2012 Literbike Streetfighter Shootout - Video - Motorcycle.com
Last year’s edition of our annual literbike streetfigher shootout pitted three competent, albeit plebeian, naked bikes to battle for supremacy — Honda CB1000R, Kawasaki Z1000 and Triumph Speed Triple. This year we’ve assembled the aristocrats of the class — Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC, MV Agusta Brutale R 1090 and Triumph Speed Triple R — to determine the hierarchy of the naked elite.
A double-R version of the Brutale exists, but its $19,000 MSRP is $2,500 more than the most expensive bike here, pushing it out of retail pricing contention. At $16,500 the Brutale R remains the priciest of this group ($15K Tuono and $16K S3R). We did invite the $19K Ducati Streetfighter S to join the fray, however the unavailability of a 2012 model kept it from competing, though, like the Brutale RR, its lofty price would only have hindered its ranking among the assembled bikes. Perhaps later we’ll pit the expensive Duc against the equally exorbitant MV in a platinum cage match.
Six-Cylinder Streetfighter Shootout of the Future: Honda EVO6 Vs BMW Concept 6 - Motorcycle.com
There are currently two motorcycles that have six-cylinder engines, and both of them power big and bulky touring machines: the BMW K1600 and Honda Gold Wing.
Both engines are large-displacement, high-torque powerplants that create sweet-sounding exhaust music, and we’ve wondered what other uses could be made from these unique engines.
We’re not the only ones, as designers from Honda and BMW have both shown concept motorcycles built around these motors, making us wonder if we might one day see a version of either enter production.
Honda was first to the game when it unveiled the EVO6 at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. A “Pride Fighter,” according to Honda, it was a bold concept streetfighter based around the company’s flat-Six engine from the Gold Wing.
2011 Literbike Streetfighter Shootout - Motorcycle.com
It’s that time of year again. Flowers are in bloom, trees are sprouting green leaves, mother ducks are escorting ducklings around the pond and love is in the air.
‘Round here that blooming love is for one of our favorite types of motorbike. They’re motorcycles with sensible, upright ergos and a minimalist ethos capped off with plenty of horsepower, torque and sportbike-like chassis geometry. These two-wheelers with a wild side often also come with badass looks and have the performance to back up their tuff-guy stance.
We love ’em lots, these mass-produced rebels; and this time we’ve Supersized our moto meal for what we’re calling our Literbike Streetfighter Shootout!
2011 Hyosung GT650 Vs. Suzuki Gladius Shootout - Motorcycle.com
One of these things is not like the other.
Maybe you recall that simple mental exercise – usually meant for toddlers and prekindergarten children – of comparing a number of items, where all but one are identical. And the one item is different just enough to stand out.
Who knows where this rudimentary brainteaser started, but Sesame Street’s Big Bird made it most entertaining with a song.
With respect to the unfaired Hyosung GT650 and Suzuki Gladius, the brain game could go a little more like this: One of these things is not like the original. (Insert whimsical comedy sound effects and music.)
2011 Aprilia Shiver Vs. 2011 Ducati Monster 796 Shootout - Motorcycle.com
Things don’t always goes as planned around here. Sometimes motorcycle testing opportunities are missed by wide enough margins that it’s no biggie.
Other times, a good motorbike battle is off the table by merely a day or two between the return of one model and the acquisition of another. Such is the case for our time with Ducati’s 2011 Monster 796 and Aprilia’s Shiver 750. The return date of one just slipped by the pick up date of the other.
However, since these machines are so close in performance and market category, a little spec sheet jockeying and drawing on overlapping memories of riding impressions seems in order – enough to whip up a pseudo comparo!
Remember the good old days when you and a buddy would throw a set of soft saddlebags on your bikes and spend a day carving twisties before pitching a tent and bench racing in front of a fire?
Life seemed a little simpler then. Not just from the freedom of youth, but also with the practicality offered by mid-eighties sport bikes. Machines like Suzuki's GS1150ES and Kawasaki's GPz1100 were cutting edge sport bikes that remained plush enough for several hundred miles to pass in comfort.
Recently, after a late night of staring into computer screens here at MO, we began to wonder which of the modern big-bore sport-tourers was best. Actually we didn't really care, we just wanted to get away from glaring CRTs and go ride some bikes. In any case, we scanned through our new model database and picked out the Bandit 1200 and
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All bikes are not created equal. However, there is a class that's populated with bikes created in the Universal Japanese Motorcycle (UJM) mold. These bikes are what we like to call "Standards" and/or "Streetfighters".They can take you from a Monday Track Day, to a Tuesday Commute, to a Wednesday Night Drag Race, to a Thursday Grocery Run, to a Friday Canyon Fling and on through a two-up weekend, without even batting an eyelash. If motocross tracks were still mostly flat, a simple tire-swap would allow them to tackle that too. Though today's bikes aren't all created equal, the UJMs do a good job of covering the wildly different needs of riders who'd typically use a racer-replica for the weekends, a cruiser for commuting and a sport tourer for longer trips. Yes, the UJM class is nothing, if not practical. However, these particular bikes reside on the anti-social fringe of the "Standard" genre.
First off, if you're likely to use the term "hooligan" to address the standard class of motorcycles, you can stop reading, I can tell you right off you're going to prefer the Kawasaki. If you refer to this rapidly growing, popular class as "up-right," there's a greater possibility the Suzuki will fit just fine into your expectations of what a motorcycle needs to deliver to get the job done.
Let's start with the skin-deep stuff. The Kawasaki strikes a mean and nasty pose to the Suzuki's respectable, clean lines and traditional appeal. The Kawasaki looks as fast standing still as it does shredding back canyons. Its pointy tail section and bikini fairing give it a sleek, modern look. It comes in Black Pearl or Pearl Blazing Orange. The Suzuki has simple, angular lines and comes in blue or silver. The square mirrors are a little strange in design but the box frame is very cool. Being a twin it's nice and narrow. This must be the year of the brake/tail light. The Kawy has a cat eyes design and the Suzuki sports a stacked bulb layout that looks very high-tech. As long as we're talking looks we might as well mention the girl's weight. The SV1000 weighs in at a trim 412lbs while the Kawasaki tips out at 437.
Obviously the big initial difference between these two machines is the engine configuration. It's the all too familiar; V-twin versus an in-line 4. Naturally, being an in-line 4 the Kawasaki is a screamer, loves to rev and gets its horsepower jollies, a whopping 125, at just a tad over 10,000rpm. The Suzuki's 90 degree V-Twin makes it a forgiving, low-end torque fiend, thumping good time and gets its 110 horses at 9,150rpm. But don't get too swept away with stats from the dyno. The Suzuki has a huge amount of V-twin grunt right off the bottom and up through mid-range. This is exactly why we love the V-twins so much. There may be fewer horses there, but they're more usable and a lot easier to find. Both bikes love to wheelie. The Suzuki a little more so. The designers must have known they were going to have a wheelie machine on their hands and built in a rear seat pinion that you can press your backside into to feel secure when the front end comes up, which it's bound to do more and more frequently as you get familiar with the bike.
We Like to Play the Emperor's New Clothes
Fontana, California, August 20, 2002 --
When the dog bites. When the bee stings. When we're feeling sad. Etcetera etc. These are a few of our favorite things: Big ol' bikes--some bigger than others--with handlebars that don't make us assume the position, bikes that are happy under any circumstance, bikes that are nice to our tender little bottoms.
We love them dearly, but we gots ta know: Will we be embarrassed when it comes time for a track day?
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LOS ANGELES, August, 1997 -- They're fast. They're sexy. They're impractical. They're temperamental. They look great in a thong. They're demanding, expensive and -- if you're lucky enough to climb on board -- they're a helluva lot of fun to ride. They're the Bikini Bikes, and if you're seen showing them off, be careful, because someone will try to steal them away. The staff at MO felt lucky, so we picked up a few hotties -- an American bombshell, a cool Brit and a sleek Italian -- with which to have our way. Three bikes: the Buell S1 White Lightning, the Triumph T509 Speed Triple and Ducati's M900 Monster. One 45-degree pushrod twin, one 90-degree desmo twin, and one twin-cam in-line triple. Each bike claims king in different areas of style and design. Each bike sets standards in unique arenas of attitude and sound.
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Nothing says motorcycle like a naked air-cooled sporty bike. They are little more than an engine with a couple of wheels tacked on at either end. No unsightly radiators and their attendant plumbing, and no plastic fairings hiding the mechanical bits theyre the epitome of elemental motorcycling.But in this slice of moto-dom, there are a few different philosophies. Ducatis Monster 1100 represents an Italian school of thought, with eye-catching styling that befits its country of origin. One of the originators of the naked sportbike movement, this new Monsters abbreviated trellis frame pares down the bikes visible components to a level that an untrained eye might wonder how the thing is held together.
The North American viewpoint is provided by Harley-Davidsons new XR1200, an homage to the most American form of two-wheel motorsport, dirt-track racing. Other than its modern aluminum swingarm and triple-disc brakes, the XR appears as if it couldve rolled off the pages of a Cycle News race report from the 1960s.
Three for Five: Budget Bombers - Motorcycle.com
Five thousand bucks used to be a lot of money, didn't it?
Maybe you remember when five grand could buy a pretty sweet Cadillac, or the fastest, most exotic sportbike known to man.
Those days are gone.
Five gees will get you a 10 year-old Honda Accord, a five year-old liter-class sportbike, or one bike off of a shrinking list of rides. In fact, we here at MO searched high and low through the rolls of the various OEMs and only found a few street bikes that can be had for about $5,000.
State of the Moto Guzzi - Motorcycle.com
"What, your motorcycle only has one neutral?"
Moto Guzzi? Moto who? If you've been riding motorcycles for any length of time, you've probably seen one or two of these unique machines, usually owned by the kind of guy who likes 1970s Saabs. They are known mostly for being quirky to the point of distraction, oddly engineered motorcycles that only appeal to those who like Moto Guzzis.
I've always been a fan of the big pushrod twins, so I was very excited when we here at MO were offered an opportunity to get a first-hand glimpse at the State of the Guzzi in the US market. The two bikes we tested are from opposite ends of the product lineup, allowing us to closely examine both an entry-level, smaller-displacement cruiser as well as a top-of-the line "trophy bike".
