| | Biker News - Regularly updated
Category: Other
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If you love motorcycling, then you know that there's no better way to enjoy your weekend than taking out that trusty old bike on a road trip. The feeling of the breeze hitting your face and the exhalation of your speeding motorcycle allows you to enjoy incredible views in the way you enjoy best. Here's a list of the top seven motorcycle rides you may want to try on your next expedition.
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Ceuta To Marrakesh Loop In Morocco
Covering over 2500 kilometer, the Ceuta to Marakesh loop journeys through the exotic realm of ancient souks (bazaars), kasbahs (citadels), and desert cultures. After getting off the Ceuta ferry, bikers can ride to Fez through the wild Rif Mountains, before traversing the Atlas mountains and getting to the Sahara at Erfoud.
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The Australian Great Ocean Road
As a well-seasoned cyclist who's looking for a place to have fun, this famous Australian road should be among your top three picks. The Great Ocean Road is not only renowned for its great bends, but also lots of beautiful wildlife and straight paths for you to run wild. Expert bikers can take the trip in a single, though it's recommendable to take two days to enjoy the experience fully. 
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The Amalfi Coast
For those looking for a quiet holiday destination filled with picturesque sceneries, Italy has got your back. When riding, the tarmac nirvana located on the achingly beautiful Amalfi Coast on the Sorrentine Peninsula offers you a great biking adventure, despite being only 60 kilometers long. However, what it lacks in the distance is well compensated in the gorgeous scenery it offers.
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Pyrenees Loop in Spain and France
When it comes to breathtaking sceneries, both Spain and France boast of some of the most stunning expanses ever known to man. As such, it shouldn't come as a surprise to see that the two countries share one of the favorite loops for bike lovers. The 1500 mile loop extends from the gorgeous Bilbao city to the Biarritz beachside, though you can ride through the French Mediterranean coast and Andorra.
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Hanna Highway, Maui
The stunning Maui island in Hawaii is a gorgeous scenery for both the locals and tourists, though hurtling down the 100Km road on your motorbike makes the experience even more incredible. The area is sweltering even during the cold seasons, so it's best to pack light. However, you needn't forget your protective gear.
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Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam
Located in the historical country of Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh trail is highly popular with motorcyclists. The 1000 mile road from north Saigon (Hanoi) to the South is steeped deep in beauty and history, allowing riders to enjoy the stunning Vietnamese mountains, hinterland, and rice terrace. Even better, the locals are friendly and highly welcoming to the visitors.
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Pacific Coast, USA 
If you're an adventurous motorcyclist in the US, the entire west coast will make a fantastic road trip. You can enjoy a drive through the iconic scenes of Los Angeles and San Francisco, or travel through the backwood of highway 1 & 101 that takes you to Portland, Oregon.
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During the Covid-19 pandemic we will continue to publish the website and endeavour to update events that we are aware have been cancelled.
We encourage organisers of events to inform us that an event is cancelled or postponed, however due to the large amount of events cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we ask you to check with the event before travel.
For all accommodation providers, cafes and pubs, we would also ask you to check with them direct on current opening* times (*if applicable).
We would like to thank everyone for their support and understand during these times. Stay Safe!
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The Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) has called upon the new Chancellor Rishi Sunak to not only deliver on the Conservative election manifesto pledge of investing £2 billion to repair potholes but to also provide a mechanism for the long-term, assured investment in road maintenance. Mr Sunak, is due to present his budget on 11th March.
Mike Harper, RSTA Chief Executive said: “It costs on average £52m2 to repair a pothole against the mere £2.50m2 to surface dress and maintain a road. A provision of real levels of long-term assured investment would enable highway authorities to implement planned programmes of road maintenance. This would ensure the good condition or road surfaces and prevent defects and potholes from forming in the first place. Preventative maintenance would be a far more cost effective approach that expensive patch-and-mend.”
In addition to delivering the Conservative election manifesto pothole pledge, Harper called upon the Chancellor to commit to an injection of £1.5 billion a year to address the local road £9.7 billion maintenance backlog by investing just 2p a litre from the existing fuel duty, provide a funding settlement that enables planned five-year maintenance programmes and address the funding disparity between the strategic road network and the local road network. The strategic road network maintenance receives 53 times more funding per mile than local roads. Yet the vast majority of journeys are undertaken on the local road network.
Harper said: “The local road network is the UK’s greatest infrastructure asset and is worth some £400 billion. With every road journey starting and ending on a local road, a well-maintained local road network is essential to the national social well-being and economic prosperity. Furthermore, post-Brexit, and as part of levelling-up’ the regions, the government wants to prove that Britain is ready and open for business. The provision of a well-maintained local road network is fundamental to achieving that objective.”
