Posted 08:00:00 AM
Filed under Protests Author: Mike Werner | Location: Normandy, France
Is this the first sign of the end of civilization when protesters loot a motorcycle shop. What's next? Human sacrifices? And to think the pope has just blessed motorcycles...(maybe they would have left it alone if it was a Harley-Davidson shop).
A demonstrator gestures by a damaged store selling motorcycles during one of the many protests around Brazil's major cities in Porto Alegre June 17, 2013. As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption. REUTERS/Gustavo Vara
Posted 06:00:00 PM
Filed under Author: Mike Werner | Location: Travelling
Here's one of those ideas that on paper is really good, but in practise will never be applied. The idea can be found on the Quirky site, waiting for votes to bring it into the next phase.
The idea is to attach a special infrared sensor chip to a smartphone. The display on your phone will then show all thermal images it can detect, particularly at night. The idea is that when riding at night, your phone can display "warm bodies" on the road, like pedestrians, cyclists, dogs and even other vehicles (car engines are hot in case you are wondering).
Posted 02:00:00 PM
Filed under BMWEntertainment Author: Mike Werner | Location: Travelling
The French 2CV car from Citroen has been one of those cars that have marked a generation, maybe even two generations. The car was very light, easy to repair, and could drive on anything, even drive better on snow than purpose built snow cars.
Of course, it was very under powered and very slow, but that was the magic about this car. Hippies and grandparents would drive it, basking in the sound of the 2 HP engine (2CV means 2 HP in French) purring away.
But what if you wanted the car to go a bit faster? Apart from putting burning alcohol or nitro methanol into the engine, there isn't much you can do about it, until Sparrow Automotive decided otherwise.
This British engineering company will remove the original engine and put in a BMW motorcycle engine of your choice. Your choice are between 850 cc and 1200 cc BMW motorcycle engines.
They can also upgrade the gearbox, using one from a later Citroen model. The video below is that of a 2CV Citroen car using a BMW 1100S motorcycle engine. The upgrade gives it 95 bhp, top speed of 100+ mph and a very respectable 0-100 kph in 9 seconds (in a real 2CV you probably couldn't even reach 100 kph, and if you did, you'd need a cuckoo clock to measure the time).
I've always wanted a 2CV car, it's the only car I would consider buying/owning. But this conversion would really be the icing on the cake.
Here's the video. Just listen after the introduction to the car humming away with the BMW engine.... pure bliss.
Posted 08:00:00 AM
Filed under FranceUniformed Author: Mike Werner | Location: Travelling
I guess not all cops are born equal, some of them will get hit as hard as we civilians do by their brothers-in-arms. A police officer got caught speeding on his personal motorcycle on a road limited to 110 kph. He was "racing" his motorcycle at 186 kph (with the margins used by the police, he was officially clocked at 176 kph).
When he was stopped by his colleagues, he told them that he was riding in a group, and he was trying to catch up with the other bikers.
Later on he left the scene as a passenger/pillion since his license was taken away on the spot. He'll now have a date with a judge.
So it is possible for cops to ticket cops, which is a good thing, but IMHO it rarely happens. But it shows that at times a) cops are honest enough to ticket other cops and b) cops are human and do things they shouldn't be doing.
#Switzerland #Police - This Swiss police officer can be glad he didn't do what he did this year, since he'd be playing hide & seek in jail. What did he do, I hear you ask?
In Geneva, Switzerland, on the 11th of December 2009, the 40 year old cop was first of all caught popping a wheelie while going through a green light on his official police motorcycle. A pedestrian who was jaywalking got hit by the cop. It was obvious that the Swiss Gendarme could not see the pedestrian since his front wheel was up off the ground. A witness saw him on one wheel going over a length of 10 meters. The cop initially denied the accusation, then changed his mind and stated that the wheel came up by itself.
A bit less than a month later, the same cop, but this time on his private motorcycle was caught speeding by a radar doing 105 kph in a 50 kph zone (i.e. in the city). He claims that he loaned out the motorcycle, but did not want to give the name of the person who had it. He claimed he was not able to ride, since he was still hurt from the wheelie accident, but he did admit he had taken out the bike earlier. So a double lie...........
...........Click on the headline to continue reading this story.......
Posted 06:00:00 PM
Filed under AdsSidecar Author: Mike Werner | Location: Normandy, France
Even Russian motorcycle manufacturers advertise. Everyone has to advertise, but to be successful, you need to do good, if not great, ads. Russian motorcycle maker Ural has two good print ads.
Both ads say it all, the tag line reads "Routine, boredom, office slavery and chains of marriage – this is not about people who ride bikes. Ural motorcycle sets you free. It helps you get away from all this, and gives you absolute freedom.".
There you go, Ural sets you free. So go little bird, enjoy your freedom.
I love it.... (BTW, if Ural want to send me one of their great looking motorcycles, I'm game).
We know that motorcycles and scooters are great forms of transportation and even entertainment. We have also seen many cases of motorcycles and scooters used to carry everything, including the kitchen sink.
We have also seen other, often weird, applications for our favorite two wheelers. But this one beats them all. Here is one way of using a Vespa scooter you would never have thought off.
The hint is in the photo above. Look at where the arrows are pointing. Know what is going to happen in the video? Have a look.
Posted 08:00:00 AM
Filed under Celebrities Author: Mike Werner | Location: Normandy, France
On a surprise visit, the newly crowned King of The Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, showed interest for the Motorcycle Support Nederland (MSN) organization. The MSN is an organization that educates people will small disabilities to work in sectors like motorcycle maintenance.
For the last 3.5 years, the MSN organization has been receiving financial assistance from one of the Royal assistance programs, the Oranje Fonds Groeiprogramma.
Nice to see a newly appointed King showing his face in the motorcycle world. Here's the video of the event.
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