dimanche 1 mars 2015
Red Bull Frozen Rush : Des trucks pro-4 qui s’affrontent en duel sur une piste de ski ?
Plutôt habitués aux pistes en terre, quelques-uns des meilleurs pilotes de trucks pro-4 de la planète avaient rendez-vous ce week-end dans une station de ski du Maine, Sunday River, pour disputer l’édition 2015 du Red Bull Frozen Rush et mettre leurs talents à l’épreuve de la glace.
Ils étaient 9 à pouvoir prétendre à la victoire finale mais seuls deux ont franchi tous les obstacles qui les séparaient de la grande finale : le tenant du titre Ricky Johnson et le jeune ambitieux Bryce Menzies. Scott Douglas ou encore Rob MacCachren ont également eu l’occasion de faire le show mais l’ultime round de la compétition a véritablement été le clou du spectacle.
Et si Ricky Johnson a fait tout ce qu’il a pu pour conserver sa couronne de roi des neiges, il a finalement dû s’incliner face au jeune pilote originaire de l’Arizona.
Le Red Bull Frozen Rush ne ressemble pas à une course trucks classique. En fait, ça ne ressemble à aucune autre course : on parle là de duels de bolides de 900 chevaux sur…une piste de ski. Fabriqués pour être performant sur terre, les trucks pro-4 ont été placés dans des conditions terribles et les pneus ont dû être remplacés par des BF Goodrich cloutés à toute épreuve.
En 2015, ce sont quelques-uns des meilleurs pilotes d’Amérique du Nord qui se sont affrontés sur les pistes de la station de Sunday River, dans le Maine. Tous spécialistes de la course sur terre, ils ont eux-mêmes dû adapter leur pilotage pour s’en sortir la tête haute sur la neige.
Qu’ils s’appellent Ricky Johnson, Bryce Menzies, Rob MacCachran ou encore Carl Renezeder, ils ont tenté le tout pour le tout pour tenter de l’emporter.
Lancez la vidéo ci-dessous pour revivre l’évènement de l’intérieur !
NORTH TO NOOSA – TRAILER
Deus Ex Machina proudly announces the release of its new Surf/Moto Adventure film entitled North To Noosa. The film, directed by award winning film-maker and photographer Dustin Humphrey documents the journey of three young surfers as they make their way north from Sydney to Noosa.
Laden with surfboards and camping equipment, the surfers battle the elements as they ride custom motorcycles through floods and rain squalls, finding uncrowded waves along the way.
Written and narrated by Harrison Roach, the film showcases the East Coast of Australia’s most iconic surf destinations. Watch as Harrison, Matt Cuddihy, and Husni Ridwan experience the highs and lows of a great Australian road trip.
YAMAHA DT250 BY ONE DOWN FOUR UP
Every year, hundreds of custom motorcycle lovers descend on Portland, Oregon, for the One Motorcycle Show. This year Wayne Corbett and Gabrielle Jones of One Down Four Up made the trip, and left with a trophy.
They trekked north from their headquarters in Redding, California, to show off Gabrielle’s new ride: this stunning 1975 Yamaha DT250.
“We originally bought the bike for Gabrielle to turn into her daily driver,” explains Wayne. “But we sat on it for about a year, waiting to find the right inspiration.”
“Then we ran into an old flat track racer around town. He let us dig through his barn full of old race bikes and parts, where he pulled out his old riding helmet from under a dusty OSSA frame. It was an old Bell Star painted in a yellow, orange and red color scheme; from there the design was born.”
Between the two of them, Wayne and Gabrielle handle all design, repairs, fabrication, upholstery and photography in-house. With fresh inspiration, they decided to turn the Yamaha DT250 into a flat tracker—taking additional cues from the AHRMA vintage flat track class guidelines.
Since the DT250 would run primarily on-road, a balance had to be struck between performance, reliability and practical considerations. One Down Four Up gave the engine a refresh—squeezing more power out of it by re-jetting the stock carb, and fitting a K&N filter and a tuned, nickel-plated Circle F expansion chamber. According to Wayne, “it’ll pull the front up in almost any gear.”
