Interbike 09 – What will you be riding next season?

It seems as though us Americans are just about alone in the world still thinking of the bicycle as nothing more than transportation for children and spandex-clad fanatics. Truth is, the bicycle is not only a great transportation alternative, but also an amazing form of exercise, even for casual riders. If you look at the fitness regimen of top racecar drivers, besides karts and supermodels, the next most common piece of training equipment will be a bicycle.

We recently published a cycling 101 guide that would let the average car guy walk into a bike shop without feeling completely out of place. To expand on that, we attended the Interbike Show in Las Vegas. Interbike is the largest bicycling trade show in the States. Think of it as an Auto Show of human powered vehicles. The top manufacturers of bicycles, components and associated accessories all turn up to show off their newest wares to industry insiders and media. As with most trade shows, you find products that are outliers. We stumbled on an electric unicycle that self balances; think one wheeled Segway of death, a few skateboard manufacturers and even a few things that defied description. The show filled the Sands Expo Center to the absolute limit, luckily, several brands of energy drinks; chews and powders were all on hand giving out free samples to keep show-goers moving.

No Compromises – Builder Ian Barry On Falcon Motorcycles and his Award Winning Bullet Cycle

Located in downtown L.A in a building originally used as a welding factory, we found the home of Falcon Motorcycles. Amid a garage full of eclectic bikes and memorabilia, resides the man behind the bikes, Ian Barry. When you first walk in to his shop its sprinkled with a number of interesting two-wheelers, including a pre-WWII Norton and the bike that started it all, the now famous, Falcon Bullet.

If you are into custom bikes, you have probably seen it in a magazine or on Youtube, but this bike takes-on a very different feel up close and personal. Seeing the intensive amount of fabrication on the frame, the hand made rivets that hold the license plate, the seat mount fabricated from a 1940’s tractor leaf spring, all the way down to the custom hand made leather wrench bag, you quickly realize this is no run of the mill “custom bike”. Nothing here was ordered from a catalogue, nothing was ripped off a modern bike. Every piece of the Bullet was built faithfully to Ian’s vision.

Cycling 101 – Beginners Guide for the Car Guy

Racing is a sport. It requires skill, intelligence and athleticism. Some of us may forget that last part, and that’s why at the end of a long track session we immediately retreat to a nice cool place to collapse into a pile of sweat and Nomex. As car guys, we probably look at the monotony of running as fondly as jail time and while the gym provides a good workout, it just won’t hold our interest. What we need is something that involves speed, motion and gluttonous amounts aerospace technology. We just may have found the perfect form of exercise.

I did a fair amount of cycling back when I was in college but haven’t touched a bike for exercise purposes in years. We headed down to The Path Bike Shop in Tustin California for a look at the latest in bikes and find out what a new rider needs to know to shave a few pounds off the least efficient part of the racecar.

The Vincent: Black Shadow

The Vincent : Black Shadow

When you think of classic motor bikes, the names that come to mind are the obvious ones Indian, Harley Davidson, Triumph, but unless your a die hard motorbike enthusiast the name Vincent Motorbikes will just be another flip thru the magazine pages.Vincent Motorcycles has been and is still an inspirational model for bike builders of today. As they try to emulate the bikes of the yester-years for its minimalistic designs and advanced engine technology.

NOS Energy Drinks won’t make your GSX-R Run Better

I love online forum communities.  They are an amazing source of info, dis-info, and a great place to talk with like minded folks.  And every once in a while, you get to witness an epic fail.  At gixxer.com, an online community for owners of Suzuki GSX-R motorbikes, there was recently just such a fail.