Reinventing The (Front) Wheel

What happens when you breed a helicopter with a two-wheeler? You get a motorcycle with all-wheel drive.

Philadelphia-based Christini has begun to market a drivetrain that can apply power from the engine to the front wheel of motorcycles. A second chain turns the front wheel so that riders can get through sand, snow, mud or uneven terrain more easily.

“I love it. It is a total advantage,” said Mike Bergman, a professional motocross racer who’s raced twice on motorcycles equipped with Christini’s drivetrain. “Let’s say you come into a rough corner with deep ruts, it will pull you right around it.”

Suzuki Issue Recall on 2007 GSX-R1000s

Suzuki has announced a safety recall on its 2007 GSX-R1000 motorcycle.

The recall is to prevent a problem with the motorcycle’s idle speed control valve, which can lead to the GSX-R1000 having the wrong idle speed when fired-up from cold.

Suzuki is contacting owners of the GSX-R1000 motorcycles to arrange for work to be done on the machines. So far, Suzuki says very few UK GSX-R1000 owners have suffered the problem.

“Suzuki GB is to issue a Safety Recall Notice on the GSX-R1000 K7, after diagnosing an issue with the Idle Speed Control Valve on engine start-up.

Kymco KR Sport Is The Great Pretender

The default 125cc sports bike for the last three years has been Honda’s CBR125R.

It’s cheap (half the cost of the high-spec NSR125 it replaced in 2004), it looks sharp, with plenty of bigger CBR and even MotoGP visual cues, it handles and goes well and it has a Honda badge.

With that to beat, Taiwanese manufacturer Kymco has introduced its own entry into the same growing sector (growing because of the Honda as much as anything), the KR Sport 125. This might explain why it looks uncannily like a Honda, but if the KR loses out on having a different badge, it makes up for this in two other important ways.

Yamaha V-Star 1300 - Star Bright

The PR folks at Star Motorcycles (the manufacturer formerly known as Yamaha) sure know how to launch a new cruiser. International motojournalists have been lucky enough to travel to some of the preeminent riding locations in the world to sample new Star cruisers. This fall, the exotic locale to which the majority of the motorcycle magazines in the world would travel to obtain photos and riding impressions of the new V Star 1300 was Asheville, North Carolina. People who weren’t fortunate enough to visit Asheville back in the days when it hosted the Hoot are probably wondering why the heck Star would choose rural North Carolina instead of some place really cool.

Kawasaki Replaces MCN Reader’s Cracked ER-6 Frame

Kawasaki is to replace the cracked frame of an MCN reader’s ER-6f as a goodwill gesture but has not acknowledged a fault with the model.

The firm has attributed failures on the ER-6n naked version to vibration caused by aftermarket crash protectors.

MCN reader James Mear has been told a similar failure on his 2006 ER-6f faired version – which has the same frame - is not covered under warrantee but that it will nevertheless be replaced.

Yamaha Motor’s Profit Rises on Motorcycle Sales

Yamaha Motor Co., the world’s second-largest motorcycle maker, reported second-quarter profit rose 51 percent after a weaker yen boosted the repatriated value of increased sales in Europe and Asia.

Net income totaled 24.4 billion yen ($205 million) for the three months ended June 30, compared with 16.2 billion yen a year earlier, Yamaha said in a release today. Sales rose 15 percent to 476.5 billion yen from 414 billion yen, Iwata City, Japan-based Yamaha said.

Honda Expands Thai Motorcycle R&D

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.