Wheelchair designed around a BMW motorcycle
The Conquest, a wheelchair accessible trike that is built around a BMW motorcycle is charting a course across the seas, as they are slated to be delivered to dealerships based in the United States. Four of the Mobility Conquest trikes have already made the trek across the way to Akron, Ohio to MobilityWorks as the trikes are making their way into the United States market. One of these trikes will be featured at the Consumer showroom in Akron in the near future. The three remaining will be dispersed to other MobilityWorks sites in the weeks to come.
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These four Conquest trike exports are just the beginning of the shipping of 45 wheelchair accessible trikes to the U.S. in the coming months. The Conquest trikes will be spread out among a network of authorized mobility sellers around the United States; after which they will be produced by MobilityWorks Commercial Manufacturing. The Conquests have been built around new BMW cycles and have great performance capabilities; such as, zero to sixty in 7.6 seconds, and a fifteen-second quarter. Over the years these trike have been proven to have a high level of performance, manoeuvrability, and is suited for paraplegic drivers.
Brian Austin, the General Manager at the MobilityWorks consumer site in Akron stated that MobilityWorks was very excited to have the Conquest trikes in their showroom and that the trikes were a unique solution for people who are wheelchair bound. He also said that there was a place already made for them in the showroom for the public to come and see the Conquest trikes, along with their wheelchair accessible vans.
Department of Transport licence changes
The Department of Transport has recently released proposals on how to improve the riding skills and safety of new motorbike riders, people who drive lorries and buses and new drivers who want to pull medium sized trailers. The release of these proposals was in confluence with the driving Standards Agency and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
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These new proposals are in a consultation on the imparting of new European regulations on the testing, training, and the issuance of licenses to drivers that will come into affect in 2013. The main points of the new requirements for motorcycles are as follows.
There are at the present two main categories of motorcycles, in the new proposals there will be three. The new categories will be A1, which includes motorcycles up to 125cc, A2, which includes motorcycles up to 35Kw, and A, which is motorcycles that are above 35Kw.
In addition to making an extra category for motorcycles, there are also new regulations being introduced for riders of bigger motorcycles. Motorcycle riders who want to graduate to a larger category of motorcycles will have to submit to additional training or an additional test and the minimum age for those with no experience who want start out riding a bigger bike will be raised from 21 to 24.
Portimao bike testing update
Ducati Xerox Team is Happy with the Final Testing at Portimao
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Portugal: It was a overcast day at Autodroma International do Algarve on the last day of testing for Ducati Xerox Team. Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizo who ride for the Ducati Xerox Team completed the round of testing that they started on the previous day.
During the two days of testing, Noriyuki Haga tested the new clutch and found it to be working well and will be a plus going into 2010. Haga also went with a new fork, but after the test run said that he preferred the old clutch that they had been using up to this point. Fabrizio's team continued trying out the new fork with an additional new shock mounting that came from Ohlins, which Fabrizo immediately found to have good feel to it.
On track times, the Roman time was a few 10ths quicker than the previous day and was right up there with the best riders on the track. Other riders on the track included Jonathan Rhea from Honda, Cal Crutchlow from Yamaha, and Leon Haslam from Suzuki.
Ducati Xerox Team finished the testing by lunchtime and declared it to be a successful test session in preparation for the coming season.
The unofficial test time for the Ducati Xerox Team was 1’41.9 by Michel Fabrizio and 1’43.2 by Noriyuki Haga.
Top biking roads in the UK
According to research conducted by Swinton Bikes, one of the big names in motorcycle insurance in the UK, the number one road for bikers in Britain is the A57. The A57 that runs between Sheffield and Glossop was voted the top road for motorcycle riders in Britain.
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In a poll of 2000 of their clients, Swinton discovered that the winding road between the east and the west is the road that has garnered the most popularity among bikers in Britain.
The survey also revealed the other roads that were popular among bikers in the UK. These roads are the following:
The A680 route that runs between Wolsingham to Brampton, a mountain road.
The A259 route that runs between Hythe and Hastings, a coastal road.
The A361 route that runs between Lechlade to Burford, a rural road.
