A new Kestrel Falcon video

This came in the mail from press@dravcarn.com

The Kestrel Falcon is a custom motorcycle built around the engine of a unit Triumph. In the two short years since Ian Barry launched Falcon Motorcycles , an LA-based bespoke workshop, he’s produced some seriously covetable rides. Photographer Travis Shinn (whose previous subjects include Tool, P Diddy, 50 Cent, Morrissey and Marilyn Manson) is clearly a Falcon devotee, something that’s plain to see in his fetishistic ode, produced in concert with OTMFC and Noah Goldsmith's Safe Camp, and starring the bike builder himself riding through the LA river in downtown Los Angeles. Music by Naam.

Mai Lin - Looks Stunning... Stunt Riding

Do not let the images fool you. You might be thinking that if you come across this beauty, you will try every trick in your book to serenade her. You better watch out, she just might stun you with her looks and ‘stunt’ circles around you while you are trying to a wheelie. Meet Ms. Mai-Lin Senf, professional motorcycle stunt women. How many times have you heard these four words ‘professional motorcycle stunt woman’ together? Probably never before. Mai Lin Senf is only 24 years and she hails from Hamburg, Germany. She is pretty straight forward when it comes to ‘What a Girl Wants’? She wants to be a stunt rider (which she already is) so that she can become famous (she is getting there) and then she will be travelling across the world (for starters, she is travelling all across Europe with her shows). The girl could have easily passed off as a fitness model and could have had an easier or say, less dangerous life style but the fiery girl (according to her) likes to play with fire. Although she has ventured out what is erstwhile seen as a man’s world, she cannot put down her girlish instincts and so has a fascination for the colour pink and has also made it her trademark colour.

Mai-Lin performs for movies, for the audience and she is quite booked. Her calendar seems to be full with three four shows every month. She will be doing around 30 shows for the calendar year of 2010 majorly in Germany, Holland, Belgium and England. While browsing her website, one gets the feeling that she literally meant what she said about her liking towards fire as you would see lots of pictures when she is stunt riding with either her rear tyre on fire or jumping across huge flames of fire.
This entire stunt riding has given her quite a name in Europe and she also did stunt action for a German movie, "Killing is My Business, Honey" and gets a lot of modeling offers. She has featured in many magazines and covers. But her first love has always been motorcycles and stunt riding. Modeling and other assignments, as she mentions, is for fun. On the stunt riding scenario, she has taken lessons and underwent professional trainings which shows her commitment and seriousness towards her passion. She started converting her passion into her profession at the start of 2007 with intensive trainings with three to four times weekly and today May-Lin is a professionally qualified stunt woman and member of the Double Action Stunt Team from Hamburg which besides performing in motorcycling events also offers TV and Movie stunt men and of course stunt women or rather a woman.

Lucky for her and thanks to Pirelli and Parts Europe, she has constant sponsorers. Her other sponsors include german based companies like Victory Motorcycles, Crash Cage and Point of Sign. At an event at the legendary London ACE Cafe in 2009 (Sep 11th to 13th), she debuted and performed for an hour in between perfomances from Marc 'Sparky' Chennel and Joe Vertical from USA. She drove some 150,000 spectators to frenzy with her stunt tactics and she did all the stunts with a full helmet. Majority didn’t know that there was a beautiful woman beneath the helmet and when Mai-Lin took off her helmet there was a long and big applaud. She has been fortunate enough not to get involved in any serious injuries in a profession where ‘serious injury’ is the middle name. Of course she mentions that for any new trick or stunt, her approach is very cautious and she builds up to the stunts very slowly. She says “It is very important for me to stay healthy". However, stunt riding is dangerous and of course it takes a lot of courage to be successful in this profession."
If you ask her what are her future goals, as I said, she is pretty straight forward, “My goal for the future: I just want to get better, tour around the world performing stunt shows and be famous as a stunt girl."I was not able to find any thing as to what kind of bikes she uses for her stunts as it is not mentioned anywhere and since her pink coloured GSX is kind of camouflaged, it is difficult to say that it actually is a GSX. She does use 2-3 different bikes as seen from the photo section. You can visit her website and make sure you visit all the galleries. There is a section on her videos and I have posted a video down on the post. You can leave your comments on her website by signing her guestbook. I just did. For more picyutes, you can also check her Fotki profile. You can mail her at mai-lin-shi@gmx.de. In plain words, Mai-Lin is awesome. It is very cliché, buy You Go! Girl!

