MotoBrief

Ah, the Transalp. It’s another one of those motorcycles that, as an American, I can only daydream about buying. For whatever reason, these awesome dual sports don’t make it to the United States. Today I was googling for the Transalp (masochism, maybe?) and found an MCN video from last fall that I really liked.

UK site DO THE TEST has a short video that will test your visual perception. It’s a must for every motorcyclist who wants to understand more about how the mind processes what we see.

I believe that video is derived from some of the excellent work done at the University of Illinois Visual Cognition Lab. You’ll find a lot more examples of similar work there. (And a surprisingly stern and crappy copyright notice on that page; so much for the spirit of collaboration and knowledge sharing in academic research.)

Discovery Turbo has launched Twist the Throttle. It’s awesome stuff. There’s more than four hours of video here as father/son team Milt and Dylan Weiss explore eight famous motorcycle brands.

The show looks inside each marque, covering its history, looking at how the bikes are designed and built, and then taking them for rides in some awe-inspiring locations. The high-definition video looks gorgeous and the Weiss’ commentary is spot on. I love this show.

Motorcyclists love their machines. Many of my friends in the VinMoto groups have a dozen or more bikes in their garages.

That same passion for the machine can be found in the work of Daniel Peirce, whose Up-N-Smoke Engine Project (named after the Texas BBQ joint where Peirce’s motorcycle club would meet) perfectly captures the beauty of the motorcycle power plant. He has photographed dozens of meticulously restored classic engines and each is really a work of art. Peirce manages to show how unique each one of them is. I know I’ll never look at an engine the same way again.

High quality metallic prints of the collection can be purchased directly from Peirce in a variety of formats. I may order one for the MotoBrief.tv studio.

The Cyril Huze blog reports that Steve McQueen’s 1940 Indian Scout will be sold at auction during the Legend of the Motorcycle show in Half Moon Bay, California. The bike is currently owned by seat-maker Mike Corbin.

I’m a big fan of science fiction and fantasy films and books and I love the steampunk genre. So how awesome is it that a California artist has created a steampunk motorcycle?

Artist Tom Sepe has done a fantastic job. Pretty cool.

Via Boing Boing.

How to get your bike into the van. Amusing video trickery via YouTube.

We’re into the second week of the MCN Fantasy Road Race 2008, and I’m in second place. There are plenty of races coming up, so it’s not too late to sign up and try to win an Arai helmet. MotoBrief.tv will also be giving away a helmet camera to the second place finisher.

All you have to do to participate is go the the Fantasy Road Race website, create an account and pick your team, then send me an email and tell me your team name. I’ll send you the code necessary to join the MotoBrief.tv league and you’ll be in the running for a new (and pretty awesome) helmet.

WFTV 9 in Florida is reporting that Bike Week has already racked up two fatal motorcycle accidents.

Bike Week is a massive event. It gets a lot of attention. And it’s a shame that attention always includes articles focusing on Bike Week fatalities. Even this article closes by noting the eight deaths last year.

The two accidents cited here aren’t attributable to wild Bike Week partying. One rider lost control in a corner and the other had a vehicle pull out and collide with him — the most common cause of single vehicle and multiple vehicle motorcycle crashes, respectively. These accidents could have happened anywhere. They do happen anywhere, every single day.

Still, I wish someone at Bike Week would take a more active interest in motorcycle safety. The annual BMW MOA Rally, which draws a fraction of the Bike Week attendees, often has motorcycle rider training available. (In fact, the BMW MOA home page is currently asking for MSF-certified RiderCoaches to facilitate some ERC classes.)

I couldn’t find a single event listed on the Bike Week site that was focused on improving rider skills. Why not? I can’t believe that they wouldn’t fill up some ERCs in a heartbeat, given the number of people at Bike Week. Come on, Bike Week organizers, it wouldn’t be the end of the world is some of your guests spent a few hours at a motorcycle class instead of a bar, right?

(And if there is some kind of rider training available, then you need a serious redesign of your website. Actually, a redesign wouldn’t hurt either way.)