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Royal Enfield aims to roll out uniquely differentiated electric bikes: CEO

By General Posts

with inputs by PTI and https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Iconic motorcycle manufacturer Royal Enfield is investing for development of differentiated electric motorcycles in India, said CEO B Govindarajan. Interestingly, the company is also creating a supplier ecosystem around its Chennai-based plant, funded by a capital expenditure of INR 10 billion in the current fiscal year.

Royal Enfield has commissioned a very capable team and has started commitment of very deep investments in terms of product development, product strategy and in the product testing and development area, he added.

Further, the CEO noted that the company has made a strategic investment in electric Stark Future EV company and now teams from both companies are working well.

“Currently, we have laid a robust long-term product and technology roadmap on electric vehicles and towards developing the supplier ecosystem – its our focus as of now,” Govindarajan noted.

When asked about network expansion in the domestic market, Govindarajan said the company currently has about 2,100 retail outlets across India, a mix of studio stores and dealership outlets.

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Making Art While You’re High at It

By General Posts

Text and Photos by Jeff Najar.

I sent some tins to Atomic Bob in Ohio to do some of his magic.

You might be familiar with Mr. Atomic. He’s become part of the 5-Ball Racing Team by Bandit. His company is Atomic Dice.

With Atomic Bob, you never know what you will get back, but you do know it will be cool and you do know it will be out of the box. Mr. Atomic always pulls it off.

Each letter is unique but they also flow together. And their size fills the space on the sides of the tank.

CLICK Here to Read this Photo Feature on Bikernet.com

Read about significant medical benefits and natural remedies in this unique motorcycling feature article.

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The Salt Torpedo is to be raced at Bonneville Salt Flats. Illustrations on by Atomic Bob.

Can you Ride with a Pet on your Motorcycle?

By General Posts

ASK A TROOPER: “Motorcycle Riding Dog”
by Ryan Janke from https://kfgo.com/

Question: Can someone with a motorcycle permit have their small dog riding on the motorcycle or would that be considered a passenger? We have already purchased a helmet and leather jacket for this lucky pup! Thank you for your response.

Answer: First of all, where will this dog be seated and how? I see less issues if you are talking about a motorcycle side car or a motorcycle trailer equipped with a kennel. But if you are talking about on the actual motorcycle with you, I don’t think this would be very safe for you or your pet.

If you are going to carry a passenger, there are a few key items to keep in mind:

Equip and Adjust Your Motorcycle:

  • A passenger seat and footrests are required by law.
  • Adjust tire pressure and suspension settings for the additional weight. (Do not exceed weight limitations specified in the owner’s manual.)
  • Readjust mirrors.

Passenger Preparation:

  • Provide protective riding gear: eye protection, a DOT-approved helmet, boots, gloves, long riding pants and a high-visibility motorcycle jacket.
  • Passengers under age 18 are required by law to wear a DOT-approved helmet.
  • Small children are required by law to be able to reach both footrests with their feet while sitting on the passenger seat.

Getting On and Off the Motorcycle:

  • Start the engine before the passenger gets on.
  • Squeeze the front brake while the passenger gets on or off the bike.
  • Passengers should get off the bike before the operator.

Passenger Safety Tips:

  • Hold operator’s waist or hips, or motorcycle’s passenger hand-holds.
  • Keep feet on footrests at all times, including while stopped.
  • Keep hands and feet away from hot or moving parts.
  • When turning, look over the operator’s shoulder in the direction of the turn.
  • Avoid turning around or making sudden moves that might affect operation.
  • If crossing an obstacle, rise off the seat keeping your feet on the foot pegs with knees slightly bent and allow legs to absorb the shock upon impact.

Operator Safety Tips:

  • A passenger will affect handling due to extra weight and independent motion.
  • Braking sooner with greater pressure may be necessary.
  • Use extra caution in a corner.
  • Allow more time and space for passing.
  • Be ready to counter the effects of wind.
  • Avoid extreme speeds and dramatic lean angles.

If you have any questions concerning traffic related laws or issues in Minnesota, send your questions to Trp. Jesse Grabow – Minnesota State Patrol at 1000 Highway 10 West, Detroit Lakes, MN 56501-2205. (You can follow him on Twitter @MSPPIO_NW).

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Ride to the Moon: Motorcycle Adventures in Argentina

By General Posts

Behind the scenes in Argentina: Ride to the Moon

Argentina: vast open spaces, salt flats, lunar landscapes and Andean peaks towering over 4,500 m altitude. You’ve been asking us about it since our very first tour across the Himalayas back in 2006: “Since the Himalayas, I can’t stop thinking about Argentina. When will you take us there, Vintage Rides?”

