motorcycles
Latest
Zero Motorcycles reveals longer range, longer lasting 2012 lineup (video)
Zero Motorcycles is gearing up for 2012, and not by stockpiling canned goods and ammunition. The company is refreshing its line of all-electric bikes and adding a host of refinements, including a new powertrain and a battery pack rated to last as long as the motorcycle does (though, whether or not it lives up to that lofty claim in real-world conditions remains to be seen). Of particular interest is the 9kWh configuration of the Zero S, which has an estimated range of 114 miles -- making it the first EV bike available to consumers that can exceed 100 miles on a single charge. In total Zero will be shipping five models in February, starting at $7,695 for the XU, while the S and DS will fetch $11,495 or $13,995 in their respective 6kWh and 9kWh versions. Off-road enthusiasts can choose between the trail shredding Zero X at $9,995 or the motocross-minded Zero MX for $9,495. Check out the gallery below and the video after the break for peek at the company's 2012 line. %Gallery-138781%
Lightning Motorcycles risks neck for an extra 10 MPH on the Flying Banana
Weeks after breaking the electric motorcycle land speed record, Lightning Motorcycles decided it wasn't satisfied with 206.079 MPH. Shunning a well-deserved vacation, its Flying Banana MK. II bike hit a verified speed of 215.960 MPH. The company is taking orders for the $38,888 eco-widowmaker and assures you it'll be cheap to run -- the record breaking trip in the video below used a mere 18 cents of electricity.
Lightning Motorcycles electric bike blazes past 2010 record, joins 200 MPH Club
Bonneville, home to the world's fastest lawnmower record, has just added another notch to its land speed belt -- this time for electric motorcycles. When last we left Utah's salt flats, Mission One had claimed top honors for its all-electric bike, but that title has once again been usurped by rival Lightning. Averaging a speed of 206.079 mph, the team's Flying Banana Mk. II blazed past its 2010 record of 176.044 mph to claim the speed hog glory. The chopper's rider, Paul Thede, now gets to join the likes of 65 other inductees in Bonneville's exclusive 200 MPH Club. His award for such a hallowed distinction? Why, he got to wear the club's red hat for a whole 24 hours.
Brammo taking its electric motorcycles offroad in Vegas next week, puts Zero on notice
You remember the Enertia, right -- that sweet electric motorcycle from Brammo? Well, a few years back the company slapped some dirt bike tires on this silent cycle (seen above) and taunted the world with the possibility of an Earth-friendly offroad ride. Such a creation never made it to market, sadly, but it looks like the company may finally be ready to deliver. The bike hounds over at Asphalt & Rubber were digging through the AMA MiniMoto SX supercross race list of entrants when they spotted the Brammo name... which is odd since the Oregon-based company's current vehicles are all street-only affairs. Guess Zero Motorcycles better watch its back, there may be new challenger for king of the electric dirt bike hill. We won't have to wait long to know for sure -- the Brammo team will be launching its latest creation through the muddy, hairpin turns at the South Point Arena in Vegas next week.
Wasteland Diaries: Car wars
Lately, I've been doing a lot of crafting in Fallen Earth. I have a lot of materials stockpiled, and it seems they are just taking up space. So I've been putting together some vehicles (Interceptor Speedsters, to be precise). They take about four days each to make; that's in real time, mind you. There isn't much of a demand for them right now. In fact, they sell very inexpensively on the auction house. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with them, but I guess it can't hurt to have a couple on hand. Fallen Earth is unique in the sense that you can't purchase a mount from a vendor NPC. You can get them from the rewards merchant or buy them from the Fallen Earth store, but the usual method of acquiring one is to craft it or buy it from the auction house. Some are even quest rewards. But the majority of the mounts out there are provided by the playerbase. In this post, I'll look at the evolution of vehicular combat in Fallen Earth and what we might hope and expect to see in the future. So put the pedal to the metal and zip past the cut for more.
