If you ever wanted to know what a 1200cc VR6 motor sounds like on a dyno, well today’s your lucky day my friend. German restart Horex Motorcycles has put its 15° six-cylinder motor through its paces recently, and had the foresight to record the event on video. With a motor no wider than an inline-four, listen while the Horex VR6 concept idles and revs with German efficiency. And oh that whistle sound, yeah we forgot to mention this is the supercharged 200hp variant. Happy Friday.
American Honda announced today the official pricing on the 2011 Honda CBR250R, the company’s 250cc beginner bike. With base pricing on the CBR250R starting at $3,999, the ABS equipped model will cost an additional $500, with an MSRP of $4,499. This price point goes right after the Kawasaki Ninja 250R, which is also sold for $3,999 MSRP. The Honda tips the scales a full 15 lbs lighter than the Kawi, and is equipped with fuel-injection.
We expect Honda’s strategy with the Mini-Me CBR is to offer more performance and features for the same price as the Kawi, which should make things in this part of the market very interesting (Aprilia is trying to play here too with its 125cc Aprilia RS4 125, which will likely cost more than these two bikes). Photos, video, and technical specifications of the new Honda CBR250R after the jump.
The guys up in Ashland have been busy testing their Brammo Empulse RR electric race bike. Taking some laps around Thunderhill Raceway, and hitting the curves around the Ashland area, Brammo’s Director of Product Development Brian Wismann was at the helm of the Empulse RR in these videos. Surely gearing up for the 2011 racing season, Brammo was testing the Empulse RR’s systems, and from the looks of it, the Empulse RR has some moves. Videos after the jump.
Motor Trend has weighed in on the great debate: which is faster, a car or a bike? Wanting to explore the issue with some style, the car mag proved prints isn’t dead, and took a Ferrari 458 and Ducati 1198S Superbike to the track to see which Rosso Corsa was fastest. With a quarter-mile drag and a lap around the Streets of Willow, MT has its definitive answer on which is the fastest Italian, but we imagine the answer to what form of transportation is ultimately faster will remain an open debate for a while longer. The video is after the jump, stop watching at the 8:22 mark if you don’t want to hear a bunch of excuses being made.
Chris Pfeiffer was in the former-Yugoslavia recently, and our friends at Motori.com.mk were on hand to see the Red Bull rider do his thing on his BMW stunt bike. Along with the usual fun stunting footage that goes with Chris Pfeiffer’s work, the guys at Motori took some HDR photos of Pfeiffer performing for his fans and around the capital city of Skopje, Macedonia. Head over to their site to read the interview (Google translated from Macedonian to English). Thanks for the tip Baze!
Confederate is readying its next iteration of its Hellcat series, posting these CAD renderings of the Confederate C3 X132 Hellcat on its website. Originally set to debut on Halloween of this year, Confederate has pushed back the launch date to the second quarter of 2011. For a bike that seemingly only exists on a computer screen, Confederate is being rather cheeky with its tech specs, simply stating that the new Hellcat will have 145 lbs•ft of torque, while listing the horsepower as “sufficient”.
The folks in Noale have a video out now (watch it after the jump), promoting the 2011 Aprilia RS4 125 – the four-stroke 125cc street bike that is a spitting image of the Aprilia RSV4 superbike. With 16hp coming out of that tiny single-cylinder motor and cool styling from its larger sibling, the Aprilia RS4 125 seems like the perfect beginner bike for some teenager in Europe, but we have our reservations about how the bike will sell here in the United States. A classic example of how ideas don’t always carryover, Aprilia seems hellbent on bringing this 125cc bike to a market that demands twice that displacement for practical street bikes.
UPDATE: Well looks like the party is over, as Dorna has sent us a cease and desist.
What was it like watching Valentino Rossi swing his leg over the Ducati Desmosedici for the very first time behind closed garage doors? Well thanks to someone in the Ducati pit box who had either a small camcorder or smartphone with video enabled, we can finally see what that experience was like, and what sort of atmosphere surrounded the moment.
Taking a total of six videos of the historic occasion, we can experience the first reactions of Rossi and crew as he gets ready to complete Italy’s motorcycling wet dream. Videos after the jump, and be sure to check out the first official images of Rossi riding the GP11 at Valencia, and the behind the scenes photos from Rossi’s favorite photographer Gigi Soldano.
Famed five-time 500GP Champion Mick Doohan wants to make sure you’re wearing all your gear all the time in this latest motorcycle safety commercial that was put together in South Australia. A part of the Motorcycle Accident Commission’s “Gear Up” campaign, we start off seeing a rider wearing just a shirt, jeans, and sneakers flying through the air after his motorcycle has crashed.
As Doohan points out though, this sort of attire is just about as good as riding naked, which in fact our protagonist is, as he is actually only covered in body paint, not clothing. This sort of shock safety video is a continuation of MAC’s first commercial “No Place to Race”, which can be found after the jump.
Further proof that we still have some differences from our neighbors in Europe, there is this video of Valentino Rossi on Italian variety show “Striscia la Notizia”. His first interview since , and that he’ll be missing the Monza Rally (Marco Simoncelli will be taking his place). And yes…that’s a toilet plunger on that man’s head, welcome to late night Italian television.
Source: Two Wheels Blog