The competitors for the 91st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb have just concluded a two-day tire test at the Colorado road course, and it should perhaps come as no surprise that our boy Carlin Dunne has posted the outright fastest lap for a motorcycle during the tire test (the Santa Barbara native set the outright two-wheeled course record last year on his Ducati Multistrada 1200 S). What is surprising about Carlin’s result at the tire test is that he was on the Lightning Motorcycles electric superbike. That’s right, the fastest bike so far for 2013′s Race to the Clouds is a 200+ hp electric superbike that is refueled with solar energy. Petrol heads, eat your heart out.
Talking to the Indy Star, Mark Miles (CEO of Hulman & Co, the parent company to Indianapolis Motor Speedway) has put some doubt into the historic venue’s commitment to host the MotoGP Championship. Having a contract to run the race through the 2014 season, Miles said that IMS might opt-out of the final year in its agreement with Dorna (IMS apparently has this option for a brief window after the 2013 Indianapolis GP). However while the news has focused so far on IMS’s ability to opt-out, both Dorna and Indianapolis Motor Speedway have options in their contract to go through with the 2014 round, and with a bevy of variables in the air, we may or may not see three American GP rounds next year.
Surprise! America will be getting a 847cc three-cylinder naked bike for the 2014 model year, the 2014 Yamaha FZ-09. Replacing the Yamaha FZ8 in the Japanese company’s line-up, the FZ-09 is the first motorcycle from the tuning fork brand to sport the Yamaha’s new line of three-cylinder engines. The Yamaha FZ-09 comes about as the MIC is reporting its second-consecutive year of growth in the 751+cc sport bike segment, as well as increase in commuter riding over short-distance sport riding. With those trends in mind, Yamaha has punched out the displacement on its middleweight naked bike, and focused on giving riders a comfortable, yet stout, motorcycle. Priced at $7,990 MSRP, we think Yamaha hit the nail pretty much on the head with this one.
In the past few years I’ve come to believe that, while superior physical differences (their reflexes and fine motor skills) are significant, it’s the mental differences that are the most interesting. I suppose anyone who has ridden a motorcycle even a bit beyond one’s comfort zone can appreciate some part of the physical aspect of riding a racing bike. For most of us, even the speed of racers in local events is impressive compared to our street riding. While the skills with throttle, brakes, and balance are on a level similar to the best athletes in other sports, I think that what really sets motorcycle racers apart is their ability to overcome fear.
The progress in the last five years on electric motorcycles has been astounding. Taking their first laps around the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, a 87.434 mph pace was the best an electric motorcycle could do at the prestigious road race in 2009 — a pace that was on par with the 50cc record set in 1971. In just five years after the first laps were taken by electric motorcycles at Snaefell, these machines have grown their average lap speeds by over 20 mph at the TT Zero race, setting a new record of 109.675 mph in 2013, and boasting a rate of improvement of roughly 5 mph each year since 2009. If hitting 142.2 mph down the Sulby Straight speed trap wasn’t further proof of the speeds these bikes are achieving, maybe some visual evidence will help support the notion.
Darius Glover is a dirt bike racer. Like you and me, he lives to ride, and when he is on two-wheels he feels the freedom that only other motorcyclists can truly understand. The thing is though, Darius is paralyzed from the waist down. Where others would give up their dreams and this sport, Darius at the age of 15 instead pushed onward. No pity parties, no excuses, just simply a daily example of where there is a will, there is a way, and a reminder that you can achieve anything that you put your mind to. It’s hard not to get a bit choked up listening to Darius tell his story, but you walk away feeling uplifted after feeling his attitude come across the screen.
Any race where 1,500 riders start, 500 qualify, and only 14 finish, has got to be an epic competition, and considering the fact that the Erzberg Rodeo starts in the excavation pit of an Austrian mine…well, it takes a special rider to be enticed by such an event. One such special rider is Graham Jarvis, who was the first of the fourteen men to reach the 20th and final checkpoint. Taking 2 hours and 52 seconds to complete the course, Jarvis made the 2013 Erzberg Rodeo look downright easy. However, with one look at the race-day conditions from this past weekend, we know it was anything but.
While normally, MotoGP fans never get enough of seeing Valentino Rossi on TV, there is one shot they would (for the most part) gladly be spared. As he leaves the pits, Rossi stands on the footpegs, and pulls his leathers from between his buttocks, before sitting back down again and leaving. These rituals – part useful limbering up, part invocation of Lady Luck – are something many riders perform, in their attempt to exert control over themselves, and over their environment. In a fascinating press release – by far the most interesting we have received in many months – the Aspar team today provided a discussion and explanation of what riders are trying to achieve through the use of these rituals.
Hoping to make it four wins in a row, it goes without saying that the MotoCzysz crew is working hard to close the gap to the John McGuinness and the Mugen team. However, having Team Principal Michael Czysz stuck back in the US, undergoing cancer treatments, must certainly add another level of motivation for the on-island MotoCzysz crew. Making time in their busy schedule, Asphalt & Rubber got to take some up-close photos of the 2013 MotoCzysz E1pc. The most obvious changes made to the MotoCzysz E1pc for the 2013 TT Zero race are the use conventional suspension pieces. Of course, it’s not a completely standard suspension setup, as MotoCzysz has developed its own adjustable triple clamp that incorporates tunable lateral flex parameters.
Max Biaggi is to make a surprise return to riding a MotoGP machine. The former 250 and World Superbike champion will take a seat on Ben Spies’ Ignite Pramac Ducati as part of a one-day test at Mugello, as part of Ducati’s testing program, according to Italian site GPOne. Spies was scheduled to stay on at Mugello to take part in a two-day test, but after the first day of practice at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, it was clear to both Spies and Ducati that his shoulder was still too weak to ride a MotoGP machine. With work continuing on the Desmosedici, it was important for Ducati to get as much data as possible on their bike, and so Biaggi was offered the chance to ride the machine.
