Inspired by the fact that Puma now also produces motorcycle clothing, but also by the actual items, Karl Sanders put to work his designer skills to create the Puma Motorcycle Project. Featuring a unique style and belonging completely to the anticipative designer, the project brought Karl the honor of being the Best CAD modeler at the Coventry University Degree Show 2009, which was voted by Autodesk.
As unique as the concept’s style might appear to be, it still reminds us of the Brammo Enertia and it isn’t even supposed to be an electric bike. Still, we have to give the designer, which also played the roles of modeler, visualizer and animator, credit for the idea of extending Puma’s range of activity at such extremes.
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The friends at Motorevue speculate regarding a new naked model that Suzuki might launch at the beginning of 2010.
Inspired by the B-King and powered by a retuned GSX-R750 engine, the GSR750 (so it will be called) is supposed to rise as a fierce competitor both for Japanese and European naked motorcycles such as the Kawasaki Z750, Triumph Street Triple and Aprilia Shiver.
Those very same models indicate that there is a great demand for high performance nakeds, making this rendering very plausible.
The big question here is: would you buy such a Suzuki model?
BMW-web.tv has just released three video episodes explaining the BMW Motorrad history.
See how BMW first started by producing airplanes and then turned to motorcycles, selling the first ever R32 model five years before starting to design automobiles.
The Bavarian company proved adaptable in the critic period following the Second World War and very innovative afterwards. This lead the Germans towards great profit numbers in the propitious 1960s period, when some of their iconic models were born (mostly R series).
Enduro models from the 1970s were an instant success and that was carried on in Dakar racing as well. BMW then oriented towards high-performing and innovative street models (the K series) while carrying on with the Enduro segment as well.
See the three videos after the break.
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Designer Dario Caroselli has recently come up with a very aggressive naked motorcycle concept based on the Aprilia Shiver 750, a veritable Italian naked built around a V-twin engine. Called simply Aprilia Naked, the concept bike features compact bodywork and solo seat, while being defined by the lines and color schemes of the original bike.
We’re quite impressed by this concept although we must admit that it isn’t quite in strict accordance with the naked style, but simply a production bike taken to the extreme.
If you’re looking for the classic example of an Italian naked, then look no further than the 2009 Aprilia Shiver 750/ABS. Light, powerful and very stylish, the Shiver is built to take on the city streets and mountain passes alike, managing to turn heads everywhere it is taken thanks to those high-end looks.
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Christian Audigier has teamed up with Rever Corsa to create a special edition Ducati Monster 1100. The bike’s choice is anything but random. Given the fact that the fashion designer worked at a Lamborghini Murcielago and a Ferrari F430 Calavera in the past, the bike simply had to be made in Italy and what better choice than a new, big and red Monster model on which the dragon-tiger and gold paint to be applied.
The few but stylish touches of magic radically enhance the already consecrated Monster looks and show how unique style always comes at a cost. In this case, we’re talking about a $55,000 price tag for the limited edition Italian piece of motoring.
Italy provides some of the most beautiful, high-performing examples of naked extravaganza (at least in what motorcycles are concerned), machines that end up setting the trend in their category and which will undoubtably end up museum pieces once their era is gone (yep, that’s hard to believe for me too).
Two such machines are built by Aprilia, the Tuono 1000 R and the Tuono 1000 R Factory, and are claimed to be leaders of their class as a result of being derived from their superbike siblings, the RSV4 and the RSV4 Factory. While we haven’t yet tested these bikes, we must say that the performance numbers (139hp and 107 Nm) speak for themselves.
Aprilia offers the Tuono 1000 R as a base model and the Factory version is no more than a lighter one as a result of being fitted with Ohlins suspensions and different carbon fiber pieces.
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We rarely get to see a Norton Commando Transformer and the one in this short film is actually very funny. It is the work of Steve Twist, a student from Bournemouth University, who contacted MCN to help him for this project that he had for his Undergraduate Degree course in Computer Visualisation And Animation. The idea was to use a classic motorcycle and the old Commando turned out to be the ideal solution.
Check out the video after the break and see the final result.
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Ever since Ducati started selling the Streetfighter in the US we kept hearing happy owners bragging about their exquisite rides and decided that it was time to get our own riding experience on what is claimed to be the best roadster there is out there. So we started from the already very good opinion that we had on it after simply reading the specs and came to find that this is an uncompromising naked motorcycle with superbike-like performance.
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The end of September 2008 saw Ducati launching the new Monster 1100 and the 1100S version, a smart move that increased the Monster lineup to three members (if you count the Monster 696), each one offering a new kind of excitement. This was the first out of ten new models that Ducati announced to launch until 2010.
The TopSpeed crew counts more than a few Ducati fans and we simply couldn’t abstain ourselves from seeing what the big Monsters can do in a variety of riding environments. Check out the results.
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