you the interesting Fluid Ducati Superleggera Concept by Gannet Design, and unsurprisingly our die hard Ducatisti readers had a thing or two to say about the render. Well, Gannet Design is back with another sketch that is sure to pique the ire of some.

Using the Ducati 1199 Panigale once again as a starting point, Gannet incorporates some roadster and café racer elements into the high-revving sport bike. The effect is interesting, and serves as a stark contrast to the lines of the original Panigale, and Gannet’s “Fluid” design.

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Leaked: Tech Details on the Harley-Davidson Livewire

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Thanks to our network of Bothan spy tipsters, we posted today the still-unreleased photos of the Harley-Davidson Project Livewire. Details were light from our sources though, but Bothans are a tireless breed (note: for new readers, we sort of have this whole Star Wars motif on leaked stories…just roll with it, we already know we’re nerds).

While the consensus on Project Livewire seems to be that it’s a looker, the devil is in the details…and now we have those as well. Featuring a three-phase induction motor with 55 kW of power (just under 74hp) and 52 lbs•ft of torque, the Harley-Davidson Livewire is packing more power than both the Brammo Empulse R (54 hp) and Zero SR (67 hp). That’s the good.

The bad is that despite its hefty casing size, the Harley-Davidson Livewire motorcycle is a little light in the loafers when it comes to battery capacity. Our guesstimate on battery pack size, judging from Harley’s quoted charge time and parameters, is somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 kWh nominal, a bit less than the 9.3 kWh and 10.0 kWh of the Brammo and Zero.

That means the Harley-Davidson Livewire is good for just over 50 miles of mixed city and highway riding that is limited to 92 mph (we’re not really sure how Harley-Davidson came up with that figure). Expect to go 0-60 in around 4 seconds.

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BMW Concept Roadster – Nom de Dieu!

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For a foreign language in school, I took French — nine years of French, to be precise. Knowing the “Language of Diplomacy” doesn’t help one too much in the motorcycle industry, which is dominated by Spanish and Italian speakers, and it certainly doesn’t help one when dealing with the newest release from BMW Motorrad.

Like the Alsace-Lorraine in 1940, we were surprised today by a secret that the Germans had been keeping from us, the BMW Concept Roadster. A boxer-twin powered streetfighter (125hp / 92 lbs•ft), BMW says that the Concept Roadster is an expression that “motorcycling is much more than just perfect function.”

Equipped with a single-sided swingarm, driveshaft, LED headlight, and tubular steel frame, the BMW Concept Roadster sounds on paper a lot like the BMW’s we are used to, but one look at the styling of the concept betrays that thought, and we like that.

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This Is Pretty Much What the Monster 800 Will Look Like

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With the advent of the Ducati Monster 1200, it was only a matter of time before Ducati’s middleweight liquid-cooled “Monster 800” would be spotted, and unsurprisingly the machines have a great deal in common.

The one big difference seems to be that the 821cc Monster gets a double-sided swingarm, which has become Ducati’s new way of differentiating between its big and medium displacement models of the same machine, see entry for Ducati 899 Panigale.

With the spied Ducati Monster 800 looking ready for primetime, and Audi’s ownership of Ducati seeing new models debuting outside of EICMA and INTERMOT, a pre-fall launch isn’t out of the question — in fact it’s been the norm with 2015 model year bikes for a variety of brands.

Giving us an excellent glimpse into what the Ducati Monster 800 would look like, Luca Bar has again used his Photoshop skills to render up images of the still unreleased “baby” Monster. Seriously, if there wasn’t Luca’s logo on these photos, we could probably pass them off as five-fingered studio shots. Nice work Luca!

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Aprilia SS V2 Concept by Oberdan Bezzi

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Yesterday we brought you a concept by Luca Bar Design for the Suzuki SV1000S, so it only seemed fitting today to show you another half-fairing sport bike from our other favorite Italian designer, Oberdan Bezzi.

Inking a concept for an Aprilia Shiver-based motorcycle with a half-fairing, Bezzi calls his creation the “Aprilia SS V2 Project” and it looks like something we would like to ride.

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Suzuki SV1000S Concept by Luca Bar Design

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The Suzuki V-Strom 1000 is perhaps the most intriguing motorcycle to come from Hamamatsu in a long while, as the Japanese brand has been dormant ever since the economic dustup of 2009 and onward. A revival of new motorcycles from Suzuki, the V-Strom 1000 also represents the OEM finally building a proper offering for the ADV segment.

Building upon the V-Strom 1000, our friend Luca Bar imagines new life coming into Suzuki because of the adventure-tourer, and it isn’t hard to imagine other new machines from the V-Strom’s platform.

For a product line that is full of holes, one such plug could be the revival of the Suzuki SV1000 series, and Bar has put together both a naked and half-fairing editions of this well-loved model.

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