Neiman Marcus has a range of “Wow Gifts” in their latest Christmas Book for the super rich, including the stunning, limited edition Fighter Motorcycle, which we have covered earlier too. This beast from Confederate Motor Company packs 190 mph of terrific performance into its avant-garde carbon fiber, titanium, and aluminum chassis. Attention has been paid to every detail and the finest of the materials have been used in the making. Only 45 units have been put into production and 39 only will are available before the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book is closed. Priced at $110,000, the limited edition Fighter Motorcycle gives a stiff competition to Chicara Nagata’s handmade million dollar motorcycles.

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Toyota showed off three Tundra concepts in Las Vegas but the coolest one in town was by far was the Ducati Desmosedici Transporter. Built to carry the only street legal MotoGP bike ever produced, the scorching hot Ducati Desmosedici RR, the customized Tundra has been modified to accept a 6.5-inch bed that features flip up bedsides and a motorized loading ramp. The pickup truck is of course tied thematically to the bike, incorporating the Italian motorcycle company’s red paint finish with white stripes. Power is provided by a 5.7-liter supercharged V8 engine producing 500HP and 550-lbs/ft of torque.

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Fuelled by rising gas prices, sales of motorcycles in the U.K. soared by 22% in July according to figures released by the Motor Cycle Industry Association (MCI). Motorcycle registrations in July were 14,306, an increase of 2,578 over the same month last year, while total registrations for the first seven months of the year are up 1% at 87,551. In contrast, the car market in the UK fell almost 13% in July and is nearly 3% down from the beginning of the year. -Continued

In July, registrations of bikes of up to 50cc increased by more than 35% and engines from 51cc to 125cc increased by almost 31%. Bikes with engines from 651cc to 1,000cc increased by 40%. Scooter and moped (up to 50cc) sales increased by almost 27% and 34.5% respectively while naked motorcycles performed strongly with a 46.5% increase. The only category to show a decline in the month was trail / enduro bikes with -7.9%.

The biggest-selling make in the UK in July was Honda with 2,011 registrations followed by Yamaha (1,860) and Suzuki (1,486) while the best-selling bikes were two Yamaha 125cc models, the YZF R125 with 338 units and the YBR 125 with 277 units.

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At the 2003 Detroit Motor Show Dodge unveiled a monstrous creation called the Tomahawk; a unique motorcycle with two front wheels and two rear wheels powered by a 500HP 8.3L V10 engine from the Viper. Although the Tomahawk was never intended to for production, Chrysler actually built 10 running (but not road-legal) examples that were sold for $550,000 a piece through Neiman Marcus. Now, a Chinese maker decided it was time that someone re-introduced the Tomahawk into the market as a cheap knock-off called the KMD K-007 Tron Bike MC-06. How cheap? Well, $1,398 will buy you a poorly executed Tomahawk replica. For that kind of money don’t expect any mechanical wonders as the original concept’s 500 HP V10 engine has been replaced by a… 150cc single cylinder engine that pumps out a staggering 10 HP. However, just like the original Tomahawk, the KMD is not street legal…See more pics after the jump Continued

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Volkswagen may not be the only auto manufacturer interesting in a storied Italian motorcycle maker. Hot on the heels of its purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover, rumors are swirling that Tata may be considering purchasing a stake in MV Agusta. According to a few Indian and Italian sources, Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, is reportedly in talks with Claudio Castiglioni, the man running the show at MV Agusta.

Tata’s involvement with MV Agusta could inject a unique flavor to the Indian conglomerate’s portfolio, which has already been boosted by its acquisition of the two aforementioned classic British marques. A healthy injection of cash could do wonders for MV Agusta as well, considering what it has already proven capable of even in its currently meager financial position.

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Let the speculation end! BMW has officially pulled the covers off of its S 1000 RR race bike, which will sprout a production model next year. General Director of BMW Motorrad Hendrik von Kuenheim says that the company is committed to building 1,000 units of the new model next year. Featuring a 1000cc inline-four transversely mounted between the frame rails and an upside-down front fork, the RR is rather conventional by BMW standards. This has allowed the Motorrad to keep the bike as compact as possible, which can be attested to by the fact that it has been spotted lapping tracks in Yamaha R6 bodywork. So far, no specifications have been given regarding power levels, but we fully expect it to be competitive with the Superbike front-runners. Traction control is also reportedly put to good use. Judging from the extensive use of (bare) carbon fiber, we’d expect the weight to be on par with the competition, as well. There’s an entire speech pasted after the break, so be sure to check it out.

BMW plans to crack the top ten next year in World Superbike racing and is expecting podium finishes the following year. Considering the fact that the Big Four Japanese manufacturers literally have a head start measuring a few decades on BMW, it’s probably wise to set attainable goals for now. Though we’re looking forward to more details regarding the S 1000 RR superbike, at least we have some pretty pictures to gaze at until then.

(source: autoblog)

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Ferdinand Peich, the Chairman of Volkswagen, wishes that the German automaker had purchased Ducati all the way back in 1985 when the iconic Italian motorcycle marque was experiencing financial troubles and was for sale. “I would still like a small, valuable motorcycle manufacturer,” says the 71-year-old Peich, who rides a Ducati himself. Considering the close ties that Volkswagen has with Porsche, which helped create Harley-Davidson’s sportiest models, we could imagine some amazing two-wheeled creations rolling out of Wolfsburg. In fact, there’s a certain three-wheeler called the GX3 that we’d love to see back in the product pipeline ASAP.

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