Baby Blue Ferrari 458 Italia Destroyed In Chinese Crash

Another day and another supercar has been crashed. This latest incident happened near Shanghai, China and saw a baby blue Ferrari 458 Spider absolutely destroyed.

Apparently, the driver of the mid-engined Italian supercar lost control while passing through an intersection at high speed. The car then sped through a number of Armco barriers and a lamppost before coming to a rest after mounting the curb.

The damage sustained to the 458 is immediately clear. The entire rear fascia has been ripped off as has the engine cover leaving the 562 hp, 4.5-litre V8 engine completely exposed. One of the rear wheels and hubs is also missing with both severe exhaust and structural damage having been sustained by the car.

Additionally, one of the doors has been badly dented and while images of the front aren't available, it seems likely it also suffered some damage. All told, the car is quite clearly a complete write-off.

Source: http://www.carscoops.com/2015/12/baby-blue-ferrari-458-italia-destroyed.html

Husqvarna, The Futuristic Motorcycle Concepts

I’ve been following Kiska’s designs for a long time, and every single design of theirs has always included the elusive cool factor. The Husqvarna Motorcycle Concepts aren’t exceptions.

The two concepts gain their inspiration from the Silverpilen Motorcycle 1950s designs. Both bikes rid themselves of any fancy doodads, sporting a simple and sleek design that’s both cutting edge and modern. “Great design is not skin deep. The design language communicates the brand promise. Some of the world’s most recognizable products follow this mantra. It’s where KISKA shows its true colors. Our designers are gifted in ensuring each product presents its given brand values.”

The Husqvarna Concepts are anything antiquated, though. They’re sporting upside-down wireframe forks, lightweight trellis frames, and 17-inch wheels with modern rubber. “The 401s are not recollections of the past. They’re about purity, simplicity of form, and the economy of line. Those are the fundamentals of the Husqvarna design language. It doesn’t matter if it was 60 years ago or now, the same mentality remains,” said Kiska’s senior designer Bjorn Shuster.



The 401 Svart Pilen is very much a road bike with the muffler mounted high, out of the way of rocks and debris. The headlamp has an integrated cage that fully encloses the bowl: it’s the old headlamp grill reinterpreted in a modern way. The solo seat has a grippy texture and makes room for a small utility rack at the back. The riding position is upright, with wide bars and grippy pegs. A skid plate protects the crankcase, and the tires are aggressive but street-legal knobbles.

With 401 Vit Pilen, it aims to show how simple and pure a road bike can be. The rear seats give maximum clearance in the corners, and clip-ons are mounted to stout triple clamps. “It’s what a stripped down street bike should look like: reduced to the minimum and lightweight. The stance and proportions let you know what it’s waiting to do.”

Source: http://techdrive.co/2014/11/husqvarna-futuristic-motorcycle-concept/

Air Cooled vs. Liquid Cooled Motorcycle Engines

One of the considerations to make when buying a motorcycle is the difference between air cooled and liquid cooled motorcycles. Depending on where and how you plan on riding, a motorcycle’s cooling may play a large part in your decision to buy, and how much you’ll appreciate your machine.

• Air cooled motorcycles run noisier.
• You’ll tend to see air cooled more on cruisers, as most cruisers typically run at lower RPMs then sport bikes.
• Sport bikes tend to be liquid cooled.
• Air cooled engines provide more simplicity, representing one less component which could break, need to be replaced, or need servicing
• Liquid cooling rads are sometimes fragile, and external or aftermarket oil-coolers can also be expensive and could break in an accident.
• Air cooled bikes may be cheaper.
• Air cooled motorcycles are likely more feasible for single cylinders (big thumpers), or parallel twin engines.
• In V-Twins, the back cylinder could remain hotter than it otherwise would.
• In liquid cooled engines, the circulating liquid evens-out hot spots in the cylinder head. This is better for detonation control and for emissions. The combustion chamber surfaces can be kept hot enough to encourage more complete combustion, but not so hot so as to promote detonation or high NOx emissions.
• Liquid cooling is better for long-term durability since it allows tighter build tolerances.
• Liquid cooled engines transfer the heat to the rad at the front of the bike, making a long ride or a traffic grid lock more tolerable for the rider.

What you’ll want depends entirely on your ride. Sport bike or other high-revving engine, you may want to make sure you’re getting something with liquid cooling. Scooter or cruiser can probably get away with air-cooling. Many people say Harley-Davidson Sportsters never overheat, but if they do get hot, there are always things you can do, such as switching to a full synthetic motorcycle oil, or adding an OEM or aftermarket oil cooler.