The A4059 that runs between Beacons Reservoir to Rhigos, a mountain road.
For a biking road to be considered a good road for motorcycling, it needs to have the following characteristics: winding or plenty of turns, the national speed limit, must have a first-rate road surface, and have some good scenery to view along the way.
Many bikers want a road that will challenge their riding ability; roads that do this will often times attract many motorcycle riders, especially on the weekends and the holidays. Bikers who ride these popular routes should seek to exercise safe riding practices and try not to take any needless risk. Additionally, if it is bikers first time on one of these routes, they should never try to go as fast as the bikers who are leading, for they may know the road better than they do.
What causes bikers the most aggravation?
A survey of 1000 Swinton bike insurance customers revealed that speed bumps was that thing that caused them the most aggravation. According to this poll conducted by Swinton, the United Kingdoms most prominent high street seller of motorbike insurance, 38% of motorcyclist stated that low-lying speed bumps was their biggest source of aggravation, with 61% believing that the speed bumps should be taken off the roadways. The survey also revealed that 11% of motorcyclists have had to have repairs done to their bikes because of the damage caused by speed bumps.
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After speed bumps, the worst annoyances, revealed by the bikers surveyed were:
Bad or inconsiderate motorist, 22% of the bikers listed other drivers as their worst annoyance.
Roadwork, 14% of bikers listed roadwork as their biggest aggravation.
Tail gaiters, 11% of bikers said that people following too close bothered them the most.
People taking up too much of the middle of the road, 9% of the bikers said that people eating up the middle of the road annoyed them the most.
Although there are a significant amount of bikers that are not in favour of speed bumps, it looks like speed bumps will remain around for a while. While speed bumps are found by many to be annoying, they are still an effective way of causing motorist to slow down.
Motorcyclist have to use more caution than car drivers when engaging speed bumps since a bike’s suspension is more sensitive to these speed deterrents. Speed bumps can also affect a motorcycles centre of gravity, which can affect the balance and cause an accident.
Swinton advises bikers to exercise caution when going over speed bumps to avoid doing damage to their motorcycle, which can result in higher insurance cost.
Ben Spies highlights 2009
Ben Spies, the amazing biker from Texas has had a strong year in 2009. One of the highlights of 2009 happened at Magny-Cours, France in early October. At Magny-Cours Ben Spies of the Yamaha race Team won his tenth World Superbike Superpole of this season. Ben won this position with a lap time of one minute, 37.709 seconds on the 4.4km, 18-turn track in France. This made Ben Spies the first Superbike racer to hit the 1:37 mark at Magny-Cours; on top of this, Ben tied the record for winning the most poles in one season. Additionally, Spies is tied with Frankie Chili for seventh place for the all-time World Superbike pole wins, Chili raced 12 World Superbike seasons.
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Winning the pole at Magny-Cours came as a surprise to Spies, being that he had not been to this circuit before and had been able to achieve beyond fourth in the qualifying rounds and preliminary practice runs.
In the first Superpole Spies showed no sign of what was fixing to take place in the following laps. During that beginning session, Spies improved just a slight amount, grasping the third best time following Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea. When the second session rolled around, things started falling into place for Spies as he went to the top and approached the 1:37 mark by running a 1:38.116 lap time. It was on his last lap that Spies seen it all come together on his Yamaha R1 as he burnt the track with an impressive 1:37.709, which placed him a half second quicker than Jonathan Rea, the rider who was the second fastest.
Pitt gets hope for the rest of the season
Racer Andrew Pitt, who has suffered set backs in 2009 due to changes in the make-up of his team including a change in suspension manufacturer seen a ray of hope in early October. In early October, Andrew was the fourth fastest biker at Magny-Cours on the first day of free practice. The current World Supersport champ set had the fourth best lap time during the free practice time with a time of 1:42.851.
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This performance at Magny-Cours was a welcome change for the Ten Kate Honda rider who had been through a rough time in 2009 after changing bikes from his 2008 machine to the 2009 CBR600RR. During the start of the season, Pitt had enjoyed early success on his 2008 machine but seen his success wane upon changing bikes.
