Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application 1952 to Wilhelm and Bernice (Stellick) Oelke in rural Coon Valley she graduated from Central High School in La Crosse 1972 Nancy married Tom and spent nearly 53 years together Dairy farming was the center of their life continuing the tradition of their century farm where they raised their two sons Nancy’s favorite farm job was raking hay and was often known to do this in her swimming suit  Nancy had a deep love for polka music and dancing polkas “the Oelke way” Growing up dancing at the Concordia Ballroom to the Jolly Swiss Boys with her cousins the Seebauer’s Nancy could often be found making pies at St working the Election with her dear friend Jaynie or leading the secret dressing making for the Roast Beef Dinner.   Nancy was also known for her amazing talent making barn quilts which are displayed on barns and sheds around the area Her talents also show through in her display of flowers and decorations in her gardens and flower beds.   Nancy spent much of her time at the farm but was able to take the trip of a lifetime to Florida with her two of her very dear friends Kay and Lorraine  Nancy is survived by her husband Tom Langen; her two sons Jeffrey (Autumn) and Chris (Tiffany); her five grandchildren Nancy is further survived by her brother-in-law Larry and special sister-in-law Kay Oehmigen great- nieces and great- nephews and many friends  Nancy was preceded in death by her parents; mother and father-In-law Rudy and Violet; her dear brother John; also preceding Nancy in death were her dear friends Jaynie Sheffer and Lorraine Steinhauer  A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday A luncheon will follow mass at the Hokah City Center January 24th from 4-6:00 PM at the church and from 10 AM until time of service on Saturday Burial will be at a later date in Convent Cemetery Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Langen Motorcycles last made waves back in 2023 with the Lightspeed, a limited edition naked capable of a face-melting 185 bhp It's now set to take things up a notch by turbocharging the heart of that beast to summon 300 thundering horses – with a view to make it the 'world's fastest production motorcycle.' Citing turbo-equipped legends from the 80s like the 100-hp Honda CX650 and 112-hp Kawasaki GPZ750 as inspiration, the Manchester-based bike maker noted that "the Lightspeed already has the credentials to be a class-leading motorcycle but the strength of the powerplant and overall design mean it can now be taken a step further." The company says that its LS12 Lightspeed Turbo has been engineered to overcome the challenges associated with those bikes including turbo lag that caused unpredictable power delivery and difficulty managing heat and gas flow owing to the packaging the turbo units and intercooler systems as well as a custom Electronic Control Unit and physical control system on the upcoming bike Langen has already begun testing it on the dyno and recording output of 250 bhp The team believes this machine is capable of hitting 300 bhp in 'full power mode.' the LS12 Lightspeed Turbo's power-to-weight ratio will be off the charts The original Lightspeed already comes in at 0.454 bhp/lb (1 bhp/kg) so please pardon my back-of-the-napkin calculations of what the turbo model might work out to If we assume the new components add some 34 lb (15 kg) – you'll arrive at a blasphemous power-to-weight ratio of 0.681 bhp/lb (1.5 bhp/kg) That's close to two of the fastest bikes you can buy on the planet: the supercharged Kawasaki Ninja H2/R manages 0.719 bhp/lb (1.585 bhp/kg) and the extremely light rotary engine-equipped Crighton CR700W comes in at 0.77 bhp/lb (1.698 bhp/kg) It would handsomely outdo the Ducati Panigale V4 R's 0.625 bhp/lb (1.378 bhp/kg) Langen is confident that it will be able to bring the Turbo to the Santa Pod Raceway's drag strip by the fourth quarter of this year The company plans to make and sell only a limited run of Turbos don't be surprised to see the Turbos get snapped up real quick Source: Langen Motorcycles 3B Media105.7 The HOG / Spirit 101.9/ 93.3 The Ranch94.1 The VIBE / 98.9 The WOLF37 South DriveCrossville Phone: 931-484-1057Fax: 931-707-0580 He retired after many years as a quality control supervisor and was also a United States Navy veteran having proudly served our country during the Cuban Missile Crisis He is survived by his wife- Gail Langen of Crossville sons- Peter Brent Langen and his wife Stephanie of King of Prussia Chad Matthew Langen and his wife Sarah of Dushore Brian Michael Langen and his wife Kristie also of Dushore PA and Michael Lynn Holmes and his wife Renee of Crossville daughter- Samantha Hamlet and her husband David also of Crossville brother- Terry Langen and his wife Ann Louise of Easton sisters- Bowie Summitt and Donna Langen both of Easton Cameron and Shane and great grandchildren- Grayson he was preceded in death by his son- Keith Holmes and granddaughter- Allison  A Celebration of Life will be held