Motorcycles News and Accessories

Croft British Superbikes: Crutchlow takes pole

2007-08-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

Not satisfied with taking his first front row in British Superbikes Rizla Suzuki rider Cal Crutchlow managed to push to his first ever BSB pole position for Sunday's race at Croft.

Crutchlow found an extra push in the final qualifying session to beat Honda man Jonathan Rea, who had dominated most of the weekend.

Airwaves Ducati rider Leon Haslam took third place with Stobart Honda's Tom Sykes taking the position at the front of the grid.

Yamaha's Tommy Hill beat two BSB champions to fifth place ahead of Gregorio Lavilla and Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Leon Camier finished off the second row in eighth, almost half a second down on Crutchlow's 1:19.108 pole time.

Full grid positions:

Cal Crutchlow
Jonathan Rea
Leon Haslam
Tom Sykes
Tommy Hill
Gregorio Lavilla
Ryuichi Kiyonari
Leon Camier
Karl Harris
Shane Byrne
Michael Rutter
Dean Thomas
Chris Martins
Simon Andrews
Aaron Zanotti
James Buckingham
Marty Nutt
Tristan Palmer
Scott Smart
Keith Amor
Tom Tunstall
Paul Barron
Malcolm Ashley
Alex Camier
Ryan Rainey
Neil Faulkner

Vermeulen triumphs in wet Le Mans chaos

2007-05-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

Chris Vermeulen has won the French MotoGP round in a chaotic race due to wet weather conditions.

Vermeulen finished the race ahead of Marco Melandri and Casey Stoner, followed by Dani Pedrosa,Alex Hoffmann, and Valentino Rossi. Hofmann had a superb race on the D'Antin Ducati Pole sitter Colin Edwards finished a dismal race three laps down from the leaders, as he first gambled on wet tyres.

As the track remained damp, rather than wet, Edwards pulled in to change tyres, just as the weather turned for the worse. By contrast Vermeulen was able to change one lap before the leaders, and moved into the lead after the pit changes had been resolved.

Team-mate John Hopkins was second, but dropped down the order after running wide on several corners.

The conditions led to several major crashes, and Valentino Rossi had a close call as Sylvain Guintoli highsided in front of him. Guintoli had led his home GP, and was able to get back to the pits and rejoin on his spare bike.

Randy De Puniet was also a race leader before a fall. Nicky Hayden was looking good in fourth, until a major high speed crash at around 150mph put him out of contention with just a couple of laps left.

Edwards was the last finished in 12th place, as a total seven riders failed to finish. In the MotoGP championship, Stoner's third place extends his lead over Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, as Vermeulen jumps to fifth following his win.

Toseland tops Superpole times

2007-04-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

James Toseland recorded a new best lap at Assen in the Superbike class to claim pole for the World Superbike round on Sunday, with a time of 1:38.603.

It's Toseland's first pole position of the year, and only the third of his career, putting the Brit on the grid next to Lorenzo Lanzi, Troy Bayliss, and Max Biaggi, who moved up from 12th in final qualifying to fourth on the grid after Superpole.

Ruben Xaus will start from fifth, ahead of Troy Corser, Max Neukirchner and the recovering Yukio Kagayama who was 16th before Superpole, and eighth after it. Ninth is Karl Muggeridge from Fonsi Nieto, Roberto Rolfo and Jakub Smrz.

The fourth row is Regis Laconi, Josh Brookes, and surprisngly Noriyuki Haga who was lucky to complete his Superpole lap after almost crashing, followed by Michel Fabrizio.

First track test for Ducati's 1200 version of 1098

2007-04-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

The Ducati World Superbike squad have completed their first test on the 1200cc version of the 1098 they intend to race in 2008.

Eighteen-year-old Domenico Colucci, who currently rides for the Xerox Ducati Junior team on a Ducati 749 in the Superstock 600 class, completed the first shake down test on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at Mugello.

