Suzuki GB has released a limited-run enduro version of the RM250 two-stroke motocross motorcycle.

The RM250 Paul Edmondson replica motorcycle was developed by its four-time world champion namesake, and adds lighting, a speedometer, side stand, an 18 SM Pro rear wheel rim and matching 21 front and a replica graphics kit.

Power delivery has been altered with a DEP expansion chamber and a carburettor spacer to the motocross RM250 motorcycles.

Only 50 motorcycles will be sold, and each will come with a voucher to get 50% off suspension setup at KAIS suspension. It costs £4499. See your local Suzuki off-road motorcycle dealer.

This article was taken from: motorcycle news

Honda is on the verge of releasing a new version of its CBF600 commuter motorcycle for 2008 - incorporating the latest CBR600RR engine, as also found in the new Hornet 600.

The motorcycle is likely to be revealed in advance of the rest of Honda’s 2008 motorcycles, as the engine change is understood to come due to the need to meet new Euro III emissions laws. The old CBF motor, derived from an earlier generation of CBR600 motorcycle, met Euro II laws, but not the latest standard. Rather than modifying it, Honda has opted to simply slot the newest engine in its place.

Like Suzuki’s Bandit 650, which has gained an all-new water-cooled engine this year, but remained virtually unchanged otherwise, the CBF isn’t getting a radical visual makeover. Instead it gets just slight changes to the fairing design, and a reworked chassis to allow the new engine to be bolted in place.

On sale before the end of the year, it’s expected to cost around £5300.

This article was taken form: Motorcycle News

Honda on Friday began construction of a 900-million-baht (27-million-dollar) expansion of its motorcycle research and development facility in Thailand, Honda’s largest such R and D centre outside of Japan.

“This expansion reinforces Honda’s commitment to strengthening Thailand’s position as the region’s motorcycle design hub,” said Tatsuhiro Oyama, president of Asian Honda Motor Company.

The Honda R&D Southeast Asia Company was opened in Thailand in 2004 with an initial investment of 850 million baht.

The centre is responsible for market research, styling and design, engineering and testing prototypes for Honda motorcycles sold in the region.

Honda motorcycles are the market leader in Thailand. Of the 845,818 motorcycles sold in Thailand between January and June, this year, Honda models accounted for 68.6 per cent, or 579,954 units.

Earlier this week Honda also announced plans to invest 6.2 billion baht (186 million dollars) to double its automobile manufacturing facilities in Thailand, boosting capacity from 120,000 cars per year at present to 240,000 units by 2008.

This article was taken from: bangkokpost.com

Infinity Motorcycles are opening their doors for a evening meet on the 26th July at their Farnborough cafe. The evening promises to be a great success with loads of food and drinks, including the most important this…a nice cuppa! Infinity Motorcycles are well known for their outstanding service, excellent offers and products!

Rendezvous at the Infinity Motorcycles Cafe on Lynchwood Road in Farnborough on Thursday 26th July.

From 6.30pm riders can get a cuppa and a burger for just £1, chat with fellow bikers and maybe even take a ride out if time permits.

Handy Tips from Infinity

Never put gloves in your helmet, the natural oils and salt from the road may damage the inner shell.
Lube your chain at the end of a ride when the chain is warm, it will help the lube run around the links.
Always put your sidestand down before getting off your bike.
Wear groovy 80’s wrist bands, they cover the wrists where blood is closest to the skin so there is less heat loss keeping your hands warm in the process.
Slip into wterproof overtrousers/oversuit easily by putting a carrier bag over your foot before you put your foot in the trouser/oversuit.
Crush a can to use as a handy sidestand stabiliser when parking on soft ground.

This article was taken from: londonbikers.com

An announcement is anticipated this week on whether Honda has agreed to make the engines for its HondaJet at the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport, a source close to the deal said.

On Tuesday, Honda officials are expected to announce that GE Honda Aero Engines will build the engines at a facility to be constructed at the airport off N.C. 62, said the source, who agreed to provide information only if the identity was withheld.

The announcement could take place around midday at the airport, the source said.

While Honda officials have agreed to a deal in principle they are still ironing out specifics and haven’t signed a contract.

Until they actually roll in here and make it official, it’s not a done deal, said the source, who is involved in negotiations.

Other sites hoping to land the facility are still very much clamoring and waiting in the wings, the source added.

Officials with the Burlington-Alamance Airport Authority, the airport’s governing body, have not announced a news conference.

I don’t have any comments tonight, said Airport Authority Director Dan Danieley when reached by phone on Sunday.

But on Friday, Danieley made a move that paves the way for such an announcement. He changed the time of the Authority’s July meeting to 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The body was scheduled to meet at 12:30 p.m.

In October 2004, GE Aviation and Honda Aero Inc. joined forces to produce engines for business-class jets. The partnership was dubbed GE Honda Aero Engines.

Meanwhile, Honda Aircraft Co. Inc. had been designing and testing HondaJet prototypes at the Piedmont Triad International Airport since 1998.

In October 2006, Honda Aircraft selected GE Honda’s HF 120 engine to power the HondaJet.

In February, Honda Aircraft announced it would build a $100 million headquarters and jet plant at PTIA. The airport is just outside of Greensboro, about 30 miles west of Burlington.

The first jet will roll off the assembly line in 2010, company officials say. Honda already has more than 100 orders for the innovative business jet, which sells for $3.65 million.

Engine production should begin in 2009.

For months, speculation has mounted that the Burlington airport was the front-runner to land the engine facility.

GE and Honda officials have said the engine plant will employ about 50 workers. The pending deal is larger than that, the source said.

GE Honda is expected to hire at least 70 workers initially and add more as part of a huge capital investment that is expected to grow significantly over the years, the source said.

