Yamaha Super Tenere

AUTOMOTIVE

By Gizmag Team

17:51 January 16, 2010

Volkswagen’s turbo diesel technology completed a comprehensively successful title defence in the 2010 Dakar Rally, finishing 1-2-3 with WRC legend Carlos Sainz (bottom right) finally winning the most prestigious “raid” in the world at his fourth attempt. In the motorcycles, Cyril Depres (top left) won his third Dakar Rally, after 9000 km across Argentina and Chile. He rode in triumph into Buenos Aires to complete his third Dakar victory and the tenth consecutive victory for Austrian brand KTM. Indeed, apart from Sainz and Quad bike winner Marcos Patronelli who finished second last year, all the winners were old hands. Yamaha dominated the Quads as usual with a 1-2-3, the “tsar” (Russia’s Vladimir Chagin) won the truck category for the sixth time, driving a Kamaz (bottom left). The rugged Russian Kamaz truck won EVERY stage in the 2010 event, finished 1-2 and picked up a ninth Dakar win.

Volkswagen’s turbo diesel technology completed a comprehensively successful title defence in the 2010 Dakar Rally, finishing 1-2-3 with WRC legend Carlos Sainz (bottom right) finally winning the most prestigious “raid” in the world at his fourth attempt. In the motorcycles, Cyril Depres (top left) won his third Dakar Rally, after 9000 km across Argentina and Chile. He rode in triumph into Buenos Aires to complete his third Dakar victory and the tenth consecutive victory for Austrian brand KTM. Indeed, apart from Sainz and Quad bike winner Marcos Patronelli who finished second last year, all the winners were old hands. Yamaha dominated the Quads as usual with a 1-2-3, the “tsar” (Russia’s Vladimir Chagin) won the truck category for the sixth time, driving a Kamaz (bottom left). The rugged Russian Kamaz truck won EVERY stage in the 2010 event, finished 1-2 and picked up a ninth Dakar win.

By Loz Blain

02:31 January 11, 2010

Once you throw out the internal combustion engine and all the bulky bits that go with it, the definition of a motorcycle can suddenly become a lot wider. Take the Comoto from Hirsch Design - it's even smaller than the Zero S bike, and begins to blur the boundaries between motorcycle and mountainbike. Using an electric motor mounted in the rear wheel hub to eliminate the need for a chain drive, the Comoto can do more than 40mph (65kph) and do just over 30 miles (~50km) on a charge under normal riding conditions. Best of all, it weighs just 118 pounds (53kg), making it one of the lightest motorcycles we've seen.

By Gizmag Team

19:24 January 9, 2010

After seven of the 14 legs of the 2010 Dakar Rally, the usual suspects have found their way to the fore once more. With Mitsubishi withdrawing from the event in deference to the GFC, it was predictable that Volkswagen would dominate the event and on the mid-point rest day, three factory race VW TDI Touaregs hold the first three spots, all more than 150 minutes clear of the field. In the bikes, where restrictors have been added to the inlets of machinery larger than 450cc machinery, KTM’s 690s have nevertheless dominated almost as much usual, holding first and six of the top 10 places, with two-time winner Cyril Depres an hour and 20 minutes clear of a close battle for second.

By Loz Blain

12:40 January 4, 2010

For millions of commuters around the world, motorcycles are a compact and cheap way of getting around town in congested traffic. The Victory Vision is the absolute opposite - there's only been a handful of production bikes ever made that are bigger and heavier than this 400-kilogram, 1740cc American behemoth. It's built to eat up thousands of open-road miles with Harley-beating performance and buttock-coddling luxury - but in a surprise twist, this retro-futuristic mammoth can actually handle surprisingly well to boot. Loz Blain discovers how 10 days on one of the top five heaviest production bikes ever built can change your perspective on motorcycling in our video road test.

By Gizmag Team

04:22 December 29, 2009

Jordan Meadows is best known for his automotive work such as the Award-winning Kaan, Mazda Kiyora and Mazda Furai, but his portfolio includes some remarkable work such as the Hellfighter VTOL aircraft and Hydroplane Racer concepts. His latest concept is the Metalback cafe racer motorcycle, fashioned to exist where substance and sustainability meet speed and style. The engine is a V4 diesel running on environmentally-friendly bio diesel fuel, while the frame and skin are crafted from recycled aluminum.

By Alan Brandon

14:38 December 16, 2009

Nothing ruins a motorcycle trip like the smell of burning nylon and the sight of your possessions scattered across the highway. Soft-sided panniers are great when you want to pack some gear for a weekend getaway, but they’re not so great if they come into contact with your bike’s hot exhaust pipe. By applying a Zircotec ceramic coating to your bike’s exhaust system, the manufacturer says you can get rid of the heat shields and protect your panniers (and passenger!) from heat damage.

By Gizmag Team

15:01 December 14, 2009

One of the most important motorcycle launches of the year happened on Friday though you’re unlikely to read about it in any of the testosterone-infused websites – it was the Indian unveiling of Honda’s new fuel-efficient and low maintenance 110cc motorcycle model, the CB Twister. Honda sells a million motorcycles a year in India, and next year expects to sell 220,000 Twisters, based on its similar looks to the company’s CBR1000RR flagship, its low maintenance and its outrageous fuel economy (164 U.S. mpg and 197 U.K. mpg) and a price of just US$900.

