Photo: Five – Two = Podium

Blurred to protect against spoilers, we’ll just leave things simply by saying that World Superbike’s Race 2 at Donington Park is well worth a watching if you haven’t already seen it. Decided right down to the last few turns, race pundits surely will be discussing the race and its outcome over the next week. Unsurprisingly, geography is playing a major a role in how things are being viewed. Though in a race where a number of questionable passes occurred, it is hard to single out this one event from the plethora of others that occurred during the race, but of course this one had the biggest effect on the race outcome. Click past the jump for the he said, she said, and of course for some slightly sharper photos.

Norton V4 Gets Shakedown Test Ahead of Isle of Man TT

More news from Norton, as the British firm has begun track-testing its V4 road race bike, in preparation of the 2012 Isle of Man TT. Focusing on the bike’s handling, Norton has been working hand-in-hand with Öhlins and Dunlop developing the bike’s chassis. The trio has devised the highly sophisticated “165 mph no hands” test, which supposedly checks the stability of the bike, though we imagine Health & Safety would frown upon it. With the bike’s Aprilia RSV4 motor putting out 195hp at the crank, and with the total race package weighing 419 lbs (195 kg) when it is sopping wet, the Spondon-framed Norton may not be exactly what fans of the famous marques were hoping for after seeing the very appealing Norton NRV 588, though it does seem to be a potent package.

2012 Brammo Empulse R – Was It Worth the Wait?

Launching in downtown Los Angeles, the 2012 Brammo Empulse R & 2013 Brammo Empulse broke their cover and officially debuted. Right off the bat from the designations, you can see that Brammo intends for the Empulse R to be a 2012 model, with the base model Emuplse coming out next year (more on that further down). As we expected, the Brammo Empulse R got quite the price bump after its 22-month marination, and will be $18,995 MSRP. Meanwhile when the Brammo Empulse becomes available next year, it will have a slightly more palatable $16,995 price tag.

Up-Close with the Erik Buell Racing 1190RS ‘merica Edition

While the EBR 1190RS race bikes were on the track, their $40,000+ street-legal counterparts were on display outside of the Erik Buell Racing garage. Rocking an American flag livery, I naturally took pictures of this show bike. Eye catching to say the least, nothing says “Made in ‘merica” better than a red, white, and blue color scheme, especially when it is laid over carbon fiber. And while I want to love this bike because of its nuances and outside-of-the-box technical design, I don’t.

Sunday Summary at Estoril: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

If there’s one lesson we can take from Sunday’s race at Estoril, it’s this: “I’ve always said we know Casey’s the guy that’s the fastest guy in the world. Maybe over the seasons he hasn’t put the championships together, but by far he’s the best guy in the world.” Cal Crutchlow is not known for mincing his words, and his description of Casey Stoner pulls no punches. But given the fact that Stoner only managed to win the Portuguese round of MotoGP by a second and a bit, is that not a little exaggerated?

Up-Close with the 2012 Brammo Empulse RR

Brammo is back for electric motorcycle racing in the North American TTXGP series, as the Ashland-based company is set to defend it’s #1 plate this year with Steve Atlas on board ( Shelina Moreda is slated to join the team later in the season). Gaining a title sponsorship from Icon, Brammo arrived at Sears Point with some edgy graphics on the 2012 Brammo Empulse RR. Dropping roughly 35 lbs in weight, and gaining roughly 50hp over the bike they ran at last year’s season opener, Brammo is making most of those gains in its revised motor and power inverter for the newest Empulse RR.

Mea Culpa: The Media’s Hard-on for a Good Penis Story

As you can imagine, the bulk of the commentary, both from readers and from professional journalists, has centered around the absurdity of the claim, with even jokes being offered about how an aged BMW rider should be thanking the German motorcycle brand for saving him money on Viagra, etc. The situation reminds me of the McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit. You know the story, right?. A woman buys a cup of coffee at McDonald’s, spills it on herself while in the car, and sues the bastards for her incompetence. True to litigious American form, the unthinkable happened, and a jury awarded this gold-digging woman millions of dollars. It is repudiating, and it stands for everything that is wrong with the legal system, or so we would be lead to believe — especially by the media.

