The competitors for the 91st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb have just concluded a two-day tire test at the Colorado road course, and it should perhaps come as no surprise that our boy Carlin Dunne has posted the outright fastest lap for a motorcycle during the tire test (the Santa Barbara native set the outright two-wheeled course record last year on his Ducati Multistrada 1200 S). What is surprising about Carlin’s result at the tire test is that he was on the Lightning Motorcycles electric superbike. That’s right, the fastest bike so far for 2013′s Race to the Clouds is a 200+ hp electric superbike that is refueled with solar energy. Petrol heads, eat your heart out.
Talking to the Indy Star, Mark Miles (CEO of Hulman & Co, the parent company to Indianapolis Motor Speedway) has put some doubt into the historic venue’s commitment to host the MotoGP Championship. Having a contract to run the race through the 2014 season, Miles said that IMS might opt-out of the final year in its agreement with Dorna (IMS apparently has this option for a brief window after the 2013 Indianapolis GP). However while the news has focused so far on IMS’s ability to opt-out, both Dorna and Indianapolis Motor Speedway have options in their contract to go through with the 2014 round, and with a bevy of variables in the air, we may or may not see three American GP rounds next year.
Surprise! America will be getting a 847cc three-cylinder naked bike for the 2014 model year, the 2014 Yamaha FZ-09. Replacing the Yamaha FZ8 in the Japanese company’s line-up, the FZ-09 is the first motorcycle from the tuning fork brand to sport the Yamaha’s new line of three-cylinder engines. The Yamaha FZ-09 comes about as the MIC is reporting its second-consecutive year of growth in the 751+cc sport bike segment, as well as increase in commuter riding over short-distance sport riding. With those trends in mind, Yamaha has punched out the displacement on its middleweight naked bike, and focused on giving riders a comfortable, yet stout, motorcycle. Priced at $7,990 MSRP, we think Yamaha hit the nail pretty much on the head with this one.
In the past few years I’ve come to believe that, while superior physical differences (their reflexes and fine motor skills) are significant, it’s the mental differences that are the most interesting. I suppose anyone who has ridden a motorcycle even a bit beyond one’s comfort zone can appreciate some part of the physical aspect of riding a racing bike. For most of us, even the speed of racers in local events is impressive compared to our street riding. While the skills with throttle, brakes, and balance are on a level similar to the best athletes in other sports, I think that what really sets motorcycle racers apart is their ability to overcome fear.
The progress in the last five years on electric motorcycles has been astounding. Taking their first laps around the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, a 87.434 mph pace was the best an electric motorcycle could do at the prestigious road race in 2009 — a pace that was on par with the 50cc record set in 1971. In just five years after the first laps were taken by electric motorcycles at Snaefell, these machines have grown their average lap speeds by over 20 mph at the TT Zero race, setting a new record of 109.675 mph in 2013, and boasting a rate of improvement of roughly 5 mph each year since 2009. If hitting 142.2 mph down the Sulby Straight speed trap wasn’t further proof of the speeds these bikes are achieving, maybe some visual evidence will help support the notion.
Darius Glover is a dirt bike racer. Like you and me, he lives to ride, and when he is on two-wheels he feels the freedom that only other motorcyclists can truly understand. The thing is though, Darius is paralyzed from the waist down. Where others would give up their dreams and this sport, Darius at the age of 15 instead pushed onward. No pity parties, no excuses, just simply a daily example of where there is a will, there is a way, and a reminder that you can achieve anything that you put your mind to. It’s hard not to get a bit choked up listening to Darius tell his story, but you walk away feeling uplifted after feeling his attitude come across the screen.
Any race where 1,500 riders start, 500 qualify, and only 14 finish, has got to be an epic competition, and considering the fact that the Erzberg Rodeo starts in the excavation pit of an Austrian mine…well, it takes a special rider to be enticed by such an event. One such special rider is Graham Jarvis, who was the first of the fourteen men to reach the 20th and final checkpoint. Taking 2 hours and 52 seconds to complete the course, Jarvis made the 2013 Erzberg Rodeo look downright easy. However, with one look at the race-day conditions from this past weekend, we know it was anything but.
