GOMC - Novelties

Can-Am Spyder RT 2010

Can-Am's 3-legged Spyder is back for 2010, and it's all decked out for touring... To read the review, originally published in the Los Angeles Times, April 28, 2010, click here. 

Sachs Madass 125

 

Currie's beach cruiser electric bicycle is good for flatlanders

The name of this electric beach cruiser bicycle is inelegant and absurdly long, but it tells you exactly what it's for... To read the rest of the review of Currie Technologies' IZip Urban Cruiser Enlightened Low Step, originally published on www.latimes.com December 3, 2009, click here.

PiCycle pedals with high style

The PiCycle electric bicycle is rideable art... To read the rest of the review of the PiCycle, originally published on www.latimes.com October 16, 2009, click here.

Half car, half bike, it's the 2010 Harley-Davidson Street Glide Trike

Before I rode Harley-Davidson’s new Street Glide Trike, my attitude about three-wheeled cruisers was that they were geezer machines – ridden by old guys whose backsides were as big as their bikes’. The thousands of dollars riders paid to convert their motorcycles into road-going half-breeds seemed a steep price to pay just to avoid putting their feet down. But riding Harley’s latest, I learned otherwise... To read the rest of the review of the 2010 Harley-Davidson Street Glide Trike, originally published on www.latimes.com September 25, 2009, click here.

A 2009 take on 1903

The oldest known Harley-Davidson is so valuable, it’s sealed in a glass box at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. No one at the museum will venture a guess as to the value of its Serial No. 1, but with higher-production later model years going for hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s probably at least a mil if it’s ever let out of its cage and sold to the highest bidder. At least poor-man riders who want to fake the experience of that vintage Hog have some options, one of them being the $2,500 Ridley Motorcycles 1903... To read the rest of the review of the Ridley 1903, originally published on www.latimes.com June 5, 2009, click here.

Getting from A to B on Ultra Motor's A2B Metro electric bicycle

When it comes to annual sales, bicycles speed past motorcycles. About 20 million bikes are sold in the U.S. every year compared with a measly mil for motorcycles, though the two categories are, in other ways, similar. The majority of both are sold for recreation. Transportation is a small minority. But small is a relative term. In the bicycle world, 1 million people use their rides for commuting. That population might be even larger if it weren't for lazy people like me, who live close enough to work to entertain the idea of bicycle commuting but don't because we'll sweat. Enter the bike for the inactive: An electric, such as the Ultra Motor A2B Metro... To read the rest of the review of the A2B, originally published on www.latimes.com May 15, 2009, click here.

GG Motorrad Quadster is a four-wheeled outlaw who can't keep a low profile

It looks like a motorcycle. It sounds like a motorcycle. And it is a motorcycle. Sort of. GG Motorrad Technik's new GG Quadster is actually a four-wheeled BMW K1200S -- only its body's been replaced with a double-wide backside and front end... To read the rest of the review of the GG Motorrad Quadster, originally published in the Los Angeles Times May 14, 2008, click here.

Tri-Rod Adrenaline adds speed along with its extra wheel

Unlike the rest of the three-wheeled field, which looks at the third wheel as a safety feature, TriRod Motorcycles sees it as a performance enhancement. The San Diego shop hasn't just added an extra wheel to the front of its F3 Adrenaline. It's upgraded the tires to automotive Pirellis and widened the spread of its twin wheels, so the F3 can carry more speed more aggressively through corners without running the risk of tipping over... To read the rest of the story about the Tri-Rod Adrenaline, originally published in the Los Angeles Times January 2, 2008, click here.

Piaggio MP3 500 has designs on sportiness, safety

Piaggio's groundbreaking MP3 250 hasn't even been on the market for a year, and already it's the bestselling scooter in the Piaggio brand lineup. So what's a manufacturer to do? Capitalize on that success with a one-two punch: a pair of 400-cc and 500-cc maxi-scooters that use the same twinned wheels and articulated front end to increase the bike's stability and riders' sense of calm... To read the rest of the review of the 2008 Piaggio MP3 500, originally published in the Los Angeles Times January 2, 2008, click here.