Wednesday March 26 The family will receive friends on Wednesday from 11am-1pm prior to the service at the funeral home Burial will follow in Green Acres Memory Garden left her earthly home to be in the presence… Cynthia “Cindy” Gayle Helton age 56 of Lafollette Phone: 931-484-1057Fax: 931-707-0580 Website by: 3B Media in association with Maximum Site Design Global Lead Partner EN • EnglishDE • DeutschES • EspañolFR • FrançaisZH • 繁Welcome the publisher ponders decades of curiosity collaboration – and mixing business with pleasure","url":"https://www.artbasel.com/stories/swiss-collector-michael-ringier-germany-langen-foundation","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://d2u3kfwd92fzu7.cloudfront.net/asset/news/Ringier_THMB.png","width":2400,"height":1500}}‘I gave up on asking myself why I have this drive to collect so many pieces of art,’ says Michael Ringier Despite initially claiming ‘there is no real answer,’ when pressed the chairman of Swiss media company Ringier – founded in 1833 by his family and now encompassing 140 brands in journalism ‘Both my wife and I grew up in households where our parents collected.’ While his were drawn to 18th-century furniture – ‘we had all the Louis at home from XIII to XVI,’ he quips – hers favored contemporary art Ringier was drawn to Russian Constructivism ‘probably because my father-in-law was a fur dealer and went to Russia twice a year,’ he muses I got a 30-minute lecture on Constructivist art Then I was allowed to take my wife out.’ While Ringier ‘can’t stop collecting from this period,’ and keeps his works from the 1910s and 1920s safely stored in his library over time his taste has veered toward the contemporary and the conceptual ‘Looking into the past is very interesting Since founding the Ringier Collection in 1995 Ringier has grown to become one of Switzerland’s most significant collectors Sound,’ on view from April 13 until October 5 features nearly 500 works from the collection – a small fraction of its 4,500-odd pieces – in a range of media marks the collection’s 30-year anniversary ‘There comes a moment in every collector’s life when they would love to do [something like this],’ says Ringier he rarely sees such a large portion of it in one place ‘When I entered the two big rooms [of the exhibition] Here you have around 150 pieces in one room the Langen Foundation is a sculptural building composed of reinforced concrete ‘You can only do [an exhibition like this] in a private museum,’ Ringier muses journalists might say that I was only trying to add more value to the work or I could only do it if half of the collection was donated to the museum,’ he adds he’s committed to keeping the collection intact and closely tied to the Ringier company – a reflection of his original vision to integrate art into his employees’ everyday lives recalling his initial impressions of the family company’s workspaces Knowing how profoundly art can shape perception he began placing pieces throughout its offices he could tell that his employees were puzzled by the move a wall at the company’s entrance remained empty for three days you are going to place something else here aren’t you?” You could see it was important to them.’ a photograph of Ringier and his team members evoking old master portraiture – are on view at the Langen Foundation exhibition Ringier developed his ‘red line’ in collaboration with Beatrix Ruf, who was the artistic director of his collection from 1995 to 2014. She curated the Langen Foundation exhibition alongside American post-conceptual artist Wade Guyton Ruf summarizes the collection’s throughline as a ‘commitment to engaging with artists in a deeper way than [that of an] accumulative way of collecting,’ emphasizing Ringier’s habit of acquiring extensive bodies of work including early pieces in artists’ oeuvres Ringier’s curiosity toward art he didn’t understand also sustained their collaboration – ‘He would risk owning something before getting further answers [to his questions],’ says Ruf – along with his deep trust in and respect for the people he works with he makes decisions – he’s not hands-off in that way He invests a lot of money and time in different ways than other collectors.’ he gave us a list of artists we should look at.’ Emily May is a British-born, Berlin-based writer specializing in dance and performance. ‘Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Film, Video, Sound’ is on view at the Langen Foundation in Neuss, Germany, until October 5, 2025. Caption for full-bleed image: View of ‘Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, Film, Video, Sound,’ Ringier Collection, 1995-2025. Installation view, Langen Foundation, Neuss, 2025. Photo: Dirk Tacke. The Belgian collector welcomes Art Basel to his extraordinary creative haven dedicated to art, design, cars, and more ReadFresh blood for an ancient medium: 10 young painters to watch this springEmbracing mystery, darkness, and drama, these artists are slated to draw major attention ReadSpring’s 25 unmissable solo