power Articles
With no electricity, riding through lower Manhattan
Intrepid contributor Nick Goddard embarks on a journey through lower Manhattan on his cub. No power, no traffic lights, no cops. But plenty of crazy cab drivers, utility trucks and dangers. - Ed. Manhattan’s power outage hit traffic lights below the 30...
02 November 2012
KTM 1190 Adventure R: first official photos
This is the first official photo of the all-new KTM 1190 Adventure R. It's differentiated from the KTM 1190 Adventure (no R) that we showed you yesterday by the fitment of a 21-inch front wheel, a one-piece seat, shorter screen and standard crash bars. It also appears to be equipped with higher-quality, fully-adjustable WP suspension front and rear. It should still have the same, 148bhp engine, ri...
19 September 2012
The CBR250R gets dirty
Ridden a Honda CBR250R yet? You should, it’ll utterly change the way you think about size. It matters, yes, but not in the way you think. By being smaller, lighter and simpler than most other modern motorcycles, it recaptures a purity of experience and purpose others have been lacking. In short, it’s clean, simple fun. In an era of excess, it’s welcome counterpoint. Equipped with the same en...
07 September 2012
News
EPA document reveals 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300, 636cc ZX-6R
An EPA document listing motorcycle emission data for 2013 has revealed details of the new, American market-oriented Kawasaki Ninja 300 and a return to 636cc capacity for the 2013 Kawasaki ZX-6R. That new Ninja is powered by a 296cc parallel twin developing 39bhp at 11,000rpm, a marked improvement from the current model's 31bhp figure and significantly more than the bike's closest rival, the 26bh...
27 August 2012
Riding the BRD RedShift SM on The Snake
“So much power it’ll wheelie off the throttle at any speed.” If you’re anything like me, you’re a bit sick of the hyperbole that makers of electric motorcycles have been slinging for the last few years. There’s talk of instantaneous torque, practical ranges and performance on par with (small) ICE bikes, but the reality has only been overpriced products that are slow, massively overstat...
06 July 2012
Pictured: the future
In the future, our race suits will be capable of predicting crashes, inflating prior to impact in order to absorb forces exceeding even 23g without injury. In the future, those suits will sync to mobile devices more powerful than the computers used to put men on the moon. In the future, all those components will add only 450 grams of weight and require no additional space in the suit. In the futur...
13 June 2012
News
Honda CRF250L coming to US, priced at $4,499
At more than $2,000 cheaper than the Yamaha WR250R, the Honda CRF250L will be sold in the US as a 2013 model. The all-new bikes takes advantage of low-cost manufacturing at the same factory in Thailand that produces the CBR250R to combine high specification with a low price, creating an accessible, capable dual-sport. Looking at the spec sheet, it's difficult to tell that this is such an afforda...
29 May 2012
How a dyno measures horsepower
When it comes to superbikes, everyone appears to be very concerned with horsepower. Michael Czysz and Chip Yates go out of their way to make fantastic claims of over 200hp for their motorcycles. BMW claims the S1000RR makes 193 and the ZX10R is supposed to be 197. Even my GSX-R 600 has a claimed 126. But what is horsepower? How do we measure it? And most importantly, why does it matter? What is h...
05 July 2011