The young Italian completed more than 600 miles during the three days onboard the up rated Superstock machine, complete with a 1200cc motor and a host of Superbike chassis components including top spec suspension.

The test comes at a very sensitive time within the WSB paddock where teams and organisers are still debating the future of the championship and the proposed rule change to allow 1200cc twins into the series.

Despite the uncertainty as to whether the bike will even be allowed to race in WSB and in what guise, Ducati are working flat out on their development programme. It is believed test rider, Colucci will be involved in initial shake down testing and as the bike develops.

Ducati could also bring in other riders including their Superstock 1000 team of Brendan Roberts and Niccolo Canepa before putting Troy Bayliss and Lorenzo Lanzi on the bike as it approaches the final version. The next test for the new bike is scheduled for mid June, 2007.

Toseland triumphs in Valenica race two

2007-04-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

James Toseland took a hard-fought victory in the second race at Valencia to triumph over Max Biaggi by 0.287.

The top six places were close together for much of the race, until the top three of Toseland, Biaggi and Noriyuki Haga were able to pull away, with Haga taking third after being demoted by Max Biaggi on the last lap.

Ruben Xaus continued a good weekend with fourth from the works Ducatis of Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy Bayliss. Josh Brookes was seventh from Regis Laconi, Troy Corser and Max Neukirchner.

Xaus takes WSB win at Valencia

2007-04-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

Ruben Xaus took his first win since 2003 in race on at Valencia, triumphing in changing conditions.

The Spaniard was in fifth away from the line but battled his way through to take the win from Noriyuki Haga, with Troy Bayliss third. Troy Corser will be disapointed with fourth having led at the start of the race.

Britain's James Toseland was fifth from Lorenzo Lanzi, with Michel Fabrizio finishing ahead of Max Biaggi, Josh Brookes and Roberto Rolfo.

Bayliss on pole for World Superbike race

2007-04-01T01:48:00.000-07:00

Troy Bayliss will start tomorrow’s World Superbike races at Donington Park from the pole positon spot, after a faultless Superpole lap just moments ago – boosted when his main rival for the honour Troy Corser crashed out.

Bayliss set a scintillating 1.30.37 best, inside the existing Superbike record set by Gregorio Lavilla, to head the front row from Nori Haga, Regis Laconi, and Brit series leader James Toseland.

On his lap, Hannspree Honda star Toseland looked on it from the first turn, and set hearts racing by coming within inches of the grass down Craner as he tried to eke out a solid early lap time, knowing that the Melbourne Loop has been a weak point for his Honda so far this weekend.

Despite maintaining a leading time for the first two sectors, Toseland lost nearly 0.4s on then-leader Nori Haga in the Loop alone to finish with a 1.31.99 best, fractions ahead of works Ducati man Lorenzo Lanzi who starts fifth, and Ruben Xaus on an 06-spec works 999 in sixth.

Meanwhile pole favourite Corser will start tomorrow’s races from eighth, after he uncharacteristically crashed on his lap, losing the front on the entry to Redgate just moments into his lap. He was unhurt, and is still certain to be a factor in the races.

Suzuki star Max Biaggi, in only his third Superpole, set an opening sector time that was inside the previous best, but he lost time in the middle sector of the lap where Haga had been so fast and yet more in the Melbourne Loop final section where many riders are stuggling. He starts seventh.

Haga started early in the session, setting only the ninth best time in qualifying, yet despite a slide on the opening sector which saw him down on the previous best, he recovered to set a new session best nearly a second faster than the existing best which proved second quickest overall.

It was enough to keep him ahead by 0.15s of France’s Regis Laconi who has been solidly setting a strong pace all weekend on his ZX-10R. His team-mate Fonsi Nieto starts 10th.

Suzuki Germany’s Max Neukirchner starts from the third row, setting 11th in Superpole on his ‘K6’ GSX-R1000, which is actually a 2005-spec works bike.

