Watching freestyle trials riders is an exercise in understanding what most motorcyclists imagine they could do on two-wheels when they dream at night, but could never really hope to achieve in a million years during the waking hours.

Brimming with a skill set of patience, balance, and balls, riders like 12-time World Trials Champion Dougie Lampkin entertain us with their antics in confined spaces, on urban landscapes, and wiith gravity-defying front wheels.

So what happens when Lampkin visits the headquarters of Red Bull Racing? Well the obvious of course: wheelies, stoppies, burnouts…and that was just in the front courtyard.

Things start getting interesting though when Lampkin nips a bite to eat in the café, takes a look inside the F1 team’s giant kiln, and then later decides to jump a priceless Formula 1 race car. All in day’s work for a wanderlusting trials rider — we’ll just keep on dreaming.

Stunting motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles, and sisters-in-law, the name of French trials rider Julien Dupont should be a familiar one to A&R readers by now. Similarly, the name of German car manufacturer Audi should also ring a bell, as the Auto Union’s recent $1.1 billion acquisition of Ducati Motor Holdings is certainly still fresh in every motorcyclist’s mind. A sign of maybe things to come, auto manufacturers have been working on something they call “last-mile transportation” which focuses on the use of short-distance urban transportation.

Cities like London are starting to impose congestion taxes, in an effort to curb road congestion in dense urban areas, as well as boost funding for roadway infrastructure. Despite the “drill at home” effort here in the US, the price of gas is surely only going to increase over the coming decade. Putting all this together, the long-term prospect of personal transportation is going to have to change dramatically over the next few generations, and car manufacturers know it.

Hoping to change with the times, we have seen car manufacturers and even motorcycle manufacturers dabble with the concept of branded motorcycles, scooters, and other sorts of low-impact transportation devices. One such endeavor from that train of thought is the Audi E-Bike. An exceptionally good looking piece of kit, the bike features a moped-like electric drivetrain, in addition to the traditional human-powered system. Carbon everything, LED headlight & taillight, frame-embeded dashboard, etc.

Oh, and that Dupont fellow? Well, someone has to make riding an electric bicycle look cool, right?

Julien Dupont blah blah blah Arthur Coutard blah blah blah trials, awesome, BBQ sauce. Yes, that crazy French trials rider-turned-urban stunt monsieur is at it again, this time with hetro-life partner Arthur Coutard at his side in the French Alps. Continuing his “Ride the World” video series, Dupont & Co. haven’t picked a city for this adventure this time, instead choosing to do things in a more au naturel setting. With more Frenchness on tap than a silent black & white film tragedy about mimes with baguettes, you’ll have more “je ne sais quoi” than you can shake a croissant at after the jump.

Perhaps some of the most amazing things I have witnessed on two wheels have been performed by trials riders. Splattering up obstacles, balancing across narrow beams, and generally having more bike control in their pinky than in my entire body, I am fairly sure trials riders are demigods with a serious motorcycling addiction…that is of course until I saw this video.

Part trials, part Spartan race, this Japanese G-Impact extreme enduro event doesn’t mess around when it comes to obstacles, nor does one competitor let a 25 foot dirt cliff stop him from completing his run (in awesome glory). We don’t have official confirmation, but rumors indicate the man behind the helmet is King Leonidas himself. Bad assery after the jump.

Proper trials riding might be one of the most impressive feats a performed on a motorcycle. Seemingly able to conquer any obstacle, over any terrain, trials riders problem-solve some of the most difficult challenges motorcycling can throw at them, and they make it look easy. Not exactly the most popular sport worldwide, especially here in the United States, there’s a growing desire to put trials competitions more on the map, so to speak. Accordingly, Brian Capper was commissioned to tackle one of man’s more prominent architectural feats, the Moses Mabhida Stadium, with a feat of his own.

On his home turf of Durban, South Africa, Capper took to the Moses Mabhida Stadium’s centerpiece archway. 348 (106 meters) feet above the field below, pedestrians routinely walk up the double-arch, though few run the risk of clearing the sides of the arch, should they fall over. Riding up the arch with an unimpeded view of the stadium below, Capper says his biggest concern wasn’t the ascent, but instead his brakes over-heating on the way back down. Already steeply pitched downward on the stairs of the Moses Mabhida Stadium arch, Capper had to occasionally endo his trials bike to cool the rear brake.

It would take us years to describe those kind of cojones.

Camp Nou is the the Futbol Club Barcelona’s stadium of residence, and has been the destination for more than one rowdy Spanish soccer fan in its lifetime. An iconic figure in the Catalan community, FC Barcelona is also probably one of the most well-known soccer teams worldwide (though anglophones are more familiar with Manchester United), but that doesn’t mean the club can’t do a little marketing now and then.

Showing his support for the Catalan team, Trials World Champion Toni Bou does what does best in this video, and rides his trial bike through, on, and over the Camp Nou grounds. Popping a wheelie while going up the stadium steps, and doing a stoppie all the way back down are just some of the Spaniard’s claims of fame, and probably would go on the list of things our healthcare provider wouldn’t cover. It’s pretty impressive stuff, and  merges two of the biggest sports in Spain into one video. Check it out after the jump.

It’s Monday, and EICMA hasn’t even officially started yet, but that hasn’t stopped a ton of stories coming out of the Milan venue. To give us you a break from the madness, here is a video of Belgian trials rider Fred Crosset doing what he does best. We’ve been known to do a lot of stupid things here at A&R, but riding a bike on top of the support beams of a bridge is not one of them. Chalk one point up for Belgium, and watch it all the way through for the surprise ending.

Source: The Kneeslider

The marketing folks at Red Bull sure know how to make great videos, and this latest one promoting trials rider Julian Dupont is no exception. Taking to the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Dupont leaves no rail un-ground, no wall un-scaled, and no wheel un-lofted. We don’t know if we’d have the courage to ride like this in the country that invented the Uzi (and trained all its civilians on how to use it), but that’s probably why we’re not a top Freestyle & Trial X rider sponsored by Red Bull. Video of the hooning after the jump.

The day has come for FB Corse to make its big track debut, and also to prove to Dorna and the IRTA that they have what it takes to race in MotoGP. This March 15th thru 17th will see the Italian team take to the track at Valencia, where they will have their first track shakedown.

In attendance March 17th will be Dorna’s Franco Uncini and an IRTA representative. The purpose of these men is to assess the FB01′s competitive ability, during what is being called a “timing test’. Intially this has been reported to mean that Dorna and the IRTA are interested in seeing as to whether or not Garry McCoy can take the FB01 around the course within three seconds of last season’s slowest qualifying MotoGP lap time. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case now.