Do the Ride Thing – The Bikes, the Builders, and the Book -

The motorcycle is back! Similar to the fresh contemporary scene that has established itself around bicycles in the last few years, the motorcycle is currently undergoing an aesthetic resurrection. Gestalten.tv takes you on a visual ride with engines revved-up and roaring. This video features footage and commentary by celebrated bike builders including Roland Sands, Vincent Prat, Ola Stenegard, El Solitario’s David Borras, as well as The Ride’s co-editor Chris Hunter of Bike EXIF. Get an insider’s view of the high-spirited young motorcycle scene, which is extensively documented in our latest release The Ride: New Custom Motorcycles and their Builders.

Order the book here: shop.gestalten.com/the-ride.html

Do the Ride Thing – The Bikes, the Builders, and the Book from Gestalten on Vimeo.

BUELL X1 LIGHTNING BY DEUS

Deus’ Los Angeles outpost is gathering momentum. Design Director Michael Woolaway has now built nine bikes, and this is the latest—an uncompromising reworking of the Buell X1 Lightning, nicknamed ‘Bully.’

Let’s get the name out of the way first. “It’s somewhat to do with its silhouette, somewhat to do with wordplay—take the name Buell and rearrange the letters, and you get close. But it’s really to do with the fact that it just feels like a bully,” says Woolie.

The build started with a post-collision wreck. After a trip to Dr. John’s Frame Straightening—the go-to shop in Southern California for frame work—a new chromoly subframe and swingarm were installed. Then Woolie got down to business in his Venice Beach workshop.

Using as many US-made parts as he could, Woolie has created a fast and capable café racer. “It feels like a well planted, comfortable and smooth riding bike,” he says, “even at extreme lean angles.” Not bad for a relatively heavy machine like the X1.

Pierre Vallaincourt from Works Performance custom-built the underslung rear shock, with a handmade fluid reservoir. And Rizoma USA provided a sprinkling of billet aluminum parts.

The gas tank and seat are both handmade from aluminum, using shapes inspired by the 80s. The tank is a nod to the Yamaha TZ250 racer, and the seat carries hints of 1980s superbike styling. The paint scheme has an unusual provenance: it’s adapted from a pair of Nike high-tops designed by the bike’s owner.

The highlight for me, though, is that amazingly sinuous exhaust system, terminating in a single Burns stainless muffler, offset to the right. It took several days of work to make the equal-length piping, which is TIG-welded and features ceramic coating at the front. The oil tank was positioned in the gas tank to create room around the engine to achieve the equal length pipes.

The Buell is obviously a machine with a mission. “When you sit on that thing, it shakes and it thumps and it pulls,” Woolie enthuses.

I’m sold. I wonder what Erik would think of it?

Head over to the Deus USA website to see more of Woolie’s work. You’ll also find the Emporium of Postmodern Activities on Facebook.

from BIKEEXIF

2013 WSBK Istanbul: Sylvain Guintoli fastest in FP1

The World Superbike riders rode for the first time the impressive Istanbul Park circuit this morning. Since it was the first time the opening practice as extended to a full 90 minutes, so the riders could have time to learn the circuit, and work on set-up as they obviously don’t have any past data to work from.

With this in mind, the fastest rider of the morning session was Sylvain Guintoli - who has already rode on the Turkish circuit both in the 250cc class and in MotoGP. The Aprilia rider posted the benchmark with 1’56″851 lap, six tenths quicker than Marco Melandri who took his first ever victory in MotoGP at Istanbul Park in 2005.

Following in third was WSBK standings leader Tom Sykes (team mate Loris Baz is not racing after his crash at Nurburgring). Leon Haslam put his Honda into fourth ahead of a suprisingly fast Toni Elias.

Elias is officially debuting in World Superbikes this weekend for the Red Devils squad. The Spaniard headed the top of the timesheets for the first 45 minutes until he dropped to fifth and 1,5 seconds from Guintoli, but ahead of fellow Aprilia rider Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies, Jules Cluzel and closing the top ten was Carlos Checa, who suffered a crash.

