ACE CAFE RADIO

    mardi 5 août 2014

    Best moments of Red Bull Romaniacs 2014

    Romania's toughest enduro race went off in epic fashion, and featured some of the most rugged terrain and head to head competition in the event's history. Red Bull Romaniacs 2014 brought together the world's best extreme enduro riders in a head to head race across hundreds of kilometers in the Romanian countryside...Just man and machine against everything nature can possibly throw at them. Check out some of the best moments from the event! 



    ENDURO GP d’Italie : Nambotin et Renet Champions du monde !


    140804championsdumonde
    via http://www.enduromag.fr
    Lors de la première journée pluvieuse du GP d’Italie, Nambotin a conforté ses chances d’être titré avant la finale en s’imposant en E1. En E2, si Salvini s’est imposé à domicile le samedi, Pela Renet avait bon espoir de s’assurer la victoire finale dès le lendemain. En E3, Phillips a fait le show, mais les jours se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas ! Retour sur cette 2e journée de GP décisive.
    La deuxième journée de course n’avait pas encore débuté qu’une douche incroyable a inondé le paddock vers 8.30. Ensuite, la journée fut rythmée par de fortes averses orageuses entrecoupées d’éclaircies et le moins que l’on puisse dire, c’est que ce fût un véritable «chantier» entre les banderoles. Cette dernière journée du Grand Prix Acerbis d’Italie a également offert deux beaux champions mais aussi de belles surprises, des moments tristes et douloureux et des coups de théâtre…
    Coups de théâtre en E3
    La catégorie Enduro 3 a été servie avec la vilaine blessure de Matthew Phillips (AUS – KTM) survenue dès la première spéciale de la journée. En effet, alors que le leader de la catégorie partait tambour battant, il heurtait à pleine vitesse dès la 1re Enduro test, un objet métallique qui venait transpercer sa botte et lui fracturait le 5e métatarse. Il fallut donc très rapidement emmener l’Australien à l’hôpital. Avec cet abandon de taille, Ivan Cervantes (E – KTM) avait une occasion en or de revenir à peu de points de son coéquipier mais il dût faire face à une inattendue concurrence… Inattendue comme Oscar Balletti (I – KTM), habitué au bas du classement, a surpris tout son monde sous des trombes d’eau. Décidément très à l’aise dans le gras, l’Italien résistait jusqu’au bout aux attaques du revenant David Knight (GB – KTM), lui aussi particulièrement friand de ces conditions difficiles, et s’adjugeait à la surprise générale sa toute première victoire sur l’EWC. «J’en ai rêvé depuis tellement longtemps. Je ne pensais même pas que cela pouvait être possible mais quand j’ai vu que j’étais devant avec une certaine avance j’ai fait tout mon possible pour ne pas lâcher et offrir cette victoire à mon public et surtout à moi-même !» a déclaré Balletti. Knight a terminé à seulement sept secondes de l’Italien et s’adjuge une belle seconde place qui prouve qu’il n’est pas «fini». Derrière ce duo, Cervantes pensait pouvoir tenir la 3e place et revenir sous la barre des 10 points de retard au Championnat mais c’était sans compter sur la dernière Xtreme Test de folie réalisée par Jérémy Joly (F – KTM) et Simone Albergoni (I – KTM) qui relèguent finalement l’Espagnol au 5e rang tandis que le Français monte une deuxième fois sur le podium cette année et que l’Italien signe son meilleur résultat depuis deux ans… Désormais avec 11 points d’écart entre Phillips et Cervantes, la catégorie E3 est complètement relancée…. espérons que l’Australien sera complètement rétabli à Brioude pour la finale !
    Nambotin champion du monde en E1
    La catégorie Enduro 1 a dévoilé le premier Champion du Monde de la saison 2014. En dominant à nouveau tous ses rivaux avec plus d’1 minute 27 d’avance, Christophe Nambotin (F – KTM) remporte son troisième titre de Champion du Monde d’affilée : «Je suis vraiment très heureux ! J’ai remporté une nouvelle victoire sur un terrain et avec une météo très difficile… Je suis vraiment aux anges avec ce titre en Enduro 1 et je repense maintenant à tous ces gens qui me disaient que la catégorie n’était pas pour moi, que je ne serai pas Champion. Quand j’ai pris ma décision, tout KTM et Fabio Farioli étaient derrière moi et je leur dois en partie ce titre !» Derrière l’ogre Français, six pilotes pouvaient prétendre au deux dernières places du podium : Eero Remes (SF – TM) qui partait très fort, Anthony Boissière (F – Sherco) surmotivé après sa deuxième place de la veille, Cristobal Guerrero (E – KTM) courageux et désireux de consolider sa troisième place ainsi que Thomas Oldrati (I – HVA) et Jérémy Tarroux (F – Sherco) revanchards après leurs déboires du samedi. Alors que Remes et Boissière voyaient leurs espoirs de podium s’envoler en raison de difficultés dans le CH serré (chutes), Guerrero allait chercher au mental une belle deuxième place tandis que Oldrati, porté par tout un peuple, ne laissait aucune chance à Tarroux dans la lutte pour les 15 points de la 3e position. Jaume Betriu (E – HVA), pourtant peu à l’aise dans le gras, profitait parfaitement des déboires de Remes (8e) et Boissière (9e) pour arracher le Top 5.
    Doublé pour Salvini, le titre pour Pela Renet
    L’Enduro 2 fût aussi le cadre d’un coup de théâtre. En effet, dès la première spéciale, la Beta de Johnny Aubert (F) ne répondait plus sous les trombes d’eau et le Français était contraint d’abandonner, laissant la voie libre à Pierre-Alexandre Renet (F – HVA) qui s’envolait vers son deuxième titre mondial. Blessé la veille au pied droit, le Normand a préféré assurer, laissant filer Alex Salvini (I – Honda) et un épatant Lorenzo Santolino (E – Sherco) tout en contrôlant Taddy Blazusiak (PL – KTM) afin de finir 3e.«Je crois que je n’ai jamais aussi mal roulé que ce week-end !» a commenté Renet. «J’ai donc préféré assurer et finir la journée plutôt que de tenter le diable ! En début de saison, tout le monde parlait du duel Salvini – Meo mais moi j’étais persuadé que je pouvais venir me frotter à eux. Puis j’ai eu la moto parfaite et aussi la chance avec moi et c’est ce qui a fait la différence ! Vraiment heureux et soulagé de ce deuxième titre !» Pour la victoire du jour, c’est Alex Salvini (I – Honda) qui réalise donc le doublé devant ses tifosis et prend provisoirement la deuxième place du provisoire avec 6 points d’avance sur le malheureux perdant du jour : Johnny Aubert. Lorenzo Santolino, pour sa part, n’est pas un Espagnol comme les autres tellement il semble à l’aise dans le gras, comme en témoigne sa deuxième place du jour et son deuxième podium en Mondial. Pour sa part, Taddy Blazusiak repart de Lumezzane avec quelques regrets tant la troisième place de Renet lui semblait accessible mais une nouvelle position de quatrième prouve que le Champion de SuperEnduro est tout aussi doué entre les banderoles que dans une salle… Oriol Mena (E – Beta) empoche quand à lui les 11 points de la 5e place juste devant un séduisant Romain Dumontier (F – Yam).
    Du côté de la relève…
    En Junior, le duel Danny McCanney (GB – Beta) – Giacomo Redondi (I – Beta) a été une nouvelle fois très intense mais a tourné cette fois-ci à l’avantage du Britannique pour seulement trois petites secondes à l’issue d’une bataille passionnante et incessante. Derrière ce duo infernal, Loïc Larrieu (F – HVA) se rattrape de la veille et complète le podium devant le pilote MPS Racing Jack Rowland (GB – HVA). Eloi Salsench (E – KTM), en bonne position pour le Top 5 a dû laisser son rang à l’Italien du team Marquis Motorace Guido Conforti (KTM) à cause d’une chute dans le CH serré. Enfin, en FIM Youth Cup 125cc, Davide Soreca accentue l’écart qui le sépare d’Albin Elowson (5e – S – HVA) en remportant cette deuxième journée avec brio devant Matteo Bresolin (I – KTM) et Benjamin Herrera (CL – TM).
    Cette deuxième journée du Grand Prix Acerbis d’Italie aura donc apporté de grandes déceptions et surprises (Phillips, Aubert) mais aussi de grandes joies avec les titres de Christophe Nambotin (E1) et Pierre-Alexandre Renet (E2) ainsi que la victoire totalement inattendue d’Oscar Balletti. Rendez-vous est désormais pris pour les 13 et 14 septembre à Brioude à l’occasion du Grand Prix AMV de France, septième et dernier GP de la saison, où quatre titres doivent encore trouver preneurs…

