Though he was most certainly breaking the law, we have to feel some sympathy for Swiss motorcyclist Boris Maier. The 38-year-old from Bern was recently caught speeding 107 km/h (66mph) in an 80 km/h (50 mph) zone, and accordingly received a ticket for his traffic violation. Where things get real bad for Maier though is the fact that he wasn’t even on his motorcycle at the time the picture was taken, as the Swiss rider had crashed, and was caught barreling down the highway by the camera.
UPDATE: Ducati North America sent me a note explaining that these ads were not a part of corporate-initiated ad campaign. Their best guess is that they are spec-creative, or something done by the company’s Ecuadorian distributor.
Talking in generalities, Ducati is one of the better companies in the motorcycle industry when it comes to handling its market communications, and in an industry that’s generally abysmal at making creative advertisements, you can make of that praise as you will. Of course every now and then Bologna produces a dud campaign, and well…through each others’ failures, we can hopefully make progress. It’s not that the concept being used here is a bad one, it’s just not readily apparent (it’s also averaging below a 2.5/10 rating on Ads of the World right now).
Trying to make a statement about how owning a Ducati motorcycle is as fantastic of an accomplishment as becoming invisible, turning into other objects, walking through walls, and levitating, we’re not sure that the comparison, though clever, is readily apparent when these photos stand on their own on a page. Better pitched in the idea room than executed on the paper, after the third advertisement or so it finally hits you (the walking through walls one was the “ahh-ha!” moment for us). But as for a clearly communicated message, there is a bit left wanting here from Ducati and its ad agency, The Grey Group…that and the teapot thing is just damn silly. More examples after the jump.
For being a motorcycle mega-brand in his own right, Valentino Rossi has been slow to adapt to this crazy new thing called the internet. A series of tubes, the internet has been a remarkable breakthrough on a variety of levels, changing the paradigm of how we eat, sleep, and waste our lunch breaks at work. Helping teenage girls gossip about their latest crushes, aiding in the massive distribution of pornography to middle-aged men who hide in their basements from their wives and children, and allowing no-talent journalistic hacks to masquerade around as proper motorcycle journalists, there is literally no telling how the internet will change our lives next, and what industries it will turn on their head.
Well get ready for another shockwave ladies and gentlemen, as the G.O.A.T. himself, Valentino Rossi, has hopped on this interweb bandwagon with full 0 & 1 force, first by finally creating his own official website, and now by signing up for a thing called Twitter. Tweeting, twatting, twittering so far in only Italian, Rossi was one of the last hold-outs of MotoGP riders to embrace the micro-blogging service (Randy de Puniet just got on Twitter this week too we might add. Thanks Lauren). Rossi’s move is sure to create a stir with the VR46 crowd, as his legion of fans can now take time out from their busy days of lathering neon yellow paint all of their bodies, and hang onto every one of Rossi’s 140 character messages.
So far, Rossi has tweeted about go-karting, his injured finger, and traveling to Melbourne. We wait with bated breath to see what photo the nine-time World Champion first tweets from his account. Bellissima.
MotoGP is coming to Phillip Island this weekend, as the premier motorcycle racing series gets set for the Australian GP. With only three more races left on the 2011 calendar, it is possible that Phillip Island could decide the 2011 MotoGP Championship, and points leader Casey Stoner is keen on winning the title in from of his home crowd. After a bobble at Motegi, Stoner saw Jorge Lorenzo claw back four more points in the Championship, thus leaving some margin for the Spaniard to prolong the Championship run (Lorenzo still has a mathematical chance at winning the Championship, we might add). With that being said though, Stoner is the betting favorite for the title, and could still very well clinch at home in Australia. To do so, one of six outcomes needs to occur.
After debuting the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R / 2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400, Team Green has been fairly tight-lipped about quoting specific performance figures on the company’s revamped hyperbike. Carefully gleaning the performance specifications from its US and UK websites, it looks like Kawasaki Motors Europe has spilled the beans on the ZX-14R’s horsepower figures. Perhaps letting down those who expected the ZX-14R/ZZR1400 to break the 200+ horsepower barrier, Kawasaki’s site quotes power figures just shy of 200hp.
Talking to GPone, Lucio Cecchinello, the LC in LCR Honda, let it slip that at the Australian GP Dorna expects to hear from Suzuki regarding its 2012 MotoGP plans. Cecchinello of course has a vested interest in what Suzuki decides to do for 2012, as the Italian racing boss is keen on poaching Álvaro Bautista from the factory Suzuki team should it disband, especially now that Andrea Dovizioso has signed with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha squad.
True to its teaser campaign, the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R (2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400 to our friends abroad) finally got revealed today. Tweaking its hyperbike offering, Kawasaki has confirmed that the ZX-14R (note the added R to the name) will get a displacement bump to 1,441cc, along with a cosmetic overhaul and other basic features. Most notably added to the Kawasaki ZX-14R is the addition traction control, and ride-by-wire throttle control system. Kawasaki hasn’t spilled all the beans about the new ZX-14R, but power is said to be over 200hp at the crank with ram-air.
