It’s the one big-four superbike that’s capturing everyone’s interest in 2009; the new R1’s unevenly spaced firing order makes it the first roadbike to be able to claim big-bang MotoGP ancestry. More than just sounding totally horn, the new engine should give a slightly more grippy drive out of corners right at the edge of traction, as the longer breaks between power pulses allow tyre rubber to spring back into shape a touch better.
But there’s also the issue of combustion versus inertial torque - and this Yamaha video shows how the crossplane crankshaft and its uneven firing order virtually eliminate inertial torque to allegedly deliver a more intimate connection between the throttle and the engine’s torque output.
Back at the turn of the century, the idea of pulling a backflip on a motorcycle seemed impossible - nine years later, it’s now so commonplace that Crusty Demons announcers have to remind the crowd to cheer. Even if the kids have never seen it live before, they’ve seen it all over the web. Travis Pastrana became the first rider ever to land a terrifying double backflip back at the X-Games in 2006, raising the bar to yet another impossible height, and since he showed it was possible, other riders have been scrambling to add the latest holy grail of freestyle tricks to their repertoire.
Last weekend, Aussie freestyler Cam Sinclair became the third person in the world ever to land the double backflip at a freestyle event in New Zealand. Piloting a Yamaha YZ250F, Sinclair was airborne for a huge 55 feet and landed it with no fuss. Click through on our amazing lead photo for a huge desktop-sized download version. Video after the jump. (more …)
We’re a bit behind the times with this one (Mike Brown from Amen Motorcycles, Tennessee, built it back in 2004) but a motorcycle with completely hubless rims front and rear looks so deadly cool that we’ll run it anyway. The Hubless Monster is a remarkable engineering achievement, particularly given that the gargantuan 360-section rear tyre it used didn’t even exist during the build phase - Mike had to use plywood and steel mockups.
Mike proudly lists half a dozen world-firsts for this build: (more …)
Honda’s CEO Takeo Fukui has announced that the company will market a fully electric motorcycle in 2010, marking the first of the major manufacturers to commit to a battery-electric production bike.
Don’t expect anything too flash - the bike, about which no details have yet been released, will likely be some sort of commuter machine focusing on pracitcal, cheap short range daily A to B travel. Fukui’s language hints that it may be a super-economy machine appropriate for developing countries: (more …)
While Sidam’s Xnovo tilting scoot with twin rear wheels doesn’t seem to have hit the market yet, this similar jigger is apparently already in production, with several units built and a warehouse you can visit in California if you want to see them in the flesh. The AutoMoto adds a roof and windshield to a regular scooter body, adds a 4-speaker MP3 sound system and a nice big trunk, and then sticks an extra wheel on the back for stability. (more …)
After another shocker of a season in 2008, and under financial pressure after the global economic crisis, it seems Kawasaki have decided it’s not worth $30 million to prove that the green bike is the slowest on the grid. An announcement is expected within a week that the Kawasaki MotoGP team will not show up on the grid for 2009.
Two big rule changes in the last decade (the move to the 990cc and then 800cc four-strokes) have made the prototype class incredibly expensive for factories to participate in, as well as completely decimating non-factory participation. Worse still, the difference between fielding a bike and getting something competitive on the grid is enormous - Randy Mamola mused to us in September of how Kawasaki and Fiat Yamaha both had their crankcases manufactured at the same plant - but Rossi’s unit cost ten times as much as the Kwaka solution. (more …)
Motorcycle geometry, like suspension, is a classic compromise. Extending the rake of the forks delivers additional stability and improved balance under brakes, but it also slows down steering and generally reduces ground clearance. A steeper steering head angle makes for lightning-fast handling but you pay for it with tank-slappers and headshakes in fast bumpy corners, and under hard braking the rear wheel lifts off the ground and you’re forced to back off on the brakes or flip the bike forward.
The premise of Erik Brinkman’s R-Bike is basically to deliver a motorcycle that can change its geometry on the fly to fit what you’re doing with it. Designed around a hinged cross frame, the bike is able to open and close like a pair of scissors, changing the geometry from a comfy, stretched out cruiser format to a squashed-up, quick-steering off-road machine with a trials-bike wheelbase and extra ground clearance. (more …)
(TheBikerGene acknowledges that our female rider buddies may choose to beat up on us for running these photos with this story. Sorry guys, couldn’t help myself!)
According to AMA statistics, 12.6% of motorcycle/scooter riders are now female, a huge proportional increase in recent years. We’ve certainly noticed more and more gals catching bike fever - and it seems the industry has been taken a little by surprise, given what many biker chicks say is a dearth of good women’s bike gear on the market.
But it seems the bike industry is ready to start taking serious notice of women in motorcycling, starting with an upcoming AMA conference in 2009 dedicated to recognising and celebrating female riders, the role women play in the motorcycle world and looking at how the industry can adapt to meet the needs of this growing community. (more …)
Regular BikerGene readers will know I’m a huge fan of funny front-end suspension ideas that look beyond the traditional telescopic fork in search of progressive setups that deal more effectively with the separate issues of bumps, braking, steering and cornering forces - and this one looks fantastic.
Tier Motorsports have come up with a design concept - here pictured as part of a potential R1 prototype - that uses a single-sided front swingarm and four-bar steering system to create a perfectly vertical steering axis, as opposed to the tilted steering axes found on telescopic forks due to their necessary rake. (more …)