    Interesting : AUTHENTICITY (a long Editorial)


    from BikeEXIF
    Authenticity, Harley-Davidson style.
    A few days ago, motojournalist Jason Cormier published a hard-hitting critique of the current custom motorcycle scene. At 4,000 words it’s a long piece, but also a very interesting read. With Jason’s permission, we’re republishing it here.
    The whole concept of authenticity (and what is or is not authentic) is one of those paradoxical topics that seems simultaneously important and utterly trivial. The term serves as an accusation/accolade directed at whatever fad du jour is grabbing the attention of the public, but it seems to be a product of our recent cultural aspirations.
    The whole business of following our passions, aspiring to greatness, and generally expecting the best for ourselves, no matter how lazy or shiftless we are, is a recent development that has enveloped our culture.
    To lack authenticity is to contrive against some notion of “true” passion—or worse, to debase those passionate pursuits with monetary concerns. To exhibit an idealized form of authenticity is to be in tune with your loves and desires without corrupting them with rationality or materialism. Upon reflection it’s all a bit ridiculous, but bear with me, I’m sure I have a point brewing here somewhere.
    This societal push for everyone to live out his or her dreams (or forever live in despair because they failed to do so) is a recent development that doesn’t seem to have much precedent. Our highly networked, highly public culture places high value on success, the trappings of wealth, and some vague pursuit of happiness; our constant monitoring of each other’s progress inspires greed, jealousy and the sort of beating-the-Jones-into-submission dick-waving that would make our ancestors cringe.
    And that’s what makes it seem all the more ridiculous—did our great-great grandparents aspire to pursue their dreams? Did they tell their children that someday they could be anything they wanted to be (but today they needed to pick rocks out of the soil)? Did bean farmers in Iowa sit on their porches and gaze wistfully into the sunset, wishing they could abandon their earthly responsibilities to pursue their “passion”?
    Probably not. They farmed dirt like they had for generations, and pursued the only life they knew. Those who aimed higher would either make their fortune with luck and hard work, or get browbeaten back into submission for being so vain as to aim above their lot in life.
    This pursuit of irrational desire has bred a multitude of curious trends. We live in a material culture that places high value on things, with some objects having more monetary and philosophical value than others based on their construction, performance and the ideas that inspired them. We have gone beyond the realm of mere functionality; now we judge objects by their moral and conceptual backgrounds.
    1918 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
    High value is placed on that which is honest and born of true workmanship (whatever that is)—be it coffee, clothes or motorcycles. We’ve come to romanticize the notion of honest labour, of some selfless pursuit of perfection in materialism crafted by scarred hands and inspired by hard-won experience. And in lieu of actually living this honest life, you can buy it—the products, the image, and the ideals are all up for grabs if you have the money and the poor sense to fall for the hype.
    I’ll digress a bit and attempt to return to the core of this discussion, and what matters to me and my readers – how do these notions of authenticity impact on our modern motorcycle industry?
    Motorcycling as a whole has seen a strange series of ups and downs over its short history, a series of failures and rebirths that have built a curious mythos that is as complex as it is contradictory. In Western society we’ve witnessed the transition of motorcycles from being cheap forms of transportation to status symbols and recreational items. They’ve flickered in and out of respectability repeatedly over the decades, building an image of grace tempered with a tinge of outlaw culture.
    We reference our past and play dress up with the trappings of bygone groups, putting on pageants of leather and chrome and noise that are as much the product of marketing as they are an a contrived expression of “individuality”. We conveniently ignore the elements of our history we dislike, and parade around in references to the bits we chose to glorify. Our culture is a constantly evolving pastiche of disparate elements stitched together into some virtually incomprehensible mess that is scarcely decipherable to those outside our world (and quite a few of us inside it).
    In cultural terms we’ve appropriated elements of the past without understanding them, building monuments to nostalgia and tradition without substance. We have trouble moving forward as a result. Conservatism reigns and we distrust the new. We stick to the formulas and keep building bicycles with engines strapped to them without accepting meaningful progress. At the end of the day image trumps engineering.
    It isn’t all bad. There is something to be said for machines that channel a genuine spirit. As much as I may disparage the paint shaker-cum-transportation rolling out of the Milwaukee, I have a begrudging respect for their single-minded pursuit of an ideal. Harley-Davidson is, all marketing aside, the only authentic cruiser. It has an unbroken lineage that has survived depressions, recessions, wars, and image problems, a purity of antiquated design that respects its heritage—aberrations like the V-Rod (below) and Street 500/750 aside.
    The Harley-Davidson V-Rod: authentic, or not?
    The company can draw a nearly unbroken line from the present to its origins, and its products exhibit the hallmarks of the company’s past in a way that somehow doesn’t fall completely into the trap of creaky nostalgia. If we ignore the brash and contrived commercialism and zero in on the machines themselves, there truly is no substitute for a Harley. To attempt to copy a Harley is to commit the ultimate sin: to build something that is at its core a sham, a shameless knockoff that exhibits all the elements of the original with none of the heritage or spirit intact.
    The Japanese marques are notorious for this. They analyse, copy, and conquer. The product may be superior in rational terms of performance, value and reliability, but it has no cultural value. It is an attempt to lure sales away from an established niche, to build a by-the-numbers facsimile. It is not authentic.
