Honda Shadow Motorcycles, page #44

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Awesome Anaheim Supercross

The highlight of this winter has to be my visit to last week’s Anaheim Californian Supercross.  I’ve followed this spectacular series on Motors TV but the atmosphere while watching the action live is something else. Forty five Yankee dollars gets you a good seat high in the stadium, with practice starting at 12.30pm and the main event kicking off at 7.30pm. If you are making a day of it however, I’d recommend buying a pit pass then you can get in full anorak mode to hassle the teams and riders for autographs and photos.  We conveniently made some new friends allowing us to do some pre event ‘tail gating’, a great concept which is basically barbecuing and downing beer around your vehicle in the surrounding car parks.  The evening race schedule is four hours of nonstop action starting with the capacity crowd standing for the American national anthem sung by a stunning blonde with a huge voice.

2013 Honda MSX125 – The Honda Monkey for the 21st Century

Honda announced a new 125cc motorcycle aimed for youths that draws its inspiration from the Honda Monkey mini-bikes first introduced in the ’60s. The new 2013 Honda MSX125 (which stands for “Mini Street X-treme 125″) will be manufactured in Thailand. At the moment, it has been confirmed for Europe and Japan, but there is no word about U.S.

Piaggio Slashes Vespa LX125 Prices in India to Bolster Slow Sales

Piaggio launched its Vespa scooter brand at last January’s Indian Auto Expo to much fanfare but sales have fallen short of expectations. The Vespa LX125 launched in Indian showrooms in April as the first new Vespa scooter offered in the country in 13 years, but Piaggio has only sold about 25,000 units. That might seem like a lot, and would be, for the U.S.

Honda Returning to AMA Pro Racing with Team Hammer and Dane Westby

Days after the release of the reigning AMA Daytona Sportbike champion from his contract, the Geico Motorcycle race team announced it will field Dane Westby with the backing of Team Hammer on a Honda CBR600RR season. Westby rode last season for Team Hammer on the M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 to finish second overall behind fellow Team Hammer rider Martin Cardenas who raced on a Geico-sponsored Suzuki GSX-R600. Last week, Team Hammer released Cardenas from his contract option for the 2013 season so he could pursue opportunities in the Superbike class.

Report: Dorna to Replace Superstock Classes with More Stock-Inspired WSBK and New 250cc Class

The coming World Superbike racing season may be the last to feature Superstock classes as series promoter Dorna tries to differentiate its WSBK and MotoGP properties. According to Italian outlet Motosprint, Dorna plans to rewrite the World Superbike and Supersport class rulebooks for the 2014 season to make the race bikes closer to their respective production models. This would create further separation between WSBK and MotoGP, with Superbike racing moving closer to its production-based roots while prototypes racing in the GP series.

Back when GPs were really good: Part 2

Rossi versus Gibernau at Brno in 2003. Most of the time Rossi and Gibernau came together, it was a classic in the making but while Rossi on the factory Honda hunting down Gibernau on the satellite Honda is well worth watching, the threat of a looming Bayliss on the Ducati makes this one even better. Gibernau, fresh from a win in Germany at the previous round - having beaten Rossi to the line by 0.060 seconds - was full of fight.

Monster Energy Track Day of Legends with Schumacher, McGuinness, Espargaro and Flint – Video

Last week, we wrote about retired Formula One racer Michael Schumacher taking part in a track day at France’s Paul Ricard circuit on a Ducati 1199 Panigale. The event’s sponsor, Monster Energy, has released a video offering a behind-the-scenes look at the event. The seven-time F1 champion was joined by TT racer John McGuinness, retired MotoGP racer Randy Momola, Moto2 racer Pol Espargaro and Keith Flint, a musician from the group Prodigy and a racer in the U.K.’s  Hottrax Endurance Championship.

1989 ex-Merkel Honda RC30

This ex-Fred Markel RC30 is coming up for auction with Bonhams in Feb 2013. It's a special bike. Merkel won the American championship three years in a row for Honda but was let go after controverial allegations were rumoured.

Schwantz and Mackenzie on the Nurburgring box

A 500GP bike never fails to stop me in my tracks and that’s exactly what happened when I spotted this Schwantz example from the early nineties, proudly displayed on the Arai stand at the recent Motorcyclelive show.  On loan from Crescent Suzuki and accompanied by a rostrum publicity shot from the 1990 German GP at the Nurburgring, I felt the urge to write a few words on that special weekend. I started the year running my own 250 GP team with fairly standard TZ Yamahas but was drafted in as Kevin Schwantz’s team mate after Kevin Magee suffered a serious head injury at the second Grand Prix in Laguna Seca.  With no testing and some major Spanish food poisoning I finished 8th at the next round in Jerez then followed that up with a 5th place in Misano. Next up was the Nurburgring and after qualifying on the second row of the grid, my crew chief Geoff Crust informed me he had a premonition of a race day rostrum finish. He also told me I better make it come true as he was already looking forward to a few post race celebratory refreshments. While I hoped Crusty was the new mystic meg, the truth was I would have been more than happy to buy the beers if I made it to the flag inside the top five. I had an outside chance of catching one major scalp as Wayne Rainey was riding with a nasty hand injury but I suspected adrenalin would see him through the day. I also followed Mick Doohan a fair bit in practice but he was beginning to find his feet on the Rothmans Honda so was going to be another problem.  When the lights went out Schwantz and Rainey went straight to the front I while I hung in behind Doohan and Pier Francesco Chilli, and then it happened. Coming out of the bottom right hand hairpin, Doohan and Chilli simultaneously high sided in one of the most spectacular crashes of the season. I never liked seeing any fellow riders crash but I made the most of this early race gift and rode my 160bhp/115kg RGV hard to the flag, claiming my first podium of the season.  We partied hard (win or lose we always did) that night and I went on to have my best ever season finishing fourth overall in the championship. After the last round in Australia, I finished second to Kevin at Sugo in Japan then won in Malaysia at another international race that KS didn’t attend. I also tested at Eastern Creek for the following season but then was flicked from the team for reasons that still remain a mystery. Hey Ho!       

Actual Motorcycle or My Little Pony Character?

1 of 6Next Last A little while ago, we published a review of a motorcycle Honda produces for the Indian market called the Unicorn Dazzler. Yes, that’s the actual name of a production motorcycle designed by Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, a Honda subsidiary. In his review of the 150cc motorcycle, Rajeev Gaikwad said the Honda Unicorn Dazzler was “a handsome commuter with an enthusiastic and proven engine” though it was underwhelming in terms of performance and handling as the higher-priced successor to the regular Honda Unicorn also sold in India.