Vintage racers know all to well the difficulty there can be when it comes to finding appropriate tires for the race track, as the odd rim sizes of classic motorcycles are often outside the sizing parameters of good modern sticky tires.
This leaves many racers using street-focused tires for their racing needs, but that could all come to an end, as Metzeler is expanding its Racetec RR Range to include 18-inch wheel sizes.
For reasons beyond our imagination and comprehension, the failed business experiment that was the Skully AR-1 helmet has been revived by new investors.
Sending out a blast to the “Skully Nation” email list, the brand’s new owners Ivan and Rafael Contreras, have announced their plans to revive this seemingly dead project.
One can barely fathom why someone would want to continue a project that so obviously was doomed to its own failure, and that also so grossly betrayed the goodwill of the motorcycle community; and yet, here we are, with Skully Technologies taking over where Skully, Inc. left off.
The presumption of this news is that the new management hopes to bring the AR-1 helmet, with its heads-up display technology, to market.
The announcement goes on also to say that Skully Technologies will leverage augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence technologies for the wearable products industry – a nod to the three hottest technology sectors in Silicon Valley at this moment in time.
Are you ready for another flavor of Triumph Bonneville? We hope so, because the British marque is teasing a new model: the Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster.
Set to debut on October 3rd, Triumph’s social media channels are boasting that the new Speedmaster will have “classic custom style” and “class leading capability” – along with “British attitude” which either means a stiff upper lip, or passive-aggressive social graces…we can’t be sure.
In seriousness though, we can assume from the name and attributes that the new Speadmaster will be getting the same liquid-cooled upgrades that we have seen come to the Bonneville line in past few model years, following in the footsteps of the Thruxton and Bobber.
Tom Sykes had to sit out the Portimão round for World Superbike this past weekend, after the Kawasaki rider had a fiery crash during Saturday’s FP3 session.
The crash saw Sykes fracturing his little finger and ring finger on his left hand, and it required him to have surgery on Sunday, at the Clínica Mi Tres Torres in Barcelona.
Sykes’ recovery isn’t expected to take long, as the Doctors in Spain fitted a plate on his finger, and he could be back on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR race bike as early as the next round, at Magny-Cours.
History was made in the FIM World Supersport 300 class this weekend in Portugal, as Ana Carrasco became the first woman ever to win a World Championship (solo) race.
Her victory didn’t come easy though, as three riders had a hand on the winner’s trophy, as they came down the front straight away for the final time.
Expertly gauging the draft to the finish line, Ana Carrasco put herself in front of Alfonoso Coppola (+0.053) and Marc Garcia (+0.062), narrowly beating the two Yamaha YZF-R3 riders with her Kawasaki Ninja 300.
The Nike Air Force 1 shoe is perhaps the most iconic piece of footwear ever created. It spurred an entire industry of sneakerheads – people who collect and trade shoes – and the Nike AF1 is one of the most collectible items for this genre of collector.
So, it’s not surprising that there is industry buzz about a new Nike Air Force 1 being created.
With each release, Nike has kept AF1 brand in line with its urban roots, where playing basketball on the street gave rise to young kids who would dream of following their heroes, like Michael Jordan, onto the courts of the NBA.
Now having more of a cult following, Nike has been branching out with its AF1 offerings, and last month the sport brand debuted a special AF1, which pays tribute to Baltimore’s 12 O’Clock Boys.
Episode 59 of the Paddock Pass Podcast sees David Emmett and Steve English on the mics, as they catch us up on the happenings in the World Superbike Championship paddock.
There has been a bit to cover since our last WorldSBK episode, but the boys take a mile-high view of the production racing class, with Steve adding tremendous insight from his work in the WorldSBK paddock the last two seasons.
The show starts with a discussion about the have’s and the have not’s in the paddock, which obviously includes the two big manufacturers, Kawasaki and Ducati, who are dominating the series.
While talking about how the other OEMs can catch up to the red and green bikes, there is a good comparison that can be made between World Superbike and MotoGP, as both series have to deal with transition in modern racing, which David is able to expand upon with his current status in grand prix racing.
Getting into some rumors, there is discussion of who will be riding where in 2018, as well as which teams will be expanding their efforts in WorldSBK, and which manufacturers could be re-joining the series (*cough* Suzuki *cough*).
It’s another great show from the Paddock Pass crew, and you won’t want to miss it.
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The popular Kawasaki Z900 continues to get the attention of the folks at Team Green, first with the teasing of the Kawasaki Z900RS vintage street bike model, and now for our European readers, an A2 version of the Z900 is available for beginning riders.
This means that for the 2018 model year, a 70kW (93hp) version of the Kawasaki Z900 will be available to A2 license holders, and Kawasaki has gone to great lengths to make sure it keeps the looks and character of its full-power sibling.