shows in Europe? Art Basel has your must-see listFrom painting surveys that unflinchingly examine the human body to participatory projects by children, the continent is teeming with stimulating exhibitions Friday, August 16, 2024 11:00 AM EDT Zion Lutheran Church 77 32nd St Holland, MI 49423 1 (616) 392-7151 Map At the family's request memorial contributions are to be made to those listed below Please forward payment directly to the memorial of your choice American Cancer Society P.O. Box 10069 Detroit, MI 48210 (616) 364-6121 Driving Directions Web Site Winona Marie Langen passed away at age 98 on Monday at Cortland Holland Meadows Assisted Living Growing up with five brothers and sisters on a dairy farm was not an easy life but one which she treasured never complaining or feeling ungrateful for the experience She had very close relationships with her siblings and had great respect for the back-breaking work and long hours they all performed on the farm She attended Hopkins High School and graduated in 1949 from Valparaiso University in Indiana Being away from home for the first time was frightening and loved attending Valpo where she made a career for herself while making some life long friends she worked at JCPenney's in Allegan making change for customers using a tin cup that would fly across the ceiling she was employed as a Home Economics teacher at Detroit Lutheran High School and later as an appliance demonstrator for Consumers Energy in Grand Rapids in an upstairs apartment at 222 Fountain Street in historic Heritage Hill He would remark that he often looked out his window to see the girl from upstairs running down the hill she and her roommates dressed up as “floozies” for a party and decided to knock on the door of the fellows who lived downstairs One can only imagine the surprise on Ray’s face as he tried to figure out what to say to this bevy of girls at his door Neither knew at the time that this encounter would change both of their lives forever Sara and the twins Christina and Margaret were born where they lived and enjoyed raising their family for more than 40 years In 2006 they came home to Michigan and moved in with their daughter This was a wonderful time to visit frequently with her beloved sister and brothers and take walks with her husband around Laketown Township and other areas nearby After retiring,they attended many Elderhostels Some of their most memorable trips were bicycle tours They rode their bikes with tour groups through the Loire River valley in France as well as in the Netherlands they were occasionally accompanied by their daughter Maggie Paterson and granddaughter Raemy They had so many fantastic memories of those trips together They also took cruises of the Panama Canal Australia and even Greece to trace the footsteps of St Winona was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years She is survived by her brother Jake Wamhoff and sister-in-law Marlene Wamhoff Sara Langen and Chris (Tom) Kiger; as well as grandchildren Raemy Paterson and Seth Paterson; and son-in-law Bruce Paterson A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am on August 16th at Zion Lutheran Church Private burial will take place in Maplewood Cemetery Memorial Contributions may be given to the American Cancer Society JavaScript is disabled. In order to use all of the features on dykstrafuneralhome.com, enable JavaScript.Close Langen Motorcycles have announced big plans for future expansion, teasing a turbocharged version of their incoming Lightspeed muscle cruiser as well as calling upon investment from the public to help ramp up production and achieve European homologation standards “We have spent the last 18 months preparing for this stage so that we are ready to go at full throttle alongside an investment injection,” Langen Founder, Christofer Ratcliffe said. “It had been a dream of mine for many years to invest into a British motorcycle company, to feel a sense of ownership of something I am incredibly passionate about, which eventually resulted in the creation of Langen Motorcycles. “It is this sentiment that has led to us opening up the opportunity for everybody who is passionate about motorcycles to become a Langen share holder and The Wigan-based brand shot to stardom when they launched a 250 V-twin Two Stroke naked roadster for 2022. First seen at the prestigious Salon Privé event in September 2020, it combines a handcrafted frame with licks of carbon fibre, plus a ring-a-dinging liquid-cooled motor first produced for the Italian Vins Duecinquanta sportsbike With production of the Two Stroke now firmly underway, it was later followed up in November 2023 by the Lightspeed LS12 – a 180bhp+ concept muscle cruiser designed to go up against the likes of Ducati’s Diavel V4, powered by Buell’s 1190cc 72° V-twin built by Rotax Langen say it’s set to enter production in the final quarter of this year with a turbocharged version now also set to follow in limited numbers in a bid to further boost the profile of the business “Since founding