Welcome to Friday Fudge, where we bring you all the best motorcycle content of the Internet. Well, not actually the best, more the weirdest, and some of it is definitely the worst. You decide.
Billy’s bikes battered
Musician Billy Joel is a well-known motorcycle enthusiast, but recently had a spot of bother over his collection of bikes. In January, someone broke into his home on Long Island and vandalized 12 motorcycles there, destroying them, reports Fox News. The break-in also saw his home office vandalized.
Why was Joel targeted? There are likely plenty of suspects, if you count up the number of people who hate his music, and the almost-equally-large number of ex-girlfriends and wives. Hey, maybe Elton John has decided to revisit their feud of a few years back! If we were investigating, we’d certainly scour the premises to see if the perp had left behind any goofy sunglasses.
Going bananas
Ever seen a Vespa Ape? They’re a three-wheeled vehicle sold in Europe, used for chores like emergency wine and baguette deliveries. And they aren’t exactly fast, because a) They’re based around a Vespa engine, and b) You’d have to be crazy to want to hoon around in a vehicle this unstable.
But thankfully, there’s always someone out there who’s willing to push the envelope, and below you can see a video of someone who’s used their Vespa Ape to take the term “monkey bike” to a whole new level.
These nutters have put a Triumph 675 engine, making over 100 hp, into an Ape, and taken it to an ice track. We applaud their ingenuity (and also their testicular fortitude), and we wish someone would take this thing to the Numb Bum endurance race in Alberta. Maybe it’s time to start a crowdfunding effort?
Ticket time
Video killed the radio star back in the late ’70s; since then, it seems every generation has to re-learn just how dangerous a camera can be.
Take, for example, these Spanish riders. The group of 10 riders thought they had everything going their way: good roads, fast bikes, what else could a person ask for? Why not upload footage of this epic ride to YouTube?
Here’s why. The police caught wind of the videotaped hoonery, and launched an investigation last winter. At the end of it all, they’d identified the speedsters and handed out a massive amount of points on their licences, and a mind-boggling €144,000 in fines (roughly $200,000 CAD). Was it worth it? Watch the footage below and figure that out for yourself.
Branding bigamy
As we’ve just passed Valentine’s Day, here’s a story of a romantic union that was broken off, but now has been re-kindled. We’re talking about the long-standing romance between Harley-Davidson and Ford, which has resulted in several generations of Harley-branded F150 models. Now, the torrid affair has been re-kindled, with an upcoming Harley-Davidson edition of the F250.
Here’s where the love story gets a bit kinky, as this might sound like a love triangle — but there’s actually a fourth party involved, which would be Tuscany Motor Co., based in Indiana (not Italy, or any other exotic destination, as the name would lead you to believe). Tuscany Motor Co. is building the Harley-branded GMC we told you about last month, and is also going to build the F250.
Why go to all this excess and customize a 3/4-ton, long recognized as the truck of bricklayers and other people looking to haul around massive loads of dead weight? Maybe they figured Harley-Davidson owners might be looking for a truck that could actually manage the weight of their CVO bagger, after a breakdown …
That’s basically what you’re getting, by the way: a CVO version of a Ford truck, with flashy trim, bigger 37-inch tires, and Fox suspension.
