The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

2006 Yamaha FJR1300 AE – electric shift

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The big Yamaha FJR series has always been a very nice bike, lots of folks swear these are the best sport touring machines out there. This year, Yamaha has a nice high tech touch available on the FJR1300 AE model, electric shift five speed transmission, there's no clutch lever. You shift with paddles on the left grip or with your left foot. I bet that would take a few minutes to … [Read more...]

2006 Yamaha R6

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Yamaha brought out all of their new 2006 models, among them, the 2006 Yamaha R6. We don't see the need to review each model every company brings out, they have whole websites for that, but we like to highlight a few distinctive features here and there. The feature about the R6 you've probably heard about is the redline, 17,500 rpm. That is one amazing redline. It used to be the … [Read more...]

Build your own carbon fiber motorcycle frame

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After mentioning motorcycle kits and components I noticed these two links describing the process for building carbon fiber bicycle frames. Super light and super strong, carbon fiber is showing up in all sorts of vehicles. I previously mentioned one company building carbon fiber motorcycle frames for the chopper market but when you look at the work these two did, you get the … [Read more...]

Ghostrider riderless motorcycle

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DARPA, the R&D guys at the Department of Defense, came up with a competition last year called the Grand Challenge. The goal is deceptively simple, a driverless, autonomous vehicle must complete a 150 mile desert course in less than 10 hours. If you are quickest across the line, you get $2 million dollars. Last year, no one made it beyond 8 miles. Well, they're doing it again … [Read more...]

Build Your Own ZX-12R Speed De-Restrictor

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We've previously written about derestrictors you can buy ready made for various motorcycles, primarily the big Suzukis and Kawasaki ZX-12r. If you can solder and use a multimeter and have basic electronic knowledge, you can build your own ZX-12R derestrictor. The author has schematics and photos on his site and it looks very straight forward, one transistor and a couple of … [Read more...]

Yamaha FC-me fuel cell motorcycle

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Yamaha has a fuel cell motorcycle, the Yamaha FC-me, and is now leasing it to the Shizuoka prefectural government in Japan. They've been testing on public roads since September of last year. Cost is reported to be $942 per month, which is probably about as realistic as what the family in California is paying to lease Honda's hydrogen powered car. Yamaha's goal is greater … [Read more...]