All Electric Superbike!

If you read and liked my post about the Zero FX electric motorcycle, you'll find this just as interesting. The Zero FX did quite well in the Pike's Peak Hill Climb and set a record while winning the Exhibition Powersports-"Z" Electric Division.  At the same time, the 2013 winner of the Exhibition Powersports Electric Division set a record for that division with a time of 10 minutes and 0.694 seconds! Pretty impressive, considering it was only 8 seconds off the record for all motorcycles. Co-incidentally, that was set by the same rider, Carlin Dunne, in the 1205 c.c. category and riding a Ducati Multistrada.
Lightning Motorcycles is founded on the adage "Innovation Through Competition" and has certainly done just that with this beast. Holding a SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) world  record for production electric bikes, this superbike hit 347.554 kmph (215.960 mph). It also topped out at 351.862 kmph (218.637 mph) during Speedweek, and now holds the world land speed record for fastest production motorcycle, electric or otherwise. And, by the way, this was all done using solar power as a charging source, which they say equated to $.08 for the actual run.
With a 370 volt 12kwh battery pack producing 125kw+  and 10,000 rpm for 230 hp, this 500 lb superbike is capable of 0-161 kmph (0-100 mph) in 3 seconds and 161 - 267 kmph (100 mph to166 mph) in 10 seconds. Better hang on tight!!

Carlin Dunne tears up the road on his Lightning electric superbike at Pike's Peak 2013

Rider Paul Thede with the Lightning at Bonneyville Salt Flats

Superbike

Snow Blower GP

I came across these funny photos of a guy who was obviously missing his motorcycle and thought he'd try out his GP skills on the snow blower. haha! We've had some nice weather of late, with a long stretch of a Chinook melting a lot of snow and clearing the main streets. There have been quite a few bikes out on the rode but that's gone for now, what with our recent flurry of the white stuff coming down. If that makes you sad, maybe these photos will lighten the mood.and give you a laugh.

Get that knee down

At least the snow provides a softer landing when you lose it on the corners

Canvas In Calgary

Kyla and I stopped in at Canvas, the cool little restaurant attached to the Gerry Thomas Art Gallery.

Canvas is the "art of food, coffee and wine", so you can imagine the taste sensation!

We met the very lovely and down to earth Tamara, who whipped us up her fabulous banana, avocado and dark chocolate breakfast pudding, garnished with hemp seed. I'd use the word bliss but wouldn't want to confuse the pudding with the scrumptious Tahini Bliss Balls with Goji Berries that are also on the menu. Another bit of palate perfection!

Of course, we needed a beverage to go with the breakfast pudding, so I had the Mayan Mocha, which was great. However, after having a sample of Kyla's drink, which Tamara likes to call Surya Namaskar (Salute to the Sun in Sanskrit), I might just have that when I go back for my next visit. Whipped almond milk with Indian spices definitely took me back to my travels through India, and of course anyone who practices yoga will recognize the connection with the sequence of asanas to the intention of the drink. "With all the depths and charms of my mind and all the love and cordiality of my heart, the divinity within me greets the divinity within you".
We also met Gouru, the new chef who will be working on developing the lunch menu. If that's as good as the breakfast fare, we're definitely be happy to pop in for a noon hour bite!

The Canvas facade, right next to The Gerry Thomas Gallery

Restaurant and an art gallery 

Tamara, the kitchen magician with a flair for wholesome

The stainless Bison

Kyla and I both thought the cupfuls were photos worthy. 

Surya Namaskar on the left, and Mayan Mocha on the right

A super tasty bowl of banana, avocado and chocolate breakfast 'pudding'

Tamara and me, with the Mayan Mocha

Electric

Not sure what to make of the Zero FX, an all electric motorcycle produced in California. Originally starting with off-road bikes back in 2006 and following with street bikes in 2009, the fact that Zero Motorcycles are still around after almost 8 years says something about their success. With Pike's Peak now holding an all electric division for production electric bikes (Exhibition Powersports-Z), the Zero took first overall in 12:00 min. flat, and set a course record for it's class. Certainly you can see the advantages of an electric motor in this kind of race, considering there are no issues with loss of power due to thin air, something which internal combustion engines must contend with in the climb up to the 4309 m ( 14,140 ft ) summit. And with an ever increasing range for the battery power, electric bikes may soon start to take a bigger market share in our eco- conscious society.

More Jamesville Bikes

Here's a few more of James Roper-Caldbeck custom bikes he builds at his 'Jamesville' shop in Copenhagen, Denmark.

'49 Panhead

1937 Flathead 'Bobber'

Triumph 'before'

1953 Triumph  'after' Jamesville

Robert Burns

Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome tae yer gory bed,
Or tae victorie.

We were sipping a wee dram at The Oak Room in the Palliser Hotel

These kilt clad gents offered us a bit of haggis

Calgary Bike Show Prize Winner

Congratulations to Ted, whose name was drawn for the Calgary Motorcycle Show prize of a Go-Pro Camera and 'burger ride' gas money. Presenting the prize is our very own Erin Creasey and Sanjay Chadha from the Motorcycle Department. Congratulations to Ted, an avid rider who recently attended the Sturgis rally this past summer. Ted can also wave the Blue Circle colours with us, as he is now sporting one of our special shirts!

We're still waiting to hear back from our Too Cool Motorcycle School training course winner and hope that she can acknowledge the win before the 30th of the month, or we will then be forced to draw another name. 

Epcor Centre Artwork

My friend, Tom, and I were at the Epcor Centre to see an OYR performance of 'Munchen Jetzt' last night and I was admiring some of the new artwork in the form of murals painted on the second floor balcony. Daniel J. Kirk is someone whose work I admire and there are earlier posts on this artist, who has done other work at the Epcor Centre, and also graced the walls of the Talisman Centre.

