Santa Fe, NM to Flagstaff, AZ (continued)

More from my 38 day trip across the west and southern United States. Continued from the last posting on my Blog, I’m on route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Flagstaff, Arizona.

Nearing Gallup New Mexico I began to see signs for the world famous El Rancho Hotel. Built in 1937, the El Rancho is located on historic route 66. Former President’s Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower stayed there as did movie stars like Hepburn, Cagney, Stewart, Hayworth, Tracy, Flynn, Douglas, Peck, Bogart, and the Duke. The assumption in that last sentence is that you are old enough and/or cultured enough OR are being held in a maximum security cell at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where apparently the only channel inmates are allowed to watch is Turner Classic Movies – to know who those legendary last names are.

So after making the decision to visit the El Rancho I moved into the left lane to pass some slow moving trucks. About this time I came upon three vintage muscle cars that were apparently involved in some sort of Route 66 rally. I pulled in behind and waited for them to move over to let me pass. Did they move? Not an inch. I sat there for a while hoping not to have to resort to making a right lane pass, bad form that. But ultimately did as they were absolutely unwilling to move over. Had they driven thousands of miles like this? Car guys? I hope not. By the way I’m not a zoom in and out of the lane, turnsignalless, tailgating squid. I don’t zoom up behind cars on my “GIXXXXER” wearing a t-shirt that’s blowing over my head, shorts and flip flops. I stay back at a reasonable safe distance, and gently approach and pass cars and generally try to make up for some of our less informed brothers – think I-95 between Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Muscle cars, expensive muscle cars, why is it that most of these buggies are piloted by cheerless old guys wearing white tennis shoes secured with Velcro straps? Apparently you can’t participate in these sorts of rallies without a large, boldly printed, vinyl “ALL ACCESS/BACK STAGE” type name tag hanging around your neck. So let’s see, you the event participant, are ensured “all access” to what? – the entire world? You are so addled by your love of that (insert any 50’s or 60’s muscle car here) that you need a visual aid to tell who you are and what you drive? Perhaps your single minded obsession with obtaining a numbers matching vehicle at Barrett Jackson has reduced your brain to a dinosaur-like size?

All these thoughts went through my mind in the time it takes to click from sixth to fifth as I gave up and moved to the right lane to pass. Of course when I did this the trio sprung into life and started accelerating to block my getting past them. They weren’t happy with the left lane they wanted the entire highway as their domain. The speedo rose, 80, 90, 100, and then I stopped fooling around and nailed it just for the simple pleasure of getting past. Usually these types of speed duals end when the New Mexico State Police magically appear, but thankfully today they did not. All this took place about 15 miles from the exit for the Hotel. I exited in Gallup and at the bottom of the ramp turned left towards the fabulous El Rancho. There appeared to be some sort of confusion in the parking lot when I realized this was the lunch stop for the rally. Ahh, the sound of slurping soup and esoteric discussions on gear ratios, the next Mecum auto auction in San Jose, and where to buy illegal doses of Viagra. I parked the Aprilia climbed off.

I was not in the parking lot of the fabulous and world famous “El Rancho Hotel” I walked in and looked around. Many, many signed and unsigned pictures of John Wayne, dusty and tired western décor and that’s about it. The Lobby was where the charm ended. I went through the lobby to use the facilities and was confronted with this.

“We are safe in the bunker from nuclear attack comrade…..”

Well, if that’s the charm of yesterday you can keep it. Back in the lobby the car guys were shuffling into the restaurant to have lunch. One thing you can’t fault old classic car guys about is their wives. Most of the cars I saw had California plates and most were equipped with a tall, bored looking, attractive blonde at least half the age of the driver. Most struggled to walk under the weight of their handbags and jewel encrusted chassis.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrranchero!

I bought some postcards; snipped few brake lines on the muscle cars, slashed a few tires, and cut a few coil wires (not really), went back to the bike and climbed on. A short time later I crossed into Arizona.

When arriving in a new state I usually stop into the welcome center and pick up a map. The local state maps usually have more detail than my pocket atlas and the GPS. This is the first rest area I have ever stopped at where there were signs warning of dangerous critters running around.

Coming into Flagstaff it turned colder, lots, lots, colder. I really wanted to find a place to settle down before I got dark. Wandering around price shopping for a hotel room in the freezing cold is not a lot of fun. Usually I use a combination of calling the hotels themselves and internet research to get an informed view of what’s a fair price for a hotel room. I selected a Ramada what was within walking distance of several shops and looked presentable. One thing I learned on this trip was that virtually all of the hotels I chose were very clean (some La Quinta’s were the exception) and well maintained despite what the internet reviews indicated. I find that internet reviews can be very misleading. TripAdvisor.com and Yahoo Travel are two popular hotel review websites that often have skewed ratings. Of course when I ran “the third most popular hotel in Stowe, Vermont as ranked by Trip Advisor” I loooooooooooooooved it. If a hotel has 50 one star ratings that’s almost certainly a place to avoid. If it has five reviews with middling rankings and one or two very negative rankings it’s harder to tell. When I started to use the criteria that if a hotel did not have overwhelmingly bad reviews, the rooms got much, cheaper – and were almost always clean and neat. For whatever reason on this trip the front desk staff seem to be continually giving me handicapped access rooms. The bathrooms are usually larger so I can’t complain but handicapped AND riding a motorcycle… Sheesh. I’m not superstisous but this gave me a creepy feeling. The room though was perfectly located on the first floor where I could see the bike and the hot tub was steps away. As an added bonus on my second trip to the room with gear there was an absolutely beautiful woman in a bikini using it! Bonus!

My Lonely Planet guide book recommended a bar called the Museum Club as the place to see country music and have a good time. Such a good time in fact that the bar was nicknamed “The Zoo” by locals. Anyplace with a nickname like that and I’m going! Wanting to drink a few beers and maybe stay out late I called for a taxi. One tip about Flagstaff is that the taxis are a complete rip off. They want a $4.00 fee for showing up. The ride to and from the Museum Club cost FIFTY dollars! Outrageous! We are talking less than 10 miles door to door.

Beer and shot glass – what can be wrong with that?

Perspective on the size of the shot glass, errr, shot thimble?

Despite the insane price of the cab. I had fun at the Zoo and stayed late. I got back to the hotel and crashed. When I woke up in the morning there was heavy frost on the bike.

Tomorrow: Now the fun begins, Las Vegas, racing a Lambo, and the Trump International Hotel.

There’s no real excuse for this type of thing, but it’s all part of the fun at the annual UK Motorcycle and Scooter Show, which takes place at the NEC every autumn.

New model from Kymco, the 125R, which looked a handy commuter.

Showgirl with Kymco 125R

Latest figures from the show organisers state that attendance over the opening weekend was down 20% against last year. The show lacks any stands from Honda, Harley Davidson, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Benelli, Piaggio and most of the Chinese brands most commonly found via the internet.

Kawasaki, Yamaha, BMW, Suzuki and Triumph had the largest stands at the show.

Kawasaki model girls at the NEC motorcycle show

Santa Fe, New Mexico to Flagstaff, Arizona

It started raining at the Santa Fe KOA campground slowly at first, gently, and then the rain began to really hammer down. I woke up around three in the morning. My first thought was to make sure all my gear was stowed but as consciousness returned I remembered that I had everything out of the weather and secure. I learned the hard way on my last trip to put everything away no matter how nice the weather appears. The night I learned that lesson I was camped in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. I rode something like 700+ miles that day and was just wiped out when I arrived at the State Park. The Ranger took my money and waved vaguely in the direction of where I was supposed to camp and drove off cussing about “damn gaters on the causeway” What’s that? Alligators on the causeway? And I’m in a tent? Holy sweet Jesus what have I gotten myself into?

The infamous Gator infested causeway in South Carolina

I rode around and around and around that lovely dark evening looking for the camp site; T1 or whatever it was. I eventually found some grass and just said screw it and setup camp. At that point in the evening the stars were out and it looked clear and peaceful. I left the fly off the tent and my gear on the picnic bench and rode off to find some dinner. At this time of the evening in late May NOTHING in Myrtle Beach was open for dinner. I eventually gave up and stopped at a rundown convenience store for some cheese and crackers and a few bottles of water. While I was picking out dinner these two country boys came stumbling in and each selected a fine frosty cold 40 ounce Malt Liquor from the cooler. Both were horribly drunk, filthy, shoeless and yelling at each other. “My Harley can kick yer bikes ass” said one. “No it kaint mine is faster than corn lightning” said the other. They continued the whose bike is faster all the way to the counter where – and I kid you not – they counted out payment for the 40’s from pocket change. Penny’s, nickels, dimes, not a single quarter on the counter. One lurched over and looked at me. Shit I thought this is going to be interesting. “What kind of bike is that U ride buddy” Ask anyone who rides and Aprilia and they will tell you the same thing. Compared to just about all the other marks, Aprilia is the one bike most people have never seen. Here I am at the counter with a couple of good ole boys, drunker than Ted Kennedy on a Palm Beach Friday night, and I’m going to tell them it’s an “Aprilia, it’s Italian, a liquid cooled 60 degree V-Twin Rotax engine, and you don’t see many” I just gave up and said “It’s a Zuki” ‘I tole you that’s what it was!” said one to the other in triumph. Together, we all went out through the front door. I to my bike and they to their battered, one headlight working, Purple Isuzu Rodeo that was pulling an equally beaten camo fishing skiff in loose formation behind it. One of the trailer wheels was flat and none of the lights worked. These guys were clearly professionals. I rode back to the State Park chuckling into my helmet.

At this point you’re probably thinking “Hey Eric, weren’t we just in Santa Fe New Mexico?” and you would be right. Please forgive me while I digress a wee bit more. There is either a point to this story or I’ve just had too many drinks tonight. Anyway, at the State Park I unlock the gate and close it behind me. Here is an important tip for long riders. Most State Parks use tumbler style locks – you know the padlocks that have roller numbers on the bottom. At just about every State Park I’ve been to the Rangers just roll the first or last number one click up or down rather than scramble the whole thing. This is good Intel if you arrive after the gate is locked and you have been at it all day and just want to settle down for the night rather than camp at the gate. Back on the bike I rode towards the dreaded causeway and as my front wheels hit the bridge concrete the sky absolutely exploded and within seconds it was raining biblically. SHIT! I left the fly off the tent, and all my gear exposed! I nailed the throttle, weather be dammed, I was across the causeway in seconds and doing about 100 through the park. Stupid I know, but the last thing I wanted to experience was a tent filled with water and a thoroughly soaked sleeping bag and clothing. Thankfully, although I was soaked to the bone, the weather seemed confined to the cursed causeway, and a little bit into the park itself on the other side. When I got to the tent it had blessedly only rained a bit and I was able to get everything covered and secure before the rain arrived. So long story longer, I LEARNED to keep everything secure and ready for anything all the time. I can’t think of much worse than having to sleep in high humidity with a soaked sleeping bag with my gear floating around next to me.

Back to the rain in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As I lay awake in the tent, I reflected on my home away from home – an EMS Quarter Dome Tent. The tent itself is free standing which is great as you can assemble it and move it wherever you want or turn it over and shake it out. With the fly removed the walls are mesh except for a twelve inch high border around the bottom. When the weather is warm and perfect you can lie under the stars and sleep peacefully bug free. With the fly on it is absolutely weather tight and the few times I’ve been in really nasty weather it’s kept me dry and happy. Knowing that my gear was dry I drifted off to sleep. Rain in the desert is not something you expect. I awoke the next morning to a swamp. The sandy campsite was a sticky glue of mud I decided to put my riding gear on inside the tent. Getting my Alpinestars boots on in such a confined space was very, very fun. I put on my rain gear and got out of the tent. It was absolutely pouring. Getting the tent, sleeping bag, air mattress and the like put away and not completely covered in mud was difficult. I kept sliding around in the mud and several times I almost fell flat on my face. My biggest concern after loading the bike was staying upright in this goop. It was sticky and very slippery. By the time I reached the pavement at the KOA gate I was a filthy mud spattered mess.

On the interstate about an hour later, the traffic ahead started to slow and in the distance I saw a solid line of red taillights. I was far enough back that I was able to pick an alternate route on the Nuvi and took the next exit just before traffic stopped entirely. I decided to take a break and stopped at McDonalds. It was still raining heavily when I walked inside. It was raining so hard in fact, that after I took off my helmet gloves and jacket I ran back outside and took a garbage bag from the MotoFizz and pulled it over the bag. After grabbing a burrito and a soda I hit the bathroom before heading back into the rain. This McDonalds had the first of what I would see many times in later in California. You’ve seen graffiti – yes? We all have. But instead of graffiti on the bathroom walls, some retard carved the same sort of graffiti scrawl in Spanish onto the toilet seat itself. This would, if you were unlucky enough to sit on it bear assed, temporarily tattoo you as well. This graffiti was carved with real passion into the toilet seat – deeply etched and apparently impossible to sanitize. Horrifying.

Back outside it was still raining but less so and the sun was starting to peak out of the clouds. Things were looking up.

Tomorrow – I visit the famous El Rancho, dodge a bunch of muscle cars and arrive in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Santa Fe, New Mexico to Flagstaff, Arizona

It started raining at the Santa Fe KOA campground slowly at first, gently, and then the rain began to really hammer down. I woke up around three in the morning. My first thought was to make sure all my gear was stowed but as consciousness returned I remembered that I had everything out of the weather and secure. I learned the hard way on my last trip to put everything away no matter how nice the weather appears. The night I learned that lesson I was camped in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. I rode something like 700+ miles that day and was just wiped out when I arrived at the State Park. The Ranger took my money and waved vaguely in the direction of where I was supposed to camp and drove off cussing about “damn gaters on the causeway” What’s that? Alligators on the causeway? And I’m in a tent? Holy sweet Jesus what have I gotten myself into?

