From the monthly archives:

December 2007

The Kneeslider – Happy Holidays 2007

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 12/21/2007

in Down Time, Kneeslider

Another year winding down, … Wow, already? I’m a little out of breath and like every year at this time, I have to slow down a bit. The increasing traffic makes me feel really good, we must be doing something right but it’s tiring, too.
During this last week or so before the new year, [...]

{ 21 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }

Indy Mile Flat Track Motorcycle Race Returns in 2008

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 12/20/2007

in Motorcycle Racing

The Indy Mile will run again at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 2008, the night before the Indianapolis GP race. The Indy Mile hasn’t run since 1999 and what a perfect time to bring it back when so many will be in attendance for the MotoGP.
Flat Track is about as American as it gets [...]

{ 8 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }

Wayne Fjerstad of Rochester, Minnesota likes motorcycles, his girlfriend likes her vehicles a little more stable, so Wayne figures why not modify his Honda CBR1000RR? Wayne fired up SolidWorks and designed this 3 wheeler he calls, Veloce3. With the automotive seats, seatbelts and rollbar, his girlfriend is happy which, of course, means Wayne is pretty [...]

{ 15 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }

ASI Customs Street Bob for sale

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 12/19/2007

in Motorcycle Builders

We wrote up one of these Street Bob Customs back in June and I just noticed there’s another one for sale. This is a brand new Harley Davidson Street Bobmodified by ASI Customs of Racine, Wisconsin. It has a pretty cool look, subtle, nothing crazy but a lot of very neat features.
American Racing Torq Thrust [...]

{ 12 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }

Ducati Financial Roller Coaster

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 12/18/2007

in Motorcycle Business

There’s an interesting story on Portfolio.com about Ducati that follows the company from Cagiva to the purchase by the Texas Pacific Group and the eventual sale to the Italian Investindustrial Holdings equity group. The differing ideas about how to market the brand and what styling best suits the taste of buyers of this particular marque [...]

{ 9 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }

Alex Baumgartel and Klaus Hirsekorn decided to build a motorcycle to compete in the 2008 European Sound of Thunder race series. The rules for this series seem quite open and encourage the development of one off race bikes, there’s no need for any production based racer. Alex and Klaus, who both work for a the [...]

{ 17 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }

Jeff Patterson runs Patterson Cycles where he builds custom bikes of the conventional variety but after seeing “Who Killed the Electric Car” he decided to try a full size electric motorcycle. The end result is ShocKing.
The handbuilt hardtail frame has an aftermarket springer fork and Road King wheels. 6 batteries in series yield 72 volts [...]

{ 25 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }

MotoGP Technology

by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" on 12/14/2007

in Motorcycle Books, Motorcycle Racing, Motorcycle Technology

MotoGP is like Formula One, extremely expensive, high tech and secret. Everyone wants to know what the other guys are doing but unless you’re part of the team, you only see the results on the track, the inner workings of the engine and chassis are kept under wraps.
When the allowed engine displacements were reduced from [...]

{ 6 readers have commented so far, ... your thoughts? }