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Lewis Hamilton Edition MV Agusta F4 About to Debut

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Our friends at Motor.nl have a good scoop for Italian motorcycle fans, as MV Agusta is about to release later today a Lewis Hamilton edition of its iconic MV Agusta F4 motorcycle.

Like the MV Agusta Dragster RR that also brandishes the F1 stars name, this F4 is expected 1) to be mostly a visual exercise, and 2) show the furthering bond between the Italian marque and the British driver, which just renewed their contract with each other.

Meanwhile, rumors that Lewis Hamilton would wild card alongside Leon Camier at the next WorldSBK round appear to be unfounded, though profoundly intriguing to consider.

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Bikes

BMW C Evolution “E-LisaBad” by Krautmotors

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For the past couple days, we have been strangely attracted to this electric scooter, made by Krautmotors. The best we can tell, the “E-LisaBad” is based off the BMW C Evolution scooter, and what surely must have been the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk.

The stealth-looking angular matte black fairing catches the eye for sure, but so does the raw rear-end of the scooter, which shows the burly chassis that BMW is building for its electric platform.

The whole machine has been lowered from its original ride height, with the rear shocks removed completely, and a drag strip racing slick fitted to the single-sided swingarm. Other than that, the core of the BMW C Evolution remains the same, with its 53 lbs•ft of torque.

We think you will find that builder Rolf Reick’s creation is an interesting mix of form and function, and if you are wondering about the moniker, its namesake is Reick’s grandmother.

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Bikes

Woolie’s Pikes Peak Hypermotard by Deus Ex Machina

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If you are going to race at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, you might want to bring something a little bit more peppy than a stock Ducati Hypermotard – not that the Italian street bike isn’t tons of fun, but its now-rated 110hp is going to be robbed blind at it approaches the 14,000+ foot summit.

That is where Michael Woolaway’s latest project for Deus Ex Machina comes into play, as Woolie has taken the Hypermotard, dropped massive amounts of power into its chassis, and then stripped every last bit of unnecessary weight off the machine.

With 200hp on tap, and a paltry 345 lbs measured when fully fueled and on the scales, Woolie’s Pikes Peak Hypermotard is the ultimate in function before form. Of course, the minimalist technical requirements play into Woolie’s bare-bones design as well.

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Bikes

Custom “Thiverval” Ducati XDiavel by Fred Krugger

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The Ducati XDiavel was produced to better fit the needs of the typical cruiser rider, and to go after Harley-Davidson’s choke-hold on the cruiser demographic. The Italian machine has had mixed success in that regard, though it brings far more performance into the category than ever seen before.

Tapping more into the strong custom scene, the Bologna Brand has been looking to the talents of various well-known fabricators to build upon the XDiavel platform.

This time up is Belgium’s Fred Krugger, who has created this very intriguing “Thiverval” XDiavel model for the Bikers’ Classics event in Belgium.

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Bikes

Beauty Is Wedging an RZ350 Motor into an RS250 Frame

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I am about to ruin your day, because I am going to show you something that you will want very badly, but can’t have. It is what happens when you have the best of both worlds. It is the two-wheeled version of having your cake and eating it too. 

This machine is called the Yamaprilia, and as the name implies, it is a mashup of the Yamaha RZ350 and the Aprilia RS250. Using the two-stroke, twin-cylinder engine from the RZ350, and the twin-spar aluminum chassis of the RS250, owner Gareth Evans is looking for the best of both worlds.

The build is an interesting one – and is featured by our friends at BikeEXIF – as it involves Evans fabricating more than a few parts himself – something that is easier to do when you have a background in mechanical engineering, like Evans does.

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Bikes

Oh My, The “Miracle Mike” Is One Tasty Indian Scout Build

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That’s it. Hell must be freezing over, as I just had to mop up the floor after looking at photos of a cruiser. What you see here is called the “Miracle Mike” and it is the creation of the minds at Young Guns Speed Shop.

The bike is built off the Indian Scout, an affordable entry-level cruiser that boasts pretty good performance for its $10,000 price tag, but is generally a pass for anyone that likes leaning more than 31°.