the company and developing our first model we have navigated through unexpected and significant political and economic challenges,” Ratcliffe explained “With each challenge the business and team continued to grow in line with the demand for our bikes “We have now entered a significant milestone year where we are ready to move the company to the next stage,” he continued “The next step up for Langen means increasing production with our second model – the Lightspeed – along with entering new markets outside of the UK.” Langen say they now have plans to achieve stringent European Euro5+ homologation to allow them to sell bikes into the rest of the continent the firm’s Two Stroke models operate through a Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval (MSVA) process There are also bold plans to achieve homologation in the US and the Middle East – a potential market expansion that’s said to be 2800% larger than is currently available to the firm “The fastest and most reliable way to do this is by investing into more complex production tooling,” Ratcliffe said “Achieving full Type Approval allows us to access markets where there is currently a high demand for our bikes that we cannot yet fulfil due to legislation requirements.” Langen is now inviting members of the public to become shareholders – with a funding round due to start this month and end in March Alongside meeting more stringent homologation standards the money raised is also hoped to accelerate production of the £29,400 (+VAT) Two Stroke Over 80% of the 100 available units have now been reserved with the revenue generated by the model so far said to stand at £2.7million On top of this, there are hopes to complete the tooling and testing of the Lightspeed so it can reach its production target of Q4 2025. To register your interest in the funding scheme, or place an order on a bike, visit their website now with a Gold Standard Level 3 Diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists He has a passion for motorcycles of all capacities He's been working for MCN in print and digital for the best part of 10 years with regular contributions to RiDE Magazine on the side By Dan Sutherland News Editor, trackday fan, lover of 90s sportsbikes *Editor's note: The story in the player above incorrectly states the type of helicopter that Langen was in at the time of the crash It has been corrected in the article below to reflect he was in a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter at the time of the crash Friday marks one year since 23-year-old Sergeant Alec Langen was killed along with four other Marines during a military training exercise outside San Diego The Tiger 43 Crew was in a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter that went down “I think we live every day just trying to figure it out,” said Caryn Langen “We breathe a little bit easier every day and you know this is the last chapter of a year of firsts.” The Langen family received community support after sharing their son’s story with ABC15. Support garnered attention and grew into their foundation: Running4alec It raises money for loved ones impacted by aircraft mishaps a commercial airplane crashed with an army helicopter and all 67 people died That incident reopened wounds for the Langens Do you have a concern in your community or a news tip Connect with us: share@abc15.com Facebook | Instagram | YouTube Their son was a crew chief of a helicopter that crashed and they're still waiting on answers most military aircraft don't have cockpit voice recorders “Would we know more at this point if there was a data recorder “Would we be able to hear their voices one last time The Langens requested and shared with ABC15 the preliminary documents for Alec’s death It's heavily redacted and states Alec died in the "line of duty and not due to the member's own misconduct." “The investigation process is ongoing as we systematically follow all required administrative steps to the conclusion We will share additional information once the process is concluded,” said Major Natalie B a spokesperson for the Marines in a statement Steve and Caryn will hike to the Tiger 43 crash site in California “I just want to kind of go there and tell him I miss him every day I just want to sit with my son for just a minute,” Steve added Their grief doesn't stop 365 days after losing their son Report a typo his family is keeping his legacy alive and raising thousands of dollars for the foundation created in his honor Alec's parents, Caryn and Steven, launched "Running4Alec" after his death Share your stories of hope and celebration Have an uplifting story from your Arizona community Share your good news here! The foundation helps ease the burden of the impacted families and their loved ones by offering financial assistance Learn more about the foundation and how the family is keep Alec's legacy alive by watching the video in the player above speed and horsepower don't usually phase me I once drove a Bugatti Chiron and allegedly saw 186 mph in