ACE CAFE RADIO

    lundi 28 juillet 2014

    BSMC GEAR GUIDE #19


    HEDON-HEDONIST-OPEN-FACED-HELMET_4
    PRODUCT REVIEW – HEDON HEDONIST OPEN FACED HELMET
    Hedon founders Reginald and Lindsay have designed a beautiful helmet that speaks directly to the new wave custom scene. Tired of conventional style, they set out on a mission to “…rethink the urban rider’s protective headgear”, crafting helmets with future retro styling combined with contemporary colours and finishes.
    Hedon are a small company based in North West London, producing limited runs. Their ethos is based upon the belief that “…when form and function come together seamlessly, style is effortless.”
    HEDON-HEDONIST-OPEN-FACED-HELMET_3
    The Hedonist helmets are small, and I don’t mean they squeeze your head, but have a small shell size that looks authentically old school and avoids the bulbous look of many contemporary open face lids.
    The shell is constructed with a composite fiber of carbon fiberglass and carbon. The shell contains Hed Armor lining with 360″ cushion padding and Merlin anti-bacterial fabric. They have full ECE 22.05 certification.
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    They are incredibly well constructed and each one is hand crafted. They are comfortable out of the box, with a hugging fit that doesn’t pinch. These feel safe. The leather lining is soft against the skin, and is secured with a felt lined strap. The Hedonist feels like a luxury product.
    I got mine in matte Teal with a tan natural calf leather lining. The finishing details work really well with the leather trim around the opening, the leather goggle strap, and the copper and brass fittings. I also got the blue bubble visor, which again is well constructed, clear and surprisingly distortion free. Check out the website for the wide range of colours in both matte and gloss finishes. They’ve chosen well – the Mint, the Cactus and the Creme are stunning.
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    The Hedonist is an excellent helmet, and at a mid-price range, it rivals much more expensive lids in build quality, comfort and design.
    REV-IT-MOHAWK-BOOTS_1
    PRODUCT REVIEW BY BSMC’S OWN ROSS SHARP – REV’IT MOHAWK BOOTS
    Unless you ride a scooter or Charlie McGregor touring machine, carrying capacity is unlikely to stretch to a spare pair of shoes once you reach your destination. This left us bikers with a choice, Red Wings or proper armoured boots, until now. Rev’it Mohawks bridge the gap between safety and style, arguably better than what has previously been on offer. I haven’t tried the Stylmartin Indians so can’t comment on these, other than I prefer the Mohawk’s aesthetic.
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    Plain and understated the Mohawk’s look good in the only colour available, chestnut brown. There’s no fake ageing going on, just quality tanning of the full-grain cowhide. The ‘pull-up’ leather used ensures an organic look once the boot is worn in and due it its oiled and waxy composition will repel water and last ages. Crease lines and light scuffs in pull-up leather can be rubbed to release the oils and rejuvenate blemishing and revive the colour.
    Thermoformed plastic toe and heel protection elements are unobtrusive and visually unnoticeable, complimented by subtle ankle plates which all go someway to ensuring you walk away from a tumble. A good urban boot but I would probably prefer something more substantial if attacking the Indy Mile. There’s 3M reflective tape on the thumb loop on the rear for added visibility.
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    Laces are waxed cotton covering a gusseted tongue to keep the elements out. The top lace rivet is ochre which may only be a small detail but it works. The sole has a low, gradual rise heel making it versatile for most foot peg set ups and walking around town. To keep the toe area looking good and preventing that dark shifter mark, the boots come with a matching protective leather strap, which is interchangeable if you ride right-shift Brit bikes.
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    The supple leather and padded ankle cuff promised much but my initial walk around was about as comfortable as the atmosphere on a Brazilian footballists tour bus. Mostly due to my stupidly shaped heels so a couple of pairs of socks should see me through the breaking in period. Other shoe and boot manufacturers out there, look inside these boots and take note. Seems, stitches, creases, flaps or folds are not welcome in the heel area, there is no need! Well done Rev’it for acknowledging this and making a completely smooth, irritation free heel zone.
    I’m looking forward to sporting these handsome boots on the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride later this year once they look a little less box-fresh.
     DUKE-&-SONS-WALLET_1
    PRODUCT REVIEW BY BMSC’S OWN TIMM WELLENS – DUKE & SONS WALLET