    The Japanese are at their best when they are given the freedom to establish a new category, to build something distinct and advanced that doesn’t reference the competition. Modern sport bikes and standards owe their existence to the arms race instigated by the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s that propelled design and performance forward at a remarkable pace. We should celebrate the birth of the superbike and the refinement of the modern motorcycle brought on by the strength of Japanese engineering, not the oil-tight copies of British twins and goofy Harley clones that cluttered showrooms for decades.
    Crosby Suzuki: 1980s racebikes saw the Japanese at their best.
    There is a paradox in there somewhere, or perhaps a trap that can easily lure in the clueless followers of fashion. We place value on that which is true and pure, but which upholds an outdated standard, and we end up sitting in place and stagnating. Laziness is not authentic. Neither is grimly hanging on to past glories without looking to the future. There is a fine line between honouring your heritage and clinging to old successes.
    I’m as much as a sucker for the idealized, Peter Egan-esque notion of the bygone purity of the old as anyone else. There is an appeal to the image of sitting in the corner of the garage, swigging a dark beer and gazing upon some antiquated machine that is visibly hewn from metal by human hands as it plinks itself cool following a hard day’s ride. There is a spirit in these old barges that comes through with every ride, a personality that oozes out and puddles on the concrete of the garage floor along with so much straight-weight oil.
    The trick is to appreciate this old world character without remaining a slave to it. Old machines will always be there; there is no need to recreate them. And most of those old machines were never harking back to some past ideal—they were products of forward-thinking designers, and were contemporary in their design and performance when they were current. What compels us to build homages to the past, when the subjects of those homages were the result of looking to the future?
    There is also the problem of missing the point of those old cafe racers and stripped down bobbers. They were products of purpose. Their aesthetics were a result of the desire for more performance, less weight, and simplification. Their builders were not deliberately trying to channel any particular “look”: that came naturally from the pursuit of performance.
    The modern cafe racer is merely a pretender, an attempt to replicate the appearance of this purity of construction without the substance. Yes, I’m deliberately drawing a parallel to the soulless Japanese copies of Harleys. That being said, there is a place for deliberately hack-n-slash “engineering”. It should not be presented in overwrought, high-minded terms cooked up by arts degree arrogance, attempting to channel some nonexistent spirit of rebellion (by doing the same thing everyone else is doing). They should be fun, self-deprecating romps like the Dirtbag Challenge.
    I would argue that the British lost the plot after the collapse of their motorcycle industry. Norton was able to shamble along and renew itself with a series of remarkable rotary powered machines for a brief but interesting period, but all the other storied marques were obliterated following the arrival of the Japanese conquerors, despite a few admirable attempts to modernize right before the end.
    While Harley was able to cash in on its legacy early on, and sustain itself through the Eastern onslaught and AMF bungling, the British saw their industry crushed and buried before a revival could take place. John Bloor’s resurrection of Triumph has been an undeniable success, but it has earned that success through bastardization of the company’s legacy. The 1990s were an interesting period where the company moved forward with a series of unique and charming triples and fours (1990 Daytona 750 shown below). Then they shat out the Bonneville repop in 2001.
    1990 Triumph Daytona 750
    History had come full circle—the Japanese had beaten the competition by building soulless copies of British machines, and now the British had copied the Japanese by building a soulless homage to their own past. Union Jack decals distracted buyers from the “Made in Thailand” and “Made in India” stamps on components. The “new” Bonnie was (is) as British as Tom Kha Gai. Reliable and plodding, with boring performance and wobbly roadholding, it was a far cry from the fine handling and snarling engines that propelled Brit iron into the hearts of riders in the 1950s and 60s. But the facsimile was good enough at 20 paces to lure image-conscious buyers into the fold, by pandering to their nostalgia without offering any real substance. It may well have been a Kawasaki W650, a bike that arguably recreated the spirit of the original better than the new Bonnie ever did.
    The Kawasaki W650: more 'authentic' than the current Triumph Bonneville?
    The Bonneville became the prototypical nouveau classique motorcycle, a runaway success that spawned a series of equally uninspired rehashes from other marques (see also: Moto Guzzi V7, Honda CB1100, or any other machine that excuses lazy design and mediocre performance by appealing to our limitless capacity for nostalgia).
    The resulting me-too hopping on the nostalgia bandwagon has done irreparable harm to modern motorcycle design. Where we once looked starry-eyed into the future aboard our sleek pastel-coloured rockets, we now look wistfully upon a past that never was while straddling wheezy appeals to the sentiments of baby boomers and their self-entitled hipster brethren.
    In the process you end up with weird compromises, like the new BMW R Nine T abandoning the clever Telelever front fork in favour of a non-adjustable conventional fork to make “customization” easier. No, it wasn’t to save costs and glean some extra margin, it was to give 1% of buyers the opportunity to swap in some better suspension components they will never come close to making use of. Accommodating the whims of fickle buyers forces a step backwards.
    Which allows me to segway neatly to my next target:
    Our current industry has managed to combine the wistful longings of senile buyers, the muddled self-images of materialistic self-entitled brats, and the myth of honest labour into a cocktail that has given birth to the second coming of the café racer. Every wrench-spinning hack and their grandma has taken to the shed to build a cobbled together monstrosity as the custom scene has exploded into an orgy of candy-flaked, header-wrapped, Firestone-tired homages to … who knows what, they were too busy selling T-shirts and moustache wax to decide.
