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I don't see how making it into the shape of a motorcycle would improve anything.

How many men do you see driving minivans or SUVs and constantly turned around screaming at kids in the back instead of paying attention to the road ahead?

No more or less often than I see women doing so.

This isn't sexism, it's a simple fact.

Then please either provide a citation for this "simple fact", or admit that you pulled it out the air.

I'm sure if you did a survey you'd also find that women talk on the phone in their car a lot more than men too.

Again: cite, or STFU.

And how many men apply make-up in their cars while driving? Zero?

And how many women shave while driving? Zero?

There's nothing sexist about noting that people of different sexes act differently.

Except that you haven't noted anything, you have not provided one single fact. You've just expressed your assumptions and prejudices.

How many women drive crotch rockets at insane speeds?

Don't have crotch rocket numbers, but between 1990 and 2003 the percentage of motorcycle owners who were female went from 4% to 10%. If it were an inherent gender attribute that "guys ride motorcycles, women don't", we would not see a change like that.

Segway for $3000 here. TV for $3200 here and a motorcycle for $10,799.

While I don't believe in shitting that much money for luxury items, you are not being fair here. This is the equivalent of a motorcycle or a really nice Plasma TV. On top of that, eventually you will be able to get Segways used....

Segways are currently for people with a large disposable income and hobbyists. Just because you are looking up at them doesn't necessarily mean they are rich. Causation does not mean correlation.

Segway for $3000 here. TV for $3200 here and a motorcycle for $10,799.

While I don't believe in shitting that much money for luxury items, you are not being fair here. This is the equivalent of a motorcycle or a really nice Plasma TV. On top of that, eventually you will be able to get Segways used....

Segways are currently for people with a large disposable income and hobbyists. Just because you are looking up at them doesn't necessarily mean they are rich. Causation does not mean correlation.

Perhaps you're thinking of burnouts? OK, a certain amount of rubber liquefaction will happen as a result of frictional heating during heavy braking as well. But I've ground down a bicycle tire from emergency breaking and, I can tell you from close experience, there was no smoke and not enough heat to liquefy the rubber.

Try to grip a rope that is sliding quickly through your hands and certainly your skin will feel a nasty burn from frictional heating, but your skin will get ground/ripped off before it liquefies. :-)

motorcycle.com, which adopted software strikingly similar to Slashdot, allows you to read all comments but if you wish to make your own comment you must be a paying member. Check http://news.motorcycle.com/ to see for yourself.

Oh and then after we do all that, we'll have to figure out some way of getting hydrogen that doesn't involve using even more fossil fuels than we used to use to get gasoline. This idea is so brilliant it could only have been thought of by the oil industry!

To add a little content to my post here, this company was making electric scooter thingies several years ago, for $4k. They don't need hydrogen; you just plug them in to the wall. They probably cost 90% less than what a fuel cell motorcycle would cost. They actually work and get comparable performance. And did I mention that you don't have to find a hydrogen filling station to make use of them?

That article I linked to above is for old technology. Lithium batteries would boost range or performance by about five times, making them comparable to a mid-level streetbike, except they would need no gasoline and could recharge anywhere.

Repeat after me: "The hydrogen economy is a euphemism for the biggest subsidy project the oil industry has ever imagined."

Fuel cells are going to be cheap just as soon as we find an enormous asteroid of solid palladium. Hydrogen storage will be cheap just as soon as we find a way to overcome the repulsive electromagnetic force between particles with the same charge. Lithium batteries, on the other hand, will become cheap just as soon as we start mass producing them.

If you're getting a surplus radiator, it might be more interesting to
hunt around for a curved radiator like those starting to appear
on recent motorcycles...

for example:
http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mccagiva/mcphotos/mv_ agusta18.jpg

When you get below a certain size like say a Smartcar that seats two, a four wheeled car form factor just doesn't make sense. Try the BMW C1. It's an enclosed scooter with a little better weather and crash protection than a traditional scooter. Out of what's available for sale today, the big scooters like a Honda Silverwing or Suzuki Burgman make pretty good commuters and have enough power for the freeway, but they're not cheap at $7000. I ride a motorcycle and I think scooters look dorky as hell, but I can still appreciate their practicality.

And yes, for you motocycle bufs, it's the same Corbin that makes the boots & jackets. It's not quite as cool looking as the Toyota thing, but it's real, and you can buy one today (for not that much, $13k). It has a decent range, it can go 60mph for 60 minutes. It's getting billed as a to-and-from work thing for the city.

I can see doing something like this. My wife & I could swap out the sedan, based on who's got kid duty that day, while the other used the little electric job for work.

Best of both worlds, even though it does look like something Daffy Duck would drive.

Blah. Everyone knows a motorcycle is an extension of one's Johnson.

