As the holidays rapidly approach and leave us (shalom to our Jewish readers), the issue of drunk driving becomes more topical and important to us as motorcyclists. In the motorcycling world, drunk driving becomes a two-pronged issue because of the added physical and sensory requirements it takes to safely operate a two-wheeled vehicle, and because of the heightened danger of road-hazards, i.e. other impaired drivers.
Unveiled at the COP15 United Nations Climate Conference in Denamrk, the Copenhagen Wheel system was developed by Ducati Energia, MIT’s SENSEable City Lab, and Progical Solutions for the Kobenhavns Kommune (City of Copenhagen), and is an electrical drive system that can be added to any bicycle to help assist the rider with a boost of extra power. Along with its motor assist, the Copenhagen Wheel has a variety of sensors that relay information back to the rider via a Bluetooth connection that syncs with the rider’s smart phone (iPhone used in the demonstration). It’s a pretty cool concept, check after the jump a video and more.
MotoGP new comer FB Corse has announced that they’ve signed John Hopkins to their 2010 season debut. When FB Corse first hit our radar back in September, the new MotoGP team stated that they had not secured a rider, but were keen on signing American John Hopkins to their racing efforts.
After things fell silent on the Italian front, we broke the news that John Hopkins has since been in talks about a possible ride in the AMA Pro Racing series with Pat Clark Motorsports. It would seem that PCM’s AMA Deathstar will have to go on hold for now, as FB Corse has officially announced that Hopper will be riding with them next year. Hopper will join the FB Corse team in Milan on January 21st for the team’s official presentation.
Bombardier Recreational Prodcut (BRP) is recalling just over one-hundred 2010 Can-Am Spyder Roadster RT’s for a faulty connection in the bike’s electrical harness. This recall affects only SM5 and SE5 motorcycles made between October 13, 2009 and October 30, 2009.
Ducati North America has announced that the Hypermotard 796 will be in dealerships before the New Year, and some dealerships will have the new motard as early as this weekend (that’s tomorrow, or today if you work in the A&R office!).
If you’re having a hard time finding the right gift for that special motorcyclist in your life, this might be the chance to get them what they really want this year. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a $9,995 lightweight red Ducati Hypermotard 796 with a bow on it. Press release after the jump.
Kawasaki has just announced that it will be leaving the AMA Pro Racing series. Citing the economy as it core reason for leaving the American racing series, Kawasaki says it hopes to return to road racing when the economic conditions in the United States allow the company to do so. For the DMG & AMA, this is the second manufacturer that has withdrawn from the now beleaguered racing series, and just a continuation of the momentum that has become AMA Pro Racing’s downward spiral.
It’s been a rough outing in the stock market for Harley-Davidson recently as in the past 10 days the company has seen to substantial hits to its stock price. First the company was hit by the news that it would be recalling over 110,000 motorcycles for faulty fuel tank mounts. And now, the latest bad news comes in the form of a downgrade by financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs, which has downgraded their opinion of Harley-Davidson from “neutral” to “sell”. More after the jump.
With the recent news of the 2010 BMW S1000RR making 183hp at the rear-wheel, the Bavarian Superbike is looking like quite the potent potable. With its liter-bike class leading performance, the bike doesn’t break the wallet much either with its $13,800 price tag. With such a great bike hitting US soil soon, it’s hard to imagine how to make it better…but that’s what the Dutch did with their BMW S1000RR Carbon Edition. More after the jump.
It’s been a good year for Yamaha Motors in racing, with riders James Stewart, Valentino Rossi, and Ben Spies all taking championship titles home for the tuning-fork brand. As a holiday gift to race enthusisats, Yamaha has put together a quick documentary on another rider that took the checkered flag home for Yamaha…in 1975. At the Indy GP this year, Kenny Roberts re-lived his 1975 flat track victory on the 125bhp, 750cc two-stroke Yamaha TZ750 flat-tracker of death. Video after the jump.
After taking the wraps off the Mavizen TTX02 at SEMA this year (we of course spoiled the fun a little bit earlier than that), there was a bit of chatter in the EV community as to why the TTX02 was consistently pictured without its Agni motors hooked up to the battery packs and controllers, and why in the bike’s various public showings it was never fired up for the audience (jump to 4:18).
To us and many others, this meant that the TTX02 had yet to be fully developed before it’s unveiling to the public at SEMA. With claims of a 130mph top speed, and specifications that matched or exceeded the TTXGP winning Team Agni motorcycle, we began to wonder how exactly those figures came to be on a motorcycle that wasn’t actually tested drawing table spec-sheets.
Clearly since that time, Mavizen has been busy in the lab making the TTX02 work. At their UK launch in the Bloomberg building this week, the TTX02 for the first time showed up with its motors connected to leads going underneath the bodywork, along with scrub marks on the tires. Now a couple days after that event the company brings us this video of the bike testing at low-speeds. Video and photos after the jump.
Fiat-Yamaha recently did a series of interviews with various members of their MotoGP team. Of course riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were present for the camera, but the pieces done on the support staff are probably the more interesting aspects of the series, shedding true insight into the inner-workings of MotoGP. Videos after the jump.