This photo of Vespa at the Rome Olympics celebrates 50 years of EuroVespa - the huge Vespa meet that took place in occasion of the Olympics in 1960. It’s part of a photographic exhibition organised by the Vespa Club Roma that will close tomorrow, so if you’re in town you’ve got the last day to go and see it.

The Vespa meet in Rome this year took place last weekend, with Vespas of all makes and years participating. The 1960 Olympic games was a key moment in Italian sporting history, marking a recovery of the country after World War II and becoming a fundamental part of the economic boom that propelled Italy into the modern era. The Vespa is just one symbol of those times.

Source | Motoblog.it

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Here’s another lovely vintage motorcycle pic of the day, showing two historic figures in Italian motorcycle racing: Renzo Pasolini and Giancarlo Cecchini. Pasolini was a genius bike rider until the infamous Monza crash, and Cecchini was equally as clever with motorcycle engines.

With computers now ruling the pit lane garages, we forget the brains that used to go into finding just the right kind of set-up for a bike. In this picture Renzo and Giancarlo are giving all their attention to the 250 Benelli’s four-stroke, four-cylinder engine. The picture was taken back in 1969.

The motorcycle debuted in 1962 in a victorious race by Silvio Grassetti at Cesenatico, and was reinvented by the great Tarquinio Provini in 1964. At the end of 1969 changes to FIM regulations meant the Benelli motorcycle could no longer race as it was. The brand still had the upper hand, though, winning with its ‘bialbero’ that first appeared in 1950 with Dario Ambrosini, with Australian rider Kel Carruthers on board.

Source | Motoblog.it

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Spanish motorcycle brand Ossa is undergoing a revival, starting with a new Ossa trial bike released this year. While the brand seemed to be history, there is plenty of past experience and pedigree to work with, as seen in this lovely little Ossa 250 cc bike which finished third in the 1969 World Championship. It was famous for its revolutionary monocoque chassis, which never really impressed the big players, though.

The Ossa 250 cc monocoque was designed by Eduardo Giró, son of founder Manuel Giró, and had single cylinder, two stroke rotary valve engine and six-speed gearbox producing 30 hp. While not a power machine, the magnesium chassis meant the bike weighed a full 20 kg less than its Japanese competitors, and with rider Santiago Herrero, the Ossa team soon had a few grand prix victories under its belt.

The 1969 championship saw the Ossa team leading going into the final race but a crash meant they couldn’t take the title. More success came in 1970 when the Ossa team led again, but a fatal crash at the Isle of Man TT took the life of Herrero, and the team withdrew from racing permanently.

Currently the Ossa revival sees a new trial bike in production ready for August, and another off-road model which will be presented at the 2010 EICMA show. The Ossa TR280i shows that the brand has lost none of its innovative capabilities in the intervening years, and we’ll be interested to see what else the company can come up with in the future.

Source | BikeExif

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You might not be able to do a motorcycle tour of the Dolomites anymore, but Italy has plenty of scenery you can enjoy from your bike, which can only mean a good thing for those areas picking up the tourism factor of riding in Italy when people can no longer go to the Dolomites. These pictures show the Monti Sibillini in the Marche and Umbria regions of Italy, and a shot of a Triumph Thunderbird at Castelluccio di Norcia, in the same area.

What’s more, and here we’re letting you in on a big secret, the Marche is one of Italy’s most beautiful regions, with plenty of unspoilt seaside spots and hinterland to explore. Unfortunately, as you can see in the pics, we’re still waiting on winter to go back to where it came from before we can really enjoy some summer motorcycling rambles, but we figure it’s only a matter of time.

Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com.

Source | Motoblog.it

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Valentino Rossi won the first race MotoGP race in Qatar, but ran out of fuel on his Yamaha M1 on the cool down lap. His Yamaha bike had to be picked up by a truck and instead of riding behind one of the marshals, he took command of the scooter and gave the marshal the ride of his life all the way to the parc fermé.

Why did Rossi run out fuel? The man said: I think I used more than expected early on because I was sliding quite a lot, but it was very funny to come to Parc Ferme riding a scooter!”

Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com

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A little off-topic but we had to share this one-wheeled exercise bike invention with you. Designed by Luca Schieppati for Lamiflex Spa, the ‘ciclotte’ is supposed to be an exercise bike that doubles as a snazzy piece of furniture, meaning you can leave it in your living room or office as a kind of display that adds to your decor.

It’s the next step in the urban mobility project of the “ciclò”, on display in Milan’s Triennale Design Museum, and is made from carbonfibre, fibre glass and steel. Schieppati reckons that the technology and style of the bike allows the cyclist to feel all the emotions of an out-of-doors cycle. When he develops a kind of sexy Yamaha M1 race simulator for the living room, we’ll be more curious. The Ciclotte is available in carbonfibre black, silver or purple and will be on sale soon, though the price is unknown. See Ciclotte.com for more details.

Continue reading: Pic of the day: exercise bike furniture

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This Ducati 1098R will join other big-name manufacturers including BMW and KTM at the 2010 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy. Aprilia is still missing from that list, but by the time everyone gets out on the track, we might not even notice. The 1098R will be ridden by Michael Rutter and you can decide whether you like the paint job or not.

Source | HellForLeather

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Twowheels is calling on our readers for help. We want to know if this is it really a functional motorcycle and eventually who modified it or is it just a stage prop used by the German pop/rock group Tokio Hotel in their Humanoid City Tour?

Check out the video after the jump to see the motorcycle on stage during Tokio Hotel’s performance in Rotterdam.

Continue reading: Photo of the Day: Stage Prop or Real Motorcycle?

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Our reader Nikos from Greece decided to send us the pics of his new ‘love’ and after being the proud owner of a Tiger 1050 has now switched to another Triumph bike, the beautiful Street Triple and as he told us “decided to change its look!! I haven’t finish it yet!!! there is more to come……….

Efcharisto Nikos!

Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com

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We can imagine that BMW’s rider Ruben Xaus couldn’t wait to take the first flight out of Australia and put this last weekend at Phillip Island behind his back.

Xaus binned his S 1000 RR three times during Friday’s practice leaving him no spare bikes to ride and during Sunday morning warm-up slammed into the back of Noriyuki Haga’s Ducati at turn 1.

Both riders managed to escape serious injuries, but doctors and BMW’s team manager Davide Tardozzi probably though it was better that the Spaniard withdraw from the first round especially after Xaus said he felt disorientated.

Source | motociclisti.my.blog.it

Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com

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