less than a mile But there's something about when you just throw gobs of horsepower into a relatively lightweight motorcycle that terrifies even me And that's the feeling I got when I first saw the Langen LS12 Lightspeed Turbo a liter bike with a turbocharger and a whopping 300 horsepower First reported on by our friends over at Visordown Langen is a small motorcycling company out of Ashton-in-Makerfield in the United Kingdom and has produced a series of small-batch motorcycles for a number of years is aimed at producing a monstrosity of epic proportions the LS12 Lightspeed Turbo will be centered around a turbocharged Rotax engine producing 300 horsepower in "full power" mode though a more bodily-friendly "road mode" will offer riders only 250 horsepower the current KTM 1390 Evo produces 190 and can barely keep its front wheel on the pavement The bodywork of the motorcycle will use carbon fiber with aluminum and steel elsewhere in the chassis Stopping all those rampaging horses is said to be a set of HEL Performance calipers with 320mm discs while Ohlins-sourced suspension helps to keep everything rubber-side down the company is looking to start testing this hellion pretty soon and real-world testing at the country's famed Santa Pod Raceway occurring later this year "We have now entered a significant milestone year where we are ready to move the company to the next stage,” said Christofer Ratcliffe "The next step up for Langen means increasing production with our second model—the Lightspeed—along with entering new markets outside of the UK." This Indian Sportbike Could Preview What’s To Come This Retro-Styled Electric Motorcycle Looks Like a Fun and Practical Daily Ride The Ducati Panigale V4 Lamborghini Is the Definition Of Two-Wheeled Excess Suzuki Really Wants You To Test Ride the New DR-Z4S Yoshimura’s Badass Restomod Suzuki Motorcycle Can Actually Be Yours I Wish I Had $35K To Buy This Rare Ducati Motorcycle This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Ohio — Three years after a car crash that would forever change his life a neurologist asked Adam Langen a question that took him by surprise “What’s your support system?” Langen remembers the doctor asking “I just told him I’m a gay man,” Langen said It’s a concern we heard this week at our Search for Solutions community conversation about mental health And it’s something data shows is worse in the LGTBQ+ community “My coming out journey was really traumatic,” Langen said “I didn’t have a lot of people who supported me.” Langen said he felt like all he had was his dog At the community park in Oxford where he walked to deal with his pain Langen swipes through pictures of the car crash on his phone on his way home from Indiana after being stood up by a guy “My bumper was wrapped around a tree,” he said and I was just looking out at the damage.” The crash impacted much more than his physical health — even if he didn’t realize it at the time “I kept searching for physical answers,” he said He kept wondering what was wrong with him and why he couldn't fix it “There is a connection between the brain and the body,” said Laura Stith, chief clinical officer for Child Focus. “Brain health is no different than physical health." Loneliness impacts two in three college students, according to data from the Healthy Minds Network At WCPO 9’s community conversation about mental health experts told us isolation can be particularly dangerous for marginalized communities “In the LGBTQ community, one trusted adult in your life decreases the chances of suicide by 40%,” said Kate Schroder, president and CEO of Interact for Health. For years when Langen thought about the car crash trying to make his body feel better without confronting his mental pain “I was a gay child that grew up in the Catholic church.” His relationship with his family is still fractured A battle the 27-year-old now fights by leading peer support groups in Butler County with the National Alliance on Mental Illness — sharing a story that once embarrassed him A story that now is two semesters away from graduating at Miami University I have the same hopes and dreams as everyone else,” he said you can speak to someone today by dialing the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 Call: Dial 988 for immediate support Text: Send a message to 988 for real-time conversation with a counselor Chat: Visit 988lifeline.org to chat online For more information about peer support groups for people living with mental illness, you can find that here the Turbo could outpace some of the planet’s fastest bikes Langen Motorcycles Langen Motorcycles made headlines in 2023 with its Lightspeed a limited-edition naked bike pushing 185 bhp Now, the British manufacturer is taking things to the next level by turbocharging the engine to produce a staggering 300 bhp. The company aims to create the world’s fastest-production motorcycle Drawing inspiration from iconic turbocharged bikes of the 1980s—such as the 100-hp Honda CX650 and the 112-hp Kawasaki GPZ750—Langen