Inside The Saber F1 Car!

Happy 82nd

Honda Z50 Monkey

Honda Monkey was the first Z50 Series mini bike released in 1967 to the European, Japanese and Canadian markets, becoming one of Honda's first practical mini bikes.

Although the Z50M was theoretically road worthy, it did not have various safety components and was therefore mostly just used just for fun off roader. Riding mini bikes often lead to getting ticket in the US.

However as far as Japanese version goes, I have seen quite a few of them on the street with legal tags and turn signals. The earlier version did not have any shocks; must have been bit harsh on your butt, I bet....

The model was produced at numerous factories and there were three basic sub models. The Japanese domestic model (JDM), the European model and finally the French model. The main differences were the Japanese's high 'lunch box' exhaust and the french model's larger 5" headlight fitted with a yellow bulb.

The popularity of this mini bike are still going, so much so that they are  now being re-released with fuel injection and refined looks; it can go 252 miles on a gallon of gas in Europe.  There is also a forum dedicated to the Honda Monkey.

Bikes and Babes

The Come Back of The Ghost Rider

It is mystery to me that this guy is still arrive. 353km/h is about 220mph.

The truth bout working out

I am not an exercise guru nor a fitness fanatic. I just want to be healthy enough to ride my bike till the day I expire. I don't want someone(especially my family members) wiping my ass, you know? There are some important infos in this footage.

Caturday

“Please do not enter the garden area.”

SBK BMW

I am putting this for Ryan. Their first win at World Super Bike. Took them 3 years....

"The Barry Sheene bike we have here is a square-four 1975 Suzuki RG500 XR14. Sheene won his first ever GP on it and the '76 and '77 world championships. In the yellow corner is an inline-four-cylinder 1980 Yamaha YZR500 OW48R, ridden by three-time world champion 'King' Kenny Roberts, complete with two reverse cylinders (hence the 'R'). Both are excessively loud, smelly two-strokes, with wafer-thin powerbands and no interest whatsoever in suffering fools gladly."

Milonga

Cafe Twin presents Milonga a short film by Enrica Citoni, Bruno Brunetta cinematography Aurelio Vindigni Ricca with Enrica Citoni

The Nightwatch

Francis Alÿs

Surveillance cameras observe a fox exploring the Tudor and Georgian rooms of the National Portrait Gallery at night.

 Via:accidental formalist

Guinness QR Cup

 

via: Adweek

Some People

 

Why not just get a truck? I wonder if there is a hidden car engine somewhere.

via: Daisy Limousine

Listen to your bike

Listening to your bike is good for early detection of some problems.

Sunday Morning Cartoon

Tron: Uprising Season 1 episode 1

Caturday

Don’t forget to turn off the lights when you park…

Concours 14 ABS-LE

Kawasaki is well-known for making tough bikes and legendary Z1, made the fastest production bike of the time, and KZ1000 reigned AMA superbike championship in '77 and '78. The TV show "The Chips" made their cop bike KZ1000P famous and it was still in production till 2005.


If you had KZ1000, your parts were relatively cheaper and easily obtain thanks to the Police all over the country utilizing the same bike for such a long time('82-05). It was reliable and cheap to maintain.
Now, all the crotch rockets buzzing around, the KZP is not fast and agile enough anymore. Well unless it is chasing typical Harleys. KZP was soon replaced by Harley, Honda or BMW cop bikes.


Kawasaki started to making Concours 14 based cop bikes to compete in the market in2010 and it is called Concours 14 ABS-LE. LE stands for Law-Enforcement.
According to Kawasaki, the Concours 14 ABS Police will "lead the segment in safety, acceleration, handling, and braking." Other bikes in this category include the BMW R1200RT-P, Honda ST1300PA and Harley Davidson FLHTP. It has a tighter turning radius and custom law enforcement equipment, including an adjustable speedometer, a second wiring harness with 12 fused circuits and a separate battery dedicated to the add-on electronics.

And make it more attractive for police all over the country,

• Available high-performance Traction Control.
• High-performance ABS brake system.
• Best high-speed handling in the law enforcement class.
• Heavy-duty 41.5 amp alternator.
• 441-pound payload capacity.
• Removable saddle bags.
• Tough and durable clutch is the least-expensive system to replace in the category.
• Three-year unlimited mileage factory warranty.
• Fleet service staff training, plus the authorization to conduct non-warranty maintenance and repairs, on-site
• Purchasing agencies may also take their vehicles to any Kawasaki motorcycle dealer for regular maintenance, repairs, or warranty service.

