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BMW Unscripted: Tiffany Coates

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Drawing from the same vein the as the BMW Films made in 2001 & 2002, the Bavarian brand has made some short videos that feature unique BMW owners doing what they do best with their German vehicles, and in the case of Tiffany Coates that means riding her BMW R80GS (named Thelma) just about everywhere humanly possible.

An accomplished adventure rider and a celebrity in the genre, Coates has hit five continents on her BMWs. While her narration gets a little advetorial at points, Coates’s travel book, experiences, and perspective, along with the imagery BMW shot for the video, easily make up for it with this rich short film. Check it out after jump, and let us know if you’ve gotten the itch to go exploring after hearing Tiffany’s story.

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News

Kawasaki Releases More Information on the ZX-10R’s Technical Hold – Sales to Resume Late January

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The launch of the 2011 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R has been a rocky one for Team Green. First there was the new that the ZX-10R’s class leading power figures wouldn’t be making it to the American market, as the Japanese manufacturer was honoring new EPA noise standards, which necessitated the Kawasaki ZX-10R getting its wings clipped by 750RPM and approximately 20hp. With this sort of impediment soon to become a common occurrence in the North American markets, the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R is just the first of many bikes likely coming to the Land of the Free with less power than its European counterparts.

The next big blow for the ZX-10R occurred just a few weeks ago when Kawasaki put a worldwide technical hold on the model, and asked for units already sold in the United States to be returned to the manufacturer. Kawasaki was tight-lipped on the actual reason for the technical hold, but rumors that a piston problem was the cause quickly emerged. Now releasing more information about the technical hold, Kawasaki says that its engine issue was not in the pistons, but instead was due to an intake valve seating issue was the cause of the non-recall.

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News

Caution: Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health

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Pirelli (makers of the 2011 Pirelli Calendar) and the Italian arm of ad firm Y&R (the NY arm of Y&R did the Xerox/Ducati ad set) want you to know that smoking can be hazardous to your health. Playing off the Surgeon General warning labels found on cigarette packages, Pirelli’s new ads show a motorcycling protagonist full of gusto putting one of his Italian doughnuts to good use with a puff of smoke and a mighty burnout (we’re working on our ad copy hyperbole).

There’s some good play on words going on here, which Y&R has put to good use with motorcycling imagery. We especially like the line “smoking can cause circulation problems” as the photo focuses on the time-warped spinning tire, while the “protect chicks: don’t make them breathe your smoke” seems a bit more pedestrian and blunt. Good photography, a hot custom bike, clever ad work. Chalk up a win for Pirelli (more photos after the jump).

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Recall

Recall: 2010 Triumph Sprint ST/GT

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Triumph is recalling a number of 2010 Triumph Sprint ST and Spring GT motorcycles for a faulty dipstick. Apparently on just over 200 units of the sport-tourers, a dipstick with an incorrect length was installed, which would result in an inaccurate reading being taken from the oil level that could result in the motor running out of oil.

Since only bad things happen with an oil deprived motor, a recall is expected to start before the New Year. For affected owners, Triumph dealers will replace the oil plug/dipstick at the clutch cover free of charge. Concerned 2010 Triumph Sprint owners can contact Triumph at (678) 539-8782, and of course the NHTSA can always be reached at 1-888-327-4236 or safecar.gov.

Source: NHTSA

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News

2011 Pricing and Availability for Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Vespa, & Piaggio Motorcycles and Scooters

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The North American distributor for the Piaggio Group (PGA) has released pricing and availability info for the company’s 2011 range of motorcycles and scooters for the Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Vespa, and Piaggio brands. While most of the scooters are immediately available, many of the big bikes will come in the first half or middle of 2011. Noticeably absent from the pricing and availability sheet are the 2011 Aprilia Tuono V4 R & 2011 Aprilia RS4 125, but the 2011 Aprilia RSV4 Factory SE ($22,499 MSRP/mid-2011) is listed along with the base model RSV4 R ($15,000/mid-2011). Check after the jump for a full breakdown of prices and availability times.

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Racing

Yamaha’s MotoGP Team Still Without A Title Sponsor

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After winning the MotoGP Triple Crown: The Rider, Team, and Manufacturer Championships, the factory Yamaha team finds itself in a difficult position looking for a title sponsor for next year. After Valentino Rossi’s departure to Ducati Corse for the 2011 season, Fiat, the team’s sponsor from 2007 until recently, dropped the Yamaha squad after its loss of the Italian rider (Fiat had long been associated with Yamaha because of the company’s desire to woo Rossi into the Ferrari Formula 1 team…that and the Italian helps sell the Italian made cars).

