HEART STOPPER. Republica Motocicletas’ ‘Bypass’ Honda XR 250 - Pipeburn.com
https://ift.tt/2R6At7P Written by Marlon Slack The team at Republica Motocicletas don’t struggle to find business. The Argentinian workshop has belted out over 30 motorcycles in their short time on the scene and they can’t keep up with the amount of orders coming in. Why? Well, it’s because they create rides like this, a killer 2013 Honda Tornado 250 dubbed the ‘Bypass’. Republica is a prime example of one of the best things that can happen when mates get together. Initially founded by childhood friends Carlos Sartor and Franco Loson, the shop has since expanded to take in a whole coterie of like-minded buddies, including Mauro Sartor and Lucas Versellone. And they’ve been steadily pushing out projects since. Initially, the Bypass wasn’t even intended for a customer. “We bought this motorcycle for our own workshop,” Franco Loson says. “But when we started the design process a customer from Jujuy (a northern province of Argentina) appeared and repeatedly insisted on buying it from us, a situation to which we finally agreed”. So all eyes turned to the Tornado. You’d be hard pressed to tell from the way it looks now, but in factory trim it’s an air and oil-cooled single cylinder trail bike that’s built tougher than a black box recorder. It’s the perfect little runabout for patchy South American roads. But the little trail bike looks… well, like a trail bike. Republica had big plans. And it wasn’t for a throwback scrambler build. “We wanted to aim for a futuristic design,” Franco says, “So we designed it with a cafe racer-style tail and then went front to back, going from design to design, to achieve a more aggressive and futuristic look. Lately in our shop we’ve opted for that style above all else, and this wasn’t going to be an exception”. “It gives it a clean and futuristic look at the same time, but it was very difficult to work all the lights into such a small space.” A new slimmed-down seat unit kicked everything off with the Bypass. It’s damn tiny – and it also proved to be the most difficult part during the build process. The entire unit was made by hand and features a cluster of flush-mounted integrated brake and turn signals. “It gives it a clean and futuristic look at the same time,” Franco says, “But it was very difficult to work all the lights into such a small space”. Up front, the bike runs a repurposed Harley Davidson fender as a headlight mount. The tank, which goes a hell of a long way to hiding the Bypass’ enduro origins, comes from a 1979 Honda Supersport. The list of parts borrowed continues with the exhaust, which is taken from a Ducati Scrambler, mounted to a stainless steel headed crafted by the Motocicletas team – which added a handy 5 hp, as well as shedding some weight. There’s a couple of finer details as well. The Bypass runs new spokes and rims, a host of small custom parts like brake reservoir covers and fuel caps as well as a gorgeous colour scheme. Franco and the team are understandably proud of their creation, dubbed ‘Bypass’ as the client’s a full-blooded cardiologist. “We believe that this motorcycle is one of our best creations,” Franco explains. “When we had the bike ready we organised a party with a DJ, live bands and photographers and presented it to him in front of his family and friends. It was a magical moment for us.” [ Republica Motocicletas – Instagram | Photos by Diego Luna ] Motorsports & Auto News via Pipeburn.com November 25, 2018 at 03:15PM 11/25/2018 Sebastian Vettel: German says he needs time to recover after disappointing year - F1 News
F1 News - Sebastian Vettel: German says he needs time to recover after disappointing year
https://ift.tt/2SaCpfG Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel said he needed "some time for myself" to recover from a disappointing year and his defeat by Lewis Hamilton. Vettel and his team made mistakes that cost him the chance to take the title to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, which Hamilton won. The four-time champion said: "It has been quite an exhausting year for me. I definitely need a bit of a gap." However, he said that after a break he would be "very, very hungry" for 2019. Vettel said he believed he could be "better than I was at times this year" next season. "The year I've had, I don't think I ever have any problems raising my hand if I made a mistake," he said. "Knowing as well, as a racing driver, how quickly things can go wrong, how quickly things could have gone differently this year, I think, yeah, I have to review a couple of things. "But there's other things that went wrong and don't need a lot of reviewing and not over-complicating things too much. "I know what I need to do. Certainly, here and there, looking back I haven't been at the top of my game so… I look at myself first." He added that Ferrari as a team had "lost our path a little bit halfway through the year", a reference to developments that were introduced at the Singapore Grand Prix and gave the team a drop in competitiveness for three races. "Things didn't come together so obviously we did a step back towards the end of the year which enabled us to be more competitive again. "But I think we've understood what went wrong. We obviously tried to do a better job in the future. That was one key thing. "On the other hand I think we had a lot of lessons. It was a tough year in general. "The team is strong and the team has potential but surely it was a lot of things that happened inside the team." He added that the death of Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne of complications following a surgery for cancer in his shoulder "obviously had an impact and was tough". He added: "It's up to us to look into every single detail and make sure we come out as a stronger group, enabling us to build a stronger package for next year and for the future." #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 November 25, 2018 at 01:57PM
Motorcycle News - Custom Bikes Of The Week: 25 November, 2018
https://ift.tt/2DFsZ7T
The BMW was commissioned by the owner of a building restoration company, a keen rider who wanted a bike that reflected the aesthetic of his construction work—a blend of old and new.