    We have appropriated elements of the past and given them the glossy sheen of branding and rampant materialism, thereby abandoning any hope of contributing something meaningful to our culture. We will never exhibit that effortless cool of our heroes because we are trying too hard, and trying hard to make a buck in the process. Anyone who dares summon the spirit of McQueen (or Brando, or Marvin, or Eastwood, or Newman, or any other grizzled American male celebrity) in their marketing should be avoided at all costs. Beware the Steve McQueen/David Hasselhoff Conundrum.
    That’s not to say that numbskulls slapping together deathtraps in their backyards is a bad thing. As long as young men and women have had hacksaws and cheap Mastercraft tools at their disposal, they’ve been butchering two- and four-wheeled devices to their perverted liking. Hot rod culture is alive and well, despite the arrival of the Prius and the NC700, and the naïve tinkering of our youth should be celebrated and encouraged—no matter how ugly it gets.
    Progress: the 2012 Honda NC700S.
    It should not, however, become commercialized to the point of ridiculousness. That is the difference between the authentic custom and the contrived machinations of businesses masquerading as honest builders. If they are churning out overpriced machines while selling made-in-China bolt on parts, and overpriced apparel with explicit references to Steve McQueen, they are not worthy of our praise. Save your accolades for the person with blackened, calloused hands who lives in poverty, funnelling all their meagre funds into their projects. You likely won’t hear about those people in the media, because they generally neglect to hire publicists or submit their work to Bike EXIF.
    That’s the unfortunate and largely untenable ideal we have built, that of the passionate builder plying their trade free of corruption by monetary concerns. The myth of honest labour has merged with the image of the starving artist. The truth is that the most notable visionaries usually toil in obscurity, and always will. Their potential will always be limited by their lack of funds and their impact will be blunted by their lack of exposure. Noble though their plight might be in an idealistic sense, they can rarely achieve greatness or improve our culture if they are working in anonymity with limited means.
    A select few rise to the top and get the breaks that allow them to soar, but most will suffer Ramen noodles and cheap beer while they skin their knuckles on their latest creation. It is a romantic image, but not a pleasant one to live through.
    I once liked the whole aesthetic and do-it-yourself mentality that surrounded the rebirth of the café racer—and its American cousin, the chopper, which is equally a victim of a series of deaths and renewals that have tarnished the spirit of the original concept.
    I became disillusioned when I visited the “Ace Café Corner” at the Barber Vintage Festival in October 2013. I paid extra to gain entry (which should have been my first sign of trouble) into what promised to be a cornucopia of expressive custom machines and a gen-u-ine recreation of the fabled Ace Café. What I got was a bunch of similarly-butchered Honda CBs with gaudy paint jobs and a concession tent that was identical to the dozen other food trucks that dotted the grounds, except this one served overpriced beer in addition to the cardboard pucks they passed off as burgers.
    Various businesses plied their cheap wares in this “private” area, with everything from Chinese rearsets to coffee mugs on offer to the crowds of bearded, be-flannelled millennials. It was pathetic and disheartening. Bar a few original machines and an entirely out-of-place display of original Brough-Superiors, the whole scene left me cold and feeling cheated out of my admission fee. I had felt the cafe-racer image had jumped the shark some time prior, but seeing this pathetic display made me realize I truly disliked where our once vibrant custom scene was heading.
    Authentic: the Brough-Superior motorcycle.
    In my mind, true authenticity is born of a purity of purpose and design. The most notable machines are those that execute an idea with minimal compromise. They are pursuits of a focussed goal, of a certain truth. They are unapologetic. In terms of mass-produced machines, the Italians have made their mark building beautiful and uncompromised tributes to mechanical art, and that’s why I continue to ride and lust after Italian machines against all good sense. If I could only ride Bimotas for the rest of my life, I’d die a happy man.
    Bimota HB4
    If I wanted something boring, comfortable, and easy to ride in traffic, I’d buy a scooter—or literally anything other than a focussed machine that makes no excuses for its performance. If someone hops on a lithe, visceral monument to man’s hubris and proceeds to nasally complains about how hard the seat is, or the lack of fuel capacity, or how the gearing is tall for stop and go traffic, they need to be immediately barred from ever riding anything more exciting than a Burgman.
    The most egregious offenders to our sense of authenticity, wobbly café hoppers aside, are those that are borne of compromise and design by committee. Elements are dumbed down to suit cost-cutting, the bullying of environmental agencies, and the fickle demands of mouth-breathing consumers who are too busy looking for places to bolt a cupholder to notice how perfectly shaped the subframe support is.
    More recently the concerns of liability issues in the North American market has driven many manufacturers to abandon anything remotely novel for fear of some dolt tipping over in a parking lot and then suing the company because they didn’t explicitly inform him via orange warning labels, audible alarms, and flashing lights that he shouldn’t ride with the sidestand deployed.
    This exposes the core problem with our industry—we rely too much on the opinions of ill-informed potential buyers who are happy to disparage anything new and unusual. We are constantly forced to look backwards, to accommodate the whims of customers who refuse to accept anything unfamiliar. The classic retort of “I wouldn’t buy that” echoes loudly whenever something unusual is presented to the public, despite any attempts to demonstrate that those whiners were never the intended buyer (or that they wouldn’t have the opportunity to buy it even if they wanted to). People forget that the world doesn’t revolve around their whims. They don’t realize that their opinions limit progress, and that not liking something doesn’t lessen its value or its impact on the world.