The infamous Gator infested causeway in South Carolina

I rode around and around and around that lovely dark evening looking for the camp site; T1 or whatever it was. I eventually found some grass and just said screw it and setup camp. At that point in the evening the stars were out and it looked clear and peaceful. I left the fly off the tent and my gear on the picnic bench and rode off to find some dinner. At this time of the evening in late May NOTHING in Myrtle Beach was open for dinner. I eventually gave up and stopped at a rundown convenience store for some cheese and crackers and a few bottles of water. While I was picking out dinner these two country boys came stumbling in and each selected a fine frosty cold 40 ounce Malt Liquor from the cooler. Both were horribly drunk, filthy, shoeless and yelling at each other. “My Harley can kick yer bikes ass” said one. “No it kaint mine is faster than corn lightning” said the other. They continued the whose bike is faster all the way to the counter where – and I kid you not – they counted out payment for the 40’s from pocket change. Penny’s, nickels, dimes, not a single quarter on the counter. One lurched over and looked at me. Shit I thought this is going to be interesting. “What kind of bike is that U ride buddy” Ask anyone who rides and Aprilia and they will tell you the same thing. Compared to just about all the other marks, Aprilia is the one bike most people have never seen. Here I am at the counter with a couple of good ole boys, drunker than Ted Kennedy on a Palm Beach Friday night, and I’m going to tell them it’s an “Aprilia, it’s Italian, a liquid cooled 60 degree V-Twin Rotax engine, and you don’t see many” I just gave up and said “It’s a Zuki” ‘I tole you that’s what it was!” said one to the other in triumph. Together, we all went out through the front door. I to my bike and they to their battered, one headlight working, Purple Isuzu Rodeo that was pulling an equally beaten camo fishing skiff in loose formation behind it. One of the trailer wheels was flat and none of the lights worked. These guys were clearly professionals. I rode back to the State Park chuckling into my helmet.

At this point you’re probably thinking “Hey Eric, weren’t we just in Santa Fe New Mexico?” and you would be right. Please forgive me while I digress a wee bit more. There is either a point to this story or I’ve just had too many drinks tonight. Anyway, at the State Park I unlock the gate and close it behind me. Here is an important tip for long riders. Most State Parks use tumbler style locks – you know the padlocks that have roller numbers on the bottom. At just about every State Park I’ve been to the Rangers just roll the first or last number one click up or down rather than scramble the whole thing. This is good Intel if you arrive after the gate is locked and you have been at it all day and just want to settle down for the night rather than camp at the gate. Back on the bike I rode towards the dreaded causeway and as my front wheels hit the bridge concrete the sky absolutely exploded and within seconds it was raining biblically. SHIT! I left the fly off the tent, and all my gear exposed! I nailed the throttle, weather be dammed, I was across the causeway in seconds and doing about 100 through the park. Stupid I know, but the last thing I wanted to experience was a tent filled with water and a thoroughly soaked sleeping bag and clothing. Thankfully, although I was soaked to the bone, the weather seemed confined to the cursed causeway, and a little bit into the park itself on the other side. When I got to the tent it had blessedly only rained a bit and I was able to get everything covered and secure before the rain arrived. So long story longer, I LEARNED to keep everything secure and ready for anything all the time. I can’t think of much worse than having to sleep in high humidity with a soaked sleeping bag with my gear floating around next to me.

Back to the rain in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As I lay awake in the tent, I reflected on my home away from home – an EMS Quarter Dome Tent. The tent itself is free standing which is great as you can assemble it and move it wherever you want or turn it over and shake it out. With the fly removed the walls are mesh except for a twelve inch high border around the bottom. When the weather is warm and perfect you can lie under the stars and sleep peacefully bug free. With the fly on it is absolutely weather tight and the few times I’ve been in really nasty weather it’s kept me dry and happy. Knowing that my gear was dry I drifted off to sleep. Rain in the desert is not something you expect. I awoke the next morning to a swamp. The sandy campsite was a sticky glue of mud I decided to put my riding gear on inside the tent. Getting my Alpinestars boots on in such a confined space was very, very fun. I put on my rain gear and got out of the tent. It was absolutely pouring. Getting the tent, sleeping bag, air mattress and the like put away and not completely covered in mud was difficult. I kept sliding around in the mud and several times I almost fell flat on my face. My biggest concern after loading the bike was staying upright in this goop. It was sticky and very slippery. By the time I reached the pavement at the KOA gate I was a filthy mud spattered mess.

On the interstate about an hour later, the traffic ahead started to slow and in the distance I saw a solid line of red taillights. I was far enough back that I was able to pick an alternate route on the Nuvi and took the next exit just before traffic stopped entirely. I decided to take a break and stopped at McDonalds. It was still raining heavily when I walked inside. It was raining so hard in fact, that after I took off my helmet gloves and jacket I ran back outside and took a garbage bag from the MotoFizz and pulled it over the bag. After grabbing a burrito and a soda I hit the bathroom before heading back into the rain. This McDonalds had the first of what I would see many times in later in California. You’ve seen graffiti – yes? We all have. But instead of graffiti on the bathroom walls, some retard carved the same sort of graffiti scrawl in Spanish onto the toilet seat itself. This would, if you were unlucky enough to sit on it bear assed, temporarily tattoo you as well. This graffiti was carved with real passion into the toilet seat – deeply etched and apparently impossible to sanitize. Horrifying.

Back outside it was still raining but less so and the sun was starting to peak out of the clouds. Things were looking up.

Tomorrow – I visit the famous El Rancho, dodge a bunch of muscle cars and arrive in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Lo comunica il Gruppo Piaggio in una nota.

Campionato Moto2, che andra’ a sostituire nel 2010 il Mondiale

250, non presenta, nella visione del Gruppo, “caratteristiche

tecnologiche e agonistiche tali da rendere strategica la

partecipazione di Aprilia a questo tipo di competizioni”.

Gruppo ritiene quindi, “inutile e dannoso per l’immagine di una

grande Casa motociclistica italiana ed europea – che ha vinto

43 titoli mondiali nella velocita’ e nell’off road – prendere

parte a competizioni obbligatoriamente imperniate …

Fonte:

http://www.agi.it/sport/motori/notizie/200911241252-spr-rom0027-motomondiale_moto2_aprilia_non_partecipera_al_campionato

One of the nice things about not having a fixed schedule is being able to decide to hang around place for a while if you decide you like it. Santa Fe is that kind of place. I woke up early in the Marriott, showered, and packed my gear. I rode over to the Santa Fe KOA and checked in. I have a love/hate relationship with KOA. They are usually very well run and have immaculately clean facilities – bathrooms especially. KOA’s however are designed to cater to the RV crowd, not the leather clad long distance biker. They usually greet motorcyclists with bewildered looks, suspicion or downright hostility. We are the bottom of the KOA chain second only to cross country bicyclists. I paid for two nights and was given directions to my Kampsite. I rode over and setup camp. Desert camping has its own set of challenges which mostly revolve around shade, dust, and more dust. Thankfully the weather on October was pleasant if a bit cold in the evenings. My only real worry was rain forecast for the next day and night.

Today I planned to visit the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos and check out whatever else Los Alamos had to offer. The to Los Alamos was good but there was a ton of stop and go traffic through Santa Fe. Closer to Los Alamos the road opened up and I crossed the Rio Grande and started to climb through the canyons. There were several sweepers and turns as the road went higher. The last few miles were absolutely gorgeous and the road offered even tighter turns.

I can see why they put the nascent nuclear program out here – it’s in the middle of nowhere but they do have a Starbucks. I found the museum and went in and almost immediately came back out through the double doors. It was dull, it was un-interesting, and it was a friggin joke. That’s it for the start of weapons of Armageddon?

I wandered around the town for a bit. One interesting thing was the duck pond/swimming area. A “Cement Pond” to quote Jed Clampett. It looked like an excellent place to relax after a day of working on WMD’s. It was lunch time and I was hungry. On the ride up I passed a portable BBQ truck. The bed of the tow vehicle was piled high with split hardwood and I think that usually separates the good ones from the bad ones. If you are hauling a chord of wood around AND the BBQ facility up winding mountain roads in the middle of the New Mexico dessert you must care about your product. Kenny’s North Carolina BBQ is definitely a place that CARES about what comes out of their portable kitchen. Love the flaming pig logo.

Good stuff. I felt like a cannibal at a plane crash. They were a bit stingy with the napkins and by the end of the meal I looked like a baby eating beans – a sticky, BBQ sauce covered idiot with a grin the size of Texas. Thankfully for me there was a gas station next door and I was able to wash my face and hands. The grin however, stayed with me for the rest of the day. There is something about finding these out of the way places that just makes the food that much better and this was no exception.

Back on the bike, gloves yanked tight, leather zipped up and a blasting down the canyon I go. I’m heading back to town to get some supplies for the camp. Back in Santa Fe I hit the grocery store and pickup water, Mount Gay Rum, tonic, limes, ice and a few snacks.

The Cowgirl Hall of Fame

This place is absolutely a tourist trap but a good one with lots of locals who are easy to talk to and are interesting. I meet a heavyset grizzled hippy type guy who tells me that he is going to participate in a reality TV show about a group of “groovers” who are in-line skating across the USA. “It’s a sort of The Hills meets Survivor meets Melrose Place” he says. I don’t know what The Hills and don’t watch Survivor but I vaguely remember Melrose. Let me tell you it’s hard to come up with much more than “aaaaaaaaaaaaaah, that sounds interesting” as a reply to something like that. We get to talking and here is yet another character who claims to be recently divorced from a woman who took “several million” in the settlement but has the outward appearance of someone who would be hard pressed cover his bar tab and have enough gas money to fuel his Microbus. Maybe it’s the New Yorker/Banker in me but I regard everything that comes out of his mouth as bullshit – but we have a good conversation anyway – I buy the beers. I’m here mostly as a friend of mine has a friend here who works at the bar and is supposed to be gorgeous. Think a 20 year old Karen Allen or a 30 year Miley Sirus – your choice. Heather is her name and she is indeed very easy to look at. We chat for a while and she gives me a list of places to see from a local perspective. We try to match our schedules to go out together to see the town. She picks me dinner and it is very good, better than I was expecting at a place like this. I say my goodbye for the evening and say we’ll catch up tomorrow. The ride back is very nice if a bit cool.

Back at camp I clean the chain, organize some gear and take a few notes on the last couple of days. I also break out the rum and mix the sailor’s cocktail, a Mount Gay and Tonic with lime. When the booze comes out I’m off the bike for the evening. I buy firewood at $8.00 a bundle for the evening fire.

I end the day with a roaring fire under absolutely beautiful Santa Fe stars. The moon is peaking out through the clouds and I chat for a while with nearby campers who are doing a similar drive around America but in a cage. They both work at a resort hotel in the Cayman Islands and we compare notes on where I’ve been and where they’ve been. It’s good because they are heading east and I’m heading west and south. Soon after I head to bed and sleep very well under the stars.

Tomorrow – Santa Fe Mosh Pit, heavy rain in the desert    

October 4, 2009 – 288 Miles

I woke up this morning with a headache that was made infinitely worse by the fact that it was raining and I’m quite sick of yellow hotel rooms. I put on the weather channel, took some asprin and jumped in the shower. By the time I was packed and dressed my headache had gone away and my spirits were improving as the I-Phone radar app (I use Accuweather) showed clear skies into New Mexico. This was going to be a short ride today less than 300 miles. The La Quinta breakfast was a joke but they had hard boiled eggs which I was strangely attracted to and ate two with some low fat yogurt. All I need now is a confined space like an elevator or airplane!

I got gas for the bike and hit the road. Rolling into New Mexico the vistas opened up and the weather changed from rain in the morning, to cloudy mid-morning, to blue skies in the afternoon. You can see the distant mountains, the sky is a deep indigo blue and just about everyone driving there rolls along at a very high speed. I was blown off the road by a Ford F-250 pulling a car trailer who I estimate was doing at least 120. He was passing everyone in sight. I hung back and observed him for a while. While driving really fast he was making clean passes and had New Mexico plates so I assumed he knew the road (not that it made much of a difference as it was completely straight for most of the way) I decided to kick up the pace and use him as my New Mexico PD spotter. I don’t use a radar detector for a number of reasons. I don’t think you can hear the thing when you need to or necessarily see it either. I had an Escort mounted to my Ninja 1000-R in college and I can’t remember it being useful very often. In those adrenaline addled days I’m not sure if I paid any attention to it anyway. Mostly it looked cool – until it fell off at speed and disintegrated. Mostly I roll with the traffic letting people get out in front of me far enough so they would be the first to be spotted by LEO’s. If I’m alone on an empty highway my speed is between six and ten miles over the speed limit as I figure most cops can’t be bothered to pull me over as it’s not enough to generate a significant fine. Where I absolutely do watch my speed very closely is any little town. As I’m sure you well know they mean 35 MPH and are glad to pull over anyone going faster.

A ramdon rest area somewhere in New Mexico. The picture does not really capture how pretty this area was. The view was fantastic.

