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It’s Legal To Hack Your Motorcycle for the Next Two Years

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Exceptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) have finally gone into effect, which means that you can now legally hack the computer systems on your motorcycle and other motor vehicles.

The exceptions were put into place last year by the Librarian of Congress, despite pressure from vehicle manufacturers, who wanted to extend digital right management (DRM) practices to the computer systems that now permeate the two and four-wheeled spaces.

This is a win for security researchers and hobbyist mechanics, because it means that they can modify the software on their personal and research vehicles, without the fear of running afoul of the DMCA, which we should point out was written roughly 20 years ago.

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Products

Wazer, A Mass Market Water Jet Cutter

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I know more than a few Asphalt & Rubber readers are do-it-yourselfers, so this news about the Wazer mass market water jet cutter should be of particular interest.

The $6,000 desktop water jet cutter by Wazer offers a key technology that previously was only available to larger fabrication outfits, with typical water jet cutters costing up to $50,000 for standard units, and north of $100,000 for industrial-level cutters.

Suitable for cutting metal, rock, composites, and other materials, water jut cutters are what the big boys bring out for cutting jobs, when laser cutter can’t…umm…cut it, making this of particular note to builders and creative-types who previously could not afford the technology.

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News

Moto Guild Expands DIY Motorcycle Shop Network

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If you haven’t heard of Moto Guild yet, don’t worry, you soon will. The concept is pretty simple, motorcycle-friendly workshops where enthusiasts can work on their own machines with the standard and special tools that are readily available.

Moto Guild has been slowly expanding beyond its Californian borders (locations in San Francisco and San Jose) the past couple of years, opening first a new shop in Chicago, and today a new location in Philadelphia has been announced.

I will admit my own bias to this project, as I am friends with Moto Guild’s founders, and was a regular user of their San Francisco location when I lived in the SF Bay Area. Needless to say then, I am excited to see their concept expanding across the country.

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News

You Can Legally Work on Your Own Motorcycle, Still

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You may have not realized it, but if certain OEMs had their way, you would not be legally allowed to work on your own motorcycle. That’s right, because of a perversion of the US copyright law, it would have been illegal for you to turn a wrench on your motorcycle, all in the name of digital rights management.

The issues comes around because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law from 1998 that was originally intended to update the Copyright Act of 1976 for life in the digital age.

Of the more important provisions, the DMCA protects ISPs from copyright claims, and it defines how copyright law would work on the internet and other digital mediums.

One of the major sections of the DMCA deals with digital rights management (DRM), and attempts to circumvent digital systems that are meant to block access to copyrighted information and material. This effectively makes it a violation of the DMCA to circumvent any sort of DRM or encryption put forth by a rights holder.

The original intent of this provision was to protect record labels and movie studios, who were seeing their products shared on peer-to-peer networks ad infinitum, but crafty lawyers have been able to expand this portion of the DMCA to include just about any digital system, including your motorcycle…until now.

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Trips

How To Change a Tire with Zip Ties

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ADV riders and how-to junkies take note, the following is a video on how to MacGyver a motorcycle tire on and off a wheel, while using only zip ties — it might be the most impressive thing we’ve seen in a long while.

If you already own a set of tire irons, or even better a full-blown tire-changing machine, you can feel comfortable in your purchase-making decision, because they are by far the easier solution.

But for our readers who are on a budget or do a bit of touring, the following could keep you from being stuck on the side of the road, all for the tidy sum of $1 at your local hardware store.

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Bikes

Transform Your Honda CBR600RR into a Vyrus 986 M2

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Maybe one of the most lurid motorcycles ever to grace the pages of Asphalt & Rubber, the Vyrus 986 M2 Moto2 race bike is just as much art as it is engineering innovation. A hub-center steering front-end, self-supporting carbon fiber body pieces, and a bevy of GP-level electronics adorn this futuristic looking motorcycle from Italy.

The goal from Vyrus was to have a Moto2-class legal racing machine that was ready for competition, though we doubt many owners see it that way. What few bikes that actually leave their owner’s garage, we imagine only a handful will see any track time, but that’s sometimes just the way it goes.

Originally priced at €55,000 for the race bike (a pretty cheap price for a Moto2 machine), a street version was supposed to debut at €25,000, while a Vyrus 986 M2 kit was to be made available at €16,900 (one must supply their own Honda CB600RR motor to use the kit option).

After currency exchange rates, the Vyrus 986 M2 kit sounded like a fairly affordable and hands-on way to own such a unique machine. Well, now that Vyrus is actually able to make good on its do-it-yourself option, things have changed a little…by say €10,000 or so.

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Banter

Video: 11 Months, 3000 Pictures, & A Lot of Coffee

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This may not be strictly motorcycle-related, though we are pretty sure most motorcyclists can relate to the time and effort it takes to take apart a four-cylinder motor and put it back together again. As if refurbishing a motor bought off eBay, and swapping it out for a junked one that is still in the car wasn’t hard enough, our protagonist decided to document the whole process with thousands of photos. Originally only intending to use the snaps to ensure all the pieces went back together in the right spots, a short animated movie clip was born from his efforts. Enjoy it after the jump, and thanks for the tip Chris!

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Banter

Video: Community + Motorcycles = Motomethod

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Consider this video as a primer on a larger subject I like to call: The Motorcycle Shop Deconstructed. There is a lot that can be said about why dealerships fail or succeed (we’ve already seen an interesting insight on the subject of shops being open on Sundays), and one aspect on how to be a successful dealership that will surely rise to the top is one of community.

Here, Vancouver-based Motomethod is all about the community, as the do-it-yourself community garden style repair shop has become a place for British Columbian riders not to work on their motorcycles, but also to congregate together with a shared love of riding on two wheels. Not exactly a new concept business-wise, but still a fresh perspective in an otherwise unwilling to change industry. More on this thought process to be published in the coming weeks. Enjoy.

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