Motorcycles

2008 MotoGP teams begin to emerge

By Loz Blain

18:15 October 9, 2007 PDT

October 10, 2007 This year's World Champion Casey Stoner, as well as Rossi, Vermeulen and the Honda team are staying where they are for season 2008 – but beyond that, MotoGP has been a huge game of musical chairs as riders jump from team to team hoping to secure the best bikes for next year. With teams finally settling, here’s what we know. Read More

Aprilia’s upcoming V4 engine to deliver up to 220hp

By Loz Blain

20:12 October 7, 2007 PDT

October 8, 2007 Aprilia tell us their much-anticipated V4 engine is currently undergoing durability testing in four states of tune – from a huge 185 horsepower up to an eye-watering 220 horsepower. Which one will we see in the road-going superbike they’re building? Read More

Formotion: billet bolt-on timepieces for motorcycles

By Loz Blain

23:29 October 5, 2007 PDT

October 6, 2007 Tired of working out dodgy ways to attach a clock you can read while you’re riding your motorcycle? Formotion has released a range of great-looking and affordable bolt-on clocks and thermometers to fit to any bike. Read More

KTM unveils radical factory stunt bike

By Loz Blain

06:56 October 4, 2007 PDT

October 4, 2007 What is it about KTM motorcycles; does the factory fill the front tyre with helium? Many KTM riders treat their front wheels like ornaments, waving them at the sky at every opportunity. KTM must have realized this – and the factory’s clearly decided “why fight it?” Along with a very tasty range of bikes based on the tasty LC4 engine for 2008, they’ve released teaser pics of a dedicated stunt-riding model with some very stunt-specific gear integrated as standard. Read More

2008 Honda Fireblade gets a full makeover

By Loz Blain

02:52 October 3, 2007 PDT

October 3, 2007 Details have finally been officially released of the Honda Fireblade’s end-to-end 2008 overhaul... and here they are: wet weight drops 6kg to 199kg, power climbs 7hp to just under 180hp. The ‘Blade finally gets a next-gen slipper clutch, as well as a remodelled HESD steering damper. It’s also had a complete style overhaul – not to mention a stubby underslung exhaust. In fact, just about everything except the already-superb suspension has been completely redesigned. Honda’s clearly seeing this model as a big jump forward for the “friendly” superbike, a makeover they’re hoping will be as stunning as the one the GSX-R got in 2005. Read More

BMW Motorrad launches fast, light, DOHC Boxer and intends to go racing

By Mike Hanlon

04:28 September 30, 2007 PDT

September 30, 2007 BMW’s iconic boxer engine is set for another lease of life with the launch of the new BMW HP2 Sport - the sportiest, most powerful and lightest Boxer motorcycle of all time. The new motor is the first to sport a double overhead camshaft and includes a host of innovative features including a quickshifter for clutchless gear changes and the news that the factory will enter the World Superbike Championship with the new bike in 2009, indicating that it intends to take on Ducati as a rival on both the road and the track. Read More

2008 Ninja ZX-10R gets traction control

By Loz Blain

00:54 September 28, 2007 PDT

September 29, 2007 UPDATED - NEW IMAGES Demonstrating the company’s total commitment to uncompromising racetrack focus, Kawasaki has revealed their 2008 ZX-10R flagship superbike will feature traction control as standard. The 08 model is a complete overhaul of the model, featuring a new chassis, updated suspension, a reworked engine and new front-end styling. Read More

Honda unveils six cylinder sports motorcycle prototype

By Mike Hanlon

04:45 September 27, 2007 PDT

September 27, 2007 Honda will unveil a series of show motorcycles at this year’s Tokyo Motorcycle Show, headed by a radical six cylinder prototype to be known as the EVO6, which will be based on Honda’s six cylinder Gold Wing engine, but in a form far from its long-distance tourer guise. Seemingly aimed squarely at the Suzuki B-King muscle machine which was unveiled at this show four years ago, the 1832cc engine is much lighter and sportier than its touring brethren and is housed in an ultra-modern lightweight frame and is clearly designed for very rapid acceleration. Read More

First ride: Moto Morini 9½ and Corsaro exotic road bikes

By Loz Blain

19:15 September 24, 2007 PDT

September 25, 2007 Moto Morini motorcycles have become rarities since the company's heyday in the 1970s, but the brand is enjoying a resurgence - not only is it back under Morini family ownership, but its new range of 1200cc twins are making a strong impression around the world. Loz Blain takes the 9½ streetbike and the Corsaro streetfighter for a back-to-back road test and discovers that even if they share their thunderous 1200cc V-twin engine, these two Italian exotics are as different as Meg Ryan and Naomi Campbell. Read More

KTM RC8 superbike set to launch

By Loz Blain

19:05 September 20, 2007 PDT

September 21, 2007 With less than two months to go before its debut at the Milan Motorcycle Expo, KTM’s highly anticipated 1150cc RC8 superbike contender is undergoing intensive pre-release road and track testing. Has KTM’s early promise of the world’s most powerful V-twin engine been scuttled by the tyre-shredding Ducati 1098, or do the Austrians have something special up their sleeve? Read More