Here at Asphalt & Rubber, we’ve had a bit of time on both the Scout and its sibling, the Victory Octane, and found the models to be potent, but in need of a better gearbox and front brakes…and a serious diet wouldn’t hurt too.

Bargain basement suspension also holds back the Scout and Octane, and generally the built quality and switchgear is what you would expect from price-point machines. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, they’re perfectly fine machines.

The Swiss minds at Young Guns seemed to think the same, making smart improvements to the Indian Scout for their creation. And heck, a little nitrous “go juice” never hurts, right?

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Bikes

More Photos and Details of the MV Agusta RVS #1

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Yesterday we showed you the MV Agusta RVS #1, the first creation from the Italian marque’s Reparto Veicoli Speciali program, which is making limited run machines out of MV Agusta models.

Reparto Veicoli Speciali comes straight out of the Castiglioni Research Center, MV Agusta’s design studio, and this division will focus solely on making dedicated bikes for special customers. One bike, one customer, is the premise.

The RVS #1 might bear familiar lines to the MV Agusta Brutale 800, but this machine is hand-built and features the most powerful three-cylinder engine in MV Agusta’s lineup, with 150 hp coming from the 350 lbs (and Euro IV compliant) machine.

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Bikes

MV Agusta Debuts Its First “RVS” Motorcycle Concept

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The intrigue is finally over in regards to MV Agusta’s new “Reparto Veicoli Speciali” or “RVS” program, with the Italian marque debuting its first creation from this special vehicle development unit.

An intersection between the designers and engineers at MV Agusta’s Castiglioni Research Centre, RVS is what happens when you let designers be free with their imaginations, and you let engineers create those ideas unfettered – at least, so says MV Agusta.

The result for this fist iteration is a very unique looking MV Agusta Brutale 800, which has a bevy of custom pieces on it that make it look like a café racer / scrambler type of machine.

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Opinion/Editorial

No, The MV Agusta RVS Isn’t a New Motorcycle

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I don’t know why I have to write this story, it seems so obvious to me, yet I have read about half a dozen publications this week spewing fake news about how MV Agusta is about to release a new scrambler model, based either off the Brutale or Dragster street bike. 

In case you missed it, MV Agusta released a terse video trailer the other day, touting something called “RVS” which stands for “Reparto Veicoli Speciali” in Italian.

In English of course, this means “Special Vehicles Department”…and thus to us it seems fairly obvious what the Italian brand is up to. Well, apparently we are somewhat alone in that regard. Le sigh.

The ending of this video does show what looks like a scrambler-type motorcycle, with a few obvious MV Agusta lines to its styling. And, this is apparently enough fuel to start a fire about a brand new model from the Varesini brand, at least if your mammalian ancestry is more closely linked to the noble lemming.

The thing is though, MV Agusta has given us all the pieces of information required in order to know that the iconic brand isn’t releasing a new motorcycle, and is instead up to much bigger things within its factory walls.

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News

MV Agusta Teasing a Factory Customization Service?

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MV Agusta sent a cryptic teaser out earlier today, showing only a fabrication shop, and the letters “RVS” on a block of machined aluminum. Digging deeper, we know that “RVS” stands for “Reparto Veicoli Speciali” which translates to “Special Vehicles Department” in English.

Since the video shows the silhouette of a very custom-looking Brutale at its conclusion, we surmise that MV Agusta is gearing up to offer a factory customization service for its clientele, which could be very interesting.

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Event

At the 9th Annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering

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Come to Carmel, they said. It’ll be warm, they said. Well, maybe not so much. Last weekend’s Quail Motorcycle Gathering was a chilly affair with cloudy skies, blustery winds, and temperatures in the 50s.

The lines for ice cream were non-existent, while the line for the Espresso cart was 50 people deep. Though the weather wasn’t perfect, the event itself was awfully close.

As always, the Quail offered a great collection of vintage and custom motorcycles. This year’s show celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Norton Commando.

The marque was well represented with a large variety of Nortons on hand and also included a replica of the Norton display at the 1967 Earls Court Motorcycle Show in London.

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