Motorcycles

When Brough Superior motorcycles sold new in the 1920s and 1930s, they cost more than the average house (US$400,000 + in today's currency) and they are now beginning to populate the list of the most expensive motorcycles sold - the most expensive ever (bottom right), four of the top 12 highest prices ever, with another passed in at auction last week (top left and right) with the pricing just short of another record. In perhaps the most interesting marketplace dynamics the collector market has ever seen, Brough Superior is again in production, with better-than-new replicas selling at US$150,000 each (bottom left). That might seem a lot of money, but it's less than half what you'd pay for an eighty year old Brough at auction and the big question is, what will happen to the pricing of Brough Superiors on the collector market? Read More

It seems electric racebikes are starting to come of age; Mission One has unveiled a new machine for its 2011 TTXGP campaign, and it takes a giant step forward in aesthetics from the blunt, overly futuristic look of the original Mission One. This is an electric racer with real class and presence, not to mention 160 mph performance and superbike-spec Swedish suspension bits. The Mission R is one of a new breed of electric superbikes with a custom-built frame, rather than gutting a petrol-powered sportsbike and stuffing it with battery cells. And it's proof positive that next-generation green performance machines will have every bit the loin-stirring ability of their fossil-fueled forebears. Read More

Chip Yates took a very American approach when he began building an electric superbike to race in the TTXGP and FIM ePower championships. He went for horsepower. One-hundred and ninety-six horsepower, to be precise, with a massive set of battery cells to keep the motor fed over a race distance. It was to be the most powerful bike on the grid. But both the TTXGP and the FIM released rule changes effectively disqualifying the SWIGZ bike from competition in 2011 - and rather than change the bike to fit the rules, Yates decided to pull out altogether - and take it racing against petrol-powered American superbikes in what is likely to be the first time electric and gasoline-powered motorcycles have gone head to head in an official race. But even with nearly 200 horsepower behind him, Yates has one heck of a tough job ahead of him. Read More

Definitely one of the crowd favorites at last week’s Future of Electric Vehicles conference was the presentation by Eva Hakkanson and Bill Dube. The highly-entertaining couple, who design and build electric racing motorcycles out of their home garage, have set some impressive records with their KillaCycle drag bike – it currently holds the title of World’s Fastest Electric Motorcycle, and is also the world’s fastest EV of any kind. The bike was on display at the conference, so we asked Eva to give us the nickel tour. Read More

It’s not often that you can purchase a millimeter perfect replica of the current world championship-winning racing motorcycle, but that’s exactly what Husqvarna is offering with its commemorative replica of Antoine Meo’s 2010 Enduro class TE250 E1 mount. Everything is claimed to be identical to the bike which took all before it this year, right down to the Kayaba fork internals, offset-adjustable CNC triple clamps, titanium exhaust and the various exotic metals and carbon fibre knick nacks, not to mention the graphics. Connoisseurs and collectors had best be quick – production of the limited 100 machine run began last week and the price seems ridiculously cheap for what you get. It will vary with exchange rates depending on where you live, but roughly US$13K plus on road will get your butt on that anti-slip Dalla Valle seat. Read More

A student from Bournemouth University (UK) has designed a motorcycle helmet that will be easier for paramedics to remove after an accident, saving vital seconds and possibly lives. The novel design provides quick and safe removal via side clips which unlock the interior and allowing the helmet to slide apart. Read More

We see grandiose press releases every day here at Gizmag - but few of them use language which tickles us as much as Confederate's recent missive promoting its new C3 X132 Hellcat. How's this passage for an example: "This C3 Hellcat has the highest rear wheel torque to weight ratio, compared anywhere throughout the operating RPM range, in all of motordom, by far." Dig into 'em, those words are bold, aggressive and unmistakably American - much like the cyber-brute bikes that come out of the Confederate factory. So let's take a quick look at the Hellcat, which is at once the fastest, toughest, lightest and cheapest bike this bunch of Alabama madmen have ever produced. Read More

Erik Buell never got a chance to build a proper naked version of his final Buell sportsbike, the 1125R. We'd like to think that if he did, he'd have ditched the bulbous side-mounted radiators and found another way to water-cool his new Rotax engine. Either way, Germany's Pegasus race team and Gruner Engineering have paired up to build an 1190 Buell superbike racer into the tarmac-ripping streetfighter that could have been. One hundred and eighty-five horsepower, 161kg dry, buck-naked and ready to roar – meet the Typhon 1190. Read More

Two very interesting pieces of news from Italian motorcycle marque Ducati this week. Firstly, a co-operative partnership and MotoGP sponsorship deal with Mercedes-AMG – demonstrating the dollar- and eyeball-pulling power of star recruit Valentino Rossi – and secondly, the wraps have come off one of the worst-kept secrets in the motorcycle industry, with the Ducati Diavel power-cruiser making its public debut. The Diavel has got most Ducati fans stumped – it's a bizarre-looking musclebike/cruiser/street rod design that seems to fit somewhere in between the Ducati Streetfighter and the Yamaha V-MAX – and it mates a whopping 240-section fat back tire with a firmly performance-focused, quick-revving, 162-horsepower V-twin motor. It's the first step into a completely new market for Ducati, and its bold, brutish design is already causing fights among the faithful. Read More