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Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 |
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Posted 12:00:00
Filed under Electrical Ecology
Author: Mike Werner | Location: Travelling
Via: AutoBlogGreen |
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It would seem that Swiss electric motorcycle manufacturer, Quantya  , are getting ready to spring a new electric motorcycle on to the unexpected, ie, us. 18 to 21 February is the Swiss motorcycle show, Swiss-Moto in Zurich, and Quantya are going to do an unveiling.
Their current line-up is limited to 2 motorcycles, one off-road and one road. AutoBlogGreen are doing some speculation what the new motorcycle will be, or will it be a scooter.
Have a look at their article, there are several ways this can go. Interesting.
Note: Strange that they unveil a new motorcycle at the Swiss show. It's not a big show, and gets little press attention. Just because they are Swiss....
Click here to read AutoBlogGreen's article .
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Technorati :Ecological Electric Exhibitions Motorbikes Motorcycles Quantya |
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Posted 08:00:00
Filed under France
Author: Mike Werner | Location: Travelling
Via: FFMC |
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France, one of the world's motorcycle El Dorados has been very tolerant towards motorcycles and their riders. For many years, motorcycles were allowed to park their bikes on sidewalks, go a little bit quicker than authorized, cars would get out of the way when a bike arrived, and most importantly, we were allowed (tolerated) to split lanes.
Filtering, or lane splitting, is one of the main reason many ride a motorcycle in the city, since traffic anywhere is usually at a standstill, and if you can ride in-between cars, you gain precious time. Cars prefer you to split lanes, no stay behind cars.
But now the French government want to start changing the law on this, as they have already on parking motorcycles on sidewalks. The government is moving towards making lane-splitting illegal! Already in Paris, the local cops will ticket you now if you split a lane. But if it becomes illegal, all bikes are fair game for ticket quota cops.
To show the government that this is not a smart move, the French Angry Bikers Association (FFMCFederation Francaise des Motards en Colere - Angry French Biker Association, an association of bikers fighting for the rights of motorcycle riders) are organizing an innovate protest ride on March the 13th.
On that day, in all major cities of France, all bikers are asked to ride in traffic as if they were a car, in other words, take up the space of car. That way traffic jams are going to skyrocket. If then we also just park our motorcycles in car spots, it's going to be a major mess in any city. Having bikes not lane split, as what the authorities want, they'll find out what this will do to their infrastructure.
Hopefully the authorities will take note, that making it illegal to split lanes will automatically mean 100,000's of extra vehicles on the road.
But then maybe it's wishful thinking, since we all know that any politicians suffers from that dreaded disease; CRICranial Rectal Inversion - he's got his head up his ass.
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Technorati :France Lane Splitting Motorbikes Motorcycles Protest |
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Monday, February 8th, 2010 |
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Posted 13:00:00
Filed under Ads Honda
Author: Mike Werner | Location: Normandy, France
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Some motorcycle manufacturers have a natural knack for getting really great publicity or advertisments for their motorcycles, while others don't, or barely put up a fight. After have seen Harley, Ducati, BMW and Yamaha, here are the ad efforts for world's biggest motorcycle manufacturer, Honda .
You be the judge if their efforts have paid off. Here are 29 ads for Honda motorcycle as found across the globe.
FYI: My favorite one is the last one from Spain.
NOTE: The photos below can be increased in size. If you see a small magnifying glass ( ) at the bottom of the photo, click on it or on the photo, for a small window to open with the full size photo. I have not tested it on all browses with this software, so it might do some strange things.....
ALLOW THE FULL PAGE TO LOAD IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE FULL SIZE PHOTOS.
If you don't let it load totally, you'll not be able to.
Austria
Agency: Reichl und Partner in Vienna. Date: 2009
 Honda Goldwing. And what is your favourite toy |
Continue Reading "29 Honda Motorcycle Ads from Around The World" »
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Technorati :Ad Ads Honda Motorbikes Motorcycles |
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Posted 08:15:00
Filed under France Racing
Author: Mike Werner | Location: Normandy, France
Via: News Yahoo & Reuters |
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The Le Touquet Enduropale, world's craziest and biggest beach race, is over. If you managed to catch it on the live streaming webcast, you'll have seen that it was an epic 3 hour battle, with several leaders of the race.
