VISUAL GRATIFICATION

The RSD CR500 Cafe Racer

2011-09-21T23:17:00.001+05:30

How do you make a Roland Sands Design bike even more desirable? Just watch the video, one of my favorite videos. The bike featured is of course, the now renouned CR500 Cafe Racer

10 Best Looking Naked Bikes

2011-09-01T15:57:00.000+05:30

Bikes.. the way they are meant to be, the way they were created... NAKED!

Nothing, I mean nothing comes close to matching a sixties bike than the Royal Enfield Classic 500. Someone wrote if you close your eyes and visualize a sixties British bike, this is the thing. All metal, air cooled, big massive single, spoke wheels, single round headlamp with parking lights, a single speedometer , single me-only seat and now the new bike comes with adequate power at 27 bhp to pull you to a top whack of 140 kmph. Thats peanuts by today's standards, but where else would you get the classic thump and mainly the character of that old British bikes more than this beautifully crafted machine? With the right amount of modern amneties, like EFI, gas shock absorbers, this is not as close but, this is THE sixties British bike. So in case if you have always thought how life would have been during the swinging sixties, wind beating you at the chest, care free and all, now you can get some taste of it, thanks to this big single.

Lots of fans would probably kill me for placing the hallowed MV AGUSTA Brutale at #9 position, but the thing is that when we talk about 'Naked' bikes, usually, we think about 'metal' bikes typically reminding bikes of 80s styling. The Brutale is naked, but not actually metal. No doubt, this is one of the finest looking bike for any generation and any category, but sometimes the bike looks too edgy and of course it still looks very very good, just that to repeat myself, it is not all metal. With the finest carbon, aluminum, titanium and other metals used, Tamburini has created a visual delight. Look at any part of it, from the alloy wheels to the beautiful exhaust, every indivisual part is a treat and every part of the bike compliments each other resulting in a product that is so stunning to look at that it can just be used as a piece of decoration for any exhibition. Performance wise, it can stand up to any competition and in total this is purely and completely an Italian motorcycle. Period.

Well, this is the bike that has redefined Harley Davidson’s original bad boy image with uber coolness, a Harley Davidson that is stunning to look at and can perform. Yes, HDs have always looked fantastic; it was the performance that not too many people wanted to talk about. Harley stood more for leisurely biking with a image of a guy whose attitude says that he couldn’t care less what is happening in and around the world. Then came the Harley Davidson V Rod, the kind of bike which seems to be driven by clean shaven trimmed hair and nails senior executives wearing Armanis and commuting by S Class for office in the day time and after office hours slips and dons a leather jacket and whizzes off in his bad ass 2 wheeler. No more chrome slug, no more extra wide handlebars, things you associate with HD and no more sluggish and slow. Its performance can match and better many Japanese power cruisers. But that is not it. Just look at it, what a stunner. And if the V-Rod was not just enough good looking, they had to bring out the VRSC Night Rod Special. If anyone in the world had an excuse for not buying a HD for its performance, s/he has just run out of the last excuse.

Now this is one bloke with oodles of muscles all around, very well built and so proportionately shaped. The one time racing specialists may not be making an impact in the race circuits, but being a true blue Italian, they are still churning out motorcycles which will take your breath away. Each of the present products looks delicious, but the Moto Guzzi Grisvo SE is really a step ahead especially in the stunning green colour of the SE edition. No doubt the V7 looks classy, but in front of the Grisvo, it looks anemic. And comparatively, it is for the Griso has a heart of 1151cc with 110 bhp on tap and with that neat looking fenders, the twin exhausts, the sculpted tank, those naked round headlamp and dials , all mix up to create a truly lust worthy Italian beauty. This street bike is actually an all-rounder in disguise, a street bike with touring capabilities. Surely many fans would not buy the Grisvo for its performance for at that price, you will get many a bikes with better performance, but those who get into the saddle of the Grisvo knows that this is a thorough bred Italian. Look at the finish, look at the seat, the switches and the entire engine seems to be made in unison with absolutely nothing sticking out or out of place. This is the hallmark of Italian companies and the Grisvo is right there taking charge of this brigade.

The Triumph Thruxton is one of those bikes, which really carries forward the 60s into the 21^st century. Very typical Café Racer styling and yes, one of those rare models which you can buy over the counter as a Café Racer with no modifications needed at all. A very basic bike, actually that is what a ‘real’ Café Racer should be, an air cooled twin engine displacing 900cc with a fuel injected engine. Although it has been made into a Café Racer mode, Triumph made it clear that it will stick to the original 60s concept of café racers and although that means many of today’s modern street bikes might beat the Thruxton in terms of performance, the Thruxton can beat all of them with its sheer perfectly proportioned evocative silhouette. It is sizzling hot with the way the dome shaped rear is perfected, the round head lamps and those mirrors dangling by the handles. The bike looks very symmetrical aided by the beautifully slight upswept exhaust, perfectly placed with one on each side. The engine styling, those back shock absorbers, everything is very very ‘60s’. If it comes to showing off in the busy streets of a uptown bazaar, this bike is just perfect.

This is the Ducati GT 1000 from the Sport Classic range. Surprisingly, the model has been closed for the 2012 models. Yes, Ducati is synonymous with elegant styling, unmatched by any brand now or ever and to choose just one model is a crime, but to be fair to motorcycles world over, I had to choose one Ducati and you can very well guess, how hard it can be, especially since the last new model launch of Ducati, the Diavel, has been bestowed with honours after honours for its look itself, let alone performance and to choose. If it is one bike which every motorcycling fan will like to add to his garage, it has to be the GT 1000. After all, it is firstly a Ducati, but the better part is that it is unlike other naked Ducatis, you do see the tubular trellis frame, but like other Ducatis, it doesn’t immediately evoke the ‘Wow! Ducati!’ effect, but rather, a ‘OMG! A DUC from the 70s” and then your heart starts palpating and before you know, you start drooling. The model you see here is the Biposto, that came out during the mid-2000s and there was also a Paul Smart L.E model in 2006. Do not get fooled by its looks thinking it is as a tribute to the 70s with its air cooled engine and all, because although it is a tribute, that is only superficial, beneath those awesome good looks is a fire breathing Marelli electronic fuel injected, 92 bhp producing engine aided by a 6 speed transmission and as you can see Ducati still gave it an air cooled engine keeping the ‘spirits’ of the gone era.

Without any shadow of doubt, the Honda CB1100 is one of the most beautiful bikes that have been launched in recent times. Launched? Well, at least in Japan and although we have been hearing it will be worldwide launch, we are still waiting for its launch anywhere outside Japan. But, nevertheless, this is one piece of machinery that is probably ‘truest’ to its predecessor, the famous lineage of Honda CB series from the 60s to 80s and still continuing in some modified form. There has been sublime changes from the 80s model especially at the belly (side panels) and thereafter, but the engine is just the same… look wise. If you are a sucker for UJMs of the 80s, this bike is Godsend. And to add to it, the CB1000F (there is a CB1000R model with fairings and all) has a variant, a Café racer version, with a bikini fairing and a small rear seat. The bike with the inline 4 air cooled engine and the double cradle frame will definitely remind you of your first or second bike when you were in your teens and the bike you grew up with. The body lines and simple but very definite, the angles are subtle but delicate and all ends up in a very beautifully made very proportionate motorcycle which actually looks better than its predecessor.

If it was not for the fact that this bike would probably never see production stage, I would have gladly put it in the numero uno position. This Vincent Black Shadow contains the most legendary name in the world of motorcycle and although this is not the original product, Bernand Li has made something which cuts across any time period. You can place this bike in any era and this will never look outdated. Although the legendary engine is missing, doing duty here is another legendary motorcycle, the Honda RC51. And maybe we talk about it in a hush manner, but we do need to admit that the Honda RC51 engine is better than the Vincent original. Yes, the originality is not there, but the product outcome is nonetheless a continuation of the original brand. Legendary British brand, revered Japanese engine and what a looker. From the projector headlamps to the tail light, Bernand Li has really recreated magic. But alas, due to numerous patent laws and the untimely death of Mr. Li last year, only time will tell if this bike would ever see production stage. Just imagine, Mr. Li had even priced it as $25,000 onwards, at such a price, getting a factory produced Vincent would have been a dream, unfortunately, a dream is just what remains as of now.

If it was not for the high price tag of $60,000 and limited edition, the Confederate B120 Wraith would have probably made it as the top bike in this list. Like many fans all over the world, this bike for me is an object of desire and a thing I lust for knowing very well that I can never get my hands on this one. Breaking every possible styling rule that exist, breaking every notion that a designer is supposed to follow, Matt Chambers created something that needs to be kept in a pedestal covered with bullet proof glasses and adored for a life time. This futuristic looking bike is completely hand made and just around 100 were made and the bike usually adorns the garage of celebrities and other big wigs which mean it probably spends more time as a showcase item but this bike is all about the show and the go. The bike can stand along the biggest and baddest of them all and can also do circles around many of them, it is that good! But of course, that is not the reason why it is in this list, this visual delight has so much artistic brilliance that everytime you see the bike (or rather its picture) you will find something very interesting. For instance, just note the pedals and you will know what I mean. For a most ‘lusty’ look, just search for Wraith in the blog.

Well, the most gorgeous bike today on planet earth is most definitely the Norton Commando. It is neither Japanese, nor Italian, nor German, it comes from good’ol England, is overpriced, is not the most technology savvy which by the way makes it even more overpriced, and when you look at it in the flesh, every logic just vaporizes, as if it never existed, you get smitten by it just as we as kids got smitten by Brook Shield in the 80s and Gabriela Sabatini in the 90s. When you see it in the pictures, a most definite second look with a willy smile on your face thinking, man, I got to see this bike… and then you look at a video of the bike running and then the sound… and then your evil inner twin rises to tell you that all those savings and bank accounts, it is time to use them, after all what good use is money if it cannot buy you happiness? Then you land up at a showroom and before you come to terms to realize that your savings probably are not enough to buy this machine, your evil twin and even the one dressed in white with a halo over the head will tell you the nearest and most easily accessible (read easy to rob) bank. When the Commando was launched in 1983 with a 750cc air cooled engine, it was ‘the’ bike with an attitude. Not much has changed in the last 2 decades. If you have $21,000, I believe you will somehow fancy this bike to the ultra-modern Ducatis, MVs and Japanese. That is what beauty can do to a human being. Like I said, sometimes there is just no logic.

MIDALU FGR 2500 V6 - Aiming for the Sky

2011-01-20T01:06:00.002+05:30

When one talks about Czechoslovakia and Motorcycle in the same breath, the name of CZ JAWA comes to mind. The brand is very much active, thank you but now there is a new brand coming out from the Czech Republic which will make people stand up and notice. For fans that follow the 125 Moto GP circuit, you might be familiar with the brand name of MIDALU. This brand has a 125 cc Moto GP bike which came out 2 years back and now they are venturing out to the complete other side of the spectrum. They have come out with a prototype with a V6 engine displacing a humongous 2500cc claiming it to be the world’s most powerful production motorcycle in the world. It is said heavy he feels who wears the crown and so why would a 125cc manufacturer come out with a Boss Hoss kind of a machine?
And talking about crown, just last year we saw the Vyrus and Asphalt motorcycles claiming to be ‘Fastest Production Motorcycles’ and now we have the ‘Most Powerful Production Motorcycle’. I believed that crown was held firm by the Munch Mammut, so let us take a peek as what is this about the MIDALU FGR 2500 V6.

Midalu is a family-run business in Czech Republic. Miroslav Felgr incepted the idea of producing the biggest displacement bike in a mass production stage back in 2004. A designer by profession, along with Oldrich Kreuz, he began working on motorcycles in 2005, but he started out with the Moto GP bike, the FGR 125 GP. Moto GP bikes are very complicated to make as it involves a huge amount of dynamics and ergonomics to scream at those high speeds. By February, 2007, they had their first motorcycle ready to run. The motorcycle was showcased in the MOTOCYKL 2008 exhibition and in the same event, it was announced that Midalu is planning for a much much bigger bike. A completion was held for interested designers to design the proposed 2.5 liter engine along with the bike. Out of 45 proposals, 11 were shortlisted for round 2 and finally 3 were selected by February 2009. Stanislav Hanus, Ladislav Skoda and Petr Vanek later joined hands with Hanus, the winner, taking the lead and started working out from base up. It was pre decided as to what they needed to work with in regards to engine size and capacity, so the motorcycle had to be built with that in mind. The frame came first, followed by the forks and things started adding and stacking up on it. Of course the final design saw varied changes and finally everything fell into place last year and they were ready with their first prototype. There, the first Midalu FGR 2500V6 was born.

The 2442cc V6 engine is said to belt out 240HP, and something like 150lb/ft of torque. The V-Twin is configured at 90-degree adequately supported with liquid cooling technology. The supposed icing on the cake is the very tempting mileage figures of is 12 to 16km/l depending on how you run the bike. The enthusiasm of the Midalu family is very evident from the displayed prototype. The bike has been designed with the finest materials available in the market. Not only the design and accessories, it has some of the best cutting edge technology to assist many innovations going inside the bike and the engine. Keeping it naked, which of course highlights the massive engine, the bike has a very clean, yet distinctive look to it. Styling is minimal and with the trellis frame, it will remind you vaguely remind you of a Ducati Monster added with that Ducatisque headlamp, but just that, this is a real big Monster. Interestingly, since the family was not a big name, finance was always an issue when you think about such a big project. So they had approached the Ministry of Industry for grants, initially not for the FGR 2500 V6, but for the FGR125 GP. After listening out, the Ministry not only approved the 125 GP project but also gave the go ahead with the v6 project.

The 4-stroke engine, supported by a tubular chassis, has a six-speed gearbox, slipper clutch and carbon tank built into the saddle, with a capacity of 18.5 liters. The 6 cylinders will go through bore and stroke dimensions of 90 x 64 mm with a compression ratio of 9.9:1 to get to those claimed power figures. Dry weight of this beauty is 269 kg. The bike was unveiled mid-January, 2011 and this year, the prototype will undergo track and road testing. Launch of the bike is scheduled for 2012. Of course, the bike will have a premium cost and will probably cost anything around 50, 000 USD. Whether the FGR 2500 V6 will be able to beat the 2000cc, 260 hp, 295 Nm, 86mm bore engine of Munch Mammut, we will only get to know it by next year, but rest assured, you will be getting one hell of a hell –ride!
You may visit the FGR 2500 V6 Official website for more information. All photos courtesy of the Gallery section of the website.

Dissecting the Diavel

2011-01-19T18:21:00.002+05:30

What is it about the Diavel that has made every bike lover, every critic, every Ducati hater (if anyone exist) go weak on their knees when they see the Diavel? We all know Ducatis are exotic yet the common man can aspire of owning one. There are (by now) many high end bike manufacturers who make limited edition bike at exorbitantly high prices that are well beyond the common man’s reach. These bikes appeal to specific fan bases and these machines do provide well-crafted engines. This is where I believe Ducati scores heavily. The Ducati products are so good looking that individually, each model is like a custom bike, but they are not. We don’t even need to think how well their engines perform. And the best part is that the ‘fan base’ we are talking about cut across all ‘bases’, all ‘styles’, all ages and of course it has the heritage and legend of the Ducati brand. The company which started out worldwide with their lip smacking 900 series of sports bike ventured out to the naked bike series with the Monster brand. The Monster became a benchmark in naked style bikes with their exposed trellis frame. Then there is the Street Fighter, the bike which won many accolades in terms of designing.

Although there were many critics who didn’t like the bike’s overall styling and personally I think it was too edgy, but once you see it in flesh, you tend to love it. During all these time, there were plans that Ducati is working on a cruiser and again people were skeptical how well can Ducati pull off a cruiser since it is a Ducati, it has to be different, but then how can a cruiser look different? Well, so now we have the Diavel, a bike so smashingly good looking that cruiser lovers are calling from roof tops that Ducati has finally heard their yells, but even street riders are voicing the same thoughts. It is now as if a lot of ‘fan bases’ are calling the Diavel to the ‘the’ product of their category. But fact is, this is a Ducati and it cuts all categories. Yes, it is probably a cruiser gene somewhere, but how can you miss the distinctive ‘street’ appeal? Or is it a Power Cruiser like the V Max? Lots and lots of critics are comparing the Diavel to the V Max, in fact comparisons have started long before its official launch. So that is the thing, the Diavel is a Ducati. Period. That is the category it belongs to. You know, no matter how hard you are a cruiser fan, you just can’t ignore the 918, no matter how much you love SBKs, you just can’t ignore the Monster and likewise no matter which fan you are, you just can’t ignore the Diavel. And it won’t be wrong say that the bike will run away with lots of ‘Bike of the Year’ awards and probably a lot of ‘Bike of the Decade’ awards too.

The idea of the name Diavel - pronounced Dee-ah-vel, was born early in the development process when a factory man saw it and remarked that the bike looks like a Devil. In Bolognese dialect, of course Diavel is what you would say for Devil. And remove the D from Devil and Evil is what you get… from the bike. Lots of fans would probably get evil to own The Diavel while many rival companies must be calling Ducati evil as it will sway quite a few customers to the Ducati side. Just as the ‘Monster’ is one of the favorite Ducati for both its affordability and easy handling, the Diavel is surely going to be the flavor of cruiser lover, power bike lovers, street bike lover, naked bike lovers and of course, how can you not associate Ducati with performance, so it will jolly well find a lot of erstwhile sports bike fans.
But this is not a Power Cruiser bike in the mould of V Max and the B King. For one thing, the engine is not on the wrong side of 1500cc, it is actually the same 1198cc engine and secondly, it is not big as you think it is, certainly not of monstrous proportions like the V Max or even the V Rod. It is quite small having dimensions of 1192mm x 2257mm. Its dry weight just about touches 200 kilos which means it is a lightweight, add to that its agility and so now, what do you say, is it a sports tourer or a naked street sports bike? It all gets very confusing so the best thing is to let it be just the ‘Diavel’.

But if you think that with these specifications, it will not have a commanding presence, boy, you are so damn wrong. Commanding presence, it has… and HOW! You cannot miss a Diavel even in the Rio Carnival. Just to remind you, it is built by Ducati.
Some critic has mentioned that Ducati should concentrate on what it does best, that is make ultra luxurious sports bike, s/he mentioned that how will it feel if Ferrari comes out with 4 door cars? Point well taken, but then think anout it, if Ducati didn’t give us the Diavel, we would have no Diavel. Let me repeat, if Ducati didn’t make the Diavel, we would have no Diavel, what I am trying to say is that only Ducati could have made a Diavel. The styling, the portfolio, although a criser bike, yells out as a Ducati. For cruiser lovers wanting to have a Ducati logo embedded in between his/her legs, Diavel is his/her bike. Why leave out any market when you know you have a desired and wanting customers?