Vento releases 400cc triple quadbike

By Loz Blain

04:29 September 20, 2007 PDT

September 20, 2007 Vento have wasted no time in bolting their recently completed 400cc three-cylinder engine into a quadbike for production. The brand-new Reptile 400 will be the first quad designed from the ground up by the American company, and it looks like a good fun sporty middleweight to kick off Vento’s new range for 2008. Read More

Killacycle nearly lives up to its name

By Loz Blain

06:56 September 17, 2007 PDT

September 17, 2007 We recently covered the record-setting Killacycle electric drag bike, a 350bhp animal of a machine that has been verified at the drag strip as the fastest electric motorcycle ever. The bike’s in need of some TLC now, though, after owner Bill Dube accidentally ploughed it into a parked van while showing off for the video cameras. Thankfully, he wasn’t too badly hurt and the Killacycle will live to drag again. Read More

First ride: the Vectrix Electric Maxi-Scooter

By Loz Blain

21:56 September 16, 2007 PDT

It’s a special sort of road test when you get to try out not only a brand new bike, but one of the first viable examples of a whole different engine technology. Loz Blain and Noel McKeegan get their hands on the Vectrix Electric Maxi-Scooter, an Italian/American beauty with a 100kph top speed, a 110km commuting range, and a two-way throttle that engages a very handy regenerative braking system. It’s a promising early taste of what’s in store when electric motorcycles hit the market in force. Read More

Triketek X2 Arrow three-wheel twin-seater cruise machine

By Loz Blain

23:21 September 12, 2007 PDT

September 13, 2007 We’re seeing more and more vehicles coming to market that are completely impractical and purely for fun purposes and three-wheeler trikes fit squarely into this category. Enter the X2 Arrow, currently being shown in Frankfurt, a uniquely styled, low-profile trike that offers a driver and a passenger the wind-in-your-hair freedom and snappy handling of a motorcycle with the roll-cage safety of a sports car. Read More

161mph land-speed record set on a Panhead Harley

By Loz Blain

03:07 September 12, 2007 PDT

September 12, 2007 Female drag racer Valerie Thompson has her eye on a 200mph top speed on Bonneville’s salt flats. She took a major step toward this lofty goal earlier this week when she took her 120-inch Panhead Harley to a new land-speed record of 161.736mph. The former investment banker ran nitrous oxide and a small fairing to chase the record, and can’t wait until she runs a full streamliner in next year’s all-out assault on 200mph, an unprecedented speed for the class. Read More

New all-American inline triple set to hit the motorcycle market

By Loz Blain

04:08 September 11, 2007 PDT

September 11, 2007 American motorcycle manufacturer Vento Motorcycles today announced the first engine the company has had designed specifically for its own products. The new three cylinder, 400 cc, 30 horsepower engine, the most powerful inline triple ATV engine ever built, is the first American-made engine to be designed and used by Vento. The company will use the new engine in an expanded range of ATVs and middleweight bikes from 2008 onwards. Read More

Gilera shoe-horns an 840cc engine into its latest scooter

By Loz Blain

03:56 September 11, 2007 PDT

September 11, 2007 An 840cc, 90-degree fuel injected V-twin, performance chassis, 200kmh top speed and braided brake lines… on a CVT, step-thru scooter? After sending heads spinning with its Nexus 500, a scooter that handles like a sportsbike in the twisties, Gilera have completely dumbfounded us with their GP 800 hyperscooter. Striking some sort of bizarre balance between a super-grunty commuter and a genuine sports-tourer, this bespectacled bad-boy is the new and undisputed king of the scooter segment. Read More

Landmark night Grand Prix to be held in Qatar 2008

By Noel McKeegan

18:26 September 3, 2007 PDT

September 4, 2007 Whispers of a night-time MotoGP event first reached Gizmag in early 2006 and now it’s official – the season opening Grand Prix of Qatar on March 9th next year will be held under lights to allow for better synchronization with European television schedules. The staging of the unprecedented night race will involve what is believed to be the biggest lighting project in the world for any sporting event – almost four thousand lights will be used to ensure visibility and remove shadowing from the track. Read More

Christini’s All-Wheel-Drive dirt bikes find huge traction without power loss

By Loz Blain

04:04 August 22, 2007 PDT

Four Wheel drive cars have taken over at the top-level of off-road rally racing, but dirt bike racing is still predominantly fought out on single-wheel-drive vehicles that spin up, fishtail and slide wildly across rough terrain. Make no mistake though, the All Wheel Drive (AWD) revolution is coming to the motorcycle world – Yamaha and KTM have done significant work with hydraulic front-wheel-drive systems, and when new ideas like this successful all-mechanical AWD kit from Christini hit the mainstream, dirt bike riding will never be the same again. Read More

Confederate's Renovatio – the handmade American streetbike goes modular

By Loz Blain

18:27 August 20, 2007 PDT

If you thought Confederate’s previous motorcycles, the Wraith and Hellcat, were outrageous to look at, wait ‘til you see the company’s latest project. The virtually frameless Renovatio takes minimalism and modular design to the next level and flags a bold future direction for this iconoclastic New Orleans-based streetbike manufacturer. Read More

