World’s Most Expensive Motorcycles 2011 Forbes Magazine Version

Forbes magazine recently published the list for World most expensive Bikes for year 2011, Here is the list for World’s Most Expensive Motor Cycles for year 2011,

Motorcycles have had mass appeal to the most  general public for roughly a century and a half. They have been dominating on roads from a very long time,An American named Sylvester Howard Roper designed one of the first motorcycles in the 1860s. further, The motorcycle was displayed at fairs and circuses around the eastern U.S.. And the Europeans also had their hand in  making famous motorcycles and, during the World Wars, as a result of which motorcycles functioned as a quick means of transportation.

As the motorcycle’s Era  progressed, the engines and frames became speedy,bigger, sleeker, faster and more powerful, resulting in the high-power and expensive motorcycles of today. If you can afford  that one, a custom motorcycle built as  your exact specifications is within reach.

1.Dodge Tomahawk V10 Superbike – $555,000

This reproduction of Dodge’s concept bike is considered an “automotive sculpture,” as it is not street legal in the US. Ten of these bikes were offered by Neiman Marcus in their 2003 Christmas Book. The Dodge Tomahawk V10 superbike boasts an 8.3 liter engine (505 cubic inch), and the 10 cylinders can bring the bike to a maximum speed of almost 400 mph. The 1500lb bike has an independent 4-wheel suspension and can reach 60 mph in around 2.5 seconds.

2.Ecosse Titanium Series RR Limited Edition – $275,000

This luxury motorbike features a titanium chassis with clear coated carbon fiber bodywork and wheels. It features a fuel injected, intercooled, supercharged 2,150cc billet motor and is capable of over 200 hp. Its saddle is ergonomic and adjustable. The bike also comes with a timepiece, designed by French watchmakers BRM, which is made to match the bike and is engraved with the same serial number as the handlebar clamp and VIN plate. This bike is limited to only 10 units.

3.Macchia Nera concept bike – $201,000

4.Icon Sheene – $160,000

The Icon Sheene Superbike is hand built and custom fitted to the customer. The bike is powered by a 1.4-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine and features a custom aluminum frame, hand-beaten aluminum fuel tank and a carbon fiber panel body. With a price tag of $160,000, the Icon Sheene Superbike’s production will be limited only to 52 units.

This bike was created by Andrew Morris in honor of legendary British Grand Prix motorcycle champion Barry Sheene, who died in 2003 at the age of 52. As such, only 52 of these 250 hp, turbocharged 1400cc motorcycles will be created, each emblazoned with a playing card hand-painted by the same artist who painted Sheene’s helmets, Mike Fairholme. Each of these bikes will be bespoke, tailored to fit the purchaser’s unique requirements.

Built  as around a Ducati 998RS engine, this motorcycle’s Italian designers and custom  engineers set out to create an extremely high tech,powerful and expensive motorcycle that would be thought of as “the ultimate track bike” that is “simply beautiful and beautifully simple”. The Testastretta engine is fitted with lightweight metals and alloys, like titanium and aluminum, making it very lightweight. The view from the side of the Macchia Nera shows exposed belts and engine components, giving its design a minimalist feel while still being aesthetically pleasing. We should add that this bike is a one of a kind and not in produced for retail at this point, but if you have an extra 150,000 Euros (US $201,000) laying around for an expensive toy, your dream might come true.

5.MTT Turbine SuperBike – $150,000

The Trendy,powerful,Not only is this motorcycle expensive, it’s also extremely fast. This bike, also known as the Y2K Turbine Superbike, is the Guinness World Record holder for the “Most Powerful Motorcycle Ever to Enter Series Production”. The turbine engine in this one is made by Rolls Royce and is capable of over 300hp. The motorcycle also boasts carbon fiber fairings, a rear mounted camera with LCD color display, forward-and rear-looking radar detector with laser scrambler, one touch “Smart Start” ignition, and many other cool gadgets. This bike seams to be pretty popular in Hollywood. It starred in the movie “Torque” and even Jay Leno owns one!

MTT Turbine Superbike According to Guinness Word Records, the MTT Turbine Superbike is the most powerful production motorcycle ever. It is even more powerful than the Ducati Desmosedici RR, which I believed was the fastest production motorcycle in the world.

