The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Norton Motorcycles – great old name, fulfilling new dreams?

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We received an email from Paul Gaudio, Director of Design and Development for Norton Motorcycles, clarifying their reasons for bringing back the Norton name instead of starting anew. We previously commented on the number of old marques, both auto and motorcycle, coming back to life after the original companies had gone out of business. We made the point it appeared to often be … [Read more...]

Quickest and fastest streetbike competition

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The boys over at Hot Rod magazine have a nice little competition to find the quickest street machine. The problem with these kinds of competitions is usually enforcing what qualifies, but in their case street legal is only the beginning, you have to be able to actually survive a long road trip from drag strip to drag strip and compete with the parts you carry in or tow behind … [Read more...]

Motorcycle body armor

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Some months back, Motorcyclist magazine did a two part story on motorcycle helmets and how protective various helmets were, measuring impact forces transmitted to the head while comparing their findings against the rating standards such as DOT and Snell. If you haven't read these articles, you really should. Of course, there's a lot more of you exposed to possible injury than … [Read more...]

Nolan N102 Helmet

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Have you noticed the new Nolan N102 helmet? It's pretty interesting. I still have my old Shoei which is due for replacement before long and I see the Nolan takes care of a few issues I have. It's a modular design that gives you the ability to flip up the chin bar when you need to talk to someone. Modular helmets are nice like that but there's also the VPS or Vision … [Read more...]

No market for small motorcycles?

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The other day we wrote about bringing small motorcycles to market in the U.S. and the usual argument against the idea is that there simply IS no market for small motorcycles. Even Honda, when looking at the U.S. market at least, seems to say that. So it was interesting when last night I was relaxing with a little SpeedTV and a program/advertisement for Honda aired and discussed … [Read more...]

1970 Triumph 1000cc 4 cylinder

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While looking through the listings for the Bonhams auction I mentioned the other day, I spotted another curious entry, easy to go by unless you're looking closely. The listing has this as a 1970 Triumph which is the year it was put together evidently, though the frame is a 1962. They managed to mount two 500cc Triumph Daytona twins in the frame for a 1000cc 4 cylinder. Built by … [Read more...]