    Everyone that went our Event III knows Jan from Duke and Sons. He was the craftsman that everyone watched build masterpieces from leather. He and his wife, Ingeborg, flew to London to be with us that weekend to create a lasting relationship.
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    I am a stickler for quality. It is so important to me I am on the verge of starting a petition to outlaw Wal-Mart/Asda. When I saw Jan making his belts, card holders and wallets, I really looked at what he was doing. This guy is an artisan, extremely skilled in his trade. The result is brilliant, high quality goods.
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    So at the show I order his BSMC inspired wallet. It took a month to arrive, and once I pulled it from the bag I knew that I bought a wallet that would last me a very long time, if not a life time. Everything from the stitching to the carving of the piston and wing, it is all done meticulously well. The leather is tough, rigid at first, but durable to last decades of abuse pulling it from your pocket to buy the next round.
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    So he offers this wallet with variation on the colours, threads and engraving. I went for the brown and the reddish stitch and it looks great. Like I said at first the leather is stiff, but after a while it will soften and form its unique shape.
    His next project for me is a passport holder.
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    PRODUCT CRASH TEST BY BSMC’S OWN TIMM WELLENS – REDWING IRON RANGER BOOTS
    Its always a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’. We all know that. So when we get out on our bikes it must cross everyone’s mind. I think about ‘when’s the next time’. The time before last I was intentionally knocked off by some white van man experiencing road rage through Clapham Common. Kent Building Contractors… twat.
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    A couple weeks ago I was on my way to Muff to meet the other Shedders for Sunday breakfast. Everyone that lives in London knows Sunday mornings the roads are empty, relatively speaking. I did the checks on the bike, which is strange for me I never do pre-ride checks. So before I set off I put some air in the front tyre and went. The ‘67 Bonnie was running a treat, the morning was warm and fresh just after a rain storm. I was cruising towards Blackwall Tunnel when something happened. Next I know the front end is sliding off to the left and I see the road rapidly approaching me on my right. Fortunately I got away with only a broken wrist and a damaged bike. Not even a flesh wound.
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    As it was only a quick ride I wore my favourite boots, the Redwing Iron Rangers. These boots are great, so comfortable and stylish, they make the prefect boot. If you can’t tell, I love these boots. So getting up from the wreck, I was first concerned about the bike then myself. After realising both were fine, I started to look over what damage I caused to my clothes. Of course I look at my boots thinking I would have some heinous scraps or rips. But no, nothing really. Very little damage. The scratches on the boots were minimal, even character building. A little oil and they blend in. The lace loops held up fine, remarkably strong. The sole completely intact. Amazing. They faired far better than the jacket and gloves which took the secondary bashing. There is something to be said for wearing the right kit. Redwing may seem trendy, but they haven’t changed since I knew them growing up.I t goes back to my original review on these boots, the quality shines through even after the little spills we take.
     WTF-EL-SOLITARIO-SWEAT-SHIRT_2
    PRODUCT REVIEW – WTF EL SOLITARIO SWEAT SHIRT
    Our good friends from the Galician backlands having been making some pretty cool gear for their Iberian and Basque anarchist biker brothers and sisters for quite some time. Their Rascal pants have become something of a legend. Like their bikes, the build quality of El Solitario’s gear is exceptional.
    I am something of a sweatshirt geek. I live in them, whether under leathers on the bike, working on the bike, or hanging out with the dogs dreaming of bikes. I hate shitty sweats. They should be like jeans, getting better with age, not going all thin and brittle and threadbare.
    David and Val have spent over a year researching the right suppliers in the pursuit of ‘…obscure perfectionism”, discarding sackfuls of samples in order to get to the point where they’re made their way. Made in Portugal these sweats are just right down to the fit, the ribbing, the neck, and even the labels are pretty cool.
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    I got mine in the marbled pink, because hey, I like pink, and real men wear pink. Take the piss if you will, because I don’t care because I love my pink sweatshirt. If you fancy something a little less bright, then it comes in charcoal too.
    As you’d expect, these are 100% cotton.
    via The Bike Shed

