Black BMW R 18 First Edition Motorcycles, page #35

Moto blog

BMW Announces Record First Quarter 2012

BMW announced it set a new record for first quarter motorcycle sales, surpassing the previous record by 5.5%. The German manufacturer sold 24,373 motorcycles in the first three months of 2012, outdoing the previous record of 23,109 units set last year. March accounted for more than half of BMW‘s first quarter sales, with customers scooping up 12,295 units over the month, up 5.3% from 11,675 units sold in March 2011.

BMW Rewards MSF RiderCourse Graduates

BMW Motorrad USA is supporting the Motorcycle Safety Foundation‘s rider training course by offering $500 in riding apparel for recent graduates of the Basic RiderCourse program with the purchase of a new BMW motorcycle. The “Ride Smart Reward” program runs until Dec. 31, 2012 and is valid for anyone who completes the MSF’s BRC.

Teaser: 2012 Japanese Literbike Shootout – Video

The last time we assembled the superbike offerings from the Big Four Japanese manufacturers to determine the alpha male model was 2009. The CBR won that confrontation, but a lot’s changed since then. For 2012 Honda revamped the CBR1000RR, Yamaha added traction control to the R1, the GSX-R1000 lost a muffler and last year Kawasaki introduced an all-new ZX-10R.

The Avon 3D Ultra range

As with many things, the world of motorbikes goes in phases. It be might be manufacturers dominating a certain segment of the market or even one country seemingly having a never ending supply of successful racers and the same goes for tyres. Back in the eighties and early nineties if you wanted racing success in the Supersport class Avon tyres would be your most likely weapon of choice.

AMA Superbike: 2012 Daytona Results

Josh Hayes and Blake Young picked things up where they left off by trading wins at the 2012 season-opening AMA Superbike round at Daytona International Speedway. Reigning champion Hayes of Monster Energy Graves Yamaha took the first race handily, leading almost right from the start of the 15-lap race for the win. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Young, who finished second to Hayes in the 2011 AMA Superbike Championship, responded by taking the second race, but only by a slim 0.002-second margin.

Von Kuenheim: BMW Must Start Winning in WSBK Before Entering MotoGP

MotoGP racing may be the next logical step for BMW, says Hendrik von Kuenheim, general director of BMW Motorrad. Von Kuenheim was speaking at a press launch for the BMW C600 Sport and C650GT scooters but took a moment to discuss racing with MotoGP.com. Such speculation about BMW entering Grand Prix racing may sometimes be dismissed as idle musings, but the fact the interview was with MotoGP’s official website holds some significance.

How to destroy a GoPro

That scraping sound you can hear is a mixture of a knee slider and the GoPro camera housing grazing the tarmac at Mugello. The footage was shot on-board the BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent machine ridden by Hugo Marchand, in testing ahead of the 2012 Endurance World Championship. He managed to wreck the housing that holds the GoPro camera after only three laps.

Shoei Neotec now in UK dealers

SHOEI'S new Neoteh is now available in UK dealers. The new helmet, which is aimed directly at Schuberth and BMW's offerings, is priced at £470 and is Shoei's first helmet with a built-in drop-down sun visor. Here's what Feridax (Shoei's UK importer) have to say about it: The New Shoei NEOTEC – Fact File: See clearly in safety – Shoei’s first built-in, drop-down sun visor boasts additional space within the shell with no compromise of safety in the front  absorption layer.

Moto 3, Oral Engineering and the 2012 BMW S1000RR

KTM and Honda may have been the main players at recent Jerez Moto 3 test but GP newcomers, Oral Engineering, weren’t too far behind with our very own Danny Webb posting the 15th best time. Italian based Oral are supplying engines to Mahindra Racing (Danny & Marcel Schrotter) and Ambroggio Next Racing (Simone Grotzki & Giulian Pedone). Mahindra have their motor housed in an all new, Italian tubular steel chassis, while Ambroggio have gone down the more economic route of using their 2011 Aprilia RSW 125 chassis.

WSBK: 2012 Phillip Island Results – Video

Max Biaggi won the opening race to the 2012 World Superbike Championship while defending champion Carlos Checa came back from a high-speed crash in the first race to win the second at Australia’s Phillip Island circuit. Reigning champion Checa of Althea Ducati had a stunning high-side crash while leading on the sixth lap of Race One. The WSBK paddock was already in shock with the death of 17-year-old Oscar McIntyre in the Superstock 600 race the day before but thankfully Checa was not seriously injured.