Motorcycle News

The Buell Motorcycle Company is an American motorcycle manufacturer based in East Troy, Wisconsin and founded by ex-Harley-Davidson engineer Erik Buell. The company first partnered with Harley-Davidson in 1993, and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harley by 2003. On November 17, 2006, Buell announced that it had produced and shipped its 100,000th motorcycle.

History

The first Buell motorcycle, the RW750, was built in 1983 purely for competing in the AMA Formula 1 motorcycle road racing championship. At that time, Erik Buell was a top contending privateer motorcycle racer. After completion of the first two RW750 racing machines, one of which was sold to another racing team, the Formula 1 series was cancelled. Buell then turned his focus towards racing-inspired, street-going machines using engines manufactured by Harley. In 1993, Harley-Davidson Incorporated joined in partnership with Buell Motor Company as a 49% stakeholding minority partner and the company formed was renamed “Buell Motorcycle Company”. In 1998 Harley purchased majority control of Buell, and it has been a subsidiary ever since. Since then, Buell has used modified Harley-Davidson Sportster engines to power its motorcycles.

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QLINK’s Legacy 250 is powered by a lightweight, 244cc, 4-stroke, liquid-cooled engine. Despite its entry-level price tag of US$3,250, this bike has many features of a much more expensive machine.

Let’s start with the liquid-cooled engine, which can aid reliability, is a feature not normally found on a bike in this price range. Comparable bikes such as the Honda Rebel, Honda Nighthawk, Yamaha VStar 250 and Suzuki GZ250 don’t have it.

Another feature of the Legacy is the front and rear disc brakes. Though disc brakes on a 244cc bike might not be mandatory, they will certainly give the newbie a little more confidence while stopping than drum brakes. The Rebel, VStar 250 and GZ250 have disc brakes up front and mechanical drums in the rear, while the Nighthawk uses drums up front and in the rear.

An array of creature comforts is also included on the Legacy, including a built-in audio system with FM radio and USB port. Located under the seat, the USB port allows the rider to play downloaded music on an iPod, MP3 player or memory stick. Controls for the audio system are located right below the handlebars.

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The Crocker Motorcycle Company was an American manufacturer of single-cylinder speedway racing motorcycles from 1932, powerful V-twin road motorcycles from 1936, and the “Scootabout,” one of the first modern styled motor scooters, in the late 1930s. Production ceased in 1942.

In 1999 a new corporation was formed to manufacture replica parts, and now produces complete Crockers in kit form, following the original specifications.

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Sokół 1000 (also known as CWS 1000 and M 111) was the heaviest Polish pre-war motorcycle manufactured by the PZInż works, both for civilian and military use in the Polish Army.

History
In late 1927 the Polish Army created a specification for a general purpose heavy motorcycle that was to replace the Harley-Davidson motorcycles used by then. By 1932 the Centralne Warsztaty Samochodowe works prepared a short series of roughly 200 CWS M55 motorcycles equipped with a sidecar. Although heavily-based on American designs (the bike itself was based upon Harley-Davidson, while the engine was almost a direct copy of Indian), the machine proved to be unreliable.

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The Suzuki FXR150 “Cybermatic Sports Cruiser” is powered by a 4-stroke 147cc engine, 4 valve, DOHC. Produced in Malaysia by Lion Suzuki Motor Sdn Bhd with 75% local content, it is sold for RM9000. It replaced the slightly larger in size 2-stroke Suzuki RG150/RGV150. It features a full digital dash which displayed fuel, RPM, speed and gear. Top speed is around 140 - 150 km/h. The frame is made of box cut steel and had a banana-shaped rear swingarm. It has a single mono shock on the rear with a single disk brake. The front suspension is a traditional telescopic fork also with a single disk brake. The wheels are 5-spoke Enkei mag type wheels. The engine has a six-speed close-ratio gearbox with both kick-start and electric start systems. The engine features a small oil cooler to aid cooling (the Suzuki advanced cooling system). It also features the TWIRL system at the combustion chamber. Rumors said that a new reworked model will come out this year in India.

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The Honda CBX1000 was introduced in 1978 to technical fanfare. It was the first motorcycle Honda had produced with a six cylinder engine. The engine produced 105 bhp (78 kW) from its in-line six, twin cam, 24 valve engine configuration and also had a stacked engine accessory arrangement. This involved a jackshaft that provided the drive to the alternator and ignition equipment positioned behind the cylinder block. This arrangement produced an acceptable engine width and removed critical equipment from positions that would incur expensive damage in the event of contact with the ground.

Performance

The CBX was not the first production motorcycle to be powered by a six-cylinder engine (the Benelli 750 Sei had that honour), but it was the latest and the most advanced entry into the hotly contested superbike battle being fought by the Japanese manufacturers. Its blistering 11.36 second quarter mile time was considerably quicker than other superbikes of the day.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Moto Guzzi launched the Quattro Valvole engine in late 2006. By doing so Guzzi joined the exclusive club populated by BMW, H-D and Buell in having air-cooled 2-cylinder engines producing more than 110 horsepower. These are exactly the companies Moto Guzzi likes to identify itself with and with a history to match. The Griso 8V is Italy’s most stylish Harley killer.

The name Griso comes from Italian literature where Griso was a violent mafia type “tough guy” in The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni. We’re talking muscles here and Moto Guzzi’s Griso 8V certainly has plenty of muscles. To do a quick comparison with the top dogs the BMW HP2 Sport is the absolute and unquestionable super dream bike in this segment but it’s highly specialized and expensive. Then you have the lightweight and powerful air-cooled Buells, Bimota DB5 and then the Harley-Davidson XR1200 at the bottom end when all the performance is counted (horsepower, weight, etc). If you are confused, I’ll make it clear now that we are talking about 2-cylinder air-cooled machines only.

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