Pitt had faced set-up issues that have weakened his chances of defending his Championship in 2009. However, late September gave a Pitt a reason to be optimistic as his set-up begin to fall into place at Imola. With the help of his new Ohlins technicians, Pitt found a set-up that enabled him to reach limits that he was more accustomed to, which was evident in the fast laps that he ran at Magny-Cours. This turn around gave Pitt hope has he faced the rest of what had been a rough season up to that point.
Dash Custom and Performance launch new site
Dash Custom and Performance has recently added a new website to aid their customers who prefer to shop online. The website is www.dashcustom .com, with Web 2.0 functions and an e-commerce platform and is designed with features that allow the users to interact with the site. This site is an upgrade from their old site that was not sufficient to help Dash Custom to meet their marketing goals.
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Some of the features of the new Dash Custom website are:
A spot for customers to read ratings and reviews.
Product images that can be enlarged to give customers a closer look.
A feature that allows customers the ability to see how the part will look on their bike.
An online blogging and forum feature for Dash and their patrons as well.
According to Meri Garcia of Website Redevelopment, the company that redesigned Dash Custom's website, Dash's old website was not very user friendly. The old websites e-payment gateway wasn't functioning and was only displaying a fraction of the motorcycle parts that Dash Custom had to offer; from a marketing standpoint, this wasn't getting the job done. The new site works much better and now customers have a much better experience as they are able to view hundreds of Dash's products and can narrow down their searches by product, category, and by brand. The new website is also a more visually appealing site that makes users want to visit the site again.
Dash Custom is a seller of motorbike parts, accessories and associated products that fit a vast range of motorcycles. People who are wishing to purchase motorcycle parts online are encouraged to visit their new website.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team begin testing
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team is already gearing up for the coming season. After less than a full day off, the team was back to work at the Valencia circuit getting ready for the upcoming Moto GP racing season.
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The track activity did not begin until 1pm, which gave the Yamaha team to welcome new team member Ben Spies who will pair up with another Texan, Colin Edwards in the coming year. This time also gave mechanics a chance to meet the Tom Houseworth, who is going to be their new crew chief. Houseworth has played a major role in Spies career up to this point.
During the four-hour afternoon riding session, Spies continued to work on getting to know the YZR-M1 better. Instead of modifying the Yamaha Monster Tech 3 bike, Ben decided to focus on his riding, and improvements that he could make. Spies rode 50 laps with a top time of 1.33.496, which made for a good first day with Tech 3. This time was the fastest of the day, just 0.8s from Casey Stoner who had the top time, and beat his previous day's race time by an impressive .6s.
Ben's team-mate and fellow Texan Colin Edwards done a short stint of 30 laps after coming off a fourth place finish in the Valencia MotoGp race that placed him in an overall fifth place in the final ratings. During this session, Edwards tinkered with his bike, the YZR-M1, working with the front-end settings and the wheelbase.
Quantyaparx franchise
Quantyaparx are popping up in different parts of Europe. Quantyaparx are a franchise opportunity that is offered by Quantya, a Swiss electric motorcycle company. This opportunity is open to people who have land or a faculty that can accommodate a motorcycle track. Quantya is looking for people who will provide the site for the Quantyaparx and oversee the park while Quantya will provide the bikes, tech support, training for employees who work at the park, spares and will help with promotion of the park.
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Recently a new Quantyaparx was started in Madrid, Spain. This park will be a part of Carlos Sainz's karting centre, which is well known in the motor field. Carlos Sainz's state of the art karting facility is endowed with an indoor track as well as an outdoor one. This Quantyparx is unique since they are utilizing a go-kart track instead of a dirt bike course. This opens up the Quantyaparx theme to a new realm of motorcycle enthusiast.
Quantyaparx gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to be a part of Quantya's innovative electric motorcycle business and gives the people who visit a Quantyaparx the opportunity to ride a Quantya bike without having to buy one. The Quantya electric motorcycle is fast enough for experienced riders to enjoy yet is gentle enough for the beginning biker as well.
Other locations that Quantyaparx have appeared at are Barcelona, Spain and in Austria. At the Quantya website, you can watch videos from Quantyaparx and get more information on the Quantya electric motorcycle.
