This is an awesome, must-see behind-the-scenes look at how Shoei produces some of the world’s most advanced motorcycle helmets!

SOURCE: SHOEI Helmets

Launched last month at only RM59,900, the new Ducati Monster powered by a 803cc Desmodromic air-cooled engine with an output of 87-horsepower is capturing the hearts and minds of people who have never even considered a Ducati before.

“I just want to buy it, and learn how to handle a large capacity bike later. What else can I get that’s got the power, the handling, the braking and the looks that can rival an Italian supercar!?” commented Yasser, a marketing head in the Malaysian auto industry.

Malaysian distributor Next Bike Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of the Naza Group of companies has sold an unprecedented 200 units of the Monster within 30 days of launching the model. This is a sharp uplift in sales compared to 2010 when a total of only 120 units were sold.

SYM, a Taiwanese motorcycle company which was formerly a partner of Honda Motor Co. for 41 years (parnership ended in 2002), produces this retro-looking CB125 styled Wolf bike. The engine is a 124cc air-cooled mated to a 4-speed transmission. The Wolf R here looks very nice.

Wish List:
- Alloy wheels
- Peashooter exhaust pipe
- Matt black engine

Cafe cowboy from benedict campbell on Vimeo.

This is a short film by Benedict Campbell on Kott Motorcycles in Los Angeles, California. Owner Dustin Kott started off with a Honda S90 and now builds British cafe racer inspired bikes from old Honda CB750s. Nice!

Found this on Pipeburn. A GREAT site!

Nick Bloor, son of owner John Bloor, is now CEO of Triumph.

Tue Mantoni

Nick takes over from Tue Mantoni, who oversaw a massive expansion period from the time Triumph’s Hinckley factory burnt down in 2002. Mantoni is returning home to Denmark but will join the board of directors. Joining Triumph 8 years ago as a 28-year old consultant, Mantoni quickly progressed to become director of sales & marketing, and finally CEO.

Starting at Triumph in 1998 as a design engineer following his graduation from Loughborough University, Nick Bloor spent time working in design, manufacturing, production control and sales & marketing. His last stint was in Triumph’s procurement department.

Triumph, resurrected by entrepreneur John Bloor in the early 1990s, now has 1400 employees around the globe and sells about 50,000 motorcycles in 30 countries every year.

An outlaw motorcycle club (OMC) is usually a sort of subculture with roots in post-WW2 USA. The club members usually ride Harley-Davidsons, and live by a set of ideals celebrating freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the club.

The primary visual identification of a member of an outlaw motorcycle club is the vest adorned with a large club-specific patch or patches, predominantly located in the middle of the back. The patches will contain a club logo, the name of the club, and the letters MC, which stands for ‘Motorcycle Club‘, and a possible state, province, or other chapter identification. This garment and the patches themselves are referred to as the ‘colours’ or ‘cut’ (a term taken from the early practice of cutting the collars and/or sleeves from a denim or leather jacket).

Today, many NON-outlaw motorcycle riding clubs such as Harley Owners Groups also wear patches on the back of their vests, with or without the letters MC.

Club patches usually remain property of the club itself, not the member and only members are allowed to wear the club’s patches. Hang-arounds and/or support clubs wear support patches with the club’s colours. A member must closely guard their colours, for allowing one’s colours to fall into the hands of an outsider is an act of disgrace and may result in loss of membership in a club, or some other punishment.

1986 Suzuki Nuda Concept

A star of the 1986 Tokyo Motor Show, the Suzuki Nuda was a fully operational concept motorbike powered by a GSX-R750 engine. It was an awesome 2-wheel drive machine, with power was transferred to both wheels via single sided swingarms housing shaft drives. Hub-centre steering was similar to the production Bimota Tesi 2D. What’s most amazing is that it could be ridden!

Closest thing we’ll ever get to a TRON light cycle? What do you think?

TRON: Legacy, a sequel we’ve been waiting nearly 30 years for, has finally hit the big screens. In addition to the light cycles shown in the movie posters and used by Sam Flynn, we get a look at Kevin Flynn’s enclosed old-school light cycle.

It’s based on Syd Mead’s original design, but updated and modified to take advantage of today’s processing power.

German concept designer and automotive futurist Daniel Simon, best known for his visionary book Cosmic Motors, worked as vehicle designer on TRON: Legacy.

Check out Shinya Kimura’s video on YouTube.

Shinya Kimura’s Japanese chopper fabrication company Zero Engineering, was responsible for unique, raw interpretations of a custom Harley-Davidson. Since then, Kimura moved to the USA and set up Chabott Engineering in Azusa, California. Check out his blog here.

For the motorcycles used in Sylvester Stallone’s latest movie – The Expendables, Stallone went to Bourget’s Bike Works as well as other bikes from the Easyriders Show and Cycle Source Chopper Show during “Bike Week New Orleans“.

Expendables is about an expendable team of mercenaries who head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator. The movie also stars Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis and Steve Austin.

“I personally chose all of the bikes,” said Stallone. Arnold Schwarzenegger is also in the film, although the governor shot his scenes in California. Jean-Claude Van Damme was reported to have been personally offered a role by Stallone, but turned it down because he felt there was no substance to the character.