The guys at MCN got to ride the Aprilia RSV4 from Noale, in Italy, to the South of France. Life doesn't get any better than this. Right now the only other bikes that we can think of, that are as lust-worthy as the RSV4, are the 2009 R1 and the 1198S
Update (Monday, 3rd August 2009): Max Biaggi took his first victory on the Aprilia RSV4 at Brno. The Italian, who was a legend in 250cc GP racing in the 1990s, still has it in him!
British stunt rider, Craig Jones is now probably the fastest rider in the world. On ice. The man recently took his specially prepared Buell 1125R to a top speed of 238km/h on the frozen surface of Lake Dellen, in Sweden. No mean feat, this, since the ice is only a few centimetres thick and below that there is the lake’s 1.2 billion cubic metres of water…
With a NOS kit, Craig’s 1125R packs almost 200 horsepower (50bhp more than the stock bike) and in order to find traction on ice, the tyres have nails (20mm at the rear, 15mm at the front) embedded in them. Of course, it takes a man with Craig’s skill and utter fearlessness to ride such a bike to its limits, in an environment where it was never designed to be ridden.
'I firmly believe that your head is the biggest limiting factor in pushing to the edge. The less you think about the risks, the further you can push yourself. So I kept it simple. I just put the bike into gear, tucked down and went as fast as I could,' says Craig. Hmm... you would probably expect this from a man who, among other things, has pulled the world’s longest rolling stoppie (with a passenger on board), where he started braking at 192km/h, lifting the rear wheel off the ground and then riding 305 metres on the front wheel of his Buell XB12R. More about the very talented Craig Jones here
Craig Jones in action on his Buell, on the Lake Dellen
The BMW HP2 Pikes Peak special, only for Japan... Pic: Motoblog
BMW are doing a limited edition HP2 Megamoto for the Japanese market. The bike will be a replica of the Megamoto which BMW Motorrad / BMW USA Sierra raced at the Pikes Peak hill climb event last year. Intially, only 40 units of the HP2 Pikes Peak Edition will be built, though BMW may consider building more if there is enough demand.
The HP2 Pikes Peak will feature race-replica paintjob and stickers but will remain stock mechanically. The 1,200cc boxer twin will still produce 113bhp at 7,500rpm and top speed for the 199kg (wet weight) bike will be around 200km/h. The bike will cost 2.7 million Yen (US$27,000) in Japan and you’d have to pay 2.82 million Yen if you opt for ABS.
BMW bikes in action at the Pikes Peak hill climb...
Just how good is the Honda RC212V MotoGP racebike...?
That Honda/HRC would say that their MotoGP bike – the 800cc RC212V – just isn’t good enough, would be quite unimaginable for most. Honda/HRC bosses have been known for their ‘pride,’ which sometimes borders on arrogance. However, in a shock move, the company is now admitting that it’s actually the machine and not the man because of which Honda have failed to win races and championships in MotoGP, in the 800cc era.
‘The reason why Dani couldn’t get the championship is because the machine is not good enough. For the last two years, the bike was not at a good level. Our 800cc machine has missed something,’ said HRC boss Shuhei Nakamoto, speaking to MCN. ‘I think Dani’s potential is enough to win the championship, but my feeling is that the machine is not good enough,’ he added.
‘If we don’t win the title in 2009, it is Honda’s responsibility, not Dani’s,’ said Nakamoto. And of course, Pedrosa quite agrees with Nakamoto. 'To be able to win we must improve the motorcycle. My results might hide the problems, but they are there. Look at the other Honda riders. They were half a minute from victory [at Jerez],' he says.
We seriously doubt if Honda/Pedrosa will be serious contenders for winning the MotoGP world title this year. While Stoner and Rossi have won 17 and 14 races each, in the 800cc era, Pedrosa has only won four races.
As an engineering masterpiece, the Honda NR750 remains unrivaled to this day...
What’s the most amazing, stunningly magnificent street-legal sportsbike you can think of? A production machine, not a custom-built one-off. From recent years, the Ducati Desmosedici RR, MV Agusta F4 CC, Ducati 1198S, 2009 Yamaha R1, 2005/06 Suzuki GSX-R1000 and 2004 Kawasaki ZX-10R are some pretty special machines.
