The wait is finally over on what Suzuki has been brewing for its middleweight adventure bike offering. Through some HTML trickery, we were able to glean this unreleased information off the Suzuki website, and as such are bringing you the first photos, technical specifications, and design features on the 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS. An evolution of the current V-Strom 650, the new middleweight V-Strom is longer, taller, and lighter than its predecessor, while boasting an updated look to the aging V-Strom exterior.
If you were expecting more, and feel let down…welcome to the club. Though this represents a large portion of the information Suzuki plans on unveiling in the coming days, we still have some unanswered questions: like what’s been changed in the motor (we have yet to see any power figures quoted), though the general specifications on the 645cc v-twin lump appear to be the same. More as we get it. Find the massively underwhelming leaked photos, details, and specifications after the jump. Thanks for the tip Yellow Ranger!
We brought you some of the first pictures of the 2011 Benelli TnT R160 all the way back from the 2009 EICMA show. Originally slated as 2010 model-year bike, the R160 has taken a while to make its way into dealer showrooms. The pinnacle of the TnT line, the R160 is presumably worth the wait with its 157.8hp, 88.5 lbs•ft of torque, and 474 lbs ready-to-ride curb weight. As with anything though, the devil is in the details, and the Benelli TnT R160 is no different.
There’s something about Adrian Morton’s design with the TnT that we’re drawn to like a moth to flame, nearly bringing one into this author’s stable of motorcycles (I wouldn’t mind a Benelli Tornado Tre 1130 too). Plagued with electrical issues though, the TnT line perpetuates the Italian stereotype of finicky and unreliable motorcycles trapped in otherwise gorgeous veneers. Seeing the Benelli TnT R160 in 2009, we were disappointed on the fit-and-finish of the bike, as the pitted and cloudy carbon exterior seemingly matched the interior: unrefined.
With the 2011 Benelli TnT R160 now ready for dealer showrooms, Benelli’s top streetfighter seems to have benefited from a better build process, and we hear that some of the electrical issues have even been resolved. While we’ll reserve judgment as to whether the bike can maintain a positive net charge at a stand-still, it sure is stunning in its final form. There are 55 high-resolution photos of the new Benelli TnT R160 waiting for you after the jump.
MotoGP race team LCR Honda has been caught dabbling with one very trick Honda CBR1000RR. While we’re having a hard time believing the rumors that LCR Honda intends to use the bike as claiming-rule team (CRT) entry in MotoGP, the LCR Honda CBR1000RR is an exercise on what one can do with enough money and access to HRC’s secret stash of motorcycle racing parts.
Raiding the HRC parts catalog, Lucio Cecchinello and his crew have boosted the Fireblade’s output to 200hp, and completing the kit are 2010 Öhlins MotoGP forks, Brembo carbon fiber brakes, Marchesini wheels, and of course a Playboy replica paint scheme (naturally). One of the most impressive CBRs you’ll find, we caution you not to believe other reports that state this is all a part of LCR considering a CBR motor as the basis for a CRT entry.
Last week Erik Buell Racing debuted the full technical specifications and price tag on the 2012 Erik Buell Racing 1190RS superbike with turn signals. With it were 15 photos that were…how do we say this politely…disproportionate to the grand performance figures EBR is boasting for its first street bike. We know there’s some Buell loyality in the Asphalt & Rubber readership (you guys are troopers considering the amount of punishment we give the American brand), so it’s with great pleasure we bring you these eight high-resolution photos of the EBR 1190RS.
For extra kicks, we decided not to downsize some of the larger photos, so you can do whatever you want with them. Like for instance, make life-size print outs and paste them onto your existing bike (with only 100 Erik Buell Racing 1190RS motorcycles being made, at a hefty $40k MSRP we might add, this option might be as close as many of us get to owning one). Note: if anyone actually does this, please send us a photo. We’ll have to see what sort of penance we’ll have to do here at A&R in order to swing a leg over an 1190RS, until then we eagerly await to hear what the teased RX, SX, and AX models have in store for us. Find the photos after the jump.
Ever since we heard about the new 2012 Ducati Superbike, we’ve been marking the days until we could see the v-twin sex machine in the flesh. There’s no denying that the specs being banded about on the new Superquadrata motor are impressive, as the new bike is expected to make up to 20hp more than the current Superbike 1198 (though peak performance numbers only tell one side of the story). Also intriguing is the MotoGP-derived stressed-airbox chassis arrangement, which finally does away with the iconic trellis chassis, though has caused some problems for Valentino Rossi on his move to Ducati Corse.
Just last month we got our first look at the new Superbike prototype, as Ducati leaked first a Supersport spec version of what many think will be called the Ducati Superbike 1199. An encore to that moment, the street version of the v-twin superbike leaked just days later. While many of us will have to use our imagination on what Ducati’s latest creation will look like, we’re lucky that Luca Bar Design (website here: bar-design.net) can take those thoughts and put them to paper, err…pixels. Rendering the 2012 Ducati Superbike 1199 from what information that is available, this is perhaps one of the best glimpses as to what the Bologna Bullet will look like. Two more renders after the jump.
Here’s an interesting twist: instead of going through the trouble of setting up some sort of “spy shot” moment, and leaking it to the press, Husqvarna has cutout the middleman, taken its own photos, and sent them to web and print publications. Because of this, the use of the “spy shot” label is probably not appropriate, though we’d make arguments that it hasn’t been an appropriate label in many other situations as well. Leaving that subject for another time, what you really wanted to see is the new 900cc Husqvarna street bike in almost all of its glory.
Suzuki continues to string us along with dates and teasers of its expected V-Strom replacement/update. Showing three more blurred, yet revealing, photos of the new middleweight adventure bike, Suzuki is now saying to come back to its website on June 22nd for more details on the machine.
From what we hear from our European colleagues, Suzuki has sent out invites for the new V-Strom’s unveiling, which is schedule for June 27th in Croatia — a great venue, but also a week and a half away. Whether or not we’ll get a glimpse of the machine before then remains to be seen (or more teasers for that matter), but there is at least now a definitive timeline on when this madness will conclude. More photos after the jump.
In just a week’s time, Chip Yates and the SWIGZ.com Pro Racing crew will be headed out to Pikes Peak to compete in the famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC). At 14,110 feet tall, and boasting over 156 turns, Pikes Peak features some of the scariest turns on the planet, no better exemplified than with the “Bottomless Pit” corner which boasts a 3,000 foot sheer drop down the mountain. Yates will of course be racing his 240hp electric motorcycle up the hill climb course, and will have a distinct advantage over his ICE competitors, as the extreme altitude won’t affect the fastest electric pizza delivery bike in the slightest.
We’re really excited here at Asphalt & Rubber for Chip’s participation in the 2011 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, not only because we like Chip’s mantra of taking ICE bikes head on with his SWIGZ.com racing machine, but also because we think the PPIHC is the ideal event to showcase how electric motorcycles have actual advantages over internal combustion engines. Starting at roughly 9,400 feet, ICE bikes will be already down on power at the start of the race, and will only continue to lose power as their engines struggle to breath on the 12.5 mile race to the clouds (electric bikes of course aren’t meaningfully affected by the thinning air at altitude).