An Addendum to Valentino Rossi’s Options for the Future

Never say never, but few are expecting Valentino Rossi to hang up his spurs at the end of the 2012 MotoGP Championship. Going out on a career low-point is certainly not the Italian’s style, especially as it casts a particularly dark shadow on a career that has enjoyed the bright-light superlative of “Greatest of All Time” from some of motorcycling’s most knowledgeable sources. Hoping to cast that phrase with an underlined typeface, and not with an interrogatory question mark, there is sufficient evidence to believe that Rossi will want to end his career in a way that will leave no doubt about the nine-time World Champion’s abilities. The question of course is how those final seasons will play out, and who they will be with.

Motorcycle from Japanese Tsunami Washes Up in Canada

Just a little over a year later, debris from the Sendai earthquake and its subsequent tsunami is starting to make its way across the Pacific Ocean, with the first bit major piece of fallout to hit Canadian soil just now being reported. Though the effects to the motorcycle industry were only a small portion of the overall devastation, for our purposes it seems fitting that the first sizable item to wash ashore is a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Landing in the Haida Gwaii islands of British Columbia, the Harley-Davidson Softail was discovered by Peter Mark, who was riding his ATV along the coast of the isolated beach.

Man Sues BMW for Causing Erection – No, Seriously

After a four-hour ride on his motorcycle, one BMW owner realized that he had a problem. Namely, a problem with his erect penis, which after some waiting would not subside. Now while most of us would cheekily reply that such a state is the sign of a good motorcycle ride, this San Francisco Bay Area native is not laughing, and has filed suit in the Superior Court of San Francisco County (CGC-12-520316) against BMW Motorrad North American and Corbin-Pacific. Saying that the motorcycle and its dealer-installed custom motorcycle seat have caused priapism, the man is suing for lost wages, personal injury, medical expenses, product liability, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

EICMA: 2010 MV Agusta F4 Details Continue to Build Up the 186hp Hype Machine

11/02/2009 @ 5:27 pm, by Jenny Gun15 COMMENTS

EICMA: 2010 MV Agusta F4 Details Continue to Build Up the 186hp Hype Machine 2010 MV Agusta F4 tail section 560x373

In exactly one week’s time, A&R will be toughing it out in the harsh Milanese winter, sipping our cappucino, while MV Agusta shows us the latest iteration of their F4 Superbike. After releasing photos of the new 2010 MV Agusta Brutale, and teasing us with the front-view of the F4, we were a little worried the design of the new MV flagship (rendered above) was going to be a little stale. Will the new MV live up to the hyperbole? Only time will tell. Rumored bike details after the jump.

MV Agusta holds onto a precarious position as the company has defined itself in the industry with its breath-taking designs. In many ways, the lines of the F4, with its stacked headlight, single-sided swingarm, and 4 pipe under-seat exhaust, have become a part of MV’s brand identiy, making it difficult for the company to move past Tamborini’s original piece of art into new revisions.

When the new Brutale copied almost exactly the lines of its predecessor, despite being 80% new in design, we were worried that the 2010 MV Agusta F4 would follow a similar fate. There’s a strong possibility that will be the case come a week’s time, but it does seem that MV Agusta has done a little work under the hood.

It’s being rumored that MV Agusta has re-worked the 998cc inline-four motor to make 186 hp at 12,900 rpm. Engine features include two fuel-injectors per cylinder, variable length intake, a slipper clutch, and 8-way adjustable traction control system that is supposed to be the best the market has seen to date.

The F4′s chassis has also supposedly gotten the once-over, with a longer and lighter single-sided swingarm and more slender overall profile. A “bi-xenon” head lamp (seen already in MV’s teaser photo) follows similar lines of the previous F4, and we can expect to see the same 4 tip exhaust cans under the F4′s seat.

According to Managing Director of MV Agusta, Enrico D’Onofrio:

“The launch of the new F4 continues the path of success started with the new Brutale MV Agusta to return to writing new pages in its glorious history and rich tradition of victory. The F4 comes from an entirely new project with the aim of improving excellence as an extreme mixture of art of design and sport performance. Continue in future to invest in developing new projects to broaden the range of our amazing motorcycles.”

We’re still hopeful that the new MV Agusta F4 will live up to the hype, but considering how many parts the new bike will likely share with the Brutale, we’re still having a hard time believing we’ll be “wowed” in Milan next week. Stay tuned for photos and a detailed write up.

