Motorcycle Mania
Bugeyed Motorcycles: A Trend Worth Stopping
Jul 8th
Honda trotted out this concept bike in ‘07 as a styling exercise, and it oozes with the retro flair and minimalist purpose of yesteryear’s superbikes. But c’mon, is this horrid robo-face really the best Honda can do? Between this and the new Yamaha R1 bugeyes, I’m beginning to think that projector beam headlights are the worst thing to happen in modern motorcycle design.
Honda is rumored to be producing the naked version of its concept bike, the CB1100F, as a 2010 model. Thankfully they haven’t found a way to screw up a round headlight. Yet.
Good work if you can get it
Jan 15th
Ducati rolls out its ‘09 GP effort in the usual style.
As a side note, Nicky Hayden expresses relief to have moved out of HRC (Honda) to weather the global economic downturn. You certainly wouldn’t have heard anyone equate Ducati with recession-proof economics while ownership was being tossed around the globe between the troubled Cagiva and the dispassionateTexas Pacific Group, but record sales and a series of hit models seem to have Ducati Corse ready to contest the bottomless money pit known as MotoGP for 2009. Recent moves to limit testing and tire expenses certainly favor a small player, but ultimately it comes down to sponsorship and whether a company is willing to put serious dollars on a square foot of advertising that flashes past distant cameras at 200 mph.
open your eyes, jackass
Feb 22nd
Lots of drivers hate motorcycles. Some people get aggressive whenever they see a bike, maybe feeling the standard testosterone urge to race or dealing with whatever latent resentment they have for that biker goon that cut them off 12 years ago.
The aggro response is completely stupid (and mostly futile), but it’s preferable to those who just FREAK OUT for no apparent reason. My favorite are the cagers who suddenly hit their brakes when a motorcycle comes up behind them; from their body language, it’s apparent that they haven’t looked in their rearview mirror since they left the house, and panic when they finally observe a single headlight closing in on them.
The main problem is that too many people are flat out lazy behind the wheel. How many commuters do you see concentrating on make-up application, dial (or iPod) scanning, cell phone manipulation, child appeasement, and pretty much anything else that doesn’t involve the road?
Some civilized cultures actually take pride in their ability to maneuver and manipulate motorized vehicles with some semblance of performance. Not us … the crowning achievement of American transportation is to disconnect yourself from the driving experience as much as possible. In Europe, your driving skills speak for themself. In the US, even the most incapable driver can represent with 20″ spinners and a road-numbed SUV while stupidly floating across lanes and generally ignoring their traffic environment.
That’s why you’ll never see this ad [.mpg] in the US. Pity, because it’s a good one. (Note: video may take awhile to load)
[link originally found at Bikes in the Fast Lane]
now I’ve seen everything
Nov 3rd
Somebody has a very bizarre asthetic. Take one Italian motorcycle. Give it a custom “Dukes of Hazzard” paint job. Then sell it for charity … in Britain. Huh? Wouldn’t a Triumph done up in Good Neighbors paint scheme been more appropriate? Or an old Norton Commando with Dr. Who plastered across the tank, now there’s a bike to get excited about. Especially if it featured Peri: sidekick, cutie-pie eighties style. [from MCN]