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.
You weren’t kidding Jensen, that is the dumbest ad I’ve ever seen.
What the hell?
Hey You, Nissan’s ad agency. Yea you. YOU SUCK!!!
wha?
BULL$#!* >:-( !!!!! Besides any motorbike w/ a tank that looks like that Juke’s console is plain ugly@$$ bull$#!* too!
Hey, at least they have the GTR :-)
those bikes looked like sv650′s….no wonder the Juke could keep up
I`m not a native english speaker, so someone help me –
what`s possibly the most absolutest opposite of “awesome”?
(do not say “juke” – that`s too obvious.)
If I want a motorcycle tank, I want it between my legs. I want it real, I want to put Premium Tier 1 fuel in it. This does show the desperation of the Juke (puke) and its far reaching effort to attract such a dumb ass
truly what the F?CK. agree. that is enough to sway me to never by a Nissan .
otw, i’m also at a loss of words to describe wtf i just saw
This is not only a crappy ad, it promotes a dangerous misconception. People thinking CUVs/SUVs, or whatever flavor of the month soccermom-mobile can keep up with a motorcycle. Reminds me of that scene in Salt, where the big SUV is actually able to keep up with a Street Triple for awhile, until traffic impedes their progress and Jolie escapes.
@ Richard Gozinya
I agree completely. It also promotes a dangerous misconception that it’s alright to treat motorbikes as something lesser than a four wheeled vehicle on the road by smashing into them to bits with the riders falling off while the ‘car’ rolls on un scathed.
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.
braincells just exploded with WTF.
Impressive…most impressive…(stands up and T-BAG each and every person involved in such lame Add)
…that is Travolting & completely ill-thought out! …wow, and they thought that ad would “help sell” the car to the general public. Even if you look past the sheer stupidity of murdering ‘evil’ motorcyclists (which has already been identified as completely irresponsible and stupid), why would those animated events that took place inspire the car to have donor components from the motorcycle?? deconstructing the ad, it actually makes no sense…a trophy from the car’s kill of a motorcycle being incorporated/eaten into the cars internal construction….the same way the designers didn’t make sense using a motorcycle tank for a centre console, form and function, no clue…next they’ll be using ironing boards for bonnets…did everyone involved get their degree’s from cereal boxes???….geez i would fired from my role if i produced crap like this. Nissan, major fail here!
Here in OZ it was proven that if you make an ad really annoying it sticks in peoples minds more so than something entertaining like classic beer commercials where you have a good ol chuckle and move on.
Not saying you hate the ad and now your off to buy one, its the subconscious association that people carry after which only has to promote the brand as a minimum not so much the product.
We had a really bad ad for a big supermarket here, bad music and la la dancing. It was condemed through bastard repetition prime time and the company knew it. But it made everybody talk about that bastard ad which carries some marketing in itself…..
This ad is like one of those hyper japanese cartoons on acid and you think, what the fuck was all that flash bang.
Yes, the Juke is the Diavel of cages; a warthog dry-humping a water buffalo.
didnt you guys hear, motorcycle tanks are the in thing nowadays, I wear mine as a necklace,
How about we make a commercial with a large SUV punting Nissan Jukes off the road? Pretty sure Nissan would love that.
@aeotrin yeah I think I'll pass on Nissan vehicles, for good. @Asphalt_Rubber: Filed Under: What The F*ck – http://t.co/LPI5Ill #motorcycle
RT @kevbrn: WTF is right?!?!? RT @Asphalt_Rubber Filed Under: What The F*ck – http://t.co/eh0SuuZ #motorcycle
76,
You’re doing it wrong, you’re supposed to wear it as a codpiece.
WTF?! As a company that sponsors the British Superbike Championship that’s a pretty interesting ad. Sorry Nissan, you’ve lost a (potential) customer for life there…
Being one of the blog’s UK readership, I had to Google Pontiac Aztek, and boy is it butt-ugly! Still, I’d rather drive one in luminous pink than a Nissan…
Guess someone in Nissan’s ad agency was bored one morning and said, “any idea how we make the crappest ever car ad ever seen in the known world”; and then for “fun”, they actually pitched it to Nissan. The real idiots here are the guys (no woman could be “that” stupid) who commissioned it at Nissan, not the production team that made it!
And to think, my wife and I are planning a new car purchase this weekend and Nissan WAS on that list of possibilities. Thanks for helping me see the light.
Am I the only one that missed most of the ad because my brain was busy exploding over the claim “in a city full of predators, prey is never hard to find…”? No, you jackasses, in a city full of predators, prey would be extremely scarce.
Billy B.Tso – right. Pathetically lame that a car company needs to emphasize, of all things, the CONSOLE to sell their car. Then, they try to say its cool because it has motorcycle influences but then proceed to take out bikes.
The sad part is that some dumb schmuck probably got PAID to create that waste of 1:23min. of my life.
If this is another bomb from the TRUE Agency, they need to be fired post-haste. Nissan has associated themselves with some of the worst advertising I’ve ever laid eyes on. The Leaf ads are antagonistic utility-destroying garbage, and the inventory ads were Schadenfreude at its worst. Now we are treated to this awful campaign which features some of the most imprecise copyrighting and convoluted branding I have ever seen/heard.
The new Juke campaign is awful.
Juke can’t even catch a cold, so much less a sport bike.
One of the worst ad ever, even technically.
Absolutely pathetic! NISSAN is often at the bottom of the food chain, but this turns up the dial. You can’t blame the agency, just the client.
Nissan has left the building… and apparently their taste behind.
Serious though, an Aztec ?
As for the commercial, I have no comment, but the car itself, nothing is worse than an Aztec, except maybe the Gremlin or the Pacer…
That was a terrible commercial. Definitely gives the wrong impression of motorcycle/car interaction. The Juke really is an odd looking CUV. But to rule out buying any Nissan because of one ad video, that’s just dumb.
seems the backlash is working – video is now private and inaccessible
:thumbsup: for the responses
i’m not so sure that it’s the particularly horrible commercial that everyone is making it out to be(big shock on a biking blog, lmao) – it’s certainly not “good” in any way – but i believe the real point here is that everyone from nissan’s ad agency to the very execs of nissan that approved that HAD to have known that nothing good would come from this ad. even if it was a technically great ad, the general concept of nissan vehicle being shown committing some form of violence would cause a big uproar in the ridiculously ‘politically correct’ environment we live in.
frankly, if i had it my way, a crappy ad like this would just go unreported and get dropped in a week because it’s not working. no need to put all this attention on it.
What is the password needed to view the private video?
you can find the video still playing here: http://blog.motorcycle.com/2011/09/07/design/nissan-juke-hunts-and-runs-down-motorcyclists-in-commercial-video/