The Erzberg Rodeo, in super slow-mo

The Erzberg Rodeo is a brutal test of man and machine.   In 2012, 1800 riders started, but only seven finished.  Competitors start at the base of the colossal Erzberg mine (the largest in Central Europe—over 230 million tons of iron ore have been removed since the 16th century) and race through about 20 checkpoints and over unimaginably difficult terrain on their way to the top.  The top finishers are often trials champions.

Check out this year’s event in super slo-mo. The rear wheels are almost always spinning.

Today is Ride to Work Day. Did you ride?

Work to Ride. Ride to Work.  That’s the motto of ridetowork.org, a “501 c4 non-profit organization, advocating and supporting the use of motorcycles and scooters for transportation, and providing information about everyday utility riding to the public.”

June 17th is their annual ride to work day, but that’s not all Ride to Work does.  They also have an excellent of links that motorcycle advocates can use to advance their cause.

Our favorites?  This “Riding is a Social Good” article, and Hell for Leather’s video essay on lane splitting:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNGD9AAIfFU]

Picture from Hell for Leather

Where and why to buy non-ethanol gasoline

Gasoline isn’t always gasoline.  Of course, there are different ratings, and each station might carry three different octanes of gasoline, but in this case, we’re talking about ethanol content.  Due to federal subsidies and regulations, the vast majority of gas stations in the United States only sell gas that mixed with ethanol, typically a 90-10 mix.  Since ethanol has about 30% less energy than gasoline, the “gas” you buy has about 3% fewer calories than pure gasoline, and your bike will make less power and get worse fuel economy than if it ran on pure gas.

Running pure gasoline is better for your motorcycle’s seals, and will give you better performance. A forum member at ducati.ms recently detailed his experience running gasoline and it sounds like it made a difference.

To find a place to buy E0 (gasoline without ethanol) near you, go to pure-gas.org

Stop by and check out the Triple-Eight at rallies all around the country

Wondering where you can take a look at our new, long-lasting Triple-Eight? Well, if you’re headed to a motorcycle event this year, just stop by our big blue truck, and check it out for yourself. You can even have a set of fresh tires fitted while you wait.

Besides the Triple-Eight, you will also be able to see the ME 880 Marathon, and a range of other tires for your bike.

The Triple-8′s claim to fame is that it’s the most durable V-Twin tire on the market, anywhere in the world. However, advanced new compounds mean that in the quest for a long-lasting tire, it wasn’t necessary to sacrifice wet and dry performance.

The future is now: Zero Motorcycles releases app for Android and iPhone

This week, we had the chance to try out a Zero S and got to use the accompanying iPhone app.   The app is very cool.  It connects to the bike via Bluetooth, and allows you to view the speed, battery charge, and trip distance on the phone.  More importantly, the app can limit the top speed or max torque of the bike.  That means you can stretch out the range–the bike is so fast and torquey that it’s easy to get carried away and drastically shorten the range, from something like 120 miles to about 70 miles.  Furthermore, the app can download any errors from the bike, and email them directly to Zero.

The bike itself is amazing.  It’s got loads of torque, is nearly silent below about 20 mph, and is very thrilling to ride.  When someone pulled up next to us on a tuned Yamaha R1, we couldn’t help but wonder if we wanted to go back to a world of valves, gas, oil, and gears.