October 28th, 2008
Big houses - I’ve never understood ‘em. I mean, clearly you need somewhere to sleep, a good sized dunny to store your bike mags in, and a big garage, but I always thought anything beyond that was nothing more than wasted space that needed cleaning. How wrong I was.
October 28th, 2008
When we head off to the Melbourne Motorcycle Expo this Thursday, we’re sure to see a lot of the latest and greatest from the big manufacturers - but one of the highlights we’re most excited about is the oldest machine on the floor.
Phil Mumenthaler has spent over 850 hours and somewhere close to AU$100,000 recreating the first motorcycle ever built - the Gottlieb Daimler, which was put together over 120 years ago in 1885. With no access to parts, Mumenthaler has had to build almost all the bike from scratch, from the engine to the wooden frame and saddle - a true labour of love that Mumenthaler was “just putting the finishing touches on” last night.
The result? A thundering one horsepower at a screaming 600 rpm, with a top speed about the same as a decent jog. Still, without Mr. Daimler’s inspired invention, would we have access to the magnificent beasts we take for granted today?
We’ll be taking a much closer look at this little beauty, hopefully shooting some video and going crazy with the cameras. See you there!
October 23rd, 2008
Some things make me cry for the future of our sport. This is one of them.
October 20th, 2008
If you’ve been getting the sneaking feeling that MotoGP racing ain’t what it used to be, you’re dead right. With just one race left to run in the 2008 season, the premier class has not had a SINGLE race decided by less than a second. Contrast this to 1999, when 9 races out of 16 delivered nail-biter finishes. When the 2-strokes were phased out by the 990cc MotoGP bikes, racing stayed fairly exciting - but close finishes took a very sharp dive when the 800cc computer-guided missiles first hit the track in 2007.
For another look, check out the change in the average winning margin for each of the last ten seasons: (more…)
October 19th, 2008
Crazy french roller-fiend Jean-Yves Blondeau took to the hills in his human bobsled suit recently to race a Hornet 600 down a mountain road on his belly. While Blondeau appears to win in this Japanese TV clip, he’s welcome to come down and race TheBikerGene anytime and see how he goes against a bike that actually leans over in the corners… 
October 14th, 2008
One of my formative motorcycling experiences, and it wasn’t all that long ago, was being given a 500cc 2-stroke dirtbike for the afternoon by a bunch of smirking friends. A Kawasaki KX500, I believe it was. This was the second time I’d ever ridden a dirtbike, mind you, the first being earlier that day on a friendly little XR250.
Without going into too much detail, I have never been so terrified on a motorcycle in all my life, and I’ve ridden hundreds of ‘em. The mere thought of that ball-tearing smoker going sideways under me in the middle of an unintentional wheelstand is enough to bring on a cold sweat - and I love a wheelie as much as the next bloke. Those things are absolute animals.
The big strokers seem to be a dying breed - due to difficulties in emissions tuning, they say - and while I’m perfectly happy never to ride another, there’s plenty of psychotic powerband junkies out there who will nearly wet themselves to discover that Maico has announced a full 2-stroke lineup for 2009, include 250cc, 320cc, 500cc, 620cc and the big daddy of them all, a 685cc widowmaker that makes a hideous 80 horsepower and weighs only 101kg. (more…)
October 9th, 2008
TheBikerGene is now tweeting on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thebikergene
Hit us up for a follow - and let us know of any good motorcycle industry tweeps you run across.
October 9th, 2008
This bloke seems to lowside, then run off the inside of the track. Never seen that before!
October 9th, 2008
BMW have upgraded their outrageously overpowered K1200S, R and GT models with an extra 136cc for 2009. The bored-and stroked-out K1300S and K1300R now shunt out an extra 8 horsepower and 10 ft-lbs at a claimed 175hp, and 103 ft-lbs of torque. But the real news is on the left hand switchblock… Look closely… That’s right! A NORMAL, SINGLE INDICATOR SWITCH instead of those wacky Bavarian 3-switch jobbies that have confused japanese bike riders for decades!
October 8th, 2008
Ah, concept bikes. Those magnificent design studies where conventional ideas can be stretched, design sketches can be brought to life, and potential future directions can be presented to the public for discussion and feedback.
Well, if Honda wants feedback from this latest effort, unveiled yesterday at Intermot Cologne, here goes: lay off the wacky tobaccy, fellas, and have at least one engineer look over the plans before you cough up to get another space-bike like this one built.
The typical visitor to a motorcycle exhibition is likely to notice the omission of important parts like axles, tyres, brakes, front suspension and some sort of final drive. They will muse over why you’ve chosen to include both side and underseat exhausts, and take one look at those shiny red wheels and wonder whether Honda is deliberately insulting their intelligence or if the CEO’s stepson has just graduated from design school.
Lots more pictures after the jump. (more…)