I get what the critic is saying, you want a 4 door luxury car, look at Bentley, look at Rolls Royce, likewise, if you want a cruiser, look at HD, V-Max, B-King, but I think although you can compare a Rolls to a Bentley, you just cannot compare the V-Max to a Diavel. I cannot explain why, but to make sense, let me reinstate that Diavel makes a complete new category, power cruiser road steet king! Dycati rightfully mentions that the Diavel is a combination of custom shop beauty with state of the art technology, innovative design to provide extraordinary riding pleasure. For connoisseurs of technology, ABS, Ducati Traction Control and Ducati Riding Modes will deliver a confidence-inspiring sophistication while stunning looks, the Superbike-derived Testastretta 11° engine and 207kg (456lb) of authentic Ducati performance will drive a comfortable sport lifestyle that could only be dreamt of until now. There is just so much more in the Diavel, for the techno buffs there is plenty to enjoy including Ride by wire throttle, ABS, hands free ignition and traction control. The new model will be available as a base model in traditional red or pearl white whilst the Diavel Carbon which includes carbon bodywork components and forged Marchesini rims and is available in red carbon or black carbon.

With 162bhp on tap and weighing 456lb (207kg), the Diavel is sure to win the performance king of its class. The specially designed 240mm rear wheel on a massive 8″ wide rim provides the requisite custom presence. 50mm fork is by Marzocchi, fully adjustable shocks by Sachs 240/45-17 rear tyre for cruising, wrapped around 14-spoke alloy forged Marchesini wheel with a bunch of carbon-fiber goodies, the Diavel is out to make a statement. Radially mounted Brembo monoblock calipers on 320mm semi-floating front discs, state of the art Ducati Bosch-Brembo ABS system as original equipment, antilock brakes as standard, traction control, as mentioned, ride-by-wire throttle with three maps (162 hp sports-type delivery, 162 hp for touring and 100 hp for street), the Diavel has everything you can ask for. Pirelli has worked with the Diavel's designers and engineers to develop the new Diablo Rosso II tires, a conventional 120/70 x 17 section front designed for enhanced wet weather performance to go with the 240/45x17 rear custom-style rear.

But since Diavel is out there primarily to woo the cruiser fans, it has all the ingredients of a cruiser. Exceptionally low seat height for a Ducati at just 30.3 inches, stretched out pegs and reasonably wide handle bars, the cruiser lover will feel at home. But just so, s/he wants to go the sports mode, just fold the passenger pegs and they hide completely, and get the piilion seat cover mount and lo! You have a sports bike. Behind the pillion seat, you can see the vertically stacked LED tail lights complimenting the front’s vertical LED turn signals mounted on the radiator shrouds. The headlight looks somewhat similar to the Monster, but with a more aggressive look, you know, kind of ‘I am ready’. And then the stylish license plate, it is bolted to the rear hub with a trellis frame wrapped around the rear tire from the left to hold the number plate in the area where the policeman would want it to be. The Diavel, just like the latest Ducatis, is equipped with a hands-free ignition which means with the key in your pocket, the bike becomes armed as soon as you reach 6.5 feet within the diameter of the Diavel.

So basically, the Diavel has everything any biker would fancy and if you are a biker, which I presume you are since you are reading this blog, sign a cheque of $16,995 or $19,995 for the base or carbon variant respectively and check it out in your nearest Ducati dealer. Let me assure you, you will not come out with the cheque, rather with a big smile on your face atop the most handsome devil you have seen till Ducati thinks about building a new Lucifer, Villain, Rogue, whatever since the monster and now the Diavel are already icons.
Instruments: Handlebar mounted instrumentation with LCD display: Speed, rpm, time, coolant temp. Warning lights for: Neutral, turn signals, high-beam, rev-limit, DTC intervention, ABS, status, oil pressure, fuel reserve.
Tank mounted instrumentation with TFT colour display: Gear selected, air temp, battery voltage, trips 1 & 2, fuel, reserve trip, average and actual fuel consumption and speed, trip time, scheduled maintenance.
Full status and/or management of Riding Modes, DTC, RbW and ABS.

Specifications:
Engine: 1198.4cc, Desmodromic, fuel injected, liquid cooled, Testastretta 11°, L-Twin cylinder, 4 valve per cylinder,
Bore x Stroke & Compression Ratio 106 x 67.9mm & 11.5:1
Maximum Power & Torque: 162hp (119kW) @ 9500rpm & 94lb-ft (127.5Nm) @ 8000rpm
Exhaust: Lightweight 2-1-2 system with catalytic converter and two lambda probes, Twin aluminium mufflers
Transmission: 6 speed, Wet multiplate clutch with hydraulic control.
Primary & Final drive: Straight cut gears & Front sprocket 15, Rear sprocket 43
Chassis: Frame Tubular steel Trellis frame
Wheelbase 1590mm (62.6in)
Rake & Steering angle: 28° & 70°
Front & Rear suspension: 50mm fully adjustable forks & Progressive linkage with fully adjustable Sachs monoshock, Aluminium single-sided swingarm
Front & Rear wheel: 3.50 x 17 & 8.00 x 17 Marchesini forged and machined 9-spoke, 14-spoke in light alloy
Front & Rear tyre 120/70 & 240/45 (ZR 17 Pirelli Diablo Rosso II)
Front & Rear brake: 2 x 320mm semi-floating discs, radially mounted Monobloc Brembo callipers, 4-piston with ABS & 265mm disc, 2-piston floating calliper with ABS
Fuel tank capacity 17l - (5.3 US gal)
Dry weight 210kg (463lb) 207kg (456lb)
Seat height 770mm (30.3in)
Max height x length: 1192mm (46.9in) x 2257mm (88.9in)

All photos source: Official DUCATI DIAVEL Website

DUCATI unleashes the Diavel

2010-12-30T21:55:00.000+05:30

Visual Gratification - CONFEDERATE C3 X132 Hellcat

2010-12-10T14:38:00.004+05:30

The Confederate C3 X132 Hellcat Dynamicist Edition
This third generation of our staple, the Hellcat, represents
an exponential confluence of learning that spans over twenty years of time. The idea of designing and creating a fiercely American machine that proves the utter effectiveness and absolute sufficiency of the inclusionary American cultural way is actualized.
There will only be one introductory offering of history's most unique, iconic and well-made American machine - a machine that we are certain will go down in the annals of history as one of the greatest street motorcycles of all time.
It would be our highest honor to hand craft your bespoke C3 X132 Hellcat.
He who hesitates is lost.

FYI, 23 of the only 150 to be produced arealready booked

- To reserve your Hellcat, choose an available serial number and add click "Add to shopping bag".
- Bikes will be built in sequential order.
- Your 5% prepayment of $2,250.00 USD will reserve your C3 X132 Hellcat.
- You will receive an automated email confirming your reservation within 24 hours.
- Within five business days, one of our salespeople will follow up with you to discuss all options available to you (color, wheelbase, etc.) as well as the estimated delivery date for your Hellcat.
For any questions, please call 877.324.9888 or email sales@confederate.com

For more info, contact these websites, CONFEDERATE & WORK & CYCLE

Drag Racing with Valerie Thompson

2010-11-30T15:54:00.000+05:30

Valerie in her V-Rod and Salt Shaker (at the Salts)

You can ignore Valerie Thompson as just another pretty face in pink dresses trying out her hand in motorcycling, just like a lot of people and critics did until she made everyone look back with what she offers on the field. You too need to look at her credentials before assuming the routine path. For starters she is into drag racing. If that has not made you take a second look at the pretty face, you must be lying. Wait a minute, a lady drag racing! That’s right. And she has been doing it since 2005. Well, of course, when she started out, she was given the royal ignore, but for how long can you keep talent like Valerie unnoticed?
Okay, let’s start with her career graph just so that you know whom we are trying to assess here. In 2005, as mentioned, she started to follow her passion and dream. Before that, just guess what she was into. Banking! Can you take that? Well, actually it does make more sense, I mean a pretty face wearing a corporate dress sitting behind the counter is actually what you normally expect and not behind the handle bars of some mammoth gigantic machine getting ready to snap your head at the first twist of the throttle. Yes, she was a banker, but I guess what the banking sector lost was a very good profit for the motorcycling world. Just a year later, in 2006, she rode into Bonneville Salt Flats Land Speed Records. That was followed by a Runner-up position in Western Division - V-Rod Destroyer, a 3rd finish in Harley Drag Racing Association National Championship Series and named “Best Appearing Team 2007”, all in the year 2007. And yes, she was back in the Bonne Salts.

Valerie drag racing on her Buell

So, in 2008, it read “Valerie Thompson - 2-Time Land Speed Record Holder”. Then in 2008, she made her NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Debut at the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. The same year, she had attended Frank Hawley’s NHRA Drag Racing School and earned her Pro Stock Motorcycle license. When you repeatedly she anyone so enthusiastic, it really gets hard to ignore. Valerie actually was always fond of motorcycles, rather speeding motorcycles. She did a lot of street racing down Scottsdale Road, her hometown and then one of her friends advised her to take her passion to the tracks. In two months, she was seen in the tracks in a 2000 Fat Boy and she never looked back since. The Fat Boy was her first drag motorcycle. From 2005 Valerie started competing in the All Harley Drag Racing Association (AHDRA). The Fat Boy later was replaced by a V-Rod when she teamed up with Custom Performance of Phoenix, Arizona. In 2006 she made her debut aboard the Hacienda Harley Davidson-backed V Rod Destroyer and finished a very respectable 6th in the National Super Gas class and in the following year she improved it to 3rd. Her sponsor, Legend Air Ride Suspension and the owner of the firm, Jesse Jurrens wanted her first to try out at Land Speed racing. She tried it out with the V-Rod and went 153.561 mph in Run Watcha Brung at the Bub Speed Trials. Yes, she was impressive but can can she stand up and make her head visible from the lot of riders who clock 150 odd? That was when she met Keith Ball of Bikernet.com. Actually Bikernet happened later, Keith was always a visionary bike builder. So, Keith designed a Panhead motorcycle that would take Valerie from the riders who clock 150 odd to being a world record holder within a season. The panhead is named ‘Assalt Weapon’ and although many Panheads have graced and raced in the Bonne Salts, this was the baddest and meanest and was also more aerodynamic. In 2007, Valerie had the APS-PF-2000 record at 156.717 mph with a top speed of 161.736 atop the Assalt Weapon. Now that was pretty impressive for Valerie and also for the HD Panhead, since if you recall, the Panhead is basically a motorcycle belonging to the 50s that is more than half a century old!

Valerie with the 'Assalt Weapon'

In 2008, she left AHDRA to concentrate in motorcycle drag racing and her goal was set on the top-tier level of competition, which is the NHRA Pro Stock division. The NHRA division is much different than Land Speed racing and here you have a team much like MotoGP. Valerie had her own team, known today as Valerie Thompson Racing LLC which meant she not only needed to concentrate only on racing like most other riders, but she also had to look at the logistics of managing a team. For this one needs money, and after a contract deal didn’t materialize, she put money from her own pocket. She was that desperate to try it out at drag racing. A few suggested that she needed more seat time, but she responded that she has cut short 2 seconds from 9 to 7 within a year and of course she was not going to listen to anybody as she has already made up her mind. So she set her sights on a Buell. And again there was no looking back. At Wisconsin International Raceway, Valerie got her first win. The specifications of the bike is of course something one looks forward to, just so as to know what kind of bikes these guns drive on the quarter mile. Okay, the made up 2008 XB9R Buell racing in the Pro Stock Motorcycle of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing series covers the quarter mile at 7.05 Seconds @ 187.42 mph that is 300kmph. The body material is carbon fiber and construction is a mixture of chromium and molybdenum. It has a 70” wheelbase and supported by Mickey Thompson tyres both in the front and rear. The overall length of the bike is 12 feet and width is the normal 24”. It has dual disc brakes up front and a single disc at the rear. The engine is sourced from S&S Cycle and it is a 60 degree V-Twin with 160 cubic inches displacement. Power output is over 340 hp @ 8600 rpm. Transmission is also from S7S Cycle and has 6 gears (I wonder how they engage to the top gear in less than 7 seconds!) The bike is fuel injected by Magneti Marelli. The cams, billet aluminum cylinder head, pistons and cases are all from S&S Cycle.

Valerie on the 2000 Fat Boy and 2007 Salts

But at this level, it is difficult to sustain without a proper sponsor and the sponsor also need to have deep pockets. Now without a sponsor, she has been laying idle but she is hoping for a return in 2011. The lady also had to sit out in 2009 due to lack of sponsorship. Nonetheless, you cannot put down so much enthusiasm just due to the lack of a single component. Come to think about it, in 3 years, from 2005 to 2008, Valerie has made a name for herself and with such a big impact. She has earned her way from the All Harley Drag Racing Association series, to becoming a NHRA team owner and licensed competitor in drag racing's most elite class, of the Pro Stock Motorcycle Series. In a field dominated by men, this lady is an inspiration and a superb brand ambassador for motorsports fans world wide. Valerie is looking forward to the 2011 season with a bike that promises to hold true to what Valerie has set out for. And yes, she hopes to join the 200mph club in the next Bonne Salts session. I believe it is more a question of ‘when she wants’ rather then ‘how soon’.Okay, before I forget, let me tell you another thing about her. I am sure you are aware of GoDaddy.com, yes the same commercial made famous by former WWE Diva Candice Michele, Valerie has posed alongside Danica Patrick strutting her stuff on national television during the Super Bowl for a GoDaddy.com commercial as she was racing under the GoDaddy banner in earlier years. Of course, a chick (although I should not be using the word, nonetheless), a talented chick in the world of motorcycling is always going to be a media magnate and Valerie is no different.

She has been featured in various channels and magazines

She has been featured in various events, channels and magazines like POW MIA "Run for The Wall", Discovery Channel, A&E, SPEED, ESPN2, Super Bowl Red Carpet, V-Twin, Hot Bike Bagger, Cycle Source, Scottsdale Health Magazines, etc. But all these fan following and media attention has not really diluted her passion anyway. Now, she is not just a professional drag racer, she is also a team owner which adds so much more responsibility and not to mention, also a world land speed record holder. Before touching 30, she switched the corporate dress and she started wearing the leather pants during the later 30s. There is never a thing called opportunity lost for Valerie, she started out late but look what her passion has given back to her. Name, fame and above all, this lady has a heart, a heart bigger than us for in that heart, she has a special place for kids, especially from Hopekids.org, with whom she has a long association helping out the kids and children for the organization by visiting hospitals and providing them inspiration. She also has her own charity event, Ride Annie Ride, under which she organized fund raising for a cancer stricken 3 year old kid, Jake. She sold off her VTR Racing shirts and other racing stuff to raise money. But that is not just all, she knows she is marketable and she even uses these traits to help the needy. Valerie's team provides a portion of their sponsorship dollars to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund and the Wounded Warrior Project. She is some woman, maybe as Chaka Khan says “I am Every Woman, it’s all in me”
You can join Valerie’s official Fan Club or make a contribution to her racing program by visiting her website at www.valeriethompsonracing.com.

Photos and info source: Valerie Thompson official website and Motorcycle-USA

ICON SHEENE - An Icon...as Barry, Like No Other

2010-11-25T16:15:00.002+05:30

British businessman Andrew Morris’ vision was to create the ultimate road-going motorbike and he also thought of paying tribute to his boyhood hero by creating the ultimate road bike. So what do we have here now? This is the ICON SHEENE, the self professed ‘World’s Most Costly World’s Most Powerful Production motorcycle’. Although the claim is open to debate, the word ‘production’ does come into plat here. Only 52 of these motorcycles will be built and of course it can be customized, but it will be a ‘production’ bike. But before starting the debate and finalizing the verdict, let’s get to know the beauty of a bike. This particular model from the ICON SHEENE brand is referred as the Sheene Ultrabike.
Of course, you know the bike has been named after the legendary Barry Sheene and you also probably know that the bike was officially debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this summer (2nd to 4th July, 2010). The bike was introduced by Freddie, Barry’s son and he himself took part in the hill climb event. And as expected, the 200mph, 250+BHP bike took centre stage at the event. This turbo charged monster-hiding-in-a-catwalk-model-dress is priced at £107,000 (€ 120,000 / $170,000) onwards.
The Sheene family has provided their full support to the project and the52 bikes will also have Stephanie’s (Barry’s wife) signature on the tank along with her late great husband.

Stephanie says “The ICON SHEENE captures everything he stood for and I take great comfort in knowing that it will be a unique tribute to an extraordinary man. To have a motorcycle designed, built and dedicated to the memory of Barry is the ultimate accolade.
I know he would have had fun being involved with this project whilst at the same time putting his own special stamp of approval on the detail. If you are lucky enough to become an owner of one of these rare motorcycles, remember: life is for living and bikes are for riding.” The brain behind the idea of paying tribute to the legend is Mr. Andrew Morris. The firm is of course located at Nottingham, UK, Barry’s country. The Ultrabike is not just a collaboration of Mr. Morris with the Sheene family but many engineers, mechanics and friends of Barry have also contributed their expertise to the motorcycle. Another name that needs a mention for building up this stunner is Mr. Steve Parrish, Barry’s ex team mate and long time friend. Josh Niclolas is the project manager for the Ultrabike.

Andrew Morris, founder of Icon Motorcycles says, “Barry Sheene was a hero – of mine and everyone else. Supremely talented on a high speed race bike, courageous, determined, magical to watch in action, he was also irrepressibly cheeky, funny and seemed never without a smile. He did things his own way, and always with passion and spirit.
When I decided to create the world’s ultimate road bike, the image of Barry and all he represents was foremost in my mind; I believe the Icon Sheene is a fitting tribute to this remarkable man, and I’m very fortunate to have his family’s backing for the project.
And because Barry was so extraordinary, I knew my bike had to be, too. So it’s handmade. In Britain. It features extreme levels of power and performance. And it’s massively entertaining to ride hard. And in creating it I’ve felt proud and humble to work alongside many of the talented individuals and companies who helped Barry to win two World Championships.
The Icon Sheene, of which just 52 will ever be made, is a new breed of road bike, the Ultrabike. I think Barry would have approved!”