6.MV-Augusta F4CC – $120,000 – THE power machine

This expensive motorcycle was created by Claudio Castiglioni, MV’s director. He wanted to create a powerful,spectacular motorcycle that met strategic marketing needs while also being something truly special and unique.So, The expensive motorcycle bearing his very own initials “CC” has a top speed of 315 kph (195 mph), 1078 cc’s and a 198 hp engine. Each bike boasts a platinum plate located near the top of the steering column showing the model number from 1 to 100, making this motorcycle all the more special to its owners. source : Forbes Magazine

2012 MV Agusta F4 RR First Look

Italian brand MV Augusta has introduced a new sportbike for 2012. Dubbed the MV Agusta F4 RR this Italian-made Superbike offers motorcyclists an exotic (and expensive) way to experience the thrill and excitement of liter-class sportbike riding with a price starting at around $33,000 (based off exchange rate of Euro MSRP).

If you think the pictures of the MV Agusta F4RR look good then check out our 2012 MV Agusta F4RR First Look Video.

Based off the standard F4, the RR-designation denotes the use of a higher-spec liquid-cooled 998cc Inline-Four engine. The bore/stroke dimensions have been modified. Cylinder bore has increased 3mm to 79.0mm, while piston stroke has reduced 3.1mm to 50.9mm. The more oversquare configuration allows the engine to spin to 13,700 rpm (300 rpm less than the class-leading BMW S1000RR). MV claims that the new engine puts out 201 horsepower as measured from the countershaft sprocket.

The valvetrain was also updated with each of the 16-valves now manufactured from titanium. The diameter of the intake valves has increased 1.8mm to 31.8mm total while the exhaust valves are now 1.0mm larger at 26mm. Furthermore, the intake now employs a variable length intake trumpets on each of the four 49mm throttles bodies similar to the Yamaha YZF-R6 and Aprilia RSV4 Factory.

As always the F4 employs an easily serviceable cassette-style close-ratio gearbox in case you need to make trackside transmission gear changes paired to a hydraulically-actuated slipper clutch. In terms of electronics the RR offers a traction control system that can be manipulated via buttons on the handlebar.

The new and improved engine is harnessed in a similar chassis that adds full adjustability. The angle of the steering head and swingarm pivot point can now be modified. The wheelbase can also be increased or decreased via a shim system. Suspension is comprised of an NIX-series Ohlins fork and TTX-series gas charged shock absorber. The F4 RR rolls on lighter forged wheels. Braking components are sourced exclusively from Brembo with the use of radial monoblocs calipers and a radial-mount master cylinder.

The F4 RR is available in Pastel Red/White and Matte Pearl White colorways. The bike will be in European dealerships by the end of May but no word when it will make it stateside. 

 

Select the model you like and you can make a purchase online here:

 

Adventures of a Motorcycle Despatch Rider During the First World War 

 

Source : http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/

Motorcycle Manufacturers

There is a strong argument that anyone who’s spent 42 years, a small fortune and a substantial number of days in various hospitals is, by any general standard, not the shiniest spanner in the toolbox. This puts me in a somewhat vulnerable position because I must confess to a life-long addiction to bikes, and this has cost me a lot of money and an equal amount of pain.

I have personally contributed to the profits of a significant chunk of the motorcycle industry, not only through the purchase of an obscenely large number of bikes, but also several large warehouses of spare parts, clothing and shiny things in nice packets which vendors promise will make me and my bike faster, better handling and a step closer to Valentino Rossi.

I have never resented paying my dues because in return I have enjoyed thrills, excitement, intense pleasure and now a career from motorcycles. In short, it has been a fair deal. I’ve chipped up the money and accepted the pain, and the bike industry has eagerly taken my money.

This unwritten agreement has carried with it a sense of fairness. So far, the motorcycle industry has respected that I am an addict and has treated me, more or less, with respect. Now the situation is changing.

Take the current fad for “spy pictures” – all of which are leaked “exclusively” to the press worldwide. The best example of this was the launch of the Triumph Tiger 800. For months we in the media were bombarded with loads of secret pictures which, anyone with intelligence greater than an under-ripe mango, could see had been meticulously set up.

The saddest thing about the whole exercise was that the Triumph didn’t need any hype or deception. The baby Tiger was, and is, a superb motorcycle in its own right and sells at full ticket price, so why treat customers as if they are too dumb to know that the whole charade was just that – a series of clumsy publicity stunts.

Now, Honda has joined the party with some equally “secret” pictures of their new large capacity automatic scooter/bike hybrid. These were shot secretly in a remote location in Switzerland - a country which, ironically, IS given to secrecy, at least when it comes to parking large amounts of dodgy cash in very discreet banks.

