The bushfires in Victoria this February cut a path of horrific devastation through the motorcycling playgrounds to the East and North-East of Melbourne. A recent sombre ride through the towns of Healesville, Narbethong, Buxton, Yea, Flowerdale, Kinglake and Chum Creek highlighted for me the random and ferocious force that came through the area on and around Black Saturday.
Nearly two months after the fires, many of these towns are still graveyards of twisted metal, ashen rubble and charred, burned-out cars. The Australian public, and indeed benefactors around the world have raised impressive sums of money to go towards rebuilding, but as frequent and passionate visitors to the area, a group of local motorcyclists has been putting together a mother of a fundraiser ride for this Sunday.
The ride will be both a fundraising event, and a chance for riders to show solidarity and respect to the locals who have welcomed us into their beautiful towns for so many years.
Aprilia has released the first studio photos of its 2009 RSV4 road superbikes, as well as a carbon-laden track version. In typical Aprilia style, the bike is pure hotness, with the trademark triple headlight and a no-passengers-allowed single seat unit that screams MotoGP. The chunky exhaust interrupts the look somewhat but will likely never leave the showroom for most customers.
Specs are yet to be released but the lowest-spec version of the 1000cc V4 motor Aprilia tested for reliability was making more than 180hp, with higher-spec units running up to 220hp at the crank. 180hp will still make for a massively powerful roadbike, especially given the general ability of V4 engines to devlop big grunt through the lower revs.
The bike seems thoroughly race-focused - signalling Aprilia’s serious desire to make a splash in Superbike racing in 2009, perhaps to offset the fact that the firm’s successful 250GP 2-strokes will no longer be able to carry the flag in competition once the 250 2-stroke GP support class is axed in the next couple of years. The RSV4 will mount an immediate title assault in 2009 with GP God Max Biaggi on board. (more…)
We bikers are happy to routinely laugh in the face of danger in the form of cars, trucks, gravel-strewn hairpins and our own over-enthusiasm - but are we willing to regularly expose our nether regions to potentially carcinogenic radiation?
Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) Electric and Magnetic Radiation (EMF) is the type of radiation people are worrying about when they hesitate to buy the house that’s right underneath the big power lines. But could motorcyclists be shooting much higher levels of the same radiation right up their bums simply through our choice of transport? And could that exposure be leading to increased risks of prostate and colon cancer?
Randall Chipkar would say yes. We don’t want to get too far into the figures, but here’s the basics: according to the World Heath Organisation, an ELF EMF exposure level of 4 milliGauss (mG) has been shown to double the risk of childhood leukaemia, and an exposure level of 2mG is considered to elevate the risk of cancer. Now, while these are not blockbuster figures like cigarette smoking boasts (increasing cancer risk 30-fold), it shows that science acknowledges that electromagnetic radiation does contribute to an elevated risk of cancer.
Chipkar became concerned when he did a few tests on motorcycles and discovered that the stator coils, battery and electrical wiring that runs directly under the seat of his bike were causing ELF EMF exposure readings of up to 500mG to come up through the seat, subjecting the entire lower intestine, prostate, heart, sex organs, breast tissue and other major organs to reasonably intense doses of this painless but potentially hazardous radiation. For reference, a house under a power line might register in the neighbourhood of 200 mG. (more…)
Everybody’s favourite BMW owner, Christian Pfeiffer, has demonstrated he’s still at the top of the stunt world by successfully defending his Streetbike Freestyle World Championship in Zurich on the weekend. The gravity-defying German pulled out a few new moves to beat a determined field. Here’s a few juicy photos (click through, and then again on the gallery shot for proper size photos you can stick on your desktop if you worship this man as much as I do.
I’ll keep an eye out for video to add to this post - let me know if you come across something. The full press release, including quotes from Pfieffer and more photos, is reproduced after the jump. (more…)
You’ve got to marvel at the inventiveness of stunters - I mean, who was the first guy to think of sticking his feet over the handlebars and trying to pop at 12 o’clock wheelie? This video’s another great example, showing three tricks I haven’t run across before: a wheelie standing backwards on the bike, stoppies hanging off the front of the bike, and skitching behind the bike while holding it up in a wheelie. Amazing. Get out and give it a go!
Anybody know who this is? YouTube comments seem to suggest Chris Pfeiffer but it doesn’t look like him to me…
Designed and built in Perth, Australia, by road train driver turned stunt-jumper Ray Baumann, this car-crushing, two-wheeled behemoth is almost thirty feet (9 metres) long, ten feet (3 metres) high and weighs as much as a school bus.
Developed over three years, the 13.6 tonne Monster Motorbike is powered by a Detroit Diesel truck engine and six-speed Allison automatic and uses a two-speed Eaton differential from a road train to drive a massive chain on each side of the rear wheel.
The wheels and tyres themselves are from a Caterpillar 80 tonne front end loader and are almost 10 feet (3 metres) high and over 3 feet (1 meter) wide.
Legends of the Motorcycle International Concours D’Elegance, now in it’s third year, is the first world-class concours d’elegance exclusively for motorcycles.
Held in California on the spectacular lawns of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel overlooking Half Moon Bay, this charity event pays homage to the finest pre-1978 motorcycles from all over the world and hosts special displays of custom, racing and concept bikes as well as memorabilia.
Bonhams’ successful “Legends Auction” at the Concours last May garnered nearly $1-million in sales, which is quite a remarkable sum for a first time motorcycle sale. Already consigned for the 2008 auction is the famous 1903 Rex Single once owned by Harold Williamson that won the historic 875-mile Land’s End to John o’Groats Run in Great Britain over 100 years ago.
“Last year’s results confirmed the obvious and that is there’s a strong demand for an auction of important collector motorcycles and memorabilia at the world’s foremost motorcycle event”, says Bonhams & Butterfields’ Motoring Department Head, Mark Osborne. “It also demonstrates the continuing interest and upswing in the market for historic bikes.”
“With so many enthusiasts and remarkable motorcycles from around the globe already in one place at one time, an auction is not only natural but a perfect addition to the schedule of events,” says Concours co-founder, Brooke Roner.
The annual Legend of the Motorcycle Concours d’Elegance will take place on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008. For more information on this unique world event, visit LegendoftheMotorcycle.com.
For more information on Bonhams, visit Bonhams.com. Consignments are now being accepted.