This bike has been designed for easy handling in a manner that you won’t feel out of place either in a road or on a track. Bu the looks and images of the riders, the bike seems more road focused. Steve Parrish has been the main test rider for the Ultrabike and he said that the bike has quite a lot going for it even if you consider that this is a 200 mph motorcycle. I have very little doubts that on the road this bike will perform exceptionally well, but such a powerful bike, it would be really interesting to find its mettle on the track. So how does it work on the track? Well, motorcycle’s premier magazine MCN tested the motorcycle at Silverstone but mentioned that there is still plenty of development work to be done. Michael Neeves, one of the world’s most respected bike critics of this generation mentioned that the bike is still not meant for track racing the powerband was found to be narrow and the fact that the bike did weigh a lot didn’t help for the tracks either. The bike took two years in the making and Mr. Morris says that the bike Neeves rode was the first of the 52 that are to be produced. Things will only start getting better hence forth. And anyway, the foremost idea was to make a road bike which it probably has met.

Steve Parrish talks about his buddy and the motorcycle, saying “I am so very pleased the Icon Sheene has been sculptured, a living, shrieking, whirlwind of a tribute to a great man: for me, Barry was like having a father, brother and mate, all wrapped in one amazing person.
Now 52 lucky people can revel in a legacy that will remind them of how Barry Sheene inspired the whole motorcycle industry around the world.
Barry would have been very proud to see this astonishing piece of British engineering excellence, unique in every way, just as he was, being owned and ridden fast by like-minded people.
Barry’s last words to me were: ‘Stavros, at least we are not going to die wondering.’ Which meant that if you ever wondered what something was like, you ought to experience it for yourself. That was the philosophy we lived by. Another of his famous insights was: ‘Never wait for your ship to come in; there are times when you have to swim out to meet it.’With these two thoughts in mind, now is time for you to start swimming towards ownership of one of these fabulous machines.”

Now getting on to as what could possibly make the claim to be the ‘world’s most powerful production motorcycle’? For starters, the engine is outsourced from the SUZUKI GSK1400. Well, half the battle for the crown already goes to ICON SHEENE. Why the GSX 1400? Well, history will tell you that Barry won his two 500cc World Championship titles on Suzuki. The GSX 1400 gets a boost turbocharging the engine to belt out over 250 BHP of power. But how do you justify the high tag price. Let’s analyze. The engine, beside being hand built, is turbocharged by Garrett. Garett is a brand which leads in turbocharging technologies. Its piostons are made by CP Carrillo, a brand with almost 50 years of experience in making pistons and rods. Pistons are from the house of Wiseco, a brand which has become synonymous with pistons, thanks to their 70 years of experience. Spondon Engineering makes some of the world’s best frame kits and Andrew found them to be a perfect partner since they are also from the same city. The frame used for the Ultrabike is an all-aluminum, purpose-built tubular frame, with an aluminum swingarm made by FTR Moto and the rear suspension and forks coming from the house of the Italian firm of Bitubo.

Everything going in the bike is world class. It has hand made carbon fibre bodywork, a hand made aluminum tank, hand-crafted aluminum oil coolers, and a handmade stainless exhaust. It has carbon-fiber race wheels, ISR calipers, discs and levers, Bosch Motronic engine management system, digital instrumentation, keyless starting and F1-spec wiring. If you still think the price tag is little bit higher, well how about that each motorcycle will flaunt etched and engraved plaques and yokes, a hand-painted 1940s style pin-up girl and will bear Sheene’s lucky ‘7’ embroidered to it. The design is just unique and there can be just no mistaking the bike for any other. Well, it is just not possible. Plus you know that the engine will make 250bhp with 133lb/ft is claimed at the rear wheel, all in all this is as much a show as much it has the go. Unless we have a proper test, the crown for the ‘world’s most powerful production motorcycle’ may be debatable, but you just can’t deny the ICON SHEENE for the run towards the crown.

Why only 52 will be built? Actually Barry lived for only 52 years, from 1950 to 2003 when he lost the battle to cancer. Another nice feature the ICON SHEENEs will have is that each 52 bikes will have one card from the 52 deck of playing cards that will be hand-painted by Mike Fairholme, the artist who decorated Sheene’s helmets. As one can expect, each of the 52 bikes will be hand-built and tailored to the customer specification. It actually is very true to the character of Barry. Barry was considered as the wild one who was equally sweet yet lived his life loud and beautiful. Look at the bike, you will see all of Barry’s characters. This bike is not anyway trying to hide its image, it is vibrant and it is refreshing. It will stand out no matter where you place it. This bike will attract crowds for no reason whatsoever just like Barry for whatever he did. Barry always did things his own way and that was his unique character and just like Barry, the Ultrabike is just unique given the way it looks. It is a unique tribute to a unique icon. ICON SHEENE is currently taking orders and you can place yours too to become part of a motorcycle legacy like no other.

All photos, info and video courtesy: ICON Motorcycles

MV AGUSTA F4 gets the Midas touch from AURUM

2010-11-22T15:16:00.001+05:30

N.B - The news is from 2008. I just found about it recently and thought of posting it in case some people might be interested!

If the MV AGUSTA brand itself is not one of the most sought after luxury items on planet earth and further if the F4 is not the most sought after motorcycle from the most sought after brand, someone had to go a step further to make the most sought after motorcycle from the most sought after motorcycle brand even more desirable… Exquisite designers AURUM has gold plated a MV AGUSTA F$, can you believe it? Aurum literally transforms everything into gold that is they take products of exclusive brands and houses and gold plate it. And now they have chosen to target a motorcycle. So what could have been better than the most sought after motorcycle from the most sought after motorcycle brand?
This particular F4 is probably the first motorcycle ever to be covered with 24 karat gold. Yes of course covered, you shouldn’t expect a bike to be made out of gold, well unless some eccentric tries that out too…
Aurum presented a floor last year entire entirely covered in gold during a luxury show in Verona. They have also done quite a few varied items crafted and covered in gold. They have put that experience to yield out their knowledge on ‘how to; put gold leaves on plastics and metals. Head of Aurum, Mr. Adolfo Finotto have 8 years of research and experience doing similar projects. And he has created a motorcycle which is not just a show piece, but one can actually make in run in normal city driving conditions regularly.

The gold leaves are of size 80 x 80 mm and are hand applied to give it a ‘gold flakes’ look and I think he has done it very well. The website quotes “The whole working schedule includes 9 passages of painting products and one gluing in order to assure strength like welding and an unlimited guarantee. The choice of the first motorcycle with these features was given to MV AGUSTA. We believe that MV AGUSTA, in its long history of motorcycle victories and it’s almost entirely handmade bikes, deserves to have the FIRST WORLDWIDE MOTORCYCLE IN 24 KT GOLDLEAF. AURUM is proud of its cooperation with MV AGUSTA.”
Aurum, the firm, has patented may of their works and record says that their patented collection include 11 patterns, 6 in gold, 4 in silver and 1 in copper . They have spread their Midas touch adding style and charm to the chicest houses, yachts, shops and prestigious hotels. Also see there are some scooters where they have done there thing which might interest you if you are not so much into bikes. It will be interesting to find out which lucky human being (although read somewhere that some bloke from Brooklyn has already bought it) is going to own this thing. Price of the bike is undisclosed (again, although read somewhere it is at $120,000 USD) but rest assured, I guess we will need to take some more births to accumulate that kind of money to buy the ‘Golden’ F4 and of course, also have the logic, as why to buy it in the first place. Nonetheless, if you are interested, do visit the Aurum website.

Additional pictures below courtesy: Kaufman Motos.

Elenore - Prepare Yourself for a DUCATI L8

2010-11-19T13:15:00.001+05:30

How do you like a L-Twin Ducati? Well, that is rather a really silly question really, as who on earth would not love a Ducati L-Twin? So, how about a Ducati L-4 like the awesome Desmosedici RR? Of course, probably none of us reading this blog has even set atop the Desmosedici. But nonetheless, doesn’t just the idea of sitting atop a 4 engined Ducati give you the goosebumps, right! And so, then how about a L-8 Ducati? Yes, yes, like you know 2 Desmosedici in one… And no neither am I out of my mind and nor am I kidding. So how do you get or have or acquire a Ducati with 8 engines? Of course, Ducati has never tried it on any prototypes either but that hasn’t stopped a German gentleman who just went ahead with this crazy idea and has made a Ducati L-8.

In Ducati language, the number 16 has quite a big relevance. In Italian sedici means 16. And in Ducati language, when you say Sedici, it usually refers to the Desmosedici as the 4 cylinders have 4 desmodromic valves each, totaling 16 valves and that is the reason it is called Desmo – Sedici. This particular German gentleman took the same language instructions but gave it a totally new perspective since he has 2 valves in each of the 8 cylinders and so that too makes 16 valves. And that is how you make an L-8. Dieter Hartmann Wirthwein’s is the name of that man and his innovative Ducati L-8 has its first public showing at the Intermot 2010 show.
The L-8 engine is fitted to a 900SS rolling chassis. The bike has been on the news since a year back and there were quite a few skeptics who though this would probably never make it. But within the last 12 months, Mr. Wirthwein has completed the patent application process for his innovative connecting rod scheme that allows an original 900SS crankshaft to be used and consequently the powerplant can fit in a 900SS frame.

I believe it is not fully ready to try it out on the roads or tracks. Anyway, the world officially took notice of the bike at this year’s show in Cologne, Germany. Imagine the sound of any Ducati L Twin and now imagine what 4 Ducatis would sound like, all at sync! I haven’t been able to find any video of the bike on run but I am sure the sound would be absolutely awesome. The only video I found related to this bike is a diagrammatic representation of how the connecting rods would work. Here is the link. Surprisingly, the valve actuation is not desmodromic.This German engineer is of course and has to be a Ducati fanatic. And if you look at his website, there are quite a few interesting projects of Honda, BMW and Bultaco up his sleeve. You might like, actually try it, you will most definitely like his ‘Monkey’ project. He has named this Ducati bike as ‘Elenore’ of course meaning 8 referring to the cylinder numbers. The engine uses cylinders with a bore and stroke of 56 and 44mm respectively for a total capacity of 868cc.

There are not much details on his website or anywhere else, so in case you come over more information, please share. The time line for this project is by the end of the year by which time, it will be fully functional and we can listen to its roar. As per the specifications, the bike has a good compression ratio of 11:1 and that would be helpful for a relatively low power output of 80 bhp strictly speaking in Ducati lingo. Anyway, we can surely wait for a month more and let Wirthwein do his magic in the mean time and I am sure we will be quite happy with the final product if the production stage gives any indication.
His workshop is in Rimbach, Germany (Staatsstrasse 51, 64668 Rimbach).You can visit his website, for some additional info and pictures. You can also contact him through email or phone (06253 238488) to learn more about his projects.

Specifications:
Engine: 868 cc, 2 valves per cyl, air-cooled eight-cylinder four-stroke engine
Bore x Stroke: 56mm x 44mm
Compression ratio: 11:1
Power Output: 80 bhp (60 KW)
Fueling: Four, 28mm flat-slide carburetors
Valve operation: Single cam belt
Crankshaft: Wirthwein’s patented connecting rod

Mid Life crisis results in a stunning BMW R80/7

2010-11-15T13:14:00.002+05:30

As such, BMWs are not the usual preferred brand of motorcycles when it comes to customizing, maybe because BMWs do not make the world’s best looking factory bikes and also maybe because the build is so robust and the bike being so practical, why bother? But I guess, sometimes you eed to try it off, I mean customize a BMW. Yes, some people do it and most of the times, it has come out good. Adam Kay from London, is one of the ‘some people’ and he has managed a brilliant makeover for his BMW R80/7. As much as you would love a BMW R80/7 for being such a fine piece of machinery, you would probably not really bother about customizing it as customizing also mean in a way, beautifying your bike and in your wisdom, somehow the BMW R80 doesn’t exactly fit into that scheme of thoughts and although I am not very sure what went into Adam’s mind, Adam did something which probably is the thing to do with such a bike. He kept it simple… or so it looks but Adam would only know how much of work has gone inside it to give it that simple look.
Adam is a late starter when it comes to the motorcycle thingy as a whole. He started to learn motorcycles as late as 25. But as from him, there is one good thing to learn being a late starter. While for most of us, our first bikes usually start off with a UJM, his first bike happened to be a Ducati Monster. But that bike was stolen and his next bike was a Moto Guzzi V11 Sport! He kept it for 2 years loving the old feel associated with it and then wanted to change his style to a more urban bike like a supermoto when as he mentions, he discovered custom motorcycles through Bike EXIF, Pipeburn and Visual Gratification. That got him started and he just couldn’t rest until he got himself a custom motorcycle. It took him another year thinking about how to get started. That much needed help came when Adam met the guys from a customized bike shop by the name of Victory Motorcycles in Camden, London. The owner of Victory Motorcycles, Rex (who has become a friend with Adam over time) specializes in BMW's and classic British iron.

Adam shared his idea with Rex of wanting to do something with a twin after getting inspired from many custom bikes as seen on the net, especially BMWs and Guzzis and luckily for dam, Rex had a R80/7 for sale. One thing led to other and they started working on the R80/7 project. Adam’s inspiration for this project came from looking at a racing Guzzi he saw on Bike EXIF. Adam says “I wanted a single seat, a long rear mudguard and a short chopped front mudguard like a bobber. I choose not to paint the tank after I had spent ages stripping off the old paint and filler after all that effort I didn't want to cover it up again with paint. I also wanted it to have no decals to me a boxer is a BMW so it doesn't need any info on the tank.” Under the guidance of Rex he started working on the project giving 2 days a week (that was all he could afford) and after 8 months of labour and pain, this beautiful BMW R80/7 was ‘born’!
Actually, I received a mail from Adam asking me whether I would like to feature the bike on the blog. Well, what were the chances? I jumped upon it and requested him to send pictures and information about the customized BMW and over the next few mails, Adam sent the photos and information. Okay, we know that the motorcycle is a BMW R80/7. The bike has a 1978 engine in a 1981 frame and forks, so as such it has a dual birth year! The 1981 bike has been stripped down to its frame. Whatever was thought as not necessary to the original design like battery box - plastic covers hooks - seat hinges and a few more bits was cut off from the frame.
Starting out, as mentioned, it was back in bare bones and so, the frame, sub-frame, swing arm, side stand, top yoke and wheels were powder coated in satin black. Most nuts, bolts and other chromed parts were re-plated in dull chrome or were replaced with stainless steel parts.
For the engine, K&N filters replaced the old air filter. The engine and gearbox was painted with black heat resistant paint. Traditional exhausts were replaced by new shorter ones and to give the bike a mean look, graphite impregnated exhaust wrap was used for the header pipes.
All alloy parts were actually hand wire brushed cleaned which gives it a totally looks new. The battery box mounted on top of the gearbox is custom made and the bike has a new Odyssey battery. The rear and front mudguard was chopped for the new look and painted with matt black colour and alloy respectively. Indicators and rear brake lights were outsourced and a hand fabricated rear break light holder was fabricated. The touring seat was replaced by a single scrambler styled seat.

The bike got new black handle bar and grips. The tank is stripped to the steel and hand sanded. A clear coat of lacquer is used to seal it. The old speedo and rev-counter was replaced with a single speedo unit. The speedo cable had to be joined to the speedo with a hand fabricated part.
Lots of nitty gritty things needed to be handed as well. For instance, the brake system which reserves normally under the tank were replaced to a handlebar mounted reservoir system. A second Brembo was added. The original single disc pad was replaced by two new stainless discs and steel braided hoses are used. The forks used here are brand new ones.
All in all, although the bike looks simple and that is because Adam has kept it very neat, a lot of things, well almost every part of the bike were touched. Adam really has done a wonderful job with due help from Rex’s Victory Motorcycles. The bike bullous tank gives it a bulldog like attitude while it very well retains the 80s look. I think Adam has met the expectations with which he set out. This has given an inspiration and confidence to him to go out with more projects. The bike very well looks like a customized bike from a experienced firm where as now we know even a single man with no experience can do such an amazing job. See, how determination and passion can get things done! Adam says, “I change the R80 from what I thought could be seen as a rather dull machine to a thing of old school rebellion. I wanted a machine that could be ridden every day and one that looks as cool as any custom. I think this BMW does just that. I also wanted to challenge myself as I have never done anything like this before I'm 45 so this could be my "midlife crisis" project. I think I have done a great job on this motorcycle and have a commission to customize a R80 to look like mine. I’m also working on a new luxurious R80 custom which should be ready next year.”
Adam has documented almost everything from start to finish in his blog Untitled Motorcycles. The bike has also been featured in 8negro and Ottonero. Congratulations Adam, way to go! We all really look forward to your next project. You can contact Adam kay through his email ID .

ITN - BENELLI, HUSQVARNA Hots Up EICMA

2010-11-08T01:49:00.000+05:30

The current hot news in the world of motorcycling is of course the EICMA in Milan Italy that got concluded yesterday. By now you must have known about all the latest machines from the Diavel to the new Daytona. Anyway, for those who attended the EICMA, some of the biggest buzz came from relatively two smaller players, Benelli and Husqvarna, small in terms of production and not small in terms of magnitude anyway. While the Diavel was expected as was the new range from Kawasaki and the Honda Crossover among others, what surprised the visitors was the Husqvarna Mille 3. Husqvarna is more known for their Motocross & Supermotard and currently doesn’t have any street or orther bikes in production. So it was rather surprising to see this unique three-cylinder concept motorcycle dubbed the Husqvarna Mille 3 Concept. Husqvarna has fused three dirt bike cylinders of 331 cc singles mated to a common crank to develop the mill displacing 993cc. It is actually a V3 or V-triple, but you get to see it as a twin but that too from far looks like a single and the other one is almost hidden. That is because there is a vertical cylinder and the other one actually having two cylinders. How it performs, as of now beyond the point as it is shown as a prototype just to display what Husqvarna is capable of and the office mentions that it has no plans for production as of now. The design cues are very reminiscent of its dirt and motard line.
The styling is most definitely Husqvarna. The bike has a low-slung chassis which will make you recall Husqvarna central "tubone" design, the single-piece tubular form, spoked rims matted to fat street tires, double rear beam, with aluminum stays fitted to the outside of the chassis uprights. The wheelbase is long, and the seat height seems ideal for daily riding. But then again, the rearward position of the footrests along with the kind-of off-road handlebars make the riding position an aggressive one and in total gives you the impression that this bike has an attitude of a street dragger cum go anywhere bike. According to Husqvarna, the Mille3 is a "concept study demonstrating Husqvarna's ability to design with highly diverse technical solutions, creating a dynamic and seductive contrast.” As of now, this Swedish firm, owned by a German firm (BMW) and having its base in Italy is probably judging the people’s view and of course they are getting a lot of press which is anyway a good thing since the likes of Husqvarna (read companies into dirt and motorads) do not make many headlines in events or expos. But then, should we not wait for some time because I do expect that certain piece of good news and opening of a completely new genre.