Giovanni Bussei headed the field out as 16th fastest in normal qualifying, and improved to 12th on his 06-spec Ducati 999, which he is driving to races towed behind a car.

Next behind Bussei was Italian compatriot Michel Fabrizio and his Aussie DFX Corse team-mate Steve Martin. Martin is only racing after a last-minute cash injection and by calling in favours when the team thought they had lost a sponsor two weeks ago.

Meanwhile it was a disastrous session for Toseland’s team-mate Robby Rolfo, who suffered some kind of machine problem on his out lap and ran off the track into the gravel at the Melbourne Loop.

Rolfo at least was able to paddle the bike out of the gravel, more than could be said for Aussie rider Josh Brookes, who folded the front at speed at the fast left Schwantz corner, leaving his Alto Evolution Honda battered and bruised. His team-mate Karl Muggeridge put in a solid lap, to secure nith. on the grid for tomorrow’s races.

RESULTS 1. Bayliss 1.30.37
2. Haga 1.31.08
3. Laconi 1.31.38
4. Toseland 1.31.40
5. Lanzi 1.31.50
6. Xaus 1.31.69
7. Biaggi 1.31.69
8. Corser Crashed
9. Muggeridge 1.32.08
10. Nieto 1.32.18
11. Neukirchner 1.32.19
12. Bussei 1.32.74
13. Fabrizio 1.32.75
14. Martin 1.33.54
15. Rolfo Crashed
16. Brookes Crashed

Jerez GP grid: Pedrosa from Rossi; 1s covers top 15!

2007-03-25T00:19:00.000-07:00

Dani Pedrosa delighted a near 100,000-strong home crowd to claim pole position for tomorrow’s Spanish GP at Jerez, a fraction ahead of Valentino Rossi.

In a thrilling hour-long session, Pedrosa claimed top spot with a best time of 1:39.402 as the top 15 riders on the grid were split by less than a second. Italian Loris Capirossi, who won last year’s Jerez GP, will start 15th on the fifth row of the grid - yet he was only 0.989s off pole position!

Pedrosa’s best lap was 0.4s slower than Capirossi’s previous qualifying benchmark set on the 990cc factory Ducati a year ago, but it was enough to edge out Yamaha rival Rossi by just 0.051s.

Today’s result reversed the outcome of the recent pre-season test at Jerez. Pedrosa lost out to Rossi on that occasion, but gained some sort of revenge this afternoon, though his best time was nearly a second slower than he managed on qualifying rubber at the test (when he clocked a best of 1:38.527).

Pedrosa was fastest on race tyres before most of the field opted to run qualifiers in the last 15 minutes when he clocked a 1:40.899s to overhaul early pace-setter Casey Stoner.

Pedrosa, 20, said: “Tomorrow will be a very difficult race because the lap times are very close. Being on the front row was important and we will try tomorrow to make a great race. The set-up of the bike is not so bad so we will see.”

Rossi was content with second place after enduring troubles on race tyres throughout the practice sessions. On his first soft Michelin qualifying tyre he clocked a best of 1:39.878 that put him top of the timesheets for a short time.

Fiat Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards and Stoner then went faster before Rossi clocked his best of 1:39.453 on his second and last qualifier to head the leaderboard again before Pedrosa’s late intervention denied him a 47th career pole.

Rossi, 28, said: “I am happy because the lap time is quite good. I know it was possible to make a better lap time because last month at the test I was able to go one second faster. The first row was our target but the pace on race tyres we have struggled with yesterday and this morning.

We found a good tyre for the race this afternoon and the tyres will be the big issue tomorrow for the race. The last ten laps will be very hard and very difficult for everybody.” Completing the front row is Spanish veteran Carlos Checa, who finally made a big breakthrough on qualifying tyres today.

