Battery Charged Chopper!

The guys from Orange County Choppers, made infamous by the Discovery TV
series 'American Chopper' are well known for creating some striking
choppers.  Usually they are long, loud, road monsters, but now in
cooperation with Siemens they have created an eco-friendly electric
chopper.  The striking thing is it does have quite a good range for an
EV at 60 miles, as most electric bikes die around 40.  Check out Paul
Teutul Sr on FOX TV discussing the project (try to ignore the annoying
anchors)

Orange_county_choppers_electric_custom

Green Machine

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Yamaha’s Hybrid Production Bike

Way back in 2007 Yamaha showed off the Gen-Ryu hybrid concept bike.  With the current fashion for all things eco Yamaha seems to be moving forward to production level with a bike driven by a powerful electric motor twinned with a 250cc petrol engine.  It would seem the bike will have both range and power, something sorely lacking in most pure electric bikes produced so far.  A picture of the concept is below and we'll update you with more pics and specs as they appear.

Yamaha_gen-ryu

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Oh dear, more UK test crash stats

Figures have been released showing a big rise in accidents occurring during the new Euro bike test introduced to the UK earlier this year.  Again it seems to be the notorious 'swerve manoeuvre' causing all the hassle, and in some cases pretty nasty injuries.  As reported in MCN in the 10 weeks running up to the new test there were 13 accidents.  Since the new test there have been 45!  The UK government has now been forced to look into why, even though it's pretty bloody obvious, so let's hope a few adjustments are made to the test sooner rather than later. 

Don't let it put you off going for your test, just make sure you have a good instructor who is confident about what's involved and can drill you on the awkward bits.

For more info on what's involved in the UK bike test check out –

http://www.ridethewildwind.co.uk/Tips_for_New_Riders_on_RideTheWildWind.html

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Honda VFR1200T & VFR1200-V4 …I want them now!!!

Honda-VFR-1200-V4

I'm getting over excited…

I love gadgets and technology and
bikes more and more use an abundance of the stuff. We've gone way
beyond simple clip on sat-nav units in recent years and everything from
brakes to adjustable suspension, switchable fuel maps, are becoming
common features of bikes. Race tech has made a big crossover and a lot
these advancesments make for some awesome jaw dropping motorcycles.
Honda have upped the game again with the announcement of its V4 based
bikes designed to replace the current VFR, Blackbird, and Pan-European
next year. Honda seems to be going for a common engine wildly
adjustable to suit several platforms which economically, for the
company at least, makes good sense.

But it's the gadgetry that
makes these bike so exciting for me. Shaft driven, clean lined
lovelyness with an auto clutch giving Drive/Eco, Manual and Sport
options, and the engine switching from V4 to V-twin to boost economy
depending on conditions, fantastic. I think we're definately entering a
new era of two wheeled vehicle that may be its most exciting yet,
especially with Olins 'active suspension' and two-wheel drive on the
horizon as well. Stare at the renders of the 2010 Honda VFR1200T (as
featured in MCN) and V4 VFR 1200-V4 and try not to drool on your keyboard…

2010-honda-vfr1200t-_460x0w

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It’s a bit geeky, but utterly cool!..

We’re briefly entering the realms of fantasy for this post, with a look
into the video game world of TRON : LEGACY, sequel to 80’s classic
TRON. The coolest thing about the original TRON was the bikes used in
the video game world the characters fight in, or Lightcycles as they’re known. Not your standard V-Twin and a little more advanced than the
upcoming Honda tech-fest V4s, but when you see them in action you’ll
definately want one!

Geeks go nuts for the ComicCon reveal of a full size mock up Lightcycle..

TRON: LEGACY – NEW LIGHTCYCLE REVEAL

Lightcycles in action in the teaser trailer,,

Tron Legacy (2010) Trailer

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The future of the car…is a bike..

More news from the future in the
shape of a Peugoet single seat concept car that is slowly heading into
bike territory….or certainly reverse Trike territory.

Funny how the simplity of design in tomorrow's transport options are leaning our way (no pun intended)

Mcp_4

Everyone should own a bike, in the world of tomorrow they may have no choice!

More pics to be found here

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/04/23/peugeot_compo_mega_city_car/

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Welcome to the world of tomorrow!..

The Bike of tomorrow by French designer Julien Rondino

Bike of the Future

Ok I'm
going to add this to the list of bikes I'd love to have a go on, but
would most likely spectacularly crash. There's this and of course, the Bat-Pod.

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Choosing a bike..

I'm getting a little ahead of myself in trying to decide on my next
choice of bike, even though I haven't got round to doing my test yet
what with all the new UK/Euro test hubbub of the last several months.  Now
things are settled, though not in any way beneficial to a new biker, I
intend to do the test this Autumn and upgrade to a big boys bike just in time for winter.

Currently
I'm on a Suzuki GZ125 Marauder and it's a great wee bike. I went for
this primarily through vanity as I didn't like the look of other
'learner bikes' like the Honda 125 range.  The Suzuki just looked nice
and I never really gave any thought to the fact that it might be harder
to learn on a feet forward, low, cruiser style bike, and I did struggle
in the very early days with turning circles and U-turns.  These days
however it's second nature and hopefully good enough to go through the
new test first time.

I've been riding over a year now and last Winter was pretty cruel to the bike's finish after sloshing through road salt and mud everyday on the commute to
work.  I've managed to recover most of the damage and bits like mirrors
and small bodywork items can be replaced pretty cheaply.  But this does
leave me realising that here in Northern Ireland, a chromed crusier is
only good for scorching summer days, which are extremely rare, and despite the fact I love the
style and comfort I'm going to have to go for something a bit more
robust, or move to Las Vegas which is tempting!

Currently I'm trailing through reviews of 600's to see
if I can find something suitable and the choice is endless with
numerous naked's, and half, and fully faired sports bikes. Going to
have to be sensible and also take into account that I'll have to fit a
restrictor kit to whatever it's going to be.

I'll be back soon with some choices to see what you think.

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Opening the shutters..

Almost ready to get this 'Ride The Wild Wind' VOX blog up and running.  I previously set one up on Blogger, but I wasn't impressed with it technically.  I've a personal blog on VOX and thought it would be good to shift my old posts across. 

So I've updated my profile so you know a little about me
and what this blog will be dealing with. As for the Ride The Wild Wind
website, it is currently under construction and I hope to 'launch' it
properly within a month or so. It will be updated throughout next week
with more page structure and email addresses for folks to send in their
pictures, stories, tips, etc.  Oh and for those reading this who aren't in NI pictures and stories can come from anywhere in the world, so send them in and showcase your pride and joy!

Hopefully this will be a fun
project and I'm looking forward to hearing from fellow bikers both from
N.I. and further afield. Biking in Britain has been getting a bit of
bad press lately, with some high profile speeding cases getting bikers
punished as if they were murders. Hell you get less of a sentence for
murder these days in Britain.

Despite the best attempts by UK
and Euro Gov's and Health & Safety enthusiasts, I don't see it is
fair to allow them to demonise us. With the site and the blog I would
like to showcase the good natured fraternity of motorcyclists, which is
one of my favourite aspects of being part of it all.  Even with my
crappy L-plates, which will be dumped soon, virtually every biker nods to acknowledge that I'm part
of the club.

I'm looking forward to hearing you're views and opinions on every aspect of being a biker, and I'll post my old Blogger thoughts here shortly..

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