Benelli, the Italian firm, now a days more known for its high priced up market niche products was established in 1911. The brand which gave the world ‘The Sei’ will be completing 100 years or rather hitting the ‘Century’ in two months time. To commensurate the grand occasion, Benelli decided to celebrate the anniversary with some interesting new products on display at this year’s EICMA in Milan, Italy. Among the products, the bike which made the most rattle is the TNT Century Racer. The bike carries the genes of the 899 Racer TNT with a new frame and the new ‘Centenary’ colour. TNT, as you would be familiar stands for Tornado naked Tre, Tre standing for its in line three engine.
The TNT 899 Century Racer will replace the TNT 899 (regular in white and red colours) by the first quarter of next year. The outgoing model parts that will continue include the front Marzocchi 50mm fully adjustable black anodized shocks, disk brakes with Brembo radial calipers (320mm front and 240mm at the rear) while at the chassis, there will be the addition of ZF SACHS rear shock, fully adjustable and a change to the mapping unit.
Another addition to its portfolio includes the R160 that was also showcased last year at the EICMA. The R160 has already made it to the company website with its striking red colour with its matt titanium frame. The new TNT R160 will also be available in February 2011. For the 68th edition of EICMA, Benelli also unveiled a new scooters, Mace CaffèNero 125 and a bigger 150 cc version.

ITN - World's First Motorcycle goes under the hammer

2010-11-01T15:55:00.006+05:30

First pic of the model going under the hammer, second pic of the one previously auctioned in UK

This came in my mail from press@dravcarn.com

HILDEBRAND & WOLFMULLER – THE WORLD’S FIRST
PRODUCTION MOTORCYCLE – TO HEADLINE LAS VEGAS SALE
Tremendously rare German vehicle joins line-up of nearly 200 motorcycles.
For immediate release. 1 November 2010 – San Francisco – Bonhams is very proud to make the uncommon announcement that a complete 1895 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller has been consigned and will be offered at the firm’s first annual Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction in January.
Coming from a private American collection where it has resided for approximately half a century, the 115-year old motorbike has been lightly and sympathetically restored some decades ago and is wonderfully patinated. In addition to its excellent condition, this pioneering vehicle is of the utmost historical significance because it was the first powered two-wheeler to enter series production and is the first vehicle to which the name “motorcycle” (motorrad in German) was ever applied.
This extraordinary news follows the record-breaking sale of another Hildebrand & Wolfmüller offered by Bonhams earlier this year in Britain. That 1894 relic caused considerable excitement across the world resulting in a packed salesroom and an above-estimate selling price of £86,200. The model being offered for Las Vegas next January is substantially superior and carries a conservative estimate of $130,000-$150,000.
The first annual Bonhams Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction will take place Thursday, January 6th, 2011 at The Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino hosted by the Auto Collection at the heart of the Strip. For information about the sale, visit http://www.bonhams.com/vegas.

Attached photo courtesy of Bonhams and Motorcycle Classics

History: The factory for the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycles started out in Munich, Germany in 1894. The name is derived from the engineers involved in making, as to what is officially, the world’s first motorcycle. They were the German brothers, Henry and Wilhelm Hilderbrand and a third German gentleman, Alois Wolfmüller who were also assisted by Wolfmüller’s mechanic, Hans Geisenhof. Actually there were 2 wheelers before, but the term mottorad (German for motorcycles) was first used for this brand. Plus the fact that the motorcycle is the first powered 2 wheeler which had a series production almost gives it an ‘Adam’esque image for motorcycles. Thereby the importance and significance of this brand to automobile history is needless to mention.
The motorcycle was powered by a huge 1.5 liter water-cooled, four-stroke, twin-cylinder engine. It had a maximum power output of 2.5bhp @ 240rpm which made the large machine travel at speeds of up to 65kmph (30mph) at a time when the century was mentioned as 18th and now we are in the 21st. Think about it. The year was 1894. The machine used direct drive instead of a chain or shaft, with connecting rods from the cylinders acting directly on the rear wheel via eccentrics, just think of an chuk-chuk train that you see in black and white movies with smoke coming out from the engine. Of course, as one would expect, the whole world greeted it with enthusiasm and the brand also set up a second unit in France and marketed there as ‘La Petrolette'. But the bike had too many shortcomings, even if it was a first among firsts. Within 3 years, after almost all customers complained and the firm collapsed. Of course, now its value is unparalleled. There is somewhere about 800 to 2,000 of these motorcycles produced. Yes, the estimate has a high variance, but both figures are debatable and survivors… well, after more than a century, how many do you expect? Bonhams has, in fact sold one this year (as mentioned in the quoted text above) in UK for £86,200 while this more robust and done up model is expected to fetch between $130,000 to $150,000. The model that was sold in January was with a U.S family since the last 80 years or more.

Visual Gratification - NORTON Commando 961

2010-10-28T01:12:00.000+05:30

Source of Video: Motorcycle News, Source of some photos: Motorcycle USA

Sara Eileen & her Triumph Bobber

2010-10-24T13:29:00.003+05:30

The gorgeous lady is Sara Eileen and for all the right reasons, she has been quite a toast for motorcycle blogs. This lady of course is no poser, she is the real deal. That she can pass off as a model with her long legs and beautiful hair and pretty face is altogether a different thing, but she knows her ‘bike’, a retro fashioned Triumph customized to a Bobber. The way she dresses certainly ads up to the overall character of the bobber image. If you think about a bobber with one half of your brain and think about Sara (as you picture her) with the other half, words like Cool, Grungy, Retro, might pop up. Somehow the lady and this particular bike compliment each other. In fact, Sara is no celebrity, neither a model, but she has been featured on the cover of Big Twin magazine. I mean, it is rare thing that being a everyday person, you get featured on a cover of a magazine for just being you.

Credit also needs to go to the bike designer and also the photographer. The photographer of the images capturing Sara is a gentleman from Holland, Mr. Maurice van den Tillaard, who is a photographer by profession. Very brilliantly, he has set even the settings of the backgrounds to 70s and 80s styling, the houses, the car, the railway crossing, I mean no high rise buildings or flyovers on the background which would have been on contrast with the overall character of the bike and Sara. Images of Sara on the beautiful Triumph are available in Maurice website (here and here), blog and flickr accounts.

Well, the bike was probably ‘re-done’ by one Mr. Toby or so it seems. I am saying that because I tried various links to see who had worked on the Triumph, but all I could get was that. If anyone reading this knows more about it, please do share it. For sure I know, the tank was designed by Mr. Max Scaff. Max has a blog by the name of 4Q Conditioning and his posts on Sara’s Triumph can be found here and here. The tank is a real beauty, very uncharacteristic of a bike, let alone a bobber, but just so fitting here. I don’t know how max had this idea, but he had pulled off a stunner.Additional images of Sara were sourced from Pin Up Girl Gallery.

Pure Visual Gratification - The EGLI VINCENT

2010-10-20T01:06:00.006+05:30

In the small Normandy village of Malaunay in Northern France, Patrick Godet and his small team of craftsmen produce the Egli-Vincent, a living recreation of the most exquisite motorcycle ever made… “The” HRD Vincent.

Releive the moments through these pictures as the greatest motorcycle ever built gets hand made. Seen in the last two pictures is the man himself, Pattrick Godet who is a supreme being among us because he really has the power to give life.

All Photos courtesy of http://godet-vincent.moonfruit.com/. For the original website to know more about the Egli Vincent, visit Godet Motorcycles or you could read a previous post on this blog. All above photographs taken by photographer David McCairley.

ITN - New Speed Triple, V-Max in Leather, CR&S 'DUU'

2010-10-17T22:38:00.001+05:30

After the first CR&S motorcycle, the VUN, now the company CR&S (short for Café Racers and Superbikes) is showcasing their second customized bike at the at the 68th International Bicycle and Motorcycle Show to be held November 2 to 7 at the Milan Fair. Named as DUU, you may remember the prototype was first exhibited during the 2009 EICMA.
‘DUU’ in Italain stands for ‘duo’ indicating the two liter (1916 cc) dual engine plus being a two seater. The DUU is a naked premium motorcycle with a typical sporty European styling combined very effectively with a big twin, typical of American muscle bikes. The engine retains the S&S “X-Wedge" engine, its character and high performance. Customers of the DUU can choose his motorcycle through a wide range of technical and aesthetic options offering countless configuration options including styling options like a single or two-seater.
The CR&S DUU, just like the elder sibling VUN, is made with high quality, durable materials using the best components and the motorcycle according to CR&S is aimed at “mature” motorcyclists who demand a little more from their custom bikes. Each motorcycle is hand made by the CR&S team which means they work on only one CR&S DUU at one time. The first batch is expected to roll out early 2011 with a production volume of a few dozen units per year. Price will start from € 22,000 ($30, 500). Unlucikly, the entire 2011 projected lot has been already reserved, in a way, it is sold out even before its release. It is the high quality and less quantity which makes the CR&S brand so sought after. The DUU has already been chosen in the MAD-Moto Art Design as one of the best designs in the last 50 years.
The CR&S website had all the info and loads of photos on the DUU and you may visit the ‘Download’ area for higher resolution images.

That the YAMAHA V-Max is one of the best looking power bikes is beyond anyone’s argument. But then some people just can’t enough of its beauty and now want something more. What you see here is the YAMAHA V-Max Hermes. It has been created so that the V-Max won’t go unnoticed. Yeah, right!, as if it was really hard spotting a V-Max. So wht is the Hernes, as you can see it is almost fully covered in leather giving the V-Max a unique and exotic look and feel.
Hermes, as you are aware is an internationally recognized fashion house. So when it decided to don clothes for the V-Max as a custom made motorcycle, you know it will stand out. Yamaha will be releasing three colour patterns to these limited edition series and each pattern will have a two-tone colour. Available colours are the V-Max "Red Demon", dark red and brown satin sheen magnesium, the V-Max Orange Metallic "orange satin highlighted with a brown band and magnesium V-Max Soft Brown "white and brown magnesium. You have to pre-order to book the custom bikes and more painstakingly, you have to go to France for the same as these are released by the Yamaha France company only for the French market.
Literally, this is a combination of ultimate fashion and power. No doubt, one of the best products coming out from the Japanese giant deservedly needed a more luxurious image for a select few and along with the buffalo leather, the custom bike also gets additional custom made items like brushed aluminum mirrors, meter case and exhaust.These V-Max Limited Edition are priced at € 23, 490 ($32, 850) including VAT.

One of the most celebrated and iconic bikes from the current generation is getting a makeover in a big way. Yes, this is the 2011 Triumph Speed Triple, a bike which finds many favours in Hollywood and also among the Hollywood Superstars. It retains the typical edgy, bare bones brytal styling but as you can see, the headlights get a complete new makeover with (kind of less bug eye and more) cat eyes which is the major difference. Performance figures are better. Actually the Speed triple has been hitting the gym and so not only has it only lost 3 kg/ 5 pound but it has also gained 7bhp and 6lb/ft or additional power and torque. The outgoing model had power and torque figures of 128bhp @ 9,250rpm and 76lb/ft @ 7,550rpm while the 2011 model as such delivers 135bhp of power @ 9,400rpm and 82lb/ft of torque @ 7,750rpm. Weight has reduced from 217kg/477lbs to 214kg/472 (wet). The weight loss program needs to thank the all-new aluminum chassis. The riding position has also shifted a little forward and Triumph believes it will improve handling. Yes, the Speed Triple will also have ABS as optional and has new 43mm USD forks that are fully adjustable (Showa Monoshock with adjustable preload, rebound and compression damping, 130mm rear wheel travel retaining the single sided swingarm). Other new things also include a new pair of dials and clocks. You can choose from three colour variants, Phantom Black, Crystal White and Diablo Red.

Visit the TRIUMPH 2011 Speed Triple website for more information.

Watchout! The RENARD Grand Tourer 2010

2010-10-15T01:55:00.002+05:30

Is it a Confederate Wraith? Is it a Guzzi? It is a Renard! Well this Confederate looks styling, Guzzi engine styling motorcycle is a new custom made high end motorcycle. Only that the components used in the motorcycle seems to be even more exotic than similar custom maker motorcycle brands.

Renard believes a motorcycle should be more than just transportation. Our aim is to combine functionality, quality and stylish looks, and put them at your disposal. Essentially: we want to share our passion for motorcycles with you.
Andres Uibomäe
June 2010

This is what you will first see/ read when you visit the Renard website. I am not very sure if you can spot them even in Estonia (that is where they get made, we will come to that later), so for the time being let us just enjoy it on the virtual world. So, under no circumstance can anyone mistake this motorcycle as just a mode of transportation. But Mr. Andres, you aim to combine functionality, quality and stylish looks was achieved rather pretty easily. One must say you have accumulated a team of very talented people. To start off, let us bow to the Renard Motorcycles development team of Andres Uibomäe, Kaarel Kivikangur, Kaido Karjus, Mait Mahlapuu, Karl-Eerik Unt and Siim West. What a product!

This particular model is promoted as a GT (Grand Tourer) model. Without pictures of a rider on it, I am not too sure about that since the Confederate doesn’t kind of give you the best image of a GT, nonetheless, it just might be if Renard is promoting it in a particular way, the Renard Grand Tourer 2010. It gives the impression and is actually a power cruiser, but Renard refers to it as a sports power cruiser, ‘a symbol of individuality and power, with best-in-class handling and built in quality’. As much as I try to ignore, I just cannot deviate my thoughts as how strikingly similar this GT model is to the Wraith. I guess at first strike, most of us will feel the same way. Then after noticing the engine, I thought this must be a custom made Guzzi. Well, part of that is true. All of these thoughts slowly stared going away and you will really start to really appreciate the bike once you look at the components and materials used in the bike. Take a look at the small images below showing the clutch holster, tail light and other things. I am telling you it really has an exotic feel.
Okay, we can come back to appreciating the beauty later, let’s see what goes inside the motor. ‘The DNA of the Renard Grand Tourer is engineering intelligence – an ultra-light composite unibody, longitudinally mounted V2 engine and components that represent the cutting edge of the motorcycle industry.’ As I tried to find out what kind of engineering intelligence has gone inside it, I found that the GT monocoque is made in carbon fiber and reinforced with Kevlar. For those few uninformed, monocoque differs from a frame or chassis as in a monocoque the external skin is utilized to support bulk of the weight unlike an internal frame or chassis that needs further cosmetic finish. This way not only is the bike lighter, but is gets cheaper and much tougher. It is a win-win situation and this is where the next stage of motorcycling is heading to.
And now what is Kevlar? Kevlar is a material that is formed by weaving, like a spider web and so it is extremely tough, but very light. It is so diverse in its use that is can be and is used for bullet proof vests to bicycle frames to tyres and also to get protection from even tornados! yes it is that diverse. Nonetheless it is a premium product. It doesn’t rust, difficult to corrode and almost insensitive to heat. FYI, it was created by Stephanie Kwolek and Herbert Blades. Point I am trying to make is that as mentioned, Renard has used high quality materials for this niche product.
The monocoque weighs only 11 kilograms integrating the motorcycle’s frame, petrol tank and air box into a single load-bearing structure. The GT’s grid suspension is adjustable in two directions, and… okay, okay, it does remind of the Wraith every time but just think imitation is the best form of flattery. But again it is just not the girder fork, event the seat and frame beneath it reminds me of the Wraith. Anyway... the girder fork is adjustable for rake and trail as well as the preload and rebound damping.
Renard has used hardened-aluminum (aircraft aluminum) components that will give the machine unmatched quality and reliability. The bike weighs just 190 kilograms.
Okay, now getting back to what’s inside the heart. That engine is unmistakably a Guzzi and yes, it is a Guzzi. I guess that is where the tourer part comes in. The engine is a air cooled V-Twin displacing 1151cc through its eight-valve belting out 125 hp of power @ 8000 rpm and and 120 Nm of torque @ 6000 rpm which will give you an idea that with that much weight, this bike will be pretty fast. And so it is a Sports Grand Tourer! As per the claims in the website, the bike has the potential of doing 230kmph. I won’t be surprised but that does seem to be an optimistic figure. Nonetheless, the Guzzi engine is a potent one, has got good torque at low revs and of course as a traditional Guzzi, you can expect a silky smooth acceleration.

A little history on Renard says that Renard started out as a motorized bicycle company in 1938 in Estonia founded by one Mr. J. Laan. In French, renard means ‘Fox’ and likewise in the motorized bicycles, there was the logo of renard with a fox head. The company started out with a 98cc Sachs engine. During WWII, the Renard factory was destroyed and after the war, the company just ceased to make any impact. It is believed that there are no complete pre-war Renard motorized bicycle existing today, but someone has caught hold of a frame somewhere in this world as mentioned in some forum.
After more than half a century, a group of entrepreneurs from Estonia wanted to make Estonia’s first motorcycle of the new century. Joining hands with bike racing engineers and bike designers, they thought what better way than to give the name Renard, a true Estonian symbol. Two years in the making and this year in April, the “prototype” was displayed at the Hanover Technology Fair. The motorcycle will go for production next year, so it is very much round the corner. There will be just 100 Renard GT each year and with the things going inside, this bike will be expensive, no two things about that. The finishing is simply outstanding, the materials as reminded time and again are all high class. Again, do check the small pictures on full scale and you will be impressed. According to Andres, “This is a surgeon’s blade on two wheels, providing you with a complete and powerful riding experience.” No one is going to argue with that. One thing we will all be waiting for is its first test ride, nonetheless, one can expect a bike to perform very strongly yet smoothly with precise handling.

Source of info: RENARD Official Website. Source of photos: RENARD & Motoblog Italy

Specifications
Engine: 1151cc, Air Cooled, Eight Valve, V2 90° Moto Guzzi Quattrovalvole
Maximum power and torque: 125 hp (90kW) @ 8000 RPM & 120 Nm @ 6000 RPM
Top speed: 230 km/h
Chassis: Carbon fiber/Kevlar monocoque chassis
Front & Rear suspension: 2 way & 3 way adjustable Öhlins
Front & Rear brakes: Twin semifloating discs, 320 mm with 12.6" six piston monoblock calipers & Single semifloating disc, 220 mm; 8.7" four piston monoblock caliper.
Front & Rear wheels: Carbon fiber 3.50 x 17" & 5.50 x 17"
Front & Rear tires: 120/70 ZR17 & 190/55 ZR17
Dimensions: Lenght: 2100 mm; 83"/ Width: 840mm; 33"/ Height: 990 mm; 39"
Seat height & Minimum ground clearance: 850 mm; 33" & 140 mm; 5.5"
Wheelbase: 1450 mm; 57"
Dry weight: 190kg (419 pounds)
Fuel tank capacity: 18 liters (4.8 gallon)

The Official Video of KAWASAKI W800

2010-10-13T16:46:00.004+05:30

What is it with Classics making a big time come back? Triumph with their 'Classics' series has never left the scene, neither has Ducati with their 'Sport Classic GT', Honda is making a comeback with their 'CB1100', so is Yamaha with the Sakura and Royal Enfield with the 'Classic 500'. Well then can Kawasaki be far behind? Actually they always had the 'W650' (2004 & 2005 model), but some time back, the motorcycle stopped production only to make way for the 'W800'. The W800 looks a lot like the RE Classic 500 which in fact is a great compliment in itself. Anyway, for us classic suckers, the more the merrier! And Kawasaki has released the official video for W800. Superb video and what a looker! Enjoy!