    The most notable projects outside of mass production are those built by the geniuses, tinkerers and cranks who dare to reject the norms and traditions of our otherwise conservative industry. These are the machines that often shock and inspire but are rarely well known outside of a few circles of discussion.
    James Parker might be one of the best known designers of weird and wonderful alternatives given his infamous association with Yamaha and the GTS1000, and JT Nesbitt continues to buck convention in the most beautifully subversive manner from his workshop in New Orleans, but for every well-known odd bike designer there are a dozen unknown visionaries toiling away beneath the public’s radar—people like Tony FoaleIan Drysdale, and Julian Farnam to name a few.
    James Parker's radical Yamaha GTS1000 motorcycle.
    They produce the best kinds of motorcycles: bikes that draw the ire of the shortsighted individuals weaned on boring appliances. If a machine is radical enough to inflame and enrage the conservative tendencies of all the yokels who gaze upon it, you know you are doing something right.
    The commercialization of racing and pushing the cost of entry into the stratosphere has contributed to this relegation of innovation to backyard tinkerers. No works team is willing to bet the farm on some quote-unquote “unproven” technology, and sanctioning bodies would be waiting in the wings to ban any progress if a development proves advantageous. A few small teams bravely try to do something different but are limited by their modest means and their lack of support. The era of the privateer racer/mechanic building and racing his own machine (and remaining competitive) is long gone. Racing is so expensive, so complicated, and so heavily regulated that the individual scarcely has any hope of contributing any meaningful technological progress to the sport.
    Nevermind that entire subsets of the industry have grown to accommodate the status quo. A good example is tires. Builders who have attempted to race with alternative front suspension designs have discovered that they are severely limited by tire performance—by separating braking, suspension and steering forces (which are typically muddled together by the action of telescopic forks) you reduce stress and friction on the tire, which leads to less grip because the tire can never maintain a sufficient temperature to perform properly.
    Tires are designed with telescopic forks in mind, and there is nothing out there that will exploit the potential of a forkless front end. This leads to exasperated ideas of internally heating the tires, or directing exhaust heat towards the tread, or anything that will allow a forkless suspension to perform properly in racing. Accommodating the compromises inherent in motorcycle design leads to a vicious circle that sustains those compromises.
    The radical suspension of the Britten V1000 motorcycle
    They say racing improves the breed, so long as the breed is backed by billions of dollars and doesn’t deviate too far from the formula laid out in the rulebook.
    Several designers I’ve spoken to lament that the problem of rampant conservatism doesn’t seem to have the same hold on the automotive industry as it does in the motorcycling world. In automobile design and engineering, progress seems more rapid, and radical ideas are often celebrated rather than viewed with all-damning skepticism.
    Engineering solutions to problems are more natural—few in the automotive realm would accept the compromises of a telescopic fork when a better system could easily be designed. There could be many factors at play. Some think that the hidden nature of much of the engineering allows more experimentation—nobody will complain about how a suspension arm doesn’t look right when it is shrouded in bodywork. It might be also due to the financial aspects—a top tier car is aimed at an elite few who expect perfection, while even the most expensive motorcycles are still within the grasp of the upper middle class who seem to be far more fickle in their desires (and always willing to make unfair comparisons to cheaper mass-produced machines).
    Time to digress again. I’ve meandered away from the original point of this editorial. Where does this all play into authenticity and passion? Does it really fucking matter? The problem with our industry as a whole is that we have become too preoccupied with defining what is and isn’t worthy of our attention.
    In the meantime we’ve lost sight of the innovation that’s been brewing right beneath our noses. No, not those hipster dipshits wearing bubble visors and concocting new and creative ways to cut up their subframes. They are a mere distraction, a trend/fad that has been latched upon by the media and profiteers looking to cash in on what should otherwise be a pursuit of progress tempered with passion. You won’t find meaning in half-baked tributes to Steve McQueen or glossy photoshoots of models failing to look rugged in the saddle of some rolling throwback to a past that never existed.
    True authenticity, in my mind, is the quest for purity in design, and unchecked innovation in the face of daunting conservatism. The people who should be conquering this industry are working in isolation and anonymity. It’s a damned shame that you’ve likely heard about Wrenchmonkees or Classified Moto but don’t know who Tony Foale is.
    Of course I’m being harsh. I should probably avoid wholesale categorizations and unchecked disdain, but in general the priorities of our current motorcycle industry have left me frustrated. The man/woman in a shed building a bike has tremendous value to our culture, no matter how contrived their inspiration might be. They deserve praise and don’t deserve to be caught in the tides of fickle fads or transparent marketing. If they keep hacking and chopping, they might someday find the inspiration that will carry them toward building a meaningful contribution to our sport. Or they might keep cobbling together noisy deathtraps ad nauseum.
    Who cares? It doesn’t make a difference. My hyperbolic opinions shouldn’t stand in the way of your innovation/butchering, just as the vocalizations of a slack-jawed consumer base shouldn’t stand in the way of progress in our industry.
    As they say, “The views expressed by this author do not necessarily reflect those of Bike EXIF.” What’s your take?