The 34-year-old has dominated for most of the weekend and he was fastest in the first three free practice sessions. His struggle with Michelin’s soft qualifying tyres appeared to have struck again as he was left languishing down in 16th place until right at the death when he suddenly leapt to the front row, relegating Edwards to fourth.

Checa said: “I believe we will be fighting for the podium tomorrow. I am happy because I have struggled with the qualifying tyres. I had problems all through the winter and in Qatar at the first race so I’ve got to be happy.”

Edwards will head up the second row in front of world championship leader Stoner. Both had led the session at one point while factory Ducati rider Stoner shaved 0.3s off his best qualifying time from a few weeks ago at the Jerez test.

John Hopkins, who has revealed he may require surgery on a damaged ligament in his right wrist (suffered in a testing crash at Qatar last month), completes the second row. Reigning world champion Nicky Hayden’s nightmare defence to his world crown continued as he could only finish 11th fastest and will start tomorrow’s 27-lap encounter from the fourth row.

The 25-year-old is still being plagued by front-end problems with his factory RC212V Honda, and a modified chassis he has tried in Jerez has made little difference in improving his confidence.

Times

1 D PEDROSA 1:39.402
2 V ROSSI 1:39.453
3 C CHECA 1:39.460
4 C EDWARDS 1:39.486
5 C STONER 1:39.524
6 J HOPKINS 1:39.625
7 S NAKANO 1:39.632
8 T ELIAS 1:39.660
9 M MELANDRI 1:39.722
10 K ROBERTS 1:39.727
11 N HAYDEN 1:39.834
12 R DE PUNIET 1:39.883
13 A BARROS 1:40.196
14 C VERMEULEN 1:40.328
15 L CAPIROSSI 1:40.391
16 O JACQUE 1:40.405
17 M TAMADA 1:40.617
18 A HOFMANN 1:40.710
19 K AKIYOSHI 1:41.202
20 S GUINTOLI 1:41.219

Honda's Daytona 200 Woes

2007-03-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

Race fans were stunned during this weekend's Daytona 200 when all four top-running Hondas, the factory bikes of Miguel DuHamel and Jake Zemke along with the Erion machines of Josh Hayes (defending Formula Extreme champion) and Aaron Gobert, were all stricken with fuel problems.

Duhamel and Zemke appeared to run out of fuel two laps before they were scheduled to pit, leaving them in the category of 'DNF'. Meanwhile, Hayes and Gobert were both forced to pit more often or earlier than expected to deal with the same issue, Hayes' bike apparently running out of gas just as he entered pit lane.

After the race, the teams were somewhat unclear on where the blame lay for this disastrous quadruple-whammy, but Duhamel stated definitively that his bike did not technically 'run out of gas'.

Instead, he claimed, there was still enough gas in the tank to complete the remaining two laps, but a problem with the fuel pump meant that said gas wasn't getting picked up and pumped to the injectors.

For the benefit of our readers who don't know much about fuel pumps, let's talk a little bit about whether or not Duhamel's statement is actually possible. Every fuel pump has a 'pickup', a point where it sucks up fuel to be pumped to the injectors.

Now, if the bottom of your gas tank looked like a big soup bowl, with the pickup in the middle, you can imagine that in certain situations (cornering, for example) fuel might slosh away from the pickup, 'starving' the fuel system and causing the motor to die.

This is why every form of racing vehicle that is ever likely to see high G-loads (which is to say, all of them) uses some form of 'sump' - a sump being a restricted area designed to keep fuel from sloshing away from the fuel pump pickup - thus preventing fuel starvation during hard cornering/acceleration/braking.

So what the heck happened with Duhamel, Zemke and co.'s fuel systems? Ruling out the possibility of simultaneous failure of the electric fuel pumps (a near-impossible coincidence), the only way the bikes could starve for fuel with gasoline still remaining in the tank would be improper design - either of the fuel pump pickup, or of the area of the gas tank designed to keep the fuel contained around said pickup during hard cornering.

Or they just ran out of gas.

