OneWheelDrive.Net

A Life in 66.6 Mile Increments Part I – The World’s Fastest Sport-Tourer

Sitting long, low and sepia-lit in the evening sun at Alice’s on Skyline Road the 1098S projects sensuality and anticipation of acceleration so pure it borders on erotic; needing only to shed vestigial street fitments to reveal its true track-borne nature.

Passions Lost and Found

Occasionally you lose your way. That happened to me this fall in the context of OneWheelDrive.Net. In the intervening months this has lead to a lot of self-analysis, a foray into auto testing and a reconsideration of riding. In the end I think OneWheelDrive.Net may be better for it, allow me to explain.

2007 Ducati Hypermotard Race Project

For the 2007 Canada Thunder Series (a national level racing series dedicated to air-cooled twins) racer Paul Penzo and Crew Chief John Boddy participated in a very special venture – the World’s first Hypermotard Racing Project. At the invite of Ducati we were given the opportunity to crawl around the pits and bring you some…

DNW 2007: Ducati 1098S vs. Ford GT

Piloted by Michael Czysz of MotoCzysz, and with Ducati North America head Michael Locke in the passenger seat, the Ford GT slingshots out of Turn 9 and onto PIR’s front straight. Five seconds later, running an arm’s reach from the cement wall, the GT is halfway down the straight… just as Doug Polen enters the…

2007 Suzuki Bandit 1250S – Refinement Runs Deep

Grunt. Shove. Push. Usable Power. Keep your horsepower high-output statistics, because what the new Suzuki Bandit 1250S has in spades is torque. A maximum 79 lb.ft of it achieved at a mere 3700rpm… read that again please then repeat after me, “Maximum torque at 3700RPM.” That means you have you choice of gears off the…

Ducati North West 2007: Nine Turns

Coming into turn 9 at Portland International Raceway, the host track for MotoCorsa’s 2007 Ducati North West, Adam Faussett (#240) on the Ducati 1098 runs onto the track exit lane, then tips-in. From my perspective Adam’s trajectory arcs across a section of cement patchwork, cuts perilously close to the red and white candy-striped shoulder, eases…

2007 Suzuki M109R LE – Looks and Confidence Too

In Oliver, BC., at a local sportbike rally it’s incongruous that the motorcycle drawing the most attention is not amongst the flocks of GSX-Rs, fleets of CBRs and flights of R1s, it is a cruiser. Okay, it’s not that big of a shock – the 2007 Suzuki M109R LE, resplendent in a blue metal fleck…

Ducati GT1000 – A Little Bit of History Repeating

Back in 1971 Shirley Bassey was singing “Diamonds are Forever” and Ducati had just released the GT750, a product of Fabio Taglioni’s (Dr. T’s) prediction that motorcycle displacements were on the rise. The engineer took Ducati’s existing SOHC, two-valve, single-cylinder design, bodged it to another and voila, the first Ducati 90-degree L-Twin. The GT750 inspired…

2007 Aprilia Tuono 1000 R: Ride Impression

Flashback; imagine yourself back in grade school, riding your first mountain bike with the big wide handlebars and the comfy seat. Remember the ease with which it handled and how much fun you had flying down the hills. Recollect the big grin on your face, the wind in your teeth, the adrenaline you felt and…

Avon Viper Sport – Trick!

Avon has generally been a tire for the cruisers of the motorcycle world, and in the super sport market? Well, there’s been a bit of skepticism in the local ride community. Avon’s ignored the raised eyebrows and has encouraged everyone to try their latest wares, and there are a few good reasons to. The first? …

2008 Kawasaki Concours 14 – 20 Years in the Making

Deer Creek Rd. on the northern edge of California’s Malibu Canyons is narrowing to a lane-and-a-bit of pockmarked pavement with dirt-dusted corners. It’s a motard road, which likely isn’t what Kawasaki had in mind for what they’ve dubbed a “top-of-the-line sportbike with touring capabilities” or “supersport touring” bike. We round a corner and brown is…

2008 Ducati Hypermotard S Ride Impression – Hyperactive

The “236” leading to Big Basin outside San Francisco narrows from two lanes to what can generously be described as one and a half. The surface is a “squirm” of tar snakes, wetted to slickness by the morning marine layer. Corners fold on themselves, radii decreasing and elevations changing. Detritus litters the roads. I should…