The Netherlands is known best for its rain, tulips, and windmills, but on Saturday at Assen it was the snow that had everyone talking.
Leading ultimately to the cancelation of the day’s races, the snow was certainly a setback for the paddock, though also quite the spectacle.
While the MotoGP action is in the United States this weekend, the World Superbike paddock is over in Assen, putting on their on display of two-wheeled excellence.
The Cathedral is one of the most popular stops on the WorldSBK calendar, and as such we are lucky to have Tony Goldsmith swinging a lens for us in The Netherlands.
So far, Assen has failed to disappoint. At the end of Friday’s FP2 session, only 0.031 seconds separated the top five riders, with Tom Sykes leading the charge, followed by Rea and Haslam.
It is hard to believe that the RSV4 superbike from Aprilia is 10 years old now…but then again, maybe it isn’t so hard to believe. The bike hasn’t change that much physically when you look at it (though, changes abound internally), and even the new latest-and-greatest version of the bike can only be really identified by its new aerodynamic aids.
That being said though, the RSV4 is still at the top of the heap, and with the RSV4 1100 Factory, Aprilia is looking to keep its crown in the superbike category. I won’t bore you with riding details now, but feel free to read our exhaustive riding review of this machine.
Getting a chance to snap some photos of the Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory after riding it at Mugello, we spent some one-on-one time with this 214hp superbike, winglets and all.
Husqvarna is a sales-driven company. I know this because before our press ride, the (Austrian-owned) Swedish brand spent more time selling us on the company’s staggering sales growth rather than talking about the technical specifics on the new Husqvarna Svartpilen 701.
To that end, sales are good. Very good, in fact. For a point of reference, more Husqvarna motorcycles are being sold now than ever before in the brand’s extensive history, and some of that growth comes from the Husqvarna’s new entry into the street bike realm.
Don’t get me wrong, Husqvarna dirt bikes still out sell the brand’s street bikes by roughly 4:1 when we are talking raw numbers, but the revived company is knocking on close to 50,000 motorcycles sold a year now. That is impressive, no matter how you slice it.
The bike that they hope will push the brand over the 50k mark is the Husqvarna Svartpilen 701, which is the only new model from Husqvarna for the 2019 model year. The Svartpilen 701 is the counterpoint to the Vitpilen 701 that debuted last year, and it continues Husqvarna’s trend of releasing the mirror image machines in various sizes.
As such, the 701 series borrows its platform from the KTM 690 Duke, and its new single-cylinder engine that features dual balancing shafts (one at the crank, the other on the cam).
It is a motor we are quite fond of here at Asphalt & Rubber, so we were intrigued when Husqvarna invited us to Lisbon, Portugal to ride the new Svartpilen 701 – as we wanted to see if this motorcycle was just more than a re-skinned KTM.
The answer to that question is certainly a yes, but with an asterisk. Let me explain.
I wasn’t going to double-dip on stories for the Aprilia RS 660 concept this week, but well…these photos were too good not to share ASAP. If you haven’t read our report that the Aprilia RS 660 will be showing up for the 2020 model year, well then…started getting excited party-people.
Ahead of our ride time on the new Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory, the folks from Noale invited us to their “Aprilia All Stars” event at the Mugello circuit last week, which is where we spotted the RS 660 on display.
The bike hasn’t changed from its debut in Milan late last year, which is fine by us, as it looks like it could roll right onto the showroom floor already…and apparently from yesterday’s news, that is the point.
Still, spending some time up-close with the Aprilia RS 660 concept provides us with some interesting insights to this machine.
It is hard to believe that the Aprilia RSV4 superbike is ten-years-old this year. Even in the superbike space, which has seen more than its fair share of models languishing through the years, 10 trips around the sun is a long time. And yet, Aprilia has managed to be at the top of the game the whole duration.
Riders will always differ on their preferences, but the Aprilia RSV4 is a regular on the experts’ short-lists. The RSV4 is just an amazing machine, and Aprilia has done a good job of bringing meaningful updates to the model every few years.
With the Euro5 homologation coming in 2021, we are sure to see a successor to the Aprilia RSV4, but before that happens, the Noale brand wants to celebrate its opus with a special model, the Aprilia RSV4 X.
Another debut from the Tokyo Motorcycle Show, the next iteration of the Mugen Shinden has debuted and its ready for the Isle of Man TT.
The bike is officially dubbed the Mugen Shinden Hachi – and for those who don’t know, “hachi” means “eight” in Japanese, with this being the eighth iteration of the Mugen Shinden electric superbike.
On the spec sheet, we see that nothing has changed on the 2019 bike versus the Mugen Shinden Nana that raced last year. But, a quick visual inspection sees that the Japanese tuning brand has been busy optimizing its aerodynamics package.
As such, the front intake for the Shinden Hachi has been revised. The tail section has also been reworked, and looks a bit more slippery.
I had planned on sharing these photos with you at a much earlier date, and now with the fire at the MotoE paddock in Jerez, it feels a bit macabre.
But, on the same token, the moment for electric motorcycles seems never more ready for a pivot, and we would be remiss to share an opportunity to examine one of the more high-level efforts in greater detail.
As such, I bring you details on what is beneath the fairings on the Energica Ego electric superbike.
Here is a chance to own a very special motorcycle. It is one thing when a World Superbike racing machine comes up for sale, because you know that it will be dripping with all the right parts, and have a pedigree to match.
But, it is an entirely different thing when the bike was raced by a rider as loved as Nicky Hayden still is by his legion of fans.
Put those two things together, and you have today’s opportunity, which is Nicky Hayden’s 2017 Ten-Kate spec Honda CBR1000RR SP2 WorldSBK race bike. The ultimate collectors bike, you will need €95.000 in your bank account to make it your own.
For sale from Ten Kate itself, the machine has matching chassis and engine numbers, matching ECU and electronics numbers, and is a matching chassis build-up. The bike is set to the exact specification that Nicky Haden used on the track.
In a few minutes, I will be getting back on a plane to the United States, after having spent some time with the folks at Energica in Modena, Italy. There is a lot to say about this electric motorcycle company from Italy, so keep an eye out for those stories, but I wanted to whet your appetites with this machine, the Energica Ego Corsa.
The racing version of the company’s electric superbike, the Energica Ego Corsa is the consumer model to what the Grand Prix paddock will be racing in the new MotoE World Cup, which will see 18 riders from 11 teams battling it out in sprint races at 5 venues on the MotoGP calendar.
With some big names on the bikes (Sete Gibernau, Randy de Puniet, Bradley Smith, and more) the spec-series should have some close and hard-fought races. I think the electric series is going to surprise some race fans, and start making some petrol heads into EV freaks…but that is a different story.
That’s it! That is a wrap from Phillip Island and the opening round of the WorldSBK Championship season. It was a good showing for superbike racing, with a shakeup in the order of things.
The narrative for 2019 very much looks to continue the Ducati vs. Kawasaki trend from the last few seasons, but the list of riders who could be in the hunt has certainly widened.
The new Superpole Race format seems to be a hit as well, with the sprint race showing itself to be a gloves-off affair amongst the riders, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering that there are points and grid position on the line.
Phillip Island is always a wild card when it comes to predicting the season, and the next round in Thailand should give us more bearing on the state of the series, but we like what we see so far.
Speaking of which, we like what we see from Stephen McClements’ select photos from Australia on Sunday. Give them a look and enjoy!
Photos: © 2019 Stephen McClements – All Rights Reserved
