According to Edelweiss Bike Travel, its the longest motorcycle expedition ever offered on Earth, in terms of distance and duration.

More details after the jump.

The 248 day journey will begin from Mieming, Austria, which happens to be the headquarters of the tour operator, Edelweiss Bike Travel, on November 14, 2010 and ends on July 20, 2011.

Looks like there are many options or paths you can take if your not interested in going for the full 248 days.  The trip is broken up into 5 sections and from that there are 6 different packages to choose from.

Section 1: Mieming, Austria to Dakar, Senegal (35 days)

Section 2+3: Buenos Aires, Argentina to Los Angeles (101 days)

Section 5: Beijing, China to Mieming, Austria (56 days)

Section 2+3+4+5: Buenos Aires, Argentina to Mieming, Austria (192 days)

Section 1+2+3: Mieming, Austria to Los Angeles (150 days)

Section 1+2+3+4: Mieming, Austria to Perth, Australia (186 days)

For details on each section, price list and whats exactly included, check out the Edelweiss Bike Travel website but the general price range is from $9,600 US (per rider) to $101,200 US (per rider) for the full tour.  There is a separate charge for passengers and a single room supplement fee on top.

The Hard Rock and a Hog Package includes:

* Two night accommodations
* Day rental from San Diego Harley Davidson
* Detailed map of the best hog rides in the San Diego area
* Gift bag of Harley Davidson goodies
* $40 meal credit for an early morning breakfast at Maryjane’s
* Complimentary access to Float and 207
* Dates: August 21, 2009 – December 30, 2009
* Rates start at $239

If your interested, check out the Hard Rock in San Diego and the San Diego Harley-Davidson sites for more information or for more destination ideas, click here.

Not everyone can pull off a tattoo, I know I can’t.  Or maybe I’m just too scared to ink up my entire arm for the rest of my life, sporting a faded and stretched color blotch when I’m 75 with my grand kids trying to guess what it once was.

Well Harley-Davidson has a solution for me (and maybe you!)

Fake it!

Harley-Davidson’s new clothing line has been designed by “Tattoo Masters” to give you that authentic tattoo look, but on a shirt.

Show your individuality with H-D Ink, a new, limited-edition brand of MotorClothes® apparel. Inked by tattoo masters from around the world and cut from the highest-quality materials, H-D Ink is available exclusively at select H-D dealerships

They’re actually quite fashionable if yer into skulls, eagles, spider webs, and dragons.  I actually think the women’s shirts are way cooler then the men’s.  The prices range from $60 to $95 USD and can’t be bought online so head over to a dealership to pick a few up before they are gone.

See the rest of the post for a fancy H-D commercial and a few pics of their apparel.  Head over to Harley’s site to see the full line.

There’s a great series running on Motorcycle.com all about getting you and your motorcycle ready for road racing.  If you are interested at all getting out on the track to be just like those MotoGP racers, you have some very interesting reading ahead of you.

The series is very extensive, it starts off with just you and your motorcycle and proceeds all the way to what you should expect, learn, know and bring to the track.  Any expenses made are highlighted in each article so you can get an idea just how much it will cost to get you on your way with this addiction.  The author, Jeremiah Knupp, took his 2000 Ducati 748 along on this journey.

Here’s 9 handy guides to help you start motorcycle road racing:

1. Introduction: Leaving the lawn chair

2. Geoff May: one man show to AMA pro – Pointers and Interview with Pro Geoff May

3. Prepping your bike for track school

4. Cleared for Take-Off: Getting Your Race License

5. Building a Supersport racer – the minimum

6. Building a Supersport racer – the priorities

7. Advanced Supersport modifications

8. Building a Supersport Racer – Stage III, the Finishing Touches

9. Preparing for your first race weekend

Even if you don’t plan on ever getting into road racing, I found the articles to be quite fascinating as to how Jeremiah Knupp (the author) got prepared for his new hobby.

Give the articles a skim at least, there’s some great pictures from photographer Holly Marcus to check out.  I’ve included a few shots below that I pulled from some of the photo galleries.

QLINK is taking online shopping to a new level with their ‘Ready-to-Ride’ delivery service.

What is Ready-to-Ride delivery?

Well, QLINK’s online store allows you to buy their motorcycles right from your computer chair.  It’s pretty surreal to be able to add a motorcycle to your “cart” and proceed to the online check out.

After purchasing a motorcycle online, QLINK will look for a QLINK dealership in your area for you to be able to pickup your new bike.  If there’s no dealership nearby, QLINK will DELIVER the motorcycle to you in a giant crate!

That’s pretty mind blowing and a pretty awesome way to help out your customers.  The bike is fully tested before being shipped and in most cases requires no assembly from the rider (except maybe attaching the mirrors).  The battery is even juiced up and ready to go.

Kudos to QLINK for this pretty amazing service they provide.

Check the rest of the post for a few shots QLINK took of one of their motorcycles being crated up for delivery.  Check out their online store to witness the whole “add to cart” motorcycle shopping.

See what QLINK has to say about their service on their blog!

I’ve got a lot of respect for Dave Grohl.  He’s amazingly talented and very driven.  Even after Nirvana, the guy is still kicking and in the spotlight with the Foo Fighters and the millions of other side projects he’s done (ie: Queens of the Stone Age).

Apparently he’s also a big motorcycle guy.

Harley-Davidson did a little video on Dave, featuring him drumming on a snare drum to the exhaust pipes of a Harley-Davidson.  The seven minute video goes on about how Mr Grohl bought his first motorcycle when the Nirvana album “Nevermind” started to become big.

