With designers struggling to come up with eco-friendly and space sufficient concept bikes, especially for urban use, it seems that ingenuity is the way to follow. We just came across such a solution in the form of the Monobike, an electric concept motorbike that is even able to be parked vertically in order to save space in your garage and make it easier for you to find a place to park in the future’s even crowdier cities.
Designed by Ilia Vostrov, the Monobike’s main goal is maneuverability, which is offered by the two leaning front wheels and a much smaller rear one. This makes the bike safe enough to allow speeds of 110 mph and that’s where the rider can open a special ducting to accelerate and change air direction, lifting the rear wheel off the asphalt for a more aggressive riding experience.
Overall, this concept looks rather interesting, but details are scarce in what concerns the power of its electric engines and range, not to mention it looks rather dangerous.
Design guru Oberdan Bezzi has thought at a rather strange, but definitely interesting way to create a whole new V-twin powered Italian motorcycle. Called MMB1, the bike would come as the result of joined forces between Moto Morini and Bimota. The strange part is that MM would have to supply the engine on a bike to be sold with the Bimota name and logo on, but the thing does look plausible.
Our advice: don’t take it to seriously. Moto Morini was recently saved from bankruptcy by Paolo Berlusconi, so this is just Obiboi trying to guess where the company is heading now.
Want to have the new kind of café racer? Do like Larry Houghton: take a 1983 6-cylinder Honda CBX and build an origami-like frame for it from a one-inch thick aluminum sheet and then bring in a pair of 17-inch Marchesini wheels from a Ducati 916. Create a radical front end, but retain the Ducati’s single-sided swingarm and the thing can go off the stand.
The engine and gearbox is pretty much all that remains from the Honda CBX and because the powerplant makes it look so wide it’s called ‘Wide Boy’. But it’s no Harley, just a custom bike trying to make it in this business. It actually came third in the Freestyle class at the latest London Ace Cafe Motorcycle & Custom Show, so it rides on the good track.
The 2010 Kawasaki Z1000 is already one of the best Japanese nakeds around, but ways to make it better are always found either by riders individually or by tuners. These lasts have the habit of developing entire upgrade kits that set the bike miles away from its original state of new product that has just come out the factory gates.
Take the 2010 Roaring Toyz Kawasaki Z1000 case for example. The bike gets a set of Performance Machine wheels (17-inch front, 18-inch rear), 240-section rear tire, a custom-built braced swingarm and Brocks 4-2-1 exhaust, just to mention some of its most impressive new features.
The gold/silver paintjob does help at setting the bike apart from its standard siblings, but what we like the most about this project is the fact that it looks like that’s just the way Kawi did it in the first place. This is really one of those bikes that people see and ask “what is stock and what is aftermarket about it?” Click past the break to find out.
If you liked yesterday’s Russian idea for a snowmobile, you’ll definitely like the Russian modified scooter too. It may look more or less like a toy war machine from the early 1900s, but it is in fact a daily commuter for someone who can never get enough oil on his hands and snow in his boots.
Details on the snow scooter are scarce, but it looks practical and as long as it puts a smile on the owner’s face there’s not much more you can ask from it. I wonder if a nice Russian girl actually rides this think…makes me wanna pack up and go see for myself.
This old Moto Guzzi 850 T3 was sitting in a junkyard in Trenton, NJ for ten years when Hal Wiley saw it as a good opportunity to build himself a nice café racer. The bike had suffered a small crash in the past and the elements also helped at basically turning it into a piece of crap, but not one that couldn’t be radically transformed with a lot of work and a fair investment.
The Guzzi was entirely stripped down only for the new owner to find that the engine, which had previously powered the bike for 55,000 miles, was top notch on the inside, so it only required a new timing chain, gaskets and seals and it was bolted back to its original shape. Well, not entirely as the original 30mm Dell’Orto carbs had been at some point in time replaced by 36mm Le Mans items. Also, the V-twin now breaths out through a set of EMGO shorty mufflers.
After sandblasting and painting the Tonti frame and bead blasting most of the aluminum parts, reconstruction could begin. But the actual parts that turn the bike into a café one – gas tank and fiberglass cafe seat – had to be ordered from eBay. Also, Hal choose to mount Lester rims with Avon Venom tires for an enhanced retro look. Finally, gloss black was the color of choice.
Like most similar projects, this is still a work in progress. Hal plans to upgrade the engine to 1000 cc and bring in a lighter flywheel so that it will even rev faster. Just what the doctor ordered!
Take a look at what appears to be the upgraded version of Santa’s sled. It was built entirely from scrap by a Russian retiree from the city of Kirov and turns out this rather strange snowmobile is ideal for the Russian steppes.
First thing first, the single-cylinder engine comes from an old Yamaha dirt bike and it transmits power to a huge rear wheel instead of a track, like on classic snow ravishing machines. But there’s nothing regular about a junkyard build and this project comes to strengthen the rule furthermore. For instance, the fiberglass seat is from an old carousel and the gear shift lever looks like a wooden Coca-Cola bottle. Other important parts are the low friction skies and the frame.
This junkyard project took one year to complete, but it looks like it can last a lifetime.
The original BMW R90/6 was a very reliable touring motorcycle and many of those maintained properly still ride strong today, so a 1976 model year should be a bargain. But taking a look at the bike you suddenly realize that this is no mean machine to make your neighbor jealous with. The quickest solution to make such bikes visually attractive again (and the neighbor finally jealous) is by turning them into café racers.
Rob Snow from Salt Lake City, Utah did so with his 1976 BMW R90/6 and with approximately $450 he turned the old Goldwing competitor into a veritable café racer that simply cannot be ignored. Looking at the before and after pictures, it’s kind of hard to believe that the radical change was achieved with only a new tailsection, seat and taillight as well as handlebar and mirrors. Obviously, the huge fairing had to go and it is now replaced by a much cooler bikini-style one and the new black paintjob does help a lot too. More photos after the jump.
Inspired by the shark face nose art of World War II’s Flying Tigers, the three fighter squadrons of US volunteers that flew for the Chinese Air Force, Death Spray Custom in London have created what they like to call the Bite project.
This Ducati 996, which was most likely upgraded with a Fast By Ferracci 1026 Stroker Kit and now called ‘1096’, is the project’s pièce de résistance. Obviously, the paintjob is the coolest thing about it.
Ducati may not have thought at a “shark edition” for none of their superbikes, but DSC’s work could stand as a good source of inspiration if the idea ever strikes.
Valentino Rossi won the season-opening race in Qatar after leader Casey Stoner crashed during lap six. After the race, Stoner admitted that a “silly mistake” was the cause of his crash. The second place on the podium was occupied by Jorge Lorenzo, while third went to Andrea Dovizioso, who was milliseconds faster than Nicky Hayden right before the finish line. Read the race results after the jump.
Full story