Perhaps under-appreciating the value of having Rossi on board a Yamaha bike in 2011, the tuning fork brand has now been left scrambling for a marquis name to help foot the bills for the next season. Despite having the reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and Rookie of the Year Ben Spies, deals with Petronas, Telefonica, and AirAsia have failed to materialize, despite lengthy rumor, meaning Yamaha’s corporate Blue/White livery might be spotted in Qatar (something reserved usually for non-sponsored wild card riders).

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News

How Did the 2011 Suzuki GSX-R 600 Lose 20 lbs?

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Perhaps a bike that hasn’t gotten enough press after its debut at Intermot, the 2011 Suzuki GSX-R 600 managed to shed roughly 20 lbs from its supersport design, making Suzuki the 600cc class leader once again, at least on paper. Suzuki was the only Japanese manufacturer to update its Supersport line for the new year, and instead of a casual redesign (although the GSX-R 600 doesn’t stray far from its predecessor’s aesthetic), the Hamamatsu-based company made a number of technical changes that focused around massively lowering the bike’s sprung and un-sprung mass.

While the styling might remain a little vanilla, we sure do like that spec sheet coming from Suzuki. Tipping the scales at 413 lbs wet (shazzam!), the 2011 Suzuki GSX-R 600 makes the same 123hp at the crank as the previous model, but presumably with better components (note the Brembo monoblocs and Showa Big Piston forks). Continue past the jump to see Suzuki America’s Derek Schoeberle explain where Suzuki made improvements to the GSX-R 600.

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News

Save the ‘Ring

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No, we’re not encouraging you to step away from any planned New Years Eve wedding proposals, but the Nürburgring Nordschleife does apparently need your help. Known throughout the motorsports community simply as the ‘Ring, the Nürburgring Nordschleife track plays host not only to car and motorcycle enthusiasts, but also serves as a formidable test track used by many OEMs when developing new vehicles (recently the track has also been a place for manufacturers to lay bragging rights for quickest lap times in sports cars).

It seems however that the ‘Ring, despite its popularity with track enthusiasts, is not the profitable endeavour that the German government thought it would be. Four years ago plans began to be implemented that would see other attractions added to the Nürburgring venue, which have reportedly done nothing to help boost the profitability of the track, and now in May of this year the ‘Ring was turned over to the same pair of businessmen responsible for that transformation, with the goal of boosting the track’s revenue, and that’s where the controversy starts.

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Racing

Video: Honda NRS 250 Moto3 Contender Teaser

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Perhaps as a belated holiday treat, Honda has finally seen it fit to give a better glimpse of its HRC NRS 250 Moto3 contender. With a few quick cuts and some blurry shots, HRC isn’t completely giving away the 250cc single-cylinder GP bike, but the footage does give us a better idea of what the final shape of the Honda will look like, and perhaps more importantly what it will sound like. If you’re a four-stroke fan, you’ll love the video after the jump…two-stroke fanatics, probably not as much.

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Banter

Happy Holidays from Asphalt & Rubber

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Seasons Greetings from A&R. While we stoke the fires on the yule log, everyone at Asphalt & Rubber would like to wish our readers a Happy Holiday. We’ll be taking the weekend off as we gear up for the new year, but should be back in the swing of things on Monday. Whatever your denomination, we hope it’s spent with good friends and family, and that the two-wheeled vehicle in your garage gets some merriment bling as well.

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Banter

Aprilia Continues to Fail So Hard at Social Media

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If one were to grade the marketing efforts in the motorcycle industry, you’d be hard pressed to hand out a grade better than a B- to one of the major OEMs. While some companies have produced some brand value, carved out a defensible niche for themselves, or caught on to this whole internet fad thing, none of the OEMs really do a bang-up job of hitting all the standard marketing best practices.

If we had to single out one company that needs a letter sent home to mom, it has to be Aprilia, as the Italian company constantly proves itself to be the pants-on-head retarded (sorry Sarah Palin) window-licking moron (sorry again Sarah Palin) paste-eating buffoon (we’re not sorry for that one) of motorcycling media. Report card: F with a “does not play well with others” note attached.

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