Magpul Ronin

                If you’re into pushing design on bikes and creating something new and fresh this bike is real pretty… pretty damn bad ass. It has been said by multiple critics that it looks like something that just came roaring out of Gotham City. And I’m not denying it either. This Buell 1125 was taken in by Magpul when Buell shut down in 2009. By the way I can’t wait until they open up again. Buell always liked to push design also, which is one of the reasons that Magpul choose this bike. 

They took this bike and added a girder fork, changed the seat and taillight configuration, knocked down the speedometer, put the radiator right in the front with the forks, which took place of the Buell fairing and they replaced the lights with smaller ones and mounted them to the side of the radiator on the fork. Apparently the exhaust on the Buells were pretty heavy, so they took that off and put on an Italian exhaust system which lightened the bike a lot. These changes to the suspension and exhaust makes for better handling than the bike previously had. Luckily the exhaust didn’t change the sound away from a more raw and powerful one. The bikes always sounded similar to Harley’s which was a great appeal to me and it is good to see that at least the type of sound hasn’t changed to much. It reminds me more of the sound of a Ducati now though, which I suppose makes sense with the Italian exhaust system added on. But the style of the Buell you can see from the Buell frame still showing through.

Overall the bike seems really awesome, and what a neat idea, a company that is primarily based around making firearms take a motorcycle and customize it. It looks like some futuristic weapon, and assuming it doesn’t shoot me first, I’d love to climb on this thing! 

The Harley Davidson 48

The Harley Davidson 48. This is the newest edition to the Dark line they have going. Personally I like this line in the Harley’s. The next bike I expect to get is going to be a Sportster and I would like to customize it out, strip it down a bit and all. This bike is headed in that direction already. All the bikes in that line are geared towards the darker, stripped down look. There was an increase in popularity of these bikes from a younger crowd and Harley is attempting to step forward and market that. This bike was named the 48 in honor of the year 1948 being one of the best post war years for Harley Davidson. The bike features that give it extra style are the speedometer that has been lowered and the mirrors are flipped under the handle bars so for a sleeker look to the bike.  The fat front tire pays homage to a classic and rough look. The front fender is also chopped which is done to customized bikes often. In fact if they could they would probably sell the bike without a front fender but that would mean that it would not pass inspection in some states. The suspension and seat have been lowered, going along with the sleeker look. The seat is also solo. The license plate also is set up on a side mounted system which is a popular customization option for people. The classic peanut gas tank shouldn't be overlooked either.

 The bike has basically made some of the popular customizations already to itself.  In some ways this is passing the sort of “essence” of what the spirit of customizing is all about. This is my only problem with it. But for a few extra bucks you can have some of the essentials already done and then just do a few more yourselves. I would not argue that it is a good looking bike though. The bigger tire actually increases the bikes mileage too so it is a stylish and economical design element. It is another good looking bike to the dark line up, each bike seems to fit into the line, and this one seems to be no exception.

2008 Sportbike of the Year

Are you familiar with the feeling that is experiences while watching James Bond commit one of the slickest moves to bring home the lady; that is while delivering his enemies to doom. In 2008 a bike came on stage that is the James Bond of bikes. This is the Ducati 1098. The Ducati’s look and precision in every category sets it ahead of almost all other performance bikes. In 2008 the Ducati 1098 model replaced the 999 and took the award of sport bike of the year without contention. The designers and engineers made a number of improvements on this model. The base model 1098 attempts to compete with the other Japanese liter bikes and does so with a fair price or $14,995. The race model 1098R, is a basically street legal version of the bike that the teams take to the tracks. The pistons were enlarged, engine made stronger, lightweight crank, along with a number of other engine improvements. This increased horsepower and made the bike lighter. The traction control system that is fitted on this bike can even be dialed to 8 different settings depending on track conditions. The race model, because of the upgrades, is far more expensive; getting priced at $39,995. This bike was and still is pushing the limits of what a bike can do. Ducati is unquestioned the most world renown high performance bike and the 1098was it’s most elite model. The 1198 today is the newest model as the 1098 has been recently discontinued. But it already has a place in the history books. I unfortunately have not had the pleasure of riding one of these machines yet but I have had and up close look, and have a few friends that have past me the word from their first hand experience that the hype around this model is real. The looks are unlike almost all other bikes in its class, and as most agree are better. The shape and contours of the bike remind me of a Great White Shark, the predator of the sea, a nice parallel to arguably the highest predator of the tarmac. The 848 model, which has similar looks to the 1098, is my personal favorite and comes in a pearl white, which looks incredibly classy. But regardless of the color, white, black, or red, these bikes are all very well designed. I would love to own one someday.