    "MAD MAX : FURY ROAD" : UNE PREMIÈRE BANDE-ANNONCE QUI DÉMÉNAGE

    8 Heures de Suzuka : nouvelle victoire de MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO / FCC TSR Honda in front at midpoint


    MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO remporte les 8 Heures de Suzuka, deuxième épreuve du Championnat du monde d’Endurance FIM (EWC), pour la seconde fois consécutive. Comme en 2013, Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance et Kagayama complètent le podium. Meilleure équipe permanente, le SERT termine huitième.
    La 37ème édition des 8 Heures de Suzuka restera certainement dans les annales pour ses conditions climatiques difficiles et son podium identique à celui de 2013. Suite à des pluies diluviennes qui se sont abattues juste avant le départ, la course a été réduite à 6 heures 55 minutes au lieu des 8 heures initialement prévues.
    La Honda n°634, emmenée par l’équipage victorieux de 2013 composé de Leon Haslam, Takumi Takahashi et Michael Van Der Mark, s’impose pour la deuxième année consécutive et enlève son troisième succès à Suzuka (2010 – 2013 – 2014). MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO a bouclé 172 tours.
    Bénéficiant de la chute du leader FCC TSR Honda (Akiyoshi) lors du 108ème tour, après 4h25 de course, MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO a pris définitivement les commandes. Enchaînant les tours rapides,  Michael Van Der Mark, auteur du meilleur chrono en 2.08.620, a creusé un écart suffisant pour ressortir en tête aux prochains ravitaillements.
    Comme en 2013, Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance (Tsuda, Waters et de Puniet) termine deuxième à une minute du vainqueur. Kagayama (Kagayama, Haga et Aegerter) monte sur la troisième marche du podium.
    La deuxième place a donné lieu à une belle bagarre entre Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance, Kagayama et le YART 07 (Nakasuga, Parkes et Brookes) mais la Yamaha n°07 a dû décrocher suite à un problème de shifter peu après le début de la quatrième heure. Relégué à la huitième place, le YART 07 est revenu à la quatrième place à un tour de MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO.
    Le SERT (Delhalle, Nigon et Cudlin), première équipe permanente, termine huitième. Le GMT 94 (Checa, Foray et Gines) se classe neuvième devant le YART. Bolliger Team est 13ème alors que le team R2CL, privé de Matthieu Lagrive, blessé suite à une chute au warm-up, rallie l’arrivée en 19ème position. Le team Motors Events finit ses premières 8 Heures de Suzuka à la 25ème  place.
    Auteur d’un bon début de course, Honda Endurance Racing (Da Costa, Gimbert et Foray) a rencontré un problème électronique au début de la troisième heure qui a immobilisé la Honda n°111 au box pendant une vingtaine de minutes. Ressorti à la 59ème place à 13 tours du leader, il termine à la 33ème  place.
    Le GMT 94 prend la tête du classement provisoire avec 62 points devant Kawasaki SRC (55 points) qui participera à la prochaine course, les 8 Heures d’Oschersleben. Bolliger Team est troisième avec 51 points. Le SERT remonte à la septième place avec 23 points devancé de trois points par le team R2CL.
    Prochaine course : 8 Heures d’Oschersleben, 23 août
    Halfway into the race, FCC TSR Honda leads the 8 Hours of Suzuka, round two of the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC). It is joined in the provisional top three by Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance and MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO. The best-placed EWC-registered team is SERT (10th).
    A torrential downpour compelled the organisers to postpone the start at Suzuka by 1 hour and 5 minutes. In keeping with the regulations, the race must finish at 7:30pm local time, so this year’s competition will last 6 hours and 55 minutes, instead of eight hours.
    The 70 bikes eventually got away at 12:35pm in very wet conditions. TOHO Racing with MORIWAKI led after Lap 1 but was soon passed by FCC TSR Honda which has since only relinquished its lead for a single lap during the first round of refuelling stops.
    The second hour saw a dry line begin to form and, after taking over from Akiyoshi, Jonathan Rea (FCC TSR Honda) posted a sequence of strong laps (including the fastest race lap) to build up a sufficiently comfortable cushion to be able re-join in front after the bike’s second stop.
    It was about at this time that rain started to fall again, forcing teams to review their strategies and switch to rain tyres. Once everything settled down again, Kagayama appeared in second spot, ahead of Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance.
    The first safety car interruption occurred a few minutes afterwards and this allowed FCC TSR Honda to extend its advantage to one lap.
    With 3½ hours completed, FCC TSR Honda still led by a lap, chased by Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance, MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO, Kagayama, YART 07 and Honda Suzuka Racing Team who were all on the same lap. Kagayama fell from second place after its third pit stop, which was 15 minutes before the halfway point
    SERT is the best-placed EWC-registered team (10th), followed by YART (12th) and GMT 94 (13th). Bolliger is 18th and R2CL is 28th. After spending time inside the top 10 early on, Honda Endurance Racing dropped 20 minutes in the pits after the N°111 Honda encountered an electronics problem during the third hour. Freddy Foray re-joined in 59th place, 13 laps down.
    Legend of Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance was the first chief retirement of the 37th edition of the 8 Hours of Suzuka following a fall while attempting to pass Tsuda (Yoshimura Suzuki Shell Advance) into third place on Lap 7.
    With 3 hours and 25 minutes still to go, more rain is expected before the chequered flag comes down at Suzuka.

