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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Tom Cruise is the first on the list to get Ducati's newest motorcycle — a $72,500 superbike bristling with titanium, magnesium and carbon fiber technology that can scoot up to 200 mph. Cruise is scheduled to take delivery of the Desmosedici RR at Beverly Hills Ducati this week. Only 1,500 of the red-and-white Moto GP racing replica motorcycles will be made and Cruise gets the first.

CycleSpace Takes Online Motorcycle Enthusiasts to the Next Level ATLANTA--CycleSpace announced today the launch of their new website, CycleSpace.com. A fusion of the MySpace experience, Internet television, and dedicated resource information, CycleSpace serves up a media-rich, fully interactive social networking environment to the motorcycle culture. “Our own research showed there was a need for an all-inclusive portal where enthusiasts could share and enjoy all aspects of their culture,” says Jeremy Wolfe, founder and CEO of CycleSpace. “It is the first of its kind to fuse a social network, like myspace, with Internet television that delivers programming geared specifically toward the...

Think of it as “Easy Rider” meets “An Inconvenient Truth.” Or, maybe, the perfect Christmas gift for the environmentalist with everything. A solar motorcycle. Well, not solar, strictly speaking, but electric — with its battery charged by the solar panels on Rob Thayer’s Village Homes roof. Thayer, a UC Davis professor emeritus of landscape architecture, recently purchased the custom motorcycle for $7,000 from electricmotorsport.com, an Oakland company that’s one of a handful modifying or building electric motorcycles. His is a 2003 Spanish-built Derbi Grand Prix racer, its gas engine replaced with a battery and low racing handlebars replaced with...

Phat chopper The Nehmesis' chunky back tire is the largest ever on a motorcycle. By JOHN GITTELSOHN The Orange County Register Harley-Davidson has ruled the world of choppers seemingly forever. But a bike customized from a Star Cruiser by Yamaha Motor Corp., which has its U.S. headquarters in Cypress, broke the lock. The Nehmesis, built by Sam Nehme, a Florida motorcycle customizer, was the first non-American bike to take the top prize in the American class at the 2006 Biketoberfest Rats Hole in Daytona Beach, Fla. "It was huge," said Nehme, whose chopper will join hundreds of the newest, fastest...

A Suzuki racing bike screaming at 80 mph in a 25-mph zone slammed into Gigliotti on Oct. 4 as she was leaving her job at Long Beach City College, igniting a fireball inside her Ford Escort. "It is not uncommon to see these kinds of accidents with motorcycles, particularly high-powered super bikes," said Raymond Dennison, the Long Beach detective who investigated the crash. "The whole function is to go as fast as they can."

BOCA RATON, Fla. - A teen engineering prodigy who gained national attention in 2002 when he and his family received identification chip implants on live television was killed in a motorcycle accident, authorities said. Derek Jacobs, 18, lost control of his motorcycle early Saturday and crashed into a guardrail and a pole, the Palm Beach County sheriff's office said. He was wearing a helmet. "It was just a crazy accident of a bump or something, and he was catapulted," said his mother, Leslie Jacobs. "He had, of course, potential, because he was brilliant, and he was just a wonderful son....

COCOA — Local motorcycle builder Billy Lane turned himself in at 1 p.m. today in connection with a fatal accident Sept. 4. Among the charges Lane faces are driving under influence, manslaughter and driving with his license suspended. Lane, 36, arrived with his lawyers at the Florida Highway Patrol office on State Road 520. FHP spokeswoman Kim Miller said Lane’s blood alcohol level was .192 when the accident occurred on State Road A1A south of Melbourne Beach. She said bond would be set at $15,000. Investigators have said Lane was trying to pass two other vehicles on a double-yellow-lined stretch...

Confederate motorcycles, the US makers of the amazing Hellcat and Wraith, has unveiled its latest prototype – and it looks just as mad as its predecessors. The Renovatio is still in concept stage but the designs and specs look pretty far down the line considering the firm has had to recover from the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, which devestated the factory. The minimalist design is centred around a GM based v-twin engine and not much else. The engine puts out 150bhp in standard trim but there’s a supercharger option that boosts that to 190bhp. Confederate describe the concept as “Minimal;...

President Bush, in York, Penn., gets on a motorcycle during a tour of the Harley-Davidson vehicle operations plant. At right is roll test operator Joel Toner.

Harley-Davidson enthusiasts now have their own stamp of approval, thanks to the United States Postal Service. A 1965 Harley Electra-Glide is featured as one of four new first-class stamps being rolled out in Wisconsin at 11 a.m. Saturday at Capital City Harley-Davidson/Buell, 6200 Millpond Road, on Madison's far east side. The stamp rollout ceremony at kick-starts the third annual motorcycle ride to raise funds for the Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center. The stamps were officially introduced to the public Aug. 7 during the 66th annual Harley rally in Sturgis, S.D., and have been unveiled in local ceremonies throughout America since...