Here is the official link to Kawasaki W800.

Cafe Racer series on Discovery HD

2010-10-12T13:25:00.002+05:30

The much anticipated Cafe Racer series on Discovery HD Theater is debuting tommorow (Oct' 13). The series would be featuring 13 episodes focussing on the cult of Cafe Racers, the legend behind it, the 60s and 70s in UK highlighting the Ton Up Club and Rockers among others. Just as Choppers had their time a few years back, the 60s and 70s were the Cafe Racer time and just as with other cults, the Cafe Racer also had its share of negative publicity. But then there were far more too many good things about it and no wonder the ult is coming back in a big way, you see almost every major brand is coming out with retro classics, more of in air cooled twin naked motorcycle mould. To live the moments of those time, Discovery HD will be your freind and companion for the next 13 weeks.

For a clipping, see the video which comes courtesy Cafe Racer TV.

Source: Return of Cafe Racers through Pipeburn.

REELZ Channel lists 'Top 10 Motorcycle Movies'

2010-10-12T12:16:00.003+05:30

Source REELZ Channel through Motoblog Italy

1. Easy Rider 2.The Matrix Reloaded 3.The Dark Knight 4.The Great Escape

5.Terminator 2: Judgment Day 6.Tomorrow Never Dies 7.Mission: Impossible 2 8.The Wild One

9. The World's Fastest Indian 10.The Bourne Ultimatum

The Lauge Jensen Motorcycle

2010-10-10T11:29:00.001+05:30

How quick can you name a motorcycle manufacturer from Denmark? Okay, I got this, there was this company some time ago who is credited with building the first production motorcycle to have telescopic forks, what was the name? Let me help you, you are thinking Nimbus, right? Okay, you got that right, now name another! I suspect, the name won't come to you, so let me help you. It's Lauge Jensen. Yes, it is by the name of the owner and don't fret if you haven't heard about it. It is a production company but very much in the lines of Confederate and Ecosse. And so, yes, they are very pricey. It caters to the elite or well heeled class and so you won't get to know a lot about it from magazines, etc. How pricey are we talking about? About 32,000 Euro (about 44000 USD) plus taxes. If you think, that particular motorcycle has nothing going for it to cost a bomb, let me remind you, the brand is elusive and it is not for us. And if you think me or you won't buy it even if we had that kind of money, we think alike, but not those for whom the bike caters to. So, let us just enjoy the bike and forget the price. But before that, just let me remind you if unfortunately you are not born in Denmark, the taxes for non Denmark people is 100%, so the bike would cost you 64,000 Euro or around 88,000 USD. Tch! Tch! Tch! as I said, let us not debate about the price, okay, just let it be.

So Lauge Jensen Ltd. is registered in Denmark and owned by motorcycle builder Uffe Lauge Jensen. The man is a very skilled and experienced custom builder. The motorcycle you see here is the first from his production house and he has built it the way he envisages a motorcycle should be and the way it should look like. So, according to Mr. Jensen, a motorcycle should look so stunning that you would probably not want to ride it and just keep it in the living room. His motorcycle is something which those selected customers can demand and Jensen would be able to put through the demand. As such, the majority of the individual parts are designed by Jensen himself and are developed and created especially for Lauge Jensen. Whatever he can procure, he does procure, but only from the best quality available in the world.
Actually the Lauge Jensen motorcycle was launched last year around this period and for its launch, a special place was chosen, the Horsens Museum of Art, after all this is a piece of art worthy of any museum and to do the honors, the Mayor, Jan Trojburg, himself was present. Officially, this is the first production motorcycle from Denmark since Nimbus closed shop in the early 60s. It was the result of four years of development work from Jensen to create a custom built, modern motorcycle. For Jensen, it had to be the ultimate motorcycle and for that he has to not only meet but also to beat the international standards. In many ways, it seems he has been successful. More so considering the fact that he had to come through a lot of the country regulations since Denmark legislations has only bike importers, not manufacturers. That was another battle altogether which he won however. Not that it was easy because initially the Denmark government refused to acknowledge his cause, but then this Jensen guy is also a stubborn lot.

He had to get international approval despite many experts pinning him down, but he overcame all this to the point that he even got sponsorers for the project. Also let me remind you that the Lauge Jensen motorcycle even meets Euro 3 emission norms, a norm so strict even bigger companies are finding it hard to meet. The icing on the cake is that the sponserors for the motorcycle is none other than German Bundesamt (German Federal Office) and their approval means it doesn't need any more approval from anywhere in the world. All the tests have been conducted through the German testing institute TÜV. These exclusive motorcycles are of course hand built and they have started coming to life in a small workshop in Gedved near Horsens.
The bike has quite a few variations in terms of colours, such as black, pearl white, orange, chrome black and recently added a few more like blue and a red-black combo. The frame is a single tube frame with a drop seat with a seating height of only 40 cm. The frame is intentionally made curvaceous, after all don’t we all refer to our motorcycles as ‘she’?. It is very well proportioned and looks to be pretty comfortable. The seat is custom made as per the customer’s requirement based on his/ her height and weight so that the customer can derive the maximum comfort. The tear drop tank is a real beauty. The tank holds almost 20 liters of petrol, good for a distance of approximately 550 kms. The front fork is crafted by mirror polished aluminium milled in one piece. Inside the tank is a newly developed high technology fuel pump that feeds the engine system with fuel under constant pressure. A built-in fuel indicator completes the recognizable Lauge Jensen tank. The single unit console is fully digital with all types of information you seek or need normally.

The engine is a 1792cc V-Twin air-cooled engine and almost the entire engine from the camshafts to valves and pistons are specially made for Lauge Jensen. The engine comes in three colours, highly polished aluminium, neutral aluminium and black. Bore and stroke is 101.6 mm x 107.5 mm with compression ratio of 10:1. You shouldn’t expect a road monster out of such high quality lifestyle bikes and you will not be disappointed. You see those few who can afford it, certainly won’t buy this machinery for burning the road. Power is adequate though at 70 hp@4300 rpm, just as you would expect from a similar size cruiser and the bike has a top speed of 180 kmph delivered by a six speed transmission. The exhausts ends with two separate mufflers with built in catalytic converters. The bike rests on 130/70R 18 and 250/40R 18 tyres in the front and back with rim sizes of 3.5 x 18 and 8.5 x 18.
Uffe Lauge Jensen has created a motorcycle where the customer can connect to his/ her prized possesion because the customer can put his or her personal touch on the design and in this way becomes a co-custom designer. Of course, as per the requirements, prices will vary for each motorcycle but as mentioned before, you can expect at least to pay the said amount. The customer has to pay 13,500 Euro (roughly 18,500 USD) upfront on signing the contract and s/he is allowed to watch the motorcycle take birth from ground up. It of course will come with warranty and free services. And if you only wish to rent the motorcycle for a specific time, you can do so too. Why I do not like calling these kind of motorcycles as 'Custom' is because usually in a custom motorcycle, the engine is usually borrowed where as Lauge Jensen, Confederate or Ecosse uses their own engines, so it is more of a production motorcycle. The engine is also sold separately through Lauge Jensen Parts.

Source of info and pictures - Lauge Jensen website

Visual Gratification - Moto Guzzi V7 Racer

2010-10-08T22:32:00.000+05:30

Some time back, I had posted news relating to a new bike from Moto Guzzi and now it has finally happened. Since last EICMA, all motorcycles fans have been anticipating about a Café Racer from Moto Guzzi based on the V7 Classic. Well, the expected V7 Clubman, nee V7 Racer (as it has been named) is here finally. Now that the final version is out, we can very well say that not deviating too much from its concept models, Moto Guzzi has delivered a nostalgic beauty with modern features.
The bike of course looks awesome. C’mon, it’s Italian and it’s a Guzzi, what do you expect? Who would have expected a tank leather strap over the tank? Would you have expected a red coat on the chassis and swingarm? But look at this beauty. Beautiful hubs spoked wheels, adjustable rearsets, double tube shock absorbers, everything cries out loud of the 70s styling.

This is a compact bike which will inspire confidence on the rider with its superb handling and braking. A single disc on the front is of 320mm, with a 4-piston Brembo caliper while rear disc is of 260mm. Seats are well padded. This bike is mainly meant for people who would prefer to have a nice stroll around the city.Let’s not get too carried away as this bike is not going to be a great street racer as it features the same 750cc twin engine as the V7, but what Guzzi is trying to offer is more focused on the passion of a café racer. None the less, it gets a new exhaust system developed by Arrow to improve performance. The power output could be expected to touch around 50 hp. Also like the V7, you can also expect some vibrations north of the tachometer reading 7000. The thing is that there are only going to be a few, yes, the V7 Racer is a Limited Edition version, so Guzzi is not at all bothered about sales and other things. Price has been kept at par with the V7 Classic at 7,860.00 Euro, which is not cheap, but then being a L.E, what did you expect? Well, I do not expect to get hold of it, so why not let my eyes give me some visual gratification?

Source of photos: Motoblog Italy

The VR6 from HOREX

2010-10-06T02:12:00.000+05:30

Whenever we talk about German motorcycles, we only think about BMW. Well that shows the dominance of the company and also that they are the only existing worldwide German motorcycle company. If you try hard, the names of Adler, DKW, Munch, MZ and a few others will crop up. In all probably there were over 300 small and big manufacturers from Germany and about 90% of them are extinct now. Recently a firm by the name of Horex has made some news with their new roadster and something tells me that this is the start of something big. Horex will showcase their new motorcycle, the VR6 in the Colonge Intermot this week that is to be held from today (6th to 10th October). Horex is a small company from Garching but with some real big plans with their new 6 cylinder roadster.
So far, the reborn German marque has introduced only 2 complete motorcycles and it is very much in the lines of the prototypes that were showcased in Munich, Germany this June. One of them develops a very healthy 160 bhp from its naturally aspirated engine and so you can guess how much the other, that is, the supercharged version will get to! An incredible 230 bhp from a non GP non racing roadster bike! Now that is something to surely raise many an eyebrows. They would also show their new VR6 machine inside out, that is in the raw form, dissected.

The six cylinder engine encompasses 1218cc, but what is unique for the engine is the layout as evident from the pictures below. It is neither an inline nor a V, but kind of a mixture of both. It is the VR engine. The engine has a 15-degree angle between the two rows of three cylinders, which share the same cylinder block and cylinder head which work in three parallel arranged camshafts for three valves per cylinder. This makes it narrower and shorter than a regular V6. Of course the benefits are many but I presume the biggest benefit is that you can have the refinement of a 6 cylinder engine even on a smaller bike like this roadster and it doesn’t have to be a Goldwing.
All credit for the incredibly beautiful and new motorcycle needs to go to Clemens Neese and his team. Mr. Nesse is an IT guy (he completely looks the part) with not much of a background in motorcycles. But it is his passion for motorcycles and being a realist helped. He had a vision, but he didn’t have money. In 2004, when he visualized about this new project, he knew to make a mark in the fiercely competitive world, he will need an USP if his model has to stand above or even stand out. By 2005, he got his team together consisting of his close friends, Frank Fischer and Fritz Rombach and they started working from the bottom of the pyramid. The soul of the pyramid is of course the unique engine layout, referred as the "VR engine" and in 2007, patented it. VR engines follow a design principle in which the number of engines (four or more) cylinders are in two rows in a manner as mentioned above. In this VR6, each cylinder head has two intake valves and a single exhaust valve, all operated by the three parallel camshafts.

Anyway, soon he found other believers and there were financiers willing to sponsor the project. A private investor bank from Germany, KfW SME Bank and even the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology were willing to bet on its success. In 2009, he bought the rights for the brand name Horex. 6 years in the making and now we have a brand new German bike. The engine was developed with the help of the engineers from the University of Munich and with the technical assistance from Volkswagen who also make the VR, rather the VW engine. But as such, the engine was developed from the ground up and theoretically, only the basic principle of the new Horex engine is comparable to the Volkswagen. Rolls Royce is also mentioned as a partner.
We will get to the Horex brand in a short while. So is it just the name or are there similarities with the original brand? Nesse plans were to design the new bike like the original Horex machines such as the Regina or the Emperor, but of course with a modern yet retro touch. The original Horex motorcycles had clean lines, high quality and German engineering and all of these traits are there on the new Horex. Clean lines and retro styling meant no plastics or aerodynamic shields which also meant that the engine outline have to be borne from a designer point of view. And what a beauty it has turned out to be. Look at the images and you will be drawn to the engine. You will notice that there is an aluminum bridge frame that surrounds the engine and you can see the six exhaust headers flow from the engine leading to three silencers all on the same side. The VR6 engine is liquid cooled and it has a six-speed transmission with a belt drive transferring power to the rear wheel.
Front forks, as evident are upside-down with 50 mm tubes and 130 mm of spring travel. At the rear is a single-sided swingarm with damping handled by a central spring strut. The double-disc front brakes are fitted with radial four-piston calipers while the single-disc rear uses a two-piston caliper brake.

The Regina & the Imperator

A little history of the Horex Company. Horex was founded in 1923 by the Rex Glassware Company. Since it was in Hombarg, the name was fused as HoRex. Initially, Horex started out building motorcycles with Columbus four-stroke engines from Oberursel and within 2 years, both companies merged keeping the Horex brand name. These 4S engines were all single cylinder engines with cubic capacity ranging 250 to 600 cc. In the mid thirties, 2 chain driven over head cam parallel twins of 600 and 800 cc were manufactured. After WWII, Horex resumed business with a 350cc single cylinder model, the Regina (SB 35). Regina became the most successful model for horex and most of the existing Horex motorcycles are from the Regina series albeit different engine sizes. Other successful models included a 30 bhp 500 cc OHC parallel twin called the Imperator and of course the Emperor. The Regina came out in 1948 and in 1955, it was replaced by the Resident. In 1960, Daimler-Benz took over the company and motorcycle production was halted permanently. Overall all the Horex models were known for their pace as they were supposedly quite fast with high initial torque and of course the engineering too.
The new VR6 models will be priced upwards of €20,000 (about £17,400/ $27,700). The new Horex will come standard with ABS. The models would be available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland by next year, Horex plans an international release. Yes, we are all awaiting for its first ride and road tests but until then you cannot even hear the engine because Horex doesn’t plan it to even start the engine during the show but Nesse says it sounds real sweet. Fingers crossed!
Visit the official HOREX website for all theinformation as to how the design came into being, what goes inside the motor and all other details. There are also loads of desktop images of huge sizes. Photo source of new VR6 courtesy the official Horex website. Photo source of classic Horex motorcycles: Classic Motorbikes. Also visit the biggest Horex club online on this link for loads of information and whole lots of owner’s photos.

Close Look - CONFEDERATE P120 Black Flag Video

2010-10-04T12:15:00.001+05:30

A close look at the $72,000+ Confederate P120 Black Flag. A decent review done by LA Times. I would suggest you to watch it in full screen. The resolution is quite good.

The Breitling Cafe Racer by Santiago Chopper

2010-10-01T02:05:00.001+05:30

This is the Breitling Café Racer. I have occasionally come across the name of Santiago Chopper, a name more familiar amongst chopper lovers. I also knew that time and again Santiago Chopper has been associated with some brilliant custom bikes and more so with Trikes. What I didn’t knew was that Alan Bernard, the owner of Santiago Chopper was not just into choppers and trikes as evident from the images here. More is the accolade because the bike you see here is a true blue café racer and a great looking bike. From a man who has mostly spent his time on choppers and trikes, it is time well spent behind the café racer. And the reason behind building this bike is something you can only bow your head to… to Alan. All proceeds from the sale of this Cafe Racer will be going to the Curing Kids Cancer Funds, an organization which helps young kids with the dreaded cancer disease.

Now Alan Bernard was a client of a certain French born Georges Martin, a gentleman who was credited in revolutionizing the café Racer movement in 1970s as he specialized in café racers. From gas tanks to handlebars to rear fenders to the frame, George did it all. George had the uncanny ability of turning UJMs (like a 1976 Honda CB750 Four) to go faster than bullets. Inspired by George and of course Alan always had the street racing gene in his blood, he decided to build a café racer. So why the name Breitling? Since Breitling as we know is a swiss watch making company. Actually, Alan previously built a bike for its owner and he also wanted the café racer to be associated with something very precise, like a chronograph, and so thereby the name.

So what has gone inside the Breitling? The engine is borrowed from the maniac Kawasaki Z1000 and the frame, well what better than to have a frame built by George Martin himself! The swing arm, wheels and suspension are from a 2007 Suzuki GSX-R600. It also has a Benelli seat. You know George Martin stays in France and to get this bike done, Alan was absolutely sure he needed a Martin frame. To get to the man, he launched a man hunt in France and actually tracked down George Martin. Alan has been part of the Euro clan of 70s Café Racer, the Ton Up Club, Rockers, etc. In the U.S, which has basically a more chopper market, he set shop with the intention of gaining recognisation in a market that is prevalent, but now with age or shall we say, experience on his side, he wanted to build something for himself.

The trellis frame looks and compliments the overall package. The round headlamp is big and reminiscent of 70s styling. The golden forks up front readily enhances the look of the bike while the 4 in line pipes coming out of the air cooled engine in dark black subtely cries out that this is one bad mean machine. The white strip passes from the tank to the rear hump ending on the small tail lamp. It has a big swingarm on the rear monoshock, parts of the engine are done up in shining metal, the bike also features a kick start, very much a tribute to the 70s and the one off exhaust have been cut and shaped by Aztech Welding. Overall if you look at the bike, it has been kept very minimal and simple, yet it will demand repeated views from you.