Expectations are running high for this legendary destination. So, challenge accepted! 😉

Alexane and Simon: the dream team

During the summer of 2021, Simon suggested entering into partnership and opening a Vintage Rides office in the heart of the Andes. “I have been riding here for more than 10 years and know the region like the back of my hand. I have hundreds of unexplored tracks under my belt, ready to design new tours. I knew it was time for me to set something up”. A friendly, enthusiastic biker, he is smitten with his adoptive country and its culture and shares many common values with us. We speak the same language. So we decided to take him up on his offer and set up Vintage Rides Argentina together with the headquarters in Salta, in the north of the country.

At the mercy of nature, which reigns supreme, the tracks are constantly changing. While the borders were closed, Simon had all the time in the world to do what he loves most: criss-cross the tracks, try out all the roads and uncover the best places, which you won’t find on Google maps – believe us, we’ve tried!

From the Lyon office, Alexane is on hand to help get the joint venture up and running. She’s been thrown in at the deep end: she’s only just joined us at Vintage Rides and she’s opening a new office in Argentina! That’s a big adventure in itself. ¡Bienvenida, Alexane!

Spring 2022. The routes are ready, the tracks tested and the restaurants and hotels selected. We are raring to go and can’t wait for you to come and join us.✌

The bikes are set for adventure

“And what about the bikes?” we hear you cry! Simon isn’t just an adventurer, he’s also a motorbike mechanic and a fan of Royal Enfields. We asked him to work on the Himalayans, which are ideal for tours that alternate between small roads and winding tracks through the Andes. Simon came up with a series of improvements to make them unique, robust and ready for adventure without scrimping on comfort: reinforced sump guards, side saddlebags and tanks. You won’t have seen anything like them!

So far, we are the proud owners of 10 Royal Enfield Himalayans, fresh from the factories in Buenos Aires. Simon has fine-tuned them in our Argentinian workshop and they’re dying to be ridden under the Andean sunshine.

Ride to the Moon

As you can see, Argentina makes us dream as much as you do and we are so happy to set our wheels in motion there. And we are not the only ones. Thanks to support from our partners, Mutuelle des Motards, Bell and In&Motion, the film-maker, Florian Moscat, will follow our first group of Vintage Riders this spring and capture their adventure. We’ll tell you more about it in the coming months, but for now, we can give you a sneak peek at its name: RIDE TO THE MOON. Try as you might, the landscapes will be even more impressive than you could ever imagine.

Today, we couldn’t be prouder of the local knowledge we have on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. We can’t wait to share all the emotions that have kept us going these past few months with you.

Do you want to help us write the rest of our adventure story?

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War Machine: Custom Bike Tribute to Soldiers

By General Posts

Built by Richie Russolello, Story and Photos by Dangerous Dave – Earl’s Garage

Richie Russolello was working in Kansas and meet with some Veterans building a memorial with no support.

As he talked to them, he made a promise to help them, and their mission to honor veterans and wounded warriors.

He has been working on airplanes, trains, and all the associated support equipment.

He worked for Continental, Colorado Railroad and now Signature Flight Support, and he is licensed to work on A&P aircraft and Qualified Maintenance Personnel (QMP) for trains.

This year he was elevated to judge at the Mountain Regions largest motorcycle event, Colorado Motorcycle Expo going strong for 43 years.

CLICK HERE To Read this Photo Feature Article only on Bikernet.com

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Ducati DesertX with twin fuel tanks revealed

By General Posts

from https://menafn.com/ by MENAFN

Ducati has officially revealed the DesertX adventure motorcycle in the global market.

It gets a new off-road-friendly chassis and a host of electronic riding aids.

The bike has a retro look, dual fuel tanks for fulfilling additional fuel needs, a 5.0-inch TFT screen, and a 937cc engine that comes paired with a 6-speed gearbox.

Here’s our roundup.

Takeaways
The Ducati DesertX concept was showcased at EICMA 2019 and two years later, we have the production model. It has a similar appearance as the concept version and looks like the Ducati motorbikes of Dankar racing from 1990s.

Distinct features such as dual fuel tanks and dual-pod headlight make it a unique offering.

Design
The bike has a generous ground clearance of 250mm.

The front and rear fuel tanks on Ducati DesertX have capacity of 21 liters and 8 liters, respectively.

Ducati DesertX features a muscular front fuel tank, a transparent windshield, a twin-pod LED headlamp, a split-style seat, an upswept exhaust, and an auxiliary fuel tank at the back.

It houses a 5.0-inch TFT display and rides on 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels.

The two-wheeler has a seat height of 875mm, a ground clearance of 250mm, and a kerb weight of 223kg.

Engine & Specs
The Ducati DesertX is powered by a 937cc, Testastretta twin-cylinder motor that churns out 108hp of power at 9,250rpm and 92Nm of peak torque at 6,500rpm. Transmission duties are handled by a 6-speed gearbox.

