Tokyo Motor Show

Crick to embiggen

Visitors surround Yamaha's new concept bike, the "Super Tenere", which features a traction control system, anti-lock brakes and other advanced technologies, at the Tokyo Motor Show in Chiba on October 21, 2009. Futuristic concept cars, plug-in hybrids, zero-emission electric vehicles and even a hydrogen-powered scooter jostled for the limelight as the Tokyo Motor Show kicked off on October 21.

Cars, bikes, oddball concepts, and pretty girls. Photos and not much of an article.

Go for a ride with me

Still testing the camera mount. Vibration level seems OK at cruising speed, still need to rubber mount it before old-fashioned long-stroke single vibrates modern electronics to bits. Heh. Moved it closer to center of bike, now it picks up too much wind noise, not enough exhaust note. I'll keep after this 'til I get it. It's fun.

This ride is out of my neighborhood and north on California SR 89 to the Hobart Mills turnoff. Note all the dirt haulers. That's a major industry around here.

Please enjoy a ride in the Sierra Nevada sun.

I never noticed the vibration before I saw it on the video. Now I do.

Note: No speed limits were seriously damaged during the filming of this video.

Thanks to me.

H-D to Discontinue Buell, Sell MV Agusta

Dealernews

Harley-Davidson plans to discontinue its Buell product line and divest its MV Agusta unit.

The move, approved Oct. 14 by Harley-Davidson's Board of Directors, is part of the OEM's new business strategy to drive growth through "a single-minded focus of efforts and resources."

Translation: Even though Buells are better motorcycles than Harley-Davidsons ever thought of being, the clowns that want H-Ds aren't buying them, and the guys who want cutting-edge sport and adventure bikes aren't either.

Also, an awful lot of H-Ds were bought by guys who cashed out during the housing bubble and that's over. Their bikes are expensive and they're hurtin' for customers.

MV Agusta apparently hasn't worked out too good for 'em either, probably for about the same reasons. I remember the last time H-D went with an Italian motorcycle company, Aermacchi, who brought us the H-D Sprint and other models that were eventually bulldozed, quite literally, into the dustbin of history. Duck, here it comes again!

Harley-Davidson, Inc. purchased 100 percent of MV Agusta Group shares for about $108 million in August 2008. At the time, MV was retailing 5,800-some bikes through a worldwide network of about 500 dealers.

H-D says it will immediately commence efforts to sell the business, which is based in Varese, Italy.

See a video from Erik Buell at www.Buell.com.

The guy looks like he just had his world jerked out from under him. He has.

Too bad, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. On the flip side, it looks like Mrs. G's got a classic.

The Little Old Lady From Pasadena Lives Again!

Go granny, go granny, go granny GO!


Let that be a lesson to all you young whippersnappers out there.
Granny will get yer ass with a 9.74 in the quarter.

The handbasket slows its descent a little...

Counterpoint to the post just below this one, or perhaps therapy after it, here's some big guys making big guy bikes:

Thanks to fowkes1968, UK.

Update:

Here's a Triumph dealership that knows what it's doing!

Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?

I knew about this, but just discovered this video:

Exclusive video inside the Loncin motorcycle factory in Chongqing, China where the BMW650GS engine is manufactured and then shipped to Germany.

For More details, full coverage and photographs visit www.bikeland.org

Here's a factory tour.

Here's one on engine and final assembly. Other than BMW.

Thanks to Bikeland, Anaheim CA.

China is the world's largest producer of motorcycles but I would say that most Chinese motorcycle production is meant to provide little sneezers to replace bicycles, donkeys, water buffaloes, and camels in an emerging Asian market. There are Chinese bikes and scooters here in the U.S. but they haven't caught on in a big way. The word I left out is 'yet'...

They're dirt cheap, but have no dealer network to speak of, and no track record as to reliability, parts availability, etc. For the most part they're funny lookin' too. The same could have been said of Honda and the Japanese motorcycle industry fifty years ago.

Also see: China wants to be your friend. Interesting. Scroll down for some cute if not overly endowed girls. Motorcycles too.

Heh ...

Put yer glasses on or click it to make it big.

I'll try anything once ...

Hurley-Pugh

I've had this in my bookmarks for years. If you like droll English motorcycle humor carried to wretched excess like I do, you will want to go see "Home of the Hurley-Pugh Owners & Enthusiasts Club". The site is very extensive, very, very clever, and is obviously a product of many truly wonderfully sick minds!

It will take days to see the whole site as once you get into it you'll want to see everything! Believe me, it's worth the effort.

Note: Hydrate well before going to the site. Don't even think about having anything to drink in the same room with you.

Also, if you think of the 'gh' in '-Pugh' as 'ke' you'll get the joke quicker.

On "Adjusting the Pugh-O-Spark magneto":

Magneto clearances should be checked at the regular 500 mile major service intervals.

Gaining Access

First remove any leg guards, fairing panels, engine bars and/or auxiliary fuel and oil tanks that may be blocking access to the engine. Such additions depend on the model. In the case of the Gentleman's Twin-Outrigger Combination, remove both sidecars. Remove the cylinder head and cylinder. Finally, remove the seat (remembering to "safe" the ejection charges if fitted), fuel tank, main oil tank, carburettor, spark plug, battery and starter motor.

On H-P's test rider:

Steerforth - An Appreciation

...of Captain Eric 'Killer' Steerforth MC, the famed Hurley-Pugh development rider and six-times TT challenger. Educated at Eton, a variety of crammers and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, 'Killer' soon became well-known within his circle for his robust attitude to discipline and his enjoyment of the more esoteric field sports. A fine horseman, he was renowned throughout the Rutland country for his keenness to be in at the kill, often joining hounds on the ground and tussling them for a crack at the fox.

After a gallant career in the Army, serving throughout the First World War on the Western Front in a variety of roles, ranging from command of a rifle platoon at First Ypres, to command of a company on the first day of the Somme, to command of a battalion at Paschendaele, to a platoon command in Flintshire after an incident at the Bull Ring in Arras,
...

Who can forget that rangy, black-shirted figure on the howling Hurley-Pugh Manxman Excalibur Clubman as it wallowed through Ramsey, spreading its characteristic slick of waste oil over the road behind it, or the unforgettable sight of the tall figure, in its trademark long black leather coat, playfully shooting at the Scunthorpe apprentices with a Mauser Model 1892? Who will ever forget his Christmas party game of 'Pin The Tail On The Hebrew'? Certainly not Nat from Assembly!

Just go. Enjoy.