believes the Lightspeed’s powerplant has the potential to surpass all expectations “The Lightspeed already has the credentials to be a class-leading motorcycle, but the strength of the powerplant and overall design mean it can now be taken a step further,” the company stated COMMENTABOUT THE AUTHORSujita Sinha By clicking sign up, you confirm that you accept this site's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Premium Lois Annette (Langen) Pagnac was born on September 26 the youngest and only daughter to Odin and Lillian (Clauson) Langen in Hallock She grew up on the family farm west of Kennedy where she spent many hours in the kitchen with her mother baking and mastering her cooking skills It is there where she learned her specialties: making homemade buns (knowns as Grandma Lois’ buns) Lois attended her freshman year of school in Washington DC she chose to return to Kennedy to finish high school after being reprimanded at her job as a deli clerk where she had accepted Canadian money a common practice in northern Minnesota at that time and angered her boss for taking “foreign currency.” She graduated a Kennedy Rocket with the class of 1962 She continued her education at the University of Minnesota where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology 1968 at the Red River Lutheran Church in rural Kennedy They spent most of their 56 years of married life on their family farm west of Stephen Lois spent many hours in the kitchen preparing meals for the farm hands Their home was the gathering place for hosting many family holidays which included all of her favorite food and baked goods Ken and Lois were blessed with raising three sons Lois’ education and skills found her working as a social worker for Marshall County for most of her career and finishing her working days with the NW Regional Development Commission where she happily retired and welcomed her “every day is a weekend” routine she was often the “go to person” who always had the answers her coworkers were looking for Her coworkers were never fond of her love for snow and snowmen and often moved her decorations around and out of her office Countless hours were spent sitting around a campfire where there was never a shortage of singing Ken and Lois loved spending time at “the trailer” at Rocky Point and always played the game “I see the lake first” upon arrival Her love of snow and snowmen made winter her favorite season and looked forward to taking in all their school and sporting events Always disappointed when events weren’t broadcasted or livestreamed she will now have the best seat in the house with no radio or TV required Lois is deeply loved and missed by her husband and Kevin (Lisa); grandchildren Colten and Caden Pagnac Preston and Morgan Pagnac; brother in law Keith Pagnac; sisters-in-law MarySue Eckhart and Kathy Rynning; many nieces and nephews 2024 at Red River Lutheran Church in rural Kennedy VISITATION: One hour before services at the church To watch a video of Lois's funeral service Lois Pagnac Funeral Service You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience Nov 06 On today's episode of the show, we'll hear two stories from West Africa. HOWL alum Tom Langen tells us about his epic battle with a venom-spitting snake and first-time storyteller Grace Hiltunen tells us about the time her entire village in Ghana banded together to help her rescue a phone from an outhouse Host Ethan Shantie also shares his story of the time a weasel got into the house and his only means of self defense was a beat up old broom Spoiler alert: he's not brave enough to fight alone Don't forget to follow the HOWL Podcast so you never miss a story. Reach out to Ethan by writing to [email protected] And we've got just one more storyslam this season we'll be at Raquette River Brewing in Tupper Lake Then our best storytellers will head to the Grand Slam Editor’s Note: This article was posted in 2023 Elder is not just a high school for Adam Duwel and Jack Langen For them – and the current student body and thousands of graduates of the near-century-old Cincinnati Westside institution – it’s a way of life Elder is a place with which both fell almost instantly in love and they call “a second home.” Duwel, a junior, and Langen, a senior, help lead the group of students at the Elder News Network, which, among other things, broadcasts sports on Elder’s sports website, ehsports.com people from more than 20 countries have viewed Elder football games and other activities say that adds to the significance of their volunteer work and how they serve the Elder community That service includes telling Elder’s continuing history whether it’s music teacher Dave Allen’s 50th anniversary at the school traveling to Columbus for the Elder bowling team’s state tournament berth or telling the story of the Mark Klusman House “I think a lot of the things that we’re doing within the community as far as like going out for some of the service opportunity…helped me grow closer to Elder,” said Langen There are some 800 students currently enrolled at Elder which was Cincinnati’s first diocesan Catholic high school more than 20,000 graduates have walked the halls of 3900 Vincent Avenue Many of those graduates can’t attend an Elder football game – which is practically a religion in itself – but can watch or listen via the Elder News Network “If I can be that vessel between the product on the field and their home “It’s cool to hear stories from people who say that He watches or listens to you.’ It’s something bigger than yourself.” The Elder News Network is a new venture for the school and Langen said they try to cover a variety of things beyond sports “We go around at certain events at Elder and try to get film of that and try to understand what the scoop is,” said Langen Seeing the Elder community through the eye of a camera lens has given Duwel and Langen a unique perspective which has cemented their passion for their high school “I didn’t go to a grade school where Elder is a place that’s looked at very much I knew likely I was going to go to Elder just because my dad went there … but that first day when I shadowed It’s also strengthened their spiritual faith “I think [Elder has] really prepared me of what’s to come in terms of development as a man,” said Langen “It’s provided me the moral guidance for an aim for a life – where I want to be in life and what I should be doing as a Catholic.” Elder Principal Kurt Ruffing said Duwel and Langen are involved in many activities that include helping and serving others something summed up at Elder in one Latin word: Altiora which means to strive for the higher things Ruffing said he and his wife attended the state bowling tournament last year to watch the Elder team They weren’t told to go … they drove up by themselves But that’s the kind of guys that they are.” Ruffing said what they do “reflects our mission here at Elder which is to lead young men to serve God and others according to the teachings of the Catholic Church The Catholic Telegraph is the official news source of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati beautiful and inspiring resource to help you get more out of Lent than ever before As well as the limited edition Langan LS12 Lightspeed Turbo the firm is also eyeing expansion into global markets The Langen LS12 Lightspeed Turbo Langan has today announced its most ambitious project to date as a turbocharged version of its Lightspeed super naked has been revealed Langan made its name building its featherlight and funky V-twin Two Stroke models Powered by a Rotax engine and pumping out a claimed 185bhp the second Langen model proved the Wigan brand was more than just a one-trick pony The Langen LS12 Lightspeed Turbo Side Profile It isn’t stopping there though as it today revealed the plans for its third model a turbocharged version of the existing Lightspeed the new bike takes the current Lightspeed model and bolts on a thumping turbocharger to boost power to more than the existing (and already potent) 185bhp Confirmed specs for the engine aren’t yet published but Langan states that early dyno tests show that a ‘Road Mode’ with around 250bhp is realistic going on to claim that full power mode should provide it with approximately 300bhp Langen’s aim with the bike is to cement its place in the history books allowing it to claim the title of the ‘World's fastest production motorcycle’ The Langen LS12 Lightspeed Turbo Rear Quarter Like the existing Lightspeed it is based on the new forced induction bike makes extensive use of carbon fibre while CNC machined jewellery features from front to back The front suspension comes courtesy of the good people at Ohlins while Hel Performance callipers bite down on twin 320mm floating discs The Langen LS12 Lightspeed Turbo - Birds-Eye view The new bike is stated to be much more than simply a concept with preliminary dyno tests already happening Langen now wants to begin testing the bike with runs at Santa Pod slated to take place later this year The bike will then be produced in super-limited numbers likely with an equally exclusive price tag - Rod Kirkpatrick/F Stop Press The firm is also looking at expanding into new markets and to speed up the development and delivery of its existing Lightspeed model and supporters of British engineering in general “We have spent the last 18 months preparing for this stage so that we are ready to go at full throttle alongside an investment injection.” Said Christofer Ratcliffe “It had been a dream of mine for many years to invest into a British motorcycle company to feel a sense of ownership of something I am incredibly passionate about which eventually resulted in the creation of Langen Motorcycles It is this sentiment that has led to us opening up the opportunity for everybody who is passionate about motorcycles to become a Langen shareholder and More information on the bike and the crowdfunding can be found on the official website. Find the latest motorcycle news on Visordown.com exclusives and promotions direct to your inbox For