Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of the motorcycles of SEMA

While most of our focus at SEMA was on the cars and products, we don't want yo to think that bikers are left out of the party. There were dozens of great bikes all over the convention halls. Some were custom designs, others modified street bikes and still others were concepts showcasing new technology. This year we saw everything from an electric and a hybrid, to a lift-off body bike and a Craftsman-themed cycle. Check out the gallery.


Photos copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio/Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for more motorcycles from the San Diego Auto Museum

Today we continue our photographic tour of the San Diego Auto Museum. Despite the fact that the building is dedicated to four-wheelers, there are actually more motorcycles there than cars. That's alright with us, as the bikes on display are some of the coolest machines that history has to offer. Starting with some of the earliest cycles powered by rudimentary engines, it's easy to see just how far we've come in just about one-hundred years or so of mass production. Take a gander at some of the first motocross bikes, land speed record racers, rotary-powered cycles, modern choppers and scooters (including one from Harley-Davidson) in our gallery below. Our personal fave? That would be the 1951 Vincent Black Shadow.

Click above for high-res gallery of motorcycles cruising Woodward

Sure, the vast majority of vehicles cruising down Woodward Ave. this weekend are of the four-wheeled variety, but motorcycles were well represented as well. In between all the exotics, classics and modern muscle, we dodged (and occasionally stopped) traffic to grab a pretty good representation of what was out there, whether they be scooters, choppers or trikes... plus some things that defy classification altogether. Check out our complete gallery below.

Click on the image for more high-res shots of the Night Rod Special

As you may have noticed, we've been featuring more two-wheeled content lately as interest in motorcycles and scooters has risen rather dramatically along with the increase in fuel prices. While we can appreciate the reduced cost of operation that sometimes goes along with choosing a motorcycle over four-wheeled transport, the enjoyment some of us get from bikes easily eclipses our desire to save at the pump. After all, this particular blogger has been riding since the days of buck-a-gallon gas. Still, the growing trend of drivers dropping half their wheels in the name of gas conservation deserves close examination and has even caught the attention of Consumer Reports. In fact, a recent survey conducted by the group has found that a staggering 26-percent of respondents have considered downsizing from four wheels to two. According to CR, their team is intently studying this two-wheeled phenomenon in an effort to become acquainted with the products on the market, how often they are ridden and the newly-found fuel savings of their riders.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

Click on the image above for pictures of the Brutale 910 R

Volkswagen may not be the only auto manufacturer interesting in a storied Italian motorcycle maker. Hot on the heels of its purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover, rumors are swirling that Tata may be considering purchasing a stake in MV Agusta. According to a few Indian and Italian sources, Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, is reportedly in talks with Claudio Castiglioni, the man running the show at MV Agusta.

Tata's involvement with MV Agusta could inject a unique flavor to the Indian conglomerate's portfolio, which has already been boosted by its acquisition of the two aforementioned classic British marques. A healthy injection of cash could do wonders for MV Agusta as well, considering what it has already proven capable of even in its currently meager financial position.


[Sources: Faster and Faster, India Automotive, Motoblog]

Click on the image to view three classic Arlen Ness customs

Arlen Ness, a legend to the custom bike community, started out by painting customer bikes on the weekends as he worked to deliver furniture during the week to pay the bills. Gradually, his skills and reputation transformed his small company into the parts-selling juggernaut that it is today. Along the way, Ness has created quite a few one-off creations, many of which are now considered to be classics. Some of them, like the '57 Chevy knock-off "Ness-talgia", twin-engined and twin-supercharged "Ferrari-bike" (above) and Bugatti-inspired "Smooth-Ness" recall iconic automotive designs of years past. According to Ness, those three bikes represent some of his personal favorites, and each of them, along with many others, will be on display at an upcoming exhibit at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio called Awesome-Ness. Interested in attending? The event will run from July 24 through the end of June 2009.


[Source: Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum]

Click above to view video

Motorcycles always have that ever-present danger of turning their operators into hamburger should the rider take a spill. Racing crashes are especially nasty, and while leathers do offer protection from road rash, cushioning impacts to the upper torso is key to increasing survivability. Dainese, a manufacturer of cycling equipment, has been working on an airbag system to help riders avoid injury called the D-Air suit. The system relies on accelerometers and gyroscopic sensors embedded in the suit, and when a computer determines there's a need, an upper-body airbag is deployed in less than a half a second. It looks like a similar, although much more complicated design, than the Airbag Jacket by Impact Jackets, which has already saved at least one life that we know about. Of course, this would all be avoidable if people didn't insist on climbing onto a powerful engine supported by the minimum of wheels and zooming around at the highest possible velocity, but what fun is that? Check out video of the Dainese D-Air suit after the jump.

[Source: Winding Road]

Over the weekend, Dylan Weiss from Cry Havoc Productions, Inc. let us know that his latest motorcycle-specific documentary went live at Discovery's Turbo online site. We've spent some time watching the footage, and we think it's awesome. Focusing in on Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, BMW, Ducati, MV Agusta and Bimota, the crew took plenty of footage home with them and managed to ride some of the greatest modern sportbikes ever created along the way. Best of all, over four hours of video is available online for free at their mini-site, broken down into 50 segments.

The whole shebang was shot in High Definition, so we have some serious hopes that it will air on The Discovery Channel, be offered on DVD or both. It's extremely entertaining and we definitely recommend checking it out. Thanks for the tip, Dylan!

[Source: Cry Havoc Productions, Discovery Turbo]

Motorcycle Bloggers International is a group of 159 member sites that focus primarily on motorcycles or scooters. Each year, they release their awards, which recognize both greatness and serious lapses in judgment. After the members vote, those results are tallied and then the public gets a crack at it, too. The results are sometimes a bit surprising, but always interesting and worth a look. This year, the big winner for Best Motorcycle goes to Triumph for the Street Triple 675. Surprisingly, after sweeping the International Bike of the Year awards, Ducati's awesome new 1098 didn't even appear in the top three. Suzuki's new B-King managed to begrudgingly accept the award as Worst New Motorcycle, with Honda's latest CBR1000RR taking the tarnished silver medal. Read the complete listing of awards and non-awards here.

[Source: Motorcycle Bloggers International]

It's no secret that BMW is open to procuring more brands. With the company's purchase of Italian motorcycle maker Husqvarna, it's apparent that the roundel's expansive mood isn't limited to cars. BMW bikes, notable for their transverse heads, are larger bore bikes, with the smallest being 500cc. Last year the division crossed the 100K sales mark for the first time in its history.

Husqvarna, which was part of the Italian MV Augusta motorcycle group but was actually a Swedish maker from 1903 to 1986, produces mostly single-cylinder off-road bikes from 125cc to 610cc. Husqvarna only sold 12,000 bikes last year, but owning it will give BMW a larger off-road range, and access to younger buyers focused on sports, competition, and supermoto. Instead of rebranding the bikes as BMWs, the German firm will continue to operate it as a separate unit, even keeping it located in Varese, Italy. Neither side revealed how much BMW paid, and the sale still awaits EU approval.

Thanks for the tip, Robert!

[Source: Daily Motorcycle News]