Road Rash revisitation artwork surfaces on former Bizarre artist's portfolio
Back in 2006, EA was exploring the idea of a new Road Rash game. Aside from the video evidence that surfaced back in late 2009, we now have some new concept art and mock-up pieces to ogle from Liverpool-based artist, Richard Cook -- after leaving EA, Cook spent a few years working with Bizarre Creations on The Club and Blood Stone. Being back on the job market has brought some attention to Cook's portfolio; these pieces seem to suggest EA was aiming to have big environmental set pieces in the game (the tornado above and a speeding train are a few), with one piece of concept art in particular showing a branching path where players could potentially take different routes in a level. Sadly, it looks like this is all we're going to see on this version of Road Rash. The project was canceled back in 2006 and the studio responsible, EA Warrington, has since been shuttered. [Image credit: Richard Cook]
Test Drive Unlimited 2 director reveals plans for beta and bikes
There's a lot of news on Eden Studios' sequel, Test Drive Unlimited 2, coming out of Spain today. VG247 attended the event and spoke to the game's director, Alain Jarniou -- he had a lot of new information to impart. First, players will no longer find themselves bound by their automobiles. In the sequel, it will be possible to run around on foot and interact with the game world "in specific places." An example given by Jarniou is the pre-race: in the first game, there was simply a lobby for players to interact in before they got down to business. In the sequel, it's an in-game place where avatars stand around and interact. He also revealed that plans are underway to offer an open Test Drive Unlimited 2 beta. "Right now, the plan is to have an open beta of TDU2. The difficulty of having a demo for a game like this is the fact it's a huge island, and a huge amount of data. It's not the best way to show the game. So yeah, for now the plan's an open beta." Finally, Jarniou promised bikes will be available in the game -- just "not for the day one version." He says that the developer rebuilt the way cars handle from scratch, as Eden Studios wasn't totally pleased with how that worked in the first game. "So we decided to start from the beginning," he said, "and we now have a new handling for the cars, and we want to, of course, [do the same] for the bikes."
Criterion details Burnout Paradise DLC that never was
You gotta give it up to Criterion Games. Throughout the lifespan of Burnout Paradise, the developers at Criterion worked their buns off to give us all kinds of juicy DLC, from a new island to explore, a new game mode, right down to motorcycles and many, many car packs. Now, the company has prepared a lengthy diatribe documenting some of the updates that never got off the ground. For one, did you know that Criterion initially planned to have motorcycles vs cars? Yep, sure was planned -- and did you know that Criterion wanted to create a whole series of islands, not just the one? The devs even wanted to give players the ability to go to the moon, complete with lunar challenges for Freeburn addicts. Also: the planes thing wasn't an April Fool's joke -- the dev actually wanted to add them (and other vehicles) into the game. Overall, it's a pretty great read, if only to show you just how committed the studio was to the game and raising the bar for DLC in general.
Motorola's Opus One leaks out, whispers of 'iDEN' and 'Android' overheard
There's an excruciatingly small amount of detail to go on right now, but the Boy Genius has managed to snag a few tasty shots of what could be the world's first iDEN Android handset. The Opus One (as it's currently codenamed) certainly smacks of the myTouch 3G in terms of design, though the bottom-mounted ball is obviously replaced with what appears to be an intensely large home button. Hit the source link for a couple more images, and drop your wildest estimations of a specs list in comments below.