He got his wife hooked on motorcycles when she saw a Goldwing Trike, and now they both love the thing.

To hear (and see) all about Dave Grohl and his experiences with motorcycles (and how it helps him unwind), check out the rest of the post!

Harley-Davidson was kind enough to post on Twitter a PDF of a list of things to bring with you on a long motorcycle trip.

And what a list!

It’s hard to believe you could squeeze all this stuff onto yourself and your bike.

A few interesting things in the list are:

• Duct tape
• Emergency Blanket
• Small towel
• Cargo net
• Replacement fuses
• Change of shoes
• Tool kit

I guess Harley is expecting a very long ride!  Seems like you would be ready for anything with the long list they’ve provided.

Check out the rest of the article for an image to glance at, a PDF to save on your desktop, and the full list in plain text to copy and paste into an email to send to a buddy.  Thanks to Harley-Davidson for the list!

If you are planning a long trip, bone-up on your motorcycle safety and training over at Motorcycle.com’s Rider Training and Safety section.

Click here to download the PDF to save!

Here’s the full textual list to quickly copy and paste to someone:

Clothing:

• DOT-approved Helmet
• Rain jacket and pants
• Rain gloves
• Summer gloves
• Winter gloves
• Balaclava
• T-shirts
• Socks and underwear
• Synthetic long underwear
• Long-sleeved shirts
• Turtleneck shirts
• Extra jeans
• Light jacket
• Leather pants/chaps
• Riding boots
• Bandanas
• Sunglasses
• Goggles/night time eye protection
• Change of shoes

Bike Maintenance:

• Tool kit
• Replacement fuses
• H-D SYN3 lubricant
• Paper funnel
• Multi-purpose spray lubricant
• Motorcycle jumper cables
• Tire pressure gauge

Personal Items:

• Basic toiletries
• Emergency cash
• Coins for tolls
• Sunscreen
• Earplugs

Miscellaneous:

• Road maps
• Bike registration and insurance info
• Motorcycle owners or service manual
• Motorcycle warranty card
• Camera
• Cargo net
• Bungee cords
• Swiss-style pocketknife or multi-tool
• Tote sack
• 2-3 large trash bags
• Extra zipper-lock bags

EMERGENCY ITEMS

• Personal first-aid kit
• Emergency contact number (include doctor/medical professional)
• List of medical conditions (include allergies)
• List of current medications
• Flashlight
• Spare key
• Emergency blanket
• Cellular phone and charger
• Duct tape

Source [ Harley-Davidson on Twitter ]

Adjectives fail me.  This almost seems like one of those sci-fi movies where an evil scientist tries to cross two deadly animals together to create the ultimate killing machine.

So what are we looking at?  It seems to be the deformed love child of a Citroën Xantia and a Kawasaki 1000 RX.

This custom project, called “Snaefell“, cost its creator about 15000 Euros and 10 years of part time work. I have to wonder “why?”.

I guess if you really love the thrill of riding a motorcycle but none of your friends and family do, this concept makes sense.  Or not.  Would they want to be seen in this?  Hopefully those windows are tinted.

Check out the rest of the post for more shots of this… hybrid.

Source: [ Snaefull via Gizmodo ]

Love Batman?  I mean, REALLY love batman?  Love Batman enough that you dress up like him even when it’s not Halloween?

Hey, me too!  Now you can look like Batman even while riding your motorcycle and be fully protected from the elements (and maybe falls).

It was going to happen sooner or later.  With Batman’s latest movie, The Dark Knight, featuring Batman on his Bat-cycle (or “Batpod”), you knew there had to be some motorcycle-batman crossover paraphernalia.  Actually I’m quite shocked this wasn’t out sooner.

Universal Designs are making officially licensed Batman: The Dark Knight motorcycle jackets, pants, gloves and boots that replicate what Bruce Wayne wore while chasing down that pesky Joker.  And it looks to be the real deal, with removable CE approved armor in the jacket and pants so it’s not just some fancy costume!

There’s no indication of price or when these products will actually come out.  Hopefully I can convince the editors at Motorcycle.com to try them out (mainly just to try and embarrass them).

Check out the rest of the post for features and a pic of the whole outfit.  I’m not sure about those wrist-blade thingys.  Seems like they would poke an eye out!

Batman: The Dark Knight Motorcycle Gear Features:

- Strong Cordura Mesh Base with Heavy-duty 4 way stretch Spandex inserts.
- Removable CE Approved Body Armor in both Jacket and Pants
- Highly detailed, removable lightweight interior lining.
- Form Molded Leather and Kevlar Armor Sectons.
- Made from Quality Tanned Cow Hides

Source: [ Geekologie.com ]

Maybe if I had one of these as a child instead of a traditional rocking horse, I’d be out building log cabins, competing in arm wrestling competitions, and “man’ing up”, instead of sitting at my comfy desk, looking at pretty pictures on the internet with my iMac and sipping Orange Pekoe tea.

You want to set your kids on the right path early on in life.  Starting them on a rocking horse hog could one day lead them to being the next Jesse James or Evil Knievel.

You want that, don’t you?

In the words of Jesse “The Body” Ventura in the movie Predator:

Bunch of slack-jawed f#@!#s around here. This stuff will make you a god damned sexual Tyrannosaurus, just like me.

See the rest of the post for more shots of this custom made motorcycle rocking horse.

Source: [ Gizmodo.com ]