Besi Kz200 Sweet Cafe Racer

The KZ200 isn’t a motorcycle we see often here on The Bike Shed, but in Indonesia the 0.2 litre Kawasaki holds a special place for bikers, as it was the first official ‘big’ cc bike to be imported into the country, so it represented a certain coming of age, and if you had one, you were the man.

This passion has remained with Mahatma of Besi Moto Project and he has turned several of these iconic machines into lovely customs, covering flat trackers, cafe racers and brats.

Besi means Iron in Bahasa, Indonesia, and Mahatma’s vision was to “blend and tame cold hard iron into moving art on two wheels”.

This cafe racer build is a 1980 bike, wearing a Yamaha LS3 tank and custom seat and has been called “The Sweetest Thing”. The overall look and feel, the paint and the headlamp style are a slight departure from their usual House style. The bike took two and a half months to build and Mahatma is rightfully pleased with the result.

Here are a few more bikes – mostly Kz200s – from Besi Moto Project in Bahasa, Indonesia…

Below – TVS Apache (Indian Made)

Follow Besi Moto Project on their website.

via the Bike Shed

Irvine Laidlaw racing collection to be a highlight of RM’s 2013 London sale

Describing himself as not a car collector but a “car enthusiast who wants to exercise his cars regularly”, Baron Laidlaw has decided to thin out his racing stable. So, this September, RM’s London sale will include some of the finest.

And when we say ‘finest’, we don’t simply mean the pick of the Conservative life peer’s extensive garage. No, when speaking of such cars as the ex-Camoradi Maserati Tipo 61 ‘Birdcage’, one has to say that these are best-of-the-best, Premier Cru lots with a virtually open entry to any one of the world’s best events.

Joining what many consider to be the finest-ever front-engined sports-racer are six other superlative machines. The 1958 Maserati 250S, chassis no. 2432, is an ex-Carroll Shelby and Jim Hall car. The long-nose Jaguar D-type was a factory entry at Le Mans in 1955, then sold to the Ecurie Ecosse team in whose hands it finished sixth at Monza in 1957.

Likewise, both the 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C and 1965 Porsche 904/6 have impeccable histories including the Le Mans 24 Hours. And the two Chevrons (1970 B16 coupé and 1971 B19 spider) also have extensive period racing credentials. They are also beautifully prepared - like all Laidlaw cars - and ferociously fast.

Sure to be an action-packed event, RM’s London sale will take place over two days, 8-9 September 2013.

Photos: RM Auctions

You can view early entries to RM's 8-9 September sale in the Classic Driver Marketplace

Valentino Rossi talks about Yamaha's seamless gearbox

Obviously one of the topics that came out during the pre-event press conference at Indianapolis, was the seamless gearbox that Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi tested at Brno last week, since Yamaha did not offer any insight into the test.

Lorenzo admitted that the gearbox is still an evolution and not ready to be used, while Valentino Rossi was much more specific about it, adding that the first sensations were positive, but he too said it isn’t ready to used in a race situation, and that there is still work to do on it, and has no idea if the seamless gearbox can be fitted on the engines that they are already using.

Rossi also said they had to be 100% sure that it worked before introducing it - during the Brno test Rossi apparently had issues with it - but he brushed it off jokingly saying, “just that I was tired and - and I don’t have enough power for to come back in the pit.”

Here’s what the Italian had to say:

Yeah, so for me in one lap doesn’t change a lot. I mean about the lap time. We try, we try to make some comparison. A lot of people speak about two-tenths for a lap - I think is less than two-tenths. But the big improvement is I think in the 20 or 30 laps because the bike become a lot more easier to ride, more stable, more stable in acceleration, but also more stable in braking, in the next braking,” said Rossi.

“For me, it’s better for the tires, less stress for the tires, and also is very good for the riders because the bike become more easy to bring at the limit and more difficult to make a mistake. So I think it’s something very important for the race distance more than for one lap.

The feeling is fantastic. It’s a great emotion to ride with the gearbox, and acceleration is very good. When we can use, you say? Sincerely, I don’t know. Me and Jorge push a lot for to have as soon as possible because is very good. And now it’s a little bit bad feeling to come back to the normal one because the normal one feels very fast before you try the seamless. But the Japanese say that we have to be quiet, the gearbox is a critical point. We have to be ready 100 percent, but I hope as soon as possible during the season I hope, yeah.”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

chalumeau