BMW Off-Road Intentions Confirmed By Patent Application

2007-03-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

With rumors, and supposed spy photos of BMW's 450 enduro circulating for a few weeks now, we come across a German-language patent application by BMW for a single-cylinder off-road bike, and related innovations.

It now appears relatively certain that BMW will be marketing at least one off-road machine within a year, and competing, both with prototypes and, ultimately, with production machines, in various off-road events and series both in Europe and the United States (such as the U.S. GNCC series). BMW wants a slice of the off-road market, and it is coming soon to take it.

Stoner takes the win in Qatar

2007-03-10T21:22:00.000-08:00

Casey Stoner has won the first MotoGP race of the season after a spectacular battle with Valentino Rossi.

The two riders completely outpaced the rest of the field at the Qatar circuit but it was Stoner's Ducati that simply amazed everyone with its incredible top speed.

The two bikes were set up completely differently with the Ducati roaring down the straights while Rossi's Yamaha was able to outbrake and out-corner anyone making for a very exciting race.

The two riders swapped places an incredible amount of times but Stoner had such a strong advantage on the straight - as much as 20kph faster - the Rossi simply could not stay in front and had to settle for second place.

Dani Pedrosa managed to mix with the top two for the first half of the race and like Stoner could outpull rossi on the straight, but the Yamaha's shear braking power always saw Rossi slide back through going in to the first corner.

Halfway through the race Pedrosa's crew told him to switch to a softer fuelling map and from that point on the front two riders began to pull away leaving Pedrosa to fight for his third position with John Hopkins on the Rizla Suzuki.

New World Champion Nicky Hayden struggled all weekend and only managed to finish the race in eighth place.

Bayliss on Australian pole

2007-03-04T00:05:00.000-08:00

Troy Bayliss put in an impressive Superpole lap to secure pole position for Sunday’s two WSB races. Bayliss set a new lap record in this mornings second qualifying session and although he couldn’t match that time due to high winds during Superpole, he still posted a lap good enough for pole.

James Toseland made it a close run thing finishing just 5/100th of a second behind Bayliss to take second. Although the 26 year old Brit didn’t top the time sheets he goes in to tomorrow’s races in confident mood as he remains the man to beat on race tyres.

In the one hour long Free Practice session before Superpole Toseland completed a 15 lap run including three 1m32s laps with the remainder in low 1m 35’s an achievement un matched by his rivals. With tyre wear set to play a crucial role in the races, Toseland and his Ten Kate team look well placed for a successful race day.

One factor that could change the outcome is the weather with rain forecast on race day. Superpole supreme Troy Corser was unable to match his Qatar pole position after a big gust of wind nearly caused him to crash on the approach to turn one.

Corser recovered to set the third fastest time and will go into tomorrow’s race in high spirits after an encouraging long run during Free Practice. Nori Haga rounded out the front row but has already predicted a tough race revealing that he has been unable to find a race tyre that will last more than ten laps, potentially a big problem as the race is 22 laps.

Max Biaggi has had a quiet weekend so far after his sensational debut last weekend in Qatar. The Italian has been unable to match the pace of the leaders and will start the two races from fifth spot where he’ll be looking to make a good start and avoid getting tangled up with Nieto, Neukirchner and Xaus who he shares the second row with.

Aussie Karl Muggeridge remains a question mark for tomorrow’s races after suffering a high speed crash at the Hayshed when he lost control on oil dropped by his team-mate Josh Brookes. Muggeridge was initially unconscious and taken to local hospital suffering from a painful left ankle, but at this stage it is unclear if it is broken or not.

WSB up for sale

2007-02-20T02:17:00.000-08:00

The new World Superbike championship campaign gets underway this Saturday in Qatar, but it could be news off the track hitting the headlines after rumours emerged that Italian owners could be willing to sell the series.

WSB owners FG Sport are reported to have instructed American company Merrill Lynch to conduct an auction for the series with a price tag thought to be around £50million.

