Moto Guzzi’s V7 family now has a new member, which is willing to teach motorcyclists a thing or two about the ways they can enjoy riding the world’s greatest machine with wheels as long as they open their eyes and prick up their ears. Unveiled last week in Milan, the 2010 Moto Guzzi V7 Clubman Racer is reminiscent of 1970s Italian café racers. Then, as now, these were machines that handled beautifully and stopped fast, managing to compete with Japanese bikes with seriously more horsepower available at the rear wheel.
With a 744cc V-twin developing only 48.8 hp and 58.2 Nm, but featuring a beautifully crafted frame, upgraded suspension and brakes, the 2010 Moto Guzzi V7 Clubman Racer remains faithful to the original recipe and addresses to nostalgics of the period. Also featuring wrapped headers and upswept Arrow exhuasts, polished aluminum tank, rearsets and clip-ons as well as Pirelli Demon Sport tires, I guess you can look at it as to a V7 Classic with a soft spot for races. Hit the jump to read the press release.
Leaving the parts of your Suzuki GSX-R spread around the garage turns out being an inspired choice as the magic attraction between these get the bike together in less than five minutes.
Actually, this video was done with the use of stop-action photography in order to show the most important steps of the assembly process without showing the actual people that got the job done. I wonder if that’s also the way things get done back in Japan.
Buell’s East Troy, Wisconsin production line has today delivered the 136,923rd and last motorcycle, this Buell Lightning XB12Scg. The company’s 26 years of operation end today after Harley-Davidson announced the discontinuing of Buell a month ago.
After finally unveiling the all-new Ducati Multistrada 1200 at this year’s EICMA show in Milan, we found that the 150bhp Italian enduro motorcycle is extremely versatile as a result of the four electronic riding modes: Sport, Touring, Urban and Enduro. So Ducati has released a video explaining the concept behind these modes, but because they wanted to keep it cheap, they use animated pencil sketches to illustrate how their systems works.
The Swiss specialists from Suter Racing have teamed up with Italian builder Paton to launch on the market a MotoGP bike powered by a two-stroke V4 engine.
Suter Racing is highly experienced in building racing prototypes and they have even participated at the 2007 MotoGP World Championship with the Ilmor X3 prototype. Now, the Swiss are preparing their debut in the Moto2 championship with a new prototype. At the base of the company is Eskil Suter, an ex-Grand Prix pilot in the 250 and 500cc classes.
The Suter SRT 500 prototype was presented at Milano with the occasion of the 2009 EICMA show. The chassis is similar to that used on the Ilmor X3 and it is part of a real MotoGP bike that weighs 125 kg/ 275.5 lbs and benefits of precisely 200 hp developed by the two-stroke V4 of 500cc.
Suter says he went along with this project because "there was never really a proper 500cc V4 two-stroke people could buy," and they turned out with a prototype that “makes a MotoGP bike feel like a tractor."
Starting at $74,345, the SRT 500 V4 isn’t exactly for anyone, but it’s three times cheaper than any MotoGP bike. Still, customers are offered the possibility to add parts such as carbon rims, SBK forks and a titan exhaust system, raising the price to as much as $134,000.
Designing a dirt bike is never easy, but it seems that Yamaha has got the perfect recipe as it pulls it through, managing to release better performing competition bikes with each year that passes. For 2010, the YZ125 carries on further perfecting its already great features such as the engine and chassis. Even though not the most important model year because the bike was great from the very beginning, it does catch our attention once again and that is never a bad thing. > More
Benelli launches yet another bomb with their R160 Café Racer wearing the “TNT” initials. While the “bomb” range is already famous for its performance, the new model represents the apogee for the naked line of products of the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Benelli as this is the most powerful TNT model bragging with as much as 155 horsepower developed by the 1130 inline triple engine.
This, together with the bike’s aggressive design characterized by stylish lines and carbon fiber parts, makes the new Benelli quite a competitor for the Ducati Streetfighter.
Rumors say the thing will start at $17,000, but there’s no official word on that yet.
At the 67th Milan International Cycle and Motorbike Show, Peugeot unveiled the new HYbrid3 Evolution Concept - a convertible version of the HYbrid3 compressor presented at the 2008 Paris Motor Show.
The HYbrid3 Evolution Concept is powered by two electric motors - one in each wheel - and a 300cc petrol engine that delivers 41 hp. The electric engines are powered by lithium-ion batteries, which can be recharged by an energy recovery system active during deceleration and braking.
The concept has an average fuel consumption of 2.0 liters per 100km (141.2 mpg imp) and C02 emissions of 48 g/km.
At this year’s EICMA show in Milan, Moto Guzzi made one of the most inspired moves in the Italian brand’s recent history when taking the wraps off of an impressive triangle of concepts. This is formed from the Moto Guzzi V12 Le Mans, V12 X and V12 Strada and represents the work of Miguel Galluzzi and Pierre Terblanche.
The two designers thought at borrowing the 1,200cc V-twin from the Norge GT and mounting it on two roadsters (the LeMans and X) and a supermoto model (the Strada) in an attempt to give Moto Guzzi a new, more aggressive design based on innovation.
Miguel Galluzzi, head of Piaggio Group’s styling centre said: ‘There is an impalpable, yet very real force in the history of Moto Guzzi. It lies in the ideas and in the unrelenting research work that led Moto Guzzi to build its tradition on innovation.’
Galluzzi, who also signed the Aprilia RSV4, ended by saying: ‘Keep an eye on Moto Guzzi because this is just the first step. We are back to relying on ideas, and we have plenty of them. This is just the beginning.’
The Austrians from KTM have directed their innovative minds to creating two 125cc concept bikes that will meet the demands of riders who are just starting out and yet not benefit of more than 15 horsepower so that they can be ridden legally starting the age of 16. They named the two bikes KTM 125 Race concept and KTM 125 Stunt concept and we have to say that both look more than decent for the category. Press release is attached after the jump. > More