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Welsh amateur enduro rider Simon Hewitt, fulfilled a lifelong dream earlier this year, by taking part in the renowned Dakar Rally. The 29-year-old novice crossed the finish line in Qiddiya on 17th January, after 13 long days of riding across Saudi Arabia’s vast and challenging landscape.
Chatting on the T.ur stand at the MCN London Motorcycle Show less than a month after completing his epic challenge, alongside his Dakar-finishing Yamaha WR450F and T.ur kit, Simon talked about his Dakar experience and how his kit performed along the way.
How was your Dakar experience, compared with your expectations?
“The sheer size of the whole operation was unexpected. The biggest race I’ve done before this was the Merzouga rally in Morocco – the Dakar qualifier. There, every team could fit into a football pitch easily, but with Dakar, it’s on a whole other level; the sheer vastness was the biggest thing for me, something that doesn’t really come across when you see it on TV and online.
“But from a riding perspective, I was surprised by how comfortable I felt with the terrain. To be completely honest, the terrain itself isn’t the hardest part, it’s the length of the days that got me. Starting at five every morning, then you’re on the bike for 10-14 hours a day – I’ve never done that before, and although I knew it would be long, I didn’t expect to find it so hard. Even in the liaison – the riding before we got to the timed stage – I was sitting there at 110km/h, on an enduro bike, on tarmac, for 130 miles; it was crazy and very tiring.”
Did you go into Dakar with a strategy?
“The strategy was to just tick every day off as it came, and not to worry about the later stages, just to focus on what I had to do to get to the finish line that day. I think if you go into each day with a complicated strategy, it can become too much to think about. I just rode the terrain, read the roadbook, ticked off the kilometres and it worked perfectly for me. Day one of Dakar was my third time on a bike since breaking my collarbone whilst training in Dubai, so I had barely any training in comparison to the other riders. I knew I couldn’t push too hard, so I just had to ease into it.”
How did you start your relationship with T.ur?
“I first came across T.ur on social media thanks to two riders that I follow that wear T.ur – Jacopo Cerutti and Alessandro Boturri. I saw that those guys started to wear T.ur kit, so I started following T.ur on Instagram. A year later when I was preparing to go to Dakar, Diego Sgorbati, CEO of Tucano Urbano, was introduced to me through a mutual friend at BMW Motorrad, and then one evening I received a random call from Diego – we were chatting for about 30-45 minutes, talking about rallies, bikes, BMW and Dakar, and after that, I was asked to get involved with T.ur, and I was absolutely stoked. I was looking for a kit supplier, so it was perfect timing, and I knew Cerutti and Botturi would only ride in the best clothing, so I knew T.ur would be top quality kit.”
What aspects of the T.ur kit were most important to you?
“A big plus for me was having the option every day of vented or non-vented kit depending on the weather. I had two sets of kit; one made from a mesh that let all the air through, and another made with thicker, warmer material. The mesh kit was awesome for days where it was getting really warm on the dunes, but for some stages, I wore the thicker kit because some days were very cold. It was awesome to have the option and very handy. It was also great for me to be able to remove the sleeves – it’s down to personal preference but I like riding without the sleeves so being able to whip them off was great, and luckily it came with the design of the jacket.
“T.ur also gave me a set of the waterproof kit that you can buy –which I wore every day as a windbreaker when I needed it, and I wore the T.ur thermal base layers as well which were perfect – they kept me warm in the mornings and cool in the midday heat. My G-THREE gloves didn’t miss a beat the whole race – the ideal choice for Dakar.”
What did you enjoy most at Dakar?
“The feeling of being part of it. I’ve watched the race for so long on TV and online, so being there, seeing my heroes in the same race as me, and just being part of the whole event was the best feeling ever. The riding, for the most part, was also really fun. Two weeks of riding your bike in the desert – I can’t ask for more than that.”
What was the biggest lesson you learnt at Dakar?
“If I had to do it again, I would definitely not break my collarbone two months before Dakar. The lack of fitness was a killer for me, and I knew that if I had been at my usual bike fitness level, I wouldn’t have felt so tired at the end of each day. I also realised very quickly that managing time in the evenings is really important. The alarm goes off at 4am the next day whether you like it or not, so it’s up to you to be as prepared as possible for the best start the next day.”
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
My bike has just gone back to France for some work, and then I’ll have it back for the summer. I plan to do the Welsh 2 Day Enduro at the end of June on my Dakar bike, then Serres Rally in Greece this August on my Husqvarna 450 enduro bike. In between those, I plan to do as many local races as I can including some of the British National Enduro and Welsh Enduro Championship rounds – they’ll help me build up my bike fitness as well.”
Sum up your Dakar experience in one word.
“Adventure.”
… And the T.ur kit in one word.
“Bullet-proof.”
