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Video story of the Britten V1000

In 1993, John Britten, a very ingenious engineer from New Zeeland came up with the Britten V1000. This was a 999cc racing motorcycle weighing 304 pounds (138 kg) and capable of reaching speeds in excess of 187.5 mph (300 km/h). While this information alone is impressive for the period, the amazing part is that Britten built the V1000 by himself in his garage.

Britten’s innovative ideas brought him the joy of seeing his creation competing against Japanese and European racing bikes of the time and actually winning. Sadly, he died of a vicious strain of malignant cancer just 3 years after completing the bikes, and the technology died with him. Considering that the Britten V1000 was ranked 6th Greatest Ever Motorbike in a Discovery TV show, we have reasons to believe that the motorcycle industry could have had a significant contribution from the respective direction.

Motorcycle safety ad message: road racing is a big No-No

Five times 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan stars in the latest video created by the Motor Accident Commission in South Australia. His line is “If I’d faced the same obstacles on the race track that you do on the road, I’d probably be dead!” and it comes at the end of a series of real crashes worsened by the presence of obstacles that riders racing on the road often happen to meet and with the most painful and sometimes tragic results. This turns the attached video in one of the best motorcycle safety ads we’ve seen in a long time – subtle and yet full of essence.

Bicycle drifting – cheap and fun

Those among you who might think they’ve seen and done it all can start reconsidering because bicycle drifting is certainly something you’ve never crossed roads with. If until now drifting was associated with powerful cars and motorcycles performing usually on closed course tracks and creating a lot of smoke, we’re happy to announce that bicycle drifting is just as fun and although it might not heat up the rubber that much, it is a whole lot cheaper. Just take a look at these kids, who have “patented” bicycle drifting.

Ducati Multistrada 1200 official teaser [w/video]

A newly-launched Ducati website teases us with an official video of the Multistrada 1200 (initially thought to be "Strada Aperta" or "Stradaperta") which they will reveal on November 9th at EICMA. The Italian manufacturer finally decided that their new adventure touring motorcycle will benefit of the 1198.4cc twin from the Ducati 1198 instead of the Streetfighter’s less powerful 1099cc mill. This is great news, but we can’t understand why "Open Road" translated in Italian suddenly didn’t sounded good to Ducati any more. Watch the video after the jump.
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Snow Special: Chris Pfeiffer rides BMW’s G 450 X "snowcat"

BMW has hooked up their professional stunt rider Chris Pfeiffer with a special pair of wheels for winter activities. Actually, improper said wheels as this BMW G 450 X was specially modified for winter riding and now features a front ski and a snowmobile-like track at the back for perfect grip. As you can see in the attached video, the "snowcat" is not so easy to ride and the three times stunt riding world champion even happens to meet the snow once, although we reckon he did that just for fun.

Travis Pastrana does backflip with the SHOE BIKE!

Master of backflips Travis Pastrana together with Ken Block and the guys at DC shoes have come up with a unique customization idea for the FMX Suzuki bike ridden by Travis. They thought at getting rid of the tires (they were too comfortable anyway) and slip the bike into something more stylish, like these pares of shoes. Said and done! The bike is featured in a DC ad and on an episode of MTV’s Nitro Circus, where you can see Travis doing a backflip and finally tearing the rear wheel apart in one of the sickest burnouts we’ve seen in a long time. See it all for yourself in the video attached after the jump.
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V12-powered Honda CBX café racer [w/video]

The ’V12 Andreas’ isn’t just one of those concept motorcycles that won’t ever turn into reality, but a running café racer that originally started life as a Honda CBX, which was a six-cylinder UJM (Universal Japanese Motorcycle). Although what Andreas came up with is anything but universal, his custom Honda CBX V12 Café Racer is actually powered by two such engines, which have been joined together, resulting the impressive V12 mill.

These are simple words to describe the amazing amount of work behind this project as Andreas spent a year working on the chains, tensioners and guides, just so that you get a clue of the dedication needed to achieve such a piece of mechanical jewel, but it takes a look at the old-timer’s face to see it was all worth it.

But the engine isn’t the only feature making sure this thing turns heads. This café racer’s entirely polished bodywork looks very cool, especially if you consider the fact that it was hand built. What a bike! Follow the jump for more pictures and no less than four videos of the V12-powered Honda CBX.

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Brad Pitt crashes his custom motorcycle on the streets of Beverly Hills [w/video]

Last Saturday, Brad Pitt, who was riding one of his custom motorcycles on the streets of Beverly Hills, was implicated in a minor crash with a car. The Hollywood star got through it with only a few scratches and although the bike was towed from the scene, it looked like it could have been ridden to the shop without problems.

Of course, paparazzi were on duty and there have even been speculations about a paparazzo hitting Pitt from behind and causing him to crash, but the most plausible scenario is that Brad was riding between a parked car and a car stopped at a red light when he clipped the parked car with the handlebar and crashed at slow speed.

After the crash, the caring biker inspected his motorcycle and talked to the other party involved. When the tow truck arrived, he walked away. See it all in the videos attached after the break.

We can’t help but wonder what Angelina Jolie has to say about this.

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Tokyo 2009: Yamaha HV-X Hybrid [w/video]

The 2009 Tokyo Motor Show saw Yamaha unveiling no less than five world premieres among which the HV-X Hybrid motorcycle has drawn the most attention for being the modern interpretation of the Universal Japanese Motorcycle (UJM). This means it offers an upright riding position and relies on a versatile character in order to turn out being everything from a commuter to a canyon carver.

Disposing of a hybrid powerplant working closely together with a scooter-like automatic transmission, the Yamaha HV-X knows a thing or two about fuel efficiency, eco and user-friendliness, while its TMax 500 chassis is the best thing in between a motorcycle and a scooter that Yamaha could pull off. The thing is built like a veritable all-rounder and can work in full-electric and combined gas/electric modes, as shown by the video attached after the jump.

If Yamaha gets positive feedback regarding this model, they might just have it mass produced. So, what do you think about the new Yamaha HV-X Hybrid?

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2010 Kawasaki Concours14 traction control demonstration video

Kawasaki has released a video explaining and demonstrating how the KTRC system on the new Concours14 works. Check it out.