Thursday, December 30, 2010

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

First seen at the 2005 Paris Motor Show the Yamaha MT-OS is based on a Yamaha MT-O1 - an impressivley unique bike in its own right. The GK designed MT-OS uses the same 89 bhp 1670cc engine as the MT-01.

Concept Cars: Victory Vision 800

The Victory Vision 800 concept was shown at the 2005 Long Beach (California) International Motorcycle Show.

The Victory Vision 800 is a true concept bike, designed to show just how radical Victory can think. Victory, a division of Polaris ATV's has no intention of producing the Vision 800, but the design is important nonetheless.

The Vision 800 is powered by an 800 cc flat parallel twin, running through a continuously variable transmission, (CVT) connected to an exposed shaft drive incorporated into the single-sided swing arm.

Victory's traditional cruiser style riding position appears on the Vision 800 with the use of long running boards and the lack of any foot controls. Presumably the lack of a clutch, or gears, allows the rear brake to be relocated to the handlebars.

The extreme, front end bias, bulky nose houses storage for two helmets, or anything else, while providing wind protection for the rider. This is in sharp contrast to the short and stubby tail section.

Concept Cars: Norton Nemesis

The Norton Nemesis uses a 1497cc water cooled 60° V-8 engine making a staggering 235bhp, which is mated to a 6 speed gearbox. The Nemesis's organically shaped body is constructed from lightweight carbon fibre.

Concept Cars: Kawasaki ZZR-X

The Kawasaki ZZR-X concept was first shown at the 2003 Milan Motorcycle Show. The ZZR-X was billed as a high speed tourer, but its ingenuity lies in the adjustable riding mode mechanisms which allows the rider to adjust the ZZR-X to suit road conditions and riding styles.

The Kawasaki ZZR-X can be changed to suit low speed touring, with raised screen and protective fairing, all the way up to full-on sport mode, where the screen and fairing move into their most aerodynamic position.

The fairing also changes shape depending on speed, modifying its shape to the optimum profile.

The Kawasaki ZZR-X concept has other clever design solutions, including; radical cone-shaped, rim-mounted disk brakes designed for maximum cooling efficiency, a mass-centralised fuel tank, a large storage space in front of the seat, and a silencer built into the curvaceous bodywork.

Concept Cars: Dodge Tomahawk

The insane potential widowmaker Dodge conceived and subsequently named the Tomahawk was first seen in 2003 at the Detroit Auto Show. The bike is powered by the same 500 hp 8.3 litre V-10 found in the legendary Viper, and is capable of propelling the concept up to 300 mph+, theoretically. However in practice the poor aerodynamics of the bike would cause it to become unstable at high speeds and it would be suicidal to try.

Dodge produced the Tomahawk concept to hammer home its power orientated design philosophy, which encompasses cars such as the Viper, Magnum SRT-8 and Hemi Super 8 among others, it was never intended for mass production.

Dodge sold a very limited number of Tomahawks as rideable pieces of modern art to a select few of rich enthusiasts.

Overall the design of the Dodge Tomahawk is one of clean machined lines housing the massive, partially exposed engine and 4 oversize wheels.

Concept Cars: Confederate Renovatio Project

The Renovatio (Latin for "Rebirth") concept motorbike from Confederate Motorcycles based in America is a radical concept bike designed by Confederate's lead designer Ed Jacobs.

The Renovatio is extremely minimalistic with all the mechanical elements of the bike on show. With large attachment points easily accessible on the engine, upgrades and various configurations can easily be exchanged.

The 135 horsepower, 125 ft/lbs of torque V-twin engine of the Confederate Renovatio concept was built by Katech Inc. of Detroit. Katech was hired to design five prototype engines, they chose to base the 1686 cc (103 cu in) V-twin on General Motors LS7 7.0 litre V8. Katech were also responsible for the 16 cylinder engine found in the Cadillac Sixteen concept car of 2003.

Confederate already manufacure two high-end and unique bikes, the Confederate Wraith and the Hellcat F131. The Confederate Renovatio is a concept created inline with Confederates current vision.

Concept Cars: Aprilia Kerkennah

The Aprilia Kerkennah motorbike was a concept supermotard created by Italian designer Donato Cannatello in conjunction with Aprilia. The unusual Kerkennah name takes after a small desert island located off the coast of Tunisia.

The Aprilia Kerkennah was designed with commercial materials in mind, no carbon or titanium, instead sturdy aluminum, steel, and magnesium.

Apart from the single cylinder engine, all of the Aprilia Kerkennah has been designed with alternative solutions in mind. It is a concept technologically avant-garde, but not revolutionary. The most dominating characteristics of the Kerkennah is the location of the radiator behind the engine, and the seat-tank unit which can be lifted up and forward in order to access the engine and mechanical elements from the top.

Concept Cars: Yamaha Maxam 3000

Developing on the base of the popular urban tandem cruiser "MAXAM," this is Yamaha's proposal for a new type of big cruiser with the design concept of a "weekend leisure cruiser." Building on the MAXAM's low & long body design, this model boasts a completely new pick-up styling that includes focus on important things like storage space in its under-seat compartment. In addition to the big added stretch of overhang front and rear, touches like abundant use of chrome parts and a genuine leather seat bring a sense of true quality such as never seen before in a big scooter. (The 3000 in the model name is for its 3,000mm length)

Concept Cars: BMW IMME 1200

The IMME 1200 concept motorbike was the creation of two French design students of the ISD (International School of Design).

The IMME 1200 is based around the BMW R1200 engine. The name IMME comes from a now extinct German motorcycle maker.

The IMME 1200 concept motorbike gained the interest of BMW who helped in the creation of a prototype for the 2006 Intermot Motorcycle Show in Cologne to go on show at the BMW stand.

A slick trick of the BMW IMME 1200 concept bike is that all the parts needed to be road legal, license plates, lights, mirrors can be removed with the engine start key and then the machine becomes 'track ready'.

Cars & Transportation

Diesel Motorbike Speed Record Smashed

The DIE Moto, the diesel-engined motorbike which we have covered before, has broken the land speed record for a diesel motorbike, with a speed of 130mph.

The bike is a Frankenstein vehicle made from a motorbike and a BMW car engine which was salvaged from a scrap yard. It was designed to run on standard diesel, biodiesel, or straight vegetable oil (SVO), but it is unclear which fuel was being used when the record was broken.

When we covered it previously we reported that its creators, an industrial-arts group in California called the Crucible, were ‘hoping to get it up to 160mph at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats next month’. They might not have hit that target, but 130mph is an impressive speed, nonetheless.