The wait is over, World Superbike racing action is back as Race 1 was underway at Phillip Island today. Perhaps a glimpse into the racing year, the action from down under did not disappoint race fans, and sets up WSBK to have a excitingly close season. Click past the jump for all the racing news of Race 1 at Phillip Island, including rider quotes, video highlights, and race standings.
We’re not ones to post eBay auctions although we have done it from time to time, but as usual the lot we’ve found is worth a little reader attention. Up for sale is an ex-works 1986 Buell RR1000R that has found its way across the pond onto English land. This one of a kind Buell racer pre-dates the Harley funded XR1000 powered RR1000R Battle Twins that ran in 1987 & 1988, and looks to be in great shape.
Today MotoCzysz is announcing its Electric D1g1tal Dr1ve (eDD), better known to us as “the suitcase”, which is essentially the housing for the E1pc’s proprietary controller, motor, and batteries. MotoCzysz will be using the eDD on their 2010 E1pc D1g1tal Superbike, and intends on letting other teams use the suitcase as well, helping fill the grid at electric motorcycle races.
This announcement is important on a variety of levels, and most electric motorcycling enthusiasts will be interested to get their first glimpse at technology beind Michael Czysz’s 2010 E1pc D1g1tal Superbike, which will for sure be at the TT Zero race at the Isle of Man this year. The suitcase contains MotoCzysz proprietary battery, motor, and controller designs, which are setting the bar higher in electric motorcycle racing.
Despite being buried behind a thinly veiled dramatic buildup, this announcement is much more important than just the release of a new motorcycle design, the musings about race in the Isle of Man, the competition with Mavizen for privateer sales, or the battle for electric racing supremacy against Team Agni.
Instead this announcement has everything to do with why electric motorcycles are changing this industry, and the way this industry does business.
The World Superbike Championship has returned to us, helping fill the winter snow & rain blues. Coming to us this weekend from Phillip Island, Australia, WSBK shows some new faces in the Superpole mix now that Ben Spies has left World Superbike for greener pastures. With the weather holding out, Superpole at PI had some surprising results, and some not so surprising results. Click past the break to get the low down.
Erik Buell Racing has just updated its website, and releasd the first real clear shot of what the EBR 1190RR will look like it in its racing form. With 185hp being made at the rear-wheel (according to the optimistic DynoJet dynamometer), the EBR 1190RR sits at the top of the Buell totem poll. Erik Buell Racing has spec’d the machine to be legal in both the AMA and WSBK, but the 1190RR is not homologated for neither the AMA American Superbike class (yet?), nor for WSBK (even bigger question mark).
Based off the 1125R chassis, the 1190RR is virtually anorexic, dropping 30lbs off the AMA Daytona Superbike racing machine, while still bumping up displacement by 65cc’s. With 93lb•ft of torque on hand at 9,500 RPM, the EBR 1190RR is sure to sling your eye balls into the back of your head…if you can find a racing series to race it in. Full technical specifications after the jump.
With the announcement that MotoGP would “allow up to” a 1000cc format in 2012, there was a hinting that manufacturers would be allowed to use their current 800cc machines in the coming years. The provision comes from the concern that another switch in engine rules will mean another financial blow to the teams that have already spent so much time developing their 800cc race bikes. We’ll skip the economic dissertation on what a sunk cost is, and go straight into the news that Yamaha will reportedly not make the jump to 1000cc’s, and instead continue to use its 800cc M1 in 2012.
“Greed, for lack of a better word…is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms: greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save motorcycling, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.”
Those words were first uttered in 1987 by capitalism’s very own Gordon Gekko, and now 23 years later Michael Douglas’ character will once again take to the silver screen to espouse not only more of his economic viewpoints, but also ride a motorcycle or two.
The bikes in question are of course only the best, and the only two MotoGP spec machines available to mortal man: the Ducati Desmosedici and MotoCzysz C1. Check past the jump for a brief trailer that teases a scene featuring both motorcycles, and click here for Michael Czysz’s own account of the filming process. Yes, he does all of his own stunts.
UPDATE: The 2010 Yamaha Fazer8 ABS has officially been released.
Here’s another bike we’re not likely to see in the United States, the 2010 Yamaha Fazer8. Yamaha has been teasing us with the Fazer8 and its more naked variant, the FZ8 for several months now, and now the tuning fork brand has finally shown the Fazer8 in all its glory.
The Suzuki TL1000R is a special bike. It garnered little love from the media during its release; but despite being discontinued seven years ago, the TLR continues to foster a cult following, especially in Europe. So it doesn’t surprise us a great deal that when 25 year old fabrication apprentice, Mathijn Nelis, set out to create is first custom work under the careful gaze of master builder Nico Bakker, that the young Dutchman chose to work with the stout TL v-twin powerplant that dwarfed its Italain competitors during its initial release.
UPDATE: Pricing abroad for the 2010 Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré looks to be £13,500 & €15,000, with some variation because of individual country tariffs.
With its latest bike the Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré, Yamaha is stepping up its game and getting serious about the adventure-tourer motorcycling segment. The Dakar inspired Super Ténéré is a ground-up production for Yamaha, making it the first Japanese manufacturer to get serious about this emerging (and very profitable) market segment.
With 1,199cc under the hoood, the XT1200Z Super Ténéré is aiming its sights on the class-leading BMW R1200GS and new-comer Ducati Multistrada 1200. The powerplant features a parallel twin motor with four valves per cylinder, and makes 108hp @ 7,250 RPM and 84lbs•ft @ 6,000 RPM. Read more about the Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré after the jump.
Online parts and accessories supplier BikeBandit.com has unveiled its own iPhone application to help motorcyclists deck out themselves and their motorcycle in aftermarket goodness…all from the comfort of the palm of their hand. The app, which rev’s and vibrates when you open it, is complete with the exploded parts diagram that loyal BikeBandit shoppers have come to use and love.
If this post sounds like a thinly-veiled unsolicited advertisement for a fellow Penn State MBA (We are!..), you’d be right, but for the weekend wrencher who needs to remember how to put a clutch back together without hopping on a computer (and then order the bolt/nut/bracket they just lost) this is a well done, and possibly invaluable addition to your iPhone addiction.