The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Drake Harley Davidson Water Cooled V-Twin Engine

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Around 1937, Dale Drake, who was later to become instrumental in developments to the Offenhauser racing engine, began working on a 2 cylinder engine for midget racers. He began with an air cooled opposed twin but eventually took a Harley Davidson Knucklehead engine and installed water cooled cylinders. The result was an 89 cubic inch V-twin that was 10 percent smaller than the … [Read more...]

MZ Motorcycles Scheduled to Close This Year

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MZ Motorcycles (Motorcycle Works Zschopau), the long standing but now long troubled motorcycle manufacturer from East Germany will be closing its doors at the end of this year. Hong Leong Industries, which has owned the company since 1996 has been incurring losses on the MZ operation since that time. According to the Freie Presse newspaper from the nearby city of Chemnitz, MZ … [Read more...]

Rocketshields – Detachable Sportbike Canopy

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Given the rising price of gasoline and more people commuting on their motorcycles to save a little money, why not turn your sportbike into an all weather commuter? With Rocketshields, the detachable sportbike hardtop canopy, you can do just that. You've seen similar canopies on scooters, here's one for your full size motorcycle, in this case a Kawasaki Ninja. Blast down the … [Read more...]

Harley Davidson Buying MV Agusta?

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There was talk a while back about Harley and Ducati getting cozy, looks like another Italian marque is in their sights. Forbes Magazine is reporting that Harley Davidson is in advanced talks to buy Italy's MV Agusta! the deal would see Harley-Davidson buy out most of the debt of MV Agusta, currently at around 200 million euros -- 130 million euros held by banks and 70 … [Read more...]

2009 Vmax Official Photos and Specifications

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The 2009 V-max is finally here. From 1985 until now, the V-max has been almost unchanged and despite the hopes and dreams of so many owners, each year brought a new color and not much else, ... until now. The new 2009 V-max has evolved, the appearance will never be mistaken for any other motorcycle with strong ties to the past but it's decidedly a break from the old Max, … [Read more...]

Rising Interest in Big Twin Racing?

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Over 2 years ago, I wondered about the possibility of racing the big V-twin engines normally found in cruisers, whether from Harley Davidson or any of the various metric brands. My thought was to call it "Cruiser Twins" because the engine had to be available in a cruiser to qualify. Take the big twin, wrap a road racing frame around it and see what happens. We've had a lot of … [Read more...]