Moto News

The meeting included discussions between governing body the FIM, promoter Dorna Sports and the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association. The Commission agreed to increase the engine capacity limit to 1,000cc from the current 800cc. The Commission also introduced a limit of four cylinders with a maximum bore of 81 mm.

Read more…

The KTM X-Bow was developed by Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM, in partnership with Kiska Design, Audi, and Dallara. The X-Bow uses a turbocharged direct injected TFSI engine manufactured by Volkswagen Group, which produces 177 kilowatts (237 hp) at 5,500 rpm and 310 newton metres (230 lb·ft) of torque between 2,200 and 5,500 rpm.

Originally, KTM planned a production of 500 units per year, however, the company has increased production to 1,000 cars a year and has built a new plant near Graz due to high demand.
KTM X-Bow participated[3] in the Supersport category of the 2008 FIA GT4 Championship (#100 Catharina Felser, #101 Christopher Haase and Dennis Retera, by Reiter Engineering), taking a podium finish at Monza and the pole[5] in the wet qualifying session at Nogaro.

The FIA-homologated model KTM X-BOW „GT4“ is available for racing purposes.

Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM promises to mass-produce the all-electric race-ready off-road motorcycle we told you about, and it plans to have the bike in showrooms next year.

The news was buried deep inside KTM’s otherwise bleak financial report, which plainly says of the bike, “mass-production is planned for 2010.” Technical details are slim, but from what Wes Siler of Hell for Leather lays out, the electric enduro sounds like a sweet machine that’ll keep up with the two-strokes.

Read more…

Powered By A Four-Cylinder Liquid Hydrogen Engine, This CB750 Is Controlled By An OLED Touch Screen With Wifi, GPS And 3G!

If Honda wishes to bring back the CB750, look no further than Igor Chak’s Hydrogen concept.

The bike — which ran in production 1969 - 2003 — was an unprecedented piece of machinery. It was the first to offer a front disc brake and an straight-4 engine with an overhead camshaft all on one affordable, production bike.

Read more…

Apple fanboys might still be drooling from yesterday’s iPhone 3Gs announcement, but I bet they never saw this coming: an electric superbike with an iPhone for all its instrumentation!

The MotoCzysz E1pc is one of the many entries in the TTXGP race this Friday. How the iPhone is integrated into the bike is still a mystery but features like its native GPS will surely be used. And whether it wins or loses, it definitely gets points for creamy white geeky goodness.

The E1pc can go from zero to 120 mph in “seven or eight seconds” according to Michael Czysz, the company’s founder. It uses ten lithium-ion battery packs with three electric motors all mounted on a carbon fiber main frame.

Read more…

Currently there are only a few models of bikes with motorcycle antilock brakes and no antilock braking system that retrofits on most existing motorcycles. A big part of the issue with a retrofit motorcycle ABS is that there would have to be dozens of versions made to fit the numerous different makes and models of motorcycles.
The cost to design and engineer all of these ABS versions would obviously be extremely expensive. The cost to the rider to get a retro-fit antilock motorcycle brakes would most likely cost $2,000 plus. Although motorcycle anti lock brakes would carry a lot of value, the high price would affect the number of antilock systems sold and subsequently make it a difficult for any company to justify bringing a retrofit motorcycle antilock brake system to market.
Read more…

Like many of our moto brothers, we often succumb to the power of bling. Bigger often seems better, so much so that we sometimes forget some of the appealing motorcycles that support a manufacturer’s flagships.
Case in point: the Victory Vegas 8-Ball. Cynics might say it’s simply a de-contented Vegas and therefore not worthy of consideration. However, this elitist attitude would overlook what is a very competent and stylish cruiser priced about $2,000 cheaper than a comparable Harley-Davidson Softail.

The Vegas 8-Ball first appeared in 2005, but it’s since had plenty of updates. Key among them is the addition of the powerful 100 cubic-inch engine which now produces a claimed 85 hp and 106 ft-lbs of torque. This mill got a host of enhancements in ’08, including larger 45mm throttle bodies as part of a new, sequential, closed-loop fuel-injection system.

A reduction in the compression ratio to 8.7:1 allowed more aggressive ignition timing, bumping up power marginally. A redesigned oiling system allowed the use of a smaller oil cooler that is less obtrusive. An annoying ticking sound from early Freedom motors was alleviated by slower valve closing speeds and longer closing ramps, and extraneous noise is further damped by additional sound-deadening ribbing on the engine’s primary cover.

Read more…

Raising motorcycle benchmarks with each model year, this coming annum they’ll introduce a wider spectrum to their lineup with the addition of three new models for a total of seven models in their catalog - six of which are available today. The seventh is slated to roll onto the showroom floor January 2009.

From pro-street to classic choppers to touring, Big Dog Motorcycles will soon have an award-winning motorcycle for you – if they don’t already. Their high-style high-performance motorcycle niche comes from within their 150,000 square foot factory in Wichita Kansas. BDM is proud of their engineering and craftsmanship, from the least expensive model to the top-of-the-line Wolf model. BDM also plans to soon grow out of its 100 national dealers and into the Canadian market with sights on the world market later in 2009. A slow but steady growth process, thanks in part to BDM Founder Sheldon Coleman’s leadership, is responsible for growing the brand worldwide.

Read more…

After giving you a preview of what to expect of the updated 2009 Triumph Daytona 675 back in July, we finally had the chance to get some seat time, so I can share my initial impressions. I have had two great days in the saddle of the ’09 Daytona on Circuito de Cartagena. The early part of the first day was rained out, but once I finally got on the bike it felt like I had been riding it all day. It is just that easy to go fast on the Daytona 675.

The 675 is still as narrow and nimble as it always was, but the ’09 gets the first update since the launch back in 2006. The front end has been redesigned slightly to match the original rendition of the designers – giving an even sharper look than before.

In addition to shedding weight, the 675 allegdly gets an increase in horsepower from 125 to 128 bhp as well as a small increase in torque. This three horsepower gain boosts performance in the 675’s already class leading midrange as well as the top end as the redline has been raised from 13,500 to 13,900rpm.

Read more…

Saturday June 6th, at 8:30 p.m. (EDT), SPEED will re-air Test Ride, featuring the Kawasaki Ninja® ZX™-6R, a bike that’s won every major magazine “shootout” in 2009. Hosted by Jason Britton, Monster Energy/Kawasaki factory stunt rider and the irrepressible star of SPEED TV’s Super Bikes! show. Watch for more airings for this episode of Test Ride on SPEED, throughout the remainder of 2009.

The half-hour show follows Britton and other high-profile Kawasaki riders such as Monster Energy/Kawasaki AMA road-racer, Jamie Hacking, eight-time AMA drag-racing champion, Rickey Gadson, and rising road race phenomenon Elena Myers, as the new Ninja ZX-6R is showcased in different riding scenarios to viscerally demonstrate the advanced engineering of the ’09 Ninja ZX-6R.

Read more…