matthew cokeley

Ducati: Leaner and Meaner

The famed manufacturer squeezes more horses into its slimmed-down motorcycle

Ducati upped the ante, unleashing a bike with an 849cc engine that weighs no more than competitors in the 600cc range. In fact, the Superbike 848 weighs 44 pounds less than its 749cc predecessor. To shed pounds, Ducati uses vacural molding, a fabrication process that inhales molten alloy directly into die casts to create a seamless piece of aluminum. This eliminates the need to fasten multiple pieces with welds and bolts that weaken a structure and add weight.

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What

Four-Wheeled Foresight

Yamaha’s concept bike lets newbies take corners like the pros


Japan’s latest sci-fi monster, the Yamaha Tesseract, hunches on four wheels instead of two. This beastie is designed to retain all the turning sensations of a two-wheeled ride, without the threat of Godzilla-style carnage in the hands of an inexperienced rider.

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