Jamesville

"I met a German girl in England who was going to school in France"...okay, forget the Chuck Berry song popularized by George Thorogood, this is an English custom bike builder who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark and re-built and customized this '48 beauty for a Lithuanian client who lives in Germany. There's somewhat of a European cult following for pre-evo Harleys and James Roper-Caldbeck taps into that groove quite nicely with his custom work, focusing on bikes for guys who love the 'Old School' look. These bikes are built using mostly Harley Davidsons and Triumphs from the 1930's to the 1980's. Check back later for a little feature on some of the other bikes done up Jamesville style.

How To Kill A Motorcycle!

Old guys like me might remember the BSA, a British made motorcycle that at one time was the most popular bike in it's era, at least by production numbers. Birmingham Small Arms was a major business combine, manufacturing everything from buses and cars to, you guessed it, military and sporting firearms. At it's peak, it was the largest motorcycle producer in the world  A merger with Daimler, a U.K. car manufacturer, should have meant bigger and better things for the company but subsequently added to their ultimate demise.

Even if an arrogant dismissal of the increasing competition by Japanese and European bikes wasn't enough, bad business decisions compounded by some uber-extravagant and suspect personal expenditures borne by the company for the grand living Lord and Lady Docker certainly put the nail in the coffin. From a heyday of the biggest manufacturer of bikes to being bailed out by the government, we'll never know just what kind of bikes they may have been producing today.

Do you have your hands on a vintage motorcycle? We can help you out with insurance on those too.

The BSA logo on a vintage bike

Livin' large with Lord and Lady Docker (wearing her $10,000 gold gown...pricey for the 1950's and apparently paid for with BSA company funds)

Lady Docker's show car, dubbed the  'Zebra Car', was paid for by Daimler, had gold instead of chrome and sported an ivory dashboard and zebra skin seats, which were "much cooler to sit on than mink". 

The Dockers were flying high but Lady Docker got banned from Monaco and The French Riviera for bad behaviour

1941 B.S.A. military bike

Check out future posts on Jamesville custom bike builders to see this influence on his work

The heydays

1937 Vee-Twin

Dirk Darts

Never, ever stand in front of the dart board and try to take a photo, especially when Dirk is tossing them. Fortunately I'll be able to see out that eye in a month or so! haha!

Power to Weight

Every once in awhile, Ducati produces a number of limited edition bikes and offers them up to specific clients. Quite often, those clients already own a specialty type of  Ducati already and get first dibs on having something like the 1199 Superleggera. In this version, Ducati makes modifications that set the highest power-to-weight ratio of any production motorcycle, with a  package weighing less than 350 pounds, and producing “more than 200hp”. No word on the pricing but no doubt it would set you back a few lira. And good luck getting one of the 500 bikes that are produced!

Ducati 1199 Superleggera

Stolen Bike!

We had a distraught bike owner stop by our booth at the bike show, hoping we might help post some bulletins on his bike which was stolen at the beginning of the month. The bike is a white GSX-R and has some distinctive features, as described in his bulletin below. And curses on the rip-off artists who stole his ride!

Good Men Must...

Martin Luther King Jr. 

Last Day @ Edmonton Bike Show

Whew! What a wild weekend! It was the last day at the Edmonton Motorcycle and ATV Show and we had  lots of fun again, meeting more of our clients and friends and making some new ones. What is so great about being at the show is that there's this great opportunity to get together with a lot of like minded people who also want to help build a positive and friendly community around their shared love of motorcycles and riding.
I have not had as much chance as I'd like to get up and visit with our northern friends, so it was nice to meet all the great people I met and to learn more about some of the best places to ride and things to see and do! I'm looking forward to getting the bike on the road (of course) and spending some time cruising in the north.
Here are a last few photos of the activities going on at the show.

The little kids got to try their hand on some mini-quads

I wonder if Rex would like this K9 Caddy

This gal was pretty amazing on her Trials Bike

Check out the rear controls on this Championship drag bike

Getting fitted for some custom ear plugs

Lots of stuff for the kids to check out!

Lots of stuff for the guys to check out!

The Suspense Was Killing Me!

Wow! We got super busy with the Edmonton Bike Show, and then some with a bit of a bash with all the crew and Show friends on Saturday night, so there was no time to catch up on what was going on with the bikes at the Dakar Rally. I've been following that rally raid for the last 2 weeks and posting regularly on what occurs in such a gruelling race.  Mechanical mishaps, wipeouts, fires and fatigue make for some crazy drama and this year was no exception.
So, Sanjay and I finished off the show yesterday evening and packed up to make the 3 hour trip home, getting in late and then wanting to catch up on the family news after being away for 4 days! First thing this morning though, I checked for the final results, with Stage 13 being completed and the winners declared.
No real surprise that Marc Coma, riding KTM, won his 4th Dakar and gave the bike makers their 13th title in a row! Pretty impressive, that's for sure. And, taking 2nd place was KTM again, ridden by Viladoms. In fact KTM took 5 of the top ten positions, so kudos to them and their team for superb riding and an excellent product.
Yamaha took 3rd place, with Pain doing the work but perhaps the bigger surprise was 5 time Dakar champ Cyril Despres clawing his way back from 11th all the way to 4th after a disastrous mechanical failure cost him lost time and a time penalty for an engine change.
It was an interesting race for sure and I am already looking forward to checking out next year's rally.

Tough sledding in the sand

The car portion of the race was dramatic too

The drivers are all right but the car is a write-off

More sand action

Despres made a valiant attempt to get back on the podium

A bit of fun in the water

Victory is near!

Yeehaw!

Viladoms and Coma

The Championship Circle