Eraldo in Italy
Muzzy sells Superbikes
Ben Affleck races his Hay-Bus all the way up to 100 mphRob Muzzy will sell all of his 1999 Muzzy Kawasaki Superbikes after the race this weekend at Colorado. According to Mr. Horsepower, the prices and specs flesh out like this:
(A) BIKES $44,000.00
(B) BIKES $36,000.00Prices include rear stand, assorted gearing, spare transmissions for all AMA
tracks, and a small spare parts kit. Interested? Call Muzzy's
Larry and Eraldo Ferracci flew off for Milan on Monday afternoon to see and be seen at the Milan show. MV will debut the Raptor and Raptor added value (think Ducati Monster with a TL mill) at the Milan show and it is expected that the Y2K Kawasaki ZX12 will be debuted as well. The GSX-R750 Ltd will not be there, probably, as Kevin Schwantz will be on hand for the European dealer show to debut the model some time in early October, in Paris.
Word from Ferracci on his Y2K plans in roadracing: Ducati is still talking to him.
You'll read about it later but it seems almost assured that Pascal Picotte has signed up for four more years of employment at the Harley-Davidson Superbike team. That leaves just one factory seat open (if Muzzy and Ferracci don't go racing, which chances are small of that happening) at Vance and Hines, if Yosh doesn't run a fourth bike, etc.
Over three hundred motorcycles went on the Chi-Town Ducati run last weekend, an event coupled with the Sotheby's auction of Ducati stuff. I still have not heard what Fog's bike went for and other assorted details.
And I'm not gay, either. Oscar winner Ben Affleck expounds in the new Vanity Fair that not only is he not a homosexual lover of Matt Damon's, but he's not some unbridled street puke, either. In the piece, it states that Afleck owns a Suzuki GSX-R1300 Hayabusa, an R6 and a BMW R1100S.
He says that he rides a motorcycle everywhere but doesn't consider himself "Bike Guy". He continues, "I can't stand those guys who talk to you and all they say is 'Gonna put my leathers on and hit the canyons'. I'm not Adrenaline Junkie Guy."
The piece, written by Evgenia Peretz, goes on to show what a serious motorcycle daredevil
Mr. Affleck assuredly is. He risks life and limb by giving that Hay-Bus the spurs as he boldly weaves in and out of a line of cones at a construction zone. Whoa, Ben! Kick that death-defying-meter back a notch or two, you're liable to actually run over one of those cones.No motorcycles are featured in any of the photographs in the story; most of the images can be described in one terse sentence: I'm a disheveled Gen-X-er; watch me smoke cigarettes.
Affleck has been seen at several So-Cal riding haunts on a spanking brand new Yamaha R7 streetbike. Also, my sources say he has a team of publicists trolling through the industry looking for free stuff.
See, Ben doesn't know it, but he's actually "Press Guy".: Former four time AMA 250 GP champion and current Yamaha factory Superbike rider, Rich Oliver, will write a bi-weekly or monthly column for amasuperbike.com starting after Pike's Peak. Oliver formerly wrote a column for American Roadracing Magazine.
Reaction to the new RC51 streetbike has been positive thus far. Think about it, even with the HRC mark-up, you can still probably build a Honda Superbike for under $35,000, making the VTR-based machine the most affordable Honda Superbike platform since the 1986/87 VFR700/750. And ... here's another tid-bit, the RC51 is actually two thousand dollars cheaper than the 1989 RC30 streetbike. I like these economics, don't you?
One rival factory crew chief (who shall remain nameless) e-mailed in and stated that he felt any time the RC51 is dropped or crashed that it would be tough to re-start the engine with the twin radiators bulging out from either side. Meaning, I think, that the bike would become some sort of portable track-side sprinkler system. "I'd assume they'd be scrap after any kind of crash" he wrote. Many readers e-mailed in to say that they are either going to or are considering putting money down on the RC51 streetbike.
One asked, "When was the last time Honda raced a V-twin based Superbike?". Quick answer: ah, never. But the RS250 series is v-twin powered, the old Honda dirt trackers were v-twin powered ... and about the only Honda v-twin powered four-stroke racer would be ... Martin Adams' 1988 Commonwealth Honda BOTT bike. Ridden by Doug Chandler, mind you, to his first asphalt based AMA win at Mid-Ohio.
Reaction from Ducati purists has been, as one might expect, negative. Jeff Jennings, former Ducati Superbike pilot and owner of a seriously bad-ass Ferracci 955 streetbike (well, it has lights anyway) tore a hole though the RC51 with his off the cuff eval.
More after the FedEx guy stops by.