Category Archives: Automotive
Top 10 for 2019
My Top Ten New Vehicles for 2019. Based on personal driving experience, this is my top 10 vehicles that I would spend my own money on. SUV’s: Jeep Grand Cherokee, Toyota 4Runner, Audi Q5. Sedans: Dodge Charger, Genesis G80 Sport. Coupes: Audi S5, Porsche Cayman. Hatch Back: Golf R. Pickup Truck: For the Full Size, Dodge RAM. Midsize, Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro.
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Driving the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is an experience that any true Car Guy needs to check off the bucket list. Sitting in the car, you find that you are both very comfortable, and held into place thanks to what are the most perfect sport sedan seats I’ve ever felt.
Once adjusted and mirrors positioned, you buckle up and hit the start button located on the steering wheel. The button’s position is to remind you of just what it is you are getting yourself into. Things pop into mind like “Ferrari” and “Racing Car”, and those things are not far from the truth. The engine truly is derived from Enzo’s passion. That’s no joke. But this is a Sedan that is meant to be used as a car, just like any other… That’s why there are the A and N settings on the now famous Alfa Romeo DNA dial. Continue reading Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Vanderhall Venice: Constructive Criticism.
When I first saw the Vanderhall Venice, I was really smitten. I was thinking it was the coolest thing ever. And they are cool. Don’t get me wrong, they are cool and they are fun to drive. The problem I have with them is that they are 30 Grand. For that much money, you can buy some pretty nice cars that are also fun to drive but also offer some practicality. The Venice has no practicality to it. At all. The other cars out there that you could get also have a certain level of Build Quality. And that’s my main problem with the Venice. Vanderhall is almost there with it, but every car seems like it’s still a prototype. 
The Venice has a vibe of a 60’s era Formula 1 car. Like something James Garner drove in “Grand Prix”. But they missed that mark in cosmetics and other styling points. They also missed the mark on the “Modern Morgan 3 Wheeler” they were shooting at.
Let’s look at the details. The grill just flat out looks cheap as hell. It looks like an old-fashioned Ice Tray insert. That’s a detail that bugged me from the very first instant when I saw it. I like that the headlights are tucked in, but overall the impression is that the entire front end was just phoned in. Also, the area below the grill being flat faced when it could have been more like a Formula 1 cowling. It was a missed opportunity for greatness. Continue reading Vanderhall Venice: Constructive Criticism.
Ducati Multistrada 1200S
Ducati is one motorcycle company that is pretty much batting a thousand when it comes to building exciting motorcycles that stir the soul. Also, they don’t know how to make anything that isn’t fast. The Multistrada keeps up with that tradition big time. It’s Ducati’s Adventure Bike. And being Ducati to the core, the formula is simple. Take the engine out of one of their super bikes, and put on a tall suspension. If you don’t know anything else about the Multistrada, that’s all you really need to know. Let’s look at the specs:
527 Pounds Wet.
5.3 Gallons of Fuel.
1198 CC V-Twin (Ducati calls it an “L” twin)
160 Horses of Power.
87 Foot Pounds of Torque.
6 Speed transmission.
33″ Seat Hight.
This is a big bike… It’s a heavy bike. But it really doesn’t feel big or heavy once your in the saddle. Unless you are short legged… then it’s going to feel pretty tall. The Enduro version is even taller by a couple inches.
The Multistrada though, is more than just a butch superbike… Thanks to the DTC and Skyhook technologies (Traction Control and Active Suspension) the Multistrada becomes a very road-worthy bike that can devour the miles on pretty much any road surface you would care to travel on… and even when there is little to no roads. You could easily take it on long trips . The bike shown in the photos is a used bike that I borrowed to check out. It’s sporting factory hard cases, and an aftermarket windshield, which sets this bike up nicely for some serious distance touring. The Multistrada is very comfortable, and after an hour in the saddle, I really felt like I just wanted to keep going.
Pitching the Multistrada into the curves is pure joy. The bike is flickable like a Switch Blade. It really thinks it’s a sport bike. Cutting the apex and gassing it, you can feel the bike wants to play. 
