2010 Honda Vt1300ct Interstate on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Someone is Takin' the Mick

Pull out the slippers and plant yourself in front of a log fire and let Mick Grant talk you through his racing career. With a foreword from our Whit', the book details Granty's life from his Yorkshire roots through to all of his seven TT wins and the intense rivalry with Barry Sheene in the 1970s. Don't judge the book by it's cover, it's not a disaster like the out-of-focus oval-pistoned Honda NR500 but a good read.

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!       

2012 Honda NC700X and NC700S Debut in Canada – MSRP Expected to be “Under $9000″ [Video]

There are no plans yet to bring either model to the U.S., but Honda is bringing its new NC700S and NC700X models to Canada for the summer of 2012. American Honda will however, likely be keeping a close eye on how the new models do with its northern neighbor (or perhaps “neighbour”) before deciding whether to import the NC700 models stateside. Making their North American debuts at the 2011 Toronto Motorcycle Show, the naked standard NC700S and the more adventure-touring styled NC700X represent a new product family for Honda, sharing the same frame and 670cc parallel Twin engine with each other and the Honda Integra scooter-motorcycle crossover (speaking of which, there are no plans for the Integra to come to either the U.S.