Motorcycle Blog on 2040Motos

Rossi: Dovi owes me 10 euros!

Sunday's MotoGP race at Donington was a weird one, but a really enjoyable race all the same. Strange to see both Ducati's plodding away at the back and even stranger to see Rossi make a mistake. Was it Rossi's doing or was he feeling the pressure from Dovizioso?

Ronnie Renner - big balls

DAREDEVIL MOTOCROSS star Ronnie Renner has broken his own world record with a jump of 63 feet, 5 inches on a quarter pipe. On Saturday at Chicago's Butler Field at Grant Park, in front of a cheering crowd, Renner launched himself  over 63 feet above ground, blasting the world record he set last year. “It’s been crazy.

Tron Legacy movie trailer - impressive

HERE'S SOME awesome HD footage from the new movie 'Tron Legacy'. Powerslides, wheelies, jumps: it's all a far cry from the original 1980s classic. Expect the new movie at screens near you sometime next year.

91 years of Up Hill Struggle and Billings Still Puts the Fans On Top

The Great American Championship Motorcycle Hill Climb celebrates 91 years of up-hill history this weekend. For the greater part of a century riders have pitted themselves – and their machines – against physics and the all mighty hill. Modified motorcycles screaming “Yes, I Can!” with fully cranked wrists and open throttles spinning wildly up impossible terrain.

Shark RSR 2 Carbon looks ace

Just got my hands on one of the new RSR V2 Carbon helmets from Shark. Early signs are promising, it looks mega, weighs next to nothing and feels as comfortable as a marshmallow three piece suite. I'll stick a few hundred miles in it and post a full report.

Pic from Donington GP practice

It's that time of the year again, MotoGP comes to the UK and it buckets down. Surprise surprise. This picture was allegedly taken half an hour ago from Donington, when Rossi was on a hot lap during free practice.

2010 Victory Cross Roads

Born out of the Victory CORE concept bike that was unveiled at the New York IMS earlier this year, the all-new Cross Roads was officially announced yesterday going head-to-head with the Harley-Davidson Road King.  Go to motorcycle.com to get all of the specs and details on this bike and the rest of the 2010 Victory line-up.

2010 Victory Cross Country

Born out of the Victory CORE concept bike that was unveiled at the New York IMS earlier this year, the all-new Cross County was officially announced yesterday going head-to-head with the Harley-Davidson Street Glide.  Go to motorcycle.com to get all of the specs and details on this bike and the rest of the 2010 Victory line-up.

Wrangler Death Wheel [video]

Usually referred to as the “Wall of Death”, the Wrangler Death Wheel was featured this year at the Bread & Butter trade show in Berlin to help promote Wrangler Jeans.  The innovative trade fair features the latest in street and urban wear took place on July 1-3 in the historical Berlin-Tempelhof Airport by over 3,500 international exhibitors and visitors. Hit the jump to watch the Death Wheel demonstration video. Core77 Drive-by Video: Wrangler’s Wheel of Death from Core77 on Vimeo.

HD Recommends Things to Pack on a Long Motorcycle Trip

Harley-Davidson was kind enough to post on Twitter a PDF of a list of things to bring with you on a long motorcycle trip. And what a list! It’s hard to believe you could squeeze all this stuff onto yourself and your bike.

Ow. My eyes! Schuberth's unsubtle new lid

If you've ever been victim to a Sorry Mate I Didn't See You (SMIDSY) incident, then you might be tempted to buy one of these new fluorescent helmets from Schuberth. The new C3 is a flip-front lid that's allegedly been developed by Schumacher. It weighs 1550g and features two different shell sizes - for all you big 'eads out there.

$500,000 Motorcycle Used to Chase Geese

Carl Haren from Duarte, CA, is a motorcycle enthusiast who races bikes and works on carburetors as a hobby. In 2000, Haren was excited to inherit his uncle’s vintage motorcycle that he remembers using to chase geese off the family farm in Illinois as a young boy. Not knowing what was actually given to him until his friend and fellow motorcycle racer, Scotty Parker, saw it and realized that Haren owned a running 1912 Pierce motorcycle.  This bike is so rare that there are only five in the world that still run including Haren’s, according to experts.  Similar bikes have sold for as much as $500,000, calling Jay Leno… Haren, has no intention to sell the bike despite legitimate offers.

