The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

2008 Kawasaki Versys

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Kawasaki has introduced a brand new multi purpose motorcycle designed for all sorts of different riding styles and needs, the 2008 Versys. It's a 649cc 8 valve parallel twin that looks pretty good. Kawasaki press release follows: The new 2008 Kawasaki Versys is a machine which occupies a hard to define sweet spot in the motorcycling universe. Is it a practical commuter? … [Read more...]

China Builds and Sells Fake Yamaha Scooters

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Zhejiang Huatian, China's largest scooter manufacturer, was fined $1.1 million for selling scooters under the Yamaha brand name. The Chinese company, Zhejiang Huatian, registered a shell company in Japan’s remote Ishikawa prefecture in 2000 under the same three characters used by Yamaha to render its name in Chinese. This Japanese shell company then signed a licensing … [Read more...]

Kainzinger Vmax – V-Fource 1680

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As Yamaha forever fiddles around planning the introduction of the long awaited new V-max, I was thinking again about something I thought about long ago, a sportbike powered by the V-max's V4 engine, though maybe "sportbike" is a bit misleading, the idea is a great sounding muscle bike that likes to turn. It certainly isn't the first engine many builders would consider for a … [Read more...]

Kettenkrad For Sale – Own a Motorcycle Half Track

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Here's something you will rarely see, a genuine WWII Kettenkrad up for sale! These motorcycle half tracks were produced by NSU in the second world war and could be carried in Ju-52 aircraft and were used for such things as pulling small artillery pieces in the field. We covered these before but the last one I saw for sale was about a year ago. Collectors keep them running and … [Read more...]

Moko Frames for Harley Davidson V-Twins

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In The Kneeslider's carefully catalogued haphazardly strewn collection of hundreds of back issues of motorcycle magazines, lies a treasure trove of information. Many of those mags have post-it notes sticking out from the pages with a small note about some interesting content on a particular topic, something I thought might be worth investigating in more detail. I got an email … [Read more...]

Alfabike Follow Up

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After we featured the Alfabike a few days ago, some comments said it looked like it would be tough to kick start. One comment by sweetlemonaid provided a link to some photos of the bike during the build and there's also a link on the site to a video showing the builder, Chris Barber, kick starting the bike. Doesn't look hard at all! By the way, Chris has built a few other bikes … [Read more...]