New race teams seem to be flocking to the 2010 MotoGP season. First it was Italian hopeful FB Corse, and now Spanish Inmotec has joined the fray with their own MotoGP bid. With their official launch to come at the Valencian GP, Inmotec hopes to enter their 800cc prototype racer, the the Inmotec GPI 10, with success against not only the other privateer teams, but against the factory squads as well. More after Inmotec after the jump.
The latest data from the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), suggests that the end of cascading motorcycle sales may be near. According to the MIC, the combined new unit sales for motorcycles, scooters, and ATVS during the past 9 months were down 40% from last year’s numbers. While still frighteningly low, these results show a 2% rebound in sales when compared to the first 6 months of 2009.
Honda by most standards is the rock of the motorcycle industry, so take notice with the news that the Japanese manufacturer is preparing to cease its production lines in Santa Perpetua, Spain. While not an outright closure, 160 employees will be laid off, taking the Spanish Honda workforce from 340 employees to 180.
It’s doom and gloom today. The motorcycle industry continues to be slogged on the nose like a near-sighted proctologist, as exports from metric manufacturers declined by 65% this June from 2008′s figures. This drop comes after May only showed a 58% loss over last year’s numbers, showing an escalation of the problems for the motorcycle industry, instead of the beginnings of an abatement. For those who aren’t keeping score, 2009 so far has sold 25% less units than 2008, with the crunch hitting the hardest as sales normally would pick up during the summer.
On July 13th, the Ducs Fly South to New Jersey Motorsports Park to try and settle the age old question of what’s faster around the track? Motorcycles or Cars?
To answer that question, three Ferrari Challenge cars will take to the track, driven by the staff from Universal Autosports. Immediately following that race, a series of professional instructors and racers from Ducati will perform an identical contest piloting the Bologna Bullets. The top bike and top car from each series will then compete head-to-head, to see who should win the crown.
NJMP will be open to the public for the racing, and you can even bring your own bike to the track, and get some track time in yourself. More on that after the jump. Hat tip to Howard.
The Federal stimulus package signed into law yesterday is laddened with initiatives designed to help boost our nation’s economy. None of these provisions, however, will affect the die-hard motorcyclist more than the provision, which allows motorcycle buyers to deduct the sales and excise taxes on their 2009 tax return. Yeah, you really just read that. If you buy a motorcycle under $49,500 and subject to certain restrictions, you can take the tax portion of the OTD price and subtract it from your tax statement next April 15th. How much a buyer benefits will depend on the taxes paid and their personal tax situation, but it the case of your typical sportbike, that’s still nearly a grand off your taxes.
Motorcycle dealers counting on a big boost will not find it here and would be far better served by concentrating on building their business and delivering excellent customer service.
According to a study done by Randall Dale Chipkar, author of Motorcycle Cancer?, the vibrations caused by modern motorcycles do not cause impotence, erectile dysfunction disorder, or cancer.
Let’s all breath a collective sigh of relief.
However, Chipkar postulates in his book that while the vibrations and pressure from the seat do not cause these medical problems, the electromagnet fields coming from the bike’s electronics do. Luckily, Chipkar has a solution for us concerned motorcyclists, an electromagnetic shielding motorcycle seat, which he also just so happens to hold the patent on. According to the book, the electrical components a motorcycle generate an electromagnetic field, which in turns causes all sorts of problems in the male baby-making area.
At least now motorcyclists can cite a book when someone accuses them of compensating for something.
It’s easy to make Polish motorcycle jokes, and we could easily make a few more here if we were so inclined to pick-apart every little mistake a bike builder inevitably makes along the way, but we won’t. Read for more to see how the lastest version of this 4 cylinder, X-pattern motor is coming along.
Everyone knows that the Ducati Desmosedici is the closest us mortal men will get to riding a true GP bike, and everyone knows they were produced in limited numbers. Because of this even the social elite had a hard time getting their hands on them since they ran out so quickly. So how does such a limited edition bike all of a sudden find a way to be un-sold-out all of a sudden?
According to Michael Lock, CEO of Ducati North America:
“We are fortunate to offer a few units to those interested individuals who were closed out of the initial ordering process…as the global run of 1500 bikes comes to an end we are notifying interested parties that we have secured inventory to deliver in the coming months, but only if they act quickly.”
I have a couple theories on this:
1) Bologna has switched to the base-8 counting system, and undercounted how many bikes they produced.
2) A box of Desmo’s fell-off the boat on their way to America, and until now were thought lost at sea.
3) The economy
4) El Niño
5) Ducati of North America saw that they under-priced the Desmosedici, and thus sold it at a price far-below what the market was willing to bare, and as any good micro-economics professor would suggest is bumping up supply to meet the demand curve for peak efficiency.
Regardless of what answer you choose, the news is this…if you missed your chance to buy a Desmosedici in the United Stats, Canada, or Mexico, here is your second chance.
Source: visordown
The correct answer is #4. El Niño (Spanish for: The Nino) is in fact the cause of mysterious bike productions, the current economy, and French-Canadians.
Dellorto is known in the automotive B2B world for its products in cars and trucks. Well now they are starting to offer their products for motorcycles, and Aprilia will be one of the first companies to integrate their technology in a product. What does this mean for the consumer? Well for starters, the RSV4 will be the first bike from Italy to have variable length throttle bodies. Read more after the jump.
