Dakar : A fourth Dakar triumph for Coma (KTM-Michelin) / Coma (KTM-Michelin) remporte une quatrième victoire

After being forced to sit out the 2013 Dakar because of a shoulder injury, Marc Coma (KTM-Michelin) bounced straight back to the top to collect his fourth victory on this year’s event. His support rider Jordi Viladoms and Olivier Pain (Yamaha Factory Racing-Michelin) joined him on the podium, while Cyril Despres (Yamaha Factory Racing-Michelin) was fourth.

Privé de Dakar en 2013 suite à une épaule douloureuse, Marc Coma (KTM-Michelin) renoue avec la victoire en remportant son quatrième succès. Son porteur d’eau, Jordi Viladoms et Olivier Pain (Yamaha Factory Racing – Michelin) complètent le podium. Cyril Despres (Yamaha Factory Racing – Michelin) est quatrième.

It was the fifth day of this year’s Dakar that saw Coma deal a decisive knock-out blow thanks to some faultless navigation between Chilecito and Tucuman, while his rivals went astray. The stage win took him to the top of the order for the first time since the start and nobody succeeded in threatening his domination thereafter.

The Catalonian was fastest again on Legs 9 and 11, and survived to pick up his fourth Dakar victory in Valparaiso, Chile, today. “It’s an emotional moment for me and I want to savour it with all those who have helped me,” he said at the finish. “It took a lot of sacrifices and hard work to achieve this.”

As in 2013, he was joined on the podium by his support rider Jordi Viladoms who made it a one-two finish for KTM and Michelin. Olivier Pain’s excellent fortnight was rewarded with third place, his best Dakar result so far. He was also the best-placed Yamaha rider at the finish, ahead of this year’s favourite Cyril Despres.

The Frenchman suffered a variety of mechanical troubles and also took a one-hour penalty for missing a Way Point, which made it impossible for him to challenge for a sixth Dakar success after his switch to a new employer. Even so, he refused to throw in the towel and survived to salvage fourth spot, helped by three stage wins, including today’s (La Serena-Valparaiso).

Helder Rodrigues (Honda) had to settle for fifth overall, ahead of Poland’s Kuba Przygonski (KTM-Michelin). Joan Barreda (Honda-Michelin), winner of four stages this year, hit ill luck on the penultimate day. Just as second place appeared to a foregone conclusion, he fell and broke his fork 25km from the finish, falling back to seventh overall in the process.

Michelin runners won 12 of this year’s 13 stages and the French tyre maker went on to win the event for the 31^st time.

La victoire du Dakar 2014 s’est jouée lors de la cinquième étape entre Chilecito et Tucuman. Maître de la navigation, Marc Coma a frappé un grand coup en réalisant un sans-faute là où ses adversaires ont accumulé les erreurs. Il remporte la spéciale et prend également la tête du rallye pour la première fois depuis le départ en reléguant ses concurrents directs à plus de quarante minutes. Coma assure et contrôle ensuite le reste de la course. Le Catalan enlève deux nouvelles victoires d’étape (Etapes 9 et 11) pour s’adjuger définitivement une quatrième victoire à Valparaiso (Chili). « C’est une victoire forte en émotions que je compte savourer avec tous ceux qui m’ont soutenu » a déclaré Marc Coma à l’arrivée. « Cela représente beaucoup de sacrifices et de travail. »

Comme en 2013, le porteur d’eau du vainqueur l’accompagne sur la deuxième marche du podium. Jordi Viladoms se classe deuxième et offre à KTM et Michelin le doublé. Auteur d’une superbe quinzaine, Olivier Pain signe sa meilleure performance au Dakar en prenant la troisième place du podium final. Il termine premier pilote Yamaha et devance le favori de l’édition 2014 Cyril Despres.

Victime de  divers problèmes mécaniques et pénalisé d’une heure pour avoir rater un Way Point, le quintuple vainqueur de l’épreuve n’a pu relever son pari, celui de remporter une sixième victoire au guidon d’une moto de marque différente. Après une première semaine difficile, le Français n’a rien lâché. Il est parvenu à gagner trois étapes dont, la dernière entre La Serena et Valparaiso, et à se hisser à la quatrième place.

Décevant, Helder Rodrigues (Honda) est cinquième devant le polonais Kuba Przygonski (KTM-Michelin). Joan Barreda (Honda – Michelin), recordman de victoires cette année avec quatre étapes à son actif, a joué de malchance dans l’avant-dernière étape. Alors que la deuxième marche lui tendait les bras, l’Espagnol a chuté et cassé sa fourche à 25 kilomètres de l’arrivée. Il a rétrogradé à la septième place au général.

Michelin a remporté 12 des 13 étapes au programme de cette édition 2014 et enlève une 31^èmevictoire au général.

Classement étape 13 :

1.Despres (Yamaha-Michelin) – 2. Barreda (Honda-Michelin) +2min30s – 3. Pain (Yamaha-Michelin) +3min10s – 4. Rodrigues (Honda) +3min53s – 5. Pedredo (Sherco-Michelin) +4min05s,…

Classement général :

1.Coma (KTM-Michelin) – 2. Viladoms (KTM-Michelin) +1h52min27s - 3. Pain (Yamaha-Michelin) +02h00min03s - 4. Despres (Yamaha-Michelin) +02h05min38s - 5. Rodrigues (Honda) +02h11min09s, …

1969 HONDA CB350 BY ROC CITY

By Wesley Reyneke | Rather Be Riding

The terms ‘hand crafted’ and ‘bespoke’ get thrown around a lot these days—but in the case of this wonderfully understated 1969 Honda CB350, they’re particularly apt. Virtually every part you see here has been hand made by Sean Pelletier of Roc City Cafe Racers.