The Breitling is not the first Café Racer that he has built. Some time back, he has built the Café 1958, a very delicious looking Café Racer (photos at the bottom) and the Café 1958 was built for speed and handling with a frame and overall layout impersonating a GP road racer. I find the Café 1958 more appealing, like a true café racer, elongated tank, a humped seat to assist the rider to ‘tuck in’ and short handlebars for better control at high speeds while the Breitling is more chic, a more art version. The Café 1958 features a Panhead Outlaw 120” from Accurate Engineering, a 6-speed gearbox, 450 Honda Super Moto wheels, a Sportster front end, Suzuki GSXR hand and foot controls, a Triumph gas tank, Benelli 350 seat and shocks, etc. The Café 1958 won "The Best of Show" at The Tropical Willies Tattoo Shop in Biketoberfest 2008.

The Breitling bike is up for grabs and in case, you want to find it out exactly what it is before making a trip to Tampa where Santiago Chopper is located, you are in luck. All you need is a TV. Because from today (that is October 1st), a new series on the Discovery HD Theater Channel is starting which I believe will be of interest for you. It is a Cafe Racer Documentary Series produced by Mike Seate and if you were not a Café Racer lover, you wouldn’t have ended up in this page, so…

You can visit Santiago Chopper for more information and pictures. Here is the link to Breitling on the website.
All photos copyright held by Eric Runyon, taken from Choppers Hotz. Some images taken from Rocket Garage. Pictures of the Café 1958 are taken by Bob Clark.

The Bullet 500 - Classically Addictive

2010-09-14T17:03:00.001+05:30

Epilogue 1 - It was probably a Monday or a Tuesday. John and Peter are both in the late 20s. In a bar over a few drinks, they were having a discussion. John said "It’s always good once in a while to go back to nature, enjoy the country life and keep your big city office life out of reach. You know last weekend I got this retro classic bike from a friend of mine, drove it over the weekend to my uncle's ranch in the country side but by Sunday late night, had to give it back to him. It was a real nice weekend I had. Now that our routine life has started, I am back to driving my usual vehicle. I should do this more often, what do you think?" They both agreed and the conversation was overheard by a man in his early 40s or may be late 40s and the man came and said "How would you feel if you were to ride a classic everyday?" "Yup! it would be fantastic" said John. "No, hold wait, wait a minute!" exclaimed Peter, "Think about it, I mean for a working class individual, even the Bahamas would get boring after a week. It's alright for a weekend but fishing in the backwaters regularly, no internet, no HD TV, God! I miss my mundane life." John said he didn't think about it that way, but said Peter is right. "I know it is a classic bike but God! this is air cooled, a big lump of metal plus it has no gizmos, how can anyone stick to it for more than a day?". The man in his 40s picks up a question for them "But now it so happens that your Bahamas vacation has also turned out to be your office for the next few years and so you have to shift your base. How does that feel?" "Err... I am not too sure, I mean a weekend or a week at this heavenly place is absolutely a brilliant idea, but I am not very sure if I can really move out of my city." answers Peter The man in his 40 continues "Like wise if the classic bike has to become your regular commuting vehicle..." before John interrupts "Yes, I know where you are going with this, so No, I mean, let me think about it okay".

Epilogue 2 - The Royal Enfield Bullet Classic takes you back a few decades. At least it used to till a few years back until technology caught up with it and of course modern norms. The iron cast engine had to give away to an aluminum engine due to stricter emission norms, unit construction engine took over the old engine which had a separate gear box, one thing lead into another and now we have anew Bullet. How I loved the old guy? It was so different from any other bike. I absolutely hate technology sometimes for what it does to some of our most beloved things. Not too long ago there was a thing called radio where there were two round things, you twitch one and the volume increases or decreases and then you twitch the other and you get AM or SW or FM. How can Royal Enfield do this? Just naming a bike ‘Classic’ doesn’t make it a classic, does it? Unluckily, one of my friends got a new 500. Unluckily not for him, you silly, it was for me as he wanted me to try out the 500. I am genuinely not interested in starting a Royal Enfield with the flick of a switch and that is just for starter. But I couldn’t say no to my friend, after all he bought it just a few days back and I could see he really wanted me to have a go. Well, reluctantly (although at my face value, he must have thought I was very enthusiastic) I slung my leg over it and was just about to kick start it when my friend enthusiastically told me to go for the electric starter.

Epilogue 3 - You know the new Classic is not just a new version, it is a complete new design, the first one in more than half a century from Enfield and it is a good thing that despite being a completely new bike, it still looks like a RE, since it is! And the lookalike is just what a brand image should stand as. Everything in this bike is new. But that hardly does justice to the fact that the IC engine has been buried by RE for ever. Yes, RE has done their homework this time; they have added modern touches like fuel injection, hydraulic tappets, wet-sump lubrication and an exhaust catalyst to meet global emissions and the engine is more compact. They have retained the good looking rounded fuel tank and the finned engine, the very characteristics of a Royal Enfield. Once you ride the bike, you feel the difference from its predecessors, the throttle and clutch action are light and the bike has a brisk acceleration. Vibrations, which are very much a part of the RE image, is still there, although less. The legendary exhaust note, though muted, cannot be mistaken for anything else. Nonetheless, I still miss the IC engine.The paint job and finishing has improved by leaps and bounds and all the three available shades look fantastic. Seat is comfortable as always and of course the false neutrals are there. Surprisingly the new engine seems to be smoother than the previous one. I don’t know whether to appreciate it or condemn it since it has taken away some of the Bullet characteristics.Power output has increased to a yet low but reasonable 28 bhp but with a 5.5:1 compression ratio, you cannot expect it to zap ahead at the twist of the throttle. The brakes still need some ‘getting along’ with it. Power output at best is decent enough compared to new generation bikes. Halt! Halt! Halt! ‘Compared to…” did I write that?

Reality check – If you are John or Peter, you need not be reading this. You know after my friend offered me a ride on the 500, I actually wanted to ride it again… and again. Now that is different, what is ‘That’, I am coming to it. And most importantly, you never ‘compare’ a Bullet, you never did and neither will do for the new version, not even with the old one. If you are doing that, you are missing the whole scenario.After I returned the 500 to my friend, that night while sleeping, I really wanted to try out the bike in the morning. ‘That’ was different. You know, for any previous Bullets, the best thing about the bikes was the ride. After starting the bike trying to kick the engine to life with decompressing the choke, getting the ampmeter reading to the middle, getting a false first gear and what not, you tend to forget everything once you start crusing at anything beyond 40 kmph, the smoothness of the engine literally brings a smile to your face. It is so calm, you know driving above 80 kmph will bring you the vibrations and all, so you keep it between 40 to 80 and you enjoy something which no other bike could give. That was the old Bullet. You love to ride the bike, but it was not that you look forward to driving it every now and then, after all you have to go through all its niggles and hassles almost everytime, yet when you ride it, you forgive it all. But the new Bullet… it got me like a 20 year old with a new bike eager to get up early in the morning and get set for one more ride.I really don’t know what was it about the new bullet but I had to find it out. So I called up my friend and asked him for the 500 over the next weekend.

And then, came Saturday and in the early morning, when I actually started the bike and rode for a few stretches, it occurred to me. You do not compare a Bullet. Comparison is between similar things and there is no other bike in the world like a Bullet. If you think, the Japanese bikes are much better or you know smaller engine bikes are more efficient or anything in those lines, you are not fit to ride a Bullet or you probably should not ride it. First of all again I am saying, don’t compare it with anything. Yes, I know a 250cc bike can outrun it in seconds and all that but again if I say so, I am comparing it with a 250cc and so I am completely off the picture.So what is the new Bullet – Although you have to ride it to actually know what I am trying to say, let me try to put it in words. When you look at it from 2 feet away, the styling will take you back to the swinging 60s, don’t worry even if you were not born then, you will feel exactly as if you are in an Austin Powers movie. Everything around the bike seems so vibrant. It is as if innocence is back in this dog-eat-dog world. And then you will feel like pulling up a leg on the single seat. Once you do, you sit on it that upright position, so relaxing that will make you feel ‘What’s the hurry! Just relax!’ I normally use a Yamaha sportsbike with clip on handlebars and the stance is such that you feel like zooming past everyone. And moreover in this age, time is money, there is no second to lose. Change that! Over the Bullet, even before you roll it on the road, the feeling comes ‘let the world go wherever they feel like, this is me and I answer to nobody.’ You know being a a man, occasionally it happens that if another rider passes you by, you feel like catching him up and showing who is the man, in the Bullet you couldn’t care less even if your ass is on fire, okay, maybe not your ass on fire, but you get the picture right? It just seems so obnoxious to thoughts like racing ahead or speeding up. And all this when the bike is just standing.

And then with the e-switch, you leisurely start it up. The exhaust will widen your grin, you put your put down on the gear to lock the first gear. Slowly it starts rolling. Buy this time, maybe hundreds of bikes might have zapped besides you but you won’t notice a thing. But the other way round, everybody will notice you. The new 500 is not something if you like to play dormant, because even without trying, everybody will notice it. Don’t believe me, go to your nearest showroom and see for yourself and I betcha you will come back agreeing with me. Anyway when you ride it on the road, the only bad thing is that you won’t even notice the pretty lady staring at you and she just might think of you as a snob. But who cares, it is as if the world has moved back a few decades, where there is more pollution due to smoke from hasish and ganja than from vehicles. The new Bullet is very very addictive, something which I didn’t find in the earlier versions. Certain things are definitely missing, but I guess better things have replaced those. It doesn’t have a disk brake at the rear, it is not water cooled, it cannot go like modern cruisers and it cannot do a lot many things, if you want those things, there are a hundred bikes out there. This bike is not meant for those. This bike is meant to be ridden exactly in a way it expects from you and it will deliver just that. The experience of riding a Bullet is different altogether and I eat my own words humbly when I said that the IC engine was better. No the new Bullet 500 UCE engine is definitely better. This bike without a shadow of a doubt is a ‘Classic’ in every sense.

Different versions as found in UK and US

For example, if you want to start the bike in a ‘classic’ way, here is what you do. First, the fuel tap needs to be turned on followed by the choke lever which needs to be depressed and then the decompression lever needs to be pulled as you kick the piston through its cycle to the correct place. And how do you know which is the correct place? This is a little amp meter located next the speedometer where the compass will show you straight ahead which means now the bike is ready to be kicked in motion. But before that, get the kick start lever back to the top, take a good swing and in half a kick, the beast will growl. Or else you can just e-start the bike in normal mode. The looks are oh-so-classic, including the thigh pads on the teardrop-style tank, the extended mud guard fenders, the round headlamp, no digital thingy on the head, two sweet parking lights and a naked metal heart besides your legs. Of course, don’t forget the single saddle seat with dual springs. Even if you somehow don’t appreciate the look of a classic bike, don’t fret, you can get the same machine in many different models in the UK and US disguising itself as the Enfield Bullet Military, Bullet C5, Bullet Sixty-5 among others. All of them carry the same heart with different clothes and shades. There is another good piece of news. It is that the Madras plant is planning on a bigger 600 to 750cc twin Café Racer and this bike also made an appearance at the 2010 New Delhi Auto Expo albeit with the single 500cc engine. All in all, you need to ride the Bullet 500 to know exactly what I am saying, no magazine overview, riding impressions or first ride can jot down what this bike will let you feel. All I can say is that the Bullet 500 is ‘Classically Addictive’

Photo souce: Royal Enfield Classic offcial website, Motorcycle.com, Motorcycle USA

A new Kestrel Falcon video

2010-08-30T23:11:00.003+05:30

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

2010-08-21T23:33:00.000+05:30

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

2010-08-17T16:04:00.000+05:30

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?

2010-08-10T12:30:00.001+05:30

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.

A very rare video of Lucifer's Hammer

2010-08-10T10:18:00.002+05:30

I received a mail in response to an earlier post on the Lucifer's Hammer. The mail was from Mr. Scott Turner a.k.a Kenny Roberts :-) and the gentleman had send a link of a YouTube video featuring the Lucifer's Hammer. now that's even rarer.
He also mentioned "If you click on my YouTube channel, you can see other rare videos. I'll be adding more in the future."

The video shows a great 'Battle Of The Twins' race between Gene Church and Marco Lucchinelli at Daytona in 1985 with Gene Church riding the Lucifer's Hammer. Its a 9 minute video with the last minute having a short interview with the winner, Mr. Gene Church. Enjoy the video and many many thanks to Scott Turner for sending the link.

Visual Gratification - The CONFEDERATE P120 Black Flag

2010-08-05T11:24:00.001+05:30

The pictures are courtesy CONFEDERATE which came specially to Confederate Email subscribers.

Corrections on a previous BMW Airheads post

2010-08-05T11:01:00.004+05:30

From Left - 2000 K1200LT, 1975 R90S, 1973 R75/5

I usually read all emails I receive but sometimes there are a tad too many and I miss a few which I make it a point to read later because some of the mails are from people who know a thing or two about bikes and have a better understanding of bike related histories. I do not know how I missed this mail and my due apologies as it should have been in the blog a long time earlier, particularly because the gentleman has rectified or corrected some information I have given out.
Mr. Greg Shamieh actually wrote to me on April 27 regarding a post on the BMW Airheads.

Nice to see you providing some coverage to the classic airhead BMW motorcycles. As the picture above indicates, I know a little about them…those are my three bikes… the /5 in the foreground was my daily transport from 1980 to 1995…it has 170,000 miles on it – 150,000 of which I put on it. I am also a sometime moto-writer with some ‘Motorcyclist’ and web feature bylines to my credit.
Enthusiastic though you may be, your article is riddled with opinions masquerading as facts, several of which are demonstrably incorrect.
“No more shaft drives and no more bone crunching kick starts.” – sorry, but wrong on both point. Shaft drive continued to be a BMW requirement up until the rotax engine singles in the F650 series. (Yes, the shaft drive was definitely an oversight on my part).
Your analysis of both the long wheelbase and toaster tanks are both completely off base. The lengthening of the wheelbase was not a US only change … it was caused because with worn tires the bikes demonstrated some marked instability that was killing off potential customers. people with surviving SWB models know to keep the tires, wheel bearings and steering head adjustments well tended to …or else! And the toaster tank, far from being an enlongated touring tank, is actually marginally shorter and much smaller fuel capacity – 5 gal compared to 6.5 for the regular’ kneepad’ tank - making it utterly useless in a touring context. The whole ‘toaster’ exercise was a one year only, US only styling experiment that at least at the time, was a miserable, commercial failure. Some of these tanks did end up on other bikes, either through parts swapping or the aftermarket, but it is only in retrospect that these bikes have become desirable.

Thank You Greg, I am also posting a P.S to the original post so that future readers do get the actual picture. And yes, I am an enthusiast and I have stated before that I get the information from books and net and of course some assumptions. Whenever I do get corrective emails, I post them. It is just that (particularly for me) and I am just giving an example here, I prefer ‘Would you mind going out of the room?’ to ‘Get Out’.

The LC 2S Scott Squirrels

2010-08-03T00:18:00.000+05:30

Photo Credit: Yesterday's (Netherland) Antique Motorcycle

Can you imagine association between two different entities, as different as 1920s and Liquid cooling.? Actually to get you started, you should! Yes, a liquid cooled motorcycle that was there in 1920s. What you are looking here at is the Scott Super Squirrel. For starters, the Scott Super Squirrel, made in UK, has a 596cc liquid cooled two-stroke vertical twin engine. Transmission is via a two-speed foot shifter. Just for the above facts, it is a pretty impressive motorcycling legend by itself. This was one of the most technologically advanced machines of its day in 1924 when it had liquid cooling, telescopic forks and a 2 stroke motor where as almost all other motorcycles relied on heavy air-cooled four-stroke engines and solid forks. But that is not all, in fact when Alfred Angas Scott built the first motorcycle in 1908, that too was water cooled 2 stroke 333cc twin. Actually, that was the Scott which the world saw, what young Mr. Angus made ‘his first’ motorcycle, it was built using a homemade twin cylinder engine installed into the steering head of a modified bicycle. In 1906, a basic 2.5 hp single was manufactured by his company called the 'Scout'. The bike was unlike anything what Scott motorcycles later would become associated with. It was a typical primitive with rigid forks and belt drive. Mr. Alfred Scott is credited with the invention of the kick start. Alfred, being the genius that he was, patented quite a few things, like a form of caliper brakes in 1897, a fully triangulated frame, rotary induction valves, unit construction, and more. Given such a reputation, it was only predictable that his brand (Scott) would make a mark on the grandest stage of them all, the Isle of Mann TT and it did in the Senior TT in 1912 and followed it up with a consecutive win the next year.

The Scott Flying Squirrel

Amazingly, the Super Squirrel 600cc weighed only 118 kgs and if you associate Ferraris with Ducatis, many critics associate the Scotts with none other than the Bugatti mainly for it being a lively performer. You know, the bike didn’t have a gearbox, what it did was have two primary chain drives which are activated in turn by separate steel drum clutches with a pedal activating the gear, back for low and forward for high and of course, it did have a neutral in between. Can you beat that? Also, it had an open flywheel in between two main bearings with the ends overhanging in two separate crank cases. It is said that the Scotts were among the best in handling and braking. Starting the bike was atypical 2 stroke thing with the choke and a few kicks and that bought out the ‘yowling’ sound of the 2 stroker unlike the ‘growling’ sound you find in most 2 strokers. Even without a clutch, accelerating (as mentioned by those lucky few who got to ride the dream machine) was smooth and you could jolly well keep on cruishing between 60-80 mph. (100 – 130kmph). Funny thing is that with all those advancements, it had an Acetylene headlamp and tail lamp. Scott had a lot of models since many of these models were built according to customer specifications. Yes, custom made motorcycles. They sold quite a handy (upto a thousand ) annually and now whenever the Scotts meet up at any event, the owners find that it is very difficult finding 2 exactly similar Scotts. In fact there are 2 models Kendal Scott and the Reynolds special, which actually started out as custom built motorcycles.Of course among all the Scotts, the Super Squirrel was the most famous which came up in 1924.

A Scott 2 speeder and a Scott Flyer

Going back to history, the company was affected by WWI just like any other company and Alfred Scott, the founder left his own company post WWI. During the war, Scott motorcycles built a sidecar model that carried a machine gun. Post war, a new factory was set up in Yorkshire and ironically, it was after Alfred left, that the company released the Super Squirrel, but of course he was the man who laid the whole foundation. The Super Squirrel was preceded by the Squirrel in 1922 and there was a Flying Scquirrel model in 1926.
All of the 3 models made Scott’s brand value very high and the machines evolved from two-speed transmission into a three-speed gearbox/ conventional clutch driven machine. The frame was modified into a stiffer (but heavier) duplex arrangement and the frame was used in subsequent models De Luxe and TT Replica. Then with each year new additions were there to the motorcycles to keep up to new standards and the light weight motorcycles ‘added’ quite a few kilos. That lead to a drop in performance of course and the Scotts were no more slim and light. By the 1930s, Scott shifted their objective from slim and light to bigger motorcycles. Then in 1930, an air-cooled Scott single was built. The machine was conventional in style and was pretty cheap compared to Scott standards, but the machine failed. In the mid 30s, Scott started making 3 cylinder motorcycles with engine capacity of 750 to 1000cc, still retaining the water cooling component.

