It’s always good to come home. That’s how I feel every time I return to Laguna Seca.
Driving off of Boundary Road, and onto the perimeter of the track, then cresting the big downhill that descends behind Turn 2, towards the green parking area, I always get a big smile knowing that a great weekend of racing is about to begin.
This weekend was no different, with bright, sunny skies, a good crowd, and lots of great racing in both the World Superbike and the MotoAmerica series.
The US Round of the 2018 WorldSBK season highlighted, once again, the importance of hard work in motorcycle racing.
Last year, it was hard to imagine Milwaukee Aprilia standing on the podium on merit; on Sunday Eugene Laverty made his long-awaited return to the rostrum.
We have seen in recent rounds Yamaha win three races with the R1, but last weekend’s races arguably did more to prove the potential of the bike.
The US Round of the World Superbike Championship sees the paddock decamp to the West Coast, and for the Superbike riders this is certainly a favorite round of the campaign.
The challenging Laguna Seca circuit is unique and rightfully regarded as one of the most action-packed and thrilling on the calendar. The laps might be short, but there’s no rest for the wicked in the Northern California hills.
In WorldSBK, gear ratios are fixed for the season, and with the deduction in revs for 2018, this will be even more crucial. We see a lot of variety at Laguna Seca with regards to gear patterns, and this will be even more exaggerated this season.
In the past, some riders were forced to use six gears whereas others were using only five around the 2.2-mile track, but ahead of the action you could expect to see all riders using six gears this weekend.
Laguna Seca snakes its way through the Monterey hills, around a lake, and offers as much of an engineering challenge as a riding challenge.
Laguna Seca is one of the world’s most famous race tracks, and it could play host to a memorable race this weekend.
Yamaha is on a roll, Kawasaki is in the midst of what could become a difficult break-up, and Ducati is looking to recapture lost form at a venue of past glories.
Ten years of doing anything is typically a reason to celebrate. Whether it’s ten years of marriage, a birthday, or the tenth year of a company being in business, ten years is a seminal anniversary.
Recently, the Quail Motorcycle Gathering celebrated its 10th anniversary in Carmel, California. Over 3,000 attendees had the opportunity to ogle over 350 amazing motorcycles from many different genres.
Unlike last year, there was no need for beanies or puffy jackets, as the weather was significantly warmer and the crowd was a lot more comfortable.
And though this was the 10th anniversary of the event, there wasn’t a lot of fanfare around the milestone. But maybe that’s what makes the Quail special. Amazing, while remaining low-keyed. Dazzling, without making a spectacle of itself. In a word, elegant.
I have seen a few nasty crashes in my day, and not all of them have had positive outcomes. So, when I say that this is the luckiest crash that I have seen in motorcycle riding, it should carry some weight.
This video comes from motorcycle vlogger Hammy Moto, and it is taken as he rides down a Southern California freeway. For reasons that aren’t clear from our point-of-view in the video, Hammy Moto’s Kawasaki Z1000 begins to have a violent headshake, before finally crashing while near a tractor-trailer.
What happens next is where things get crazy, as Hammy Moto and his bike go sliding across the asphalt, right under the trailer. Popping out the other side, Hammy Moto narrowly misses all the wheels on the trailer, and walks away with just a little road rash to show for the experience.
It is a one-in-a-million occurrence to miss being run-over by the semi in a situation like the one shown. Dudeman is lucky to be alive. Always wear you gear.
If you are riding in California anytime soon, you might want to think twice before blaming the state’s fleet of drivers, as The Golden State just made it legal for self-driving cars to operate without a human behind the wheel.
While similar actions have stalled in the US Congress (the SELF DRIVE ACT is stuck in a Senate committee), states have begun to take matters into their own hands, like they did in Arizona.
That is right, the dawn of truly autonomous vehicles has just arrived, and it is primed to change the driving landscape as we know it, which by correlation means changes for the motorcycle community as well.
If you are a fan of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast, and happen to be in the San Francisco Bay Area next week, then we have a treat for you. This is because Quentin and I will be doing a live show on December 13th, at the San Francisco Dainese D-Store.
Things will kick-off around 6:30pm and we expect the show to go for about an hour and a half. Bring yourself, bring a friend, and bring a question for the Q&A. Kickstands are optional.
As always, you can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. We hope to see you in San Francisco!
This year’s IMS kicked off in Long Beach, signaling the start of the consumer motorcycle show season in the United States. The three-day show was a mix of both excitement and disappointment.
On one hand, the show was an opportunity to see many models for the first time in North America.
On the other hand, many of the amazing offerings from EICMA, such as the KTM 790 Duke and 790 Adventure prototype, the Husqvarna Vitpilen 701, Yamaha’s futuristic three-wheeler, the Niken, and the Kawasaki Z900RS and H2 SX, were curiously absent at the Long Beach show.
Besides missing motorcycles, there were some missing manufacturers as well. Triumph did not have a factory booth at the show, but rather, used a local dealer to provide a small representation of the British marque’s lineup.
Additionally, Can-Am pulled out of the show completely, with neither a show display, nor demos outside. Conversely, it was great to see the Piaggio Group back at the show with a display of Aprilia and Moto Guzzi motorcycles, as well as Piaggio scooters.
Hello from Ventura, California where today I will be riding the two bikes from Noale’s street lineup, the Aprilia Dorsoduro 900 and the Aprilia Shiver 900.
More evolution than revolution, for the 2017 model year Aprilia has revised the Dorsoduro and Shiver them with a 896cc engine – increasing the stroke from the previously 750cc 90° v-twin lump.
This gives both models a modest power bump and torque gain, while bringing the two street bikes into compliance with Euro4 emission standards. While at it, Aprilia has also updated both machines, leaving no stone unturned in the process in making them better motorcycles.
As such, virtually every aspect of the Aprilia Dorsoduro and Aprilia Shiver have been updated, most notably the electronics, which now include a traction control system, along with new ABS and ride-by-wire hardware and software pieces.
Hopefully, this means that these two rather bland machines from Aprilia have become the potent weapons we always hoped they would be.
To test that thought, we will be riding one of my favorite roads in the world, Highway 33, which stretches from Ventura to Ojai, and into Lockwood Valley – ending at Interstate 5. A good set of twisties, it should be the happy hunting ground for these two motorcycles.
Per our new review format, we will be giving you a live assessment of the Dorsoduro 900 and Shiver 900 models right here in this article (down in the comments section), and there we will try to answer any questions you might have.
So, here is your chance to learn what it’s like to ride these affordable street shredders, before even my own proper reviews are posted. As always, if I don’t know an answer, I will try to get a response from the Aprilia personnel. So, pepper away.
You can follow our thoughts on the bike live via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