Venture capital company, Bridgepoint is hotly-tipped to table a bid to acquire the series, although they might face scrutiny from the monopolies commission as they already have controlling stakes in MotoGP and BSB.

A deal to buy World Superbikes would effectively give them control of world road racing. Bridgepoint paid around £350million to acquire Dorna last summer after previous owners CVC were forced to relinquish the Spanish-based company. That followed a directive made by the European Commission after they acquired the majority shareholding in the Formula One world championship.

This would not be the first time that WSB has changed hands. The series was the brainchild of former AMA Superbike racer Steve McLaughlin and ran for the first time in 1988 under the guidance New Zealand-based Sports Marketing Company.

When they hit financial problems it was sold to the Flammini brothers, Maurizio and Paolo, in 1990. Investment by Indonesian Tommy Suharto helped re-finance the series in 1996. Octagon then bought WSB from the Flammini brothers in 1998 but sold it back to them in 2003, the brothers continuing to run the series throughout the period.

After several lean years for the series, prospects for 2007 seem better than ever, with a grid featuring box office names Troy Bayliss, Troy Corser, Noriyuki Haga, James Toseland and ex-MotoGP hero Max Biaggi.

Neither Maurizio nor Paolo Flammini was available to discuss why they would want to put the series up for sale at this time.

Marco seeks tyre life

2007-02-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

A disappointing test in Qatar this week has left Marco Melandri bemoaning rear tyre endurance as the time ticks away for Bridgestone to make better rubber for the Italian’s Honda.

With the first race at Qatar in a few weeks, Melandri’s problem in Qatar was again centred around rear endurance and he said: “We don’t have so much edge grip at maximum angle and it drops down very early after five laps. I tried to do a run in Qatar just to see how long I could do on a rear tyre before the performance dropped.”

Melandri said his problems and subsequent solutions were different to factory Ducati rider Loris Capirossi. He tried the same Bridgestone rear tyre that Capirossi had completed a full 22-lap race simulation on but Melandri couldn’t get it to work.

He said: “Ducati is totally different to our bike and it’s more similar to the 990 in the way they can open the throttle. Honda has less power so we have to make up time in the corners. So we spend more time at maximum lean angle and this finishes the tyre earlier.

The Ducati riders can pick up the bike like the 990 and open the throttle earlier. For us it is impossible with this engine and we need to use more corner speed for the lap time.”

Edwards tops Rossi in Sepang MotoGP testing

2007-02-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

Yamaha 800cc MotoGP rider Colin Edwards smashes team-mate Valentino Rossi’s previous lap record on the final day of testing at Sepang, in Malaysia.

As both riders tried out new Michelin qualifying tyres, Colin went out and stunned everyone with a lap time of 2min 00.248secs, beating his team-mate’s pole position lap record, set last year aboard the M1 990 cc Yamaha.

Valentino has already announced that he wants more power, but is happy with the way the new machine feels - also coming close to his own record with a time of 2min 00.248secs. The new Yamahas have proven to be stable, and faster than last year’s 990cc machines, although Valentino and Colin have not tested with the full line-up of riders for this year’s series.

The next stage of testing takes place in Qatar on 13th-15th February. It will be the first time this season that the entire class has been on track together, where all competitors can see what their opposition is likely to be - especially on a new track, which will make for a level field.

A Trip Down Memory Lane Part 3

2006-07-29T05:27:00.000-07:00

World War II

One of only two American cycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression, Harley-Davidson again produced large numbers of motorcycles for the army in World War II and resumed civilian production afterwards, producing a range of large V-twin motorcycles that were successful both on racetracks and for private buyers.

During World War II, the U.S. Army asked Harley-Davidson to produce a motorcycle as good as BMW's side-valve R71. So Harley copied the BMW, simply converting metric measurements to inches, and produced the shaft-drive 750 cc 1942 Harley-Davidson XA.