Futura loaded and ready to go. I’m not one of those guys with stuff hanging all over the place. I want everything stowed and packed neatly. I saw this HD boomer so loaded up with crap the tires were almost flat. Lighter is better (and faster).

I arrived in Santa Fe and checked into another Marriott Courtyard. This one was not as nice as the one in Wichita but acceptable. At this point I was still behind the planning ball as ditching my routes and plans for South Dakota I was flying by the seat of my pants. I really wanted to slow down the cash burn and start camping to save money. I unloaded the bike and headed to downtown Santa Fe. Surprisingly for having a great deal of slow moving heavy traffic I managed to immediately find a parking spot and shut down the Futura. The skies in Santa Fe are amazingly blue and the air is clean and crisp. My mood was considerably improved since morning. You can’t take a bad picture in this town. Everything is beautiful and seems to be sharply focused. I guess it’s the sky contrasting against the adobe.

It’s no surprise that Santa Fe is an artist’s paradise. Everywhere you turn in Santa Fe you are surrounded by paintings, sculpture, jewelry, fashion, and art of every imaginable sort. The Indian Market is interesting as there are a large number of Native Americans displaying their crafts; all laid out on everything from velvet jewelry blankets to worn Indian blankets. No Ducati T-Shirts, no carbon fiber tank protectors, no…………ahh, you get the idea. Turquoise jewelry, silver earrings and the like don’t interest me much. There are however, tons of shops downtown; it’s easy to kill a few hours browsing or window shopping. One thing I like about this type of traveling is that it is virtually impossible to make an impulse buy. Every inch of space is accounted for on the bike. If I want to buy something to take with me usually something else has to go. One of the better attractions in downtown Santa Fe is the St. Francis Cathedral. According to Lonely Planet it has the oldest Madonna statue in North America, er……… wow. However it is worth taking a look, the front doors are cool and the interior is very interesting.

Terrace bar at La Fonda

Now that I’ve had my fix of art and religion for the day, it’s time for a drink. One place that I really enjoyed was the La Fonda Hotel. It’s in the plaza in the center of Santa Fe and looks like it’s been there for a million years. The lobby is very cool with places to relax, have a cocktail or dinner. They also had a small shop that sold the New York Times. Surprisingly this is something that I guess being an Ex-New Yorker is absorbed through contact over the years. I absolutely crave an occasional daily read and demand the Sunday paper which is usually read outside with a Perdomo Habano Gordo cigar and a tall glass of ice tea. So paper in hand I went up the elevator to the 6^th floor and the roof top bar. What a fantastic view. I ordered a Diet Coke, grabbed a seat to relax, read, and enjoy the view. Apparently this is the place for sunsets in Santa Fe. It’s also the place for bullshit too. Across from me was an older guy dressed in denim from head to toe, cowboy boots and a big cowboy hat. He had one of those booming, self-important voices and he was loudly pontificating to a pair of cringing German tourists. “I’m a movie stuntman – I just bought a 7 million dollar house here, gave the last one to my ex-wife, she was fucking Jack and Warren, driving my truck today because the Veyron is in the shop, too many goddammned people with money in this town….. On and on and on this guy went. I wish I had an extra pair of earplugs. I was tempted to roll up the newspaper and clout him upside the head with it just to get some peace and quiet. But it was a beautiful afternoon and I was in a fantastic place so I just moved my chair away to get a better view and relax.

I climbed back on the Aprilia and headed out of downtown back to the hotel. The prices at hotel restaurant were insane and my spending at this point was way out of control. So I walked down the street, past used car dealers, the Home Depot, Walgreens, and other anywhere in America type stuff to Arby’s. I grabbed dinner and headed back to the hotel. That night I took some time to consult the guide book, map and GPS to figure out a new route and get down to some camping. I found a KOA that was only a few miles out of Santa Fe and booked a two night stay online. One thing about KOA is that they charge you extra if you just show up – they want you to book online entirely. Having the next few day set I crashed out for the night.

Tomorrow – Santa Fe, Los Alamos, kickass BBQ, the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, and KOA

Pabrikan Italia yang sering mendominasi balapan kelas 250CC ini dipastikan tidak akan mengikuti ajang Moto2 yang merupakan pengganti seri 250cc di MotoGP. Hal tersebut diutarakan dalam press release yang diselenggarakan kemarin waktu stempat. Alasan yang mendasari ketidakikutsertaan Aprilia adalah penggunaan mesin tunggal (Honda) dan memang Aprilia tidak mencari gelar di kelas 600cc.

Sebelumnya Aprilia berencana menyediakan Chassis untuk empat tim yang telah memesan yaitu Mapfre Aspar, Speedup Aprilia, Ajo Motorsport dan Cardion AB Motoracing. Aprilia meninggalkan tim-tim tersebut tanpa chassis dan tes yang seharusnya dijadwalkan bulan depan di Valencia.

Penggunaan mesin tunggal memang membuat beberapa pabrikan lain tidak mau turun ke ajang Moto2. Tampaknya DORNA perlu mereview kembali perarturan penyelenggaraan Moto2 sehingga dapat membuat tim pabrikan masuk ke ajang Moto2 dan akhirnya dapat membuat balapan semakin menarik.

Aprilia ke MotoGP

Rumor kembalinya MotoGP ke 1000CC disambut baik oleh Aprilia. Pabrikan ini tidak menutup kemungkinan untuk turun ke kelas MotoGP. Hal tersebut dikarenakan Aprilia sudah memiliki basis mesin 1000cc yang selama ini sudah dipertandingkan di ajang WSBK. Di kelas Superbike sendiri, Aprilia dengan pembalap Max Biagi, musim lalu mampu mengganggu persaingan lini depan yaitu Yamaha dan Ducati.

Wichita, Kansas to Amarillo, Texas -
October 3, 2009

The next morning, I punched in the destination on the Nuvi and grabbed a handful of throttle. Today would be a blur of interstate and rural routes to Amarillo. The total mileage today was around 400 miles. The weather was much improved and after a great night’s sleep I was ready to start riding longer distances. The bike was running perfectly. I was a bit worried about the back tire. I had Michelin Pilot Road 2ct’s on and they already had about 6000 miles. The rear had a big flat spot but the front looked perfect. I can’t say enough about how good these tires are for long distance riding. I’ve since switched to Pilot Power 2ct’s and after several thousand miles I think I prefer the Pilot Roads. I won’t go into a much detail here as I’m working on a complete review in the Gear Review section. The basic difference in the tires is the compound – the Pilot Roads are not as sticky as the Pilot Powers and the Powers have a more angular or pointed profile. This means that the more emphasis is placed on the tires sidewall. That translates into the bike falling into turns much more quickly. This can make the bike feel twitchy and nervous. BUT, when the road is warm and there are infinite curves, the Pilot Powers just walk away from the Pilot Roads. HUGE grip. More about that in another post relating to gear. Anyway I was worried about the wear on the back tire. I think if I had known at that point how much more life the tires had in them I would have not believed it.

The ride was mostly nondescript except for this absolute gem of a place.

For whatever reason on this day they were closed! Man can you imagine the goodies they serve in there? Jell-O, coconut cream pie, chipped beef on toast? What a cool looking place.

One thing you will see as I post more reports is that I have a thing for “The Middle of Nowhere”. I love those pictures of the road disappearing into the horizon and on this trip there would be plenty of that. This is somewhere in Kansas. Can’t say enough about the weather, it was just fantastic now. The last I heard from home (Stowe, Vermont) was that it rained for the entire month of July………………. Man, that, and six months of snow. Get me the hell out of there.

The ride to Amarillo was loooooooooooong. As far as I can remember I crossed into Oklahoma for a bit then into Texas. The last two hours were through featureless terrain in the gathering dusk. I had been picking up the pace as evening caught up with me. For most of the last few hours the pace was near 90+ mile an hour and mostly I was getting blown off the road by pickup trucks and dusty battered foreign cars that all seemed to be maroon with chrome accents. When the sun started to go down the temperature did as well. I was entertaining myself playing Nuvi roulette looking through various hotels in Amarillo. I have an excellent Lonely Planet USA guide book that I often use but not for hotels as I find the reviews to be usually more than I want to spend. I got to Amarillo about an hour or so after dark. I was cold and tired. I think these extended trips take a while for the rider to get into the groove. On my last trip I beat myself up riding 700 mile days. I covered a lot of ground but never really felt like I was experiencing the things I wanted to see and do. On this trip I mostly rode less miles in favor of more interesting routes and sights. In Amarillo, I found another sketchy LaQuinta (Spanish for “Welcome Home” according to their billboard) near the interstate and checked in. I unloaded the bike and changed out of my riding gear. Great, another yellow room with yellow furnishings. This LQ was even more unkempt. As I mentioned in an unfinished thought in an earlier post I ran a luxury hotel for a few years and laughingly employed the title “Hotelier”

I’ve had a number of careers virtually all in investment banking and alternative investment management – hedge funds, private equity and currency overlay. So of course I was naturally qualified to run a hotel in rural Vermont….. Man, Newhart the TV show was more documentary than comedy! I won’t go into it too much except to say that the four years I was an “Hotelier” I had some wonderful successes, enjoyed nature, met a ton of fantastic guests and locals and burned in the fires of hell almost daily. It’s a never, ever ending 30 hour a day job. I never realized how close my life was to that of Norman Paperman in Herman Wouk’s fantastic “Don’t’ Stop the Carnival” Anyway, the point I was eventually going to make was that my view of hotel rooms has forever changed. My hotel rooms were absolutely spotless in every way. You could do surgery in the bathroom – it was that clean. From understanding the nuts and bolts of cleaning rooms, I now also have the knowledge of where to look for the “nasties” and no I won’t tell you what those are because I don’t want to ruin your enjoyment of hotels or hotel rooms. This room was not particularly clean but not dangerous. Would it kill them to vacuum under the bed once in a while?

I went to the convenience store next door and got a tall Coors light in a can, a diet Coke, and cheese and crackers. On the way back I cut through the lobby and ran into this huge poster advertising THE BIG TEXAN. What the hell is that? I thought. I had a distant memory of Adam Richman from Man VS Food eating there. It was interesting and the kicker was the part that said “We will pick up in a limousine and bring you back for free” I ran to my room and called for pickup. Soon enough a Cadillac Limo pulled up with steer horns on the hood. Of course the toot of the horn toot was the Yellow Rose of Texas which the driver tooted at every opportunity. I climbed into the back and settled into the maroon interior. I wish I had a glass of Bourbon and a Cowboy hat so I could J.R. Ewing up the ride! We picked up a few truckers at a truck stop and continued toward the BIG TEXAN. Along the way the driver got to talking to the truckers and by happenstance they were from the same little town in Texas somewhere to the south. The trucker commented that when he was young they used to ride horses to Amarillo over what was mostly open range and they could get there in two days. Man, two days on the open range! Sign me up. That sounded really neat and sort of disturbing at the same time. You wonder what sort of life that was. One that involved a lot of backbreaking work, heartache, and little money I’m thinking.

We arrived at the BIG TEXAN and climbed out of the Caddy. I tipped the driver and walked in.

The main dining room at THE BIG TEXAN

The décor was of course western. Antlers, wood floors, tin ceiling and an assortment of other country decorations. What killed me the most was row after row of slot machines that took cash but did not return anything other than the opportunity to pull the lever and watch your money disappear. They were “for entertainment only” and gave nothing back – and people were playing these things! They also had one of those indoor shooting ranges where you put in a buck (or in this case five bucks) and shoot at the targets. I walked around a bit taking in the scene which was almost entirely composed of tourists and truckers. I grabbed a spot at the bar and ordered a BIG TEXAN beer and took a look at the menu.

The BIG TEXAN is famous for a food challenge of eating like 30 pounds of poorly cooked steak for free if you can choke it down in an hour so. It was $50.00 if you could not. That really did not interest me having to ride a motorcycle all day the next day. I ordered an assorted meat platter. It was indifferently cooked and soggy, mushy, and bland. But hey, I’m eating at THE BIG TEXAN! It’s the experience, it’s the atmosphere, ugg, it’s a fucking tourist trap. So, while the food was bad it was a good tourist experience and I got to ride in a steerhorn festooned caddy limo.

Overall Amarillo was one of more of the forgettable places I visited, tons of truck stops, crappy motels, and fast food places.

Tomorrow – Tomorrow Santa Fe, New Mexico

Domenica volevamo andare a fare due passi al mare, a prendere un po’ d’aria, di sole, leggere un po’ sulla spiaggia… è finita invece che ci siamo alzati tardissimo, ci siamo incamminati verso il mare ma era tardi per fare due passi e  poi mangiare.  Allora o facevamo due passi e mangiavamo pizza take away sulla spiaggia oppure niente passeggiata e mangiavamo pesce. Abbiamo scelto la seconda… siamo andati ad Aprilia, da Perbacco… ed abbiamo fatto benissimo!

Abbiamo scelto di far scegliere tutto allo chef che è venuto personalmente in sala a chiederci se fosse la prima volta, se avevamo particolari esigenze, allergie, ecc… ma noi… siamo onnivori!
E così ci siamo visti recapitare al nostro tavolo:

• gambero rosso crudo con scaglie di carciofo crudo (che dire? Si scioglieva il gambero, si scioglieva il carciofo, il profumo dell’olio era piccantino… buonissimo!)

• polpette di orata selvaggia con crema di broccoletti e bottarga (polpette buonissime e delicatissima la crema in cui spiccava il sapore tutto marinaro ed estivo della bottarga)

• cappelletti con ripieno di coda in brodo (presentati in un vasetto che andava poi versato nella ciotolina (!)

