The FIM has announced that BMW has homologated a new crankshaft design for World Superbike and World Superstock racing. Effective since June 10th, the new crankshaft, much like the Aprilia RSV4’s upgraded camshaft, could be part of the equation for BMW’s recent success in WSBK, and continued domination in STK1000.
Handwritten and then reproduced by Fiat-Yamaha, Valentino Rossi included an open letter with the announcement of his departure from Fiat-Yamaha to Marlboro Ducati. In his own words Rossi documents his “relationship” with the Yamaha YZR-M1, and is quick to point-out that it was Rossi’s direction and input that turned the bike into the weapon of choice in MotoGP. Reading the letter, it might be a bit strange as to why the message was included with the official press release from Yamaha, but peering between the lines some parting words can be inferred from Rossi, and perhaps greater insight into what makes a nine-time World Champion.
- Ducati CEO Confirms Rossi/Hayden for 2011
- Crash Proof Motorcycle Technology
- A Postscript on e-Power at Laguna Seca
- Ducati to Cycle World: You're a Bunch of Liars
- Reading Between the Lines of Valentino
- Concept: Harley-Davidson Brawler
- Electric Motorcycle Break-Even Calculator
- Ok Buell, We'll Bite...
- MV Agusta F3: The €9,000 Motorcycle that Castiglioni Hopes Will Save the Company
- A Better Look at the Ducati Mega Monster
The big news for the 2011 BMW S1000RR is that you can now get the superbike in “Sun Yellow”, which is replacing the Acid Green paint job that made motorcycle journalists collectively heave, pregnant woman prematurely give birth, and BP pump massive amounts of oil into the Gulf Coast. Also available is a “Light Grey Metallic”, which is replacing the Silver Metallic…if you’re just as confused as we are on the distinctions between light grey and silver, check after the jump for photos.
Max Biaggi turned a year older yesterday, making the Italian rider 39 years-old, but he isn’t the only rider on the World Superbike grid that’s whose a bit weathered with age. Battling for Race 1 at Misano this weekend, the old duffs came out of the woodwork, and showed that you can teach an old dog new tricks after all. Get out your walked, and check out all the race spoilers after the jump.
Aprilia USA has tapped Hell for Leather and Tangent Vector to help them market the 2010 Aprilia RSV4 sport bike in a three-part video clip series. First up is a response to the BMW tablecloth trick video, which went viral on YouTube three months ago. Deciding to rest its laurels on its World Superbike doubles at Miller Motorsports Park, Monza, and Portimao, instead of cheap parlor tricks, Aprilia is clearly poking BMW in the eye with this video response. Check it out after the jump.
BMW Motorrad is reporting that worldwide motorcycle sales were up 21% for the first five months of 2010, compared to 2009’s numbers. Sales were up 19.3% for the month of May alone, with 12,139 units sold, making for 45,431 units sold thus far in 2010. The newly revised BMW R1200GS/Adventure models account for 3,705 of the motorcycles sold in May, which is up almost 34% from last year.
While the GS comprises almost a third of BMW’s total sales in May, BMW reported that the F and K series motorcycles also showed strong demand in the month as well. Also making a strong showing is the all new S1000RR superbike, which sold 1,345 units in last month for a total of 5,236 units sold this year so far.
What on Earth could possess electric motorcycle manufacturer Brammo to buy a BMW S1000RR, and then sell it on eBay after only putting 700 miles on the bike? Was Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher not pleased with what’s being hailed as the Sportbike of 2010? No, that’s not the case, Bramscher apparently heralded the bike as the best motorcycle ever made (besides the Brammo Enertia of course).
With a lime green (naturally) BMW S1000RR sitting outside of Brammo HQ not too long ago, and now an eBay classified ad selling said bike, we’re left to wonder what could be in the works. Could a Brammo electric sportbike be peculating in the minds of the Ashland, Oregon volt-heads? Only time will tell.
Eskil Suter is a popular man in the Moto2 paddock. Not only is his Moto2 chassis one of the cheapest, but it’s also one of the best performing units. It should be no surprise then that his Moto2 solution (shown above) is one of the most popular in the race series, and Suter sees that as a great jumping off point to enter back into the MotoGP fray (Suter helped engineer the Kawasaki ZX-RR, the Ilmor X3, and the Petronas FP1 SBK race bikes).
With the MotoGP rules in 2012 to allow for claiming rule teams, the door has been opened for a Moto2 styled team (production motor in a prototype frame) to play with the big boys. Suter for his part is looking to draw on his current chassis success, and base his design around the very potent BMW S1000RR motor. The result should be a fairly inexpensive solution to a high-performance race bike as the S1000RR has been popping up on the internet with 190hp stock.
We’re only four rounds in for the 2010 World Superbike season, and already there’s increased “talk” about the possibility of Ruben Xaus getting canned by at least the end of the season. After a stellar showing by the BMW crew at Assen (at least for Troy Corser) all eyes are again on Xaus who managed to crash four times (we feel like we’ve heard this before) at the Dutch track.











