plus 4, Memorable Motorcycle: MV Agusta F4 1000R - Motorcycle USA

Memorable Motorcycle: MV Agusta F4 1000R - Motorcycle USA
Preserving WQED footage leads to plenty of surprises - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Terengganu State Assembly: RM5m to tackle â€˜Mat Rempitâ ... - The Malaysian Insider
Woman lost life after beating cancer - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Young wins seventh motorcycle title - State Journal-Register

Memorable Motorcycle: MV Agusta F4 1000R - Motorcycle USA

Posted: 24 Dec 2009 10:53 PM PST

I am a very fortunate motorcyclist. Not only have I got all the bikes I need - I have also got all the bikes I want. Except one. Until I rode the MV Agusta F4 1000 I could not see the value in spending a lot of money on a bike which will, in half a blink of an eye, not only lose your driving license but will also get you a healthy spell in jail. Now I have ridden this utterly incredible motorcycle, I want one.

So let's start at the end of the story and work backwards. On the track, and believe me this is the only place to fully experience the F4, distances are crushed. Not only does every single corner arrive at Star Wars' speed but there is the overwhelming sense that the F4 is not even breaking into a sweat when going as quickly as a World Superbike race machine The top speed is somewhere around a genuine 185mph - that's probably 200mph showing on the speedometer - but it is the dismissive way this velocity is achieved which is so impressive.

With 171 hp and 81 lb-ft of torque, the MV, logically, has to be blisteringly fast but it is the manner and style of its performance when compared with other icons of power, like the Suzuki Hayabusa or Kawasaki ZX-10R, which makes the bike unique. In terms of stats, loyal supporters of other hyper sportbikes will say, rightly and properly, that they can get 99% of the MV's performance from an R1, CBR1000RR or certainly a Ducati 1098R. The 1% which is missing is the contemptuous ease with which the MV reaches speeds only matched by a very fast light aircraft: that is the magic of the bike.

The F4 1000's bloodline began in 1998 with the first F4 - a beautiful, but flawed, masterpiece which came from the drawing board of Massimo Tamburini. There is no arguing that Ing. Tamburini is one of the world's greatest motorcycle designers and the F4 is arguably an even more complete concept than his iconic Ducati 916.

In all Tamburini's designs, two elements run side by side - and are of equal importance. One strand is the motorcycle as art - where form and function meld into one cohesive element which is quite simply breathtaking. Running parallel with the artist's creation is a fully functional motorcycle. Tamburini's bikes are not custom bike show pieces. They work in real life, and without any compromise.

Standing right alongside the master from the first design sketches was Claudio Castiglioni, the owner of MV Agusta at the time of the original F4 launch. Claudio quite literally worshipped, and still does today for that matter, Tamburini and gave him a blank check to produce the best sports motorcycle in the world.

I remember standing with Claudio in the then MV factory, on the banks of Lake Varese, watching whilst each piston in the F4 was individually measured and weighed to the same standards as would be applied to a hand-built race bike. Claudio beamed happily like a kid at Christmas - but I wondered what the Japanese would think of this obsession with detail, as their bikes flew off the production line by the thousand.

The original F4 engine was inspired by the 1992 Ferrari F1 race car engine. Cagiva engineers (Cagiva owned MV at the time) soon moved it on but they did retain the Ferrari radial valve layout of the car racing motor. The result was a manically high revving engine which was hard work to ride on the road and was also slower than the larger capacity Japanese competition. The riding position was savage and the clip ons trapped your hand on full lock. This caused many F4 owners to feel the full pain of MV ownership in one of two ways. Hang on to the 'bars and break your fingers: let go and have the F4 fall over, trash its fairing and consequently ram-raid your bank account paying for the repairs. MV ownership is never for the uncommitted!

Against all this was the absolutely unquestionable fact that the F4 was the most beautiful bike of the late 20th century and probably one of the most stunning of all time. By 2005, the original F4 was still breathtakingly beautiful but was beginning to look dated in terms of performance. The Japanese might not have been weighing every single piston which went into their bikes - but they were spending a lot of money on R&D.