• sandwich di triglia con crema di melanzane (ne avrei mangiate altre 10 porzioni, era praticamente un ottimo filetto di triglia dalla cottura perfetta e racchiuso tra due fette sottili di pane leggermente tostato)

• caramella di sciabola con spinaci (anche qui quello che si fa notare è la cottura degli spinaci, erano croccanti!)
  
• pesce sanpietro con non mi ricordo che, ma buono!
  

• involtino di rana pescatrice con broccoli al limone (ottimo, delicato ma dal sapore intenso, pasta fillo, poi foglia di bieta e poi filetto di rana pescatrice, arrotolato e fatto a fettine… delicious)

• maccheroni con pomodorini e scorfano, buoni, ma il sandwich di triglia era imbattibile!

• crema inglese con mini pezzetti di strudel con mele e non ricordo che altro (praticamente era una specie di cannolino fatto con la pasta fillo, una leccornia che voglio provare a fare!)
  
• c’era pure un altro piatto  ma ora non ricordo…
  

Abbiamo speso 60 euro a testa per il menu degustazione più 14 euro per 4 calici di vino,
offerti 2 caffè ed il vino per il dolce.

Consigliato.  Sì sì.

Ristorante Perbacco
Via Marconi, 8
Aprilia
06/9275105

Woke up fairly groggy from the night before and turned on the Weather Channel. I suppose I should have rolled out from under the covers and walked across the dreary, mostly yellow decorated room (the walls, carpet, furnishings all had various forms of that color – as do just about all La Quintas) lifted the window and looked outside, which revealed a cheery scene – it was so grey as to be almost dark and pouring rain.

The temperatures in the Dakotas were in the low 30’s and there was snow forecasted off and on for most of the week. I’ve ridden through plenty of weather but October snow in the Dakotas THEN having to ride across Wyoming, Colorado and Utah was an absolute deal breaker. So I looked at the radar and decided to head south and do my best to stay where the temps were in the 70’s and 80’s. It’s great having enough time to simply abandon your trip plans and re-route to other interesting locations and places. You have to be a bit of a free thinker to just point the bike in another direction and just go. Most people spend considerable time thinking about the route prior to leaving and to scrap it entirely can be very difficult.

This would be another day of slab. Running from the cold and the rain. You will notice that on the days were the weather was nasty or the trip mostly involved interstate there few pictures. Why record the pain of riding in the rain for 10 hours and the interstate in the mid-west all looks the same.

Somewhere in Kansas

More of the same but the weather is starting to improve. I love being able to look at the weather radar on my IPhone and plot routes that will take me out of the bad weather!

Somewhere in northeast Kansas I got on a Kansas Turnpike. Yes, I know that in a tip report you are supposed to post detailed route maps, Google Earth sat pictures, topo maps, and coordinates. You will have to forgive me as at this point I had only broadly figured out where I wanted to go. So detailed routes were not important to me. It was on this part of my trip I learned two interesting things. The first is to observe the nature of where you are. Kansas – Ok, what they have lots of in Kansas – WIDE OPEN SPACES. What else? Well not too many gas stations in the more rural parts. So when I got on this turnpike and banged the Futura into 6^th gear the low fuel warning light came on. Crap! That sucks. I stabbed a finger at the Garmin and told it to find me a gas station. 35 miles….. What’s the range of this thing when the light comes on? About that, maybe, I’m not sure. Options? Turning around? No, it’s a similar distance…. Crap. Well in for a penny. There was NOTHING on this stretch of highway. Absolutely nothing but farmland. I made it to the fist exit about 20 miles up the road. Nice smiling older woman in the toll booth. “Where is the closest gas mam?” About 15 miles down the road she replied. “Anything closer? I’m in a bad way with fuel” Nope she replied. So now I’m rolling down a road in the middle of nowhere IN the middle of nowhere. No idea where I stand with fuel but worried. Doing 55 now and coasting down hills. Heck I say to myself I’ll just ask at a farm house if I run out. Of course that assumes that there are farmhouses with people in them. There is absolutely no one around, no cars, no cows, nothing. Down a long straight the bike coughs and dies. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRG! Well I’ll figure this out and put down the kickstand and climb off. I take off my gloves and helmet and look around – silence and nothing. I walk around the front of the bike and crouch down to think looking at the front wheel. I’ve been off the bike in total for less than 2 minutes when over the hill come two Harley riders. Now this is the second thing I learned today. Although Harley guys usually won’t wave back at non Harley riders they absolutely WILL stop for another biker in distress. I’ve seen this now enough to be certain about it. So they pull up and I sheepishly tell them I ran out of gas. “Hop on” says one. So less than 4 minutes after running out of gas I’m on the back of a Harley headed towards a gas station! Talk about being grateful! Man!

It’s hard to hang on to the back of the bike as there is no back rest and I feel that any moment I might slide off, Then again I feel a bit weird about hanging on to someone I don’t know and most of all I’m worried about people seeing two six foot guys in black leather holding on to each other…. I’d rather fall off. Anyway, we get to the gas station where they have an unusually large supply of red plastic gas cans. So I buy one and fill it with gas and we toss it into the Harley’s saddle bag and head back to my bike. We chat a bit about riding and I tell him a good friend was raised in Lawrence, Kansas. This elicits a response as apparently he is from a rival town whose football teams face each other and he makes a few good natured insults about the smell in Lawrence, and why the football teams suck, etc.

We get back to my bike and I fill up and the bike immediately starts. One guy has a new Zumo and we compare it to my Nuvi. Almost identical displays and menus except of course, for the Zumo being waterproof. I cannot thank these guys enough for saving me and convince them to keep the gascan – as one says it might come in handy at some point and it fits perfectly in his saddle bag. I fire up the bike and head for the gas station vowing to go out of the way to help any other biker I see to return the favor – and many weeks later I will.

As you can see from the picture I finally rode out of the bad weather and it was actually starting to turn nice. I make it into Witchita early evening and try to find an affordable place to stay for the night. For whatever reason I decided to spend a bit more and hit a Courtyard Marriott. Fantastic room with a gigantic big screen HD TV, great view and bed. This is the only place I stayed during the entire trip that had “a free hot breakfast” that was actually worth a crap. Waiters and fresh juice and a breakfast buffett that was actually filled with food I wanted to eat. Packed up the bike and bid goodbye to Wichita.

Next – Wichita, Kansas to Amarillo, Texas

Ya se cerraron las puertas del último y esperado Salón Internacional de la moto EICMA, en Milán, y vamos a dar un repaso a todo lo que allí se ha presentado, aunque ya os adelanto que la crisis ha hecho estragos, lo que se traduce en la ausencia de marcas importantes (Honda y Yamaha entre ellas), y en una gran escasez de novedades auténticas (proyectos, prototipos y otras pamplinas para llenar espacio, aparte).

Así pues, a continuación encontraréis, marca por marca, y por orden alfabético, las propuestas para el año que viene (es un post muy largo, por lo que tened paciencia si tarda en cargar):

Antes de nada, debo aclarar que yo no estuve allí. Me he limitado a recopilar información de todos los modelos que se han presentado. Este post no pretende ser un compendio exhaustivo con fichas técnicas y tal, sino dar una visión global y una opinión personal de lo que nos espera en 2010 (una ruina, ya os lo digo). En fin, que no están todos los que son (casi), pero sí son todos los que están. No será perfecto, pero no sabéis el trabajo que da hacer un artículo como este…

Comencemos:

APRILIA:

“Abrimos fuego” con la marca del león de Noale… aunque en este caso haya “disparado” con balas de fogueo, porque no se ha presentado ninguna novedad absoluta para el año que viene.

En el sector scooter, Aprilia adapta el motor de 300 c.c. (en realidad, 278 c.c.) de origen Piaggio, ya presente en otros modelos, como el Gilera Nexus o la mismísima Vespa, a su modelo Atlantic. Este propulsor mantiene la potencia en 22,4 C.V. del anterior de 250 c.c., pero con un poco más de aceleración y par a menor régimen. En realidad, ya le debería tocar un lavadito de cara a este Atlantic 300, pero la crisis imperante aconseja mantenerlo un año más como estaba. También hay que apuntar que el modelo Scarabeo adoptará el mismo motor parta la próxima temporada.

En cuanto a motocicletas, ya comenté en una noticia anterior (Nuevas Aprilia réplicas SBK) la nueva decoración de la Aprilia RS 125 y 50 (amén del scooter SR 50) basada en el equipo de Superbikes de la marca. Todas ellas fueron mostradas en vivo en Milán. Nada más que añadir al respecto.

Y en las cilindradas medias, Aprilia nos mostró la nueva versión Factory de su modelo Dorsoduro (denominación que corresponde a los modelos más radicales y con el mejor equipamiento), y la nueva Shiver 2010.

En cuanto a la Dorsoduro, en esta ocasión cambian las suspensiones, aunque no para adoptar horquilla y amortiguador trasero Öhlins, como es habitual en las preparaciones Factory, sino que esta vez serán marca Sachs (de gama alta, eso sí). La razón de esta decisión es que no quieren encarecer demasiado este modelo (como si fuera barato antes…)

También se modifican los discos de freno, que serán “alveolados”, mordidos por pinzas radiales de 4 pistones (delante), y con sistema ABS opcional.

Entre las pocas piezas de carenado que tiene el modelo, se incorporarán varias de ellas fabricadas en carbono. El motor se mantiene sin cambios.

Y, por último, en la Shiver 750, los cambios para la temporada que viene recaen sobre todo en su estética, con el chasis pintado en rojo y los escapes en negro, más agresiva. También se modifica el asiento (más bajo y estrecho) y la posición de las estriberas (más altas y retrasadas) para conformar un posición de conducción más deportiva.

También fue presentada (aunque no voy a colgar fotos de ella) la versión “barata” de la RSV4 R, derivada de la moto que corre en Superbikes, con suspensiones y frenos más modestos. Esto es más que nada porque la otra no la va a comprar ni Dios, salvo aquel al que le toque la lotería el mes que viene.

Ah! De precios, rien de rien. Y, aunque resulte increíble, esto es todo lo que nos ha ofrecido Aprilia para el año que viene. Ni una sola sorpresa en el salón de su país. Así irán las ventas…

—

BENELLI:

La única novedad que nos presenta esta minoritaria marca en manos chinas (Keeway) es esta TNT R160. El “160″ es por el número de C.V. declarados, y el modelo en cuestión no es más que la versión más radical del modelo TNT original, con el característico motor tricilíndrico exprimido al máximo.

Pero la cuestión es: ¿Dónde está la desaparecida Benelli Due 750 que sí presentaron en un extraño salón en China hace sólo un mes? ¿No se suponía que 2010 iba a ser el año de su comercialización definitiva? Qué pena, porque Benelli anda necesitada de algún modelo de gama media de manera urgente…

—

BMW:

Al margen de las nuevas R 1200 RT y R 1200 GS, ya comentadas anteriormente en otro post (BMW renueva sus clásicos) -de las que no hay nada nuevo que contar-, BMW consiguió captar la atención de todos los medios con el siguiente prototipo: el espectacular EVO 6.

En esta ocasión, el “6″ nos indica ¡el número de cilindros de la moto! Y no es que sea el primer modelo de la historia en tener tal cantidad de cilindros en su bloque motor (ya hubo una Benelli Sei a principios de los ‘80, por poner tan sólo un ejemplo), pero sí es cierto que la propuesta de BMW resulta impactante porque hoy en día nadie parecía tener bemoles de ingeniar algo así otra vez.

Como ya he dicho, en el pasado existieron otros modelos con esta configuración de motor, que gozaron del inigualable prestigio de ser el “top absoluto” en motorización motociclista, pero también tuvieron fama de problemáticos, pesados, y sobre todo… caros.

Sin embargo, esto último no parece suponer un problema para BMW (total, sus motos nunca fueron para todos los públicos…). Además, han conseguido fabricar un motor muy compacto, que abulta poco más que un clásico cuatro-en-línea, y en cuanto a tecnología, creo que nadie va a venir a explicar a esta gente cómo fabricar motores.

Pero los germanos no se han limitado a crear un prototipo para armar revuelo y ya está. Los de BMW prometen que este motor lo veremos a corto plazo en un modelo turístico de la marca. Posiblemente, la K 1600 LT, porque (no lo había dicho aún) esa es la cilindrada de este nuevo propulsor: 1.600 c.c.

El mismo ha sido fabricado con los procesos más modernos de que es capaz BMW, y augura una suavidad y fiabilidad de uso sin precedentes. Se comenta que la potencia que podría alcanzar estaría más o menos al nivel de los actuales motores de 1.300 c.c., pero con un par demoledor a cualquier régimen. Se han empeñado mucho más en conseguir una recuperación vertiginosa en medios que en obtener potencia máxima a altísimas vueltas.

Y para que no quede duda de que el modelo es auténtico, y no un dibujito por ordenador, aquí tenéis una foto de un señor con poca pinta de piloto probador subido en ella (debe ser un pez gordo de la marca…). La verdad es que el hombre éste no le hace justicia al hiper-moderno prototipo.

Resumiendo la actuación en el EICMA: BMW renueva el motor de dos modelos clave (1200 GS y 1200 RT) y nos promete alta tecnología para el futuro.

Para los pobres, nada nuevo. La crisis es para otros…

—

DERBI:

Esperaba más de los españoles, la verdad (bueno, esperaba más del salón, en general). Se han limitado a adaptar la GPR 125 a su versión ciclomotor de 49 c.c., el motor Piaggio 300 a su scooter Rambla, y poco más.

