Category: Motorbikes

If you put aside the complicated name, this new KTM Superbike looks like something from the future. This is not a concept bike but its the actual bike which is getting released early next year. I love the sharp angled shape. [Link]

A bunch of motorbike riders from Kuwait have left on a long road trip to Beirut. One of the riders is Hellraiser, a fellow blogger whos actually gone and setup a blog specifically for this journey. He has a digital camera and Internet access and will be updating the blog often. Its an interesting trip so check out his blog for updates. [Link]

I just found out from Gringo in Kuwait’s blog that Ducati have just released two new bikes, the 848 and the new Monster 696. They both look incredibly stunning and I soooo have my eyes on the 848, its like a 1098 which I can afford.

Check out the Ducati 848 [Here]
Check out the Ducati Monster 696 [Here]

I just got back from a late night ride. I hadn’t ridden since the beginning of summer and ever since TriStar had picked up my bike and serviced it last week my bike has been begging to be taken out. Tonight was his lucky night.

I was walking Geo and noticed the weather was just amazing so when I got home I suited up and went out for a ride. Salmiya was deserted and I had all the streets to myself so I took full advantage and rode up and down at my pace enjoying my time. I was a bit rusty so I felt a lot more comfortable riding alone with no traffic just in case I made a mistake.

One thing I realized, the weather is a lot nicer in shorts and a tshirt. My full bike gear which includes thick riding pants and a thick riding jacket kinda made things hot but it still felt great riding. I think I will do this every night, its very peaceful and mind clearing.

This has to be the best riding tip I’ve read so far:

Remember, EVERYONE IS TRYING TO KILL YOU!

Since I arrived to Lebanon I have been asking around for a place where I could rent a scooter from but everyone keeps telling me no such place exits. I figured since I don’t have a car here I could rent a scooter and use it as my primary means of transportation but it seems it might be easier to just buy a used one for like $200. I have a friend though who knows someone who works at an impound lot and he told me they have a lot of scooters there and he might be able to hook me up with one. Hopefully that works out.

The weather today is really gross. I rode in on my bike in the morning and later at lunch I had to ride back home and it was just awful. Its not only really dusty but at some points on the Gulf Road the air becomes really hot for some reason and it just makes things disgusting. It was terrible, I think riding season is nearly over.

I passed by the MV Agusta dealer today for the first time. My friend is looking to buy a naked bike and he wanted to check out the MV Agusta Brutale. The dealership is pretty cool and like TriStar very friendly and passionate about bikes. They have a limited edition Brutale, number 222 out of 300 called the Brutale America. They also had a limited edition F4-1000 Senna on display, again limited to just 300 pieces worldwide. The coolest bike there though was the pearl white and black F4 R312. The 312 is the max speed the bike can hit and it just looks amazing and its not to expensive either at around KD7,600. The Brutale 750s (not the limited edition one) costs around KD4,950 before discount. Pretty cool prices for such beautiful bikes.

I think I spent around 2 hours there with my friend, even Marzouq ended up joining near the end and I think he will end up posting a bunch of pictures since he had his camera with him. The picture above is of the pearl white and black F4 R312 which I took off the MV Agusta website.

Here is a link to the local dealers website. [Link]

Here is also a video of an MV Agusta owner in Kuwait trying to reach the max speed of his bike but only managed to hit 295KM. He had a tank mounted camera which is pretty cool.

[YouTube]

Today I went riding with Marzouq in the morning as I have been doing practically every Friday. Today though it was a completely different ride then our usual. Today we took the Fahaheel Expressway and rode down to Mina Abdullah. Once we got to there we took the inside rode and rode down all the way to Julia’a, then to Bnaider and finally to Al Zoor gas station.

The road we took was amazing. It was a narrow newly paved two lane road and it had a lot of twists and turns. It was also really long which was great since the weather was perfect and the road really fun. I got some good practice taking turns while trying to lean the bike really low thanks to Marzouq coaching skills. Now, after todays experience I trust my bike a lot more then I did before.

Before we left the south and got back onto the Fahaheel express way, I told Marzouq I had a problem when we were riding on it earlier in the day. Whenever I hit speeds exceeding 120km my jacket (which I now believe is a size too big for me) fluttered from the wind like crazy and it was painful. He told me I should just move as far back on the seat as I can and then lean over low so that my chest is touching the gas tank. That would bring me down really low behind my front faring which would protect me from the wind. I tried it and it worked! I was able to reach much much higher speeds without any side effects from the wind.

Anyway hopefully we will be riding their again since its such a beautiful place. And whats up with all these challets with cool names. I found one called “South Beach” and I figured it was some funky private beach but it turned out to be just a name of a challet.

The weather is getting pretty hot. I went out riding with Marzouq today and I took the picture above when we stopped for ice cream. Later we stopped at Starbucks in Marina for some icy frappuccinos.

I was chatting with a friend the other day who is a Harley rider when I noticed something interesting. When Harley riders upgrade their bikes they usually end up making them a lot heavier since all the chrome and accessories add weight to the bike. When sports bike riders upgrade their bikes they usually end up making them lighter since most of the parts weigh less then the stock ones. We are like complete opposites.

I was at the Ducati dealer yesterday, TriStar and they had a limited edition Bimota bike on display. There are only 23 of them in the world and they were made as a tribute to the Italian soccer team for winning the World Cup.

I was kidding around with my friend who works there telling him how easy it would be to make this bike look like a tribute to the Kuwaiti soccer team by editing the Italian flag to make it look like a Kuwaiti one. When he heard that he took me to the rear of the bike where it turns out there was something that already looked like a Kuwaiti flag! I found that pretty funny.

Here is another better picture of the bike [Picture]

I don’t know why but I enjoy watching motorbike crashes… here are some of my favorite clips:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1akvu_moto-choc-caen-tunel1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZluAhQXfVw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ZBP0nVykk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqOvLHU1WZk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMw5rvJTjbE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpOxMDE0acE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqSOj17_Cm8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JT753mhk0g

Not only Marzouq can get his picture taken while riding his bike. Today morning a friend of mine took this picture of me while I was riding in to work.

Thats Marzouq on his new bike, I am soooo jealous! [Link]

Just came back from my morning ride awhile ago and the new exhausts sound ridiculous! They are unbelievably good!! Its like a completely different bike, they are loud, mean and look much better then the stock ones. The whole bike feels lighter since the new carbon exhausts are much much lighter then the old aluminum ones. Anyway below I have pictures of the bike with the new exhausts and front fairing. If you want to see how the bike looked like before click [Here]