Two brothers killed in separate motorcycle accidents on same road on same night By Associated Press Monday, August 7, 2006 - Updated: 09:47 AM EST BUTLER, Pa. - Two brothers were killed in separate motorcycle accidents on the same stretch of road and within just two hours of each other. One was headed to the scene of his brother’s accident. Steven Kerr, 37, of West Sunbury, was killed late Saturday when his motorcycle crashed into a speed limit sign on state Route 38, state police said. Less than two hours later and only about 100 yards away, 29-year-old Jeremy Kerr...

Today: June 22, 2006 at 9:56:7 PDT Lightning Strike Kills Colo. Motorcyclist ASSOCIATED PRESS WESTMINSTER, Colo. (AP) - A motorcyclist died after he was struck by lightning while riding in rush hour traffic between Denver and Boulder, police said. Witnesses reported seeing a flash of light shortly before the motorcyclist struck the center divider on U.S. 36 Wednesday, police spokesman Tim Read said. Gary Missi, 46, of Longmont was pronounced dead at the scene. A coroner's investigation was under way to determine whether the lightning bolt, the collision or something else caused his death, Read said. The lightning blasted a...

Roethlisberger Involved In Motorcycle Accident http://news.yahoo.com/s/wtae/20060612/lo_wtae/9356067 Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was injured in a motorcycle accident on Monday morning. The Steelers confirmed the accident for Channel 4 Action News. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said the accident happened on Second Avenue near the 10th Street Bridge. A witness told Channel 4 Action News that Roethlisberger went over the handlebars, hit the windshield of another vehicle and then hit the ground. Roethlisberger was not wearing a helmet, according to the paper.

Ok -- here was a comment by JoeSixPack1 made to me on this thread: Riding is an extremely personal affair and each and every one of us that swings a leg over a saddle has one thing in mind while firing up the 2 wheeler... ::: To survive our passion. But here on FR biker threads, the discussions devolve so quickly into biker bashing, intimidating safety advice, organ donor jokes, life support jokes, and every other aspect of biker lore that it's like being a conservative on a DU thread or a troll posting at FR. When was the last...

IF you make your way over to the Javits Convention Center for the New York International Automobile Show — or if you've gone to any auto show in the last year or so — you'll know that hybrid cars are the hippest automotive fashion statement to come along in years. They've become synonymous with the worthy goal of reducing gasoline consumption and dependence on foreign oil and all that this means for a better environment and more stable geopolitics. And yet like fat-free desserts, which sound healthy but can still make you fat, the hybrid car can make people feel...

A world-renowned motorcycle safety expert from Squirrel Hill was killed over the weekend in a motorcycle accident in Texas. Larry Grodsky, 55, owner of Stayin' Safe Motorcycle Training, died after a deer ran in front of his motorcycle Saturday night in Fort Stockton, Texas. Grodsky, a Gateway High School graduate, had a decades-long love affair with motorcycles and trained celebrities including Ted Koppel and Mike Tyson on safe-driving techniques. He was the nephew of Myron Cope, the longtime Pittsburgh Steelers announcer who retired last year. His mother, Violet Grodsky, also 85, said her son began riding motorcycles while attending Ohio...

SHEDDEN, ONT. and TORONTO — A long-simmering rivalry between criminal biker gangs appears to have exploded in the largest gangland slaying in Ontario history. Three members of the Bandidos motorcycle club, long-time rivals of the Hells Angels, were reported missing Friday and may be among the eight bodies discovered Saturday morning. One of the missing men is believed to be associated with Superior Towing, the Toronto-based company whose truck was found abandoned on a side road south of London, Ont., not far from the home of a well-known biker-gang leader.

Cross a motorcycle with a small car, and you get a new kind of hybrid -- the three-wheeler Auto makers -- even some big ones, like Daimler-Chrysler's (DCX ) Mercedes-Benz -- have been developing car-motorcycle hybrids and other three-wheeled vehicles for years. But what's different now is that some of these concepts, such as the Volkswagen GX3 unveiled this month at the Los Angeles Auto Show, could actually make it to the marketplace (see BW Online, 1/12/06, "Concept Cars Are Getting Real"). And the GX3, backed by VW's global distribution capability, would stand a chance to develop a niche market....

Easy riders, free loaders The Stockholm chapter of the Hell's Angels biker gang is under investigation for benefit fraud after police noticed that 70 per cent of its members were claiming state disability payments after being certified as depressed by the same doctor. Christer Nilsson, deputy head of Stockholm police's criminal investigation department said: "It seems to be depressing being a member of this club." The Hell's Angels have a violent reputation in Scandinavia, allegedly participating in frequent shootouts and bomb attacks. However, in recent years they are believed to have branched out into benefit and tax frauds, police said.

LAHORE, Pakistan Feb 13, 2006 (AP)— Gunmen on a motorcycle Monday killed a Pakistani doctor who spent six months in jail on suspicions of harboring al-Qaida suspects and possessing illegal weapons. Some in this eastern city blamed the United States for the shooting of Ahmad Javed Khawaja, who had spent much of his life in the United States. A protest of about 500 people erupted shortly after the killing, with many shouting "Death to America!" as they blocked a street and set tires on fire. Khawaja, 72, was attacked while walking to his clinic after morning prayers at a mosque,...