These secret pictures, taken from every angle, are pin sharp. To anyone in the media that means only one thing: a set-up job. The images you see at MCUSA – even the ones which look “natural” - take forever to produce. If the photographer is any good, he or she will have you ride round the same corner again and again until your eyes bleed. You will be expected to shift line by half a millimeter, alter your body position by a quarter of a degree and ride time and again until the pic looks right. And that’s what the Honda pictures are: good, professional images shot with time and care. Why then go through the nonsense that some passing tourist hid in a ditch and took a few pics with his phone?

Recent advertising for Triumph's Tiger 800 is another example of how months of planning go into 'spy pictures.'

In fact, that’s a rhetorical question. The answer is that the pretence is initiated and propagated by marketing people who now seem to control motorcycle manufacturers. You used to be able to go to bike shows and talk to people from the bike industry who actually liked motorcycles and the people who ride them. Now, the majority of marketing staff don’t actually ride bikes. In fact, the situation is worse than this. Not only do they not ride bikes, as in: “it’s-the-middle-of-winter-and-I-don’t-want-to-freeze-to-death” - a view which I can sympathize with. No, it’s a question of, “I don’t ride bikes and I don’t know which thing operates the gears or which one you press to make the rear brake come on.”

What comes with this lack of knowledge is a sneering, disdainful view of why anyone, for any reason, should want to ride a bike. In fact, they have the same attitude to motorcycles as I have to golf. I just don’t understand the attraction of walking around a big field trying to knock a little ball into a hole with a metal stick. The difference is that I don’t work for a golf club company, and my living doesn’t depend on there being a continuous supply of rich muppets who do want to play golf.

With this distance from the consumer comes a contempt which is shown in how manufacturers try to manipulate potential purchasers with, for example, spy pictures. It’s the same with the media. Manufacturers have a love/hate relationship with the press. Ideally, manufacturers would like the media simply to publish their press releases and, if they were forced into ever having a press launch, it should be restricted to a two-mile ride, after which the journalist would be allowed to ask one question from a list provided by the factory’s Public Relations Deparment. Then, everyone could go home. Sadly for manufacturers, journalists don’t see things this way.

In today's motorcycle industry many professionals who run marketing departments have little to no riding experience.

I should add one caveat here. Press Officers themselves - or at least the ones in direct, first-hand contact with the media - are generally nuts, and if they weren’t working in the bike industry they’d be bankrupting themselves buying motorcycles just like the rest of us. It’s the drones in corporate land who are the source of the trouble.

Sadly, the idea of having professionals who run marketing departments now sell bikes at a retail level is starting to rear its ugly head. I was in the showroom of a major manufacturer last week - it’s not fair to name the brand because they are all equally culpable - and was listening to the salesman pitching an extremely high-performance bike to a middle-aged customer with just two years of riding experience.

The first question is a moral one. Does the salesperson not have a duty of care when moving someone from a 600 Fazer to a 180 mph hyper-sports bike? Is he not morally bound to explain that the bike is completely, totally and utterly unsuitable for the prospective purchaser, and might well kill him?

Maybe the question was answered as the sales pitch progressed. It was clear as day that the salesman had never ridden a high performance motorcycle, and had as much idea about the challenges involved in riding a bike of this kind as I have in giving birth.

Knowing little to nothing about motorcycle riding is more than bad business, it's plain dangerous when attempting to sell certain products. 

Later, I was gossiping to one of the mechanics at the shop and he confirmed that my hypothesis was correct. Not only had the salesman no knowledge of sports bikes, he hadn’t even mastered riding a scooter around the shop’s car park - and had no interest in doing so. He had come from the RV industry and, on the basis of being able to sell snow to Eskimos, had been hired to dump high-ticket superbikes on middle-aged blokes who, to paraphrase the blessed Casey Stoner at Estoril, have “...more ambition than ability.”

Ironically, the situation may be changing for two reasons. First, it’s getting ever harder to obtain a bike license not only in Britain but for the rest of Europe. Those who jump the increasingly high hurdles and obtain their full (i.e. non-restricted) license do so with the same sense of pride and achievement that a private pilot has when he goes solo.

In parallel with the difficulty of ever achieving a licence is the ever tightening economy in Europe. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have already had to go to the European Central Bank with their begging bowls, and both Spain and Italy are next in line. Anyone with a grain of brain in Britain isn’t smug about the situation here either as our unemployment levels soar.

What does this mean for the bike industry? My prediction is that it will contract dramatically – at least in the Western world. What we will be left with is a small, enthusiast-centered market. And in this brave new world, where everyone is knowledgeable and passionate, treating customers like morons will not be acceptable.
Source : http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/