Local government officials, and those with Honda and the Burlington airport have refused to say whether they were working together on a deal. Some of their actions in recent months, though, have indicated that a deal might be imminent.

On May 31, the Airport Authority took out a $5 million loan to buy land adjacent to its runway primarily for possible economic development, according to a document describing the loan. The authority also got approval from the Burlington City Council and the Alamance County Board of Commissioners to seek a $6 million loan to make improvements to the airport.

State Rep. Cary Allred said the following day that a high-ranking state Department of Transportation official confirmed that the engine plant was coming to Burlington. Allred said the deal would be announced in mid-June. Several days later, Honda officials denied that it had chosen a site. Danieley also denied that a deal was in place. June passed without an announcement.

Danieley has only said that a group identifying itself as Big Wing was interested in a possible economic development project at the Burlington airport.

The corporate logo for Honda Motorcycles is a big wing.

Negotiations with Honda have gone on for more than a year and remained shrouded in secrecy, in part, because Honda officials are extremely sensitive to publicity, the source said.

This article was taken from: TheTimesNews.com

A US FIRM have created a new electric motorcycle, based on a Triumph Daytona chassis.

The evDaytona paves the way for battery powered bikes of the future and is completely independent from Triumph motorcycles in the UK. The huge windscreen is purely to aid aerodynamics and increase the bike’s range, which currently stands at over 140 miles in economy mode.

The evDaytona’s 0-60 time is quoted by the manufacturers as 2.7 seconds, but in this mode, the bike will only manage 15 miles, but you can bolt on more batteries than standard, to increase the bike’s range. An expensive charger will see the lithium ion polymer batteries topped up in just 10 minutes.

If you’re interested in what appears to be the future face of biking, you’ll have to have £38,000 handy, roughly the same amounce you’d need to buy a Ducati Desmosedici RR, Ducati’s road-going MotoGP bike.

This article was taken from: visordown.com

Streetfighter motorcycles are the exhibittionists of the sport-rider set. You know, people who want the kind of extroverted styling that attracts attention around town, but without the weight and size of a custom cruiser or the low-intensity experience those machines deliver.

Streetfighter bikes are extremely popular in Europe, and it’s easy to see why. With the riding position of a standard motorcycle they’re easier to wheel around the city. But there’s enough performance and handling available for forays into the mountains.

In its latest iteration of the Z1000, Kawasaki takes the concept a step further, with more adventurous styling and an even more outlandish exhaust treatment. But whatever you think of the new look, this is a better bike in every way. The last Z1000 I rode had me wondering why a machine intended for this role would employ an engine with so little low-rev flexibility and so much vibration through the operating range.

That’s all changed now. Kawasaki’s engineers reshaped the cam profiles, massaged the fuel-injection system, reduced the valve sizes, increased flywheel mass, and lowered the gearing to improve low-speed response. An exhaust valve similar to those found on Kawasaki’s sportbikes was fitted to further enhance engine flexibility.

Satisfied with the low- and mid-range power improvements, Kawasaki then revised the engine mounting system by moving all mount points closer to the engine’s center of gravity, and by adding peculiar new outrigger engine mounts that embrace the cylinder block at each side to reduce the transmission of vibrations into the frame.

The result is a bike that now answers the throttle at low speeds with copious and smooth thrust much better suited to the bike’s likely use patterns. Make no mistake, though, there’s plenty of high-rpm energy available, with 125-horsepower up at a frenzied 10,000 rpm, where engine vibrations return to intensify an experience already made vivid by the tunnel vision and windblast accompanying rapidly increasing speed.

The thing is, you don’t mind a little engine vibration when you’re calling for all the acceleration the bike can give you, and now that’s about the only time you feel it. Also improved is the ride. While still firmly suspended, the new Z1000 provides better small-bump damping through its 41mm inverted cartridge fork and Uni-Trak rear shockboth of which offer spring preload and rebound damping adjustabilitythan did its predecessor.

The Z1000 also seemed to handle better at the introductory ride in Sonoma, California, than I remember from the previous model. Initially, you notice a peculiar transitional sensation as the bike rolls over to the lean angle you’re demandingperhaps because of an interaction between the very big (190-section) rear tire and the relatively small cross-section (120mm) front tire.

Beyond that, the big Z felt secure and well-planted, able to adopt big lean angles with no loss of perceived stability. The riding position has been tightened up by handlebars that are positioned closer to the rider, footpegs that are closer to the bike’s center and a seat that is 1.5-inches slimmer than before. The seat doesn’t allow much variation in seating position for tall riders, however, and a long ride eventually produced some soreness and stiffness in the old tailbone. In keeping with the comprehensive makeover, the brakes and instruments are thoroughly up-to-date items. The front brakes, in particular, have radial-mount calipers encircling petal-shaped rotors that might have come off a high-end sportbike, providing effortless deceleration with good feel at the lever.

Under the bikini windscreen up front is an instrument panel that combines a round, white-faced tachometer with an adjoining LCD panel housing a digital speedometer, odo/tripmeter, water temperature and fuel gauges, and a clock. Dual headlights brighten the path, but only one provides high-beam illumination, making the bike look a tad asymmetrical as it approaches.

But appearing a little strange is what streetfighters are all about. In Europe, the Kawasaki Z1000 is the company’s biggest seller. The genre isn’t nearly as popular in the States, but it is on the rise, thanks in part to Ducati’s relatively affordable Monster range. When you think about it, the appeal is obvious. Under the brutal mechanical styling is a perfectly practical motorcycle, and there’s no need to be a fashion victim to enjoy it. Obviously, those Europeans are not as dumb as we think.

This article was taken from: Business Week