The stock oil injection pump was retained and a new oil tank installed below the fuel tank. (Look above, and you’ll see the extra oil cap poking out behind the steering stem.) This new set-up lets Wayne and Gabrielle fuel up anywhere without having to mix gas or carry extra containers.
The electrical system has been upgraded via a 12-volt alternator, with an integrated electronic ignition. This allows the team to run LED lights at both ends. Hiding under the seat is an Antigravity 4-cell battery.
To upgrade the suspension, One Down Four Up bolted on a Yamaha XS650 front end—splicing the XS triple trees with the DT’s steering stem, and upgrading it with tapered bearings. Later model 35mm XS forks were chosen to accommodate chunky dirt track tires.
Out back, an aftermarket Yamaha SR500 swingarm was modified to fit the DT250, simultaneously bringing down the bike’s weight and extending its wheelbase. Fellow Californians Works Performance supplied a set of custom-built shocks, which included offset eye mounts to accommodate the difference in width between the frame and swingarm.
When it came to tackling the DT250’s bodywork, One Down Four Up set out to shed as many pounds as they could. They fitted an aluminum TT-style fuel tank and fabricated an aluminum tailpiece, modifying the subframe to support it. Brown leather was used for the seat and carried through to the grips.
Other aluminum parts include the number plate, skid plate, rear sprocket and fuel and oil tank caps. Another Californian company—Buchanan’s Spoke and Rim Inc—built up a typical flat track wheel set for the bike: 19-inch Sun rims laced with stainless steel spokes and shod with Maxxis DTR-1s.
As a nod to the old Bell that inspired it, the Yamaha DT250 was finished in a delightfully vintage white, orange and yellow scheme.
We love it and so did visitors to the One Show: Gabrielle’s flat tracker walked away with the People’s Choice award at the event.
A few more tweaks, and it might start appearing at the local racetrack.
One Down Four Up website | Facebook | Instagram
via BIKEexif
INDY MILE: GASOLINA’S CUSTOM SR400 TRACKER
In Melbourne, Australia—on the Yarra River’s shorefront—you’ll find an outfit called Gasolina. It’s an unusual but very appealing business: a restaurant-cum-motorcycle design studio that doubles up as an event venue.
A few months ago, Gasolina played host to Yamaha Australia when they relaunched the SR400. The Yamaha guys must have had a good time, because shortly afterwards they delivered a fresh SR400 to Gasolina’s chief designer, Carl Cerra.
Carl has twenty years in automotive design under his belt, so he was the perfect candidate to pen some custom designs for the SR.
A few sketches later, Carl had settled on a direction. Drawing influence from Kenny Roberts’ illustrious career with Yamaha, he decided to build a modern-day street tracker—dubbing it the “Indy Mile”.
“The intent was to make it look like a factory bike from Yamaha,” he explains. “Instead of taking a new bike and simply trying to make it look old, we wanted it to look like a production tracker—with a little retro flavor.”
To increase the challenge, all the mods had to be bolt-on. The frame and drivetrain had to be left untouched, for warranty and reliability’s sake. That way, the Indy Mile could be offered in kit form—simple and affordable enough for the average garage builder to put together.
Starting with clay molds, Clay redesigned the Yamaha’s bodywork around the stock tank. He then made the new ducktail rear section, side covers and headlight shroud using fiberglass. (The final production version of the kit will use ABS plastic.)
On top of the tail section is a custom-made seat, and at the back are an integrated tail light and turn signals. The front mudguard has been borrowed from a dirt bike. The front suspension’s been left stock, but aftermarket gas units have replaced the rear shocks.
Gasolina rounded out the parts list with Biltwell Tracker bars, Pirelli Scorpion tires, and off-the-shelf grips and gauges. Danmoto built the gorgeous exhaust system to Carl’s spec.
When it came to paint, putting a modern spin on King Kenny’s iconic yellow, black and white livery was a no-brainer. Carl mocked up the design and Andy at Metzeffects executed it.
Indy Mile’s mash-up of past and present is especially apt when you consider that the SR400 now has fuel injection—but is still kick-start only.
If you dig it as much as we do, you’ll be happy to hear that the kit is expected to go into production later this year.
Gasolina website | Facebook | Instagram | Photos courtesy of Ben Galli Photography
via BIKEexif
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