Ese poco más es este modelo llamado Sónar, en cilindradas de 50 (2T) y 125 c.c. (4T), que a su vez, no es más que un Piaggio Liberty con pegatinas de Derbi. Es un scooter ciudadano de carácter económico y fiable.

También se ha creado una nueva gama de componentes especiales, DRD Parts, para sus modelos con motor de marchas 125 c.c y 4 válvulas (Mulhacén, Terra, GPR…). Entre esos componentes hay tubos de escape, embragues hidráulicos, kits de potenciación a 150 c.c. y algunas cosillas más.

—

DUCATI:

La marca de Bolonia decora sus modelos más deportivos, la 1198 S y R, homenajeando al departamento de carreras de la casa, el Reparto Corse. Además, la versión S (la menos cara, digamos) se queda ahora a sólo 10 CV de potencia de los 180 CV de su hermana mayor, la 1198 R, que es la base de la homologación para el Campeonato Mundial de Superbikes.

Esto es debido a que a Ducati le compensa más a montar los mismos componentes de motor a ambas, que no hacerlo, para reducir costes de fabricación. Aunque a este paso, no sé para qué cojones hacen dos versiones diferentes… si son casi iguales.

Otra novedad es el depósito de aluminio, de bella factura, que en Ducati han dejado casi sin pintar para que destaque ese material. La verdad es que la moto es preciosa, y aunque su precio sea prohibitivo para el consumidor medio, creo que su diseño es digno de observarse.

Otra modelo presentado es la nueva Hypermotard 1100 Evo. Sí, sí, la 1100. Ya hablamos de la nueva versión 796 (nada nuevo sobre ella, por cierto), pero ahora su hermana mayor ha aprovechado su “descendencia” para renovarse ligeramente, con un nuevo chasis más sencillo y un motor con 5 C.V. más (ahora tiene 100) y algún kilo menos.

También se ha aprovechado para optimizar la admisión, el sistema de inyección electrónica, reforzar cigüeñal, embrague, y suavizar el cambio de marchas. Vamos, que la versión pequeña ha forzado a la anterior a ponerse al día, lo cual siempre está bien. O, dicho de otro modo, que a Ducati le más rentable fabricar a las dos de la misma forma. Es tiempo de rebajar costes de producción.

Al margen de lo anterior, la novedad más importante de la marca ha sido la Multistrada 1200. Y, siguiendo con mi norma de no dulicar contenidos, os dejo el link donde hablé de ella: Multistrada 1200.

Este ha sido, probablemente, el modelo más esperado del salón. Desde luego, su estética no dejará a nadie indiferente. Su motor guarda 150 C.V. gestionados por un puño de gas electrónico “ride by wire”, control de tracción ajustable, suspensiones Öhlins regulables electrónicamente, ABS desconectable fabricado por Bosch, arranque por llave remota, y sensor de presión de neumáticos.

Su centralita electrónica dispone de 4 modos de gestionar la potencia de su motor testastretta: Sport, Touring, Urban y Enduro, limitándola a gusto del usuario entre los 150 y 100 CV, ajustando además el control de tracción DTC y el tacto de las suspensiones, dotados del nuevo sistema DES. Estos cuatro modos pueden seleccionarse en parado o en marcha, al igual que los cuatro ajustes de suspensión. Impresionante.

El motor es un bicilíndrico en L a 90º, de 1.198 c.c., con embrague en baño de aceite, cigüeñal reforzado, caja de cambios revisada y un nuevo calado del cierre de válvulas, que produce una respuesta de motor más dulce y menos contaminante.

Habrá dos versiones básicas: la estándar y la S, aunque esta última tendrá a su vez otras dos versiones, la Sport Edition y la Touring Edition. La versión estándar tendrá suspensiones Marzocchi y Sachs multiajustables, y el ABS será opcional. En la versión S, el ABS viene de serie, al igual que las suspensiones Öhlins ajustables electrónicamente, y el cliente podrá escoger entre la Sport Edition, con partes de fibra de carbono, y la Touring Edition con maletas laterales, caballete central, sensor de presión de neumáticos y puños calefactables.

El chasis también es nuevo, con una estructura principal multitubular de acero redondo en la parte delantera, y la parte trasera que sujeta el motor y el nuevo basculante (más resistente) en fundición de aluminio.

A nivel de frenos tenemos unas pinzas radiales delanteras Brembo con cuatro pistones, y llantas de aleación de 17 pulgadas. La araña del faro es de ¡magnesio! (no sé por qué tanto derroche en esta parte…) El peso final en seco de la Multistrada 1200 se queda en unos teóricos 189 kilos.

También se ha anunciado la llegada para el año que viene del sistema de frenos ABS para las Monster 696 y 1100. Se podrá regular el grado de interferencia del sistema y, además, desconectar completamente.

Lo cierto es que Ducati ha sido una de las marcas más activas del Salón EICMA, lo cual es de agradecer. La Multistrada 1200 es una máquina increíble, pero algo me dice que tanta electrónica y tanto avance no conseguirán más que alejarla del público masivo debido a un coste elevado. Espero equivocarme.

Desde luego no cabe duda de que las cosas no van tan mal en Ducati, pero su gama de precios tampoco es para economías ajustadas. El tiempo les dará la razón (o no).

—

HYOSUNG:

En esta ocasión, Hyosung ha querido dar a conocer al mundo que ellos también se están preparando para los cambios que se avecinan en el mundo de la automoción, presentando dos modelos de propulsión eléctrica: los denominados GEM 2.0 y 4.0.

Estos modelos no son más que versiones de los actuales SF 50 y MS3 125 respectivamente, aunque convenientemente modificados para adoptar sendos motores eléctricos. La potencia se sitúa sobre los 5 C.V. en el modelo 2.0, y entorno a los 9,5 en el 4.0. Por ahora son sólo prototipos, pero ya sabemos que Hyosung está trabajando con baterías de polímeros de litio, más eficientes que las más populares (y baratas) de Ion-lítio, lo cual es una buena noticia.

No hay datos aún sobre una futura comercialización.

Y la otra novedad de la marca es su Hyosung GV 700i, de la que ya hablé en esta noticia (Nueva Hyosung Aquila 700). La verdad es que este modelo genera mucha polémica en este país (¿en todos, quizás?). Esta moto no crea más que posiciones radicales: unos la aman y otros la odian. Los contenidos precios de la marca son siempre una fuente eterna de discusión, pues son mucho más asequibles que los de la competencia, y eso despierta muchos recelos.

Desgraciadamente no hay nuevos datos sobre ella aparte de lo ya comentado en el link anterior.

Fecha de disponibilidad aproximada: primavera de 2010.

—

KAWASAKI:

La marca de Akashi también se ha portado. Han sido 6 novedades (o apaños) en total: Z 1000, ZX 10R Ninja, GTR 1400, Versys 650, KLX 125 y D-Tracker 125.

Sin embargo, la información sobre las novedades sigue siendo la misma que cuando publiqué el adelanto del EICMA, así que, como no me quiero repetir, os remito a él para ver las imágenes y demás: Kawasaki en el EICMA de Milán.

Al margen de esto, cuelgo aquí unas pocas fotos más de la Versys 2010, que con esta nueva estética puede ser un modelo con muy buenas ventas para el año que viene.

—

KTM:

Los austríacos de Mattighofen, aparte de su gama off-road (de la cual no comento nada porque es un territorio que no me incumbe), presentaron la versión R de su exitosa Duke III. Esta variante equipa ciertos elementos de mayor calidad que el modelo estándar, como llantas Marchesini, suspensiones WP multiajustables, con las barras de la horquilla recubiertas de nitruro de titanio, y el guardabarros delantero fabricado en fibra de carbono.

Además, el motor ha sido potenciado hasta los 690 c.c. (654 antes), con lo que la potencia final se eleva hasta los 70 CV, lo que la convirtierte en la monocilíndrica más potente del mercado.

Y me pregunto yo: ¿cómo será de fiable un monocilíndrico con 70 C.V.? ¿Cuánto aceite consumirá, teniendo en cuenta su configuración? Y con las vibraciones, ¿te aguantarán los empastes? Me encantaría conocer la respuesta a esas incógnitas.

KTM también ha hablado de su proyecto de fabricar pequeñas motocicletas para la cilindrada de convalidación, 125 c.c.

Ya había rumores de que KTM quería producir pequeños motores de ámbito urbano a través de la marca india de motocicletas Bajaj, a su vez accionista mayoritario de la marca austríaca. Sin embargo, el tema parece que no ha cuajado, pero en KTM siguen adelante con el proyecto y han decidido hacerlo todo en Austria, con diseño a cargo de Kiska Design (como el resto de la gama “naranja”).

Así que, de momento, nos han mostrado algunos prototipos de lo que pretenden hacer: minimalistas, muy deportivos y agresivos, aunque seguro que para cuando se pasen a la serie no tienen nada que ver con las imágenes que aquí vemos.

Se prevé que estén motorizados con un propulsor monocilíndrico derivado de los modelos de 250 c.c. de enduro: ligero y compacto, 4 tiempos, refrigerado por líquido, DOHC con 4 válvulas e inyección electrónica.

KTM también mostró una versión Akrapovic Race Réplica de su RC8R, una edición especial de la que tan sólo se fabricarán 100 unidades para sibaritas de los circuitos. Eso sí, al módico precio de 21.000 € y pico.

—

KYMCO:

La marca taiwanesa especialista en scooters con una acertadísima relación calidad/precio ha sido también bastante prolífica en novedades.

Lo cierto es que Kymco ha sido una de las pocas marcas en España (¿la única?) que ha aumentado sus ventas en este 2009 de crisis galopante, y esto es debido a factores como unos precios muy ajustados, calidad más que razonable y una estética muy atractiva en sus modelos.

Y las propuestas para el 2010 son las siguientes:

G5 125i: scooter urbano de carácter económico, con motor refrigerado por aire muy evolucionado, con inyección electrónica. Equipos ópticos de gran calidad (leds detrás) y frenos de discos lobulados en ambos ejes. Ya a la venta en España.

Agility RS 50: con motor 2 tiempos y una estética enfocada al público más joven. Comparte todos los componentes con el Agility estándar.

Like 200i: versión potenciada de este scooter de carácter retro, con motor monocilíndrico de 200 c.c., 4T, refigerado por aire, SOHC 2V, con inyección electrónica, el mismo que equipa el Kymco People S 200i. Sin embargo, es probable que esta versión no llegue a España y se venda sólo en Italia.

Many 50: un modelo ultra-económico de carácter exclusivamente urbano (¿y exclusivamente femenino?), con motor 4T y 3 válvulas. Se desconoce si se importará a nuestro país.

Downtown/Gran Dink 300 y 200: la estrella de la fiesta. Kymco tiene puestas muchas ilusiones en este modelo, que viene dispuesto a romper moldes.

Tras el lanzamiento hace unos meses de la primera versión 125, ahora la marca nos lo va a traer en 200 y 300 c.c. De la variante de 200 no tengo datos, pero la superior llega cargadita de sorpresas. La primera de ellas es que habrá versión con ABS, fabricado por Bosch (por cierto, inventor del sistema aplicado a motocicletas).

El motor es un monocilíndrico de 4 tiempos refrigerado por agua, DOHC con 4 válvulas e inyección electrónica. Equipará soluciones mecánicas tan poco frecuentes en la categoría como la culata monoblock 4 válvulas, pistón aligerado, cilindro con tratamiento de baja fricción, un sistema de transmisión con variador por desplazamiento sobre ejes para minimizar la pérdida de potencia, etc. Toda una máquina llena de tecnología.

Todo esto proporciona una potencia máxima de 30 C.V. (declarados), un auténtico récord de la categoría, y un par motor de 33,9 Nm a 6.500 rpm., lo que le permitirá desarrollar unas prestaciones teóricamente superiores a todos los 250 c.c. del mercado. Ya lo veremos.

De momento ya se puede adquirir la versión 300 al ajustadísimo precio de 3.880 €. La variante con ABS vendrá más adelante por un poco más de pasta, evidentemente.

People GT 300i: primo hermano del Gran Dink 300 (con quien comparte motor), pero con ruedas altas de 16″. Evoluciona de manera notable desde el anterior People 250, tanto estética como mecánicamente.

De momento sabemos que equipará frenada combinada, que su propulsor puede ser una bomba, que viene a declararle la guerra al Honda Scoopy 300 y que… puede llegar a ganarla, aunque superarle en ventas ya será otro cantar.

Sólo tengo dos preguntas importantes para los señores de Kymco:

1) ¿Dónde han perdido el Myroad 700? Por favor, que manden a alguien a buscarlo, porque en algún sitio tiene que estar…

2) ¿Para cuándo una renovación de un modelo con tanto éxito como la Venox? El tema ya va rumbo al décimo aniversario con la misma estética. Ya está bien, ¿no?

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MOTO GUZZI:

Tras preocupantes rumores sobre la continuidad de la mítica marca del águila, que apuntaban a que se cerraría la fábrica original (y actual) de Mandello del Lario, parece que el grupo Piaggio -a quien pertenece- ha decidido hacer una apuesta de futuro sobre ella, aunque no sabemos si será acertada. En total, planean invertir 12 millones de euros para el lanzamiento de nuevos modelos en las próximas temporadas, y se mantendrá la producción en su legendaria fábrica -que van a modernizar- mientras que el departamento de desarrollo se traslada.