The new F4 was just 249cc bigger than its older sibling but was night and day better. Peak power was now almost 2,000 rpm lower than the earlier motor and both the power and torque were hugely increased. The multi-point fuel injection system was all new and benefited hugely from a very trick Magneti Marelli 5SM ECU. Although superseded now by an even more sophisticated design, the F4 1000R's ECU has two particularly clever tricks.

The first of these is sequential fuel injection which allows the engine to deal with the problems of the lean running necessary to pass emissions' regulations which now constrain all manufacturers. Just as useful, #2 cylinder is allowed to produce torque when the throttle is fully closed giving, in effect, all the benefits of a slipper clutch. On the track, the rider never knows this happening - except for the fact that the rear wheel never locks even under savage deceleration.

The riding position has been changed so that F4 owners bigger than a Lord of the Rings' elf can now fit on the bike without dying of discomfort. The tank is shorter and the 'bars higher and wider. And, joy of joys, full lock is available without the finger crushing.

But what does remain is sheer, utter, motorcycling beauty. I spent ten minutes just walking round the F4 before riding it because it really is gorgeous. The number of F4s which live in their owner's lounge must be the highest of any motorcycle in the world - and you can see why.

The best thing is that the more closely the bike is scrutinized the better it becomes. From any angle, every line is perfect; every weld immaculate; every fitting impeccable. Yes, the F4s are a lot more expensive than their Japanese competitors but, if you love bikes, they are worth every cent.

Then the bike is fired up and the unique soprano wail emanates from the four underseat pipes. Somehow, MV has got this exhaust system homologated for road use world wide but how, with a noise like the F4 emits, is beyond me.

The riding position is committed sports riding - and there is no argument about this. However, it is vastly more comfortable than the original F4. I am 5' 11" and I can fit in between the sinuously sculpted tank and race style seat - and yet still have a little "wriggle room". The clutch is light and progressive and so it's a fuss free ride down the pit lane and out on to the magnificent Anglesey track.

The power isn't aggressive, or difficult to use, but simply sits there like some huge pet tiger, obediently ready to leap into action. Open the throttle gently and the F4 will respond in a most mild mannered fashion. Truly, you could potter along in a supermarket car park, or a race paddock, in the most inoffensive manner imaginable. Five miles an hour and feet up, the beautifully balanced F4 is less trouble than a 50cc scooter.

But wind open the throttle and suddenly the world becomes a different place. As I said in the introduction, it's not so much the speed but the way that the performance is delivered which is so impressive. Coming out of the tight hairpin at Anglesey at maybe 30mph, the F4 simply scorched up to an indicated 120 mph in less than 200 yards. Had the F4 been a factory test bike, rather than the very precious personal possession of classic race enthusiast Peter Kent, I would have hung on for another 30 yards and certainly have seen 125 mph on the speedo before hitting the radial Brembo brakes for the off camber right-hand sweeper of School corner.

The handling was absolutely sublime. The carbon-nitride coated, upside down Marzocchi forks and Sachs rear shock performed perfectly. I know, for certain, that a good British Superbike rider would find fault but I would question whether 99.5% of riders need anything better.

The race derived cassette gearbox is state of the art and, should you so wish, your mechanic can pop in an alternative gear cluster in less than 20 minutes - whilst you have a coffee and sign autographs. Regardless of the limited value of being able to swap gearboxes faster than you can grill a hamburger on the paddock barbecue, the 'box works perfectly.

In fact the world "perfect" has appeared a lot in this story - as well it might. There is no more beautiful sportbike made in the world and the performance is so good that only major riding deities will be able to find fault with it.

So, is it worth tolerating MV's erratic production and less than perfect spares backup? Is it worth taking a chance on the discounting which MV regularly undertakes at the cost of owners who have paid the full price for their very expensive machines? Is it worth spending 25% more than a Japanese Superbike costs for only a marginally better performance?