While normally, MotoGP fans never get enough of seeing Valentino Rossi on TV, there is one shot they would (for the most part) gladly be spared. As he leaves the pits, Rossi stands on the footpegs, and pulls his leathers from between his buttocks, before sitting back down again and leaving. These rituals – part useful limbering up, part invocation of Lady Luck – are something many riders perform, in their attempt to exert control over themselves, and over their environment. In a fascinating press release – by far the most interesting we have received in many months – the Aspar team today provided a discussion and explanation of what riders are trying to achieve through the use of these rituals.
Hoping to make it four wins in a row, it goes without saying that the MotoCzysz crew is working hard to close the gap to the John McGuinness and the Mugen team. However, having Team Principal Michael Czysz stuck back in the US, undergoing cancer treatments, must certainly add another level of motivation for the on-island MotoCzysz crew. Making time in their busy schedule, Asphalt & Rubber got to take some up-close photos of the 2013 MotoCzysz E1pc. The most obvious changes made to the MotoCzysz E1pc for the 2013 TT Zero race are the use conventional suspension pieces. Of course, it’s not a completely standard suspension setup, as MotoCzysz has developed its own adjustable triple clamp that incorporates tunable lateral flex parameters.
Max Biaggi is to make a surprise return to riding a MotoGP machine. The former 250 and World Superbike champion will take a seat on Ben Spies’ Ignite Pramac Ducati as part of a one-day test at Mugello, as part of Ducati’s testing program, according to Italian site GPOne. Spies was scheduled to stay on at Mugello to take part in a two-day test, but after the first day of practice at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, it was clear to both Spies and Ducati that his shoulder was still too weak to ride a MotoGP machine. With work continuing on the Desmosedici, it was important for Ducati to get as much data as possible on their bike, and so Biaggi was offered the chance to ride the machine.
A bit disappointed – the “hole in the ground” is pretty lame…
Absolutely stupid waste of money and time, it would have been better recieved covered in fur doing triple digit wheelies on highways splitting lanes. “so awesome the police won’t know you passed them”
BTW where his helmet??? burnouts are dangerous the link proves it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlYymSFq5L4
and thanks for reminding me of how sweet ninjas are…
Horsepower king? Hasn’t met my Gixxers. The track bike cost me $5000, has degreed cams, no head work, PAIR delete, track bodywork, revalved forks, MRA screen and brembo MC; 520 conversion. Six times against a S1000RR with him ahead and getting a two bike jump and beat him down every time by several bike lengths.
And the street bike? Degreed cams, head work, Akra full system, PAIR delete, BST wheels, BrakeTech Ceramic/Metallic Composite rotors, P2 battery, minor lightening, Puig DB screen and a few other things. It cost me $18K to buy and build. This race wasn’t even close, twice I gave him the jump and steamed past him immediately, pulling 8+ bike lengths at an indicated 270km/h. Against a CBR 1000RR, I pulled probably 20, though….
Silly wheelie and traction control on the BMW had the thing porpoising down the pavement as he watched me ride away from him both straights and corners. I’m sure it’s got its uses and I’m sure it will make a better rider out of many people, but it didn’t work against a $5,000 GSX-R. There’s nowhere on the track the BMW wasn’t in danger – at one point there were three GSX-Rs, one of them a stock 07 that passed him in a long straight (all of us of course wanting to bag the BMW, lol) at the same time and he was so miffed that he started using the ABS and just standing the thing on its nose in the braking zone trying to keep us from passing him every session.
Just want to clear a little of the hype that this bike seems to generate.
@Shaman What does that have to do with anything? Why not compare someone who doesn’t know how to ride a motorcycle on a MotoGP bike vs. Valentino Rossi on a 250 Ninja while you’re at it.
Take an unmodded Gixxer and put it on a dyno and run it. Then do the same thing with an unmodded S1000rr. The S1000rr will win. That’s what horsepower king means.