Buell 1125R: high performance sportsbike showcases all-new Buell platform

By Noel McKeegan

18:31 August 5, 2007 PDT

August 6, 2007 Buell has announced the upcoming release of the 1125R – its first litre-class motorcycle built on an all-new Buell platform including a freshly developed liquid-Cooled V-Twin engine described as the most-powerful street-legal engine ever offered by the company. Just about every aspect of the bike has been changed from previous models – new chassis, fairing, front-brake, muffler, clutch… and on it goes, but the biggest news is the 1125cc DOHC V-Twin Helicon power plant developed in a collaboration between Buell and BRP-Rotax that aims to combine superbike power with the smooth torque characteristics of a V-Twin. The engine redlines at 10500 rpm, produces its 146 crankshaft horsepower at 9800 rpm and 82ft/lbs of peak torque at 8000 rpm. The Buell 1125R is expected to arrive in Buell dealerships in at the end of 2007. Read More

Piaggio ready to release 170 mpg hybrid two and three wheel scooters

By Mike Hanlon

05:04 August 2, 2007 PDT

Italian manufacturer Piaggio, the maker of Vespa, is set to become the first company to release a hybrid drive scooter following an announcement that it is developing hybrid versions of its Vespa LX, Piaggio X8 and Vespa MP3 (the carving three-wheeler) models. The new hybrid system, which has a working title of HyS (Hybrid Scooter), can operate in full electric mode with a range of around 20 kilometres as well as hybrid mode - whenever the rider needs to accelerate more aggressively, the electric motor kicks in, providing about 85 per cent extra performance. Piaggio’s HyS system is a parallel hybrid in which a combustion engine and an electric motor incorporated into the gearbox casing are mechanically and electronically linked and simultaneously supply power to the rear wheel. The system uses drive-by-wire and the in-built electronic management combines the two engines to offer not only better acceleration but also a significant reduction in fuel consumption (up to 170 mpg or 1.67 liters/100 km) and in CO2 emissions, only 40 g/km (using 65% the hybrid modes and 35% the electric one). Perhaps the most exciting prospect is the hybrid MP3 which enjoyed such success as a 250cc it has since been developed as a 400cc version and was recently shown as a stylish 500cc Gilera – a sportier hybrid version of the 500 would enjoy exceptional performance. Read More

High-tech motorcycle training system puts learner skills under the microscope

By Loz Blain

03:38 August 1, 2007 PDT

August 1, 2007 Those who choose to ride motorcycles, including many of us in the Gizmag team, choose to accept a higher level of risk in our daily transport than a car driver. We mitigate this risk through higher levels of attention, roadcraft and dedicated development of riding skills than are typically displayed by drivers – and rider licensing and advanced training courses are a critical part of most riders’ development as safe, confident road users. Still, rider training and testing typically focuses on fairly nebulous goals and results that give the rider very little concrete feedback on their progress or areas of weakness, so Australia’s DVExperts have come up with a device that brings a new level of hard science to the process. Their Motorcycle Operator Training Assessor (MOTA) unit is a set of sensors the size of a deck of cards that can be attached to a bike to record reaction times, acceleration, braking forces, swerving forces and lean angles to provide a very clear readout of a student’s performance in each testing or training exercise along with their levels of improvement after a day’s training. This means license testing can be brought to a new level of consistency and accountability and we suspect the MOTA’s also going to be a fun piece of equipment for the trainers themselves to play with after hours. Read More

All new Aussie Yamaha motorcycles to come with free DataDot theft protection

By Loz Blain

06:21 July 31, 2007 PDT

July 31, 2007 Motorcycles offer a boundless sense of freedom to their owners – and they’re also seen as boundlessly free by bike thieves who know it only takes two men to lift a parked bike into a van and nick-off with it. But a bike that can always be traced back to its original owner is difficult for thieves to make a dollar from and Yamaha is taking advantage of this fact on behalf of its customers. Since February this year, every new Yamaha motorcycle, scooter and ATV sold in Australia has been sprayed with DataDotDNA theft protection – microscopic dots that carry identifying information linking every part on the bike back to its original frame number and making stolen bikes extremely difficult to on-sell or part out. DataDotDNA are doing these sorts of deals across the world with a number of different manufacturers now, and becoming a worldwide standard in vehicle identification. Read More

2008 Suzuki Hayabusa to be world's fastest production motorcycle

By Mike Hanlon

July 14, 2007 The world’s fastest production motorcycle mantle is about to change hands again, returning to Suzuki due to the 2008 Hayabusa’s just announced specifications which should see it push past Kawasaki's ZX-14. The new 1340cc motor is 41cc bigger, and the three-ring, aluminum alloy forged slipper pistons have a compression ratio of 12.5:1, an increase over the current Hayabusa’s11.5:1 and is expected to deliver 12 percent more power, giving the Busa a rear wheel output of 175 to 180 bhp. The motor comes in two different bikes – the speed king Hayabusa and the hyper muscular B-King. Read More