2000 Honda Valkyrie 1500 6cyl on 2040-motos

Moto blog

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.

The most beautiful race bike ever?

It was good to see my old HRC team mate Shinichi Itoh making his final Moto GP appearance last weekend at Motegi.  At 44 he was a bit off the pace compared to his younger team mates, but that didn't matter as it was a joy just to see him circulating on what I reckon is most stunning GP bike ever. And I gladly braved the pit lane walkabout chaos just to dribble and take a few snaps. Unfortunately he lost the front in one session trashing a complete set of body work but was back in action on race day to grab a few world championship points.

If you thought the license test was hard in America…

I’ll be the first to admit that the procedure to get a motorcycle endorsement (and a car license for that matter) in this country is incredibly easy. If you’re smart, you sit in a classroom for a few hours, answer some basic questions, learn all the controls, perform a simple riding test, and you’re off to the races.  Look at what the Japanese have to do to get their certification! Check out the video after the jump.