As part of war reparations, Harley-Davidson acquired the design of a small German motorcycle, the DKW RT125 which they adapted and marketed as the "Hummer" from 1948 to 1966 (in in the UK, BSA took the same design for their BSA Bantam).

Harley Davidson Photos

2006-07-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

Some pics of Harley Davidson. Courtesy of ART PRINTS - Art.com!

Sorry to my readers for not updating all this while. I found a job as a mechanic and has been busy earning money to buy my dream Harley Davidson. Still a long way to go though...

A Trip Down Memory Lane Part 2

2006-06-17T23:17:00.000-07:00

World War I

In 1917, with America in the war, the military required motorcycles for its war efforts. As Harley Davidson was already used in the police forces and border skirmishes, the choice was obvious. Almost half of all Harley-Davidson motorcycles produced during this period are sold for use by the U.S. military.

Overall, Harley supplied over 20000 motorcycles during WWI. In fact, one day after the signing of the Armistice, Corporal Roy Holtz of Chippewa Falls, Wis., became the first American to enter Germany and he was riding a Harley-Davidson.

By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, with dealers in 67 countries. In 1921, gas tanks on all models were changed to a distinct teardrop shape. This basic appearance is set for all subsequent Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

It was also entered into a race and it became the very first to win a race at an average speed of over 100 mph. A front brake was added in 1928.

In 1929, the 45 cubic inch V-twin engine (later to be known as the "flathead") is introduced on the D model. The engine proves to be so reliable that variations of it are available on Harley-Davidson motorcycles as late as 1972.

In 1933, an art-deco "eagle" design is painted on all gas tanks. This marks the beginning of graphic designs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles (with the exception of previously special order-only paint schemes). This styling decision was made in part to stimulate the low sales numbers caused by the Great Depression.

The Japanese motorcycle industry is founded as a result of Harley-Davidson licensing blueprints, tools, dies and machinery to the Sankyo Company of Japan. The result is the Rikuo motorcycle.

In 1936 Harley-Davidson introduces the EL, an overhead valve, 61 cubic inch powered bike. With increased horsepower and bold styling changes, the motorcycle quickly earns the nickname of "Knucklehead," due to the shape of its rocker boxes. The same year, the Motor Company introduces a 80 cubic inch side valve engine.

A Trip Down Memory Lane Part 1

2006-05-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is the first bike of Harley Davidson (looks like a bicycle and is a far cry from the power-monster we see today).

The history of Harley Davidson started out in Milwaukee in 1903 when William Harley and his friends, Arthur and Walter Davidson developed their one-cylinder motorcycle run on a gasoline combustion engine. Back then, the motorcycles on the market were Indian (first motorcycle in 1901), Mitschell, Merkel and Yale.

In 1904, it was entered in a Milwaukee motorcycle race (the very first appearance for H-D but which future races they will come to dominate) and from 1905 to 1907, it has increased its production from a dozen to 150 motorcycles.

In 1907, a prototype model with a 45 degree V-twin engine was launched. These models generated about 7 horsepower and double the capacity of the single engines, top speed also rose to 60 mph which was not bad in those days. By 1909, 1150 motorcycles were produced. In 1911, Harley Davidson improved its version of the V-twin model with mechanically operated intake valves and took over much of the market share from its closest rival, Indian.

Indian motorcycles

In 1914, its production has rose to more than 16000 motorcycles with rapid factory expansion. The future looked bright but there were actually a few storms which Harley Davidson had to weather along the way. I will continue in the next few posts.

Come see my favorite motorcycles and accessories

2006-05-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

Harley Davidson, my favorite bike. Cool, isn't it!!

I am what you will call a Harley Davidson fanatic. Anything to do with Harley Davidson will get my interest. So over here, i will showcase a lot of HD stuff but i will also comment about other motorcycles and the accessories to go with the bikes.

Feel free to comment.