But it's the ending that really surprised. I think this is the first motorcycle race that the winner has been penalized and lost his title due to a loud exhaust! But before I say anything further, let's rewind the tape. Jean-Claude Mousse was leading the race 2 laps before the end, but noticed that his motorcycle was sounding louder than normal. Since he had to fuel-up, his pit crew decided to change the exhaust. This, because of a new technical rule, forbidding motorcycle to have in excess of 115 dB of sound (for environmental concerns). Due to the technical intervention Jean-Claude missed out on the title.
This was done by Yves Duedon on a Kawasaki. He was thrilled, since he has been racing here for years, and had ended up 2nd and 3rd several times, and this was probably going to be his last Le Touquet Enduropale beach race. But it was not to be.....
After technical verification, he got a 15 minute penalty for excessive noise! Now, the winner is none other than Mickael Pichon, World motocross champion 2001.
It stinks.... but then I guess rules are rules, and if Mousse had ignored it, he could have won. But is this a first for a major race?
 © Reuters |
| |  | | Bikers ride through sand beach as they take part in the "Enduropale" motorcycle endurance race on the beach of Le Touquet, northern France, February 7, 2010. About 1000 motorbikes and 500 quad bike riders descend on Le Touquet every year for the event. |
|  © Reuters |
| | | | Bikers ride through sandy beach as they take part in the "Enduropale" motorcycle endurance race on the beach of Le Touquet, northern France, February 7, 2010. About 1,000 motorbikes and 500 quad bike riders descend on Le Touquet every year for the event. |
|  © Reuters |
| | | | France's Yves Deudon rides on his way to win the Enduropale motorcycle endurance race on the beach of Le Touquet, northern France, February 7, 2010. About 1000 motorbikes and 500 quad bike riders descend on Le Touquet every year for the event. |
|  © Reuters |
| | | | A biker falls on the sand during the Enduropale motorcycle endurance race on the beach of Le Touquet, northern France, February 7, 2010. About 1000 motorbikes and 500 quad bike riders descend on Le Touquet every year for the event. |
|  © Reuters |
| | | | France's Mickael Pichon rides during the Enduropale motorcycle endurance race on the beach of Le Touquet, northern France, February 7, 2010. About 1000 motorbikes and 500 quad bike riders descend on Le Touquet every year for the event. |
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Technorati :Enduro Enduropale France Le Touquet Motorbikes Motorcycles Race |
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Friday, February 5th, 2010 |
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Posted 18:30:00
Filed under Web
Author: Mike Werner | Location: Travelling
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The last 2 weeks worth of interesting motorcycles articles found on the world wide web.
Enjoy
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Technorati :Motorbikes Motorcycles Summary Web |
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Posted 15:15:00
Filed under Entertainment France Racing
Author: Mike Werner | Location: Normandy, France
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One of world's biggest (in terms of participants - 1000+ motorcycles, and spectators, between 2-500,000) beach motorcycle enduros, the Le Touquet Enduropale , is held this weekend. Initially created by the same person who created the famous Dakar race, this is a crazy and wacky race.
If you can't come and see it, and if you don't live in France and therefore can't see it on one of the two big TV channels transmitting the race live, you can still see it.
In fact, one of the big national TV channels, France3, is transmitting 5 live feeds via the web. You'll be able to play the TV producer, since you'll be able to select the view you want.
On Sunday, 12:50 (CET - Central European Time, GMT+1)), tune in to the web and enjoy the show. It's in French, but you'll know what to do... it's easy.
The 5 camera positions are seen on the right of the image, and the camera you select will be shown in the main window.
Tip: At the start, you've got to see 1,000+ motorcycle racing away in the deep beach sand. It's always very impressive, since there's water, sand, and a few folks who are trying to win the holeshot:
But the real interesting stuff is at the end of the + 8 kilometers long circuit. That's when 1,000+ motorcycle need to go after the holeshot into a funnel.
Not to be missed.
The race lasts 3 hours. This year, a memorial service will be held for last year's winner, Timotei Potisek, who died tragically in a training accident on his motorcycle (link)..
Click here to access the Le Touquet Enduropale feed .
Enjoy.
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Technorati :Beach Enduropale France Le Touquet Live Motorbikes Motorcycles TV |
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