Awards

The Japanese are building some incredible custom bikes and this one might just be the nicest Triumph TR6 in the world right now.

Earlier this month, the Springfield manufacturer unveiled the builds of the “The Wrench: Scout Bobber Build Off” contest at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 2018. After three months and 100 or so submissions, 12 semi-finalists were showcased online for a fan vote to determine the final three finalists. These three builders got a full paid trip to Minneapolis for an unveiling party of their customized Scout Bobbers at Sturgis.

Of the three, Alfredo (Fred) Juarez, a NASA engineer from Las Cruces won the grand prize and held the coveted “The Wrench” title along with a feature story in Hot Bike magazine on his custom Indian Scout Bobber.

More than just a practical commuter, the stylish TMax scooter has been Yamaha’s darling ever since it was launched in 2001. Although it was a bit long in the tooth here, it’s a whole different story across the pond. The scooter was at the top of the ranking charts in Europe for 17 years, and Yamaha has no signs of retiring it from there anytime soon.

These guys still manage to turn heads everywhere, and the proof of it is the Red Dot design award that was accredited to the TMax 530 DX and XMax 300 models. This is one of the most prestigious awards given to the best product that has been designed to serve its purpose with outstanding quality.

"Ducati Scrambler Custom Rumble" is an art competition organized by Ducati to find the most eye-catching customized Ducati Scrambler out there. In its 2nd edition, Ducati has anointed four finalists from four different categories to go head to head for ultimate victory. All 132 entries got voted on scramblerducati.com with no less than 200,000 votes were cast.

These finalists will get an opportunity to display their meticulous, passion-driven craftsmanship during World Ducati Week (WDW) - the world’s biggest gathering organized by Ducati from 20 to 22 July 2018 at Misano Adriatico for all motorcycle enthusiasts. And one winner will travel to California, the Scrambler’s backyard.

Harley-Davidson has been giving us resilient machines ever since they began their stunt back in 1903. This year, the Bar & Shield brand turns 115-years-old, and the company plans to leave no stone unturned to celebrate it with its fans worldwide. Bikers and non-bikers alike.

Harley has always celebrated such milestones with a bang, be it their first ever one on their 85th, 100th, or their 110th anniversaries, and each has surpassed their previous celebrations by a huge way. This time too the brand plans of treating everyone with a cynosure and for the first time, Harley invites those non-riders as well to enjoy the big bash set for August 29 – September 2.

“No matter what you ride, or even if you haven’t started yet, you are welcome to join the 115th-anniversary celebrations of Harley-Davidson.”

Unearthing shipwrecks is a pretty fascinating trade to always be in the hunt find some genuinely beguiling treasury, historical artifacts, clues to mysteries, and millions of ancient relics just like these World War II-era Norton 16H motorcycles found under the greatest shipwrecks in one of the most famous dive sites in the world.

This photo captured by Tobias Friedrich, a professional photographer from 2007, won the prestigious Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018 award at UPY London. Dozens of Nortons were found in their Watery Grave in a famous shipwreck of the British World War II SS Thistlegorm near the Sinai Peninsula of the Red Sea. The photo has been titled as the “Cycle War”.

Just when the 2017 season was looking good for Rossi, the champion suffered a huge blow to his run due to injuries on his leg during an enduro training accident. It put him out of the race for him to claim another title.

Fractures of the tibia and fibula saw ‘the Doctor’ undergo surgery that threatened him to miss at least two race weekends of this calendar season. But he jumped back on his feet and went in to ride at Motorland Aragon GP, the 14th venue of the season.

Taking inspirations from such amounts of commitment, the Laureus World Sports Awards 2018 has seen it fitting to nominate Rossi for ‘Comeback of the Year’, which he also won back in 2011.

If you were a kid born in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, this is your opportunity to restore that youth. Lego has just approved to make a full-scale model of the Tron light cycle after the model gained 10,000 supporters.

Based on the Disney film, Tron Legacy, we saw Sam Flynn move around the battle scene in a futuristic motorcycle we’ve all loved. Lego Ideas, impressed by the number of people voted for this design made by Devon-based, Brick Bros UK, will produce the Lego model this year.

Piaggio group had established the Piaggio Fast Forward (PFF) to pioneer the sector of smart future mobility of people and goods. PFF builds robots and lightweight transportation solutions that travel behind, beside, and beneath people on the move, and their first project is the GITA (pronounced as jee-ta).

This assisting robot was selected in the ’Robotics’ category for its futuristic design innovation, technology, sustainability, creativity, environmental responsibility, state-of-the-art materials, and functionality. It competed amongst hundreds of products from around the world

The American Motorcyclist Association annually bestows its Horizon Award to amateur competitors for their performance in the professional ranks. This year, the Executive Committee of the AMA Board of Directors unanimously voted to rename the AMA Horizon Award the Nicky Hayden AMA Horizon Award in honor of Nicky Hayden who was the inaugural AMA Horizon Award winner in 1997. Nicky won the AMA Supersport Championship, the AMA Superbike Championship and the FIM MotoGP World Championship in past years and was in training for the FIM Superbike World Championship when he was struck by a car and subsequently died from his injuries.

Continue reading for more on the AMA Horizon Award and Nicky Hayden.

Italian bikemaker Ducati and motorcycle accessory manufacturer Dainese became the latest recipients of the “Professor Ferdinand Porsche” award in recognition of their roles in developing the latter’s D considered as the best personal airbag deployment system in the market today. The system is available in the Ducati Multistrada 1200S D, which itself made history as the first mass-produced motorcycle to receive the same award.