    La Féline Moto Club en ballade


    La Féline Moto Club en ballade par moto-journal

    Stories of Bike | Answers


    StoriesOfBike S2 Jonathan Gibson 2 small 1480x986 Stories of Bike   Answers
    Stories of Bike is a film series by director Cam Elkins, it’s quickly garnered a huge amount of respect and airtime around the world and if you’re a motorcyclist, you owe it to yourself to watch each of the films at least once.
    StoriesOfBike S2 Jonathan Gibson small 1480x986 Stories of Bike   Answers
    This film is the story of Jonathan, a guy who decided to buy a motorcycle that was the same make and model as the one his grandfather used to own – and then ride it from Sydney to London to raise awareness about male depression and suicide.
    Although it may sound like madness to attempt to ride a 45 year old Royal Enfield Bullet 350 over half way around the world, it’s actually not a bad decision – the Royal Enfield is hugely popular in South East Asia and India, which means spare parts and mechanics who know how to work on the Bullet will be easy to come by.
    StoriesOfBike S2 Jonathan Gibson 4 1480x832 Stories of Bike   Answers
    If you like a good adventure story I suggest you make yourself a coffee and hit play on the video above, you’ll be glad you did. If you’d like to contribute to the cause, you can click here to visit the fund-raising page and if you’d like to visit Jonathan’s blog to monitor his progress and you can click here.

    via SILODROME

    La saison MotoGP™ 2014 redémarre ce week-end à l’IMS

    Suite à une courte pause estivale, le Championnat du Monde MotoGP™ reprend ce week-end aux Etats-Unis au Grand Prix Red Bull d’Indianapolis, dixième manche de la saison 2014.