The matte black aluminum wheel discs are a neat touch—and seriously attention-grabbing too. More of this style, please. [Via]
The styling was a shock to buyers, but the ‘coffin’ tank and angular side panels swooping into the tail unit proved to be a hit in the US—and everyone loved the icy, pastel blue metallic paint.
Arizona-based Droog Moto specializes in a hardcore industrial style, stripping the plastics off donor bikes and giving them an aggressive, ‘urban fighter’ look. It’s probably not to everyone’s taste, but the rough-and-ready apocalyptic look is also a refreshing antidote to the norm.
Ducafe Crème is a most excellent example of making a little go a long way. It started out as a 400SS, a baby version of the 750SS created to circumnavigate Japan’s crippling licensing laws.
It’s called ‘Splice,’ and it’s probably one of the fastest ways to get from A to B on a bumpy, twisting country road. It’s based on Yamaha’s WR450F offroader, upgraded with a dizzying array of go-fast parts and a slick new paint job. (Which, dare we say it, looks a damn sight better than the usual plasticky blue WR color scheme.)
Custom parts include a new ceramic-coated exhaust system, seat, front fender and fairing, and instrument holder. And best of all, it weighs just 119 kilos (262 pounds) with a full tank of fuel. It’s a special kind of crazy, but there’s probably a market out there. Rotobox will deliver one of these to you for 29,830 euros, which is about US$33,800. Sounds like a lot for a supermoto, but on the other hand, there aren’t many bikes that will keep up with this WR around a tight track or along a switchback road. [More] Motorcycles via Bike EXIF http://www.bikeexif.com November 25, 2018 at 11:32AM
F1 News - Lewis Hamilton ends season with Abu Dhabi win
https://ift.tt/2FCHg7F Lewis Hamilton won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to end the season in which he clinched his fifth world championship on a high. It was the 11th victory of the year for Hamilton, who dominated the race with a controlled drive on an off-set strategy. His former title rival Sebastian Vettel took second after Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas faded to fifth, which means the Finn ends the season without a victory. Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo took third and fourth. More to follow #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 November 25, 2018 at 08:57AM
F1 News - Pirelli: Formula 1 drivers welcome new tyre supply contract
https://ift.tt/2DWjQbR Formula 1 drivers have welcomed a new tyre supply contract for Pirelli as a chance to make the tyres more raceable. The Italian company's deal, which runs until 2023, comes amid pressure from drivers for less sensitive tyres that allow them to push harder in races. Drivers manage tyres carefully, taking seconds off their potential pace to keep temperatures under control. Pirelli partially addressed this in 2017, only for the issue to return this year. Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) chairman Alexander Wurz told BBC Sport: "Now we know Pirelli will remain as our partner, I welcome their efforts to co-operate more intensely with the drivers to tune their product for higher track performance." The 44-year-old Austrian, who raced for Benetton, Williams and McLaren in a career that spanned a decade, said Pirelli had met the GPDA in the drivers' briefing at the Brazilian Grand Prix earlier this month and promised it would address the issue. The drivers' campaign is a renewed effort after a similar push over the winter of 2015-16. That extracted a promise from Pirelli to produce more robust tyres which could be pushed harder for an entire race stint and which recovered their performance if they overheated when following another car closely. Pirelli has been trying to produce such tyres, but earlier this year their motorsport boss Mario Isola said it was a challenge in the context of a parallel request from F1 for softer tyres that the sport's bosses hoped would lead to more pit stops. "We know their request is to have softer tyres they can push - but it's not so easy," Isola told BBC