Motorcycle Blog on 2040Motos

Milwaukee’s The Iron Horse Hotel

Historically speaking, the kinds of places that have openly accepted or invited motorcycle enthusiasts and their bikes were lacking in a number of areas. While they may have been convenient and offered motorcycle-friendly amenities, they did so with little comfort or luxury. On the other hand, accommodations on the higher end of the spectrum were pretentious and inconvenient for storing bikes and gear.

Win a Big Dog K-9 Chopper

SKIL Power Tools is giving you a chance to win a custom Big Dog K-9 chopper if you submit a story about how you managed to overcome a challenging construction project with your Worm Drive SKILSAW. You can enter the contest at the SKIL contest site, entries will be judged on difficulty, creativity and overall success of the project that you tackled. There is one grand-prize winner who will win the SKILSAW-themed Big Dog chopper plus an all-expenses paid trip to Charlotte, N.C.

Motorcycle Lamps

Maurizio Lamponi Leopardi lives and works in Milan, Italy. He creates these one of a kind lamps out of original parts and are completely restored, like the Lambretta pictured above. Depending on how hard it was for Leopardi to find the parts and how long it took him to restore, pricing can range between 1300 and 1500 Euros.

Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat – Motorcycle Edition [4 Videos]

Some of you may start noticing a new trend going around these days on YouTube. That thing is “Keyboard Cat”. A cat in a blue T-shirt that plays exit music for people in fail videos.

Pikes Peak 87th Annual International Hill Climb [pics and video]

Named after a man by the name of Zebulon Pike, an explorer who led an expedition to the area in 1806, Pikes Peak is home to the second oldest motorsports race in America second only to the Indianapolis 500. First completed in 1916, this year marks the 87th running of the “Race to the Clouds.” If the math doesn’t add up, this is because there were several years that the event did not run over the course of its 93 year history. The 12.4 mile trek up the mountain consists of 156 treacherous turns to an elevation of 14,110 feet.

Le Mans: Track Facts

Read the Le Mans MotoGP race preview now! Update: Le Mans Results As Motorcycle.com continues to cover all the 2009 MotoGP racing news, The Sidecar stays focused on all of the tracks from this years GrandPrix season, get all the Le Mans track details after the jump. Track Map Lap Video Get the Flash Player to see this player.

POW! 2009 Triumph Thruxton Review

Since Picture of the Week had begun it’s unplanned hiatus several months ago, we haven’t thought much about restarting the feature. Nor have we had the time to – it’s been busy here at Motorcycle.com. However, when Pete Brissette asked us about the POW!

Motorcycle Safety Month – Motorcycle Gear

*Article updated to fix the scary YouTube video! It’s still Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and I’m still going to try and bring awareness to motorcycle safety to all of our readers! The still lovely folks at Motorcycle.com have an article up on What to Wear When You Ride – and Why.

Paddock Girls of MotoGP – PART 2 [More Video!]

As promised I am continuing my posting of MotoGP Paddock Girls!  This week we hit MotoGP girls from Qatar, Estroil, Donington Park, Misano, and Australia. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it (actually it’s not tough at all and a lot of people here wanted to do it). See the rest of the post for your MotoGP Paddock Girls of the week!

Quentin Tarantino Presents: Hell Ride

While wandering through the aisles at the local Blockbuster last weekend looking for a film that doesn’t suck, I happened upon the 2008 film Hell Ride. I rarely seize the opportunity to watch movies in the theatre these days and since I had heard dismal reviews, I guess it just slipped my mind and I never bothered seeing it. Since my options this particular evening appeared to range from Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Hotel for Dogs to Hannah Montana or High School Musical 3, I figured it might just be the best option.

Should this Ducati Video be Rated R?

I’m feeling a little uncomfortable after watching Ducati’s recently posted “Colour Therapy” video.  Are you prepared to watch a Ducati technician strip a Ducati Monster of it’s plastic to reveal it’s true nakedness?  Cover your eyes if you are under 18. Ducati posted this video on YouTube to promote their “Colour Therapy”.  “Colour Therapy” is there way of customizing the colour of your Ducati Monster motorcycle with an easily interchangeable kit that is available at Ducati dealerships.  I have personally picked out a new colour for the Ducati that I don’t own. Hit the jump to see how a Ducati technician strips a Ducati Monster to “re-dress” it with some new colours.