I remember the old Aermacchi Harley-Davidson two strokes with some fondness. I believe H-D bought the motorcycle division of Aermacchi, the Italian aerospace firm, in the late fifties. IIRC, after they sold it it evolved into Cagiva, which is now the fifth largest motocycle manufacturer in the world, owning such prestigious brands as Ducati, MV Augusta and Husqvarna.

My RD is a bit of a mess. But it has Tomasselli clip ons, Raask rear sets, DG chambers and a ported Daytona head. Needs a complete rebuild though.

I remember the old Aermacchi Harley-Davidson two strokes with some fondness. I believe H-D bought the motorcycle division of Aermacchi, the Italian aerospace firm, in the late fifties. IIRC, after they sold it it evolved into Cagiva, which is now the fifth largest motocycle manufacturer in the world, owning such prestigious brands as Ducati, MV Augusta and Husqvarna.

My RD is a bit of a mess. But it has Tomasselli clip ons, Raask rear sets, DG chambers and a ported Daytona head. Needs a complete rebuild though.

Depending on the review site, that motorcycle she rides has a 125hp or 129hp engine with a claimed top speed of 172mph, 277km/h. She writes that her father believes that rideing in 5th and 6th gear is more dangerous then the radiation. He is probably right.

Having spoken with a biker (sitting in the next room from me. ;) ) he agrees that this vest is highly impractical. When you're launched from your bike, you keep your appendages close to your body and roll, similar to how paratroopers roll on landing to reduce the stress on your body. Also, they have to be able (barring physical injury) to get up and walk away, so as to prevent them from being flattened by passing cars (who tend to pay so much attention to the wreck they'd hit the broad side of a barn if it were planted in front of them).

This is obviously written by someone who has never ridden a motorcycle for any length of time and who's getting advice from someone who thinks he's a better rider than he is (which is scary). As a former editor at Motorcycle Online (http://www.motorcycle.com),
I can tell you that when you're tossed off a bike at 70 miles per hour, the first thing that goes through your mind isn't, "Ah, now I'll tuck my legs and roll!" That's just ridiculous. You hit the ground so quickly (if you're lucky and don't highside which involves you being tossed through the air and is definitely the most dangerous way to wad) that about all you have time for is "OHSHIT!!", which is, interestingly, what anyone who claims otherwise is full of.

As far as the vest is concerned, well, if it works, great. Many would refuse to wear it just like many refuse to wear helmets, citing rights and freedoms and fashion and whatever. But research into this kind of technology is nice to see because, at the very least, it keeps a dialog open and fresh about motorcycle safety.

Ducati fits a 90 degree twin by rotating it forward enough so the rear cylinder clears. Aesthetically, their design looks like an "L", not a "V". The number one identifying feature of cruiser design is the vertical "V" engine configuration.

If Harley (or any manufacturer) tried to build a large displacement vertically oriented "V" twin with a 90 degree included angle, the engine would be too long front-back to fit in any reasonably sized frame.

There is a reason why nobody builds a vertical V-twin with an included angle greater than 60 degrees - it just wouldn't fit. All of the 90 degree twins are either rotated forward from vertical or are longitudinally mounted. There are a few 90 degree V4 engines that are roughly vertical, but they have a much, much shorter stroke than a Harley big twin.

Octane is an indication of fuel's sensitivity to knocking. See this page for more info.

I'll take the R1, thank you. Or a CBR929RR. Why? Because there are probably a hundred people in the entire world who can ride well enough to explore the razor-thin difference between an R1 and a GSX-R, and live to tell about it. Out here in the real world, I want a bike that won't tankslap out of the first pothole it encounters. I also want a bike that's slightly more comfortable than a Spanish Inquisition torture rack.

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The Yamaha Yzf-ri will do 10.15 seconds.

There are faster bikes out there, especially if you go custom/turbocharged etc. So this rocket bike is fast, but not *that* fast. And if you've ever done more than about 140mph on a bike, you know that a top end of 250mph is kinda academic.

Complaints about the radical-looking Hayabusa emanated, according to our unscientific and anecdotal observations, from motojournalists and older guys alike (most of whom are and the same) who take their fashion cues from K-Mart.

Check out this link for a complete English press release: Honda One-Ups Furby

I am no expert on slashcode but I thought slashdot was based on mod_perl, apache and mysql whereas the news.motorcycle.com seems to be using zope/python. This link will pop up HTTP authentication. It is is presumably for management of the site. After hitting cancel it will give you a zope error screen.

Check out news.motorcycle.com (warning: page is extremely slow) for a blatant ripoff of our beloved /., even down to this statement at the bottom of the page, "All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest ©2000 Motorcycle.Com, Inc.."

I don't know if Taco was aware of this one, but they make no reference to /. or Slashcode anywhere on the page that I've been able to find.

15,000 rpm. That's 500 rpm SLOWER than the redline of a Yamaha R6 motorbike.

HH