Sport at the Monaco Grand Prix in May. "It is a real challenge to make tyres soft with thermal degradation and no overheating." We support Pirelli - Mercedes boss WolffThe softer tyres this year have not increased the number of pit stops. Instead, drivers are lapping more slowly in an attempt to make one-stop races work, because this leads to a better overall race time than lapping more quickly and doing more stops. This is because of the difficulty of overtaking, which is partly due to aerodynamics but also because of the tyres' tendency to overheat within not much more than a lap when following another car closely enough to try to pass. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has said the way the tyres behave was "completely the wrong direction" for F1. "We have expressed our support for Pirelli because we know it is a difficult task to manage," he said. "But in past years we have simply asked the wrong things from them. "By making the compounds softer and softer and softer, trying to trigger degradation and therefore more pit stops, the strategists have come up with the [solution that the] fastest race time is about managing those tyres and trying to achieve a one-one-stop or a two-stop. "Completely the wrong direction. We need robust tyres, which Pirelli is perfectly able to produce. "They just need to be given the right objectives and then the drivers can push the tyre harder, they can stay in the wake of the car in front, and we are not seeing the blistering or deg that causes these seven seconds [of lap time offset] you've mentioned." Pirelli's new deal includes a commitment to switch in 2021 from 13-inch to 18-inch wheels, which will require lower-profile tyres that are more in line with those used on road cars. It will extend Pirelli's relationship with F1 to at least 13 seasons, following their return in 2011. #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 November 25, 2018 at 07:21AM
F1 News - Fernando Alonso: The F1 great who couldn't catch a break
https://ift.tt/2ScYycX Fernando Alonso waves goodbye to Formula 1 after 17 years in the sport. Andrew Benson looks back at the two-time world champion's high and lows in a five-part special series. Part one - Lewis Hamilton, Ron Dennis & downhill at McLaren in 2007At look at when it all started to go wrong at McLaren in 2007. Read here. Part two - Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 'spy-gate' & threats & demands to Ron DennisThe moment of madness in Hungary when Fernando Alonso held up Lewis Hamilton - and the rest of his career. Read here. Part three - The Ferrari years and the championships that got awayFerrari offers a new lease of life and a chance to become a legend at the Italian team - but what went wrong? Read here. Part four - Alonso, Vettel and a nice box of chocolates - how Alonso left FerrariHell hath no fury like a Ferrari driver scorned when the prancing horse's head is turned by a new suitor. Read here. Part five - Comparisons with Lewis Hamilton & what makes Spaniard an all-time greatAnecdotes of excellence on a man, and a driver, whom Formula 1 will miss. Read here. #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 November 25, 2018 at 06:15AM
Motorcycle News - Muscle Bound – Blacksilver XJR1300
https://ift.tt/2Qod70o I never thought I was a fan of muscle bikes until I rode a Yamaha XJR1300. It was in 2015 when Yamaha held a global launch event in Sydney for the XJR1300 cafe racer. At the time I hadn’t had much experience riding an inline four, let alone anything with a capacity of over 900cc. After the initial awkward period of getting accustomed to the weight and finding the optimum rev range, I was smitten. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put such a big engine in a bike is one-half genius and the other half completely insane. Thankfully despite having an engine capacity bigger than your average hot hatch, Yamaha’s engineers managed to wrap it in a surprisingly user-friendly package. Motorcycles via Return of the Cafe Racers https://ift.tt/2M9riRb November 25, 2018 at 03:35AM
F1 News - F1 Breakdown: Was Fernando Alonso a pantomime villain?