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Saturday 25th January 2020 saw the National ACU/FIM motorcycle awards take place at the National Motorcycle Museum at Solihull, West Midlands.
MADMAX Team Rider Zef Eisenberg raced in to the record books scooping an amazing 3 World Record FIM awards at the prestigious ceremony.
Racing the Notts uni IOM TT zero bike, Eisenberg’s MADMAX team re-engineered the electric drive chain, motor and battery pack to victoriously secure:
3 x International FIM WORLD RECORD awards for the fastest electric motorbike in the world. (naked - no fairing)
3 x British ACU awards for the FIM Flying Kilometre speed of 185.103mph with best one-way speed of 194.086mph and GPS peak speeds of 197mph for a 100% electric bike.
The records took place at the Prestigious ACU/FIM awards evening held at the Birmingham Motorcycle Museum, on Saturday 25 January 2020.
These speed records are particularly poignant to Eisenberg, as it was the same bike that his MADMAX Team rider, Daley Mathison rode to his last three podium wins at the IOM TT before being tragically killed in the Superbike TT race, the day before the Zero TT race. Eisenberg promised his family and wife to take the bikes to world record glory to honour the racer and has dedicated them to him. That goal and those records were achieved subject to final FIM international ratification, and finally confirmed on the evening.
The self-proclaimed ‘Speed Freak’ now holds more than 58 British, World, ACU, FIM and Guinness speed records and has his hopes pinned on his most dangerous challenge yet… the fastest motorbike on ICE!
On the weekend of 28–29 February 2020 Eisenberg and the MADMAX Race Team return to Arsunda in Sweden for the famous Ice Speed Weekend. The annual two-day event sees the best and most experienced ice racers from around the world descend on Arsunda, the fifth largest lake in Sweden, with the very best seeking 200mph + on its 5mile frozen specially groomed frozen lake. The current World Motorcycle Ice Record is 197.5mph (315kmh).
In 2019 Eisenberg made his debut at the event with the team’s 400hp supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa dubbed ‘the Green Monster’. Zef came 2nd in the motorbike event, not helped by 4 tyre failures and the last one exploding at 176mph!
At the time he said it was the craziest, maddest race event that he’d ever participated in but vowed to return armed with more knowledge and stronger tyres!
Eisenberg said “Since our attempt last year the Hayabusa has been adapted for the extreme ice-strip challenge with a new engine, upgraded electrics and we’ve focussed a lot of time and effort strengthening the tyres. We know it’s the biggest issue for all of the racers and hope that our new reinforced tyres can now withstand the extreme centrifugal forces of 200 Titanium spikes trying to rip themselves from the tyre.
He explains “Each of the tyres feature 200 hand cut titanium spikes weighing 8gms each, but the centrifugal force means that at 200mph they become the equivalent of 12 kgs each. And with 200 studs per tyre, that becomes 2.2 tonnes trying to rip the tyre apart, with forces as high as 1430 g. The maths are scary!”
Last year, racing came to a halt for the MADMAX Race Team when the tyre ripped apart at 283kmh/176mph. The steel banding around the front tyre snapped and sliced the radiator open, causing the engine to rapidly over heat and cause coolant to spray everywhere, followed by the rear tyre exploding and ripping the tail of the bike off.
Tyres and ice aren’t the only challenges the team will have to contend with – there’s the temperature too, as cold as -20 and a wind-chill factor making it feel like -30c!
Eisenberg races under the ‘MADMAX Race Team’, which is renowned for developing and racing the world’s most extreme machines using the best engineers in the industry.
About Zef Eisenberg and the MADMAX Race Team:
Zef ‘MAX’ Eisenberg is the presenter of ITV4 ‘Speed Freaks’, and holds now holds more than 58 British, World, ACU, FIM and Guinness speed records. In September 2016, he survived ‘Britain’s fastest-ever motorcycle crash’ at 230mph, on a 560bhp Rolls-Royce jet turbine-powered motorcycle. He broke 11 bones, was hospitalised for three months, spent a further three months in a wheelchair and had to learn to walk again. He defied doctors by racing exactly one year after the accident on the anniversary of the crash.
In May 2018, he achieved the world’s fastest motorbike record on sand and was challenged to repeat this success on four wheels. In May last year, in a highly modified Porsche, he became the world’s only person to exceed 200mph on sand with a bike and car, as well as hold the flying mile record for both and the only racer to hold world records for bike and car other than John Surtees.
About FIM (International Motorcycling Federation) Records:
FIM, (International Motorcycling Federation) is the global governing/sanctioning body of motorcycle racing.
FIM speed records are calculated by time elapsed over a distance, not trap speeds. A world record is based on two successful one way runs in each direction, within the hour. An FIM world record requires a full international scrutineer team, made up of expert track spotters and senior ACU personnel as part of the record attempts at Elvington.
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