    Sleeping supercar: Why the BMW M1 could take the market by storm


    1980 BMW M1 AHG Studie to be auctioned at RM's Monterey sale 2014
    It’s a masterpiece of Italian supercar design, boasts German racing technology and is rarer than a Lancia Stratos. BMW M1 prices have been steadily rising in recent years, but is there potential for the value of the Bavarian homologation special to soar into the stratosphere?

    Only the finest ingredients

    The hour has definitely struck for late Seventies/early Eighties supercars. At recent auctions, icons such as the Lamborghini CountachFerrari F40 and Porsche 911 Turbo have brought record results. But what about the BMW M1? It has all the right ingredients to join the club. Created to homologate a Group 4 racing car, the futuristic M1 debuted at the 1978 Paris Motor Show where it certainly caught the crowd’s attention. This was Germany’s fastest sports car, and it wasn’t a Porsche. And with the now-legendary dry-sump M88 straight-six and a radical body, originating from Paul Bracq’s 1972 Turbo Concept and refined by Giorgio Giugiaro, it had all the makings of a success story for BMW. 

    The fairytale that wasn't meant to be

    But the M1 project was plagued with problems from the very beginning. Shortly before production began, Lamborghini (with which BMW had agreed to produce the cars) pulled out of the deal due to financial issues, meaning that the 400 cars that needed building in the following 24 months for homologation purposes were assembled at various locations across Italy and Germany. What’s more, a rule change in Group 4 racing essentially rendered the racing car obsolete, and when a more powerful Group 5 version was eventually produced, it proved unreliable and underpowered. There was the acclaimed Procar series – a race series that followed the F1 circus and pitched Formula One stars against each other in identical BMW M1 racing cars – and the car did enjoy some success across the Pond in the IMSA GTO series. But there was little reason for BMW to celebrate.

    Taking its time

    So is the M1’s ill-fated racing career the reason why prices haven’t taken off as they have for some of its contemporaries? Jan B. Lühn, a classic car dealer with an M1 Procar currently for sale, thinks that it’s only a matter of time before the M1 catches up. "Supercars of the Eighties are becoming more and more in vogue, especially among the younger buyers," he says. "For me, the M1 is the classic of tomorrow – it’s mechanically reliable and great fun to drive. The M1 is, in my eyes, a style icon and one of the few BMWs attractive to serious collectors." 
    "BMW is less obvious than some marques, so it's taken longer for collectors to appreciate these cars," says classic car consultant Simon Kidston, who currently has a stunning M1 for sale. But cars such as the M1, which had star quality when new, won't stay under the radar forever. Kidston predicted that the Lamborghini Countach was a car to watch this year, and he was right. "I'd expect steady appreciation for the M1. It's BMW's answer to the supercars from Ferrari and Lamborghini, and rarer than most of its rivals. It's the thinking man's alternative."

    The rare AHG Studie

    Ask any expert what to look out for when investing in an M1, and so often the reply is that it must be original. But what of this curious model? The car shown here is no racer – it’s a standard M1 with the rare AHG Studie tuning package. Boasting the period BMW works livery, it will go under the hammer at RM’s flagship Monterey sale in August, with an attached estimate of $600,000-$800,000. The retrofit AHG Studie pack was the work of Peter Gartemann, the then-president and owner of the German BMW dealer AHG. Gartemann had an idea to develop a customisation programme that would give the standard M1 the look of the Procar model. It wasn’t just cosmetic changes, either. Under the bonnet, the engine’s 277HP was increased to 350HP, and there were numerous other mechanical modifications including adjustable racing suspension. Consequently, the package was extremely expensive and, as a result, only 10 BMW M1 AHG Studies were built.
    RM’s car is one of those 10, and is reputedly in very good original condition having covered a mere 7000km. Alexander Weaver, a specialist at RM, is convinced that the time has come for such supercars as the M1. The generation whose poster cars included the Porsche 930 Turbo and Ferrari 512BB has developed its own particular taste, and can now afford to purchase its own icons. 
    Could 2014 be the last opportunity to obtain an M1 before prices boom? Jan B. Lühn sums it up nicely, stating that appreciation of BMW’s solitary supercar has been rising since early in 2013, and that prices have some way to go yet. Considering that only some 456 road and race cars were built, many of them now slumbering in large collections, the potential of the M1 seems far from exhausted. 
    Photos: RM Auctions
    You can find BMW M1s in the Classic Driver Market.