The answer to all three questions is an unequivocal, yes. Get saving now!

Our thanks to Peter Kent for the loan of his precious bike and the Anglesey race circuit (www.anglesey-race-circuit.co.uk) for their hospitality.

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Preserving WQED footage leads to plenty of surprises - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Posted: 24 Dec 2009 09:56 PM PST

At The Media Preserve, the audio/video division of Preservation Technologies in Cranberry, each day of work preserving old footage from the archives of WQED is a little bit like Christmas.

When preservationists open a film canister or begin to play an old videotape, they never know exactly what they might find or what condition it will be in.

"We see stuff no one has seen before," said Bob Strauss, Media Preserve vice president of marketing and sales. And if the footage has been seen, in many cases, it's been decades.

WQED is one of 22 public broadcasting radio and television stations nationwide to advance to Phase II of the American Archive Pilot Program managed by Oregon Public Broadcasting for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

This program marks the first effort to create a uniform process for preserving, archiving and indexing media produced since the earliest days of public broadcasting. It also aims to rescue deteriorating collections that are gathering dust in public broadcasting stations nationwide.

In Phase I, OPB offered 25 stations up to $10,000 in grants to locate and inventory portions of their tape/film library related to the American Civil Rights Movement and local spinoffs of Ken Burns' "The War." Phase II gives stations up to $100,000 in grant money to restore and digitize a small portion of what's in their archives.

In going through its own video library, WQED employees discovered content on many different media formats, including some 16mm films that "literally we have not looked at since they were put into cans and stuck on a shelf 40 and 50 years ago," said executive director of marketing and communications Rosemary Martinelli.

"Heritage," a public affairs interview show from the mid-1950s, is among the programs getting close attention.

"We found four half-hour programs where there are interviews with some of the most prominent people of the day," Martinelli said, including Major League Baseball executive Branch Rickey, known for integrating baseball with Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente. Other canisters on the shelf at The Media Preserve are labeled "Eleanor Roosevelt."

The station has also pulled out "WQED Newsroom" episodes from the 1960s and 1970s, some in black and white. One program, which could be "Newsroom" or maybe "Jazz Beat," includes an interview with Louis Armstrong. At first, the preservationists could not find the audio track, but eventually they came upon it. (Some media formats recorded and stored audio and video separately.)

Martinelli said when WQED embarked on this project using a $100,000 CPB grant, she was thrilled to discover Media Preserve in the station's proverbial backyard. At least three other PBS stations are also using Media Preserve to clean up programs from their libraries. The company also helped The Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College and Family Communications preserve and digitize more than 700 episodes of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."

On Wednesday morning, Pat Shevlin, Media Preserve's director of technology, used vintage equipment to play the opening minutes of a 1980 documentary, "The Changing Face of Pittsburgh," reported by Herb Stein and featuring plans for One Oxford Centre and PPG Place and footage of the implosion of the Carlton House Hotel. Earlier he showed a clip from "WQED Presents: Is Anybody Listening?" which included scenes of August Wilson in the Hill District.

Depending on the condition of the media, preservationists must go through different time-consuming cleaning processes before the media is played. And every program is recorded the first time it's run through a machine in the event the aging original is damaged or falls apart and cannot be played again.

"Right now these are elegant paperweights," said Strauss, nodding toward a 2-inch quad videotape reel. "They were never meant to be archival. They were working broadcast media. But once you digitize it, it becomes valuable."

In digital form, the footage could be used by anyone -- licensed to filmmakers, made available to educators -- without having to go through a preservation process or finding equipment to play a long-dead media format.

WQED's Phase II preservation efforts -- about 25-30 hours of older material cleaned up by Media Preserve and another 15 hours of more recent material digitized in-house and cataloged at WQED -- are due to OPB next month. A future CPB goal is to secure additional funding to expand this national media library and make its contents available to the public.

"We hope it's the start of what can be a major ongoing initiative," Martinelli said, "and we hope there are funders out there who can help us keep it going."