According to Michigan State Police, who tested Concours along with BMW's R1200 RTP, Harley-Davidson's Road King and H-D's Electra Glide, the new Kaw cop bike scored the quickest on stopping, the quickest acceleration and fastest top speed. Moreover, its initial purchase price is at least $2000 cheaper than BMW's or Harley's cop bikes. Easy on tax payers...

10 worst handling Motorcycles of all the time?

In this article, certain models of Kawasaki, Harley, Honda, Suzuki, Hasqvarna , Ariel and Greeves, Motoguzzi in general were mentioned. Some believed that the list was lacking Suzuki TM400, Yamaha V-Max, The ATC Hondas, TL1000, GL1000, and many. I have not rode most of them to determine if those mentioned were actually really bad, but I believe that it is not fair to ride one certain model of now-a-vintage bike, which differs greatly each other depending on how it has been treated, then decide whole model was all like the one you ride. One commented that 72 CB750 was one of the worsts. I am sure that he got ill maintained one, though handling was not the strongest field of the model. I read an article about a Motoguzzi fanatic, who is an expert on 60', 70's Guzzi, talking about how each bike were different. "variations ranges from subtle difference in paint colours to different parts on supposedly identical bikes."

I am surprised that people assume the bike's handling was bad just because they wrecked it. I guess you are supposed to ride it like you stole it as soon as you get on the saddle. I thought that you are supposed to go easy until you know bit about the bike's ability. You don't go attack corners till its limit right away, right?

Most of bikes could be a great bike if it was ridden by great riders.

Again, you can't make everyone happy. Someone always has to bitch.

Motorcycle Reconstruction

 "The latest TAC public education campaign targets two of Victoria's biggest issues in road safety -- motorcycle safety and speed.

The campaign, titled "Reconstruction", features a slow motion replay of a crash involving a motorcyclist and a car. The ad graphically depicts the rider suffering a broken neck as a result of his speeding prior to the collision.

Victoria Police Major Collision Investigator Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Peter Bellion features in the ad and explains how the crash could be avoided had the rider obeyed the speed limit.

Transport Accident Commission Victoria.
http://www.tac.vic.gov.au "

Pretty nicely constructed safety ad. It sure makes it safer to reduce the speed, but as far as I know, most of bike accidents are occurred by cagers' "oh I didn't see you there" thing.

Dogs of War

Via: amphalon

Virago 535

It was a small sized Yamaha cruiser. Yam made the first one in 1981 with 750 cc motor. It was the first cruiser style V-twin bike that came from Far East. The early model had single shock on the rear. The models are up-dated in 1984, adding dual rear shocks and tear drop shaped tank.
Harley-Davidson obviously feared Viragos, and other Japanese cruiser bikes. They lobbied heavily to push tariff on any imported bikes over 700cc in 1984, which caused many 699cc models to spawn from Japan.

I like the styling of 535 best among all the Virago models. Unlike the bigger model, it doesn't have top/ front heavy look and low and meaner. Picture here is British actress, Emily Mortimer with a Virago 535 in the 2001 film "Formula 51"

The model was made from 1987 to 2001, replaced by Drag Star 650 or V-star 650

Purple Rain-Prince and CB400A

"Purple Rain" was a musical movie that became some sort of a cult movie, which was intended to showcase Prince's enormous talent and bit of doucheness.
The movie idea was apparently developed by Prince during his "Triple Threat" tour. Initially the script was to be darker and more coherent.
Although the film was considered "outrageous" at that time by Warner Bros., it was finally accepted for distribution thanks to music industry PR man Howard Bloom and eventually won a few awards including Oscar, Golden Gloves for best original song, not for acting or best direction needless to say. He was playing himself, though....

I liked the album of his with the same title and I remember listening to it when I was a kid. Also saw the movie poster of "Purple Rain" every where during that time, which featured Prince on his motorcycle with a purple Vetter windjammer looking cowling on it and moody back lit steam and a mysterious female figure on the back.

The bike was CB400A. Yes, it was a Hondamatic. I guess Prince could not really ride a motorcycle.

Honda developed the bike after the failure of CB750A. The 750A was a good bike and now a collectors item but back then it was considered too big and expensive by many potential buyers. So Honda decided to make them smaller in 1978. It was a 395cc 4-stroke OHC parallel twin with two CV carburetors. The transmission worked on the same principal as that of the 750: A hydraulic converter allowed clutch-less selection of a low speed -good for around 55 mph and giving good pickup, or a less responsive high speed. Naturally, a parking brake was provided, and it could not start the engine with a gear engaged or the stand lowered for the safety. The lever on the left was not a clutch lever; it was the parking brake. I might need some getting used to... The CB400A was manufactured from '78 to '81


By the way, in the movie, the tires are automatic as well; the motorcycle's tire changes from a street tire to an off-road tire when Prince is near the river.