2009 BMW S1000RR Officially Introduced [Pics and Video]

BMW has officially introduced their literbike contender:  The 2009 BMW S1000RR. The pertinent numbers are a claimed 193 horsepower (at the crankshaft) and a 403.5-lb claimed dry weight. In a ready-to-ride form including fuel, BMW says to expect 450 lbs of weight.

Harley-Davidson’s Vanity Fair Photo Shoot

Harley-Davidson has JUST uploaded a new video to YouTube (seriously! It was at 0 views when I got there!).  The video is a behind the scenes look at Harley-Davidson’s photo shoot for an upcoming issue of Vanity Fair. Watch the behind the scenes footage from Harley-Davidson’s new print campaign in the June Issue of Vanity Fair that salutes women riders and encourages females who have not yet hit the road on two wheels to “experience life with no regrets.” The women featured are health and wellness expert and NBCs The Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels; Grammy®-winning singer-songwriter Jewel; television and film actor Tricia Helfer; and Los Angeles rider/entrepreneur Deborah DiMiceli.

Air Powered Motorcycles

The 100cc bike runs on compressed air, goes 18km per hour and was designed by a team of engineering students form India, other than that there really isn’t many more details. This is not the first time I have seen this concept in action, last year Jem Stansfield also created an air powered motorcycle that also goes 18km per hour. The issue with Stansfield’s creation is that the on-board compressor uses electricity.

Community Tip: Suspension Help – Learn the Lingo

hoser down at the Kawiforums was generous enough to post a glossary and troubleshooting guide to help everyone understand the suspension lingo, jargon that is out there along with solutions to suspension causing problems. Every activity has its own language. Learning a new skill sometimes feels as if it requires scaling a linguistic learning curve that makes surmounting Mt.

Motorcycle Safety Month – The SEE System

May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness month so we here at The Sidecar and Motorcycle.com want to make you AWARE! The lovely folks at Motorcycle.com have posted an interesting article on the SEE system. Search, Evaluate and Execute.

Aprilia’s Banned AD [Pics and Video]

The Italian motorcycle company Aprilia withdrew this advert following complaints from the Women’s Institute of Spain, whose advertising monitoring wing considered it to be sexist. Tag translation: “The Arrecife Range: Now several sizes smaller”, I thought Europeans were hip to this kind of thing… Check out the uncensored photo and a controversial Aprilia TV AD after the jump. Not so bad.

Captain Kirk Prefers Wheels on his Motorcycle

Captain Kirk either loves or hates vintage rides. One moment he’s sending a vintage convertible over a cliff side, the next moment he’s riding a motorcycle with two wheels when he could clearly be riding a hover bike much like the cop who was chasing him. Hover bikes must not be manly enough for him.

Buell On Ice

Get the Flash Player to see this player. About 2.7 million years ago a meteorite crashed into Hälsingland, Sweden creating the Dellen lake system, which only freezes over once a year. On March 4th with temperatures at -10C, Craig Jones, riding a Buell 1125R complete with a nitrous oxide kit (an estimated extra 50bhp), reached a top speed of 148.7mph on a 1.1km run over the frozen Lake Dellen.

Paddock Girls of MotoGP – PART 1 [Video!]

Yes, be excited.  This is a MULTI-PART posting of MotoGP Paddock girls from around the world.  What’s a “Paddock Girl”?  As far as I can tell they stand around and look pretty while holding an umbrella. And that’s all they really need to do… *sigh* HUH?!  Oh sorry, I kind of spaced out there. Now the boys over at MotoGP don’t like people embedding their YouTube videos so unfortunately I can’t stick the video right on the page.  BUT, just for you guys, I’ve gathered up some links and created a few thumbnails  to make a nice list of MotoGP Paddock Girl Videos ( Part 1!

