Using a little girl as an eerie voiceover for a scary flick is not something new, however, using the same eerie little girl as voiceover for the new Kawasaki Z1000 ad, now that’s new!
You’ve got to give props to the guys behind this ad campaign for thinking out of the box. Who would’ve thought a 1000cc Jap bike, and a child, and some neat sound effects would create such a captivating advert? One thing is for sure – it makes, even us, want to get on one of these and wreak havoc during after dark escapades involving “bending” the law and disturbing the peace. Just looking at it after watching the video awakens the sinister side inside you – and it should. Priced at a reasonable $13 199, you get all the evil you can handle in the form of a 4-cylinder that summons 128BHP from the bowels of hell, belching it through a 4 –into-2 lightweight exhaust. Not-so-dark features include fully adjustable front forks and instrument binnacle and an equally dexterous windscreen. Making sure the nightmare comes to a halt when absolutely necessary are 300mm ventilated discs with 4-pot calipers. Long live the darkness!
David Philippaerts of Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team will be unable to race for the incoming 64th Motocross of Nations due to an injury he sustained while showing off raging speed during the 2nd Moto race. Apparently, Philippaerts twisted his right knee and was unable to complete the race securing a third position in the FIM MX1-GP World Championship on the factory YZ450FM. The rider immediately went back to his home in Milan for a medical check-up that revealed that, although it was not serious enough to need surgery, his knee would require adequate rest for a period of twenty days before the 2008 world champion could begin light cycling routines.
On the other hand, luck comes to Gautier Paulin as Team Yamaha chose him to represent France in the MX1 category with a YZ450FM. "While I am sorry for Christophe this is an exciting news for me and I am proud to represent France as part of a strong team. There is not much time to prepare but we are working hard now to get ready on the bike and be as fast as possible for Thunder Valley”, Paulin said.
Team Yamaha Sterilgarda seems to be geared up and well-prepared for the upcoming 2011 World Sportbike with the finalization of their line of superb riders competing for the much-awaited match. Along with MotoGP rider Marco Melandri fighting for the title, Yamaha has also enlisted World Supersport rider, Eugene Laverty, to ride for the team. For the 2011 season, the 24-year-old Irish rider, who was last year’s WSS runner-up, will ride Yamaha Sterilgarda’s YZF-R1 Superbike.
In 2009, Eugene Laverty was racing for Parkalgar Honda when he trailed Yamaha Sterilgarda rider, Cal Crutchlow, to finish in second place. Currently, Laverty trails Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu by 12 points in the 2010 World Supersport Championship. He currently holds seven wins this year in 11 races.
This isn’t Eugene Laverty’s first ride with Yamaha. The young rider was famous for greatly showing off at the 250cc MotoGP Championship while enjoying two wild card World Supersport rides in 2008 due to an injury sustained by Fabien Foret. Laverty was noted to be very impressive during those times by finishing third in his second outing at Vallelunga.
Aftermarket parts supplier Rizoma recently worked their magic on Triumph’s Street Triple R and the result is at least remarkable. The Street Triple R was already the flagship of Hinckley’s middleweight naked lineup, but the extras are truly welcomed.
As known, Rizoma’s strategy starts from the fact that it’s the little things that make a bike special, so they offer just that, meaning their own mirrors, indicator lights, grips, handlebar caps, handlebars, fluid tanks, fluid tank caps, brake/clutch levers, handlebar adapter, license plate support, engine guard, front wheel guard, rear wheel guard, crankcase guard, rear set control kit, rider/passenger pegs, engine oil filter cap, wheel hole cap, bike stand support and lower chain guard.
Although it is less likely that owners of one of the best middleweight inline-triple bikes out there will initially think there’s something missing on their machine, after a while they’ll start feeling the need to spice things up a little bit and there will be Rizoma to help them out. We’re starting to think that these kinds of aftermarket kits for motorcycles are just as well suited as new rims are for cars.
It is hard to believe that someone can take the Ducati Desmosedici RR and make it better, but it happened. This is the NCR Milona 16, a lightened, upgraded and implicit faster Ducati Desmosedici RR. We wouldn’t have believed it if the thing wouldn’t have recently been unveiled at the World Ducati Week at Misano.
The Italian tuning specialist has fitted the 200bhp MotoGP replica with a multitude of carbon fiber main parts such as the all-new frame and swingarm, rims, fuel tank, half-fairing, rear subframe, tail unit and front mudguard. All these, together with the titanium and aircraft-grade aluminum, reduce the bike’s dry weight to 319lbs (an impressive 71lbs less than what Ducati achieved).
Using performance Ohlins suspension and Brembo brakes, NCR’s M16 turns into a much sweeter ride. Although it doesn’t go significantly over 200bhp, which is the standard bike’s horsepower figure, the retuned engine is aimed at delivering a whole different rush across the powerband.
Claimed to be ‘world’s most exclusive motorcycle’, the NCR M16 will be built to order only and we don’t dare to think about the six-figure price.
