Lazareth’s supercharged Buell XB12S custom

October 16, 2007 Ludovic Lazareth has impressed us before with his eye-catching and unique customs. Somewhat of a legend in the French tuning and custom building scene, Lazareth’s latest has fascinated us on a technical level as much as for its brutal good looks.

Completed the day before the Paris Bike Show kicked off, the latest Lazareth beast is a worked . We just missed out on meeting the man himself to learn more about the bike, but what we know already is fascinating; retaining the stock frame and motor, pretty much the rest of the bike is pure Lazareth.

The stock XB12S puts out a little over 100 horsepower, which makes for a lively enough streetbike given the Buell’s traditionally short wheelbase and the grunty delivery of the Harley-Davidson motor. Lazareth has fitted a supercharger from a Mini Cooper S to pump the beast up and take it into lunatic territory.

The front wheel will likely spend a lot of its time at eye-level, which is just as well because it’s mounted on a single-sided fork assembly that people will want to gawk at. The rear wheel, likewise, gets a single-sided swingarm, so the left profile of the bike is very tidy indeed – except for the huge belt drive for the supercharger.

We’re told that Lazareth has built this Buell with adjustable steering head angle and swingarm length – so it’s possibly one of the most tunable chassis setups we’ve ever seen on a roadbike, opening up a wide range of handling characteristics.

We can’t tell you how the front-end suspension works – but we do know that Lazareth is planning to use this bike as a platform for experimentation with an electronically managed suspension system. It could be something as simple as the electronic adjustment system available on bikes such as the , or potentially something as groundbreaking as the . It’s certainly time somebody other than BMW started looking for superior alternatives to the telescopic fork, which has hardly changed in the last 50 years other than being turned upside down.

http://www.gizmag.com/go/8183/

Single-sided front swingarm could steer the way to better motorcycle handling

December 2, 2008 If center-hub steering like that found on the Bimota TESI 3D isn't radical enough for you, perhaps this'll do the trick: Tier Motorsports have released a set of concept illustrations featuring a Yamaha R1 that's been modified with a single-sided front swingarm. The aim of the design is to provide a completely vertical steering axis for the front wheel, making for a much more direct and responsive steering effect than is possible with angled forks - and the idea also opens up the possibility of virtually frameless bikes, in which both the front and rear swingarms mount directly from the engine and no heavy steering stem/headstock is needed. Fascinating stuff.

Telescopic forks, which have become by far the most common front-end suspension solution on modern bikes, are far from a perfect design. Their angle and leverage exert powerful forces on the steering head of the frame, necessitating heavy, reinforced frames. They cause the bike to dive forward under braking forces, changing the steering geometry and reducing the suspension travel available to deal with bumps and maintaining traction.

Motorcycle buyers, however, have generally resisted change to the trusty forked front end. BMW's telelever front suspension has been the only commercially successful alternative in recent years - and possibly mainly because its workings hide behind the bikes' bodywork and the system looks pretty much like a set of forks. It does an admirable job of separating braking, suspension and cornering forces.

The hub-center steering employed on the Yamaha GTS1000, and more recently the Bimota TESI 3D and Vyrus 985, employs a front swingarm suspended by a monoshock - a similar arrangement to what you'd usually find on a rear wheel. The difference is that the wheel hub tilts back and forth on a central pivot, pushed by two large steering arms that are operated by the handlebars. By all accounts it provides an uncanny ride experience with huge mid-corner front end confidence and exceptional performance on the brakes deep into a corner.

This latest design from Tier Motorsports re-envisions the hub-center model using a single sided front swingarm and a four-bar tilting mechanism in the hub that allows the wheel to pivot on a perfectly vertical axis for maximum responsiveness to steering inputs. Presented here as a Yamaha R1 mockup, the system could bolt straight in to modified engine cases, removing the need for a strong, heavy frame at the front end of the bike.

Otherwise, the system should enjoy most of the advantages of hub-center arrangements as well as their drawbacks - high costs, limited steering lock, and a perception among the oddly conservative motorcycle market that it doesn't look like a 'real bike.' Still, these striking mock-ups certainly stir the imagination and it would be great to see what designers could do with the concept given a blank sheet. Here's hoping the Tier Motorsports system makes it up to and through the prototype stage so we can get a closer look

http://www.gizmag.com/single-sided-front-swingarm-could-point-the-way-to-better-motorcycle-handling/10484/

Bimota's DB7 Oronero: a sportsbike symphony in carbon fiber

November 24, 2008 In its past reincarnation, Italian motorcycle company Bimota built a reputation around its ability to take the great Japanese and Italian engines of the time and put them into a chassis package that would actually handle - but when the brand relaunched in 2003, many wondered what relevance Bimota would have in an era when the vast majority of modern sportsbikes handle brilliantly straight out of the crate. But it seems there's still room at the top end of the market for bespoke chassis designers, which is a good thing because otherwise we'd never see revolutionary designs like the center-hub steered TESI 3D or the magnificent DB7 Oronero, which boasts one of the first all-carbon fiber frame, subframe and swingarm packages ever to grace a production bike. A truly pornographic piece of motorcycle art, the Oronero also promises breathtaking performance with a weight of just 164 kilograms being propelled by the 164-horsepower Ducati 1098 powerplant.

While carbon fiber bodywork might be reasonably common on top-end motorcycles, it takes a true bespoke company like Bimota to take the material through to its logical conclusions. Inspired by Forumla One and military aircraft chassis design, Bimota crafted the Oronero's frame and swingarm to share the original DB7's geometry while saving weight and allowing much more precise frame stress control. The seat and tail unit is entirely carbon fiber, and supports itself without a subframe. The fairings, clutch cover and even the tank are also carbon - the rearsets, shock and exhaust provide accents of billet aluminum and titanium to add some flash to the otherwise brutal and stealthy look.