VIDEO: Corser and Heidfeld swap BMW S1000RR and F1 car at the Nurburgring

WSB racer Troy Corser and Formula One fast man Nick Heidfeld recently swapped their BMW race machinery for a lap of the Nürburgring circuit.   Corser, who got to drive Heidfeld’s 700 horsepower car, said: "It was just awesome! The car feels so balanced, the brakes are fantastic, the tyres have unbelievable grip and the steering is very direct but still has a lot of feeling.

Motorcycle Sidecar is Literally a Car

Adjectives fail me.  This almost seems like one of those sci-fi movies where an evil scientist tries to cross two deadly animals together to create the ultimate killing machine. So what are we looking at?  It seems to be the deformed love child of a Citroën Xantia and a Kawasaki 1000 RX. This custom project, called “Snaefell“, cost its creator about 15000 Euros and 10 years of part time work.

Win a Judas Priest Harley-Davidson

That’s right, you can win the Harley-Davidson Cross Bones motorcycle that the classic heavy metal band is currently using on stage in their 2009 U.S. Summer Tour.  To mark the 30th anniversary of British Steel , the band will play the entire album live for the first time ever.  The custom bike will have the Judas Priest logo, British Steel graphics and will be signed by the band at the end for the tour for the lucky person who can win it. Hit the jump for all the details.

Batman: The Dark Knight Motorcycle Gear for the Everyman

Love Batman?  I mean, REALLY love batman?  Love Batman enough that you dress up like him even when it’s not Halloween? Hey, me too!  Now you can look like Batman even while riding your motorcycle and be fully protected from the elements (and maybe falls). It was going to happen sooner or later.  With Batman’s latest movie, The Dark Knight, featuring Batman on his Bat-cycle (or “Batpod”), you knew there had to be some motorcycle-batman crossover paraphernalia.  Actually I’m quite shocked this wasn’t out sooner.

Rocking Horse Motorcycle is Rockin’

Maybe if I had one of these as a child instead of a traditional rocking horse, I’d be out building log cabins, competing in arm wrestling competitions, and “man’ing up”, instead of sitting at my comfy desk, looking at pretty pictures on the internet with my iMac and sipping Orange Pekoe tea. You want to set your kids on the right path early on in life.  Starting them on a rocking horse hog could one day lead them to being the next Jesse James or Evil Knievel. You want that, don’t you?

Top 10 Least Expensive (Cheapest) Scooters of 2009

What is the cheapest scooter? We’ll show you! Cheap doesn’t mean bad, in fact due to tremendous competition in the 2009 market scooters are better and more affordable than ever!

Honda Fury Special Edition Controversy?

It seems the idea that there is a “special edition” Honda Fury has achieved urban-legend levels. Motorcycle.com recently spoke to Jon Seidel of American Honda to clarify some of the controversy generated in www.furyforums.com regarding a special edition Fury model. According to Seidel, no mention was ever made to the media during the Fury’s press unveiling or in any press material or at any other time, “that any Fury color or specific Fury model was a special edition.” Seidel stated that he also queried Honda’s product planning department about the existence of any special edition models and reported that no information had ever been released or implied from Honda Product Planning as to the existence of a Fury SE.

Vines motorcycle scrappage

  Following this year’s earlier Budget announcement about the government’s car scrappage scheme, Vines of Guildford BMW has created a similar scheme for motorcycles. Bike owners with motorcycles bought five or more years ago will be given £1,000 off the list price of a new BMW motorcycle when using their old bike as a part-exchange*.  Riders just need to ensure they have at least six months MOT left and the bike must be taxed with clear HPI.  Just like the Government’s car scrappage scheme has been put in place to help drivers, and the car industry, through tough economic times, Vines of Guildford wanted to offer motorcyclists the same opportunity, to purchase a brand new BMW motorcycle with the benefit of the £1,000 part exchange. As well as enjoying this benefit on the purchase price of a new BMW bike, riders can also look forward to complimentary panniers with all new R1200GS and R1200GS Adventure models, and complimentary Zumo sat nav system with the new R1200RT until 30 Sept, plus access to BMW’s Select Finance options to get riders on their bikes straight away with the option to change their new bike every two to three years.

