February 14th, 2008
The stock MV Agusta Brutale 910 is a very pretty thing indeed, every detail has been designed with love and care to be as attractive as it is functional. But there’s something a little prissy about it; it demands to be polished and adored more than ridden, which is possibly why French designer Yacouba Galle decided to reinvent the 910 as a balls-out streetfighter with serious head-kicking attitude to match the bike’s ferocious performance.
His creation, the Bestiale, is dripping with aggressive styling cues from the streetfighter scene; a wickedly angled R6-inspired tailpiece, super-stubby exhaust and a snub-nosed diode headlight unit. The tank bodywork jags down, matching the angle of the cylinders and the tailpiece, and the sides meet underneath in a bellypan/radiator shroud.
If it looks a bit like a Superduke, that’s not surprising. Jacouba spent a lot of time with KTM’s groundbreaking brawler while he was shooting the promo video I’ve been going on about lately. (more…)
Posted in Concept Bikes, Custom Bikes, Naked Bikes | 1 Comment »
February 13th, 2008
French manufacturer Voxan has a stable full of nice 1000cc V-twins that we don’t get to see a lot of in other parts of the world. The Voxan rage was looking very delectable at the Paris bike show, so we thought we’d run a quick overview of the current range and a couple of upcoming and custom bikes like the Starck Super Naked above to show you what you’re missing out on if Voxan’s not sold in your area.
At the heart of most of the range is Voxan’s own 998cc, 72-degree liquid-cooled V-twin, fed by Magnetti Marelli injection. France imposes a frankly disgraceful 100-horsepower limit on all roadbikes, so that’s what the French retail versions of all Voxan bikes put out. Certainly the engine is capable of plenty more, and I’d imagine there’s a thriving derestriction industry ready to juice them up fresh from the showroom.
First up, there’s the Black Classic about, with lines not dissimilar to Ducati’s 1000 Sport: (more…)
Posted in Concept Bikes, Naked Bikes, Touring | 1 Comment »
February 11th, 2008
Can you believe it’s been 23 years since the Yamaha V-MAX first exploded onto the scene? And can you believe that apart from a fairly minor upgrade in 1993, they’re still selling in pretty much the same trim as they did when Wham’s ‘Careless Whisper’ was topping the charts? The famous V-4 muscle cruiser punched its way into a very special corner of our hearts with its obscene power, heart-stopping “V-boost” and widowmaking reputation; 110 horsepower was all well and good for striking fear into the hearts of dragstrip opponents, but the suspension and brakes are still notorious for punishing the unwary.
Such a bike deserves a fine successor, and Yamaha has been steadily toiling away to put together a modern-day V-MAX worthy of the name. If 110 rear wheel horsepower was enough to mortify the mainstream back in the eighties, it just won’t cut it in this day and age. So we understand that Yamaha is going for an eye-watering 200 rear-wheel horsepower from the V-MAX we expect to see on sale late this year or early in 2009. (more…)
Posted in Concept Bikes, cruisers | 1 Comment »
February 4th, 2008
Aprilia’s FV2 concept bike, which has been making the expo rounds, is here to showcase three things: first and foremost, the company’s home-cooked 1200cc, 90-degree v-twin engine, which we’ll probably be seeing in the RSV and Tuono in the next couple of years. With a bore and stroke of 106 x 67.8mm, it’s almost as oversquare as Moto Morini’s CorsaCorta motor, so it’s going to be a nice, quick-revving, racy powerplant. The company is claiming 134.5 metric horses and over 10.5 kgm of torque, which is in the ballpark for sporty streetbikes and nakeds these days. (more…)
Posted in Concept Bikes | 2 Comments »