As a rider, there was an episode that I have long been wanting to catch which was part of a series shown in the Discovery Channel. The series is called “Greatest Ever” which ranks the Top 10 machines through thorough research and interviews from experts. They had episodes which featured Sports Cars, Tanks, Fighter Planes, Helicopters, Weapons and Construction Machines. I’d never seen any of those. But the episode on Motorbikes is what I wanted to catch. I’ve only seen the segment on YouTube and was curious what the panel said about rest of the bikes in the Top 10.The other day, I finally found the complete set of links to the other nine segments from that show and I want to share them with all MCP readers. The bike declared the Greatest Ever was a surprise. I thought it will be won by the Ducati but as it turned out, it wasn’t just about speed. The no. 1 barely does 40 kph, but it still was voted by the experts. Interesting, isn’t it?

Here’s no. 10 and the bike’s specs/stats as provided here.

Harley Davidson Knucklehead
Year: 1936
Power: 36 HP
Engine capacity: 1,340 ccm
Weight: no info
Top speed: 145 km/h
Rank: 10th

So are you really up to spending the next hour or so watching the remaining clips? If so, let’s proceed with the countdown from no. 9 to numero uno!

PROCEED TO COUNTDOWN!

Manila - Tuguegarao - Pagudpud - Laoag - Baguio - Clark
1,200 Kms In 24 Hours

20 Riders, including 4 AMDG Motorcycle Club guest riders were flagged off in 1 minute intervals, starting at 4am, Jan 6, at Shell Diwal (EDSA, before Balintawak).

Objective was to go through the prescribed route with checkpoints at Tuguegarao, Pasuquin (Ilocos Norte), Baguio and finally at Clark Pampanga. All were to exit Sta. Rita from the NLEX and no EC-Tags and Sirens were not allowed. Aside from the mandatory checkpoints, route to Baguio was Up via Naguillan Road and Down via Kennon.

Read more about their journey and the Iron Man Challenge results here.

Obijuan gives us an interesting look at their wild ride, or in his words…

The Date:
January 11, 2006

The Goal:
–Conquer the trail of “ROPA” along the Wawa route and be back before dinner to have our nails and foot spa done…

The Outcome:
–Extremely wild yet very intimate! (Ehehehe…. Just follow the trail of photos and see how it went, okay??)

Check out this thread for more pictures.

AMA contributes $100,000 to crash-study fundraising effort

Ever since The Hurt Report was published by Dr. Harry Hurt back in 1981, his study has been the cornerstone for most motorcycle safety programs around the world.

Now the United States Congress finally approved federal funding for a new, comprehensive study of motorcycle crashes to be done by the Oklahoma Transportation Center.

But…..
(more…)

Some say that admirers of a vintage Vespa and the old Volkwagen Type 1 have got the same taste. Both are indeed a classic. Just take a look at this nice photograph where you see both vehicles in one frame.

‘Old Streets of Rio’ (photo courtesy of Fernando C. Regencio, Jr.)

Both has that distinct classic lines (notice the similarity of the Vespa’s cowls to VW’s fenders) and each have long been known by the name of the insects/bugs they take after. Both are also known for their sturdy steel frame and considered icons of European designs.

When we were kids, I remember my brother Randy (aka mitlancer_gsr here in MCP) pointing to one car he called ‘Benz Wagen’ whenever it passes in our old neighborhood. When I finally got to see this car, it was a converted Beetle with the hood/front compartment made to look like a Benz complete with the classic grills and insignia/emblem that Benz’ are know for. All this time, I thought ‘Benz Wagen’ are common hybrids until I googled the word and didn’t find any relavant link or picture to back up this story of mine.

Now, imagine a Wasp converted to look like a Beetle (or vice versa if the conversion is 50-50%). That wouldn’t be a freak of nature, but an object of interest worthy of display in a motor show.

SEE IT FOR YOURSELF!