Öhlins MotoGP Forks and Shocks
All sorts of interesting goodies are on display at the Dealer Expo, and you have to be pretty sharp to catch them all.  I was walking down the aisle outside of the main display area and this old (1973?) CZ dirt bike caught my eye.  What a beauty!  I then realized it was an Öhlins display and the bike is owned by one of the Öhlins reps who races in vintage motocross. 

We started talking about Öhlins forks and shocks for vintage bikes; apparently they were going to discontinue manufacturing them but there's been a strong demand over the last year, so they're planning on continuing for now.

While we were chatting, I noticed their other display -- a set of MotoGP forks and rear shock.  The rep said this set was nearly identical to those used on Valentino Rossi's Yamaha.  I tried to take notes and I think he said they're called the TTX model. 

I thought that the flutes on the forks were added to increase stiffness, but they actually give the forks some controlled flex when the bike is leaned over.  Modern MotoGP style frames became so stiff that the bikes were losing their ability to absorb bumps when leaned over, which seems to be about 50% of the time (!), so adding lateral flexibility has been a focus of attention over the last few years.

I don't know much about shock internals, to be honest, but apparently the rear shock has all of the adjustments for compression and rebound in the external reservoir, and each can be adjusted completely independently from the other.  The rep said that usually one adjustment affects the other, but not on this shock.  Something about the design completely eliminates cavitation in the oil also.

I grabbed the wrong catalog -- I took the off-road version instead of the street version.  Anyway, here are the photos:

Corbin Beetle Bags for Kawasaki ZX-14
ZX-14 owners are going to love this: Corbin released a version of the Beetle Bags (or at least I think that's what they'll call these) for the new Kawi.  The bags look fantastic and they really compliment the lines of this incredible Superbike.  Sure, Kawasaki has the ZX-14 based Concours, but if you want it all, you could pop on a set of these bags and put it in hyperdrive.

These bags are so new that Corbin has no information that I could find.  There's no information on the Corbin website about these bags other than two tiny photos, so the pics below represent the latest information available.

Giannini Supermini Mini Moto Pocket Bikes
There are way too many no-name scooter, ATV and motorcycle manufacturers represented at the Indy show.  Something has to give at some point -- the market just can't support 60 or so different brands of, say, 50cc plastic-bodied scooters.

This is especially true in the world of pocket bikes.  Their recent popularity has created a huge market with everyone and their cousin all of a sudden in the pocket bike business.

Well, you can forget about all of them -- this is the real deal; a line of super pocket bikes, custom made and hand fabricated by Ferruccio Giannini ex-motorcycle racer, mechanic and, from the looks of these machines, pocket bike genius.

These are all-out racing bikes, using the highest spec parts, machined from billet.  Good stuff like titanium tube frames, based on Ducati designs or fabricated Spondon-like chassis show a real passion for the sport.

Each pocket bike is custom-tailored to the individual purchaser's specifications.  The detail on these mini gems is amazing, right down to CNC-machined custom heads for the 4-valve, water cooled engines.  Even the brakes look like the pocket bike version of the radial fronts on Rossi's Yamaha.

Check out these photos: