Welcome to Friday Fudge. If it’s weird, funny, or strange motorcycle news, or it just plain won’t fit anywhere else on the site – you’ll find it here.
A dim bulb
Most manufacturers view the World Superbike series as great advertisement for their top-of-the-line litre bikes. After all, nothing says “performance” like seeing a bike whip around a track in exotic locale, crossing the finish line to be surrounded by brolly girls.
But of course, there are some differences between a WSBK mount and it’s street-going counterpart; one of the biggest differences is that the WSBK machines don’t have headlights. And, now some manufacturers apparently have their knickers in a knot over a perplexing question – how will they advertise their motorcycles’ awesomeness, if the bikes on track don’t look like the bikes on the street?
Their solution? Starting next season, WSBK is going to feature headlight-shaped stickers on their motorcycles. We kid you not – see the picture for proof. Apparently nobody has explained to them that this will make them look just about as awesome as a Chinese motorcycle with “Cool Boy” stickers. After all, the stickers are just as functional in either case.
Once this silly idea kicks off next season, there’s no idea where it might end. Let’s hope it doesn’t mean fake indicators and reflectors are coming next.
Story source: Visordown
Dry riding
Forget Aerostich and Olympia, even Frogg Toggs. The Cambodians have come up with a new solution for keeping dry while riding in the rain – and you can even buy one online, wonder of wonders!
Freedom of the road
In 1932, Robert Elliot Burns published his book I am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang, filled with details of the alleged horrors of the Depression-era penal system. By the looks of the YouTube video below, security has loosened up a bit since then.
The burglary beat
We’ve got a few tales of motorcycle theft for you this week.
First up, the tale of an angry Triumph owner in the U.K., who had his Triumph 675R nicked while he popped into the office for a brief visit. A team of pro thieves made off with his bike, leaving him with nothing but security tape footage – really good security tape footage. So, it should be no problem for the police to track down the miscreants, right?
Wrong. According to the owner, the British bobbies showed little to no interest in pursuing his pillagers. So, he did the next best thing – opened up a website, www.motorbikethieves.com, with the security footage up for the world to see. Hopefully, he’ll be able to track down his Triumph this way. The crooks had better hope it’s the police who find them first, though – the general sentiment around web forums is that 1) The owner deserved to have his bike stolen, because he didn’t have hundreds of dollars of security devices – which makes no sense at all – and 2), that the thieves should be strung up by their testicles.
Watch the video below.
That’s not the only story of motorcycle theft from the U.K., though. We also ran across the story of 68-year-old George Tawse, who seems to have developed a taste for two-wheeled larceny in his old age.
Earlier this week, Tawse’s neighbour purchased a Yamaha FZ1 and rode it home. When he parked it front of his house, witnesses say, Tawse – a retireee – allegedly went over, revved up the bike, got aboard, and took off, without any safety equipment.
Unsurprisingly, he quickly crashed the machine, and is now in hospital in serious condition – although it sounds like his mind wasn’t in great shape to start with.
Lastly, here’s the tale of a squad of bike thieves with poor planning.
A group of motorcycle thieves in Thailand found out they’ll need to plan further ahead if they want to pull off the perfect crime.
The bad guys had just stolen a Suzuki and a Honda and were on their way to re-sell them, when they hit an unexpected snag: They ran out of gas.
So, they tried to escape the area – but being lazy crooks, they didn’t flee on foot. Instead, they spent two hours trying to hitchhike a ride.
But, passing motorists must have known better, because nobody stopped for them – except the police, who quickly figured something was amiss, and gave them a free ride to jail, without passsing Go or collecting $200. We’re sure the motorcycles’ owners will be happy to have them back, even if it means they’ll have to top up the tanks.
Story source: Pattaya Daily News, Press and Journal
may need that umbrella for next mad bastard