Curtiss V8 - World's Fastest Motorcycle

It’s January 24^th, and on a beach in Florida and a daring young man has just blasted across the sand at 136.3 miles per hour run on a V8-powered motorcycle of his own design. He built the engine, he built the bike, and he rode the frightening looking machine across Ormond Beach himself.

The man is Glenn Hammond Curtiss, and the year is 1907. Curtiss has just piloted his monstrous 4000cc V8 into the record books and become the (unofficial) absolute world land-speed record holder for the next four years.

Riding the Legend – The Ducati 916

Author's Note: In 2007 I wrote an article detailing my impressions of the Ducati 916 called "Riding the Legend". I've edited and updated my original piece for the benefit of Odd-Bike.com readers. Enjoy.

 

There aren’t many machines that inspire awe and envy quite as effectively as a Ducati 916 “Campione del mondo Superbike”. In fact there aren’t many machines that become legends before they even got out of the box - such was the case when the 916 was unveiled to the public in late 1993. With development beginning in the late 80s, when the 851 was still the king of the V-twin superbike class, the 916 was destined for greatness in many aspects – design, style, performance, and racing pedigree. Designed from the ground up as a race winner, the 916 was blessed with prodigious performance for the day, and stunning styling penned by Massimo Tamburini and the Cagiva Research Centre. The 916 was achingly beautiful and well ahead of the curve when compared to the portly and conservative styling of contemporary mid-90s sportbikes. Here was a purposeful, clean and perfectly executed machine without compromise introduced into a sea of overweight and ponderous competitors.

Hesketh V1000 - Immortal Aristocratic Motorcycles

It is the 1970s. You are a wealthy British aristocrat, a Lord and a Baron no less, and you have a keen interest in motor sports. So, with your own money and with the express purpose of having fun, you create your own racing company. Eventually you hire a reckless playboy/racer with a penchant for drugs, sex and boozing, and you have a grand old time, even winning a few races. Along the way you develop a reputation for ostentatious displays of wealth and excess on the trackside, like helicopter rides, Rolls Royce pit cars, and 5 star accommodations (in a time long before excess became the norm in Formula 1).

After a few years the party is over and you are looking for a new gasoline-fuelled hobby. How would you follow up a race career like that? By founding your own bespoke motorcycle company to kickstart the dying British motorcycle industry, of course.

Masochism and the Modern Mechanic

I am a mechanical masochist, a man who enjoys the otherwise unpleasant task of fixing things that are broken. I am an amateur of the arts of repair, maintenance, modification and tuning, those mystifying tasks that befuddle the average commuter. Some days, including today. I wonder what drives me to subject myself to such endless tinkering. It is avoidable. It can be excruciating and unfathomably frustrating. But I still crave it - and I tend to gravitate towards machines that require constant care to keep on the road, a peculiar trait that most people find hard to understand. So in the spirit of self-discovery and towards the wiling away of some hours while I battle this evening’s insomnia, here are my thoughts on this, my cult of vehicular masochism.   

Six Years with a Ducati 916

Several years ago I wrote an article on riding and livingwith one of the best known superbikes of the 20th century – the mythical Ducati 916, the object of desire to anyone who was in the sportbike scene in the 1990s and 2000s. Now it’s been six years since I purchased my beloved 916, and I still cherish it and ride it as much I can. In these six years of ownership I have learned a great deal about the 916 through riding, wrenching and research. My bike has seen me through tough times, good times, and everything in between. It has become a part of my personality and my lifestyle. So for the benefit of those who are interested, I present part two of my life with the Legend - a rambling screed that pays respect to the mythology of the 916 while sharing my personal story, told through my experience with a singular machine.

Bimota V-Due 500 - The Bike That Killed Bimota

In 1996-97, Bimota was set to introduce a new machine that would revolutionize sport bikes. It would be an unstoppable, razor sharp 500cc two-stroke that would give 1000cc four strokes a run for their money, in a time when it appeared that two-strokes were on their way to the boneyard. There was a lot of excitement brewing around the forthcoming V-Due (literally, V-twin) - not only because of the mouth-watering specs and the fact it was being built by one of motorcycling's most legendary boutique marques, but also because it promised to fix the "problem" that two stroke road bikes were facing.

Welcome, premature visitors

Welcome to OddBike, which will (eventually) be the collection of motoring miscellany and ramblings contributed by obsessive gearhead Jason Cormier.  Here, sometime in the future, you will find a series of painstakingly written accounts of the weirdest and rarest motorcycles and gasoline fueled misadventures from around the world. Jason is a consummate gearhead and part time wrenchmonkey with an obsessive personality and a degree in History - which he intends to put to good use by chronicling everything unusual that he finds interesting.



Seeing how this site is still under construction and the content remains firmly ensconced inside Mr. Cormier's skull, you won't find much here at the moment. So in lieu of any real posts please enjoy this delightful introduction, which I recommend reading in your head with the honeyed voice of Morgan Freeman. Someday, perhaps soon, there will be actual content to visit here.

-JC