    Indianapolis Grand Prix MotoGP preview


    Le MotoGP™ se rend cette semaine à l’Indianapolis Motor Speedway pour la septième saison consécutive et trouvera une piste qui a subi plusieurs modifications depuis l’an dernier puisque plusieurs virages et zones de freinage ont été modifiés afin de créer davantage d’opportunités de dépassement.
    Les virages 3, 4, 7, 15 et 16 ont été reconfigurés et le revêtement de l’infield, la section intérieure du célèbre ovale, a été refait afin que la piste soit plus lisse et plus uniforme. Par rapport à l’ancien, le nouveau tracé est plus court de 0.048 km mais conserve un total de 16 virages (10 à gauche et 6 à droite) et continuer de tourner dans le sens inverse des aiguilles d’une montre.
    Après avoir profité de trois semaines de break depuis la dernière épreuve, qui avait eu lieu en Allemagne, les pilotes devront très vite retrouver leurs marques sur leurs prototypes afin de les adapter aux mieux au nouveau tracé et tous les regards se tourneront de nouveau sur le Champion du Monde en titre Marc Márquez, qui demeure invaincu depuis le début de l’année.
    Le pilote du team Repsol Honda a remporté les neuf premières épreuves de la saison et compte pas moins de 77 points d’avance sur son coéquipier Dani Pedrosa. Márquez a en plus remporté toutes les courses MotoGP™ auxquelles il a participé aux Etats-Unis et s’était donc imposé à l’IMS l’an dernier, avec la troisième de sa série de quatre victoires consécutives.
    Son coéquipier Dani Pedrosa, qui continuera, comme Márquez, chez Repsol Honda jusqu’à 2016, fera néanmoins tout son possible pour s’imposer ce week-end, sur une piste où il avait gagné en 2012 et fini deuxième l’an dernier, tout comme Valentino Rossi et Jorge Lorenzo du team Movistar Yamaha MotoGP.
    Rossi est actuellement troisième du classement général, à sept points de Pedrosa, et espèrera au moins retrouver le podium ce week-end après l’avoir manqué à Assen et au Sachsenring. L’Italien avait remporté la toute première épreuve du MotoGP™ à Indianapolis, en 2008.
    Avec un total de cinq, Lorenzo est quant à lui le pilote qui compte le plus de podiums à l’IMS et s’était imposé en 2009. Le Champion du Monde MotoGP™ 2010 et 2012 n’est que cinquième du classement général après une bien décevante première moitié de saison mais tentera de se relancer sur la deuxième, et ce dès ce week-end.
    La quatrième place du classement est occupée par l’Italien Andrea Dovizioso, qui continuera à travailler avec Ducati l’an prochain après avoir déjà obtenu deux podiums cette année. Cal Crutchlow, quatorzième du classement, quittera quant à lui la marque de Borgo Panigale à l’issue de la saison 2014 afin de rejoindre le team LCR Honda mais tentera de se montrer compétitif ce week-end après avoir été opéré des deux avant-bras suite à la course du Sachsenring.
    Aleix Espargaró (NGM Forward Racing), Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) et Álvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) voudront eux aussi se joindre à la lutte pour les places d’honneur et finir le plus haut possible dans le Top 10.
    L’Américain Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) manquera malheureusement sa course nationale suite à sa récente opération du poignet et sera remplacé par le Britannique Leon Camier sur la Honda RCV1000R.
    Colin Edwards courra pour sa part à domicile pour la toute dernière fois puisque le pilote du team NGM Forward Racing quittera la compétition à la fin de la saison 2014.
    Marc-Marquez-Repsol-Honda-Team-GER-RACE-574289



    Les cuirs de MotoGP, sous toutes les coutures


    Alpinestars révèle comment sont fabriquées et fonctionnent les combinaisons en cuir des pilotes.
    La combinaison du pilote Moto3 Arthur Sissis
    Par 
    Imaginez que vous rouliez à 300 km/h sur une moto capable de développer 230 chevaux, et que par malheur vous vous retrouviez à frôler le tarmac d'un peu trop près... Vous aimeriez être sûr d'être correctement protégé, n'est-ce pas ?
    Heureusement, l'élite de MotoGP peut compter sur un équipement à la pointe de la technologie pour leur assurer le plus haut niveau de protection en cas de chute.
    Nous nous sommes intéressés aux cuirs des pilotes et avons interrogé Jeremy Appleton de la marque Alpinestars, qui équipe notamment le champion du monde de MotoGP Marc Márquez. Il nous a livré les secrets de fabrication des combinaisons et expliqué leur fonctionnement.
    pilote MotoGP Dani Pedrosa en combinaison Alpinestars
    Dani Pedrosa porte une combinaison Alpinestars© Repsol Honda

    Du sur-mesure pour chaque pilote

    Pour des raisons de sécurité, tous les équipements en cuir sont ajustés à la morphologie de chaque pilote, tout en leur garantissant une liberté de mouvement essentielle pour la course.
    Jeremy Appleton explique : La combinaison est faite sur-mesure afin d'assurer au pilote la meilleure performance possible, mais aussi pour être certain qu'il soit parfaitement protégé en cas de chute et que l'abrasion liée au frottement sur la piste n'ait pas de conséquence sur le niveau de protection offert par le cuir.
    Nous prenons les mesures des pilotes à la fin de la saison précédente ou lors des tests de pré-saison, pour vérifier leurs mensurations. C'est la procédure habituelle.
    Généralement, la combinaison pèse environ 4,5 kg, mais cela peut varier en fonction des éléments que nous ajoutons.
    Jeremy Appleton : La combinaison comporte des protections particulières au niveau des coudes, des épaules et des genoux. Ce sont des éléments amovibles. Ils permettent d'assurer un bon niveau de protection global en cas d'impact. La doublure de la combinaison peut être retirée et lavée.
    Les combinaisons sont constituées d'un assemblage de différents panneaux cousus ensemble. Chaque panneau comporte une double couture et dans certains cas, nous doublons les zones les plus vulnérables. Nous nous assurons que toutes les coutures - intérieures comme extérieures – soient doublées. Nous utilisons des fils spéciaux qui, même s'ils viennent à lâcher par endroit lors d'une chute, continuent à assurer la solidité de la combinaison.

