V8 motorcycle

A really cool history of the Moto Guzzi V8 Grand Prix bike of 1955.



But not, as the coverage suggests, the only "futuristic" V8 bike in history.

In fact you have to go back another 50 years to 1907 and Glenn Curtiss' horribly dangerous looking land speed record bike to find the first V8 motorcycle.

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Works Engineering / Brand X 2009 motorcycle picture gallery

The spread of machinery at the 14th street vintage bike block party in Greenpoint was pretty f*ckin epic.

Just so's you know - Brooklyn rules.

Dig the iron:


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Kawasaki KX450F with Christini All-Wheel-Drive conversion

Don Williams review at Ultimate Motorcycling of a Kawasaki KX450F with Christini All-Wheel-Drive conversion.

"When the KX450F was switched back to AWD, the bike easily and controllably topped the hill, making the rider wonder if an entirely different bike has been substituted. Quite simply, the difference in these sorts of situations (mudholes are another), the difference cannot be overstated. It's the difference between painless success and unqualified failure."

I sort of have an ongoing fetish for these Christini rigs.

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2 wheel drive motorcycles: obtainable unobtanium

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Two wheel drive. I've been hearing about this sort of thing for years.

There's the utilitarian Rokon sporting the same design for a half century. Ian Drysdale's experiment (his site has a lot of clear information on AWD technologies.) Rumors of a production KTM that remained a rumor.

Same goes for Yamaha. Rumors, prototypes... no production.

Leave it up to some Philly boys to put their money where their mouth is.

Christini Technologies has something to sell you. Not vapor. Actual hardware.

They had a Gas Gas 2 stroke dirtbike on display at the Javits Center today. And a KTM supermoto too.

Both badass.

It will be interesting to see how these things do in terms of reliability. We'll find out soon, as Roland Sands has a Christini AWD-enabled Super Single running in Cali right now. Yes that's right - a road racer.

So if you already have one of the models of Honda/KTM/GasGas that they've already tooled up for, another $4,000 to $4,600 will get you a tricky ass 2 wheel drive version.

Call them up. They're real nice guys. And by "nice guys" i mean: waaaay into bikes.

Go ahead. All the cool kids are doing it.

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