Federico Sabbioni, Head of Vehicle Project Management at Ducati and Luigi Ronco, Head of Research and Development at Dainese, received the award late last week a the Vienna University from Professor Bernhard Geringer, director of the Institute for Vehicle Engines and Automotive Technology at Vienna University of Technology and the coordinator of the Committee of Organisers of the “Porsche Award”.

Both Ducati and Dainese were recognised for their roles in developing one of the most innovative technologies in the automotive segment. It’s an even bigger accomplishment for the two companies since the award is normally won by people from the automotive industry. Back in 2013, Dr. Magnus Mackaldener, development engineer at Swedish commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania took home the award. Past winners also include Dr. Wolfgang Huhn of Audi for the development and use of new LED lighting technology in automobiles and Prof. Herbert Kohler of Daimler AG for his role in developing lithium ion batteries for automotive applications.

Evidently, Sabbioni and Ronco are now in good company for spearheading the move to provide a safer environment for riders, especially those competing in any one of the high-octane motorcycle racing series in the calendar. Dainese’s D|Air rider airbag is on the verge of changing the definition of airbag systems, including its capability to provide full deployment and inflation in just 45 milliseconds.

Continue reading to read more about Ducati and Dainese’s new “Professor Ferdinand Porsche” award.

The BMW R7 is truly a one-of-a-kind motorcycle that was introduced as a concept in 1934, but never produced. It did, however, inspire the R17 and R5 models. It was built during the height of the Art Deco movement, which is apparent by its very precise design that adheres to the standard mathematical basis of the Art Deco style, and is truly a pleasing piece.

After its conception, the R7 slipped away and was thought to be lost until it was rediscovered in 2005 and fully restored. It bears all black body panels with white outlines. Its wire wheels are painted a deep black to match the rest of the body. The body was like no other bike at the time, boasting smooth lines and fenders that partially wrapped around the wheels. Covering the engine are pieces of formed sheet metal to aid its aerodynamic qualities. Even the exposed cylinder heads are formed into a more aerodynamic dome shape.

The R7 boasts an 800 cc boxer engine that Leonhard Ischinger designed for BMW. It boasts a forged, 1-piece crankshaft for extra strength, and 1-piece cylinders and cylinder heads. Since the camshaft was under the crankshaft, the cylinders were positioned higher, leading to more effective valve positioning and even more ground clearance than the typical bike of the era. Coming off of the engine are two chrome fish-fin exhaust pipes.

This bike boasts a 4-speed manual transmission. Instead of the traditional foot shifter, the 1934 R7 boasts a car-style gear shifter to the right of the fuel filler cap.

There is no price placed on this bike, as it is a one-of-a-kind example that has never been sold on the open market. We are sure it would fetch upwards of $1 million at auction. We’ll never know, as its original discoverers are still in ownership and show no desire to sell it.

Image Credit: BMW museum Munich and ElfeJoyeux via Wikipedia

If beauty is what your eyes keep rolling after, you surely are familiar to American model Hope Dworaczyk and the BMW S1000RR superbike, but we’ve come to find that these two beauties recently collided.

Playboy magazine selected the 25-year-old Texan to be their ‘Playmate of the Year’ and handed her in a $100,000 check and the keys to 2010’s best superbike. With that kind of wheels and money, she can go riding around the world for a year with a few photo studio stops, of course. Here’s her first shot with the bike…we know, it hurts.

Last but most importantly, this is the first time in 45 years that the Playmate of the Year has been given a motorcycle instead of a car, meaning bikers are expecting even more such delights.

Remember the Yamaha monocycle concept and the Rollersphere? This is kind of the same thing only that the rider isn’t protected by the elements like in the previously mentioned cases. What makes the Hornet, as it is called, special is the fact that it is the closest concept to a one-wheel superbike and this turned it into winner of the VACC competition.

Designed by Liam Ferguson, the Hornet single-wheeled concept superbike is powered by two in-wheel hydrogen fuel-cell six-phase Neodymium-Iron (Nd-Fe) electric motors developing a claimed 74 hp. Also considering its 388 lbs weight and that of the rider’s, the listed top speed is of 146 mph.

But this concept has its fair share of ingenuity too. For instance, it balances gyroscopically when parked thanks to two side-by-side small wheels and tilts forward to run on the central wheel when accelerated. Also, the bike features a series of computers that examine data such as attitude and rider input in order to always offer stability regardless of rider weight and vehicle momentum.

Although the basic working principle is like that of the Segway, we have to admit this is a much better scenario imagined as the single wheel (which is actually made out of two parallel wheels) allows for extreme slow speed maneuverability. Ok, so why would you list an unrealistic top speed in this case?

Belarus isn’t precisely the destination of Hollywood stars passionate about riding, but it may very well be that soon as in a small shop, Yuri Shif Custom has created the DUster Streetfighter, a multiple award winning custom motorcycle.

Starting from a Ducati Monster engine and transmission, the Belarusian builder then fabricated the frame, bodywork and swingarm rear suspension and added a modified Showa fork only to obtain the bike’s unique stance. But as they say, it’s all in the details, so the all white finish with gold and Italian themes is, as strange as it might seem, this bike’s piece de resistance. To us, the clean profile of those big white wheels with custom perimeter brakes is just crazy.

The DUster holds the Best Streetfighter trophy from the latest Custombike show in Germany as well as the Best International Builder award, which it received at the Verona expo in Italy a couple of months back.