Bike RPM

Mac Motorcycles

UK-based motorcycle design studio have teamed up with product designer Ellis Pitt to form a new company called Mac Motorcycles. Ellis has collaborated with the team at Xenophya for the past nine months to design a range of simple, lightweight and sporty bikes.

Mac Motorcycles have planned four models namely the Spud, the Ruby (top right), the Peashooter and the Roarer (bottom right). The bikes will be powered using an air-cooled single cylinder 500cc Buell Blast engine in a tubular backbone frame.

Ellis explains “Between us we’d designed, modified, built and ridden all sorts of motorcycles over the last 30 years and thought it was time to produce a motorcycle that reflected our philosophy. Our influences have been diverse and we’ve made unusual connections between genres of motorcycles such as choppers, Italian singles from the 1950s, flat trackers and competition specials”.

What underpins Mac Motorcycles’ philosophy is the belief that the riding experience and the stories that go with motorcycle journeys seem to have been hijacked by technology and plastic.

The company initially plans to produce a few hundred bikes in small batches for markets in the UK, North America, Japan and Australia gradually increasing production with time. Expect to buy one of these beauties between £8k (approximately Rs 6.24 lakh) and £10k (approximately Rs 7.80 lakh).

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2009 Yamaha FZ1 Naked

2009 Yamaha FZ1 Naked….

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Yamaha plans to launch FZ1 in India

Yamaha commenced the big bike era in India with the launch of the YZF-R1 and the MT-01 last year. Suzuki, Ducati and Honda have also joined the bandwagon in recent times. With more and more multi-cylinder, high capacity bikes coming into the country, the competition has started to heat up. However, sustaining this contest is going to be tough for manufacturers since there are very few potential buyers for premium bikes in India.

Yamaha India now have some interesting plans to tackle this situation. Our sources tell us that the company has sent the FZ1 for homologation in India. We also hear that the Semi-Knocked Down kit or the SKD route is being considered for the bike. This will put the FZ1 in a much lesser price bracket – less than even the Honda CB1000R which is the cheapest imported litre-class bike currently available here.

The FZ1 is powered by a 998cc liquid-cooled engine producing a maximum power of 150PS at 11000rpm. The bike will either sport a quarter fairing or will be a completely naked one. This Yamaha can prove to be the perfect option for the city as well as for those long Sunday morning rides. With the FZ1 entering the market and at a much affordable price, the war of the Japs is definitely going to be a level higher now.

[Via: BIKE]

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