https://ift.tt/2KxBUcP BBC Radio 5 live's F1 commentator Jack Nicholls looks back at the career of Fernando Alonso and asks whether he will be remembered as one of the greats or a "pantomime villain". #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 November 25, 2018 at 12:27AM
F1 News - All you need to know about Abu Dhabi: goodbye to a legend
https://ift.tt/2FGDWc1 The curtain comes down on the 2018 Formula 1 season in Abu Dhabi on Sunday with a race that will be marked by farewells, last chances and new beginnings. The season ends as it started, with Lewis Hamilton on pole in his Mercedes, although the lap, good though it was, could not match the spectacular effort with which he blitzed the field back in Melbourne in March. On a track where overtaking is difficult, Hamilton should start as favourite, but a season of phases has entered a new one in recent races - a Red Bull one - so the grand prix will start with all six drivers from the top three teams regarded as potential winners. Goodbye to a legendOnly two teams are keeping the same driver line-up next season, Mercedes and Haas, so a lot of drivers will be either bidding farewell to their work mates of the last season, or in some cases to F1 for good. And of course there is one big goodbye - the last race of one of the greatest drivers in history, Fernando Alonso. Much of the weekend has been focused on the two-time champion, reflecting his stature in the sport. He was in the pre-event news conference. There was a farewell party for him in the paddock on Saturday evening. McLaren have done a special livery on their cars and his overalls, reflecting the colours of Spain and his region of Asturias. He has a special helmet colour-scheme, one side the first one he used in F1 and the other the one he has used this year but with gold replacing yellow. He is wearing a special cap. There will be a farewell team photo. And a guard of honour as he heads to the garage for the final time before the race. He has borne it with good grace, but it's not what he would have chosen. "All these tributes are a bit embarrassing for me," he said. "I'm shier than people think and I want it go by quickly. I would like to be invisible until Monday, but I'll have to be here and talk a bit." In the car, he has maintained his high standards to the end. A peach of a lap in first qualifying - nearly 0.7 seconds quicker than team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne - got him into the session session, and the team were very impressed. And it completed a 21-0 clean sweep of the Belgian this season, a rare achievement. "The laps were good, definitely good," Alonso said. "I am happy with the feeling in this last qualifying. "Sometimes you maximise the lap. Sometimes you realise there could be more potential in the lap or in that corner, that braking. Maybe you lock up the tyres, maybe you had traffic. There is always if, if, if, a couple of tenths here and there. "But today I was happy with the last run in Q1 that put us in Q2 and also the lap in Q2 so the result and position is what we deserve. But on the personal side I am happy to finish on maximising the lap." He has been saying for a while he expected to find Abu Dhabi emotional but he said on Saturday that "the whole weekend has been quite OK so far. A little bit emotional outside the car but inside the car you just put the helmet on and concentrate on the job. It was a normal feeling after qualifying. "In the race we see how it goes but when you put the helmet on and start to do your job you have so much information from the engineers and so much going on it is quite easy to get into the mood of the race and you are not thinking too much about the situation." He doesn't let up, Alonso. On Monday, he will be in Bahrain doing a car swap "for fun" with Nascar legend Jimmie Johnson, who he has become friends with this year. And after the winter, he has a world endurance championship to win, and the Indianapolis 500 to prepare for. Beyond that, he says he does not know, but already there is talk of him testing McLaren's 2019 car at some point, perhaps helping the team at the odd race, and more racing. "I don't know what I will do after Indy," he said on Saturday evening. "I may do a full season in Indycar. I may do a full season in F1. There are a lot of things I may do in motorsport." He added earlier in the weekend: "For 2020 I don't know exactly what I will do, or what will be the plan. Further away, it's impossible to think - but yeah, who knows? Life is long and beautiful. I will always love Formula 1, so if I will be here in the future as a driver, as a father, as an FIA boss or whatever. I will think." What will he miss most? "I think driving the cars," he said. "The cars are something special. It doesn't matter if you're 14th, fifth or fighting for victory. "Obviously if you can be on the podium and win, definitely it's an extra celebration and joy, but when you go out of there for qualifying, or even tomorrow for free practice, and you're drive these cars, they are very special, y'know? "The amount of technology behind these cars would be difficult to replicate in any other series - but on the other side there are negative aspects of F1, especially if you are 18 years here. "You dedicate your entire life to F1. You have no friends, no family, no