De momento, lo que nos han mostrado son tres propuestas de un proyecto conocido como V12, del que se desprenden tres propuestas diseñadas nada menos que por Pierre Terblanche (padre de muchas famosas Ducati) y Miguel Ángel Galuzzi (creador de, entre otras, la mítica Ducati Monster original), que parten de una misma base con diferentes enfoques.

Las tres versiones son prototipos de momento, pero ya apuntan un motor bicilíndrico transversal en V a 90 grados, típico de Moto Guzzi, con una cilindrada de 1.200 c.c. y 8 válvulas, con un protagonismo indiscutible en el aspecto exterior de estos modelos.

Al chasis de doble espina superior que portan todos ellos se han anclado diferentes suspensiones, pero siempre con el moderno sistema de transmisión monobrazo por cardán CARC.

Los modelos se denominan de la siguiente manera: V12 X (primera foto superior), en plan supermotard; V12 Strada (sobre estas líneas), con un enfoque naked de gran cilindrada más convencional; y V12 LE (¿Le Mans?), en plan moto deportiva (foto de abajo).

Desde luego los diseños aún se ven muy lejanos de la producción, y sobre todo, ya se adivinan poco asequibles al gran público, y no sé si eso es lo que ahora necesita Moto Guzzi.

Ya veremos con el tiempo en qué queda todo esto.

Y pasamos de unos prototipos a otro modelo que no lo es, pero lo parece. Aquí está, se llama V7 Clubman Racer, y es una preciosidad.

La moto es otro derivado del original V7, que a su vez utiliza el mismo motor que las ya antiguas, pero todavía presentes Breva/STR 750 y Nevada 750. Y aunque su apariencia invite a pensar en una potencia muy destacada, en realidad sólo tiene 48 C.V., lo cual no significa que no pueda ser muy divertida (aunque muchos ahora pensarán lo contrario).

Estéticamente es una maravilla, y hará las delicias de más de un amante de lo retro. El chasis va pintado íntegramente en rojo, mientras que el bloque motor se queda en negro. Asiento monoplaza, frenos Brembo, escapes Arrow con los colectores protegidos con cinta de amianto, semimanillares por debajo de la tija, amortiguadores con botella de gas separada…

Lo malo de todo esto es que tanto detalle tendrá un precio, y aunque aún no se conoce, teniendo en cuenta que la V7 Café Classic ya está casi en los 9.000 €, ésta que es mucho más especial, puede tener un coste demasiado elevado para la sencillez de su planteamiento, dado que el motor ya tiene años, y la parte ciclo, en el fondo, no tiene nada de particular. Eso sí, a bonita no le gana nadie.

Y para finalizar, una nueva versión de un modelo más terrenal: la Moto Guzzi Norge GT 8V, que como su propio nombre indica, adopta ahora la nueva culata multiválvulas, que proporcionará un funcionamiento más suave y eficiente. También se han revisado las suspensiones y el carenado para mejorar la aerodinámica.

Como comentaba más arriba, no está muy claro si el nuevo rumbo que van a darle los de Piaggio a Moto Guzzi es el que realmente necesita. Actualmente cuentan con un mercado minoritario y algo elitista, y aunque eso no tiene por qué ser malo, no parece que les esté reportando grandes beneficios. Entonces, ¿por qué insistir en la misma fórmula?

—

MOTO MORINI:

Y si Moto Guzzi es minoritaria, Moto Morini ni te cuento.

En esta ocasión presentan un nuevo derivado con enfoque supermotard, apodado Granferro, partiendo de su motor de 1.200 c.c. bicilíndrico en V.

La parte ciclo se hereda de su “hermana” Granpasso, y estéticamente sigue la misma línea extraña de todos los modelos de la marca.

Pese a que la marca italiana Moto Morini tiene ciertos laureles en la historia del motociclismo, además de fabricar potentes motores propios, mucho que me temo que estamos asistiendo a los últimos coletazos de su etapa más reciente, porque no se aprecia ninguna evolución positiva en su catálogo. Espero equivocarme.

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MV AGUSTA:

La verdad es que, tengo que admitirlo, las grandes deportivas no son santo de mi devoción, al menos como usuario. No está entre mis habilidades (ni estará) la de pilotar a 300 kms/h. Y si hablamos de motos de auténtico lujo como las que fabrica MV Agusta, pues menos aún, porque es tan inútil como hablar de un Rolls Royce: las probabilidades de que algún día tengas uno son francamente ridículas.

Aún así, no lo puedo evitar: estas motos son maravillas del diseño industrial. Bellísimas hasta decir basta y potentes como para ser aptas sólo para manos expertas.

MV Agusta renueva totalmente su modelo estrella F4, una vez que Massimo Tamburini (gran director de diseño en la marca durante muchísimo tiempo) ha dejado vacante su puesto de trabajo por jubilación.

Ahora el motor es totalmente nuevo y el diseño exterior se ha modernizado con mucho acierto, destacando la cuadratura de su cuádruple salida de escape por el colín, tan característica de este modelo, y que tanta escuela ha creado.

Aunque uno no se vea nunca encima de una de estas bestias, es inevitable admirar la belleza de sus líneas y la potencia que emanan sus afinados diseños. Ahora que finalmente sabemos que Harley-Davidson (actual propietaria de MV Agusta) la va a poner de nuevo en venta, no sabemos qué será de su futuro, pero cualquier inversor sensato debería tener claro que esta no es una fábrica de motocicletas más, sino una leyenda del motociclismo.

Al margen de esto, la exclusiva marca italiana también ha dedicado tiempo a renovar el modelo naked, Brutale, aunque manteniendo las líneas maestras de su antecesora. Una vez más, seguimos hablando de magia sobre dos ruedas. Yo no lo tildaría de arte, pero sí de obras maestras del diseño. Ahí quedan para el disfrute visual de todos, y el uso de muy pocos.

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PEUGEOT:

El fabricante galo de scooters (además de automóviles, evidentemente) se está tomando en serio lo de los vehículos de tres ruedas. Esta es la segunda ocasión que nos muestra este prototipo, denominado Hybrid3 Evolution, y parece que todo va encaminado a una no muy lejana producción.

Una vez comprobado el éxito de la peligrosa apuesta de Piaggio con su MP3 de dos ruedas delanteras, ahora que el riesgo ya lo han corrido ellos y les ha salido bien, vienen otros a sacar tajada de ese nicho de mercado. En este caso, Peugeot planea emplear un propulsor híbrido (eléctrico y de combustión), aunque eso ahora mismo es poco realista en el mercado de los scooter (éste va mucho más retrasado que el de los coches), y de pasar a la producción necesitarán motores más “terrenales”.

El problema es que para ello van a necesitar recurrir a algún fabricante externo, pero esta vez Piaggio no está dispuesta a venderles motores como sí lo ha hecho con otros modelos, como el Satelis o el Geopolis. Hombre, no son idiotas. Si quieren copiarles, que se busquen la vida; es lógico.

Ya veremos cómo les sale el invento a los de Peugeot.

En el territorio de los modelos más “de andar por casa”, Peugeot presenta el Kisbee 50, un sencillo cicloscooter para la urbe, con motor de 4 tiempos refrigerado por aire y carburador con precalentamiento eléctrico. De planteamiento funcional y económico, este scooter con llantas de 12″ estará a la venta muy pronto por tan sólo 1.200 €.

Y para amantes de la rueda alta llega este Tweet, en cilindradas de 50 y 125 c.c. Este modelo deriva del Sym Symphony, que también se vende en nuestro país (Sym y Peugeot tienen un acuerdo de colaboración). Los Tweet se sitúan en la gama media y económica de Peugeot, por debajo del LXR 125, también para uso eminentemente urbano y sin grandes alardes en nada salvo en economía de uso.

—

PIAGGIO:

Una gran decepción. Si lo siguiente que vais a ver a continuación es todo lo que el gigante italiano de las dos ruedas puede ofrecer en el salón de su país, yo en su lugar no me gastaba el dinero en un stand y lo ahorraba para asegurar el sueldo de mis empleados.

Las novedades presentadas se limitan prácticamente a la familia MP3, que ha supuesto un considerable éxito teniendo en cuenta lo arriesgado de su propuesta. Así, a las versiones de 125, 250 y 400 se les une una nueva 500, con el conocido motor Master de la marca.

Asímismo, se añade otra nueva variante, denominada 500 Sport, que no es más que el Gilera Fuoco, que han decidido que pase a llevar el logo de Piaggio. Lo han decorado en tonos menos agresivos y a volar.

Y, dentro de los MP3, en la gama de los LT (es decir, las variantes con ligeras modificaciones que les permiten ser conducidos por usuarios con el carnet B), el modelo de 250 pasa a adoptar el motor de 300 c.c. -278 en realidad- del grupo Piaggio. Además, el acelerador es ahora del tipo “ride by wire”, o sea, electrónico.

Y la otra súper novedad de la marca es este horrendo “Vespino rossi”; se trata del nuevo Liberty Elle (como la famosa revista para mujeres) en 50 y 125 c.c. No tiene cambios respecto del Liberty original (el mismo que emplean en España muchos carteros) salvo esta dañina decoración a lo Barbie sólo apta para mujeres con mal gusto.

Y ya está. Estas son las espectaculares novedades 2010 de Piaggio. ¿Donde está el sustituto del X9? ¿Dónde esté el rival del T-Max? ¿Qué ha sido de aquel proyecto de scooter de gran cilindrada?…. Lo dicho: yo para esto me quedaba en casa.

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SYM:

Los taiwaneses de Sym aspiran a llegar lejos, como debe ser. Prueba de ello es que tienen unos productos con una muy buena relación calidad/precio y que, ahora, empiezan a plantar cara en cilindradas elevadas, que es el gran reto de cualquier fabricante que se precie.

Así pues, la nueva apuesta de la marca son los Maxsym 400/600, grandes megascooter de cuyos motores no sabemos aún nada, salvo que serán monocilíndricos 4T.

Desafortunadamente, aún hay algo que les falla gravemente a los chicos de Sym, y es el diseño, porque desde luego este Maxsym es una copia descarada y desafortunada del Suzuki Burgman 650. Creo que esto no era necesario para tener éxito, y más cuando, por ejemplo, el Sym GTS (un modelo anterior de la marca) destacaba por su originalidad.

En fin, esperaremos a conocer cómo van estos dos nuevos buques de largo recorrido.

Y otro ejemplo de por qué el equipo de diseño de Sym necesita una renovación, es el siguiente modelo: el Cevalo 125. Se trata de una motocicleta naked de marchas 4T para el carnet A1.

Se nota de dónde han ido sacando la inspración para crear cada una de sus partes pero les ha salido una cosa muy extraña: el faro es muy Fazer, los laterales son típicos de la ER-6, las llantas recuerdan vagamente a las de la Honda CB 1000…

El motor es de nueva generación, no compartido por otros modelos de marchas de la marca: un 125 c.c. de 4T, SOHC, 4 válvulas, refrigeración por aire y alimentación por inyección electrónica, con unos 15 C.V. declarados (aunque dudo mucho que los alcance). Además, tiene buenos detalles como el tablero digital con indicador de marcha engranada y nivel de combustible.

En definitiva, un modelo que será asequible y con look moderno para quien no quiera gastarse mucho dinero.

Eso sí, que cambien al equipo de diseño YA, por favor.

—

TRIUMPH:

Los británicos de Triumph no llevaron ninguna novedad al salón. Se limitaron a mostrar nuevas decoraciones para sus modelos, como la de la Bonneville bajo estas líneas o la de la reciente Thunderbird 1600 (foto inferior)

También se llevó una Speed Triple SE cargadita de todos los extras imaginables (cúpula, suspensiones y frenos nuevos, escape Arrow 3-en-1, decoración bitono…).

La Thunderbird 1600 también recibe nuevos extras dsponibles, como el kit “Big Bore” de potenciación del motor con nuevos pistones, árboles de levas, muelles de embrague, que sitúan su cilindrada en 1.700 c.c. Con el mismo instalado, la potencia pasa a ser de 97 C.V.

Por último, también estuvo presente en Milán la nueva Rocket III Roadster, de la que ya hablé anteriormente. Y, dado que no hay ninguna información nueva sobre ella, os remito al siguiente enlace: Triumph Rocket III Roadster.

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VESPA:

Por último nos queda la legendaria Vespa, que en esta ocasión cambia de decoración en su modelo de mayor cilindrada (300), y pasa a llamarse Super Sport.

Los cambios afectan a la coloración de los amortiguadores, ahora en rojo; una nueva pintura en gris titanio, el asiento con tapizado retro y ribeteado en blanco, y el cuadro de instrumentos con fondo negro y dígitos en blanco. Todo ello enfocado a remarcar un espíritu ligeramente deportivo, aunque todos sabemos que una Vespa nunca podrá ser muy deportiva, salvo que no le tengas miedo a la muerte…

El motor sigue siendo el mismo de antes: modelo Quasar de 300 c.c. inyectado, un monocilíndrico 4T refrigerado por agua SOHC 4V capaz de ofrecer 22,4 C.V.

Finalmente, también fue presentada la Vespa LX ¿Touring? Sí, Touring. No está muy claro qué tipo de turismo se puede hacer en un vehículo así, sobre todo cuando sabemos que sólo estará disponible en 50 y 125 c.c. Hombre, con mucha paciencia…

Las particularidades de esta versión son: pintura marrón metalizada, asiento en piel sintética a juego, 2 transportines cromados y una pequeña pantalla derivabrisas.