Source: OmniMoto

Top 5 Related Posts:

  1. Details Leak on the MV Agusta Brutale 675 “B3″
  2. Spy Photo: MV Agusta Brutale 675 B3
  3. More Photos and Details about the MV Agusta F3
  4. MV Agusta F3 675 Details MVICS Electronics Package
  5. MV Agusta Brutale 675 Video Teases All Trepistoni

Comment:

  1. AdamK says:

    RT: @Asphalt_Rubber: EICMA: 2010 MV Agusta F4 Details Continue to Build Up the Hype Machine? – http://bit.ly/3lISp5 #motorcycle very nice!

  2. Patron says:

    Nice lookin bike, but to me it looks dated now. Looks like all the they changed is the pipes. Round to square. How daring. IMHO this is a hollywood bike. Celebrities own them as a status symbol, or they are used in movies as the “exotic” mode of transportation for the leading man. Doesnt seem to be much else for this bike to do. An ’09 R1 looks, sounds and performs better, and can be seen in race trim on a world level. Shiny though

  3. Jenny Gun says:

    FYI: that’s a render not the actual bike.

  4. Patron says:

    guess only time will tell.

  5. EICMA: 2010 MV Agusta F4 Details Continue to Build Up the Hype Machine? – http://bit.ly/3lISp5 #motorcycle

  6. #MV Augusta F4: a gorgeous rear view http://bit.ly/1bcAcE

  7. Jake says:

    If you’ve never ridden or owned one then you really can’t comment on the performance of the bike. As someone who has owned one the only thing “hollywood” about the bike are the owners who are afraid to use them as intended. I can tell you from personal experience that they are great handling fast bikes.

    Unlike most I guess I don’t like this stupid trend of redoing the looks of a bike every other year. I absolutely hated the last 2 versions of the R1 with the 09 being the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. While I’d put the 04-06 R1 as some of the best looking bikes ever. Bikes these days have no identity. I mean you see a Porsche 911 and you know right off the bat it’s a 911. A Lamborgini, etc……. I think the MV is still one of the best looking bikes ever especially compared to what’s coming out of Japan lately (and I’m not some Euro snob either). These days the press has every thinking bikes need to be redesigned every couple of years which I think is completely stupid

    The biggest problem with the MV has always been the weight which is something they just continue to ignore. If they would work on dropping weight instead of bumping up CCs and new paint jobs then the MV wouldn’t get as much flack as it gets.

    But the other problem is that people (the press include) spend to much time looking at the bike instead of riding the bike like it should be ridden. I get pissed everytime I hear or read someone say it’s to beautiful to trash or I wouldn’t want to risk crashing it. It’s a motorcycle that needs to be ridden. Again as some one who has owned 3 MVs and have ridden each one of them as hard as any Yamaha or Suzuki I’ve owned I can tell you they are more then a match for the other bikes out there.

  8. RSVDan says:

    What jake said.

  9. Patron says:

    when they first came out about 10 years ago, they may have looked to beautiful to risk a crash…but not today. though i like you dont believe there is such a thing. and i wont lie and say i’ve ever riden one of these, but i doubt that it handles as well as an R1. i’m sure they handle really well. I never said they were garbage. changing the styling every 3 years, no…but after 10 years an update might refresh peoples intrest in the bike.

  10. Wil says:

    Some people are happy buying a new Japanese bike every 2-3 years, and others are happy paying double for an MV that still looks great after 10 years.

    Some people enjoy throwing $$$ blinging up a Japanese bike, but make no mistake… A suped up R1 is still an R1. A dime a dozen.

    I don’t feel I need to justify the F4 ownership experience. Some people are happy living under the glass ceiling. Others realize the glass is not an obstacle.