At Roc City, Pelletier’s primary focus is fabricating café parts for vintage motorcycles. But, when he finds the time, he also likes to tackle complete builds from his Rochester, NY workshop.

This particular bike was a personal project: Pelletier wanted to experiment with a new look, simultaneously building a bike that would be fun to ride. “There are a lot of great 200-plus mile rides in my area,” he says, “So I liked the idea of a bike I could take exploring those routes.”

The CB’s twin cylinder engine was left stock, but overhauled for the sake of reliability. Uni Filter foam filters were added—an increasingly popular choice among builders for their stealthy looks, along with new rubber from IRC.

Using aluminum, Pelletier fabricated the new fuel tank, the front fender, and the one-piece rear fender and tail light unit. The clip-ons, rearsets and top yoke are all cast aluminum—which he actually poured himself. “It’s something I’m playing with, and I think I’ll be doing some really neat things with it in the near future.” Other in-house items include the headlight ears, custom seat and tool bag. And, of course, the beautifully sculpted high-riding exhausts.

The final color scheme is a conservative blend of black and raw aluminum that complements Pelletier’s workmanship perfectly. In his own words, he set out to “create a custom that stood out by overall design and attention to detail, rather than loudness.”

I’d say he nailed it.

Head over to the Roc City Cafe website to browse a tempting range of classy parts for your next cafe racer build.

via BIKEEXIF

10 tempting Porsche 911 Targas from the Classic Driver Market

To coincide with the unveiling of the new Porsche 911 Targa in Detroit, we’ve picked a selection of classic Targas from the Classic Driver Market…

Porsche 911 Targas in the Market

Auctions | Cars

1971 Porsche 911 - E Targa

P.O.R.

Market | Cars

1987 Porsche 911 "G" - Carrera 3.2 Targa

EUR 29 437

Auctions | Cars

1973 Porsche 911 - E Targa

P.O.R.

Auctions | Cars

1970 Porsche 911 - E Targa

P.O.R.

Market | Cars

1971 Porsche 911 - 2.2E Targa

EUR 68 500

Market | Cars

1980 Porsche 911 "G" - SC 3.0 Targa - New condition

P.O.R.

Market | Cars

1973 Porsche 911 - E Targa

EUR 106 571

Market | Cars

1970 Porsche 911 - 2.2 S Targa

P.O.R.

Market | Cars

1985 Porsche 911 "G" - Targa

EUR 39 900

Market | Cars

1970 Porsche 911 - S Targa

P.O.R.

VERTIGO70 CB500 MCQUEEN

The guys from Vertigo 70 first piqued our interest and appeared on The Bike Shed with their BMW R65 ‘TNT’ build. A classy boxer scrambler that openly took cues from established builders such as the Wrenchmonkees and CRD. But now the five Vertigo70 guys, Max S, Max F, Angel, Ale and Emi are forging their own direction and trusting their own group instincts to create motorcycles. What started out as a hobby and common interest has become work and a fledgling business with the guys now modestly regarding themselves as “semi pro”. Based in the province of Pavia outside of Milan they are pressing on with determination and flair, and as promised, here is the next product of their endeavour.

A friend owned this 75′ Honda CB500, and the guys had always had a thing for old Japanese fours (don’t we all?) so they bought it and set to work. Its evolution began with those long established Italian principles, passion and pleasure, at the heart of its concept. The guys state, “All our bikes are born without a blueprint, but only with an idea, then we like to design and build because the ideas are on the journey of building”. For this build the idea was to create a bike inspired by the elegance and style of Steve McQueen. McQueen as an icon has been thoroughly hijacked by the bike fashion industry, adorning a thousand mud splattered T shirts (track down Gary ‘Sideburn’ Inman’s brilliant article for more on this) but no doubt he would be glad to know he still has clout with makers wielding grinders and wrenches as well as needles and thread.

The journey of building began as Max F, Angel and Ale stripped down the bike before shortening the frame, cleaning up engine parts and re-polishing. The brakes were upgraded to more modern items as they were regarded a weak point of the original machine. Weight removal was the key aim in the bikes reassembly with many parts removed and binned including the centre stand. Lightness and agility over practicality all the way.

The tank was stripped and repainted in elegant warm vintage tones of cream and grey with gold highlighting. The unusual central panel adds a visual flourish with its brushed grey shades and detail lettering. The seat took shape around a fibreglass base and was shaped to style before being covered in diamond stitched earthy brown leather and fitted with a pillion strap. High bars were fitted to add a hint of Motorcross to the road going steed that rides on classic Firestone zig zag rubber, fully exposed with no front mudguard, but this bike does live in North Italy.

The bike retains a retro, almost factory charm, with comparatively large orange indicators chosen over smaller clear offerings and a chrome round mirror also reflecting the original machine. This old elegance continues to the riding experience with the boys describing it as having the drivability and ease of use of riding along on a bicycle, whilst drawing many happy admiring glances.

Next up the intrepid quintet are planning work on a modern Triumph and intriguingly intend on fitting some wooden parts to a Honda 750… Keep up the teamwork gents.

See more from Vertigo70 on The Bike Shed

Posted by Gareth@TheBikeShed