Motorcycle
Wow! ExoDyne Electric Motorcycle is a Singular Vision
Veterinarians are amazing people, if you think about it. They have to know pretty much everything your doctor has to know, but they know it for like, cats, dogs, horses– maybe turtles. How do you ask a turtle if its tummy hurts, you know? Taken in that context, it’s probably no surprise that the wild, stressed-battery ExoDyne electric motorcycle shown here is the work of a veterinary surgeon. Specifically, a veterinary surgeon named Alan Cross. That’s right, gang. This bike– which certainly looks like it was the product of a team of engineers and fabricators– was the work of one guy. It’s an incredible build, too, with a Suzuki-sourced suspension bits carrying some fairly exotic Brembo braking components welded into lightweight subframes. The suspension ...
Meet the Killer | FWD Hand-built Motorcycle
It’s a thoroughly modern-sounding concept for those of us familiar with EVs: a motor mounted within the wheel of the vehicle. Except the bike you see here– despite being new– isn’t exactly based on a modern idea. It’s based, instead, on an idea from the 1930s had by a group of guys named Killinger and Fruend. “After a sleepless night, I started surfing the net,” says Bobby Haas, of the Haas Moto Museum in Dallas (and this bike’s owner). “I came across grainy photographs of an Art Deco bike concocted by a group of German engineers in the 1930s.” Killinger and Fruend Concept Those grainy online photos captured Haas’ imagination. With his connections in the custom motorcycle world, he quickly settled on a builder– ...
Coming to America: Kawasaki W800 Street Model Headed to the US
Outside of the US, Kawasaki sells a matte black, UJM-style version of its highly anticipated W800: the Kawasaki W800 Street. I may be biased here, but I think it’s awesome, carrying all the swagger and twin-cylinder throb of the 1965 original. Except, you know, in black finish. None of which matters, of course, since Kawasaki doesn’t have plans to sell the bike in the US … or do they? Ride Apart is reporting that recently released paperwork from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) suggests the more laid back W800 Street is coming to the US sometime in 2019. “Obviously,” they write, “someone over at Kawasaki Motors must have noticed how much profit there was to be made by selling the same basic bike in multiple flavors and styles.” If I sound ...
Under the Skin of the MotoE Electric Motorcycle
The start of the inaugural season of MotoE electric motorcycle may have been delayed by the massive fire that engulfed the MotoE paddock garage last week, but that doesn’t mean there’s no MotoE news to talk about. Asphalt and Rubber’s Jensen Beeler has just released some new photos of– What’s that? What fire? Sorry, gang. I took a few weeks off from writing and, as Chris Demorro and Steve Hanley have moved on to bigger and better things, things got pretty quiet around here. Here’s a quick picture of the fire I’m talking about, and you can click through it to get to the original article on MCNews. MotoE Paddock Fire Anyway, Asphalt and Rubber’s Jensen Beeler has just released some new photos of the Energica Ego MotoE electric racer with...
Rumormill: KTM Wants to Buy Ducati
Volkswagen executives have been trying to sell off their captive motorcycle brand, Ducati, since the fallout from their diesel emissions scandal started to come down. Thus far, VW’s board of directors– which includes the German company’s labor unions, who account for nearly half the board seats– has been “unenthusiastic” about selling Ducati. With KTM now showing interest, however, that may change. KTM CEO Stefan Pierer expressed interest in owning the Italian motorcycle company to German-language magazine, Speedweek. He even went as far as floating some of his ideas on how Ducati could fit into KTM’s overall vehicle strategy. Unlike some CEOs, that’s not the kind of talk Pierer would enter into lightly– and it sound, to some people, like Pie...
MotoGP Legend Tetsuya Harada vs. MotoE Bike
The Energica Ego Corsa race bike that’s set to become the basis for MotoGP’s electric support series got put through its paces last weekend ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi. It got a real test, too– in the hands of 1993 FIM 250cc World Champion rider Tetsuya Harada. We loved seeing Japanese legend Tetsuya Harada back on track at the #JapaneseGP ?? The former 250cc World Champion got a chance to ride the @EnergicaMotor Ego Corsa #MotoE bike in front of his home crowd! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/I8IJHCxVTI — MotoGP™??? (@MotoGP) October 23, 2018 In addition to being the ’93 champion, Harada raced at the highest level for over a decade– so it’s worth hearing his take on the bike. Of course, it’s incredibly positive. To be fair, t...