USA network has renewed "White Collar" for a second season. ... Canceled ABC animated comedy "The Goode Family" will see its produced episodes turn up on Comedy Central beginning Jan. 4 at 10 p.m. ... Canceled CW drama "The Beautiful Life: TBL" is now available for viewing at YouTube.com, including three unaired episodes. ... Local columnist/author Mike Seate will host the 13-episode "Cafe Racer" (9:30 p.m. Tuesday) for Discovery HD Theater. The series follows his documentary "Cafe Society" about the vintage street racing motorcycle scene.

Follow TV news from the Post-Gazette on Twitter or Facebook. I'm registered as RobOwenTV on both sites.

Today's TV Q&A responds to questions about "One Tree Hill," audio on "The Early Show" and the whereabouts of "At the Movies." Tuned In Journal includes posts about "Hoarders," a new Smothers Brothers book and Nielsen stats for 2009. Read online TV coverage at post-gazette.com/tv.

In this week's Tuned In podcast, enterprise reporter Maria Sciullo and I discuss "Survivor," "Dr. Who" and "Disney's Prep & Landing." Listen or subscribe at post-gazette.com/podcast.

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Terengganu State Assembly: RM5m to tackle â€˜Mat Rempitâ ... - The Malaysian Insider

Posted: 24 Dec 2009 09:56 PM PST

KUALA TERENGGANU, Dec 23 — The Terengganu government is allocating RM5 million for programmes to tackle the "Mat Rempit" (illegal motorcycle racers) problems next year, the State Assembly was told today.

State Youth and Sports Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Rahin Mohd Said said besides the campaign to instill awareness on the dangers of illegal motorcycle racing, programmes would also be carried out to "tame" the racers.

This huge allocation showed the proactive measures by the state government to prevent youngsters from getting involved in unhealthy activities, he added.

He was responding to a supplementary question by Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut (PAS-Wakaf Mempelam) on steps taken by the government to overcome social problems among youngsters in the state.

In response to an original question by Nawi Mohamad (BN-Hulu Besut)on allocation for human capital development for youths, Abdul Rahin said various programmes had been outlined under the youth development plan 2009-2013 for the purpose.

He said they included RM5 million for the construction of youth business complex in each parliamentary constituency in the state.

"The government also provides loans through the youth cooperative," he said, adding that the state government had allocated RM30 million for youth development programmes in the Budget 2010.

Meanwhile, State Tourism, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee chairman Datuk Za'abar Mohamad Adib said the government had not received any complaint of indecent activities or behaviour, like nude bathing and sun-bathing, at tourist destinations in Terengganu.

He said although tourism was an important source of revenue for the state, the government would not tolerate such activities.

"There also a directive prohibiting the sale of liquor to Muslims by chalet operators and those involve in the tourism industry.

"Hotels and chalets in the state are also provided with pamphlets on dress code to be issued to foreign tourists," he said in response to questions by Datuk Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi (PAS-Batu Buruk) on the matter. — Bernama

...
written by wkc, December 23, 2009

How about another RM5 million to "tackle" the illegal vcd sellers, RM5 million to "tackle" the jaga kereta, RM5 million to "tackle" the African fraudsters, RM5 million to "tackle" the China dolls, RM5 million to "tackle" the drug addicts and so on ? WHAT SO SPECIAL ABOUT THESE DAMN MAT REMPITS ? What is needed is enforcement, like arresting, beating and shooting them. Not treating them like schoolboys. They even attacked policemen, crashed road blocks and threw firebombs at police stations, remember ? They are a scrouge to the entire rakyat, not a mere nuisance. The rakyat did not pay taxes to "tame" criminals. Imagine, these criminals assault us, rob us, beat us, injure us and even kill us, yet our tax monies are being diverted to "assist and educate" them further. As if all the corruption and stealing are not enough to bleed the country to death. Our faith and trust have been misplaced so many years.

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Woman lost life after beating cancer - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Posted: 24 Dec 2009 08:16 PM PST

Posted: Dec. 24, 2009

Crystal Daly beat breast cancer, but the disease took a toll on her mental health.

