blackandchrome

2006-11-27T19:46:00.000-08:00

Stuck at the office!

The roads to my house are now iced over and blocked with stranded cars so I'll be sleeping at the office tonight.

2006-11-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

Flocking Asantis

Wood-grain and ice'd out Asantis are old news, check out the new snow flocking option. Just in time for Christmas.

300C sees its first snow.

2006-11-17T21:22:00.001-08:00

History of the Wheel

I've decided to dedicate this blog to everything about wheels but before I get in to the new stuff I figure I needed to start off with a brief history of the wheel.

The wheel was invented sometime around 3000 bc for different reasons. Some of the earliest wheels were used in current day Iraq for, here's a shocker, 'Battle Cars.' Wheels didn't get to the "New World" until sometime around 400AD. Thats 3400 years with no 'dubs'! Wheels may have started off rather crude but big bling is nothing new. King Tut had some huge gold-plated wheels on his ride...

And clearly King Tut was a 'car guy' just look at the parts he had lying around his garage (actual picture from in his pyramid)...

When the first wheel people weren't rolling around they liked to draw and carve wheel pictures...

A trend that continues to this day...Who doesn't love wheels? I know when I first got my new Asanti wheels the first thing I did was roll them in to my living room so I could admire them from the couch. Here's a family who loves their wheels so much they sleep with them...

Had their parents let them, many kids from my generation would have slept with their first wheels...

As you can see in these next two photos displaying wheels under glass has become quite common...

Throughout history the wheel has become an obsession to some...

Meanwhile others have become synonomous with "The Wheel"...

Many people have gotten in to wheels and have had a hard time getting out...

Its also interesting to note that some of the first wheels were created just for fun as toys...

Thankfully over time the toys got bigger and much better looking...

For over 5000 years now the wheel has been at the hub of humanity. Wheels are embedded in our culture. Many songs have written about wheels...

"She's got wheels of steel.." - Saxon

"With the wheels spinnin’ Ladies like That’s that shit..." - Snoop Dogg

"The wheels of steel are turning And traffic lights are burning So if you like to party Get on and move your body..." - Venga Boys

But no song has brought the wheel as close to a religion as the one by Carrie Underwood... "Jesus take the wheel."

To conclude this well-rounded history of the wheel I offer these photos of two disturbing new trends in the wheel world. The first is referred to as a "donk" while the other is simply a donkey.

- blackandchrome

2006-11-16T11:35:00.000-08:00

After writing my last post about SuperMotos and seeing the final pics of they Ducati HyperMotard from the Milan show I decided I'm buying one! Here's my new blog about it here: HyperMoto

2006-11-13T21:38:00.000-08:00

SuperMotos!

THE next buzz for street-legal motorcycles. SuperMoto bikes have been around for a several years now in racing but they have barely made it in to regular production for the street. KTM has had street-legal SuperMoto models outside the U.S. for a couple of years and Suzuki has its Dual Sport DZ400 in the SuperMoto edition but there aren't really any street-legal SuperMoto bikes built from scratch from the factory. Part of the reason for that is SuperMoto originated by taking a modern dirtbike with its long travel suspension and lightweight frame and adapting it to race on a road track by changing the tires and re-tuning the suspension. Now the factories are seeing the $ potential for the masses and this is just the beginning. Let the battle begin. I wouldn't doubt (I hope) that in 2008 we see Honda and Yamaha releasing their own SuperMoto bikes for the street.

Last year Ducati introduced the HyperMotard concept bike above and now in 2007 its for real. The production version will be displayed at the EICMA (bike show in Milan) this week. KTM has street-legal SuperMoto bikes already in production (outside the US) but the the new Ducati kills them in the looks department. KTM isn't sitting back though... they are introducing this new meaner looking model for 2007 (also at the EICMA show this week).

SuperMoto bikes are the next logical step for street-legal motorcycling. With the amount of traffic and the poor quality of roads it makes sense for a new type of street bike to emerge. There's nothing exciting about challenging freeway speeds on a weak dual sport bike and there is also something sad about struggling through stop and go traffic on your 600-1000CC or maybe nailing a nice big pothole on a city street. Harleys and Choppers are both great for looking mean, showing off, being loud or just cruising but if you wanted to go fast, look mean while still cornering hard and maybe jumping a few curbs and aiming for those potholes a 1000cc SuperMoto might just be the ticket!

2006-11-06T11:47:00.000-08:00

Here's my trip to SEMA. Special Thanks to Andy Franko and Lexani. They have a great company with cool people and the best wheels at the show. The Lexani section was packed all week long! A lawn chair would have been nice to just sit back and watch all the action.

SEMA is nuts. It took me three days to walk the show and I still think I missed some stuff. One day I was so tired from walking I hitched a ride on a golf cart to go to Starbucks.

2006-11-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

A Pagani supercar with Asanti wheels

2006-11-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

The Asanti and Lexani displayes were black and glass jewelry displays. Here's some guys from the band KORN signing posters.

2006-11-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

Lexani dominated when it came to celebrity endorsements... rock stars, rappers, motorcycle racers. All the top names.

2006-11-06T10:41:00.000-08:00

More Lexani....

2006-11-06T10:39:00.000-08:00

New Asanti grill for the 300. New wheels on a Hummer and Escalade.

2006-11-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

More of the Lexani booth... 34" wheels with monster lip and the new Lexani shoes and clothing line.

2006-11-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

Muscle cars were clearly the ticket at this SEMA. HEMIs were everywhere. Chevy and Ford had cool displays but I think Mopar definitely dominated.

2006-11-06T10:33:00.000-08:00

This car was hard to take a picture of but it was awesome in person.

2006-11-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

Every booth had custom cars, motorcycles, race cars , crazy displays and lighting.

2006-11-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

The show goes on forever and this is just one floor of one hall.

2006-11-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

Here the car is opening up so you can get in. The trunk lid slides back and then the center rotates to make an opening where a door would normally be. Here the tail lights are red but in the other pics you can see they display videos.

2006-11-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

More of the Alpine car

2006-11-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

Alpine always builds these crazy cars to show off their audio equipment. This one started as a new BMW 6 series, at least I think, its so modified that it doesn't really matter anymore. It was crazy. It had no doors, the interior center section rotated and you climbed in from the front of the single seat and then it rotated back. The tail lights were video screens, everything moved and changed colors. Everything was so detailed it was almost hard to see in the bright lights.

2006-11-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

View outside the South Hall. The North, Central and South Halls as well as everywhere outside was packed with everything related to cars. Every major car tv show was there and most were doing live filming including the Speed Channel, Overhaulin', Car Crazy, Barrett Jackson, Pimp My Ride, Unique Whips and on and on.

2006-11-02T19:12:00.000-08:00

Now this is a Cadillac! A new custom by Rick Dore.

2006-11-02T19:11:00.000-08:00

BIG and built solid and super clean.

2006-11-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

This Hummer promoting these laminated windows you can see out of but you can see in.

2006-11-02T19:06:00.000-08:00

Car stereo companies build these crazy cars to show off their sound equipment. TVs everywhere.

This one has a speaker for a steering wheel. It comes out of the dash so you can steer.

2006-11-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

Lots of tricked out Mercedes CLS

2006-11-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

The new Chevy Silverado 4 door is slick

2006-11-02T18:57:00.000-08:00

Rockcrawler at the WELD booth

2006-11-02T18:55:00.000-08:00

Rockcrawlers outside at SEMA

2006-11-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

Cool Pedal Cars at the Ford display at SEMA

2006-11-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

2006-11-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

Overhaulin' being filmed live at SEMA 2006

2006-06-27T23:25:00.000-07:00