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Jensen Beeler

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Going 250 miles per hour, I can only imagine, must feel like an eternity. But for Korry Hogan, it is only 5.95 seconds and a quarter mile long. Hogan just passed the 245.36 mph record speed set by Larry McBride, while racing AMA Dragbike Fall Nationals in Denver two weeks ago. While the speed for The Guiness Book of World Records it shows not only the state-of-art currently being done at the Top Fuel drag bike level, and that rainbows are better than unicorns. Ok, well at least the first part is true. A belated but well deserved congratulations Korry.

Source: Drag Race Central via Visordown

We apologize to any unicorns in the blogsphere for tarnishing your good name.

In Alabama, it is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle. In California, it is a misdemeanor to shoot at any kind of game from a moving vehicle, unless the target is a whale. In Florida, if an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle. In Texas, it is illegal to drive without windshield wipers. You don’t need a windshield, but you must have the wipers.

Yes, America has some stupid laws, but not nearly as this one just passed in Vietnam where it is now illegal for anyone with a chest size of less than 28 inches to operate a motorcycle. Not to make stereotypes, but we don’t know that many barrel chested Vietnamese bikers, and the averages would seem to back us up on the generalization that Vietnam leans more to the petit side of things (the average woman weighs 102lbs and the average man 121lbs…whereas the average American weighs the combined weight of both a Vietnamese man AND woman).

For those who haven’t been to Vietnam, nearly everyone rides a motorcycle/scooter on the city streets. The Vietnamese government cites safety being the reason for the law, so…I guess having millions of people walking around while the 10 remaining “fatsos” of Vietnamese jet-rocket down what should be barren city streets is safe. Ok Universe, You win.

Source: Lawguru & Autoblog

I’m pretty sure Kate Moss would still be allowed to ride a motorcycle in Vietnam…but only pretty sure.

What do you do with an $18,000 motorcycle that already stands apart from the streetfighter crowd as pure sex being masqueraded around town in two-wheel form? You buy another $7770 kit to make it drip that much more unadulterated lurid appeal, of course.

And, that’s exactly what Yacouba Galle, a french artisan and powersports enthusiast did back in 2007. Well, when MV passed on putting the Bestiale into production, Galle took it upon himself to offer a bolt-on kit for Brutale owners. Follow the jump for more hyperbole, video, and pictures…in that order.

Aprilia has relaunched aprilia.com with a much needed redesign, complete with media richness. For some time now Aprilia has been making beautiful and stylish bikes, without lending the same attention to detail to the rest of their corporate branding. The new site is bold, red, and clearly designed by someone who spends a lot of time in Apple’s iTunes.

Source: Aprilia.com

Looking good Aprilia, now call me when you have your supply chain figured out.

MotoStudent competition is a competition created by the Moto Engineering Foundation in Spain. While the scope is Spanish and European for now, it has promise to expand to encompass schools from across the globe. The goal of the competition is to have student design and build motorcycles in a fashion similar the Formula SAR competitions in American colleges, which are sponsored by marque companies who use the events to recruit top talent engineers and future employees.

Source: Motostudent via The Kneeslider

Have AutoCAD, will design motorcycles for food.

Ducati has added a flash intro to their site telling of a “Streetfighter” to be released this Monday, November 3rd. We can only speculate on what this bike could be, considering the wraps on the new Monster 1100 is already out. Could this be the rumored 1098 streetfighter to help stave off the likes of the Aprilia Tuono, Benelli TnT, and other naked sportbikes?

UPDATED: Only time will tell what the real bike looks like, but read more to see some artistic “opinions” of what the naked livery could look like.

 

Recalls appear to be the order of the weekend. This does give us the opportunity to examine the ways in which different bike manufacturers take it upon themselves to make this sport just that much more interesting for us. Ducati, always being the fashion-minded, chose death by fire, which of course would match perfectly the red and white livery they adorn their bikes in. Buell, thought it fit to decapitate its riders, which is also fitting since must have lost your mind to ever purchase the baby Harley in the first place. Not to be shown up, BMW in a very German fashion is going with just instant death in no particular fashion. This does bring up interesting thoughts of graphic video footage of wheels coming undone and bodies flying over hay bails, but that’s just my imagination. Check after the jump for full details on this expedited suicide.

 

In 2007 Anthony West replace Jaques Olivier on the Factory Kawasaki MotoGP team. After this Sunday at Valencia, Anthony’s year and a half will end. West has had a lackluster season this year, currently sitting 18th in the point standings with 50 points, which has caused many to call for his replacement. Italian Marco Melandri will join John Hopkins on the Kawasaki team for the 2009 season as West’s replacement.