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March 2011

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Guintoli Unknowingly Raced Donington with a Broken Hand

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In what seems like a rash of rider injuries that are worse than originally thought, Sylvain Guintoli rode this past weekend at Donington Park with broken bones in his hand and ankle. The injuries were sustained when he crashed heavily in the World Superbike season-opening first race at Phillip Island, forcing him to sit out the second. At the time, doctors informed the Frenchman that he had broken no bones, though the crash injured his hand, ankle, and shoulder. After the season-opener, Guintoli returned home and began preparing for the second round of WSBK racing at Donington.

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News

Shift Racing Discontinuing Street Line of Apparel

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Asphalt & Rubber has just gotten word that Shift Racing is about to announce its exit out of the street side of its apparel business, instead focusing its efforts on its dirt line in the future. Founded in 1997, Shift has been making gear for street riders for five years now, and is the edgier apparel division of parent company Fox Head Inc.

According to Shift, “Fox has decided to focus its efforts on the core product lines of the world’s premier MX Racewear and Protective equipment.” We expect a full announcement shortly, but it looks like the diminished motorcycle market has claimed another victim.

Source: Shift Racing

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Racing

World Superbike Looking for 2013-2015 Tire Supplier

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There’s a growing rumor (if not fact) that Pirelli won’t be supplying the World Superbike Championship with tires after the 2012 season, and a piece of that puzzle has come forth today as Infront Motor Sports (IMS) has announced that it will be accepting bids from tire manufacturers to exclusively supply the World Superbike & World Supersport Championships, the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, and the Superstock 600 European Championship for the 2013-2015 racing seasons.

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Racing

Dani Pedrosa Will Undergo Surgery after Jerez

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It’s a tough day for Spanish MotoGP fans as Dani Pedrosa has confirmed that he will be going back in for surgery on his shoulder after the Spanish GP at Jerez. Pedrosa’s injuries were diagnosed today as stemming from an intermittent compression of the subclavian artery, which in-turn was causing his lack of strength and numbness in his left arm.

After this weekend’s race, Pedrosa will go in for his surgery where the titanium plate and screws will be removed from his shoulder in order to relieve the compression pressure. Luckily for Pedrosa and Repsol Honda, the rescheduling of the Japanese GP at Motegi to later in the year will give Dani almost a month of recuperation time following his surgery.

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News

We Hate It When This Happens…

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There you are, riding your dirt bike through the grocery store with reckless abandon, and just as you are bout to weave through the aisles and head for the sliding-door exit, the darn thing doesn’t open in time, and you go crashing into it. You’d think in modern society we could make automated sliding glass doors in supermarkets that can pick up punk kids riding their two-wheelers through the market, but we can’t, and the world is the lesser for it.

While we wait for this pressing technological breakthrough to occur, here comes a video of a kid in Australia who had just this very same problem. We don’t really know the “why” but we’ve got a pretty good glimpse at the “how” in this story, and we’re pretty sure he’ll be ground well into his next lifetime.

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News

Ducati Puts the Kibosh on Multistrada 1200 S Corse Rumors

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If you’re one to believe a recent filing with the California Air Research Board (CARB) and those pesky internet blogs, Ducati is set to bring a “Corse” version of its Multistrada 1200 to the United States. While we like anything named “Corse” that’s from Italy, we weren’t sure exactly what a 2012 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Corse model would look like in reality, considering in the past the Corse line has been comprised of some go-fast parts, and the Ducati Corse paint scheme.

Since that’s essentially the Ducati Multistrada 1200 Pikes Peak Special Edition in a nutshell, we reached out Ducati North America to see what the lowdown was on this apparently new model (which our sources forgot to tip us off about) that will likely be making the rounds on the interwebs today. The answer is frighteningly simple: it’s what the company was going to call the Pikes Peak edition if they didn’t get the nod from the famed mountain race to use its trademark. Sorry folks, nothing to see here.

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Racing

Argentina Wouldn’t Mind Hosting MotoGP

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In the MotoGP World Championship there are 18 stops on the calendar at different race venues, and the series has a penchant for looking to expand its global reach. It seems just about every season there’s a bevy of rumors about possible venues the premier class of motorcycle racing could stop at, and 2011 season is no different.

While a Spanish GP is a sure-fire way of ensuring a massive attendance, there does seem to be some motivation in Dorna to spread the wealth as it were, and the Secretary of Tourism of Argentina has made it clear he’d like to see MotoGP racing back on the South American continent, preferably at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo just outside of San Juan.

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Products

The Greatest Road on Your iPhone

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While we contemplate riding the 15 Top Motorcycling Roads according to the AMA membership, there’s an easier way to find great routes near where you live. For about a year now we’ve been following the progress on “The Greatest Road” iPhone application, the brainchild of Daniel Pifko, which recently got funding from SocialNav and will be taking on that name in the future.

The idea behind that app is a directory of the greatest motorcycle roads around the world, submitted by the riders themselves, complete with a social sharing element that lets motorcyclists comment on routes, post rides to social sites like Facebook, etc. Taking advantage of the iPhone’s built-in GPS locator, you can search for roads based on your location, or browse other locales to plan a trip. Basically it’s your Sunday Morning Ride in palm of your hand, and our happy merger of computer geekdom and motorcycling (woot!).

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Bikes

KTM 690 SMC R by Isaac Chavira

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More work from our man Isaac Chavira, maker of the Ducati Monster 848R everyone was drooling over last week. This week Chavira turns his attention to Austria and its resident motorcycle maker KTM. Focusing on Team Orange’s supermoto offering, Chavira has dreamed up a KTM 690 SMC R concept bike, saying “I’d really love to see this bike come to reality and frankly speaking I don’t see why it cant become a reality. Heck any gear head worth his salt can build 95% of this bike from a KTM parts catalog.” That sounds to us like a challenge.

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News

“Don’t Call It a Management Shake-up” Continues at Zero Motorcycles – Gene Banman Out at as CEO

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We’ve gotten confirmation from several Bothan spies sources that Zero Motorcycle CEO Gene Banman will no longer hold a position at Zero Motorcycles. We first reported on a management shake-up at Zero last month, with news that high-level changes at the Scotts Valley electric motorcycle company were underway. At the time we could only confirm that Zero Motorcycles founder Neal Saiki was out of his position as the company CTO, and now we can confirm that then CEO Gene Banman was also shown the door during that uprooting.

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