April 20, 2014

Rare Italian Vintage Delights

Another year, another visit to my hometown in the north of Italy, where my dear brother has a very reputable collection of mainly Italian stallions.

The latest addition to his collection is an adorable Ducati Elite with its characteristically shaped "jelly bean" tank. The tank has those dents to accommodate the knees and elbows when the riders squats down in racing position.






Next, we decided it was time to start up that lovely Laverda SFC, that's been patiently sitting for the past 3 months, awaiting for Spring to arrive. We took off the fiberglass tank and used a homemade "IV bottle" to revive the beast.







According to my brother, the Guzzi LeMans 850 is the best all rounder in his collection: good for the city, good for the hills and on long trips, always with a smooth and steady power release.



A beautiful sculpture...
As if all that Italian goodness wasn't enough, a few other delicatessen could be spotted in niches and under covers. Here's a Moto Morini Corsarino 50cc.

The terrible twins, Malanca&Milani, two 50cc 2 stroke screamers!


Love this 'turnip' silencer...and aftermarket part that had to be fitted when unrestricted pipes became outlawed.


April 8, 2014

35th Bangkok Motor Show

Another year, another Motorshow in the books. This year gave us some pretty exciting new bikes, such as the mighty new SR400 with fuel injection, the massive Monster and the surprisingly cool BMW 9T.

We at the Omega Racer team managed to go there on the last day and really enjoyed this sea of bikes, cars and girls of course. We did miss some manufacturers, such as MV Agusta (I really wanted to see the F3 and the Rivale...love em) and the Thai brands 'Tiger' and 'Stallions'. Also, no Chinese/Korean/Taiwanese brands this year, apart from Benelli, which is 'Italian' on the surface, but very Chinese underneath.

Enjoy the show.

New in Thailand is the 3 wheeler Yamaha, Tricity


Personally, I miss the classic lines of the old bikes.

BMW R25 if I remember correctly

The new Yamaha R15

Much better in red

Eye candies on Yamaha's futuristic stand.

R1...doesn't excite me one bit.

Now, this gets my juices flowing! MT09




YESSSSSS!!!!! SR400, 265.000Baht

Yamaha 50th anniversary edition, 285.000Baht


Apart from the slightly messy looking fuel injector and slightly bigger side covers to house the fuel pump, the SR remains a beacon of classic styling in a sea of modern 'transformer-like' offerings.








Let's go my dear...


Kawasaki Ninja650

Hugely popular ER6n

Z1000...what is it going to transform into?

Z250

 Suzuki came back with its iconic and very powerful Raider 150R


Inazuma 250...might be a good bike, but stylistically a fail I think

The many faces of the VanVan
Muffler FAIL!



I like the smooth lines of the Gladius, but for that price there are better options out there

Very nice in black and red

 The ubiquitous Honda Wave...number 1 bike in Thailand

Excellent value for money...Honda CB650R


 From the sick minds of Honda's R&D comes this...this...thing


No gears, no fun?

What the hell is this? A giant sleeping pill, that's what it is!


 ZZZZzzzzzz

Oh yeah, Harley was there as well...


Shin Ping Zing, that's 'Benelli' in Chinese. Believe it.




The new Monster looked really big to me


Hello Honda...are you looking?





ART!




Wasn't very impressed with the finish of the exhaust


Eye candy bonus for ya...

Nice ass nr. 1

Nice ass nr.2,
 and Ben's having some fun
 
 Nice ass nr.3



How can you go from a total design disaster...

to an instant classic like the 9T?

 It fits me like a glove. Pity for the crazy price tag of 1.1 million Baht
 Yamaha Bolt
 Much better like this...