Bikes

Alright, I’m all for that environmentally friendly mumbo jumbo talk but only to a certain extent. Sometimes these folks let their creative juices over flow and take things too far. How far you ask? Well, allow me to introduce you to the “Frii” Concept Bicycle that is made out of recycled plastic.

This is the creation of a design student, Dror Peleg, over at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. I give him an “A” for the idea and his spirit and dedication to be part of the solution to the overflowing landfills. But he gets a “D” if not “F” on the design of the Frii Concept Bicycle. Instead of using 3D printing technology, Peleg opted out for the injection molding which is widespread in Israel. Injection molding is widely used to make outdoor furniture (tables, chairs) to things such as storage units.

“…that’s not a knife,… that’s a knife…” (Crocodile Dundee reference) is what popped in my head when I saw a picture of the all-new Triumph Tiger Explorer XC 2013 motorcycle.  The “XC” is based on a regular Tiger Explorer but with added bits and pieces which make it look tough and worthy of the aforementioned Crocodile Dundee reference.

Normally I prefer to ride and write about sports bikes but that Triumph Tiger Explorer XC is such a cool looking off-road adventure bike, I just had to share it with our viewers.  I can see this bike featured in “around the world…” type adventure documentaries.

Ducati released a few pictures of their latest naked sport bike, the Ducati Streetfighter 848.  The motorcycle features an all-new 848 Testastretta 11° engine placed in a chassis that’s made to be agile; perfect for weaving in and out of city traffic or cruising the twisty country back roads.  The bike is designed with user friendliness in mind with revised ergonomics and Ducati Traction Control.

The Ducati Streetfighter was first introduced in 2008 at the Milan show and it won the “Most Beautiful Bike” award.  The 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848 doesn’t disappoint and is one sexy looking beast!  Other than this, not much information was provided by Ducati regarding the horsepower, price, and other vital statistics.

Back in the day when I first starting riding motorcycles, circa 2002, I wanted a sport bike but since I was a newbie, I didn’t want something too powerful that’ll end up killing me.  There weren’t many any choices for those that liked the look of a modern sport bike but without the power of a 600cc, and higher, bikes.  I ended up buying a Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R, which was a big mistake, a newbie and that kind of power is/was a bad combo, thankfully I made it.

A decade later, there are now a few choices when it comes to less powerful sport bike that still look as good as the bigger bikes and today Kawasaki announced the Ninja 300, but we might be at square one, as Kawasaki hasn’t confirmed North American availability.