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.
I know people keep talking about how it’s Britton-esque in that it’s ‘frameless’, but I see a little Buell in there too with the upper frame bit being doubling as the airbox.
I’ve got a question that’s been bugging me though: I still don’t see how it’s considered a monocoque design. I thought to be considered such, the pretty outside has to be structural as well…
the frame/airbox, is one structure made out of one piece of cast aluminum, that is your monocoque right there. it is the best engine out there in superbikes for sure. though i think with the higher in the rpm torque delivery, it might not be as good on the street than the 1198 was. we still have to see how fast it builds the rpm’s, i am just basing this on numbers.
awesome bike!
Hope they tested it thouroughly, but that airbox doesn’t look very solid to me.
These pics reinforce what I’ve been saying the past 6 months. As someone who prefers to do all my own maintenance, this piece of machinery turns me off. I have no desire to pay a local shop $85/hr for a lot of hours of tedious work. This thing is way too complex for self servicing. It’s way too complicated for shop servicing. It could take 3-4 hours to do something simple that might take 30 minutes on an I-4. Pretty much have to take the whole bike apart to do anything beyond changing a spark plug. Maybe it is a fantastic track bred bike, but for the street… Forgettaboutit.
Total cost of ownership will put this in with luxury cars.
@Bob:
Look twice…u still can change plugs and do valve checks and adjustments w/o having to split apart frame and engine.
AND…UNLIKE my SV1000N wich to remove and replace the engine is an involved procedure + special tools…this Ducati seems pretty str8 forward to me… 4 Nuts and is all loose ? There may be more to it but i can’t see on first sight.
Honestly…i thought there was going to be more fasteners conecting the frame/engine complex.
Got to agree with Bob. We wont know till its out, but remember there is no other frame, trellis or anything to get in the way. Course you have cable, but thats standard.
To take the engine out might be slighty tricky. Still, it dosnt look that bad…
Masterpiece! but Rossi didn’t liked much ?
Guys, keep in mind, when you remove the engine, the front and back halves are now separate pieces with nothing connecting them in the middle but wires. You now have disconnect all the wiring to get 2 whole pieces to carry to the corner of the garage instead of being able to roll it as a rolling chassis that uses an actual frame. Need to change out the worn timing chain guides? It looks like you have to unbolt multiple covers and remove othe components. This whole engine assembly is layer upon layer of stuff to take apart to get to something. Need to synch the throttle bodies? They’re buried inside the tight little airbox. Everything between the front and rear wheels looks like an absolute PITA to maintain. All I have to say to furure owners is I hope you have a large and available limit on your credit card because the labor to get these worked on by a shop will send you to the poor-house.
I have to agree with Bob, and to add something I noticed. How in the HE!! do you change the Air Filter. It looks like it requires a complete tear down of the front end!!!
Beautiful bike, and great ideas. (@ thneves: at the level any mortal would ride this bike I doubt you would notice the problems Rossi had/has)
But no thanks, I’ll keep my Aprilia. :-)
@Bill:
On plain sight…thru the hole under the “fuel tank”. No rocket science there…i think ?
I think u guys are grabbing the torches and pitchforks up too soon.
I can symphatize when the time comes to unload the engine…but other than that…i think is pretty much the same as any other run of the mill late model superbike…TONS OF CRAP in the way to get to any component.