Muhanad's Motorcycle Travel Journal

Muhanad Al Sultan is close buddy of mine and we travelled together on our last trip to Lebanon, since then he continued his Motorcycle adventures through UAE and Oman. He created this blog to share his motorcycle adventures with fellow riders. Great Suff Muhannad, you are giving me a good idea to start my own going all the way back to the 80's, geez I need a scanner to do this.

http://mymotorcycletraveljournal.blogspot.com/

2007 Not a Good Year for US Motorcycle Sales

The stuttering U.S. economy has apparently affected motorcycle sales, which decreased dramatically in December of 2007. Weak sales in the 4th quarter have dragged down the average for the year.

Comparing December 2007 to December 2006, sales of off-road bike were down 27.7%; street bikes were down 19.7%; scooters were down 21.1% and all motorcycle categories combined were down 23.2%. ATV sales were also off 28.3%

The poor showing in December brought the year to date sales of off-road bikes (compared to 2006) down 17.1%; street bike sales were down 4.9% and scooter sales remained unchanged. The dual-purpose motorcycle category showed the only increase at +6.7%.
Initial reports show overall motorcycle sales (all categories) for 2007 averaged a decrease of 7.2% compared to 2006.

Cruisers are largely recreational motorcycles; their sales rise and fall with the economy. A downturn in sales is more of a reflection of harder times than popularity. Higher interest rates is what's keeping consumers away from Harley Davidson, not lack of popularity.

Roland Sands’ Ducati Ultramotard!

Roland Rands a name synonymous with radical bike building. So What happens when talented specials builder Roland Sands gets his hands on a Ducati Hypermotard? Why, you get an Ultramotard! As you can see, the machine takes some of its flat-tracker styling cues from Sands’ earlier machine, the KRV5.The custom-made twin exhaust pipes look very good, as does the custom red and gray paintjob. We don’t know if the engine has also been worked upon and whether there are any performance enhancements on this bike, but for a bit of around town posing, this Ducati Ultramotard would probably be hard to beat anyway!

Visit Roland Sands website here.

The BMW R1150GS-based Beutler Boxer

What do you do with an R1150GS that nobody wants? If you are Klaus Beutler – a man devoted to building high-performance streetfighters – you don’t hock it off to buy an R1200GS Adventure. Instead, you take the 1150GS and convert it into something that nobody else in your neighbourhood has – the rather outlandish Beutler Boxer.The Beutler bike has been designed to look like it’s one single piece of… something. With resin and fiberglass, Klaus Beutler worked for months to fabricate the bodywork and all the paintwork was also done by hand.According to a report on Motociclismo, it’s not an easy bike to ride – the seat is quite high and climbing on can be quite difficult for those who aren’t as tall as Mr Beutler himself. Then, the turning radius is very large, the clutch is stiff and the ergonomics are less than stellar. Worse still, the bike feels nervous and isn’t very stable at high speeds. And all this despite Beutler claiming he hasn’t done anything to the original chassis…

Nitro Circus Awesome Must see!!!

No Body does it better than the yanks.

2008 Legend of the Motorcycle Concours

Famous Italian racing legend Giacomo Agostini will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 event.

Agostini, known to millions of fans worldwide as “Ago”, is the world’s greatest motorcycle grand prix racer with 15 Grand Prix World Championship titles. While fellow Italian and World Champion racer Valentino Rossi is close on his heels in terms of career titles, no one has yet to match Ago’s incredible record on the track. Most closely associated with famed Italian super bike MV Agusta, Agostini actually won his first championship in 1963 astride a Moto Morini. This win caught the attention of Count Domenico Agusta, founder of MV Agusta, who added young Agostini to his race team that included Mike Hailwood.
Ago’s tenure with Count Agusta’s team would result in nearly a decade of successive victories and the cementing of Agostini and MV as one of the greatest racers and machines of all time.

To V or to B that is the Question!

Its that time of the year, where I have an itch about changing my ride, my wife calls it Mid-Life crisis, I call it time for change. Throughout the years I have owned over 30 or so bikes, for the past 5 years i have been experiencing the Harley Dream or at least trying to fit my engines to my riding style. Every Harley I owned I modfied its engine, to acheive at least 100HP. But the frame of these beasts fails time and over again, above 160KPH, it twitches it wobbles and if lucky you get a tank slapper thrown in as freebee. The time has come to move on form conventional AC Vtwin to 100+ HP.

The contenders:

The V-ROD, german engineering powered by a Porche design engine, built in the US, delivering 120HP+, Brembo Brakes. Sleek, Raw, Evil Machine, excellent stability on straights, cornering abilities are next to zero, due the lack of clearance, not a bike for twisties but then again Kuwait is flat and corner free, seating position not a cruiser. Worth cosidering given its a Harley on steroids, my only negative feedback is the lack of torque vs its AC counterparts with 1600cc. Price is 5700KD.

The B-King, bullet proof engine 164HP, 94 ft/lb of torque and speeds close to rip your pants. The bike is naked, similar to V-Rod and the K1200R, looks futuristic, I like the Batman styled exhaust. Price Tag is 3700KD, for 2000 less its the bike to beat, but again as the V-Rod it has an identity crisis, which is exactly how I feel!!

Honda Evo6 GW-Prototype

Based on the Goldwing engine this got to be the sexiest Honda I have seen in a long time, Unfortunately, Honda has a history of building beautiful GW-based concept bikes that never go into production, Rune was an exception and a failure. I am hoping that this one, is the first that does.

Hail Maximus!!

For the novice the Yamaha V-Max is a turning point in the street rod performance era. Inroduced in 1985 theV-Mx is one of the best-selling Japanese motorcycles of all time. Good news is that Yamaha's V-Max is coming back and anything below 200 horsepower will not cut it with buyers. France was one of the great markets for the original Vmax and it was a commercial success. The new Vmax is most likely to become a 2009 model now. IMHO Harley V-Rod success is attributed to the V-Max. In terms of looks although the protype looks mean, it will be tamed by the time of its launch.

As you can see the proto is on right and the release photos are on the left.

Harley Crossbones 2008!

The raw aggressive styling of the Cross Bones is no mistake. Harley is exposing a fresh, mainstream side of the venerable Motor Company. Harley looked to its knuckles and pans of yesterday for styling cues on the latest motorcycle in its Dark Custom line. The Cross Bones has the "retro look of a Springer front end and other post-war era bobber styling cues like a sprung solo seat, half-round rider footboards, Gloss Black round air cleaner cover and chopped front fender." Harley has done its homework because these styling cues are reflected in current trends in the custom building scene.

This makes my choice of a new bike harder, I like the range of Harley Dark Customs, in specific the V-rod since I already own the Nighttrain. The X-Bones is a heavy weight contender that appeals to the retro fanatic while delivering 21th century performance, I happen to be one of them, time to trade in my Electra Glide.