Circuito de Jerez: Track Facts

Stay up to speed with the 2009 MotoGP season – Get full race coverage as the Grand Prix of Spain waves the checkered flag with MotoGP: 2009 Jerez Results. As Motorcycle.com continues to cover all the 2009 MotoGP racing news, The Sidecar stays focused on the tracks of this years GrandPrix season. Track map Lap Video Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Yamaha XJ Series: New Online Campaign [Pics and Video]

Yamaha Motor Europe has just posted a video up on YouTube to promote their new XJ-Series bikes.  The XJ6 and the XJ6 Diversion. And the XJ6 Diversion: Virtually every feature on this attractive new 600 has been designed to ensure that the new XJ6 Diversion delivers all of the style, fun and ease of use that today’s middleweight rider is looking for. Its newly-developed 600 cc liquid-cooled 4-stroke inline 4-cylinder engine has been designed to deliver a smooth band of easy-to-handle power, making the XJ6 Diversion an ideal machine for new and experienced riders.

RoboScooter

A team of nine from MIT won the Buckminster Fuller Challenge with their Sustainable Personal Mobility and Mobility-on-Demand Systems, this full-scale working concept won the group $100,000 for their efforts. The RoboScooter is a lightweight, folding, electric motor scooter. It is designed to provide convenient, inexpensive mobility in urban areas.

Fully Modified Yamaha ATV Giveaway is Easy and Educational!

Our sister site, ATV.com, has started up a contest to give away a Fully Modified Yamaha Raptor 250.  The 3 easy steps are: Signing up for the contest Follow along on ATV.com with the articles on the modified build of the Raptor 250 Take a survey at the end of it all to enter and win. I did some research into the Raptor 250 to see what it’s all about: BASE MSRP is $4,499.00 but the one they are giving away is fully modified AND you get riding gear! You, the readers, gave it 4 1/2 and 5 star ratings in everything.

Harley’s Behind the Scenes at The Art of Rebellion

On February 7th, 2009, at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station Arts Center, Harley-Davidson gathered 11 of today’s most relevant and exciting artists to present their take on the theme of rebellion. Because the event was so popular, The Art of Rebellion one-night only event quickly became a month long showing. Artwork was for sale and the proceeds were donated to Art Matters, a foundation that assists socially and aesthetically groundbreaking artists.

Top 10 Motorcycle Safety Tips

Holy crap!  Yes, that is a crash test dummy on the motorcycle above, but I still feel sorry for it! For those who’ve had to pack their bike away for the cold winter months, spring is an exciting time.  The warmer weather, the budding flowers, the longer evenings.  All that is begging you to get out riding again. But let’s not be too hasty!  We know you want to ride but let’s not forget: Safety First.  Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month is in May for just that reason.  People are anxious to get out of their cooped up houses and get on the road but they may get too excited to remember some basic motorcycle safety practices.

Motorcycle Renaissance

This creative painting is the work of Alan MacDonald, born in Malawi, Central Africa; he studied fine art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, Scotland and at the Cyprus College of Art in Paphos, Cyprus. MacDonald currently lives and works in Carnoustie, Scotland and has exhibits coming to the U.S. this year at the Stewart Gallery at the International Art Fair, Pasadena, Los Angeles and next year at Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC.

Community Tip: How-To Remove Motorcycle Grips the Golfer Way

Webb26 from the 600rr.net forums has posted his method for changing the grips on your motorcycle. I like this method because it gives me a peace of mind(coming from golf work shop background) that the grips wont budge once dry. This method also allows for great tuning options in that the amount of tape dictates how thick the grips will feel.

Motegi: Track Facts

As Motorcycle.com continues to cover all the 2009 MotoGP racing news, The Sidecar stays focused on the tracks of this years GrandPrix season. Read more about the results of the MotoGP at Motegi on Motorcycle.com – MotoGP: 2009 Motegi Results. Track Map Lap Video Get the Flash Player to see this player.

New: Zero Gravity Screens

These saucy screens are the newest addition to the Zero Gravity range, the founders of the first double-bubble screen. The screens have remarkable strength and flexibility, thanks to the finest acrylic plastic. There are three different screen variations to choose from, the standard replacement, double-bubble and the sports-tourer.