The Engine is what makes this bike rather special… Typical full bore Ducati Twin feeling, it’s happiest when you are keeping the RPMs above 5000.
My first impression on this bike was that it was “Naughty”. It wanted to misbehave. It didn’t like to be lugged… it didn’t like to go slow… It wanted to RUN! It wanted to buck like an excited wild horse. It would lift the front wheel on a whim, and would exceed the posted speed limits at moments notice if I didn’t keep it in check! In short – This is a FUN motorcycle that you could spend a lot of time on.
I can’t speak to the offroad prowess… As I didn’t take it over anything more challenging than some damp leaves on the ground… But the Multistrada 1200S isn’t really meant for Off Road. There’s another version for that. The Multistrada Enduro… But dirt roads wouldn’t be a problem at all for the 1200S, thanks to the onboard avionics. The bike is filled with tech… gyros that measure Pitch and Yaw and bank, as well as throttle position and tire slip… it’s basically the flight control systems out of an F-16. The computers take all that information and adjusts the suspension and the power to the wheels and brakes to keep you on two wheels…. at pretty much any speed. And all done seamlessly and transparently. It makes you feel like a much better rider. It gives you confidence. It urges you to ride a little harder… It’s a naughty bike for sure!
If you think Adventure Bikes are boring… Friend… You need to try a Multistrada.
BMW S1000XR
The BMW S1000XR. Lucifer’s own Bike, right here. The Ducati Multistrada is a naughty bike… This? This bike is straight up EVIL.
Satan, Darth Maul, and Handsome Jack all ride one of these.
See, the Ducati and BMW both claim 160 horse power. In actual dyno testing, the Duck gave out something like 135… and the XR put down a smoking 153, if I remember correctly. That might not sound like a whole lotta difference… But it’s the way they put down the power.
The Duck feels more like a truck by comparison… and this… This feels like a freaking F-22 Raptor. And the RPM range doesn’t stop climbing and the thrust doesn’t relent. This bike is epic fast. And better yet, you can flick this bike like it was a butterfly knife.
Okay, now give it the same ergonomic geometry of a GS Adventure Bike, and a comfortable seat. So yes, you can sit tall in the saddle, with one hand on the reigns, relaxed like Napoleon on his horse, while doing Warp Factor 10 like a Sir.
This is The Most Amazing Bike… (Clarkson Pause) In The World. You ride this bike – You WILL have to call your Doctor after 4 hours.
BMW calls this an ADV bike. You can luggage it out with BMW’s excellent hard cases… But really, this is a Sport Touring Bike for those that want to sit up more. Whatever you want to call it, the title probably fits this machine in one aspect or another.
Last word on this bike: Dynamic Mode is the Hot Sauce. Work your way up to it.
Also – This is what every Motorcycle Police in the USA should be riding. This is THE COP BIKE.
Triumph Rocket III Roadster
The British love to find humor in playing with the line between social norms and absurdity. The Triumph Rocket III Roadster is very British in this regard. This bike is huge. This bike is heavy. This bike has a crazy 2.3L triple coffee can sized engine. This bike is a Hawker Typhoon on two wheels. Everything else on the bike is also huge. The extra wide bars, the extra wide levers… It’s just an awesomely large bike.
At the same time… The bike is dang good looking. It’s not out of proportion in any part. It’s that tall dark and handsome thing. Muscular, not fat. Rugged, not girly. It has a good sound too. It’s a mellow, low rumble and not that loud burbling of certain American twins. Because this bike doesn’t need to be overly and artificially loud. It has nothing to prove to anyone. It’s a fact that it’s the biggest production motorcycle engine in the world. 
Riding this thing for the first time, a certain specific song popped into my head. Sitting on the bike, I felt just like what that song is like. The upside, is that this thing was super smooth and strong in the brake department. The bike is very stable. But that engine… MAN! This engine is right out of a Hot Rod. It feels like a hot rod, it shifts like a hot rod… and when you get on the gas… it’s a total hot rod. And that’s the whole point of the Rocket III. It is a two wheeled Hot Rod and it makes no apologies for that.
