HARLEY'S NIGHTSTERThe all-new Harley-Davidson XL 1200N Nightster was launched last month in Orlando, Florida. Lenny Burns of Waterford Harley-Davidson was very impressed with the new motorcycle: "It's very very easy on the eye," he says.
The Nightster combines low seating of 25.3 inches with high-powered torque of the rubber-mounted Evolution V-Twin engine.
"The XL 1200N Nightster is a blacked-out street bike that continues a half-century of Sportster tradition of innovative fun and versatile motorcycles," says Bill Davidson, Harley-Davidson director of motorcycle product development.
Its look and feel centres around the low chassis. It's "an inch lower than the XL Sportster 1200 Low and among the lowest riding of all Harley-Davidson models," according to Harley-Davidson. The Nightster is available in Vivid Black, as well as four two-tone paint schemes and a Harley-Davidson fuel tank graphic. The fuel cap, headlamp trim ring and oil dipstick cover are coated in a new Silver Satin finish. According to Burns, the blacked out Nightster will be very practical to maintain: "After you wash the bike there'll be very little polishing to do, which is great maintenance wise." Harley-Davidson in Waterford expects to have this bike in stock by July and the price range, although not confirmed "should be in the same region as the XL 1200 R Sportster, around €12,800," according to Burns.
TT WEBSITE RELAUNCHED
Iomtt.com, the official Isle of Man TT website, is to be re-launched with new features for the upcoming 2007 centenary races on May 26th to June 8th. Operating since 1998 by Duke, the website is increasing its user capacity and incorporating features such as radio commentary synchronised with live data and webcams during the races to cope with worldwide interest in this year's event.
"With over one million visitors a year and peak traffic of nearly 30,000 visitors per race day, iomtt.com has only just coped with international demand for TT information in recent years," according to Peter Duke, managing director of Duke.
In this year's races the updated site will deliver a comprehensive rolling news service and extensive data from the live timing system, including the option to follow the progress of a "rider of choice". And if you're at work during the races a "mini dashboard" version of race data will also be available for bike fans who want to follow the action from their desks. To fund these enhancements there will be a subscription fee of £10 (about €15) to access the web services during the races but the site will remain free of charge the rest of the year.
The new site is scheduled for launch at the end of February. For more information visit: www.iomtt.com