November 22, 2010
News
The trouble with sportbikes
Don't get me wrong. I luvs me some sportbike. We all do – "we" being card-carrying moto-journalists. That's part of the problem. Dig into our closets (scary thought, that) and you'll find full leathers, not fringed chaps. We like our gloves armored, not fingerless. Helmets tend to be racer replicas, not fiberglass yarmulkes. Most of us are better than average behind a set of handlebars, too, wit...
22 November 2010
Erik Buell’s latest patent combines exhaust, swingarm
Erik Buell likes to say that the motorcycles he makes, including the EBR 1190RS debuting this winter, have only just caught up with designs he first penned 20 years ago. Here’s a rare glimpse inside some of his latest thinking, this patent for an exhaust-incorporating swingarm was just published. Somewhat confusingly titled a “Movable Exhaust System” in the patent, the concept here is re...
22 November 2010
News
Video: the complete 2010 Macau Grand Prix
Held on the streets of a special administrative region of China, the Macau Grand Prix’s Guia circuit is 3.8 miles long and, at its narrowest point, jut 22.8 feet wide. That last figure is particularly important because that’s not between two nice, soft patches of grass, but between 10-foot tall walls of Armco. Think of Macau as Chinese cross between the Isle of Man and Monaco. A new lap reco...
22 November 2010
News
Video: Jonathan Rea pulls the pin
Last month, Ten Kate Honda SBK rider Jonathan Rea had a metal pin inserted in his left wrist to repair injuries suffered in his crash at Imola in September. “There was more damage than they first thought,” describes Rea. “The operation took about two hours instead of one. Basically, the ligament between the two bones was 100% ruptured and the two wires are designed to pull them together whil...
22 November 2010