A lot of guys look at the Rocket III, grin at it, and wish. Because it’s just awesome… Some shake their heads. It’s not for everyone. Hot Rods are not for everyone. The Rocket is not for the timid. It’s a ride apart… And that’s what makes this bike so great.
Could I own a Rocket III? Yes. Yes I could. It couldn’t be my One and Only bike… but yeah, I could have a Rocket. See, I’m glad that we have gonzo bikes like this, just because they are excessive to the point they border on being absurd. This is why we have Dodge Power Wagon trucks, and Animal Style Burgers at In and Out, and music by AC/DC. Because we can. And I respect that.
Getting Started in Motorcycling.
A great question came in:
I’ve been wanting to get in to motorcycle riding for a while now and considering your recent shift , I thought this would be a perfect time to ask. Where do I get started? How do I choose a bike? What should I consider before going full bore in to this? If you feel like this is too much to respond to in line. Thanks! – Snallygaster
BMW vs Triumph
This is the battle of the ages. Or more specifically, the battle of the adventures. Adventure Motorcycles has grown from about 4% of the market about 5 years ago, to a full 10% of the market today. This makes ADV bikes, the fastest growing segment. Since the genesis of Adventure bikes, BMW has been leader. They practically invented it.
The king of the Adventure Bikes is the R1200GS.
As of this moment, I’m riding a white 2015 GS with the new liquid cooled engine, which is the same exact mill that is in the R1200R that I recently tested. This is a great engine. World Class. And honestly, one of the best engines in Motorbikes – period. It has plenty of power, plenty of torque, and is very compliant and composed. The blue GS in the photo above is a 2012 model, which is using the tried and true old Air Cooled version, which is the same as what you would get in the R Nine T bike… which people are loving.
Now, the #1 Contender to the King of Adventure is the Triumph Explorer. There are others out there that want that title, namely the KTM Adventure, Ducati’s Multistrada, Harley’s… no… Not Harley. Harley doesn’t have anything in this segment. But pretty much everyone else does, and they all want a piece of this action. But for Full Sized, Full Power Adventure, in my humble opinion, the Triumph Explorer is the only real challenger for the Crown.
The Explorer is powered by Triumphs 1200 Triple. This gives the Explorer 1/3 more pistons… but really what it gives you is a much smoother power delivery. From a rolling start to a pinned throttle, the Triumph surges forward with a sense of power and speed of biblical proportions. In just the span of a few heart beats, you are absolutely flying.
BMW owners always speak of the lower center of gravity thanks to that boxer engine. And that’s true. But this really only matters at crawling speeds. Once you are rolling and you have your landing gear up and locked on the pegs, this doesn’t matter at all, and the Explorer feels just as composed. I think the Explorer handles beautifully and turns in like a dream. Every bit as good as the GS. In fact, I liked the way the Explorer handled long sweeps and transitions to opposite lean angles better than the BMW. But that’s just my opinion, and could very well be my impression based on difference the tires could be giving instead of just the bikes. Well… Whatever the Explorer is rolling on, is the tire every bike of this sort should be working with. Because it’s fantastic.
The Triumph’s power plant stomps a mudhole in the BMW’s. It just does. It feels far more energetic and willing to be naughty than the more librarian BMW. But where the BMW shines is in the avionics. The Electronic Sorcery in the BMW is more sorted, better layed out and executed. With the BMW I was able to play with the system and quickly came to an understanding of how it all worked. With the Triumphs’s package, I had to RTFM and asked to be shown how to do it. This wasn’t Ogre being a knuckle dragger… this is the Triumph’s system being flat out poorly designed and executed.
Example 1: Traction Control. On the BMW, you select Rain Mode, Road Mode, Dynamic Mode, or your own User Defined Modes. Done. Easy as that. Find the mode you want, select it, and it will be in that mode until you decide you need something different. On the Triumph, you have Mode 1. Mode 2… WTF? Where’s the TTC Decoder Ring? What’s Mode 1 do? What’s Mode 2? What’s TTC? What is all this?
