November 24th, 2008
The original Bimota DB7 was never accused of lacking anything in the desirability stakes; Ducati’s barnstorming 1098 engine got the mouthwatering Bimota design and handling treatment to be the small company’s flagship sportsbike in 2008 with a mix of serious power, agility and stunning bespoke looks that seemed to stagger you even more the closer you looked at it.
But considering Bimota caters to such an elite market in the bike world, the company saw fit to ratchet things up a few notches with the Milan unveiling of an upgraded special version - the DB7 Oro Nero, or ‘Black Gold’ - that leaves no opportunity for the use of carbon fibre unplundered to result in a magical 1:1 weight to horsepower figure and a truly extraordinary hand-built production bike. (more…)
Posted in Sportsbikes | 1 Comment »
November 21st, 2008
Dave Akhurst is a braver man than you or I. I feel confident in saying this because he rides around the countryside on the Greenfly - a heavily modified XT500 Yamaha that runs on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) - and thus, if he happens to fall off, there’s a pressurised gas tank right there between his legs waiting to blow his bollocks off if it gets punctured.
The benefits of running vehicles on LPG are reasonably cheap running costs due to lower government taxes on LPG than unleaded petrol in most places, it has a high octane rating (108RON) and burns quite cleanly. On the flipside, you tend to get significantly less mileage per litre on a tank full of LPG than you would on petrol - and there’s the whole pressurised bollock-exploding gas cylinder thing to worry about as well. (more…)
Posted in Custom Bikes | 7 Comments »
November 4th, 2008
The Ducati Streetfighter (yep, that’s its name) has officially dropped, and I’m glad to say it looks a whole lot sweeter and nastier than the pre-launch photoshop fakes we ran last week. The full banana water-cooled 1098 engine in a trellis-framed naked chassis. Chain drive, single sided swingarm, dry clutch. Brembo radial monoblocs, 155 horsepower, 167 kilos. Fully adjustable suspension either end with Ohlins for S model buyers. (more…)
Posted in Naked Bikes | No Comments »
November 4th, 2008
BMW’s F800S and ST have been around for a couple of years now, and the combination of the 87 horsepower, midsize parallel twin and its compact, flickable chassis have won many fans worldwide. Britain’s BIKE magazine even referred to it as “the new VFR” - high praise indeed. And since super-stunter Chris Pfeiffer rode a stripped F800 to the 2007 and 2008 Streetbike Freestyle World Championships, many of us have been wondering how long it would take for BMW to get a production naked happening.
That question was answered today at EICMA in Milan; 2009 will see the debut of the F800R naked, based on the F800S but with the fairings removed, F800GS-style headlights up front, and the back end’s single-sided swingarm and belt drive replaced with a double-sided swinger and chain. (more…)
Posted in Naked Bikes | No Comments »
November 4th, 2008
BMW’s radical Lo Rider concept was unveiled at Milan overnight, and it’s an absolute beauty. Something of a mix between a cruiser, a musclebike and a streetfigher, the Lo Rider features the familiar 1200cc BMW Boxer twin engine in a tube frame, with a tank reminiscent of the R1200C cruiser, traditional USD forks and a paralever-equipped shaft drive with single sided swinger at the rear. Both wheels are spoked.
The seat on the prototype is a super-short single, and the headlights are a set of deeply nasty-looking stacked projectors. Exhausts ride high over the engine, scrambler-style, and exit well behind the seat unit above the rear wheel. The overall look is highly reminiscent of the certified bad-ass Confederate Hellcat (shown below). (more…)
Posted in Concept Bikes, Custom Bikes, cruisers | 10 Comments »
November 3rd, 2008
We stirred up a bit of criticism recently with our assertation that the 800cc era has produced the most boring MotoGP racing in at least a decade - but it seems we’ve got some high profile support in our conclusions.
Eight time world champ Valentino Rossi unleashed a very direct salvo to reporters after the season curtain closer at Valencia:
“I sincerely believe today has been the most boring race of the year. Unfortunately each of us had his pace and instead of closing up we just got farther apart. It has been two years now since there has been a last-lap overtaking for the lead and that is worrying for our championship and for motorcycle racing.
“I can speak now that I am World Champion again, because if I had spoken out about this last year people would have said that I was saying this because I had lost. The difference is this year we whipped them all good. Look, I don’t know if the single tire rule is the correct answer to resolve this problem. Maybe there are other ways. I believe the electronics on our bikes are too sophisticated; development goes on and on and this means that the situation can get even worse.
“But it is evident that since the arrival of the 800cc bikes the races are more boring than with the 990s, although it is also true that this circuit (Valencia) does not contribute to close racing. I hope future circuits are not designed like this one.”
Rossi also praised the rough-and-tumble World Superbike series for the exciting racing it produces: “I really like to watch Superbike a lot because they’re battling and I love a good fight. But this is the F1 of motorcycle racing where they work more in new technology, and so it is normal that we have it like this. With the Superbikes you have to ride another way — it doesn’t work to be smooth like here, what counts is control of the bike…courage!”
Catch the full interview on SpeedTV.com
Posted in Racing | 1 Comment »
November 1st, 2008
New photos obtained by Visordown appear to scoop Ducati’s 1098-engined streetfighter before the rumoured official launch on November 3. Semi-faired and featuring a tail similar to the 1098 and 848 sportsbikes, the new naked appears to be highly performance-focused, leaving the Monster 1100 and 1100S to compete in the comfy all-rounder segment while giving Ducati something to throw at the performance naked market where Aprilia’s Tuono has reigned supreme for several years. (more…)
Posted in Naked Bikes | 3 Comments »