In the News - New bikes from MV and Guzzi

The brand who was almost rulling all the racing circuits some 40 50 years ago, now just seems like a spent force. Of course I am talking about Moto Guzzi. Guzzi still have some very very good looking bikes, all capable of matching their competitors and being Italian is used to high quality besides being looking good. But Guzzi has a rich heritage of racing accolades and it seems to aim at winning a few accolades back. During the last EICMA in Milan, it showcased the V7 Classic and Cafe Racer, very plain looking bikes, very similar to the model of 70s yet very Moto Guzzi, meaning good looking. Well, along with that, they talked about a Clubman Racer V7, a 750cc bike in all Moto Guzzi originality, raw and so very chick. This is a real beauty and in all probability is going to be launched this October. The small bar-end mirrors, instrumentation without racing tachometer, the race number boards and heat wrapped exhaust all looks so delicious. What is not probably a good thing is that the engine will be the same from the V7 which is not really a performance machine although it will have a slight benefit due to the Arrow exhaust system. The V7 based machine will cost around $1500 more than a standard machine as result of some of the modifications and it is siad that the model is being launched due to public demand. Although Guzzi is definitely looking at the racing circuits as of now, the market picture sure does look more rosy with the Clubman.

Source: Motoblog Italy

It is a good thing that Claudio Castiglioni has bought back MV Agusta from Harley Davidson. I never understood why MV was bought by HD on the first place since the MV marque is not really into the HD image plus HD was anyway having trouble in selling the Buell bikes. Whatever be the business reason behind it, but these two brands have so strong brand images that they just doesn't gel in the public view. S that noe MV is back to CC, they have let the cat out of the bag by the soon-to-be-launched F3. Claudio Castiglioni has announced his plans for revitalizing the MV marque. HD did good in the short period by launching the new Brutale and F4, but now CC is goping to invest around 40 million USD after aquiring all the rights back to the Castiglioni family. According to sources, MV is planning to launch around 10,000 units annually and the biggest piece of news here is the price. MV Agusta: If sources are to be beleived, the F3 has a list price of 9,000 Euro (11,600 USD). That is a stael for any bike with the MV Agusta sticker.
So what kind of a bike can you expect from the most revered brand in current motorcycling scenario? The F3 ibikw will have a new three-cylinder 675 cc motor 'that will revolutionize the market, as well as our company' according to CC. CThere is also a Sport version lined up which will cost around 2000 Euro more and it seems to be in the direct segment currently hold forth by Triumph's sporting bikes. This seems to be a very good strategy since this will make the MV more affordable maintaining the same high class which MV is famous for and which means it is certainly looking for more in number of unit sales. What now you can expect is an entry level bike from MV with smashing goods looks a bit more common on the streets. But critics are also suspecting this will diminish the exclusivity value associated with MV. But then again, with the shadow of economic crisis always looming large now-a-days, MV had to take this step.
Source: Motos Blog France

Did you miss the 2010 WDW?

By any chance, did you happen to miss the 2010 edition of World Ducati Week? So on the 4 hallowed days that each year Ducati celebrates the World Ducati Week, what you get to see are the finest examples of a very traditional and high heritage marque. This year, on 10, 11, 12 and 13 June the Misano track had turned into a Red Planet to host the 2010 edition of World Ducati Week (WDW). Around 60,000 Duc and motorcycle fans turned out to honour the the Bolognese firm and you missed it... yes, maybe you were busy in attending some big time conference or some last minute deals or any other excuse you just might be trying to make up, but fret not, Ducati has captured the 4 days in 4 short videos. Watch the videos and then mark your calander for next year. You don't want to miss WDW 2011.

Photo source: DUCATI Flickr, some images courtesy: Macadem Desmo Flickr

I have a feeling you will also like the below unofficial videos which just might give you an extra boost to attend next years WDW.