Roehr Motorcycles has finally gotten the green light from the EPA that the 1250sc meets federal admissions standards; and thus, can start delivery of pre-orders to waiting customers. Thanks to the 10th Amendment and vision of clear skies over Los Angeles, Roehr will still have to complete CARB certification in order to sell to customers here in the Golden State.
As we inch closer to EICMA, and the rumored unveiling of the BMW GS killer from Ducati, the rumors and spy shots of the Strada Aperta continue to roll in. This latest batch features once again, our favorite gaffer taped bike out on the town, doing its thing. This time, a few more details about the front fendor can be seen despite the masking. Check it out after the jump.
We have to apologize for our lack of coverage this week. Our absence was due to the happy merger of the 11th Amendment, time travel, water drainage, and jazz music. Needless to say, it wasn’t pretty…and we’ve seen a trained bear ride a bicycle.
So, in effort to make it up to you, our loyal readers, we plan on over-compensating this Friday and through-out the weekend with news, glorious news (and some things we just flat-out fabricated). Enjoy…or sorry, whichever applies.
Nothing else to say. See the other spy shots here, here, here, and oh here too.
Source: Ducati News Today
The provisional MotoGP schedule is out. New to the line-up (well sort of), is the stop in Hungary at the Balatonring (yet to be built). And also, the British GP will be held at Silverstone instead of Donington Park. Donington will host Formula1 instead for the foreseeable future.That shouldn’t be a surprise to you if you’re a A&R regular, but for you newcomers…umm, gee…well, SURPRISE!
Dorna doesn’t seem convinced that the Balatonring will be completed in time. So they’ve hedged their bets with a “reserve circuit” in Spain, the Motorland Aragon Circuit. Motorland is a brand new facility that is just outside of Alcañiz, about a hundred miles inland from Barcelona. If the reserve circuit is used, it will mean 4 Grand Prix’s in Spain for 2010.
That might be good news for the rabid motorcycle racing fans of Espana, but it’s even better news for Motorland, which has been trying to establish itself as a premiere venue, by courting Formula1 and MotoGP. Full listing of the schedule after the jump.
We called it . Time will tell whether we were right about that one, but you can make the call for yourselves as to whether you think its possible to surf a sliding R1. We gave Ben a C-.
This isn’t the first time Fabrizio has collided with a competitor while passing. Last year he took out Max Biaggi…twice (Misano then later Portimao). Fabrizio, in his garage before race 2, displayed a little note to the cameras apologizing for the incident, it read, “I’m realy sorry. I love you Ben”, clearly feeling bad about the incident.
Spies wasn’t feeling the love though, writing on his site that “it was not the best move in the world, but that’s how racing goes sometimes. Michel was trying to apologize to me after the crash and I didn’t want to hear it. I was trying to tell him to use his head. Obviously I was not happy at the time.”
Source: YouTube via TwoWheelsBlog
We felt bad last week after we teased you with small, low-res photos of the new Aprilia Tuono V4, so we’re making it up to you this week. Italian magazine Motoclismo spotted the new Tuono lapping around Misano on what appears to be a track day event. If you have a halfway decent imagination, these pictures shouldn’t shock you. The new Tuono has many of the RSV4’s lines, and has little to no updates from our previous shots.
For many, this will come with a sigh of relief. Ducati VP of Marketing, Diego Sgorbati, has confirmed that Ducati has no intentions of making a cruiser motorcycle…for the time being. Long rumored to appear at the upcoming EICMA expo, the Ducati Vyper concept has stirred a few imaginations, as well as a few stomachs. Reported in various forms, we still like to visualize it with the renders that Luca from Bar-Design provided us with last year.
Noticeably missing from the 2010 Buell line-up, is the Buell Blast. The quirky, modest, and reasonably priced entry-level motorcycle that not only powers the bikes from Mac Motorcycles, but also sheds insight on what would happen if Tonka made a two-wheeler. While the bike provided a nice stepping stone for anyone that wanted to enter the world of motorcycling, it never fit into Buell’s image as an “American Sportbike” company. So Erik Buell crushed it.
The big news for Monday is that Buell has updated its model line-up for 2010. While we could probably make this an at length post, detailing everything new and great about the true American Sportbike brand, in reality it boils down to just marginal increases in the products look, feel, and general performance.
However, there are a couple points of interest we would like to point out. The 1125CR now has the color white (which does look rather good), and an integrated battery tender plug.
We’re not quite sure if this is because the bikes sit at the dealership for so long waiting to be sold, or if they get relegated to the back of the garage while their owners ride something else. Either way, Buell clearly seems to expect their bikes to sit around and do nothing for a while.
Continuing on our Eastern European tour, Race 2 had a number of riders with something to prove on two wheels. With teams on a more level playing field after the recent test at the Brno venue, Race 2 proved to be an opportunity for the diamonds in the rough to shine, and for old rivals to get some payback.