Squirrel Special and Scott Silk

Nonetheless, a 1939 model, Clubman Special which weighed around 180 kgs still was able to run speeds up to 145kmph (90mph). Actually even these motorcycles were quite ahead of its time and each motorcycle was seen as an engineering innovation. During the same time, the next WW was looming and companies were in a bad financial stage and so these 3 cylinder motorcycles were not produced in high numbers. Once the WWII was over, the Scott brand did the best thing possible. It re-launched one of its most successful models, the Flying Squirrel which was available again in smaller sized engines of 500 and 600cc. But the newer Flying Squirrel was not like the previous best seller. It was heavy, it was expensive, Scotts always were, but as performance dipped, enthusiasts started looking into other brands for performance. And in 1950, the company closed shop. Later in 1956, one Mr. Matt Holder, a big time Scott fan, started to reopen the Scott company by producing a new model, the Scott Swift using an engine with flat-top pistons. A few number of motorcycles were made. Holder made the company enter racing circuits in 1960 with a racing Scott twin but it didn’t make an impact anf finally between 1870 to early 1980s, Holder produced the Scott Silk in even smaller numbers, but nothing really fired up the motorcycling world like it did 80 years ago with the Squirrel.

But there are fans, a whole lot who just wont let the marque die or fade away. It is the Scott Owner's Club and just by the look on the website, you can feel the enthusiasm the owners have for their machines. Re-live the beauty of the Scott motorcycles through this dedicated website. It's awesome!

Photo credit: AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame

The motorcycle pictured here is a famous 1929 Scott Super Squirrel restored by the legendary Von Dutch (Kenny Howard) for Steve McQueen, one of the most sought after bike in auctions today. Von Dutch used his famous pin striping talent and painted the bike and even drew the famed flying eyeball logo that was Von Dutch's signature. Just before Steve McQueen died, Steve gifted the bike back to Von Dutch. Later Von Dutch sold it. In 2007, one Mr. Tonny Sorenson not only bought the bike from an auction at $ 44,460, he got the rights to the Von Dutch name and built a fashion company around it. Currently it resides at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame. It was to go under the hammer at the Antiquorum auction, an auction primarily for watches on June 11, 2009 with pre-sale estimate of $80,000–$120,000, but what exactly happened is not stated anywhere. A unique feature of the bike is that Von Dutch mistakenly lettered the date on the front number plate 1926 instead of the correct 1929.
Courtesy of information and all pictures (except where mentioned): Scott Owner’s Club, see a lot more pictures in its 6 galleries and the entire range profile.

Posts from The Community

2010-07-30T14:20:00.001+05:30

You might have noticed that the blog has a navigator item mentioned 'The Community'. Well, actually it is a small group of like minded biker-bloggers and we all got to know each other through our blogs and websites. There are many more such active biker-bloggers and I am trying to get us together so that invariaby when anybody chances upon one blog/ website, s/he could also find a link to similar blogs and websites. below are some posts, mostly recent from our community which you might find pretty interesting.

Scott from Pipeburn has the unusual knack of finding unusually brillaint motorcycles from various sources. From his superb collection of posts, it would be wrong to pinpoint a single post to what I said, but just to give you a glance of what it inside Pipeburn, take a look at the posts.

Honda CT 110 Customs The humble Honda CT110 is one of the most reliable bikes on the planet, which is why Postman use them to deliver the mail down here in Australia. They are affectionately known as 'postie bikes' and have always had a cult following but we haven't seen many customized, until now. A company in Melbourne called Postmodern Motorcycles are turning these air-cooled single cylinders into tasty little customs. The bike above is named 'Junk Mail', because it was built from all the junk parts lying around the garage. Postmodern says "The frame was stretched by 200mm, we added a little peanut tank and chucked on an Indian bike seat. There was 2 rear Avon tyres in stock so we used 'em both, on 2 Pak Blak rims. Finally the whole thing was painted the colour of lead". To see more great CT customs like the Military styled one below, check out the Postmodern gallery. Just like Deus have sparked a new culture of SR400 Café Racers down under, I'm sure we're going to see many more of these custom CT100's. [Found on Chalopy]

I am telling you if you like motorcycles that are unusual and yet brilliant, expect to find them in Pipeburn. Now Mr. Nolan of Vintage Motorcycles Online is a camera addict and an excellent one and that. Besides that, along with John, they have a really nice website on, well, vintage motorcycles, the writing is crisp and with 'age' on their side, they bring loads of experience to the table. These guys cover a lot of events featuring vintage and classic bikes like Bikes on the Bay, something that I never knew of. For their writing style, check out the post, MV Agusta Corona 1000S featuring a review.

As I metioned, these guys are also excellent photographers. So time to time I keep receiving their mails with some awesome stuff. The second photo is what I got on my mail a few days back.

MV Agusta Corona 1000S If there was ever a rolling contradiction, it has to be MV’s line of production fours. Understated and refraining from the bold, they nonetheless come across as aggressive; confident. Promoted (and inscribed) with the promise of championship glory, Count Agusta, the factory’s archetypical kingpin, saw to it that his production wares left the gates detuned and fitted with shaft drive... Through the course of study, we sometime forget that behind every motorcycle are men, and that critical aspect is usually what separates them. And while the current Cagiva-backed range caused some real excitement and novelty in the market, the magic found in the original build eluded them. That can be explained in several dramatic and dynamic ways, the most fundamentally important being the exclusion of the machine’s namesake. This finds no fault with MV modern, for their effort was and is grand in many ways. Even so, greatness cannot turn back the technological tide that has swept in since.
Bikes on the Bay The event was the 4th annual “Bikes-on-the-Bay” vintage motorcycle show. A year ago, I had heard that this event was a “must” for any vintage and retro motorcycle enthusiast. Since I was in town and not traveling on business I decided to fire up my trusty 850 Le Mans-III for a 65 mile jaunt south...

If you like reading, you should most definitely check Vintage Motorcycle Online. And then, of course there is Chris from Bike Exif. I am sure every biker who visits the web knows about this website. Just in case if you are new or haven't visited the website for sometime now, see what you are missing. FYI, Bike Exif usually features custom motorcycles.

Where else on eath would you expect to find Rudge and Henderson custom modified bikes? Of course, Bike Exif!

Rudge Withworth This remarkably elegant vintage motorcycle is actually a bit of a mongrel: it’s a Rudge ‘bitsa’ built by Jean-Claude Barrois, who also restored the Honda CB450 and Terrot racer... Since this photo session two small fenders have been added, and the tires have been changed for modern high-speed Avons. Jean-Claude is now optimizing the ignition system to gain a better spark, and next month the bike will be packed in a container and will fly to Salt Lake City for the Bonneville Speed Week. The photos, if you haven’t already guessed, are from Guerry & Prat—who can always be relied upon to deliver beautiful images of unusual motorcycles.
They’ve just launched an exhibition in association with Nick Clements (of Mensfile fame) in Toulouse, which will definitely be worth a trip if you’re in Europe. [Get more details of the Rudge build from the Southsiders MC website.]
1930 Henderson Custom Every few months, a bike comes along that completely stops me in my tracks. Like this one: an Art Deco-influenced machine that could have
come straight from the pen of Harley Earl. The bike caused a stir last month when it appeared at the Rhinebeck Grand National Meet, a popular motorcycle show held a couple of hours drive north of NYC... until its demise in 1931, the Excelsior Motor Mfg. & Supply Co.—the owner of the Henderson brand—was one of the ‘Big Three’ American motorcycle manufacturers, along with Harley-Davidson and Indian. There must be more remarkable Henderson customs out there—if you know of any, drop us a line.

I am adding a lot more links to the community and in case if you think there are websites, lesser known, but has excellent content, do recommend them. It will be well worth to find more of these crazy people ;-)

In The News - New DUCATI 848 EVO

2010-07-21T16:33:00.006+05:30

DUCATI have just launched a fresher version of the new motorcycle, 848, called the DUCATI 848 EVO. The new sportsbike has a 140 hp Testastretta engine with steering dampers and like the big brother, 1198, has new Brembo monobloc brakes. Simply put, expect more performance than the 848. The matt finish bike you see here is the 848 EVO Dark Stealth, looks smashing, doesn’t it? The bike has been put to order from 20th of July for £9,995 from the dark stealth version and £10,695 for the standard red machine. Well, this was one Ducati bike no one got a whiff of before its release.
The 848 was probably found as ‘mild’ as it has ‘only’ 134 hp. The Evo also sees an increase in the torque figures to 72.3lb-ft (98Nm). All the beauties of a traditional Ducati have been carry forwarded from the 848 like the trellis frame, the single-sided swingarm and dual exhaust pipes, 5 spoke wheels, etc. The 848 has exhausts fitted with a catalytic converter and two probes to cater to Euro 3 emission norms.

The bike weighs 168 kgs. As mentioned, it has the famous fuel injected L-Twin cylinder, 4 valve per cylinder Desmodromic, liquid cooled engine displacing 849.4cc with bore and stroke of 94 x 61.2mm and compression ratio of 13.2:1. Transmission is through the traditional 6 speed gearbox and has chain final drive and wet multiplate with hydraulic control clutch. Read more about the EVO’s Technical Specifications here.
There was no blog, no forum, and no website that covered any scoop whatsoever. Talking about websites, Ducati have also removed the original 848 webpage which probably means it will no longer be in production. With a new 796 Monster, 848 Evo and the upcoming Cruiser, Ducati has really shaken up itself. Good for us Duc Fans.Check the official DUCATI 848 EVO website.

Hollywood Stars, Kelly Brook add glamour to Bikes

2010-07-21T14:04:00.006+05:30

Kelly Brook, the glamour babe from UK is 'glamourizing' HD doing a-la Marissa Miller, that is posing with the Harley. Although Ms. Miller is a spokeperson for HD, that doesn't mean the 30 years old Ms. Brook cannot match up to her in a hot sizzling desert photoshoot in the Mojave desert for MAXIM magazine.

Souce of photos - Magazine Gallery Blog

Recent Hollywood movies have been also 'glamourizing' the motorcycle quite a bit. The Tom Cruise - Cameron Diaz starrer Action Comedy, Knight and Day had our hereos running on their tips on a Ducati while the to-be-released on July 23rd Action film, Salt, starring Angelina Jolie has her doing a few stunts on a Triumph. She also rode motorcycles in the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movies. Despite what critics are saying, Knight and Day was actually entertaining.

Source of photos: IMDB

Rare German and UK motorcycles

2010-07-16T11:50:00.001+05:30

There are some really rare bikes in this world which are quite unknown to non hardcore motorcycle enthusiasts. Not that it has some exemplary engineering or set the world on its foot, but these bikes are so rare that they immediately become collector’s item once it is discovered in garages and other dingy places. Motorcycle came into existence during the late 19th century and the early 20th century was the kind of trial and error period with more errors to say. These errors have now become collector’s item. I am trying to start a series where these rare motorcycles can be featured with a brief history of its company. Of course most of them were from Britain or Germany as they were the pioneers of motorcycles during the first half of the 20th century and maybe you won’t believe it, but in Germany during the 20s to say 50s, there were around 500 production houses which were into motorcycling.

We all know about Adler as a car and motorcycle manufacturer, but they also were into bicycles and typewriters. The first half of the 20th century was dedicated to cars although Adler started out with motorcycles in 1902 which unluckily was very short lived. It was only after WW II, Adler refocused on motorcycles when 2 wheelers gained prominence as a cheap means of transport. Initially they started out with small 200cc engines. Their motorcycles were reputed to carry an excellent chassis and good suspensions which meant Adler bikes gave good riding comfort. The first 200cc engine was the M200 twin which was later refined and came out as the M250 Twin and it also became the best seller for Adler. It is said that brands like Yamaha and Ariel went into motorcycling after looking at the success bought by the M250. However after a decade and half, an electrical company by the name of Grundig bought Adler in 1958 and the motorcycle wing was shut down the same year. To its credit, Yamaha based their first twin cylinder motorcycle upon the Adler and also the company met reasonable success in endurance racing.

Maybe you do not remember the name, but I am definite you have seen this bike somewhere, in a forum or a website. And probably you have even heard about Mars Stella but couldn’t recognize one if you see it standing. Well, this is the Mars Stella 150cc two stroke single. If you have seen some of my recent posts related to Legend of The Motorcycle, look for the white motorcycle written MARS in the tank. In 1921, Mars built a behemoth of a bike, the White Mars which (at that time) had a 986cc twin engine (boxer) and a frame of pressed steel. The engine came from a Maybach boxer. As majestic as it is, this was not probably a practical bike anyway. 30 years later, a certain Mr. Rudi Albert designed this Mars Stella 150 which turned out to be a huge success. Mars had built the then futuristic White Mars in 1921 and it was ahuge and resounding success in Germany. The company used Fafnir and Zedel engines, while Fafnir was German, Zedel was Swiss and both companies sold their engines to many German companies during that time. With the World Wars and all, Germany had an unstable economy and Mars shut company in 1924.

NSU (Neckarsulm Stickmachen Union) was a relatively more well known company and it was active for more time compared to companies which were around during its time. The company started their business in 1873 with manufacturing and repairing knitting machines. With the new century, they experimented with motorized bicycles getting engines from Zedel just like Mars did as mentioned in the previous paragraph. But they soon making their own engines and usually companies launch themselves and refine their machines to race level so that they could gather more global attention. NSU just didn’t bother making the first step and so not surprisingly their first production class was race bikes. It worked for them and also the fact that at the very first time it participated at the Isle of Mann in 1907, 2 years after their first model was out, it finished a creditable 5th. Then came the first World War, but NSU was just waiting for the war to be over, NSU were back by 1922 and within a decade, NSU was one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers in the world. Even the second WW was not enough to dampen their enthusiasm and in 1956, a streamlined 500cc NSU twin raced at an incredible 210 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats. But by the late 60s, NSU wanted to get into the car business as the market was again getting up, their rotary engine car flopped and VW bought the company putting an end to once very formidable motorcycle company.

Like most motorcycle companies, Victoria also started out being a bicycle manufacturing company in 1886. Just before 20th century was to arrive, they produced their first prototype motorcycle in 1899. Then they took 5 years in the new century to make that prototype into production house and even when they did, it has those oft mentioned Fafnir and Zedel engines. Even after WWI, they continued to outsource their engines from Fafnir, Zedel and then contacted BMW for a 493cc horizontally opposed fore and aft twin cylinder engine. At those times, even BMW were making just engines and later when BMW began building their own motorcycles, Victoria recruited former BMW designer Martin Stolle to further develop the engine. Two of their successful models were Aero, a 250cc 2 stroke engine and Bergmeister, a 350cc 4 stroke engine and both models were reinvented time and again. The Aero came just after WW II and was in heavy demand in the 50s. The Bergmeister was announced in 1951 but was not released until 1953 along with a new Aero model. The 350cc had a 35 degree V-Twin engine with a four speed transmission and a powerful driveline. The Bergmeister was very successful but margin was less as production cost was very high. And BMW along with DKW were coming on strong. In the early 60s, due to financial strain, Victoria merged with DKW.

Now, if like me, you belong to Generation X, you might recall our grandfathers riding bicycles by the name of Rayleigh and they would vouch for it for their smoothness and what not. I thought it was defunct, but hey! It is very much active still making bicycles (UK website, US website). It was only a few years back that I got to know that the same Rayleigh company used to make motorcycles. Of course by the name you know, it had to be British. They made their first motorcycle in 1899 and in 1903, the Raleighette was born, a belt-driven three-wheel motorcycle with the driver in the back and a wicker seat for the passenger between the two front wheels. It was not much of a success. In 1930, it launched an atypical motorcycle, a motorcycle fitted with a cabin for cargo and a hood for the driver and followed it up with some more varieties which hardly resembled a motorcyle. There was even a saloon variant. But their real machines which made news were there luxury bikes that they developed post WW I. A 698cc flat twin, which was later replaced by a 798cc 60 degree V-Twin engine. Unluckily both had very short production life. Raleigh also produced models with sv engines of 174 to 498cc, and ohv engines of 348cc and 498cc. It was again in 1958 Rayleigh launched a moped with a 50cc engine made by BSA and they revolutionized the moped concept and as such the company is called ‘Father of Mopeds.

Source of info and photos - Good'ol Wikipedia, Cyber Motorcycle and stkone Flickr album . The Cyber Motorcycle website is truly one of the best sites to follow Vinatge and Classics. It literally has everything you can possibly dream of. I picked up a few images from stkone Flickr album. Man, you should see this album, it has captured almost all the vintage European bikes from various shows and events.

Visual Gratification - LoTM show pictures Bonanza!

2010-07-08T13:32:00.031+05:30

For motorcycling freaks, especially those who are more into classic and vintage bikes, there is no greater event than the newly launched Legend of The Motorcycle show. Just 4 years old and probably no show of vintage and classic motorcycles on earth can match up to this. The first show was held on May 6, 2006 at Half Moon Bay, CA. You would find hordes of obsessed bikers and photographers and then some biker photographers clicking away to glory. One such individual is Mr. Craig Howell and I am sure you have seen a lot of pictures taken by him in some forum or blog or even his website. My post on Curtiss got me to know Pete and his blog and when I made a post on Pete's blog yesterday, I received a mail from Mr. Craig Howell where he had mentioned that I could use photos from his website and when I was just done thanking, the gentleman that he is sent me another link. And... I must tell you, what a collection this man has. I have posted links to all of his 3 mentioned sites including 1 from Flickr and rest assured, you need some quality time to enjoy the websites. Here are his mails and of course below are the photos from his collection. You are amazing Mr. Howell, not only you have a huge collection of photos, but the photos are of high quality and well taken. And did I mention something about you I am envious about? For the record, this event was organized for three years in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The 2009 show was postponed as there was a change in the venue and was scheduled for 2010 May, but it didn't happen.
There are 316 pictures from the 2006 show and 247 pictures from the 2007 show with not only bike pictures but also famous personalities and of the venue. There are just too many pictures on his Flickr account and so I am not even going to count. Of course I couldn't have posted all his pictures here, so in case you want to see all of them, which I suspect you do, you have the links below. For any queries, you can contact Mr. Craig Howell.
2006 LoTM show / 2007 LoTM show / Craig's Flickr account

Hi,I'm good friends with both Pete Young and Red Fred, and I enjoyed your blog entry about the Legend shows and the Pope, and wanted to mention that I have a large photo set online for both the 2006 and 2007 shows that you're welcome to use or link to.
Legend of the Motorcycle 2006 http://craig.howell.net/legend06/
Legend of the Motorcycle 2007 http://www.thecreeper.net/legend07/
Cheers!
Craig
Thanks Paul! Feel free to use anything of mine that you'd like, I just shoot for fun, for exactly this sort of use. I am happy to have people enjoy them. There's also a large group of sets on my flickr page as well: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seat850/collections/
Cheers!
Craig

Enjoy the Show!!!
P.S - I am posting pictures of the rarest bikes or pictures of bikes which are not very common at the blog or forum arena, so you might find your favoirate Pope motorcycle or HD or MV Agusta or any of the British brands missing in this post, but it is there in the website. Also you won't see a lot of legends like Vincent or Rudge or AJS since you have already seen them, but you will get to see a Parila and a Bernard Li created Vincent and a J.A. Prestwitch (JAP) and a Sears among others. Anyway, any bike, you name it and Mr. Craig Howell has it clicked!