The digital dash is one of the most advanced computers ever mounted on a production sportsbike, and it features inbuilt GPS and datalogging - the GPS can recognize a racetrack that you're riding on, automatically record laptimes and record your sessions for later visual playback and analysis.

The hammering 164-horsepower Ducati 1098 engine rattles up a storm in neutral thanks to a semi-exposed dry clutch. It's re-tuned for more midrange in the DB7 than it made in the 1098, but that was hardly necessary; the 1098 happily lifted the front wheel in third gear with no such additional grunt. With all the weight savings the Oronero makes through its use of carbon fiber, the bike ends up with a hair-raising 1:1 horsepower to weight ratio.

http://www.gizmag.com/bimota-db7-oronero-carbon-fibre-sportsbike/10430/

Mission One EV sport bike explodes out of stealth at 150 MPH!

Mission Motors has just revealed its all-electric sport bike and the family-friendly version of our initial reaction goes something like, "Holy Mother of God and all that is good and decent!", followed immediately by the sound of our jaws hitting the floor. After a couple of years of staying almost perfectly in stealth mode, the Mission One is being unveiled today at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference. The Yves Béhar-designed bike sets a new performance standard for electric two-wheelers with a top speed of 150 mph and an estimated range of 150 miles. Of course, the strength of an electric drivetrain is torque and the Mission One has 100 lb-ft of the stuff on offer from the first twist of the throttle up until 60 mph. When it makes its race debut at the TTXGP on June 12th, we suspect the other entries will be scrappin' it out for second place.

To bring this amazing machine to market, Forrest North and his two co-founders, Edward West and Mason Cabot, have assembled a real dream team with incredible depth and experience and whose resumés list companies like Tesla Motors, Ducati and Google. The first 50 bikes produced will be a special Limited Edition model delivered in 2010 bearing a $68,995 price tag, while a standard, more affordable Mission One will be announced this summer. If the goal of this company was to create a paradigm-busting object of desire, then we say, "Mission accomplished." Mouth watering specs below and official press release after the break.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/04/mission-one-explodes-out-of-stealth-at-150-mph/

Suzuki Hayabusa 1300 Landed In India

After Yamaha's 1000cc YZF-R1 and Monster & Multistrada from Italian moto-major Triumph, now it is the turn of Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd. (SMIPL), a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan has launched two super sport bikes, Hayabusa and Intruder M1800R, for Indian roads at a price tag of Rs.12.50 lakh.

Hayabusa the world's fastest bike, which got it's maximum popularity through the movie "Dhoom" in India, is finally on the Indian roads officially.

Even in these days of recession, Suzuki aims to sell around 350-400 bikes in one year, i.e. around 1 bike per year.According to the company, it has already got orders for around 38 bikes.

Depending upon the response to these products, Suzuki —among the largest manufacturer of bikes in the world after fellow Japanese makers Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki—also plans to bring its GSX -R series of motorcycles to India.

“We are currently evaluating the market. A lot of the product launches depend on the market response to the Hayabusa and Intruder, though we are expecting higher demand for the much smaller GSX-R sport bikes, which are in the 400 cc to 600 cc range of engine power,” Mr Gupta said.

http://bikes.bloggerstop.net/2008/11/suzuki-hayabusa-1300-landed-in-india.html

2009 Yamaha FZ 1 - Big Brother Of Yamaha FZ 16

If you were amazed by the looks of so called "Lord Of The Streets", Yamaha FZ 16, then just have a look at this Mega Beast Yamaha FZ 1 - A clear advanced version of FZ 16, with a powerful engine, smoother edges and more muscular looks. Launched by Yamaha Europe. The FZ1 has got heart-pumping knockout performance and it’s got serious attitude on top of that, a lean and mean look that’s all about raw power.

http://bikes.bloggerstop.net/2008/11/2009-yamaha-fz-1-big-brother-of-yamaha.html

Heavy Bikes On Indian Roads

now its UK's famous bike manufacturer and burn its tyres on Indian roads, by the end of this year.

"We plan to get in a series of models from our line-up," Nick Bloor, whose family owns the Triumph brand, said.
Bloor, the export manager for the company, said Triumph was negotiating with seven to eight firms in India, that includes Bajaj Auto and a lifestyle product maker.
" to formulate a strategy for getting into India and are confident to find a partner by the middle of this year," he said.

The models that the company is planning to launch includes 2300-cc 'Rocket III Touring' cruiser, covered in chrome and infused with Triumph's original and authentic styling.

Urban sports bikes like the 675-cc 'Street Triple' and the amazing 'Daytona 675', that won the Best Supersport in both the Supertest and Masterbike 2007 track tests in Spain, could also come in.
However, with import duty, price could be a deterrent. The Rocket III, the company's flagship product, costs around 12,000 pounds in the UK and would cost you well over Rs 18 lakh after a duty of about 110%

"These products cater to a different and niche segment and we come here with an eye on the future. We feel it is an exciting market with fantastic growth potential," Bloor said.

Modern classics like the 865-cc 'Bonneville' and a deluxe version of the sixties icon, the 'Bonneville T100' could also come in.

"Powered by air-cooled parallel twins, their performance, brakes and fuel injection are tuned to current times, even though they are classic," Bloor said.

http://bikes.bloggerstop.net/2008/01/heavy-bikes-on-indian-roads.html