Honda Fury Could Make a Comeback w/ Automatic Transmission
According to a recent patent filing unearthed by the guys at Ride Apart, the aggressive, chopper-style Honda Fury could be making a comeback next year … with a bit of a twist. That twist? The Fury will pack an automatic transmission upon its return. First installed on the VFR1200F and VFR1200X in 2010, Honda’s “automatic” is actually am electronically operated Dual-clutch Transmission (DCT). Similar to the DCT used in Porsche, BMW, and Volkswagen models, the Honda DCT uses two clutches– one on the “even” numbered gears, one on the “odd”– to produce lighting-fast gear changes that are both precise and smooth. The shifts happen when the onboard computer decides it’s time, or when the driver rider hit a shift button on the left...
Cylinder Deactivation for Big Indian Motorcycles
Indian motorcycles aren’t usually thought of in the same sentence as high-tech, eco-friendly innovations. That’s a shame, too. Because the bikes are well-conceived, well-engineered, and now, they have some cool cylinder deactivation tech to show off in their 111ci Thunderstroke V-Twin engines, too. Included as part of the 2019 Indian Chief, Springfield, and Roadmaster model bikes, the cylinder deactivation shuts off the rear cylinder in a bid to manage the heat that emanates from its engine. The idea is that this will make the bikes more comfortable to ride in traffic. At the same time, it should improve fuel economy and reduce emissions– if only just. 111 ci Indian Thunderstroke V-Twin This version of stop-start technology will only work under certain conditions. ...
Road-legal Sarolea MANX7 Makes its Debut
We’ve been following the Sarolea story with eager anticipation since 2014. Back then, the company was just another electric motorcycle hopeful with big claims, but subsequent commitments to compete in both the Isle of Man TT (TT Zero) and LeMans have proven the company to be ambitious. Overly ambitious? Maybe– but to show they’re not all talk, the company has released some all-new photos of its road-going production bike: meet the 2019 Sarolea MANX7. It’s an impressive piece, if the numbers are anything to go by. The MANX7 promises over 160 HP and a staggering 332 lb-ft of torque. Which is, it should be noted, more than you’d get in a base Ford F-150. By quite a lot, in fact! So, it’s fast. The racing bike for the road is fast. That’s good- it̵...
Street Fighter – 25 Years of the Ducati Monster
Ducati is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the innovative Ducati Monster with an all-new beast. The tricolored Ducati Monster 1200 25th Anniversary. That’s right, kids– the Ducati Monster has been around for 25 years. The bike almost single-handedly created the “street fighter” look that dominated custom sport bikes throughout the ’90s and ’00s, and created a new product line for Ducati that- like the Porsche Cayenne- provided the profits needed to kept the core of the sporting brand alive. As for me, I was never a fan of the Monster. I was never a fan of the Cayenne, either, to be honest. Still, I recognized that, for bikes like the 916 and 900SS to exist, the brand needed a product with broader appeal– and the Monster was perfect for that miss...
You’ll Meet the Nicest People on the 2019 Honda SuperCub
You meet the nicest people on a Honda. It was one of the most famous ad campaigns of the 20th Century, and established a way forward for a motorcycle company that wasn’t Harley-Davidson– and didn’t want to be, either. It focused on the Honda Cub and SuperCub, and was one of the reasons that bike became the best-selling vehicle of all time. And now, as a motorcycle industry that spent the last twenty years building itself around bad reality TV and fake biker gangs flounders, Honda is hoping to bring back some of its old time magic. Meet the all-new 2019 Honda SuperCub. Part of the new miniMOTO Honda collection that includes the popular Grom and unspeakably awesome 2019 Monkey, the new Honda Super Cub has the same accessible, step-through style as the classic Cub, with fres...
2019 Honda Monkey Bike is the Best Thing Ever
You guys already know how much I love the Honda Grom. I mean, what’s not to love? In fact, if you meet someone who doesn’t love the Grom, they’re probably an alien replicant and it might be OK to shoot them. As lovable as the Grom is, however, it’s really just a new-age Monkey bike, and it’s the collective love and nostalgia for that bike that makes the Grom. Some potentially bad news for dealers with a bunch of Groms on the lot, then: Honda is bringing back the Monkey. Honda is calling its new line-up of small-displacement bikes miniMOTO. In addition to the Grom and Monkey bike you see here, Honda will also be offering a reborn Super Cub, which we’ll preview in a few days. Until then, I’ll leave you with the official Honda specs and their own mark...