The beautiful venue at Ritz, Half Moon Bay

The 2006 Show Stoppers

The 2007 Show Stoppers

Mailbag - Some awesome Vintage stuff

2010-07-07T11:02:00.010+05:30

I received a mail from a fellow blogger, Pete Young who has his blog Occhio Lungo filled up with so so many vintage bikes articles and photos that you can spend an entire day there. Actually he liked a post I made on the Curtiss Motorcycle and accordingly as he mentioned, it seems there is more on the motorcycle then what I thought I knew. I am digging up his inputs and one link from his blog directing to a post which featured vintage motorcycles from the 1st Legend of The Motorcycle event has photos taken by one Mr. Red Fred Johansen. A google search on Red Fred gave me a link to a pdf document from Legend of The Motorcycle website and in the very first cover page, I saw a different Curtiss Motorcycle. Click here for the pdf document. So one thing lead to another and till I get more info and make another post, enjoy the pictures of some vintage bikes from Legend of The Motorcycle, taken by R. F Johansen.
The link, as mentioned was from Pete's website, Occhio Lungo and the images at Pete's blog are much much bigger.
Thanks Pete.
All photos copyrighted by R. F. Johansen, 2010. Would really appreciate if Pete or anyone can provide me a link to Mr. Johansen's website.

This is the Curtiss I was talking about. Looks a lot like the Pope and Pete has mentioned as 'Jim Lattin’s Curtiss'. Let me dig us what more information Pete has. Standing next to the Curtiss is the Militaire and the MARS in white.

Henderson 4 cylinder racer and a 'Twindian'. Just look at that engine

Cleveland 4 racer with a AJS OHC single in the background

Super X, Cyclone, Henderson, HD, Pope, Burt Munro’s streamliner (well, half of it), This is just too amazing. Blessed are those sould who saw these bikes in flesh and blood (read metal and leather) and that too at one gathering. Amazing!

A Morbidelli V8 and an Indian (don’t know which model)

Lots of Broughs and lots of Crockers

In The News - Ninja400 in Canada, Ducati cruiser spied and others

2010-07-01T14:43:00.008+05:30

Kawasaki Ninja 650R too big? Ninja 250R too small? Then the 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 400R should be juuussst right. Mechanically identical to the 650R with the exception of a smaller 399cc engine, the second littlest Ninja brings a useful price and performance drop which combines with the slick styling and reasonably high mechanical spec to create exactly the sort of appealing, unintimidating, affordable, broadly capable bike. The Ninja 400R was released in Canada where it's priced at $7,499 (CAD). Looking at the numbers, it's the torque to weight ratio that most separates the 400 and Kawasaki Ninja 250R, the larger bike will be less work to ride and less high-strung as a result. It also comes with a higher level of mechanical specification, namely two petal front brake discs, nicer suspension and a GP-style underslung exhaust. Visit the official Canadian Kawasaki Ninja 400 website.
Source: HELL FOR LEATHER

For those that think the standard P120 FIGHTER isn't quite macho enough, American motorcycle manufacturer Confederate has just released an all-black version of the muscle-bound 160bhp brute. Dubbed the 'Black Flag, Confederate's stealth-like machine is mechanically identical to the standard P120, using the same 160bhp engine and aircraft-grade aluminum monocoque backbone chassis.Other top-notch stuff includes carbon ceramic brakes, carbon wheels, fully adjustable suspension and a hand-built close-ratio five-speed gearbox. View the limited edition P120 Fighter in the Confederate website
Source: VISOR DOWN

News of the Vyper first emerged a year ago, with a clay styling model appearing in MCN. That model appeared to adopt styling cues straight from the Monster. Recently, a radical new Ducati has been spotted prowling the streets of Italy, complete with dual-stacked exhaust and super-fat rear tyre. Complete with trellis frame, chunky single-sided swingarm and upside down forks, the covert machine is decked out in Ducati's not-so-covert tiger-stripe 'undercover' paint scheme. Could this be Ducati's much-rumoured big bore cruiser, or possibly a Desmosedici-engined Monster? It's a pity the driver didn't have the nouse to get alongside for a better look.
Source: MOTO BLOG

THIS DUCATI Hypermono concept has been produced by Italian design house, Sak Art in the hope that it will gain popularity and Ducati will seriously consider a modern day Supermono.Inspired by the road-legal Supermono Strada by Alistair Wager and the original Supermono designed by Pierre Terblanche in 1993. This modern concept is based around the original Supermono engine with a desmodromic four-valve cylinder head with a 549cc capacity pushing out 80bhp in a 130kg package. Essentially the Hypermono is based on the chassis of a Monster. Sak Art say their mission: 'is to create a harsh, challenging, stimulating bike designed to give the rider the nearest thing possible to a genuine motorcycle racer.'Sak have created the Hypermono concept with five different paint-schemes.

Source: VISOR DOWN

Strange name, but this is the 165bhp Brutale Cannonball, from Italian motorcycle manufacturer MV Agusta. The naked 1098cc, which is being touted by MV as 'exclusively for racing', produces 20bhp more wallop than the standard Brutale 1090RR, thanks to various engine mods (new ECU, cylinder heads, hotter cams) as well as the nifty handmade titanium exhaust. No word on price but expect the new naked to cost a healthy dose more than the standard £13,950 Brutale 1090RR.
More horses, and of course less weight with components specifically designed for this bike to create the kit Cannonball: magazine unit, as tested, valves, cams and exhaust, now completely titanium with low output. Dynamically can not only increase the already high sporting abilities of the model, note that the engine is derived from the sporty F4. The goal was t have a supernaked sport bike. Attention to detail is remarkable and the bike has a very high quality finish.
Source: MOTO BLOG

50 seconds of The Kestrel bliss

2010-06-30T12:56:00.005+05:30

This came in my mail from my subscription to Falcon Motorcycles.

We went to the desert with our friend Matt Taylor and shot this video.
Music: Black Math Horseman
Director of Photography: Matt Taylor
Footage: Matt & Amaryllis
Editor: Matt

More addictive Falcon Motorcycles videos from their You Tube account.
From the website of Falcon motorcycles-

The Kestrel: (sold) - started as the unit engine of a 1970 Triumph Bonneville, which Falcon cut in half & re-engineered. With the exception of a few critical pieces everything – including the frame, front forks, gas & oil tanks, exhausts, handlebars, levers, even the cylinders – was fabricated in-house.

Visit the Kestrel gallery at the Falcon Motorcycles website. Yes, I know, I need to do a feature on the amazing work done by Ian and Amaryllis. I am long overdue here, nonetheless you can check the previous posts on Falcon motorcycles under the blog.

In The News - Broad Track Racer ENFIELD 500 EFI

2010-06-29T11:12:00.004+05:30

Bollywood actor, John Abraham, also famous for his passion for SBKs has increased his brood by adding a new entry which is albeit different to the taste he is known for. Although John's passion (at least as projected by the media) is more towards SBKs (he owns a Busa and a R1), this time he got himself a early 1900 broad track racer, or at least something close. The bike you see here is actually a customized Royal Enfield 5oo EFI, designed by a relatively new custom firm from Jaipur, Rajasthan, known as Rajputana Customs. The bike had the work fabrication of Mr. Vijay Singh

Mr Vijay mentions that the chassis, gas tank, rims and brakes had been hand-made. I beleive he meant part of the chassis since the front retains the doyble barrel frame but although the front forks are completely hand made in retro fashion. Looking at the finer details, you notice Vijay has also removed the standard disc brakes to give the bike a more authentic feel. He himself states that he wanted to keep it subtle, simple and yet make it stand out. And stand out it does as the bike has already make headlines in many newspapers. The total cost of the bike is somewhere between Rs 3-4 lakh ($6500 - $8500 USD) including the bike's cost which actually in India is quite cheap ($3100) compared to the overseas market. So the modifications which look very simple would cost more and that is because to make the bike look that good and simple and still keep it standing out, well... that is a lot of talent. The whole bike took 50 days to make and finish. By profession, Vijay Singh is a 24-year-old communication graduate from Canada. Relatively new to custom designing world, he already has been requested with several orders. Inside the garage, he is just helped by Abdul Rehman. The website, Rajputana Customs is coming soon.

Photo credits Hindustan Times and Mid day.

No CSI here, just better visuals

2010-06-23T21:36:00.003+05:30

If you are one of those fans who watch CSI Miami or watched CSI Miami just for a certain hot chick, Ms. Wendy Simms, I am sure you are very disappointed that she is no longer in Season 11. For those out of focus, Wendy Simms, a DNA Technicaian, is a character played by the beautiful Liz Vassey in the teleserial CSI Miami. She was in the serial for season 6 to 10. She was ranked 74 in Stuff magazine's 2002 "102 Sexiest Women In The World". For fans of Ms. Vassey, enjoy the pictorials and for fans of motorcycles, well, just enjoy the pictorials!

Original Source: MAXIM. Photos sourced from Moto Caradisiac.

Time Out - Kids these days... I tell you!

2010-06-23T01:20:00.003+05:30

Fastest Man on Earth with the Curtiss V8

2010-06-18T06:27:00.002+05:30

The name ‘Curtiss’ somewhat vaguely interprets in my mind as something to do with aeroplanes and something of having a tussle or an association with the Wright Brothers for some issues I can’t recall what I might have read years ago. Well, hence forth from now on, at certain age of my life, even if I forget the name of the Wright brothers, I will not forget the name of ‘Curtiss’. Of course I never knew that he was also given the name of “The Fastest Man on Earth”.
So, Glenn Hammond Curtiss was a pioneer in aeronautics and we will get to a brief history about that, but before venturing into aeronautics, Glenn H. Curtiss began his career by working with motorcycles. In fact, it was due to his innovative ways in creating motorcycles, light and powerful due to which his expertise was sought in the field of aeronautics. But the reason this man is featured here is because in the field of aeronautics, he had built a light and powerful V8 engine and later he converted the engine to a motorcycle engine. And we know which age we are talking about if we are taking about the Wright Brothers, right!. Yes, that was the 1900s. Think about it, a V8 in early 19th century. Exactly, Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss built a Boss Hoss in 1906.
The engine was there, so basically Curtiss and his team needed a chassis to holster the massive powerplant. They ultimately built a product that weighed 275 pounds and, was almost 8 feet long. Curtiss took the motorcycle to the Florida Speed Carnival in 1907 and recorded a speed of 136.3 mph (218 kmph, yes, in 1907) which gave him the title of ‘The Fastest Man on Earth’. And mark this, the record stood for any, repeat any land speed record and not just for 2 wheelers. The black and white pictures with the man are from that speed run and that was also the man’s attire. A gentleman wearing a leather cap and a trimmed moustache could do that, well I could have never imagined or believed had I not read about that. It was January 24, 1907 to be precise at the Ormond Beach (now called Daytona Beach) in Florida when the record was set and it was after 11 years another land speed vehicle broke the record and 23 years till another 2 wheeler broke the record.

Before getting on the bike, a little history to know the man. Glenn Hammond Curtiss was born in Hammondsport, New York in 1878 and even in his teens he was quite the boy with his restless spirit and his ability to work with any mechanical item. His genetics for speed was evident from the fact that he was a champion bicycle racer. By the time he was 24, he already had his own motorcycle company by the name of ‘Hercules’. There was a gentleman by the name of Thomas Scott Baldwin who was a famed balloonist and he asked young Curtiss to make a V-Twin engine to fly a very light plane. The engine was ofcourse a success and shortly in 1904, using the same engine, California Arrow became the first successful American dirigible. And thus, Curtiss came into the field of aeronautics and was introduced to a club by the name of Aerial Experiment Association, a club whose another member goes by the name of Alexander Graham Bell.
As I started reading Curtiss biography, I was curious to know why the name of the Wright brothers crossed my mind whenever the name Curtiss went through my mind. And so it was, there was a link. The Wright Brothers had by the time already had a successful stint in ‘controlled’ flight, but was done in secrecy and although people were assuming, there was no media coverage. They wanted to refine the vehicle as far as possible. The Aerial Experiment Association (A.E.A) had their first public stint of flying before the Wright Brothers. On March 12, 1908, Casey Baldwin of A.E.A flew for 20 seconds covering a distance of 318 feet before it crashed a wing and later in May, Curtiss covered or rather flew a distance of 1017 feet in ‘controlled’ flight. What the A.E.A did to the plane that Casey Baldwin flew was add horizontal rudders to the wingtips Later Curtiss made several ‘first’ records including flying a world distance record of 24.7 miles. In fact he was the first man to fly the first officially-recognized, pre-announced and publicly-observed flight in America and also earn the unofficial title of America's foremost aviation pioneer. In 1910, Curtiss flew from Albany to New York that gave him world wide recognization and was also the first to make use of the aeroplane as more than a luxury time pass activity when he introduced it as a possible war machine and a practical passenger carrier. But planes and motorcycles were ot his only passion, in fact as mentioned, anything mechanical and with speed inspired him and he pioneered in the design of seaplanes and flying boats too. Later in his life, he became a land developer and developed Miami so much that he was awarded a honorary doctoral degree for his contributions to the development of the Miami area. He died at the young age of 52 due to complications resulting from an appendix surgery. It would take an entire post just to cover the list of accolades he gathered during his life. Please check the links below to know about the great man’s varied inventions and contributions.

Source of 2nd photo - National Air and Space Musuem

Yes, Curtiss became famous for his contribution to aeronautics, but it was motorcycles that bought him into the spotlight. In 1901, he began motorizing bicycles with his own single cylinder internal combustion engines. In 1903 he became the first official American motorcycle champion. By 1905, he set the world speed records for one, two and three mile events. That handlebar twist grip we call it as throttle and which we really really like to twist and God knows what a certain Rossi would have done without it, well, we need to give credit to young Mr. Curtiss for advancements like this. Curtiss also developed a triple cylinder engine designated the W-3 which was basically a V-twin but with a third cylinder which Curtiss designed again to proclaim himself as the producer of the fastest production motorcycle in the world. Before he made his mark on the fateful day in 1907, young Curtiss have been designing single, V-Twins and in-line fours. For the monstrous V8, the configuration was made at 3.25 x 3.25 inch bore x stroke that displaced 269 cubic inches equivalent to 4000cc. His earlier V-twins had 50 degree angkes but as you can see the V8 has a 90 degree design utilizing cast iron F-type heads. The engine was supposed to have power output figures of 36 – 40 hp @ 1800 rpm (Imagine the torque figures!). Inside the monster, doing duty was a solid billet steel crank and a dry sump handled the internal lubrication. The inlet valves were activated by atmospheric pressure while pushrods actuated the exhaust valves. The engine was fed by twin carbs which were designed by Curtiss himself. Look at the handlebars and you will notice that the throttle cables were hidden inside the handlebars. Custom designing started by Curtiss then, eh? Very interestingly, the electrical system was energized by dry cell batteries. Considering the size of the engine, it was superb engineering to finish the bike within the 275 pounds mark. The bike with that massive engine settled for a 64-inch wheelbase. The bike was shaft driven as a conventional chain-and-belt transmission would not have been able to handle the power of the Curtiss V8, there was no clutch and so just one tall gear. So you just keep twisting the throttle! At the beach, the four mile course was broken into 3 parts, the first 2 miles were building up the speed, the next mile was recording the timings and the last mile for slowing down. Of course, what did you expect, there were no brakes, so one mile just to slow down and stop.

I wonder what it sounded like! And yes, it took two well built guys with Curtiss sitting on the bike to start off the machine. The seat was mounted behind the engine so as not to burn the rider and so extra long handlebars were used so the while steering, the hands wouldn’t be near the hot engine. Thinking about the stance with these dimensions, you can vouch that it must have been an arduous task riding the monster. And think about what the body went through since in the name of suspension, all it had were springs located beneath the seat just like a regular bicycle. Anyway, during the run, he also established a record of covering 1 mile in 26 2/5 seconds. Actually it was recorded by several persons on the beach that the bike covered the marked mile within that specified time and it was calculated that to cover that distance at the said time, the bike must have run at a speed of 136.3 mph. And after all this, the record was considered ‘unofficial’. Yes! It still is an unofficial record. Why? Actually, the bike cracked the timings as mentioned and it was recorded but ‘officials’ didn’t record it. It was a test run recorded by many non-officials. So there was no doubts that the bike had actually clocked 136.3 mph but as I said, ‘officials’ didn’t record it. So why didn’t Curtiss drive it for the second time? Well, he couldn’t, the bike started falling apart as it was slowing down to 90 mph. And he was not the man who would again build the same thing. That was not just exciting enough. But the following month in February, a journal by the name of Scientific American did mention the whole incident and also mentioned why the record was considered ‘unofficial’.
And so where is the original real deal, the big poppa? Well, as it is, with lots of parts missing, it is the main attraction at the Smithsonian Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center located adjacent to the Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, VA. A replica of the original ‘bolt for bolt’ was built by Mercury Aircraft Company and is on display at the Curtiss Museum. The Curtiss Museum is located at Hammondsport, New York and incidentally, the H in Mr. G. H. Curtiss standing for Hammond is a short form of Hammondsport. The museum features all the contributions that Mr. Glenn Hammond Curtiss made to our wonderful world, from bicycles to motorcycles to aircrafts and all. For a boy raised in near poverty and after having lost his parents at a young age and also dropping out of school at 8th standard to getting a doctoral degree and a museum created to honour the name, this is surely a Hollywood blockbuster movie storyline.
Source of info and photos Glenn Curtiss Museum, Wikipedia, Motorcycle dot com, Smithsonian Center.