MOTORCYCLE NEWS

Knox Handroid 3.0 gloves
 

These are particularly ugly gloves. So okay, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, etc. But you'd have to be totally blind and dead to see these as anything attractive. Then again, to us, 99 percent of pretty much everything is pretty ugly, and that don't stop people from buying it. So the chances are that there will be a long queue of folk standing in line waiting to stuff their mitts in a pair of these. But we won't be among them. They're made by Knox, and Knox calls them Handroids. Like androids, presumably. The first Handroids appeared in 2009, and these are version 3.0. [More...]

Draggin black Twista jeans

The USP (unique selling point) with these new Twista jeans from Draggin is that (a) they're black, and (b) they've got some kind of clever integrated seamless design thingy that makes 'em look like regular jeans on the outside (oh yeah?), but hides the stuff that helps you bounce when you fall off. We don't know how it works. Some high tech process probably. The point is, Draggin has hoisted these jeans on its corporate flagpole and evidently feels they're worthy of saluting. But we wouldn't know about that because we ain't tried 'em. So you'll have to get a pair and do your own falling off. [More...]

BMW 500cc R5 concept
 

"This," according to Edgar Heinrich, Head of design at BMW Motorrad, "is one of the most beautiful motorcycles in the history of BMW.” We've been looking at the pics for a while, and we think it looks nice, but it's not exactly original. In fact, it looks like it's following trends rather than establishing one. Based upon a heavily reworked and rebuilt 500cc Boxer engine, this new supercharged concept bike from BMW is intended to get us all slavering and rushing for our chequebooks or VISA cards. But it's not available yet, and might never become available, neither in this form, nor watered down and made more viable for retail sale.

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Harley-Davidson XG750R

It's the first all-new flat track racer for 44 years. That's the world from Harley-Davidson which has just released details of its liquid-cooled, XG750R. Propelled by the 750cc Revolution X™ V-Twin engine, this bike is set to do battle on the US dirt ovals, and it will debut on Saturday 29th May 2016 (which could actually be Sunday 29th because the press release appears to have day/date confusion). And if you nip down to the AMA Pro Springfield Mile in Illinois, USA, you can take a peek and hear it roar in the hands of the Screamin’ Eagle® Factory Team.

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Haynes Brit scooter exhibit
 

This, we hear, has been in the planning for several years, and now it's happened. Having opened on Saturday 21st May 2016 the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust (BMCT) launched an exhibition of British scooters at the Haynes International Motor Museum near Yeovil, Somerset. Haynes, most of you know, are the publishers behind the much-derided (but very handy if not essential) automotive manuals. The collection "showcases the development of the motor scooter from its beginnings after World War 1 through to the demise of scooter manufacture in Britain in the nineteen seventies." Apparently, it's largely due to the vision of one man, Robin Spalding. [More...]