By Nigel Paterson

17:47 December 8, 2009

For a company which has never built a four-cylinder uncompromising sports machine before, this first effort is incredible. With its combination of breathtaking power, agile handling and incredible rider assistance technologies, BMW’s S 1000 RR could well become the benchmark sportsbike against which all others are compared. Where better to take a first ride of this monster than the glorious Portimao racetrack in Portugal, with a wet morning to test the amazing Race ABS and traction control systems, and a dry afternoon to open BMW's sportiest bike ever up to its full 193-horsepower motherlode - Cycle Torque's Nigel Paterson reports from the world press launch.

By Noel McKeegan

18:38 December 3, 2009

The running of the first ever clean emissions Grand Prix at the Isle of Man in June made 2009 a landmark year in the history of two-wheeled motorsport. Next year is shaping up to be even bigger. A series of races will be run throughout 2010 beginning with TXGP North America Championship at Infineon in Sonoma, California in May. The latest competitor to throw its hat into the ring is US-based Zero Motorcycles, which will make its road racing debut on home turf with a bike that's expected to be based on the Zero S model.

By Loz Blain

00:31 December 2, 2009

The Ducati team set itself a very ambitious goal when it went about re-imagining its least popular model, the Multistrada adventure bike. The aim was to make the 2010 Multistrada a much more flexible bike than anything before it, offering proper sportsbike performance, true long-range touring abilities, easy commuting and a genuine ability to get offroad and play in the dirt. Starting with the monstrous v-twin from the 1198 superbike, the design team has pulled together and integrated a huge range of cutting-edge technologies to get there. In fact, with its traction control, variable engine maps and electronically adjustable Ohlins suspension, there's a good argument to say that it'll be the most technologically advanced motorcycle in production next year. Oh, and it'll be much, much lighter and much, much more powerful than anything else in the adventure bike world. Forget everything you know about Multistradas, this bike is going to be an absolute animal.

By Loz Blain

00:06 December 1, 2009

As we wrote in last week's article about the ECOS Harbinger, one of the best things about electric vehicles is that they're much simpler in many ways than a petrol vehicle to build. Freed from the necessities of fuel tanks, airboxes, cooling systems, exhausts and the bulky combustion motor itself, designers are going to be able to start with a pretty blank sheet when it comes to designing tomorrow's electric motorcycles. Take the Voltra, a design study by Aussie student Dan Anderson - with its low-slung, bulldog looks, a seat unit that looks like it's floating on air, detachable dash and an engine-mounted swingarm pivot. It's a filthy sexy bike - and yet unlike anything we've seen before; a blue-sky reinvention of the motorcycle based on the new rules the electric age is going to bring in.

By Mike Hanlon

01:22 November 19, 2009

Since Nicholas Negroponte first came up with his landmark teething ring visualization of the coming together of communication, computing and content, the term convergence has become the uber buzzword. Now there’s convergence going on in the personal transport industry, with the car and the motorcycle morphing as car makers attempt to downsize their vehicles to make them better suited to the world’s increasingly crowded roads. This article begins with Nissan’s tandem two-seat, half width tilting car, the Landglider, and examines all the other work being done around the world as narrow track vehicles seriously begin to make their case.

By Loz Blain

22:35 November 12, 2009

BMW released stunning images this week of a new concept motorcycle that nobody saw coming, featuring the resurgence of an engine configuration we all thought was long-dead. In recent years Triumph has stamped itself as the master of modern triples, and now BMW has made a clear statement of intent that it's bringing the inline six back to the bike world. The Concept 6 showcases a brand-new 1600cc engine that's four inches narrower than any previous production six, and produces truly prodigious power and torque throughout the rev range. And it's housed in a cafe racer body that has to go down as the sexiest motorcycle design BMW have ever produced. Sensational stuff... We can has production model plz?

By Mike Hanlon

13:10 November 12, 2009

Peugeot looks to be getting serious about its 3WD hybrid design which we first saw last year at the 2008 Paris Motorcycle Show with the HYbrid3 compressor. Debuting at the Milan Motorcycle Show will be a roofless version named the HYbrid3 Evolution which replaces the 21bhp 125 cm3 supercharged motor with a 41bhp 300 cm3 supercharged engine giving it a total of 49bhp when combined with the two 3 kW (4.1bhp) front wheel motors. The Evolution comes with stop-start engine technology and returns 2.0 liters/100 km (117 U.S. mpg or 141 Imperial mpg) and just 48 g/km of CO2!

By Noel McKeegan

18:17 November 10, 2009

We've long argued that electric motorbikes make sense - low-emissions, quiet operation, instant torque and hardly any maintenance compared with their gas-guzzling cousins. The sluggish reaction of the established industry players to this e-revolution has created an opportunity for names like Brammo, Vectrix and Zero to try their hand, and now a brand that dares to put the words "electric" and "superbike" in the same sentence. Launched last week in Las Vegas, the 130+ mph, GBP25,000 Mavizen TTX02 is based around a KTM RC8 frame, ships with two Agni motors and boasts a hot-swappable battery and drivetrain architecture. Born from, and bred for, the world's first electric GP, the bike is a "laptop on wheels" that runs on the Linux OS, comes with with integrated IP connectivity and a USB based system bus for open source engine management, and although it's not being sold as a street legal machine, TTXGP founder Azhar Hussain says the package can still provide a pathway from the racetrack to the road.