    Les meilleurs matériaux sur les points de contact

    Les points de contact en cas de chute sont situés au niveau des genoux, des coudes et des épaules du pilote. Ces points exigent une attention particulière. Afin d'assurer la meilleure protection possible, ces zones sont conçues avec des matériaux spécifiques et bénéficient d'une technique d'assemblage particulière.
    Jeremy Appleton : Nous choisissons les meilleures qualités de cuirs. Dans la plupart des cas, nous utilisons du cuir de vachette, mais nous employons également du cuir de kangourou. Le cuir de bovin est le plus souvent utilisé car il résiste très bien à l'usure, grâce à son épaisseur de 1,2 à 1,4 mm.
    Le cuir est un matériel de très bonne qualité. Ses fibres résistent très bien à l'abrasion.
    Les protections situées au niveau des genoux, des coudes et des épaules sont réalisées dans une matière thermoplastique spécifique.
    Ces protections sont coulées dans des moules spéciaux, selon une technique d'injection particulière qui leur confère une double densité : plus dure au centre et un peu moins sur l'extérieur. Elles comportent également une poche de gel et une protection assemblées juste en-dessous.
    Le but de ces protections spéciales au niveau des épaules, des coudes et des genoux est de diffuser l'énergie de l'impact sur une plus large zone. Grâce à cela, l'impact reçu à travers la protection est de moindre intensité pour le pilote.
    Le premier contact avec le tarmac ne devrait provoquer qu'une éraflure. Nous essayons de contrôler au mieux ce premier contact avec la piste afin de réduire la friction. Ensuite, lorsque le pilote glisse sur le bitume du fait de sa vitesse, l'énergie de l'impact se dissipe.
    Le pilote de MotoGP Marc Márquez
    Marc Márquez rase la piste avec son coude© Repsol Honda
    La zone extérieure du coude est conçue de manière à protéger le pilote, mais nous ajoutons une seconde couche de protection, si le pilote a l'habitude de frôler la piste avec son coude. Tout le monde ne le fait pas. C'est plus un style de pilotage. Marc Márquez utilise notamment cette technique, tout comme une petite poignée de pilotes.
    A set of Alpinestars MotoGP leathers
    Une protection de coude supplémentaire© Joseph Caron Dawe/RedBull.com
    Nous utilisons également un système d'airbag pour protéger le haut du corps des pilotes. Il est important d'avoir des zones extensibles dans la combinaison car lorsque l'airbag s'ouvre, elle prend 4 à 5 centimètres de volume.
    La combinaison doit donc être capable de s'élargir pour gérer ce volume soudain, car l'airbag ne sort en aucun cas du cuir du pilote. La plupart de nos pilotes disposent d'un système d'airbag. 
    Les cuirs du pilote de Moto3 Arthur Sissis
    Le réservoir d'eau se situe dans le dos du pilote© Joseph Caron Dawe/RedBull.com

    L'hydratation et la ventilation

    Eviter la déshydratation du pilote est indispensable. Un coup de chaud lui fait perdre rapidement ses capacités de concentration. Maintenir une température corporelle stable et pouvoir s'hydrater tout au long de la course sont des facteurs essentiels.
    Jeremy Appleton : La combinaison est très bien ventilée sur toute la surface avant. L'aérodynamique de la moto est assurée, bien que beaucoup d'air circule à l'avant de la combinaison.
    Une fois que l'air est entré dans la combinaison, il doit ressortir. A l'arrière, du bas du dos jusqu'aux jambes, les perforations du cuir sont donc légèrement plus larges.
    Nous nous efforçons de maîtriser les flux d'air dans les vêtements techniques. C'est aussi le cas pour les gants. Cela aide le pilote à réguler sa température et à être plus performant physiquement. 
    Zoom sur une combinaison Alpinestars de MotoGP
    Des trous d'aération et un panneau extensible© Joseph Caron Dawe/RedBull.com
    Jeremy Appleton : Le réservoir d'eau se situe dans le renflement aérodynamique de la combinaison. En général, il contient entre 200 et 300 ml de liquide, pour ne pas alourdir le pilote durant la course. Le but est de rester le plus léger possible.
    Lors des courses de MotoGP, les pilotes ne se déshydratent pas tant que cela. Ils ont parfois la bouche sèche, ce qui peut devenir gênant. Le fait d'avoir un peu d'eau à disposition est toujours appréciable. Le réservoir d'eau est dissimulé dans le dos de la combinaison et un tuyau remonte jusqu'au casque du pilote pour lui permettre de boire à tout moment.