Example 2: You finally set it to the mode you want, after consulting a Customer Service Department in India, and you go for a little ride. You stop for a gas up or a cool beverage and go to turn the bike on again. All the sudden that Traction Control Mode has gone back to Default Settings and all that previous effort has been lost.
Example 3: Keyless Ignition can be found on the BMW GS series. This is not found on the Triumph. This is 2016, and soon to be 2017… and Triumph still hasn’t given us Keyless Ignition. Keyless is the future. Keep the Key Fob in your pocket, and your fine. This is a small detail no one cares about – until you’ve used it. And it’s like the first time you got to use Blu-Tooth. You don’t want to go back to anything else.
Because of these 3 examples, it’s easy to conclude that the BMW might be the winner. And for some… it is. But for me… the Bike its self is what’s important and I think the Triumph, though simple and less high tech…. has the much better engine. It’s the engine that pulls you out of the danger zone and forward unto dawn… not the Menu Layout. Between riding the two bikes, I had a much better experience on the Triumph. I really liked both, don’t get me wrong. Both bikes are truly World Beaters… I just liked the Explorer better.
For me, the winner is the Triumph Explorer.
2016 BMW R1200R
2016 BMW R1200R. Just a simple standard motorcycle, done very well. Just a wonderful motorcycle. Let me tell you why…
Very comfortable, with an easy upright position, mid, to slightly rear sets on the foot controls that is comfortable but just back enough to be sporty. The seat is good for several hours in the saddle at a time without causing any pain in the buttocks. The mirrors are actually usable, and stay put and stable at speed.
But really, this bike is all about that engine. That classic BMW Boxer 1200. It’s rolling on 125 horses that are packing 92 pounds of torque. And that is a lot of power in what is really a small-ish bike. What’s great about it though is the way BMW has made all that power very accessible and controllable. There are three riding modes for the traction control and suspension. Rain, Road, and Dynamic. Dynamic is the fun mode. Like all BMW’s now, ABS is standard of course.
But there’s more to the engine than just numbers. The engine can be lugged, and you can just put put put around at low speeds… and if you want to go fast… This bike is fully FAST capable.
The brakes are very good. With the ABS system that works as well as this one does. Highway Speed to Full Stop under Death Grip Brake Stomp happens very suddenly, but with no drama, no skittering and nothing unexpected. The bike just comes to a well controlled stop.
The suspension is excellent. It takes in all irregularities and small bumps and turn them into distant miles behind you. The bike is very composed when the tarmac is less than perfect. Even in turns, under acceleration.
The R1200R is all about Competence. The bike just does everything well, without being flashy. It has no flair that might draw unwanted attention or get you accused of being a showboat. The R1200R is subtle in being awesome. It’s so subtle in fact that it garners very little attention in the motorcycle press. And in the showroom it’s one that is often overlooked and passed by, by those who’s eyes are caught by the more flashy of bikes. It might be the Big Brother to the R Nine T series, which might look more trendy and hip. Especially the R Nine T Scrambler… which is just amazing looking. But the R1200R should be the one you look at first. The R1200R has the better tech, and while it’s a similar 1200 Boxer to the Nine T series, this version is tuned to higher output thanks to the liquid cooling. Which makes it far more versatile for long range riding, more spirited riding, and lower maintenance.
When you are on a truly great bike, you can tell because the ride is about the ride and the bike becomes transparent. You don’t think about the bike anymore and all your attention is on the ride. And that’s what this bike does… It disappears when you get rolling and all you are thinking about is the road ahead. This is a beautiful thing.
BMW is most impressive with the engineering they’ve put into this machine. The quick shifter system, the switch gear, the GPS ready set up, the keyless ignition, the heated grips… And the simple menu system that only took a moment to figure out without having to pull out the manual. This bike makes my old ZX-11 look like it was from the Bronze Age.