For the rider’s safety, Ducati DesertX is equipped with disc brakes on both the front and rear wheels, along with cornering ABS, wheelie control, traction control, and engine brake control. It offers six riding modes.

The suspension duties are taken care of by fully-adjustable Kayaba inverted forks on the front and a fully-adjustable mono-shock unit on the rear end.

Pricing and availability
Ducati DesertX will start at $16,795 in the US. It will likely be available in North America starting June 2022.

Serpent-Like Exhaust on Custom H-D Breakout

By General Posts

A Custom Harley-Davidson Breakout with a “designer” Exhaust
from https://www.autoevolution.com by Daniel Patrascu

If you look from far away, superficially enough, and you don’t know what those twisted pipes on the side of this motorcycle are, your brain might trick into believing you’re looking at a couple of snakes doing their thing in plain daylight.

Over the years, as we combed through some of the most extreme, visually appealing, or mechanically-impressive rides on two wheels, we’ve seen plenty of hardcore representations of exhaust systems. The one we have here though is so far ahead of all the others, it deserves a title of its own.

The serpent-like piece of hardware sits on one side of a custom build called Criminal for one reason or another. The bike started out as a stock Breakout, but was heavily modified to earn its place in the select gallery of custom rides we constantly feature.

The visual effect of the exhaust system was achieved by the garage behind this build, Poland-based Nine Hills Motorcycles, through a clever play between the copper color of the pipes and welding stripes placed at almost equal intervals. The garage calls the system a piece of jewelry, and as far as design for these bits goes, they’re spot on.

Although from a color standpoint it has nothing in common with the rest of the body (in fact, it is exactly this mismatching that makes the exhaust stand out so much), it does seem to blend pretty well with the green hues deployed on most of the handcrafted body.

The shop did not limit itself at replacing the pipes, but fitted other custom bits on the thing as well in their bid to make it unique. Up front we’ve got a custom headlight, the wheels are of Performance Machine-make, and Roland Sands supplied the engine housings.

Mechanically, the brakes on the Breakout have been modified, and there’s an air suspensions system on deck to make both the thing’s stance more visually appealing, and the ride more comfortable.

As far as we can tell, the engine of the motorcycle was left pretty much unchanged, and only got a small number of new and improved hardware, including the exhaust system that brought us face to face with it, and a BDL clutch.

The Poles describe the end product of their work as a “real designer firecracker,” a one-off machine that retains the elements that make the Breakout such a go-to platform for customizers, but also brings something unique to the table.

For how much it does this, though, is anybody’s guess. In the usual European style we’ve grown accustomed to by now, Nine Hills keeps the price of the project under wraps, so we have no way of telling how much the modifications made cost the owner.

CLICK HERE To See at Nine Hills Motorcycles website.

Honda Motorcycle bought in 1981 with zero miles in original condition

By General Posts

Honda motorbike bought in 1981 that has zero miles on the clock because it was confiscated by its teenage owner’s father and locked in garden shed goes up for auction for £2,000

  • Honda CB100N was bought 40 years ago but was never ridden by its teen owner
  • Strict father banned him from riding it and it stayed untouched locked in storage
  • After father died, son found his bike in remarkable condition four decades later
  • The 1981 bike is now going up for auction and is expected to fetch up to £2,000

by Katie Feehan from https://www.dailymail.co.uk

A 40-year-old Honda bike with no mileage on it has been rediscovered and is up for auction after the disapproving father of its first teen owner banned him from riding it and locked it away in storage for decades.

The 1981 Honda CB100N was bought brand new by the youngster in his youth while he lived with his parents.

However, his boyhood fantasy of riding a motorcycle never materialised because his strict father banned him from riding it.

Instead the machine was left to languish in storage for the next four decades.

After his father died the unnamed owner, who is now aged in his 50s, was tasked with clearing out his house in Bridgewater, Somerset, and stumbled upon his old but immaculate bike.

He agreed to sell the time-capsule Honda to neighbour Graham Tozer who has now put it up for sale at auction.

The bike still has its original tax certificate with an expiry date of July 31, 1982. The odometre displays the exact mileage of a mere four tenths of a mile.

Mr Tozer, 64, said: ‘I’m a collector of classic bikes and cars, so six months ago my neighbour called me up and said they needed rid of it.

‘He was born in the house and spent all of his life there. When he was a youngster he really wanted his own bike but when he brought it home his dad wouldn’t let him ride it.

‘He’d saved up for such a long time to buy it but his father just said, ‘you’re not going on that. You can stick it in the shed’.

‘Apparently his dad was really strict. He was ex-military and he was the boss of the house.

‘I would have loved a bike like that when I was younger but my dad probably would have done the same thing.