Diagnosed in 2007, the Cudahy High School graduate endured months of radiation, chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, though she hid her emotions and rarely cried, her family said.

Her husband had been at her side throughout her battle against cancer, but their relationship deteriorated - they were in the final stages of divorce in May.

"She was lost," said Angel Young, her sister. "She wanted to do things she never did before. She wanted to leave the past in the past and become a new Crystal. And then she met up with this guy."

That guy was Jay F. Taylor, 33, of Campbellsport.

The Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department says Taylor was intoxicated on May 24 when he rolled a Suzuki racing motorcycle into a ditch on state Highway 67. The crash killed his passenger - Daly, 31, a West Allis resident- who was thrown into a utility pole and died at the scene in the Town of Auburn.

Taylor was charged in June with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and homicide by use of vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration. He faces a maximum of 50 years in prison and a fine of up to $200,000.

According to the criminal complaint, Taylor had five or six beers at a friend's house before driving and his blood alcohol level was 0.14, nearly twice the level considered evidence of intoxication in Wisconsin. Taylor and Daly were not wearing helmets.

While being treated at St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac, Taylor was hysterical, crying "Oh my God, I killed Crystal, I killed Crystal," according to the criminal complaint. He asked the officer "to take a gun and shoot him right now and get it over with," the complaint says.

After he was treated at the hospital, Taylor was accidentally freed rather than handed over to sheriff's deputies, according to the Fond du Lac County district attorney's office. When authorities found him later, tests showed he had been drinking again, the prosecutor on the case said.

Taylor's case received a lot of media attention after it was discovered that a Fond du Lac County bar - Fatties on the Lake - was planning to hold a fund-raiser for him, much to the outrage of Daly's family. The fund-raiser eventually was canceled.

Taylor has a 2004 OWI conviction from Milwaukee County. His jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 26.

Angry at system

Husband Tim Daly, who lives in Cudahy, said he feels a sense of rage at the driver, but more so at the way Wisconsin's criminal justice system handles drunken driving. He said he's worried Taylor will get off with a light prison sentence.

"It's basically a complete joke," Tim Daly said. "In a sense everybody gets a free pass. The justice system does nothing - the police try to do what they can do, but the justice system finds a loophole."

Crystal graduated from Cudahy High in 1997 and most recently worked in the customer service and accounting departments at MetCast Service Tech in New Berlin.

At the time of her death, Tim and Crystal, who had no children, were trying to figure out if they really wanted to split for good. The divorce was never finalized.

"She went to hell and back a bunch of times and I went to hell and back with her," Tim Daly said. "When she finally broke, I didn't know what to do, and her family didn't know what to do. I don't blame her, I don't."

Crystal's life was a constant struggle.

Her father, who died of brain cancer a month after Crystal was killed, was an abusive alcoholic and left the family when she was a little girl, her sister said. Her mother, Dee, died of cirrhosis of the liver when Crystal was only 9 years old.

Their mother sometimes made the kids sell family possessions to neighbors for beer money, Young said.

Young said she is able to cope with Crystal's death because she knows her sister's suffering has ended.

"She's now at peace," Young said. "She doesn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders - that's how I get through it."

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Young wins seventh motorcycle title - State Journal-Register

Posted: 24 Dec 2009 07:40 PM PST

Blake Young of Pawnee has been named winner of the American Motorcyclist Association District 17 Motocross Championship in the Open A class.

Riding a 450 Husqvarna for Hall's Cycles of Springfield, Blake took his seventh motocross title by competing in 22 races at various tracks around the state.

Young began racing bicycles when he was 4 years old and went on to become a five-time state champion in bicycle motocross (BMX). Following years of recreational off-road motorcycling, he began competing seriously on motorcycles when he was 19. Since then, he has won motorcycle championships in the 125cc, 250cc and open (450cc) classes.

Young holds a professional AMA motocross license and competed in his first two pro-national events this past summer.

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