Yamaha Moto Cage-Six Concept

Someone requested some more photos of this bike a while back, so here you go. Cage-Six stunt bike concept Built from the Yamaha XJ6.

Tapping into the Undercurrent: BMW i3 Concept Coupé

This could well be the future of city transport. Launched at BMW’s LA Show preview party in a sunny shade of ‘Solar Orange’, the i3 Concept Coupé shows that ‘style’ and ‘speed’ can live with ‘economy’ and ‘environmentalism’.

The message Classic Driver received at the by-invitation-only event was that in 2013 not only would the Bavarian company have a production-ready electric car, it would actually be able to offer that car to the public at dealerships. This latest concept is a step towards that car, although it’s likely another will be shown next year. Compared with the i3 hatchback, the Coupé has only three doors, a more steeply raked roof and more rounded windows.
The small car was revealed by the company’s design chief Adrian van Hooydonk, at a typical luxury LA location of a white villa set high in the hills above the city.


Despite its small size (3964mm long, 1768mm wide and 1555mm high) the three-door has good interior space, with individual seats for rear passengers and a ‘lounge’ atmosphere.
As a technological ground-breaker, the i3 is presented as the world’s first ‘fully networked electric vehicle’. That is to say that BMW’s ConnectedDrive services are fully configured to download real-time traffic information via a smartphone, ensuring the most economical route planning and vehicle dynamics settings.


‘Under the bonnet’ (it’s actually located on the rear axle) lies a BMW Group electric motor generating 170bhp and 184lb ft torque. The car uses Lithium ion batteries which are stored inside the floor structure of the car – that same set-up as the 5-door. BMW quotes a range of around 100 miles when the car is at its most efficient Eco Pro+ setting.


No performance figures have been released, but one can assume that BMW will live up to its ‘ultimate driving machine’ image and make the car as perky as it is parsimonious.

Text: Classic Driver
Photos: BMW

TECHNICS SPORTSTER XL883N

 This is one of those redeeming examples, an alliance between Roland Sands Design and Technics, the DJ and audio technology brand.

Sands’ brief was to evoke the style of Technics’ ubiquitous SL-1200 decks, familiar to everyone in the business of spinning records. He chose a 2010-model XL883 Iron Sportster as his starting point: part of Harley-Davidson’s ‘Dark Custom’ range, it’s designed to evoke the dirt tracks and drag strips of the 1950s. Sands, however, has pushed the XL883N in an entirely new direction.

The tank has been heavily-modified and is matched to a completely new seat and tail unit. The stocky, upright demeanor of the standard Sportster is gone—it’s now low and sleek, with 39mm clip-on bars to accentuate the look.

Other RSD parts are used to great effect. That includes the inlet and exhaust, the ignition and rockerbox covers, and the rearsets. The brake calipers are from Performance Machine, hooked up to RSD 11.5” discs, and much of the cabling is from the Barnett Stealth Series.

And those wheels? They’re custom fabricated and 19” x 2.5” in size, both front and back. “The true link between the bike and the turntables came alive the first time we rotated the wheels,” says Sands. “It was very cool to see the dots on the wheels shift direction as the wheels spun.”

The mix of silver and black paint—with satin and gloss finishes—is also inspired by Technics’ products. And it works beautifully. Subtle and stylish, the Technics Sportster should be studied carefully by every marketing manager planning to commission a custom bike build.

Fair Hostesses: Where would motor shows be without them?

It's a well-known fact that the simplest route to a man's wallet is through his groin, which is why the most important people in the automotive world are not engineers, designers, road testers or salesmen - but car show hostesses.

I've struggled to determine exactly when it was discovered that draping attractive women on and around motor cars helped to enhance the latter's appeal. The earliest illustrated record in my possession is in the form of an advertisement for a 1948 Chrysler, which promotes the availability of custom interior finishes by depicting a shapely woman in a tweed two-piece advancing towards the open door of a rag-top New Yorker sporting upholstery which matches her clothes.
There's also a rather alluring black and white shot of a demure, tightly permed young woman in my copy of the 1950 British Motor Car guide. She's standing beside a Standard estate, tentatively reaching out to stroke the neck of a horse. But it's hardly a sexy image is it?



Presumably it was during the Swinging 60s that the use of nubile, mini-skirted young things to distract the mainly male attendees of car shows became de rigueur. I know that by the following decade the combination of cars and crumpet was a recognised recipe for success, because I remember being acutely embarrassed at the 1975 Earls Court show when a dark-haired beauty in a jaunty cap, flared trousers and a chiffon scarf that hung between loosely nylon-clad breasts beckoned the 11-year-old me onto the Lotus stand
According to one of our more scholarly Classic Driver colleagues, however, it was the great British sports car company TVR that took the art of the show hostess to its zenith (while simultaneously saving on the expense of costumes) simply by fielding girls Helen Jones and Sue Shaw who were completely naked at the 1971 London Motor Show.

But that's about as brash as a set of straight-through pipes on a Blackpool V8. Surely a bit of tight-topped teasing is more stimulating to the imagination?
Perhaps these images of hostesses through the decades will help you to decide your preference. A little innocent 1960s sauce? Or a large portion of 21st Century silicone? The choice wasn't, isn't, and probably never will be, yours… even if you buy the car. 
Text: Simon de Burton from classicdriver.com
Photos: Getty Images