What an updated Road Rash might've been
Don't you wish there were a motorcycle racing game where you could beat your opponents mercilessly while passing them at high speeds? There is, friends. It's called Road Rash -- and it's wonderful. Superannuation spotted a nearly three-year-old "pre-vis" version (read as: mock-up) of a current-gen Road Rash on YouTube (found after the break), which presumably never got past the drawing board at the long-closed EA Warrington studio.We can't be sure if the tantalizing bit of video is of an actual working game or just a video depiction of what those involved hoped the game would one day look like, but we're not so sure that matters -- it's quite enticing either way. A recent trademark filing by the publisher certainly indicates something may be in the works for the once mighty motorcycle series. We've contacted EA for comment on the company's plans for the IP and will update this post if we hear more.[Via Superannuation]
WoW Insider Show Episode 56: Mage madness
Just because this last week's WoW Insider Show was prerecorded doesn't make it any less good -- we finally had some excellent Mage talk (Aurdon of ISheepThings.com came on to chat with us), and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli and Duncor and I also talked about lots of other stuff, including (but not limited to): Wrath's release date and how that came about That tough mount achievement and whether it's even possible. Why it's OK for motorcyles to be in a fantasy game. And lots of other things -- we answered your emails, including talking about the First to 80 titles that got removed from the game and how things are going in the beta, both for Mages and everyone else. In fact, Aurdon showed us all up this week -- he's got a nice summary transcript up of everything he said in the show, including some great links to all the stuff we talked about. As usual, the show is up for listening right now over on WoW Radio, and in iTunes as well.Next weekend, we'll be back live on Saturday afternoon, and Turpster, at long last, should be returning to the studio as well. Enjoy the show this week and we'll see you then.Listen here on the page:
WoW Insider Show tomorrow afternoon on WoW Radio
We have a confession to make -- this week's WoW Insider Show has already been recorded. I know, I know, we really enjoy getting on IRC and doing the show live, too, but Duncor the (so-called) Dependable is heading out to a wedding this weekend, and since he's our producer, we had to fudge things a little bit, and we recorded the show last night. Worry not, though -- we'll still be playing the show for the first time on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 over on WoW Radio, and if I'm around, I'll try to jump into IRC to chat while we listen.The good news is that we finally have some good Mage talk in the show -- blogger Andy "Aurdon" Scott of ISheepThings.com joined us on the show, and if you've been waiting to hear some good discussion about the food-and-drink dispensers of the world, you'll hear it. John "BigBearButt" Patricelli was also on with us with his great insight as always, and Duncor came on as well (Turpster is still jetlagged from his trip to the States and will be back next week). And in addition to all the Mage talk, we talked about the release date for Wrath, whether that mount achievement is too hard, and whether it's ok for motorcycles to be in a fantasy game, among many other things.If you want to chat on IRC Saturday afternoon while we listen to the show, join us at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel, or just click "Chat" on the WoW Radio homepage. And you can email us, as always, at theshow@wow.com. Be sure to tune in tomorrow afternoon -- it won't be live (have a nice time at the wedding, Duncor!), but it will be a good listen.
Becker unveils the Crocodile Traffic Assist Z 100 GPS for motorcycles
When you're cruising down the highway on your hog, wind in your face, hair trailing behind you, teeth covered with insects, you probably want a GPS unit that's as rugged and unafraid of dying as you are. That's where Becker's Crocodile (AKA Traffic Assist Z 100) comes in. Nothing says "fearless badass" like a crocodile-skin satnav, replete with a 4.3-inch touchscreen, 2GB on-board memory, 3D terrain and city views, and 42 country maps pre-installed. The device is rubber coated and water resistant, and features turn-by-turn directions optimized for motorcycles, making it ideal for your cross country biker gang meet-ups, or just long weekends cruising the coastlines. The Crocodile will be released in October for €300 (or around $438).
Burnout Paradise getting motorcycles, night driving this August
The Burnout franchise, visceral as it is, has always shied away from real carnage by removing the human element altogether, what with cars driving and mangling each other as if channeling Herbie. That looks to be changing, however, with Criterion announcing a planned update to the game this August codenamed "Davis" that will introduce motorcycles -- complete with human drivers -- to the crash-centric streets of Paradise City. According to the developer, the bikes will get their own modes and challenges, as well as new locations designed to suit their two-wheeled shenanigans, though we hope against hope for the ragdoll hilarity that would be the game's Showtime mode for those riding a bike. In addition, the update will also see the sun setting on Paradise City for the first time with night time racing, no doubt increasing the number of head-on collisions as motorcycle enthusiasts skid along the pavement at record distances.[Via PS3 Fanboy]
Parrot launches the SK 4000 Bluetooth motorcycle headset
The next time you're heading down the highway, Easy Rider-style, looking for adventure and what-not, you may also want to remain in touch with the less rebellious and not-so-tattooed outside world. Luckily, the good folks at Parrot have come to your aid with the SK 4000 -- a Bluetooth headset meant for use with motorcycle helmets -- which features voice recognition, an FM RDS stereo, text to speech, A2DP support, 10 hours of battery life (600 on standby), and a handlebar-mounted RF remote control. Sure, you'll have to use The Man's money to get one, but once you do, you'll be free to wave your freak-flag wherever and whenever you choose... as long as you get permission from your wife. Available before the end of the year, €199 (or around $282).[Via Daily Motorcycle News]
