The original Honda Cub has to be one of the greatest motorcycles of all times simply because it was affordable, easy to maintain and very practical. That small motorcycle helped put the world on two wheels, so you can understand our joy of hearing that Honda is planning to revamp the extremely popular model. The biggest news about it is that it will have two-wheel drive and benefit of power coming from a small, electric engine, while the exterior design is reminiscent of that first late 1950s model.
2WD enhances traction and stability around corners, allowing riders to control the already highly maneuverable motorcycle with the greatest ease. This is not a Honda breakthrough as Yamaha and KTM have also flirted with the idea, but Big Red will present the EV-Cub at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show and it is expected to hit dealerships by the end of 2010.
Honda also speaks about one of their latest gadgets called LOOP and supposed to enable riders to communicate with one another during long rides. This should make Honda’s stand even more interesting.
Terminator Salvation gets a new trailer from which it is hard not to notice the Mototerminators. Created by Skynet, these seem perfect for patrol purposes on the roads in the future as they are narrow and handle like nothing we’ve seen before, not even at the Batpod.
No, we’re not saying that Batman star Christian Bale is French, but when he straps on the Batpod, the actual person riding this motorcycle is French.
Let’s go back to the beginning. When the writers came up with the idea of using the Batpod, they produced a motorcycle that was not drivable by mere mortals. Despite the fact that the engine of the Batpod is a Honda 450 CRF, the bike is heavy, almost impossible to turn (there are no handlebars, you need to shift your weight) and no brakes!
Several stuntmen tried, but it was proving impossible. So the producers called the help of one of the most famous motorcycle stuntmen alive, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Goy.
Goy became famous when he did the stunt in the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, jumping over a helicopter on his BMW R1200C Cruiser. That was an actual stunt: he did jump over the helicopter on a standard R1200C and even had a pillion passenger!
When Goy arrived on the scene for the Batman movie, he said he was impressed by the Batpod. It’s enormous. He had to ride this vehicle at 60 mph, with cars coming at him at 60 mph. Avoiding them without handlebars was a challenge on its own, but he also had a wear a 100 pound Batman suit! According to Goy, the Batpod could barely ride straight and he had to turn it contentiously.
The producers were planning to have him ride on a road on his own, and then later digitize the cars into the picture, but Jean-Pierre Goy wouldn’t hear of it. He said he’d do the stunt with real cars driving at him.
Goy spent 6 months working on the stunts (for several minutes of movie scenes...).
When Jean-Pierre Goy is not playing as Batman, he runs a stunt show and a riding school. Goy also holds the world record of the longest wheelie on a motorcycle (137 miles!) and the longest stoppie (383 feet).
High tech gizmos aren’t limited to the motorcycle itself. Yes, it’s great having the latest injection systems, engine management, LCD display, USB cards for telemetric data, you name the technology. But for the riders, improvements have been made as well. One of them is the use of wireless transmissions. Bluetooth is a wireless transmission standard created for the PC world. It allows peripherals to communicate with each other. Keyboard, mouse, pointing devices can all talk to each other without wires.
Using the same Bluetooth technology, helmets can communicate as well. In the old days, if you wanted to talk to your pillion passenger, either you shouted, or you carried an intercom that consisted of bits of wire, either connecting the rider with the pillion, or via a central hub mounted to the motorcycle.
You could often see a motorcycle ride up to a gas station, and the pillion dismounting and walking to the service area, forgetting that he/she was tied to the motorcycle or rider. Ouch!
Those days are over. By installing a Bluetooth helmet kit, you can now not only talk to each other, but also listen to music, GPS instructions and even talk on your Bluetooth equipped mobile phone.
The first versions of Bluetooth had more limitations. Version 1 of Bluetooth, drew more power (therefore your batteries could not last that long), the sound was in mono and the reach limited 10 meters).
Along came A2DP, a standard that allows for full stereo sound. The most used Bluetooth version is currently 1.2, but version 2 and 2.1 are more and more widely available. Version 3 is in the works, and will give less power usage and more range.
Range can play an important role, since it could allow you to talk to your riding buddy who is also equipped with Bluetooth. Typically, the range is 150 meters for those that have that capability. It will therefore function as a bike-to-bike communication system without the need of a walkie-talkie. Communication is secure, since no one can hear you, or interfere with your communication.
Fitting the Bluetooth kit on your helmet shouldn’t take too long, since most kits have stick on, or screw on mounts (not permanent). Once fitted, you need to introduce the Bluetooth gear to each other (called “pairing”). The only downside is that you need to use the same manufacturer’s gear, you can’t mix & match.
Usually, the Bluetooth gear is intelligent. If you’re talking to your pillion, and the phone rings, it will interrupts the intercom and switch to the phone. The same is applied to GPS instructions.
A wide range of equipment is now available. Helmet manufacturers are selling helmets pre-fitted with Bluetooth (BMW, Schuberth, Nolan, Vemar, NZI, Momo, Givi, Dainese, Airoh and Caberg to name a few).
