30905 Used 2006 Bmw R-series R1200gs Excel.cond on 2040-motos

Moto blog

When is a 500 Not a 500? – Question of the Day

When it's a 451, d'uh. In our last Question of the Day, we asked about some of the more… questionable names given to motorcycles (Hondas seemed to come up fairly often in the replies, which is both interesting and somehow not surprising.) I mentioned how it’s generally safer for a manufacturer to stick to a combination of letters and numbers. While that’s generally true, apart from the occasionally comical practice of tackling on another “R” to make a model sound sportier ( looking at you again, Honda), it does bring the focus onto yet another common pet peeve: motorcycles with misleading numbers in the name.

BMW Standardizes Switches

Whenever you throw your leg over a bike that isn’t your own, there is always a few minutes needed to become familiar with the proportions and controls of the foreign machine. Getting a sense of the clutch release point, brake feel, throttle response and riding position may all differ from what you have been accustomed, but they slowly become second nature after enough seat time is logged. One such control that strays from this rule of thumb is the turn signal operation of many BMWs.

Cal looking good

Make no mistake Cal Crutchlow is doing an amazing job during his short career in Moto GP. He is asking not to be compared to Ben Spies but when you consider Spies had three Moto GP races under his belt at the same point in his career, Cal's 8th position in Qatar qualifying then 11th in the race is a pretty solid start.  He ended 2010 as one of the best world's best superbike riders but the 800cc Moto GP machines require different riding skills. Watching trackside it is easy to see the the riders have to brake later backshift quicker before getting back on the throttle on the corner entry. With the help of advanced electronics this loads the front tyre earlier giving the potential for greater momentum that continues past the apex to the corner exit and beyond.