Do you ever feel like your Ducati Superbike 999 just doesn’t go all the places you want to go? Are you more of a go anywhere, do anything sort of motorcyclist, but think GS-series BMW’s are for wussies? Have you ever killed a man just to watch him die? If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, then the Ducati 999 Testastretta Beach Racer might just be the all-purpose two-wheeler just for you.
Kawasaki has released a glimpse to its all new 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R sport bike with this concept sketch. While it’s hard to say how closely the production bike will be to this still artistic sketch, we do know the new 2011 ZX-10R will have a new motor, new frame, and new suspension.
After holding-off on bringing us new sport bikes for 2010, Kawasaki seems ready to gear up for production again (another sign the economy is getting better), and has seemingly re-done the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R from the ground up. Promo video after the jump.
Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow, Monday, June 21st, is National Ride to Work Day. This is a day when all motorcyclists should ride their motorcycles into work to help promote motorcycle awareness and the benefits motorcycles have for personal commuting. This year is the 19th annual Ride to Work day, which is celebrated around the world, and even recognized by Congress.
The weather is a sunny 80°F here in the Bay Area, what excuse do you have not to ride? If you want to learn more about Ride to Work Day, visit ridetowork.org for more information.
If you haven’t seen today’s British GP at Silverstone, stop reading this article, and go watch your Tivo right now. We can hardly contain ourselves after watching the race, so we’ll keep this intro short. While the race winner is not going to surprise too many GP race fans, it’s the rest of the finishes that had us jumping up and down on our chairs. Spoilers after the jump.
Jorge “Aspar” Martinez has once again been linked with being a part of Aprilia’s alleged entry into MotoGP racing. Reportedly working with Aprilia to develop a 1000cc motor based off the RSV4 Superbike powerplant that’s dominating World Superbike right now, Aspar and Aprilia have denied any intention to go racing together in MotoGP.
For his part, Aspar currently has his hands full racing in all three of the GP series, while Aprilia has voiced that its priority right now is winning in WSBK. The final nail in the coffin for this rumor is its timeframe of a 2011 entry, which barring another rule change from the GP Commission, is still an 800cc rule year.
In the late 1960’s we were this close to motorcycling on the moon, which might be the most awesome thing you can do on two wheels.
Built as an alternate to the Lunar Rover (LRV), NASA wasn’t entirely confident that Boeing would have the LRV ready for the Apollo 15 mission, and explored using a two-wheeled vehicle instead for helping astronauts bound around in the Palus Putredinus.
As we know from history, the LRV was built in time for Apollo 15 and its subsequent missions, thus the Lunar Motorbike was never used.
Guy Martin seems to be in good spirits as he heals up from his horrific crash at this year’s Isle of Man TT. Speaking from his hospital bed, Martin cracks a few jokes (about his cracked ribs…a-oh!), and thanks his fans for their support. This quick interview is a clear contrast to Martin’s Supersport 1 post-race interview found after the jump. Good luck deciphering his accent.
There’s no doubt that Valentino Rossi’s injury at Mugello not only left a hole at Fiat-Yamaha garage, but also created a noticeable void for MotoGP racing as a whole. Perhaps one of the greatest GP racers of all-time, Rossi rarely crashes, and has never been injured so extensively before in his career. And for all the parties involved this incident, it is an untimely disaster that has financial repercussions.
But as the old marketing maxim goes, any press is good press, and with all the coverage that’s surrounded Rossi’s crash, a sizeable amount of “buzz” and media attention has been garnered for the associated parties. What is all that media attention worth? According to internet market research firm eXtrapola, just over 8 million in US dollars (over €6.5 million).
No sooner did spy shots of the 2011 BMW K1600LT surface, than BMW announced the 2010 BMW K1300GT “Exclusive Edition”. What makes an Exclusive Edition motorcycle you ask?
Well take your standard BMW K1300GT, and then throw just about every add-on feature your have in your parts bin, for instance things like custom paint, heated grips/seat, a xenon headlamp, dynamic suspension (ESA II), automatic stability control (ASC), and a tire pressure monitoring system (RDC).
Unless you’re someone that really likes to have a motorcycle badged as exclusive, you might be asking BMW what’s the big deal, and that’s where the K1600LT connection comes in.
Royal Enfield Motors has released a statement saying that the historic company is getting ready to double its current production levels in the coming years. The proposed expansion, which would see the company’s current production level of 52,000 yearly motorcycles get bumped to 70,000 units in 2011, 90,000 units in 2012, and finally 100,000 units in 2013, stems from the positive response the company has seen to its fuel-injected motorcycles. This would seem to be refinement of Royal Enfield’s similar announcement 6 months ago, where the company also said it planned to double production.
What does racing to the clouds look like on a Ducati Multistrada? Well it looks a little bit like this if you’re Greg Tracy. At the helm of one of the , Tracy is looking in-form for the event after this practice session. Also spotted in the video is Team Spider Grips Ducati teammate Alexander Smith, who Tracy catches about a minute into the video.