Going a bit further back, there would be dozens of other bikes that we can name. The first Yamaha R1, the original CBR900RR Fireblade, various 1990s Bimotas, the Kawasaki ZZR1100, Honda RC45 and RC30 and many, many others. But if we had to pick one single motorcycle which outdoes everything else – in terms of design and sheer engineering audacity – it would probably be the Honda NR750.
Introduced in mid-1992, the Honda NR750 was the world’s first production motorcycle with oval pistons. Based on Honda’s oval-pistoned NR500 racebikes, the street-legal NR750 was fitted with a fuel-injected 750cc V4, which utilised oval pistons, each of which used eight valves and two con-rods. Each piston was actually two pistons joined together, so the NR’s engine was really a V8 disguised as a V4…!
To quote a recent article that Superbike magazine did on the NR, ‘Honda effectively paired up the pistons in a V8 to make it a V4. In terms of valve to piston area, the engine was much more like a V8. Also, because the pistons were so much larger, the stroke could be kept shorter, allowing the engine to rev to well over 15,000rpm.’
By modern standards, the NR750’s power output is merely commonplace – 125bhp at 15,000rpm wouldn’t impress too many people today, when a stock GSX-R750 makes 150bhp (at the crank) at 13,200rpm. The NR weighed in at around 236 kilos and top speed was around 255km/h – again, figures that are easily surpassed by many contemporary sportsbikes.
Still, the NR’s PGM-FI fuel-injection, USD fork, carbonfibre bodywork, titanium-coated windscreen, underseat exhaust (that’s where the inspiration for the Ducati 916’s exhaust system came from…), magnesium wheels, digital instrumentation, single-sided swingarm and of course, that V4/V8 engine with its oval pistons made it pretty special.
‘When I look back at it, I'm not sure if we were experimenting with cutting-edge technologies or obsessed with foolish ideas,’ says Toshimitsu Yoshimura, who led the development of the Honda NR500's oval piston engine. ‘At least we were doing something that was beyond the realm of conventional thinking. I'm not just talking about us, who were designing the engine, but also those who were creating the body,’ he adds.
‘The reason was simply that we were all so young, we had nothing to fear. You could even say we had no preconceived notion that a piston had to have a circular cross-section. We didn't think much about whether the engine would actually turn over, or even whether it would be practical at all. We weren't worried about those things, since we just wanted to make it work!’ says Yoshimura.
‘To create anything, you must put your heart and soul to it. The development of oval piston engines impressed that upon me, as well as on the other young engineers,’ concludes the man responsible for designing one of the most remarkably innovative motorcycle engines in the world.
Priced at more than US$60,000 the Honda NR750 was hugely expensive and Honda only produced around 200 units (300 units according to some sources…) of the bike. Honda must have ultimately decided that oval piston engines are a bit too complex and expensive to produce, with not enough benefits to offset the cost, hence they seem to have abandoned the idea for good. But as an engineering masterpiece, the NR750 remains utterly, compellingly fascinating to this day.
Eric Terrace, President - Voxan, with the new Nefertiti
According to a report on MotoRevue, Voxan are almost ready with their new motorcycle – the Nefertiti – which they will launch ‘once the ongoing economic recession is over.’ (Which probably means nobody really knows when the bike will be launched!)
It seems the Nefertiti is based on the Voxan Super Naked XV, which was designed by Philippe Starck (who also designed the Aprilia Moto 6.5) and was first unveiled back in 2007. The production-ready Nefertiti is likely to be fitted with Voxan’s 1,166cc, 140bhp v-twin.
In April last year, the president of Voxan, Eric Terrace had declared, ‘If I’m boss, I will not show a motorcycle unless I can deliver it the next day.’ So we wonder where that leaves the Nefertiti…
That's actually a Moto2 bike. Or not. Really, we couldn't care less...
Honda will be the sole supplier of engines in the 600cc four-stroke Moto2 class, which kicks off next year. This ‘600cc prototype World Championship series’ will replace 250cc two-strokes and a lot of racing teams seem to be interested in Moto2. However, we suspect it will turn out to be duller and more boring than a dried-up slice of pizza that’s been lying around in the fridge for four days.
Honda’s Moto2 engines (hopped-up CBR600RR engines?) will produce more than 150 horsepower and teams will be able to run whatever chassis and suspension components they want. More or less. Probably. And if you’ll excuse us now, we’ll go and sleep for a bit. Yawn…