@Jake\
WRONG sparky, HP King is dusting the pretenders on a straight-line pull. Go fight your Brochure Wars on printed paper sumwhere. Far as I can see, the thing aint won any races… hazzit? Does it mean Haslam is sooo superior to Corser??
If winning were digits on screens well maybe its the top dog but….NOT.
AND, yeh, I’m with froryde, the whole hole thing is lame as a peashooter…
you guys are idiots.
Look at Wera, Asra, CCS, and World Superstock. Did the BMW win??? How about jeremy Toye? and the fact that he is the 19 club at willow oh wait racing wins only count in the heavily modded WSBK class where TC and performance go hand in hand…
The Bmw is a solid winner it lacks the aftermarket development and refinement the other brands hold on too.
BTW work on your grammar.
I was working on grammar while you were crapping your pants. I still am and apparently you are as well. I know a guy who once won a twins race on an XV920 Virago, so what?? Careful, it looks like some of the smoke thats been blown up your patootie is starting to come out of your keyboard, fuzzyman.
Sometimes folks want something to be so badly enough that reality will actually twist in support of their “cause”.
“I swear to God man, I saw 125 in first gear!!
Still a totally lame commercial.
Tell you what, Jake… I’ve got me passing that BMW on video twice and when I get it from my buddy Bruno, I’ll post it up on Vimeo. You want to talk crap on these forums, I want to go out and ride bikes.
You go out and spend $22K on your BMW and come looking for me on my $18K GSX-R. I’ll lay a hurt on you, and you can come back here and cry about how I cheated because I had modifications on my bike. But in the end, you’ll still get your ass beat by a 5 year old bike with some nice parts bolted to it and a little headwork. Didn’t even change the cams (just the gears) or the velocity stacks; it makes 86lb/ft torque peak and 180whp+ on Shell 93 with a full-fuel weight of about 385lbs. By the way, I didn’t do the engine work myself… could have saved $4k in labour if I had the machine shop.
Point is, this is all “bench racing,” only I’ve done the real thing and you haven’t. The BMW is a great package for a stock bike, but by the time you kit the thing out I will have built something faster and more fun for less money. I really don’t like the “King” hype I see in the motorcycle industry, I’ve seen a guy on a Pacific Coast 800 with R1 forks and brakes, a CBR swingarm and R1 wheels run Deal’s Gap in 11 minutes flat from CROT to the Overlook. You think you got what it takes to beat him on your S1000RR, man up…
1. You don’t know anything about me or my background.
2. Your comparison of a stock bike vs. a modded bike is comparing apples to oranges.
3. There could be any number of reasons as to why you were faster than the BMW not the least of which is the dude you were racing against (if he even knew he was racing against you) may not have been a very good rider or he was just taking it easy.
4. World Superstock results are a far more legitimate comparison to the bikes off the showroom floor than World Superbike and the S1000rr flat out dominated this year.
5. Since when does a S1000rr cost $22k? My local dealership would let me walk out the door with one for $15k today and that’s without any bargaining whatsoever.
5. I never started talking crap about you, only about your invalid argument.
One last jab,
Chris Peris sets new lap record at Inde Motorsports park. No that is not a Typo. It is Inde.
And his record was 1.5 seconds under the previous record… Oh and Mark Miller, Jeremy toye and Chris Peris are headed to the invitation only Macau GP.
Look, no-one says its not a good bike. No-one says it doesnt have a bunch of horsepower. No-one says that in expert hands it isnt a capable machine. What HAS BEEN SAID is that when you come up with a ridiculous commercial like this one you leave yourself open for comments that might lean toward the DOWNSIDE of your package. Capiche? What good is a 12 inch dick without blood pressure? Ya gotta make it work, ne’ ce’pas?
So, some are getting there, good on ‘em, but where are the big time results, the sustainable everybody’s on a Bmer results. They may well come but until they do you’ve only got a hole in the ground and a bunch of smoke.