Top Speed Motorcycles

Posted on 12.16.2011 20:00 by Kirby Filed under: BMW Ferrari | custom | quad atv | Motorcycles | Motorcycle News

French bike builder, Lazareth, has come out with their latest creation, which not only raises eyebrows for its design, but also because of the power train it carries.

The vehicle is called the Wazuma V8F, a quad vehicle that looks the part of a trike, except that it actually has four wheels. The standard three-wheel configuration makes it confusing but upon further inspection, you’ll notice that it actually has a pair of rear tires attached closely together.

The curious design of the Wazuma V8F is one of many things that are peculiar about this vehicle. For a bike of its size, Lazareth put a lot of attention in adding some expensive parts, including the extensive use of carbon fiber that can be found all over the machine. On top of that, the Wazuma V8F also has a new set of modified 18″ MOMO wheels to go with Brembo caliper brakes, and four horizontal shock absorbers specifically designed for the vehicle.

And then here’s where it gets really interesting. The Wazuma V8F has quite a power train inside of it, one that comes courtesy of a famous Italian automaker you’re probably familiar with. Yep, inside this intriguing quad lies a 3.0-liter Ferrari V8 engine that produces in excess of 250 horsepower and mated to a BMW M3-sourced six-speed sequential gearbox.

A Ferrari engine mated with a BMW gearbox and encased in this design? Yeah, that’s what makes the Lazareth Wazuma V8F a quad like no other.

Lazareth Wazuma V8F originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 16 December 2011 20:00 EST.

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Top Speed Motorcycles

Before you start shouting ‘blasphemy!’ at the sight of this Ferrari motorcycle, we’re going to calm your nerves down and tell you that this bike wasn’t made by Ferrari, but is actually a custom-made bike made by David Kay and his people at Kay Engineering as a tribute to the father of the Prancing Horse, Enzo Ferrari.

Built in the mid-90’s after Kay received permission to put the Ferrari badge on the custom bike from Piero Ferrari, Enzo’s son, with a note including “the approval to place the Ferrari badge on your motorbike”.

After 3,000 man-hours of working on the bike, the final product is a beast that features a ’scratch built’ 900cc, transverse, double overhead camshaft, four cylinder, eight valve unit with magnesium and alloy casings, driven through a five speed gearbox. As for the body of the bike, Kay Engineering used hand-crafted aluminum while using magnesium black casings on the engine. The final product is a bike that produces 105 horsepower at 8,800 rpm with a dry weight of only 172 kg and an estimated top speed of 265 km/h.

So why exactly are we fawning over a Ferrari-badged custom bike made in the mid-90’s? Well, naturally, the bike is going to be auctioned off soon.

The Ferrari 900 bike is going to be on the auction block at a Race Retro event that’s set to take place at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry on February 25th-27th. So how much is this car going to cost? Estimates say that the custom bike is going to fetch a price of around £250,000, which, if you’re keeping count, is a shade under $400,000.

Still interested?

Custom one-off Ferrari 900 Motorcycle up for auction originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 13 December 2010 22:15 EST.

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Top Speed Motorcycles

What looks to be a slightly more complex approach towards the classic idea of a mountain bike actually ends up being claimed the “Ferrari of electric bikes”. Yes, this is the M55 Bike EVO-001, an electric bike that simply cannot pass unnoticed by those interested in this particular segment of electric vehicles.

Based in Hungary, M55 have developed the bike for the past three years and after five prototypes, they’re taking it to the production line. Built around a one-piece molded aluminium frame, the M55 Bike EVO-001 doesn’t seem to bring anything new on the market, but it is actually its integrated battery pack and a centrally mounted motor that make a difference.

M55 has put together two different versions for two different types of fun. The most powerful isn’t street legal, but an off-road sport version with a 1300 W (1.7 hp) motor, while its homologated sibling comes powered by a 250 W (0.33 hp) motor.

So, what is it that could turn this into a Flinstone vehicle because it certainly ain’t the motor. Well, the fact is that on both bikes the engine speed is controlled by the rider through the pedals. This means that both man and machine work together towards…Flinstones-style commuting? But let’s not be mean as this is an ingenious way to save up the A123 systems battery.

Furthermore, the five-speed engine is backed up by a Rohloff Speedhub with 14 gears, which is positioned in the rear wheel hub. All these combined turn the sport version of the M55 Bike EVO-001 into a 43 mph green machine, but definitely not into a Ferarri.

Other fancy, but not entirely necessary, bits are the Brembo disc brakes.

The Hungarian manufacturer only plans to produce 250 of these bikes, so don’t expect them to be cheap. Hit the jump for the official video.

"Ferrari of electric bikes" or a modern Flinstone vehicle? [w/video] originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 29 April 2010 12:10 EST.

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