Michele Fabrizio who is replacing recovering Jonathan Rea was just 14th and he found himself squeezed between Max Neukirchner and Leon Camier. These two riders crashed out and Camier was taken to the medical center with an injured foot and a suspected fracture. Ayrton Badovini was the third rider to crash out in the session. Turn 1 turned out to be the trickiest corner with several riders running off track.

2013 WSBK Istanbul FP1 results:

1. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′56.851
2. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1′57.518
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′57.735
4. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 1′58.273
5. Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′58.369
6. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′58.445
7. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1′58.802
8. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′58.805
9. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′58.902
10. Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 1′59.237
11. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 1′59.675

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

SuperMoto : a weekend in Sicily / escale en Sicile.

After a two-month summer break, the FIM SuperMoto World Championship resumes with this week’s trip to Triscina, Sicily. The penultimate round of the season will be followed by the following weekend’s finale in France.

Après une pause estivale de deux mois, le Championnat du monde SuperMoto FIM a rendez-vous ce week-end à Triscina en Sicile pour disputer l’avant-dernière épreuve de la saison avant d’enchaîner la semaine suivante avec la finale en France.

For the fourth time this year, Italy is hosting a round of the SuperMoto World Championship. After visits to Capua, Vairano and Latina, the series moves on to Triscina, southwest of Palermo, which is organising a round of the series for the fourth straight year.

The championship’s clear leader Mauno Hermunen (TM SHR) has barely put a foot wrong this season, since he has only failed to win the second race at Latina. With 241 points to his name, the Finn is 22 points clear of the defending champion Thomas Chareyre (TM Factory Team) who underwent surgery to his right hand in July.

The latter’s brother Adrien Chareyre (Aprilia-Team Fast Wheels-Michelin) is currently third on 182 points. He would like to take advantage of his improving form to repeat the win he scored here in 2012 over the two races. Ivan Lazzarini (Honda-L30 Racing-Michelin), who is fourth, just five points short of Adrien Chareyre, recently secured his 10^th Italian title.

Fifth-placed Sylvain Bidart (Honda-Team Luc1-Michelin) will be buoyed by his two wins in the recent French championship meeting at L’Alpe d’Huez.

L’Italie accueille pour la quatrième fois de la saison une manche du mondial de SuperMoto. Après Capua, Vairano et Latina, c’est désormais au tour de Triscina, situé au Sud-Ouest de Palerme de recevoir pour la quatrième année consécutive une épreuve du championnat du monde.

Leader incontesté, Mauno Hermunen (TM SHR) a presque réalisé un sans faute depuis le début de la saison. Seule la seconde course lors de la dernière épreuve à Latina lui a échappé. Totalisant 241 points, le finlandais compte 22 points d’avance sur le champion en titre, Thomas Chareyre (TM Factory Team), opéré de la main droite en juillet dernier.

Son frère, Adrien Chareyre (Aprilia – Team Fast Wheels - Michelin) occupe désormais la troisième place du classement provisoire à 59 points du leader. En nette progression, Adrien souhaite renouer avec la victoire qu’il avait décrochée en 2012 au cumul des deux manches. Quatrième à seulement cinq points d’Adrien Chareyre, Ivan Lazzarini (Honda  - L30 Racing- Michelin) débarque à Triscina fraîchement couronné de son dixième titre de champion d’Italie.

Motivé par ses deux récentes victoires lors la dernière manche du Championnat de France SuperMoto à l’Alpe d’Huez, Sylvain Bidart (Honda – Team Luc1- Michelin) complète le Top 5.

Programme :

Samedi 14 septembre :

11 :00 : essais libres 1

14 :00 : essais libres 2

16 :10 : essais qualificatifs

Dimanche 15 septembre :

10 :30 : warm-up

14 :00 : course 1

16 :20 : course 2