    Oh BTW, the F4 beat the R1 for the 2007 Master Bike. Apparently the experts thinks the MV can more than hang w/ the best of the best.

    http://www.mvagustausa.com/web-mvagusta/news/0507_masterbike.html

  11. Jake says:

    Patron first of thanks for a reasonable reply because it’s not often you get that on the web!!! lol But again as someone who has ridden MVs extensively on the racetrack as well as having owned 4 R1s and regularly ridden numerous other modern sportbikes (get to ride almost all the new models each year) on the track. I can tell you the handling of the MV is excpetional. The front end and feel of it can’t really be put into words. So yes 10 years on it’s still good in that dept. Even when it was still a 750 the motor was never as bad as the press made it out to be. the problem was that people were afraid to ride the bike hard. When ridden hard and aggressively it smoked. You also had to be completely committed to riding it hard but if you did you were rewarded for the effort. But I always thought that was part of the thrill of track riding and sportbike riding pushing limits and riding hard pretending to be a SBK or MotoGP rider. lol

    But the problem has always been the weight. It has always been on the heavy side compared to other sportbikes. and after that people just couldn’t get over the price tag which is something that I never concerned myself with (no I’m not rich either).

  12. Jake says:

    Oh and there is nothing wrong with a touch up here and there, but again this concept of complete redesigns….. I just don’t get. But even those little touch ups can go wrong. As I said to me the 04-06 R1 is one of the best looking bikes I’ve ever since period. but those small changes that they made for the 07-08 R1 just killed it for me and that was before the mess that is the 09 R1. I’m honest enough to admit that I will never ever truly push any of these bikes to ther absolute limits so looks and styling are important to me. The bike can’t be a pile of crap but the looks definately matter. And to me the last good looking liter bike that came out of Japan was the 04-06 R1 everything else to me has been hideous

  13. Patron says:

    That’s it…I’m buying an MV. You’ve convinced me. No…but I’m sure the bike hauls when you really put the hammer down. It just still looks dated to me. Not ugly, just dated. I can’t get past the fact that the styling just doesn’t do it for me anymore. I mean when the 916 came out, that was the sexiest bike on the planet. Just a work of art. And it ran too. Then eventually it was morphed into that horrible 999 creature. Another good example where an update went horribly wrong (I tend to agree with you with the R1 heading in the wrong direction…but it has grown on me a bit). But the 1098 returned to the 916 roots. The 1098 should have been the next generation after the 996. It looks updated and fresh but kept the soul of the 916.
    And Wil, nobody needs you to justify your F4 ownership. I’ve never criticized anyone for the bike they ride. Not even for riding a Katana. And those bikes are just ghastly. But certainly not an F4. If you ride, that’s enough. Own what you want. That’s what is so great about bikes. There is one out there for every taste. And I agree the R1 is a dime a dozen. But they are still nice bikes. There is no denying that. But I don’t go for the Japanese crotch rocket either. I like my bikes to be different. My 05 XB12s is the most bizarre looking bike out there I think. Some call it ugly, but it looks like something Mad Max would slap together and ride. And it’s the most streetable bike I’ve owned. And I’ve owned a bunch. Thanks why I love it. It’s pure utilitarianism. Literally just two wheels and an engine. And that little bastard hauls with a competent rider on top. And now with my new SM purchase just days away….ok…now I’m getting of topic…just excited. Anyway, Like the F4. I just think it could use some updates IMHO.

  14. m.primo says:

    The design updates are interesting. Side by side, the 1098 looks almost like the F4, arrow tail, single side swingarm, and the mirrors. The only update I wanted to see on the F4 was for MV to sharpen up the bike a little. Give it a modern feel. With these new cues, the MV from what I can see will look like a Corsa and Silver lively (red/silver) 1098. IRONY.

    Pick any of the big 4 from Japan. The only differences is really what color do you want or what exhaust flavor you want…undertail, side, or shorty. They have the same characteristics, same high revving I4. 16,000 RPMs really. You get a new one every 2 years with more power. I owned a Gixxer 750 and was all about it until I saw a red 998 in person next to mine.

    I’m not going to lie, I bought my F4 1000R and my 1098 (i’m not rich either, I’m in the military) purely for the aesthetics. I’m looking into buying an 05 R1 Raven again for the aesthetics.

    seriously, if you’re not Casey Stoner, Mr. Rosi, or trying to make your way up on the AMAs, what does a spec sheet do for you. If you’re riding on the I5 from San Diego to L.A., what’s 10 hp and 2 seconds quicker from 0 to 150 mph do for you??????
    Even if you’re on a Katana, LOL, Katana, you’re faster than 90% of the cars on the road….and i’m done.