Ban on Youth Motorcycles and ATVs is Misguided

Get the Flash Player to see this player. The world is getting more and more paranoid about safety for children.  Sure, this can be a good thing in some aspects but in others it’s just ridiculous. In America, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act became a law which allowed congress to ban products that could be harmful due to traces of lead found in them.  Sounds like a good idea on paper but it seems that this could be doing more harm than good.

Vectrix Close to Bankruptcy

Due to lack of investment interest, Vectrix looks like it will officially file for bankruptcy within the next 30 days and already have laid off all but essential staff.  The electric scooter manufacture based in Rhode Island, produced its first model the VX-1 back in 2007, it had a great range on a full charge but couldn’t shake the main criticism, which was the hefty price tag. After getting a first hand look at the Vectrix superbike concept at the Dealer Expo last year, I was excited to get our hands on one for a review, check out some shots of it after the jump.

Got £99? Get a Ducati Monster

Ducati have announced a new finance package for their trusty naked, the Monster 696. Deposit £1843.70, make a first month's payment of £258 and then 35 more joy filled months of paying £99. The whole deal is on a 15.5% APR interest rate, which, like the bike, is Monster.

Maddison Jumps London’s Tower Bridge

Australian freestyle motocross star and stunt driver, Robbie Maddison, has once again impressed the masses with another stunt, this time jumping over the River Thames via the Tower of London’s famous lift bridge. Maddison currently holds the world record for the longest motorcycle jump at 350.7 feet. Check it out after the jump.

New Kawasaki Racing Widget for you Kawasaki Super Fans

Do you absolutely love Kawasaki?  Are you constantly trying to keep up to date with their racing team? Thanks to our recent involvement with Twitter, I’ve discovered Kawasaki’s new desktop widget to help you Kawasaki super fans stay up to date.  What is a desktop widget?  It’s just a simple program that is geared towards feeding you news and media. If you are running a Mac or PC, you can have your Kawasaki info right on your desktop, right next to your stock quotes ticker and your stash of Megan Fox pictures.

Laguna Seca: Track Facts

The MotoGP season touched down recently at Laguna Seca in the good old U.S o’ A. There’s really no reason you should have missed the race, we gave enough warning. If you did miss the race or just want a good wrap up we have that too (MotoGP 2009: Laguna Seca Results).

SBK Motorcycle Crashes from Misano [video]

Motorcycle racing crashes.  It’s hard not to wince when watching a rider go down and slide a few yards on his side into a wall. Superbike World Championship 2009 is currently in progress and SBK has been posting a few highlight videos on their YouTube channel. Check out the SBK crash montage in the rest of this article.

Leo Vince release RSV4 exhaust goodness

Leo Vince are releasing four exhaust systems for the new RSV4, two slip-ons and two full systems. The compact SBK-Factory silencers are 100% titanium construction, oval design with unique squared off tops and bottoms, shed kilo's of weight when compared to the gargantuan stock RSV4 exhaust, and are available in a choice of titanium casing, or carbon fibre casing complete with tapered carbon tailcone. As for sound, you'll get a typical deep LeoVince exhaust note from these large bore exhausts, much sportier than the standard offering.

Top 10 Least Expensive (Cheapest) Motorcycle Sportbikes of 2009 by MSRP

Are you stuck on the idea of getting a sportbike but feeling a little light in the money clip? Luckily for you there are lots of price conscious solutions on the sportbike market. This list will give you a good idea about what kind of bike you can get for as little money as possible.

Are you on Twitter? Follow us!

Twitter.  What a dumb name. It’s become quite the Internet phenomenon over the past 10 months so it’s kind of hard to ignore it. The Sidecar has jumped on board (like everyone else), and we are now on Twitter, tweeting twits!