free time, no privacy, no wife, no kids, no nothing. It's just full dedication if you want to succeed. So, I think, I have other priorities right now." Last chance for Bottas, potential relief for VettelA grand prix victory always means a great deal, championship-relevant or not. They are too precious for it not to. But beyond that, this race is a last chance for a win in 2018 for Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who currently faces the prospect of ending a season in which the Briton has won 10 races and a fifth world title with a victory. For Sebastian Vettel, third on the grid for Ferrari, it is an opportunity for a modicum of redemption - and, remarkably, a first win since Belgium at the end of August. A win here would not ease the pain of a season which Ferrari and he could have kept alive to the end had they not made so many mistakes - even if they have been doing their best to reject that notion this weekend - but it would at least give them a boost going into the winter. Ricciardo is leaving Red Bull after this race to move to Renault - and, barring a revolutionary step forward from the French team, for the popular Australian it likely represents the last realistic chance of a win for a while. And Hamilton can simply rub in the superiority he has shown compared to his rivals all year. Who will win in Abu Dhabi?Choose your top three drivers from the list below Before this season, Hamilton had twice won the championship before the last race - but this is the first year in which he has subsequently gone on to win another grand prix. His victory in Brazil last time out was somewhat fortuitous after Max Verstappen's clash with Force India's Esteban Ocon cost him the lead, and the five-time champion wants to make a point. He said he didn't know why he had not been able to win before this year. "I don't think it's 'cos I couldn't do it in the past, just didn't do the job," he said. "I think this year it was being in a different place in my life. "I do want to continue to push the limits, push the boundaries and I wanted to finish the season on a solid high if I can. So that I can really continue to keep that foundation as strong as it has been this year so I can use that to start on next year. I think in the past it was still good. "It was no biggie that I didn't win after I won the championship but I'm definitely happy with how it's going this year and there's still a long race. So still got a lot of work to do but really happy with today." Prospects for the raceThe race, as ever, will be dominated by tyres - managing them to stint lengths, not pushing too hard and so on. The drivers are growing increasingly frustrated by this, want them to be more raceable in the future, and are worried changes planned for next year will only make their thermal sensitivity - the big problem with the Pirellis - worse. Hamilton does not expect an 11th win this year to be easy, and figures on a challenge from Red Bull as well as Ferrari. "Red Bull are always strong in the race," he said. "It's evident that they're probably better than all of us at looking after their tyres and operating where they don't have to manage the same as everyone else, whatever that's down to, downforce, whatever it may be. "But it's not that easy a circuit to overtake. And you know the Ferraris are very strong on the straight, so for them to propel past a Ferrari, I'm sure will not be easy." Ricciardo, though, is hopeful. And with one driver starting on hyper-softs on one on ultra-soft, like the Ferraris, they have strategic options. "Race pace is good," Ricciardo said. "Even if we hang there we can try and undercut or something." As a technical aside, Mercedes are running their controversial tyre-cooling wheel holes for the first time since Japan this weekend, even though they had clearance as to their legality in Mexico, following a Ferrari query. So it will be interesting to see how their tyre wear goes after struggling with it at all the races since they ran them closed. In F1, nothing ever stands still. Fluidity and the constant search for progress drives things ever onwards, and that's as true at the last race of a season as the first. #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 November 24, 2018 at 01:57PM
F1 News - Lewis Hamilton takes pole in Abu Dhabi
https://ift.tt/2DF1bjY Lewis Hamilton has ended the season in which he won a fifth world championship with his 11th pole of the year at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver was 0.162 seconds ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and 0.331secs ahead of erstwhile title rival Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen locked out the second row for Ferrari, ahead of the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. "It was emotional because it is the last time in this car," Hamilton said. "The emotional roller-coaster I have been through with this car, I am probably closer to this car than any other. It has not been easy, it has been a struggle, but I am so grateful to the team for putting it all together for me. "Today was so much fun, to be able to go out and express yourself was a great feeling." More to follow #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 November 24, 2018 at 08:09AM |
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