¡Qué fácil es crear nuevos modelos con cuatro chorradillas!

—

Y aquí acaba todo.

Me han faltado algunas cosas, pero poco dignas de mención. Suzuki también estuvo en el salón, pero sólo llevó la nueva Bandit 1250, de la que ya hablé anteriormente. Este año, Suzuki se lleva el premio a la más absoluta falta de actividad. ¿Dónde demonios está ese proyecto de GSR 500/250 tan adecuado a los tiempos que corren?

Harley Davidson también llevó su gama 2010, pero ya la conocemos desde el verano, y Rieju estuvo con su nueva RS3, pero no encuentro ni una miserable imagen decente de ella. Y como son tan cutres que ni siquiera se dignan a actualizar su página web incluyéndola, pues les he “castigado” obviándoles. Hay que moverse, señores, que luego decimos que no se vende… y la culpa es de los demás.

Ha sido, sin lugar a dudas, el salón de la moto más aburrido que recuerdo en muchos años. De verdad que no le encuentro el sentido a organizar uno, con la de tiempo y dinero que conlleva, para hacer esto. Estoy convencido de que así no es rentable.

Tampoco puedo entender por qué, dada la situación del mercado, no se lanzan modelos de baja cilindrada (de 250 a 500 c.c.) sencillos, fiables y económicos, como lo fueron antaño la Suzuki GS 500, la Kawasaki Er-5 y KLE 500, la Yamaha Virago 535, la Honda CBF 500, etc… A veces me pregunto qué demonios hacen en los departamentos de desarrollo de producto de las marcas de motos.

Será la crisis o será lo que quieran, pero se ha vuelto a demostrar una vez más que la industria del motociclismo está a años luz de la del automóvil. Ojalá el año que viene empiece a cambiar la tendencia.

Así que, ya lo sabéis: en 2010 vais a comprar…. ¡las motos de 2009!

Feliz compra.

 In a creation myth rivaling that of the most powerful shoguns of ancient Japan, today you were born into the body of a coal black Aprilia RSV4.

 Your dark, naked body shone in the full moonlight that permeated the room and caused our bodies to contrast so virtually we embodied natural duality. My hair lapped across your taut chest – dampening into mahogany cat o’nine tails. Our sweat mixed as we writhed against one another; resting only momentarily in ecstatic postures. As we posed in tantra, our tongues met first, then moist lips slipped top over bottom, bottom over top – exchanging the business of being in charge.

 There seemed to be no limit to the amount of pleasure we could receive from each other. Then suddenly, without warning your chiseled arms wrapped themselves around my perfect, round ass and lifted. I was on top of you in an instant. Supine beneath me, you tensed every muscle as solid and hard as your cock. I felt you grow deeper inside me. Every inhale was a gasp of pleasure. Every exhale was a moan of sweet release.

 Darkness enveloped us as the moon rose too high to illuminate our bed through the tall southern window of the room. There were no doors. The blankets and pillows were yours. Dizzy whimpered in the corner and you reassured her that we would both live through the ordeal. I lost sight of you. I blinked. I looked down where you should have been – where I could still feel you. I saw the shine of your body as I had before and relaxed for a moment. But, how could you shine when there was no moon?

 The warmth of your body between my legs became something all together new and exciting. I felt your body heave as our sweat turned molten and cooled to smooth metal. Electricity passed through us and your atoms split – exposed to oxygen in the brisk, night air that blew in from the open window. We shivered as we both came to orgasm. That would be our last common act as human beings.

 I held on tight with both legs; my creamy thighs straining for a grip. Your chest turned to chassis – a twin-spar adjustable aluminum frame dipped in anthracite – the highest rank of coal – just for looks. Your arms dissolved Christ-like from around my waist into a front suspension of 43-mm stanchions in an upside-down fork. Your elbows became adjustable and spring preloaded with hydraulic compression for rebound damping. Your hands were dual 320-mm diameter floating stainless steel discs with Brembo monobloc radial calipers. I shuddered and reached to cradle your head as I realized what was happening.

 Mixed low and thick, your legs became the twin-sided swing arm now deftly fitted between the bend where my hip and ankle made a perfect triangle. Your knees merged into one Öhlins Racing monoshock with piggyback. Your feet morphed into a 220-mm disc brake with a Brembo floating caliper and two 32-mm isolated pistons. Instead of boots, you wore completely machined Aprilia forged aluminum alloy five-split spokes.

 A breeze picked up in the room and swept my hair around my shoulders to barely cover the tips of my rock hard nipples. I was excited and scared. I still held your held in my hands. You looked up at me with a stare so confident; my fear vanished and was replaced again by desire. It appeared as though you were glowing through a third eye!

 As the transformation was near complete, I knew that this ethereal glow would soon be the center of the tri-jeweled crown of guiding light on our impending journey. I pinched the your fleshy lobes one last time before they turned to grips; found a comfortable two-fingered position around the brakes and managed a giggle as I imagined tickling you behind both ears.

 By this time, your internal organs were in a severe state of flux but the metamorphosis from man to machine was made somewhat more acceptable to me knowing that you already had a four-chambered heart. Not exactly a 65-degree V-four built for superior agility and rear-wheel traction; but a ventricle system none the less. The expansive network of veins that once moved blood beneath your flesh morphed into a fly-by-wire throttle system with double overhead camshafts. Your atria now variable-length intake ducts, and a total of eight fuel injectors. Your blood as pure and powerful a fuel as the god Inari could bestow upon a pious farmer.

 Your lungs of course, were reconfigured 4 into 2 into 1 with a single oxygen sensor. And the rest of your respiratory system was now simply one lateral silencer with an engine unit-controlled butterfly valve and integrated trivalent catalytic converter. You now weighed 395 pounds – dry.

 Now that the conversion was complete, I reveled in the pure joy that was the melding of your soul to the bike beneath me. Although some would say you became mon objet d’amour, you were in every sense still utterly in control. All I could do was hold on. It was different all alone on the front. The wind lashed out, seeking penance for my sins. It didn’t ask my permission and there was no safety word to stop it. As the RSV4, you sensed my boundaries and slowed into a turn to deflect the pressure. On the downshift, your newfound voice sent a tingle from my toes to my tits with a deep, penetrating rumble gnash before hitting the perfect note in the space between my hips where my clit rubbed against the hard leather inseam of my new riding gear. I hoped it never softened.

 Your mouth seemed to swallow whole parts of the road in lurching gulps as we lunged forward into the abyss that was 177bhp and 85lb ft. of torque. It was all I could do to bow my head and kiss the tank where I once felt your heart beat too fast to be human. You reared up like a wild stallion at that moment and I knew no one would ever tame you. This only served to make me more excited. I easily compared my exaltation to the day all emperors descended from the sun goddess who formed the islands of Japan in her womb and birthed them from a cloud. You were man, machine and manga legend all rolled into one.

Lampe, MO to Omaha, Nebraska – 425 Miles

I had packed the bike the night before. As usual the left saddle bag contained my sleeping bag, a Big Agnes 30+ bag, and the matching air mattress that fits inside the sleeping bag. This is very handy as most ground pads and air mattresses that you sleep on top of you tend to slide off when you are soundly asleep and wake up frozen and stiff in the morning. The bag also housed my tent – a free standing EMS Quarter Dome one person that works perfectly in just about any condition. The only problem is that it is truly a ONE person tent and with your gear stored inside it’s very, very tight. One of the best tips I got when researching my first long distance month long ride is take a pillow. My pillow is a compressible thermarest pillow that is by far the most comfort inducing piece of gear I took on both trips (In May I rode 5,300 miles from Vermont to Texas, Key West, FL and surrounding areas). I can usually fit my LED headlamp and when I really need space my flip flops to and still get the bag closed. I can’t tell you the satisfaction I feel when I walk up to the bike and know everything I need to sleep well and be protected from the elements fits in a single pannier on my Futura.

Home away from home:

The right side bag is for clothing. For a month out on the road I take two pairs of cargo pants, a pair of cargo shorts, swim trunks, two pair of socks, two pair of underwear, two outfitter style shirts, a sweat shirt, two t-shirts and a pair of sweat pants and a zip up vest with a high collar. Most of this gear is a high tech fabric that washes and dries overnight easily. My daily riding apparel consists of the following bits in no particular order. – LDC comfort shorts – single best long distance sport touring clothing I’ve ever purchased. These are riding underwear that are specially made for long distance riders. They are seamless and although they fit snugly they are not compression shorts – which serve a different function – more for sports activities not hours and hours of motorcycle riding. I read that long distance riders often wear bicycle shorts on their rides. Let me tell you after 5,300 miles of wearing a set HATED them. The padding is in the wrong place and the seams cut into your skin. It got so bad at one point earlier in the year that I tried to cut out the sewn in pad in a McDonald’s bathroom with my Leatherman! That must have been somewhat of an interesting visual, my black Alpinestars black-label cargo pants around my ankles, my leather jacket on the hook and me hunched over sitting on the crapper sawing away at my shorts with a razor sharp knife all while cursing under my breath and yanking out the stretchy panels of the underpants, hacking away. Anyway they are great and you should RUN to the computer to buy a set immediately – trust me on this.
On the road again:

I was finally on the road again. The radar was sketchy for a ride north. Rain near Kansas City and the Dakotas, sheesh, don’t get me started on the Dakotas. For the last week the weather had been deteriorating. From middle 70’s in late September to 40’s and snow at the start of October. But one thing I learned from the last trip is that weather forecasters are full of shit and wrong almost all the time. The ride from Lampe to Omaha would be mostly slab. However, the first part was fantastic with a million sweepers, tight turns, s-turns and hills that were rollercoaster like in their rises and falls. I replaced my onboard GPS with a Garmin. My $99.00 Sony died a horrible death after I rammed my fist through the glass faceplate. It just did too many frustrating things too many times to tolerate and I guess this was my subconscious making me get something else. This GPS cost 4x the price of the Sony and over the course of this trip would pay for itself many times over. After the fun part of the ride I hit the highway and basically headed due north. This part of the ride was eyeglazingly boring only interrupted by a few showers and trucks trying to kill me. I stopped to refuel and while having an iced tea and sitting next to the bike I noticed this extremely interesting site. It was an Amish family getting into a pickup truck. I’m thinking they can’t drive and then I see their driver and for the first time actually notice what’s on the back of the flatbed. TWO brand new buggies and all the fixins. So, somewhere in America there is a factory that turns out buggies for the Amish. Interesting stuff, at least it was for me.

I got off the interstate again to get gas and stumbled on this little town somewhere between Lampe and Omaha. Yeah I know I need to be more specific with details but at this point in the trip I was just enjoying riding to be riding.

Another small town that Wal-Mart wiped out. I wonder if Sam realized that his business would essentially destroy small town America.

It was cold and wet fo the last ½ of the ride. Entering Nebraska is very cool as they have a bunch of locomotives on a hillside at the state greeting sign. I checked into dumpy La Quinta and dragged my bags to the room. Being an ex-Hotelier (French for “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible time”) I called Karyn and said come and rescue me. Karyn is a loooovely red head who used to work for me in New York back in the days when I was a Hedge .

Our first stop was the Interlude Lounge in a strip mall in downtown Omaha. This place was FANTASTIC. Sunken seated areas, wacky 60’s lighting, and a huge L shaped bar. There are always places you stumble into when you travel that make you want to move to that area just to be near them. The Interlude is one of those places – you just feel comfortable the moment you walk in the door. The smoking hot blonde large breasted cougar bartender helped too…. If you have a chance to get within 100 miles of this place (on a ride to Sturgis or whatever just GO. It’s worth it.

Karyn getting her groove on.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/interlude-cocktail-lounge-omaha

Our next stop was the bar “Beer and Loathing” This was a fun place for beers and we had a great time.

As Karyn had to work the next morning we shut it down before things got totally out of control. Dinner this lovely evening was Taco Bell and crashing by the TV.

Tomorrow – Omaha to South Dakota?

E dopo Samantha Marenzi, anche Alessandra Fusi diventa insegnante, con il corso di illustrazione di fiabe che si terrà presso l’Associazione Arte Mediterranea di Aprilia (LT).

Le lezioni verteranno sulle tecniche illustrative e si svolgeranno ogni mercoledì dalle 18.00 alle 20.00. Il primo appuntamento è fissato per mercoledì 18, quindi manca veramente poco!

Se amate lo stile di Alessandra e siete interessati ad avere maggiori informazioni riguardo i costi e le iscrizioni, potete contattare l’associazione attraverso l’indirizzo  di posta elettronica antonio.dewaure@artemediterranea.org oppure telefonicamente, al numero 347 1748542.

Aprilia Mana X Wallpaper Pack

Download :

http://www.ziddu.com/download/7334131/Aprilia_Mana_X.rar.html

This is a test

Aprilia VF2 Concept Wallpack

Download :

http://www.ziddu.com/download/7331775/ApriliaFV2.rar.html

Aprilia bermain dengan 2010 Dorsoduro Factory. Pada edisi ini menambahkan bagian serat karbon dan bingkai hitam, mencapai keseluruhan hasil yang jauh lebih agresif. The 749.9cc twin developing 92 hp at 8,750 rpm and 60lb/ft at 4,500 rpm. Angka-angka tersebut lebih dari cukup untuk sebuah super menengah Motard, mesin juga bekerja dengan “Ride oleh Wire” sistem, yang tersedia dalam tiga mode: sport, touring dan hujan.