Personally, I switched from a Japanese, liquid cooled motorcycle, to an air cooled Harley-Davidson. I was a student riding to downtown Toronto, and the bike just got far too hot for me. I switched back to liquid cooling. Of course, I live in the most densely populated city in the country, so your experience on an air 

cooled motorcycle may be far different from mine. In fact, Harley-Davidson has the largest share of motorcycles over 750cc on the market, and the vast majority of their line up is bikes powered by air cooled motorcycle engines.

It’s not about right or wrong, or good or bad, it’s about letting you know what the differences are.

Source: http://www.youmotorcycle.com/air-cooled-vs-liquid-cooled-motorcycle-engines.html

NEW DUCATI C12-R SUPERBIKE CONCEPT Anthony Colard’s

The architecture of the NEW DUCATI C12-R SUPERBIKE CONCEPT has taken several iterations, and absolutely started activity out as the C11-R. The Collard C11-R’s best apparent aberration to its almsman is the GP-style bankrupt the exits both in the lower fairing, and beneath the appendage section. Collard has replaced this bureaucracy in the C12-R with an added acceptable Ducati-esque under seat adjustment with dual-cans.

Accenting both designs are added circuitous and vented anatomy panels. Underneath it all you can see afflatus from the 1098, but Collard’s thoughts assume to be added complex, than the simple Ducati lines. The effect on us is that this looks like an about added complete appearance than the original, and thankfully doesn’t booty the archetypal Ducati curve too far, and into the branch of clutter.

Hopping anon to cede an adobe archetypal of the C12-R, Collard’s final aim is to actualize a bound run of his creations. While he doesn’t appetite to adduce exact achievement specs yet, a 200hp motor isn’t out of the equation. The French artist is abiding of one thing, it will be faster and lighter than the accepted 1198.

The project’s ambition amount is €25,000 for a completed bike, which isn’t that abundant added big-ticket than an abject Ducati 1198 (in Europe at least), but collard wants to accept a €4,000 kit (fairings and bankrupt only) accessible for accepted 1098/1198 owners to acquirement and transform their machine.

Source: http://carsandbikesport.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-ducati-c12-r-superbike-concept.html

Extreme Makeover: the Yamaha Virago XV920

Are there any remaining doubts about the resurrection of the Yamaha Virago XV920? If so, this latest build from Greg Hageman of Hageman Cycles should eradicate them.

“My inspiration for this bike was an old DT360 my neighbor had when I was growing up,” Greg reveals. “I just wanted to build a bike that was comfortable to ride, and would go most anywhere—including dirt and gravel backroads, not just pavement.”

“I guess my recent designs are coming from growing up on the farm back in the 70s,” he says. “We all rode enduros, lots of DTs and XLs. During the weekdays you rode your bike around the farm to get the cows home for milking, and ran around out in the fields checking crops. Then when the weekend came, you washed it up, and headed into town. These bikes were versatile and made to get around—and that’s been my goal lately, multi-purpose bikes.”

This 1982 XV920 might be practical, especially as far as customs go, but it’s also powerful. The motor has been punched out to 1000cc, and Greg has fitted new Mikuni VM34 carbs, a Laser Duo-Tech mid-pipe and reverse cone mufflers. The bike is also packing a Yamaha XV1000 TR1 front end, progressive springs and an old-school XS650 fork brace.

Greg was part-way through the build last year when the bike was listed for the Ton-Up show at Sturgis, organized by Paul ‘The Vintagent‘ d’Orléans and Michael Lichter. So Greg dropped the front end two inches and installed Tarozzi clip-ons and 18” front, 17” rear wheels. The style was ‘aggressive café racer.’

Now that the show is done, he’s returned the machine to the state we see it here, closer to his original vision. He’s raised the back end, thrown on some alloy dirtbike bars, and bumped up the front wheel to 19”. The subframe is a bolt-on unit that Greg sells on eBay: “It allows you to mount just about any flat bottom seat you could imagine.”

The eye-catching paint comes from Moe Colors, kicking up the original green hue a notch and turning it into a candy effect before replicating the old DT side-stripes on the tank.

Yamaha is a fan of Greg’s work too, and he’s just finished building a Star Bolt for the company’s ‘Bolt Build Off’ competition. Head over to the Star Motorcycles Facebook page to see Greg’s vision for the Bolt—and compare it to nine other Bolts created by leading US custom builders. You’ll also find the Roland Sands and Chappell Customs machines we featured recently.

Source: http://www.bikeexif.com/yamaha-virago-xv920-cafe-racer