If you already have a helmet, or want a communication unit that can be moved from helmet to helmet, a growing list of third party manufacturers exist. Some use the same equipment but sold under different labels (such as CellularLine Interphone, Blueant and SuperTooth), other have their own (Albrecht, Scala Cardo, IMC, JM, Motorola, Spyball and Voltronic).
There are also Bluetooth equipped units that do not function as intercom. For example the Parrot SK4000 is a wireless unit that functions as radio, mobile phone interface and MP3/iPod interface. But it can’t be used to talk to your pillion.
At the top of the range are the hub & spoke units. They consist of a central hub mounted to your motorcycle, and Bluetooth receivers fitted to your helmet. The hub interfaces with a wide range of products, including walkie-talkies. Manufactures include AKE, Baehr and Dimton.
Not all units can communicate with all sorts of devices, you need to check carefully. Motorcycle GPSs like Garmin Zumo and TomTom Rider are equipped with Bluetooth, but have in the past proven unreliable with communication links dropping. Always make sure that you have the latest firmware installed in your GPS if you want to use it with your Bluetooth communicator.
But then there are a lot of rides out there who don’t want to be bothered by the pillion, a mobile phone or music. They just want to hear the wind and engine roaring.
Spy shots of the Bat Pod before the movie started everybody’s curiosity and the Dark Night is indeed a success on the screens, but now with the bike’s full detaliling (see video below) everybody will finally find out everything they want to know about this outrageous motorcycle.
Even more, there’s even the question if it can be considered a motorcycle as it has various features that have never been seen before. Batman has definately set the trend for motorcycling future with its engines being fitted in the wheels and the unique riding position.
But if you’re not Batman, there are small chances you’ll fill at home on it due to its size and approximately 700 pounds weight.
Harley-Davidson riders can now benefit of a new portable GPS made by Garmin. The new release is called the Road Tech zumo and its main targets are the Harley-Davidson dealerships, as part of the American maker’s motorcycle accessories lineup.
Being a limited edition product, it sounds very promising and it actually is. Because it will fit Harley-Davidson motorcycles - it comes with handlebar mount and support on Harley-Davidson.com - it will feature all the dealership locations preloaded on it.
What is interesting and makes the zumo more useful is the fact that it has an SD card slot, allowing other zumo users to share trip information, just like truck drivers.
But it can also be fun. Because it has XM satellite radio hardware, it can be accessed for getting weather information and listen to music. You can also get TMC traffic alerts in cities that support it, and if now you can still use the sports programming function to relax.
Making a phone call from your bike is now even easier as the Road Tech zumo makes calls via Bluetooth equipped headsets. As it is wireless, you can also listen to the voice guidance using this method.
Designed to suit a rider’s needs and not become bothering in any way, the ingenious guys at Garmin made sure that their new product can be operated with a rider’s big-gloved fingers and never be affected by rain.
With a price tag of nearly $800, this will surely become a major point of interest for Harley-Davidson riders as it brings them even closer together.
Toyota has recently released the Winglet, a three models series of machines working on the Segway’s principal. Reaching a walking human’s top speed and coming as size S, M, and L, these are planned to become a lazy man’s machine. > More
Seyyed Javad Ghaffarian lives in Iran and its wonderful ideas could one day bring you the safety of driving a tricycle on the highway and the versatility of riding a motorcycle in future city congestions.
A student, Javad has created the “Magic Tricycle”, a machine designed to role down the highway on all its three wheels and then face the urban jungle as a motorcycle. How is that possible, you will wonder? Its left wheel can rotate around a longitudinal axis and be sustained on top of the cabin. This brings all the benefits of a motorcycle after keeping the thing steady as a car at high speeds.
After being lifted up, the third wheel opens up its helicopter tail propeller style blades which increase stability. Another unique feature consists in the seats which rotate in order to keep occupants in an upright riding position.
What is both unique and attractive at this bike and tricycle is how easy and simple it can take one form or the other and still look great no matter what. This was the main goal of the Iranian designer and it has successfully achieved it.
I don’t know what to say about the name though…Magic Tricycle? Couldn’t it come up with something better? What do you think?
Over here’s something that will light up your dawn time spent on the dining table. These power-utensils will nitrous-ify morning meals permitting you to eat out of a wheel and drink from a piston. Just like their real-world equivalents, these power-inducers are made of high-strength and heat resistant elements that will keep your breakfast hot and fresh.
If you believed that was enterprising, wait until you see the forks that have a ring spanner on one side and the knife with attached pliers. For only 59.99, the unusual crockery set will make your day, every time.
Legal Speeding took in consideration a rider’s needs to be notified when it approaches a radar, as the usual checks to the radar detector can be risky, so it created a wireless system which flashes an LED light inside the helmet. The light is very easy to spot and not bothering at all so it makes riding less worrying at least in what concerns speed tickets.
What is so great about this system is the fact that it simply plugs into the radar detector and the helmet doesn’t (...) > More
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