Kawasaki is already pitting the ZX-14R against Suzuki’s Hayabusa, perhaps in an attempt to re-ignite the speed wars of the 1990’s. While no top speed has been touted, the Japanese company is quoting the Kawasaki ZX-14R as “the world’s fastest accelerating production motorcycle.” A lengthy superlative, but it will be interesting to see if Suzuki responds with an update to the aging Hayabusa, which hasn’t had a meaningful upgrade since its 1999 market introduction.
UPDATE: Ducati has added English subtitles to the video. Huzzah!
We don’t know why Ducati only has this video out in Italian, but there’s some good bike porn of the Ducati Superquadro motor being developed and worked on, not to mention some shots of the Ducati 1199 Panigale. Hopefully Bologna posts up an English version of the video (we’ll add it if/when they do), so the rest of the motorcycling world can hear about the company’s new Superbike engine. Until then, our translation goes something like, “the bike, it goes a verrry fasst!”
Ducati has a new flagship Superbike coming out soon, if you hadn’t heard the news. Powering the Ducati 1199 Panigale is a new 90° v-twin motor dubbed the Superquadro (Ducati mini-site here), which the Italian company officially unveiled today. Confirming the specs we released back in November of last year, the power plant boasts 195hp and 98 lbs•ft of torque, making the Ducati Superquadro motor a new direction for Bologna, in more ways than one. For starters, the Superquadro is the first production motor in the company’s history that’s is fully-integrated into a bike’s chassis, thus putting final confirmation that the 1199 Panigale will use the MotoGP inspired “frameless” chassis design (not that we were really doubting this).
Deriving its name from the massively over-sqaure cylinder design, the Superquadro is the most powerful motor to come in a production motorcycle from the Bologna brand. Other highlights include the use of hybrid chain/gear-driven camshaft, titanium valves, a wet slipper clutch, ride-by-wire throttle actuation, 15,000 mile major service intervals, and a rider-selectable “riding mode” system. Boasting that the company built the Superquadro motor with a clean sheet of paper, the company has proven once again that there are no sacred cows in Bologna.
NCR has just unwrapped its latest creations: the NCR M4 and the higher-spec NCR M4 ONE SHOT. Based off the Ducati Monster 1100 EVO motor, the NCR M4 carries over the general aestheic of the popular Italian street bike, but at sub-300 lbs weights, the NCR M4 and the NCR M4 ONE SHOT, with their titanium parts and copious amounts of carbon fiber, are not your average Italian two-wheelers. A quick glance of the M4, and you’ll see the treatment is typical of NCR, with a titanium frame & sub-frame being the crowning jewel of performance added to the package.
Also true to NCR form, you better start saving now if you like what you see here because the NCR M4 isn’t going to be cheap. The 107hp, 84 lbs•ft of torque, 286 lbs, NCR M4 comes complete with carbon fiber parts like its tank, wheels, instrument cluster, airbox, oil cooler housing, and fenders. Also a part of the basic package are NCR’s in-house billet triple clamps, fork bottoms, & rearsets. Brembo monoblocks and Öhlins suspension come as standard as well, and help the NCR M4 to have an MSRP of $49,900, with delivery in Spring 2012 (US market only, other markets TBA).
Of course, if you want a truly pinnacle air-cooled v-twin machine, you’ll want the higher-spec NCR M4 ONE SHOT. Fitted with an NCR 1200 modified Ducati EVO 1100 engine, the higher displacement M4 makes 132 hp (105 lbs•ft of torque), courtesy of its stroker crank, titanium connecting rods, NCR slipper clutch, and other titanium bits. Dropping another 6 lbs off the base M4, the 278 lbs motorcycle is truly featherweight. And for that kind of performance, you better brace yourself, as the NCR M4 ONE SHOT comes with a hefty $69,900 price tag.
The raison d’être at MV Agusta should be abundantly clear by now, as the Italian company has added yet another “more affordable” model to its otherwise exclusive motorcycle line. After creating lower barriers to ownership in the Brutale line with the Brutale 920 and Brutale R 1090, we now see the F4 line getting the same treatment with the release of the MV Agusta F4R Corsa Corta. Dropping an “R” off the MV Agusta F4RR, the MV Agusta F4R is a lower-spec version of its 197hp counterpart (other publications will differ on this horsepower value, we’re sticking to the power fiure listed in kilowatts by MV).
Though featuring the F4RR’s shorter-stroke Corsa Corta motor, the MV Agusta F4R makes only 191hp (6hp less than the F4RR), due to a revised engine map and the lack of hand-ported cylinder heads. Still with plenty of power on-tap, not to mention 84 lbs•ft of torque, & full titanium cylinder valves, the 2012 MV Agusta F4R with its 423 lbs dry weight should make the spec sheet warriors happy. Other changes include lower-spec suspension, a MAG-welded frame, a revised traction control system, and a €18,800 price tag.