Tag

ice

Browsing

The European Union is pushing hard to become the first continent that is carbon-neutral, with a self-imposed deadline of achieving that goal by 2050.

To help reach that end, the European Commission (the EU’s executive branch) has aimed for a 55% reduction in CO2 by 2030, and that cars and vans have a 100% CO2 reduction by 2035.

With initiatives in place to bolster electric charging points throughout the European Union, our friends across the pond are poised to make some drastic shifts in their transportation sectors.

If you are in a region that gets all four of the seasons, you are likely counting down the days to the coming snow-thaw. 

As such, this article might be coming to you a little late for this season, but for next winter you should consider mounting some winter traction tires to your motorcycle. Yes, such things exist.

To be fair, I too was unaware that you could get a motorcycle tire that met the criteria from the DOT,  in order for it to carry the “mountain/snowflake” symbol, but apparently Turkish tire-maker Anlas has such tires in its line-up.

That’s right, for regions of the world that require special tires during the snowy months, there is a tire out there to keep you riding all-season.

When asked why he climbed Mt. Everest, George Mallory uttered the three most famous words in mountainering, “because it’s there.” Marc Marquez’s assent of the Kitzbühel ski slope might not be as profound, but in typical Red Bull style, it was certainly lurid.

Armed with a Honda RC213V race bike – shod in spiked tires made by ice speedway racer Franky Zorn’s crew (another Red Bull sponsored outfit) – Marquez climbed to the top of the Austrian peak, roosting ice shards and popping snow wheelies along the way.

The spectacle must surely have been an interesting one for the unassuming snow-goers of the area. Of course, we are just surprised to see Marquez go to such great lengths to avoid the lines at the ski lift; but then again, being the 2016 MotoGP World Champion has its privileges.

Husqvarna is getting ready to unleash a 690cc supermoto on the world, in case you’ve missed the Swedish brand’s marketing campaign and dedicated website. Unsurprisingly, the bike is based off a comparable KTM model, though that’s not to say the folks at Husky haven’t improved on the KTM 690 Duke for their purposes.

(Re-)Releasing some tech details this week, we again know that the Husqvarna 701 will feature a ride-by-wire throttle (with three engine maps), slipper clutch (because supermoto), premium WP suspension, and what Husqvarna calls “Supermoto ABS” that is really the Bosch 9.1 MP race ABS, which allows one to still lock-up the rear wheel while the front wheel engages the ABS.

We’re not really sure why Husqvarna is creating a micro-site and teaser campaign for its soon-to-debut 701 Supermoto, after all the 690cc machine already broke cover at the 2014 EICMA show, after being teased in concept the year before.

Certainly a bike we are excited to see debut — please God, bring it to American soil! — the cat does seem a bit out of the bag at this point on the 67hp, 320 lbs, four-stroke thumper with its APTC slipper clutch, ABS brakes, WP suspension, and ride-by-wire throttle with riding modes.

That being said, the first installment sees the Husqvarna 701 Supermoto kitted out with some spiked ice tires, for some winter hooligan fun. Color us jealous…the video is after the jump.

If you’ve been out of the motorcycling loop for the past couple of years, and want a quick primer on what’s going on with electric motorcycles, this infographic by Family PowerSports may be of some help. The graphic focuses mostly on the Brammo Enertia, but most of the information crosses over to other electric models. There’s a lot of interesting points made on the infographic, but we take a little issue with the sales figures as correlated to gas prices.

Generally speaking, bikes sales go up as gas prices at the pump go up…of course, bike sales also tend to go down when there’s a credit crunch followed by an economic recession. Make your pick on which one you think played the bigger role in fewer motorcycles being sold in 2009-2011. The complete graphic is after the jump (click it for the full size).

While for most Americans it’s still too inclement to ride our motorcycles, Palatinus Attila sees the frozen terrain as an opportunity. As our bikes remain shut away in their garages until spring time, this intrepid lad has taken out his power drill, several hundred screws, a bit of patience, and transformed his CBR600F4 from street machine to ice queen. The result is not a rolling porcupin, but instead a machine that can find a contact patch even on the slickest of ice sheets. Take those modified tires, your bike, and find a frozen lake, and you too can do wheelies for days, just like in Attila’s latest video Ice Riding 2.0. Check it out after the jump.