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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Oh Yes!
Man, what a change from 1 year ago when gears and regen were deemed useless (or not worth the effort) for electric drive motorcycles.
Bike looks awesome!
Brammo Engage – The Electric MX & Supermoto from Ashland – http://aspha.lt/i9 #motorcycle
Hey Brammo, KTM called…it wants it’s style back… (^_^ )
Dude, that “box” in the frame looks so lame – c’mon at least try to package the battery in some half-sexy looking case…but not a freakin’ box! Sheeeeeezzzzzzz, more reason to stay w/ a real engine!
Price is comparable to a European enduro, so not the end of the world.
1.) How long could one ride HARD on this before the battery is dead? If you can’t do a 50 mile desert loop or 25 miles of technical woodsy mountain singletrack, I’d never make it back to the truck around here.
2.) How much does it weigh?
3.) Who makes the suspension/brakes?
4.) What is the weight?
5.) Is the battery hot-swappable?
6.) Why would I pre-order an electric bike without knowing the answers to the above questions?
Whoops, asked about weight twice. Well that’s how important it is!…
gnmac, I think part of the issue here is that these are pre-production prototypes, not the final designs. This bikes look to be identical to what SMRE built, I don’t know why Brammo is showing them now if it intends to work its own design aesthetic into them. Probably has something to do with money.
I agree with gnmac and GeddyT. Why ride an electric bike with ugly square boxes where a powerful and light 300 to 500 two-stroke engine makes more sense? So what if it smokes a little? Commercial jet planes, diesel locomotives, and large 18 wheeled trucks all produce (belch) black smoke that is allegedly (bull crap) causing global warming, and ruining the planet. Great, lets put batteries on a 747 jet liner and see how much thrust it produces. Well, how about the space shuttle? Could batteries lift it into orbit? I think not and all this electric bike and car crap is just that- CRAP! Bring back the two-strokes.
I’ll begin to consider anything electric the day that i can recharge a battery pack as soon as i currently fill 4 1/2 Gallons of gasoline “anywhere” i turn my head to and get the same acceleration and range out of it, till then for lack of a better educated form of xpressing myself how i feel about it i will join Ulysses Rider and call it all….still Crap.
I know u can’t run before crawling, standing, falling but im just not ready to give up my ICE and swallow the upgrade. Let others be Guinea Pigs…and their Dollars.
I would rather see advances on BioFuels than this ” We want to be Green Hipster Kool Aid/Electric B.S” thats still a gazillion years away from truly pulling it’s Shiznit togheter.
Beyond the horrid square block interrupting the lines of the design, it looks pretty good.
Seems to follow the lines of Beta’s enduro. Still a bit pricey.
Given the incredibly prototype nature of the bikes unveiled, I’d have to call this a FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) to preempt sales of Zero electric dirt bikes. They’re taking pre-orders with no announced production date? Unbelievable.