Monster Energy gathered a group of legendary racers together at the Paul Ricard circuit seemingly just because it would be awesome. The riders include 7 time Formula 1 World Champion Michael Shumacher, master of the Isle of Man John McGuiness, respected Grand Prix racer Randy Mamola, 2012 Moto2 runner up Pol Espargaro and endurance racer Keith Flint.
DRIVE channel’s Ride Apart segment featured this fascinating interview of the Vice President of Design for the Piaggio Group, Miguel Galluzzi. He is responsible for the design of the Ducati Monster and the Moto Guzzi V7 among other bikes. Hailing from Argentina, Galluzzi and his brother got their first motorcycle from their uncle as a birthday present instead of the drum set they were hoping for. From there they both started racing motocross before Galluzzi moved to Florida to study Mechanical Engineering. Once in Florida, Miguel transferred to the Art Center to study design. His work has been very influential in the world of Cafe Racers and naked bikes because he keeps things “simple and strong.” Watch the video to hear about the rest of his philosophy and what it means for a design to have soul.
Meet Red Bull – KTM enduro rider, Cyril Despres. Cyril was born to two restaurateurs in France before moving to Paris to work on motorcycles. He began riding Enduros in 1998 becoming the French champion during his first year. Despres then sold 6,000 bottles of wine to fund his first trip to the Dakar rally in 2000. Cyril has since won the Dakar Rally four times in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2012 tying him for the most wins. All of his Dakar win money goes to support a school for 324 children in Africa. Red Bull released this promo video of Cyril as he prepares for the upcoming 2013 Dakar.
One of the themes that I like to encourage here at Flux Auto is for people to embrace being craftsmen, fabricators and makers. Take a stack of raw materials and use your skills with tools and machines to turn it into something valuable. Nobody sells what you want? Build it. I’m going to go a deeper into this subject in a big upcoming post, but just know that right now is the Age of the Maker. It’s going to be the people with creative ideas and even more creative methods of quick and effective execution that’s going to infuse our slumbering economy with some much needed innovation. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.
This video features Evan Wilcox of Hatter Motorcycles. He talks about how he got into sheet metal fabrication and what keeps him motivated to continually improve his skill set. I hope there are more people in this world that have this kind of passion. We need them now more than ever.
The two owners of Dime City Cycles sit down and share with us the philosophy behind their business of building Cafe Racers. They’ve become a thriving parts supplier in the last four years despite of the slow economy. In fact, they say that the slow economy has helped their business grow since more people are looking into turning cheap motorcycles into cool Cafe Racers that they can ride to work everyday. Use your own hands and skills to build something that you want and can use without spending a lot of money. Flux Auto completely endorses that school of thought.