‘To have a motorbike from the eighties which hasn’t been touched is so unique. It really is like the Holy Grail for collectors.’

George Beale, a specialist at Charterhouse Auctioneers of Sherborne, Dorset, said: ‘These bikes were ordinarily used for commuting, so those which are still on the market from the 1980s tend not to be in the greatest condition.

‘But with a little work this one could be like brand new, which is incredibly unusual for something so old.

‘It would be rare to find any vehicle from the 1980s without any miles whatsoever. It just so happens that this young boy’s tyrant father was far more forceful than he was.’

The Honda is being sold with a pre-sale estimate of £2,000 at the Haynes International Motor Museum on October 14.

Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso’s paint shop experts create unique and fan-favorite designs for riders

By General Posts

by Allison Tunstall from https://valpo.life

From custom jobs to throwback styles, Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso’s Paint Shop is a unique service offered in-store—one of the only Harley-Davidson dealers in the Midwest to house its Paint Shop right in the service center. Dealers from surrounding states from Ohio to Kentucky send their parts to the shop located on US 30, where the “Dynamic Duo,” John Galloway and Randy Melton, have been creating one-of-a-kind motorcycle looks for decades.

It is easy to see why so many riders and dealers trust Galloway and Melton with their bikes. Galloway, who started his painting career in his brother’s motorcycle shop and has continued painting for over 30 years. He and his team use only the most state-of-the-art technology and methods to create custom and industry-standard style. They are commited to creating quality, lasting work their customers love.

“We don’t do any shortcuts,” Galloway said. “We have a reputation of creating lasting work. We don’t want people to come back in a few years saying they’ve had problems, so we use the best product you can get as far as paint, primer, paint guns, air brushes, and more. Our spray booth is top of the line, which helps us get a better product out.”

“Recently, two riders brought their bikes to us and said that we’re the only ones they trust to create the look they want for their bikes,” he continued. “For years, I’ve worked with dealerships in Ohio, Kentucky, and Wisconsin, which continue to send me parts and tell me how satisfied their customers were with the job. It really makes a difference.”

Galloway and Melton specialize in repair and refinishing Harleys. If a bike has a scratch, dent, ding, mark, you name it, the duo gets to work repairing and detailing so it looks as if the damage never happened.

The Paint Shop also offers custom jobs, like the signature Harley-Davidson hot rod flames and custom graphics and airbrushed work. Galloway remembers a bike from a few years back that was Celtic-themed with Celtic symbols around the entire bike. They even recreate beloved styles that Harley-Davidson no longer makes. Currently, Galloway and Melton are recreating a stock paint job, one that is no longer available, on a 1997 bike.

“Tastes change and styles come back now and again,” Galloway said. “Harley-Davidson came out with a CVO with the Harley-Davidson number one on the gas tank, which was a little different than styles before. I’ve recreated that paint job probably 15 times. The hot rod flames come and go. Some people know exactly what they want for their bike, some people may only have a general idea of what they want and will let us run with it. For jobs like those, we spend a more time on doing a good job for them to make sure, in the end, they have the bike of their dreams.”

“I’ve had so many customers who are just overwhelmed and excited about the work we did,” Galloway said. “It’s gratifying to hear customers tell you that your work is even better than they could have imagined. I don’t interact with customers as much as I have in the past, so when I do, I love seeing that twinkle in their eyes when they see their fresh bike for the first time.”

Stop in the Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso Paint Shop today to see what Galloway and Melton are creating. Make sure to say hello to Willow, the dog, who comes to work with Galloway every day.

For more information about Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso’s Paint Shop and how to make an appointment, visit their site at https://www.hdvalpo.com/Services/The-Paint-Shop.

Garage Brewed Motorcycle Show Brings Custom, Rare and Vintage Bikes to the Rhinegeist Taproom

By General Posts

by Maija Zummo from https://www.citybeat.com/

Hosted by the Cincinnati Cafe Racers, this curated invitational showcases 50-plus odd and awesome motorcycles and bikes

The sixth-annual Garage Brewed Motorcycle Show returns to the Rhinegeist taproom for an afternoon of paying homage to unique bikes and unique builds.

Hosted by the Cincinnati Cafe Racers, this is a curated invitational that showcases “custom, rare, antique, collectible and just plain odd bikes that are hidden away in garages and basements,” according to the event descriptor.

The 50-plus rare bikes on display are whittled down from an ever-increasing pool of nominations and include everything from choppers and custom cafe racers to rat bikes and restored Indian motorcycles.

In addition to the art on two wheels, local artists have hand-painted Biltwell helmets, which will be auctioned off to benefit Operation Combat Bikesaver.

Noon-midnight Saturday, Feb. 8. Free admission. Rhinegeist, 1910 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, garagebrewed.com.