2010 Aprilia Dorsoduro Factory

2010 Aprilia Dorsoduro Factory

Suspensi menggunakan Sachs kit, yang dapat diatur ketinggian motor hingga 45mm, sedangkan pengereman memakai 320mm discs and dengan four-piston Brembo calipers. Tapi sangat disayangkan blom ada ABS pada versi standarnya.

2010 Aprilia Dorsoduro Factory

2010 Aprilia Dorsoduro Factory

2010 Aprilia Dorsoduro Factory

Flyer 500 milhas

ENTRE AGORA NO SITE WWW.500MILHASBRASIL.COM.BR , E PEÇA SUA CAMISETA EXCLUSIVA E PERSONALIZADA DA PROVA MAIS TRADICIONAL DO MOTOCICLISMO BRASILEIRO

Segue a baixo breve relato descritivo do Evento, estamos a disposição para marcarmos uma reunião para mais informações

Onde? – Autódromo de Interlagos (13ª Edição das 500 MIlhas de Interlagos)
Quando? – 17 de Janeiro de 2010
Quanto? – Menos do que você Imagina
Porque? – Maior evento de Motovelocidade dos últimos Tempos
Público? – Mais de 30.000 pessoas
Entrada? – Apenas 1 kg de alimento não perecível

Parceria:

Motocicletas participantes:

Previsto 50 e limite máximo de 70
Prova de Endurance, Mínimo de 2 pilotos e máximo de 4 pilotos por
Motocicleta
Média de Pilotos de 150 pilotos e limite máximo de 280 pilotos
Consumo de Pneus:
Treino na Sexta – 1 Jogo de Pneus
Treino no Sábado – 1 Jogo de Pneus
Corrida no Domingo – 2 Jogos de Pneus (Uma troca de Pneus obrigatória)
Estimativa de consumo de pneus é de 4 por equipe.
Considerando 50 Equipes se dará um consumo de 200 Jogos de Pneus.

Programação do Evento:

O Evento contará com diversas atrações:
- Comemoração dos 70 anos do Autódromo de Interlagos
- Comemoração do Aniversário da Cidade de São Paulo
- Comemoração dos 40 anos da 1ª edição da Prova, idealizada pelo Sr. Elói
- Gogliano e pelo Barão (Pai do Emersom), os fundadores do Centauro Motor Clube.
- 13ª Edição das 500 Milhas de Interlagos 2010
- Prova de loga duração, 185 voltas de pura emoção com revezamento de pilotos, reabastecimentos e troca de pneus durante a prova. . .
- Premiação de R$ 50.000,00 em dinheiro dividido pelas categorias, uma atitude inédita para valorizar o esporte…
- Categorias – SuperSport (600cc) – SuperBike(1000cc) – ForçaLivre (500 a 1300cc)
- Campeonato de Whelling (manobras de motos) junto à Federação Brasileira de Whelling
- Campeonato com 5 categorias e premiação em dinheiro para os campeões (Visando tirar os jovens das ruas e proficionaliza-los)
- “Shopping 500 Milhas”
- Será montado em um espaço de 5000m² stands para divulgação e comercialização de produtos e serviços, além de alimentação
- “Saloon 500 Milhas”

Será montado em uma área para 2000 pessoas um espaço cowntry com 10 Bois no Rolete simultaneamente, Buffet Tropeiro além de apresentação de duplas sertanejas durante todo o evento.

Programação:

Sexta-Feira:
Treinos Livres – 500 Milhas
Treinos Livres – Whelling
Após os treinos Show com Mega estrutura de Palco
Show Dupla Fernando e Sorocaba e amigos (estimativa de público
30.000)

Sábado:
Treinos Livres e Classificatórios – 500 Milhas
Treinos Livres e Classificatórios – Whelling
Visitação aos boxes
Após os treinos Show com Mega estrutura de Palco
Gravação do DVD da Banda D´javu (estimativa de público 30.000)

Domingo:
Visitação aos boxes
Apresentação de Show Whelling na reta dos box.
Início das 500 Milhas de Interlagos as 11:00
Início do Campeonato de Whelling (Local:Arena Whelling nas dependencias do Autódromo)
Durante a Prova apresentação do Dj Show mixando o maiores sucessos com sons de motos
Narração da corrida pelo Locutor oficial do evento.
Após o término das 500 Milhas por volta das 17:00
Entrega de troféus e Prêmios 500 Milhas
Realização da Final de Whelling na reta dos Box.
Entrega de troféus e Prêmios Whelling
Após a premiação Show com Mega estrutura de Palco
Show dos com encontro do Exaltasamba e o Grupo Pixote (estimativa de público 30.000)

Fonte:
Piloto Ruan Burdino, Campeão nas 500cc já inscrito neste megaevento para a motovelocidade no Brasil.
Agradecimentos: MotosBrasil, Motovelocidade, ABS Team, Compras Web TV, Kamikaze, Motos e Gatas, MotoEsporte, The Red Sector, RLmotos, Pegassi, TopBikes, Kawasaki, Kasinski, Pilotos do Bem, H2Oracing, 500 Milhas Brasil, Programa Hamilton Moto e Aventura e Giro Total rodas.

Dopo che nei mesi scorsi sono tornate in primo piano le affermazioni rese dal pentito di camorra, Carmine Schiavone, che aveva parlato di fusti tossici interrati dalla criminalità organizzata nella discarcia di Borgo Montello, parole che stanno portando a nuove e più approfondite indagini sul sito del capoluogo, ora arrivano le rivelazioni di Francesco Fonti. Il pentito della ‘ndrangheta, ascoltato dalla commissione parlamentare sulle Ecomafie, ha parlato questa volta di rifiuti provenienti dalle centrali nucleari, tirando in causa anche Latina e un presunto traffico di rifiuti che partiva dalla centrale nucleare di Borgo Sabotino. Fonti ha affermato, infatti, che il suo «ingresso» nel mondo dello smaltimento illegale è avvenuto nel 1987 con i 500 fusti andati in Somalia e i 100 interrati in Basilicata. Ma il pentito avrebbe detto alla commissione di aver gestito, nel 1992, mille bidoni di rifiuti nucleari che provenivano dalla centrale di Latina e che il traffico gravitava verso la Somalia. Quel 1992 che, combinazione, è lo stesso anno dello scandalo dei presunti fusti tossici interrati a Borgo Montello, vicenda esplosa dopo le rivelazioni fatte alla Digos di Latina da uno degli operai della discarica pontina. Fonti ha fornito elementi, spiegato e anche ritrattato alcuni elementi già forniti alla magistratura come ad esempio una ricostruzione, fatta sulla base di una vecchia cartina del primo interramento di rifiuti nucleari che provenivano dalla centrale Enea di Rotondella, in Basilicata. Ma le dichiarazioni del pentito sono tutte da verificare. Fonti, nelle scorse settimane, aveva già fatto delle rivelazioni sul traffico di rifiuti e sulle «navi dei veleni» affondate nelle acque della Calabaria ma, al momento, le sue parole non hanno avuto alcun riscontro. Intanto nei giorni scorsi la «Commissione parlamentare di inchiesta sulle attività illecite connesse al ciclo dei rifiuti», presieduta dall’avv. Gaetano pecoeella, ha ascoltato il procuratore aggiunto presso la Direzione distrettuale antimafia di Roma, il dottor Giancarlo Capaldo. Quest’ultimo ha definito Latina zona a rischio, affermando che «la situazione è su livelli che richiedono una necessaria attenzione, ma non un allarme». Il parlamenatrae del Pdl, Candido De Angelis, ha chiesto a Capaldo delle dichiarazioni rese dal pentito Schiavone sui fusti velenosi nella discarica di Latina, e che «negli anni passati il clan dei Casalesi era solito interrare in una delle due discariche presenti a Latina». Capaldo ha risposto che sul caso sta svolgendo indagini la Procura di Latina. (Fonte articolo, qui)

• Fusti tossici nella discarica di Borgo Montello, svolte nell’inchiesta
• Turbogas Aprilia, nonostante il sequestro del cantiere Sorgenia va avanti e presenta ricorso al TAR

GREAT BRITAIN, – November 2, 2009 – (Motor Sports Newswire) – Great Britain Rieju has announced that it will unveil the replacement for their RS2 range of small capacity sports bikes at the EICMA 2009 International Motorcycle Show in Milan on November 9. The new RS3 will have its official press unveiling at the EICMA 2009 International Motorcycle Show in Milan where the brand new model will take centre stage.

From November 10-15, in Hall 6 stand L18 of the Milano Fiera, this exciting new motorcycle will be shown to the public for the first time. Rieju has developed this completely new ‘ground up design’ working in collaboration with two of Europe’s leading motorcycle design and development companies, ArianeTech Ingeniería and Xenophya Design. An evolution of the original RS concept, the new RS3 combines sport bike technology with comfort and versatility aimed squarely at the youth market.

These images give a glimpse into the design process; including design studies and sketches, photos from the clay model construction process and CAD images.

Established in 1934 the Rieju brand has great European heritage and has evolved to become a major small capacity motorcycle producer with over 17% market share of all 50cc geared motorcycles sales in the EEC and over 27% market share in Spain.

Jamie Masterman Commercial Director for Rieju UK Ltd commented “The development of the new Sport RS3 series is key to our corporate goal of providing competitive sport machines at competitive prices in the small capacity sectors, we look forward to building the Rieju brand in the UK and aim to mirror its incredible success in the rest of Europe”.

In addition to the sports bike development, the 2010 range will for the first time in the UK include the eagerly awaited Yamaha competition powered MRT 250 & MRT 450 XC machines.

ArianeTech Ingeniería, S.L. is an engineering services company which specialises in the motorcycle segment and similar technologies: Scooters, quads, karts, microcars etc.

Established in 2004 by 3 highly experienced ex Yamaha Engineers: Josep Losantos , Juan Manuel Navarro and José Ángel Sánchez. Arianetech has now grown to employ a team of dedicated engineers and designers. The company is located in a small costal village, Cabrera de Mar, 25 km from Barcelona. The 470 m2 facility is dived between technical offices and the design engineering workshops. The technical office has a capacity for 18 working stations. From this facility Arianetech provide services in any of the development stages of the product, from the initial conception to carrying out trials and tests, including the necessary procedures for the certification, passing through the intermediate stages of design, analysis, calculations and prototyping.

Xenophya Design, an Industrial Design partnership established in 2001 by Mark Wells and Ian Wride to specialise in design and development for the Motorcycle, Scooter and Powersports industries. They have had experience working with large and small OEMs as well as small specialised makers and component manufacturers, including brands such as Yamaha YEC, Derbi, Aprilia, Royal Enfield, Bajaj Auto Ltd, Triumph Ltd, Mac Motorcycles, AJS, and Fischer Motor Company. As well as commissions from major brands, they have also secured contracts with race teams, smaller enterprises, and leading PTW engineering specialists such as Vepro ltd. and ArianeTech Ingeniería. located in the North East of England 10 miles from the centre of the city of Newcastle Upon Tyne they have built up extensive support network of engineering and rapid prototyping companies.

Specifically fitted for motorcycle design projects Xenophya’s 2800 sq ft unit houses their design studio, clay modeling studio and hard model/prototyping workshop. All of this allows them to take design concepts into show models and prototypes under one roof.

ArianeTech
Josep Losantos
Tel: (+34) 937 566 088
Email: Info@ArianeTech.es

Xenophya Design
Mark Wells
Tel: +44 (0) 1670 735588
Email: info@xenophya.com

####

I NEED YOU HELP!!!

I need your help, I’m on a mission to connect 1,000,000 people with 1,000,000 cars, I have recently partnered with a few companies in the tri-state area that have an OVER STOCK of vehicles that need drivers, yes these cars need drivers. They range from bank repossessions to trade ins, these vehicles range from 6 months old to 25 years old, manufactures from AM General to Yugo, trucks to motorcycles, forklifts to bulldozers, what ever you are looking for I can offer at a discount to any advertised retail price. The inventory changes daily, I come across many vehicles.

I am working mostly in the New York, New Jersey area, this does not make a difference, even if you are in a different state or country I can still ship and/or export you the car you are looking for.

I like to work with individuals, but I will take on a legitimate businesses looking to liquidate or up grade their fleets.

I’m not looking for anyone to sell anything all I’m asking is if you know someone looking for any kind of car THAT DOES NOT WANT TO PAY FULL RETAIL PRICE, forward this e-mail and my phone number and this is what I will do for you and anyone that buys a vehicle.

I’m going to give away 10% on the purchase price of any vehicle up to $1000 to your favorite non-profit charity in your name. I’m not only going to give the store away, I’m going to give it away in someone else’s name. What is he crazy! No I just know if I help others help others, life is better for all. This means if you or someone buys a car or light truck for $2500 I will give $250, buy for $4000 I give $400, buy for $6,000 I give $600.00, etc on up to $1000.00

Listen to what I am saying I am going to give away most if not all of my profit in your name to YOUR charity this is a win win for all. We all know someone who needs a car or wants to upgrade to a newer model and wants to save some money. You get a tax deductible donation that did not come out of your pocket, and your charity gets the help it desperately needs, if that’s not giving I don’t know what is.

That’s all I’m asking this in not a joke I am very very serious. Please read all attachments, if you have any questions you can call between 8am-6pm. At 631 671 9779 You can e-mail questions and vehicle request at ejacksoniaia@gmail.com, I will need to talk to you to verify all emailed info so don’t forget the best phone number to call you back