more information, read our Privacy Policy and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth Growing up around British-built single and twins it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards © Crash Media Group Ltd 2025.The total or partial reproduction of text photographs or illustrations is not permitted in any form As the World Health Organization prepares to spotlight World Health Day on April 7 by kicking off a year-long campaign on maternal and newborn health University of Saskatchewan (USask) health researchers are examining the benefits of donor breast milk for HIV-exposed infants Making sure infants with weaker immune systems are happy healthy and well-fed is the core of an innovative new University of Saskatchewan (USask) research study The USask-led project is exploring both the accessibility and feasibility of using donor breast milk to supplement the feeding of babies born to a mother with HIV a Master of Science student in the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition is helping to co-ordinate the project that will provide pasteurized human donor breast milk to HIV-exposed infants The hope of the project is to determine the efficacy of not only regularly supplying donor breast milk for HIV-exposed infants but also the logistics of getting caregivers the donor milk “Breast milk is specifically designed for infants at every stage of development,” Langen said “We know that it would be beneficial to HIV-exposed infants but we want to make sure it’s something caregivers want.” Langen is working under the supervision of Dr an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition The research is supported by the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) and the team recently received a SHRF 2024 Excellence Award for the project HIV rates in Saskatchewan are among the highest in Canada – three times the national average according to a study from the Public Health Agency of Canada published in 2024 Thanks to new antiretroviral therapies provided to pregnant women and new mothers with HIV it can be safe for a mother to breastfeed an HIV-exposed infant Langen said those babies still have weakened immune systems even if they are not themselves HIV-positive And while viral load in new mothers can be greatly reduced through antiviral therapies there is still a small chance that breastfeeding can still pass on HIV to the infant The Canadian Pediatric Society suggests that using formula is the safer option for mothers with HIV Langen called breast milk the nutritional “gold standard” for feeding infants because of the numerous immunological and bioactive compounds it contains that can’t be perfectly replaced by formula having all those nutritional advantages is all the more important “I think it’s something that will benefit both caregivers and infants in the future To be a small part of this larger study is incredible.” “There is no risk of transmission (of HIV) if a mother strictly uses formula there are so many studies that show reduced risk of infections by providing human milk,” she said “The breast milk just helps to build that gut microbiome.” Langen also said mixed feeding – using both formula and breastfeeding – is not a viable option for HIV-exposed infants She said formula tends to be harder to digest and can make the gut more permeable by creating micro-abrasions If a caregiver switched from formula back to breast milk the now more permeable gut would be more susceptible to infection – and potential transmission of HIV “If donor milk is a ‘top-up’ to breastfeeding it will allow them to continue breastfeeding,” Langen said “If [the mother has] a low milk supply or if they’re away from their infant or just can’t provide breast milk .. The pilot study for this research project will follow between 10 and 20 caregivers over the course of six to eight weeks The research team will provide pasteurized donor human milk four times over that span to supplement the infant’s feedings Langen said the project will evaluate the frequency and volume of donor milk feedings evaluate caregiver experiences and any instances of poor tolerance in the infants While donor milk is used within the neonatal intensive care unit it is both difficult to access and very expensive to obtain for caregivers outside of the hospital setting Langen said the hope for this project is to fill a gap in recommended nutritional feeding alternatives for HIV-exposed infants to help them be as healthy and well-fed as possible “I think it’s something that will benefit both caregivers and infants in the future,” she said “To be a small part of this larger study is incredible.” Together, we will undertake the research the world needs. We invite you to join by supporting critical research at USask Together, we are addressing the world's greatest challenges. Join our ambitious vision for the future The University of Saskatchewan's main campus is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis. © University of SaskatchewanDisclaimer | Privacy | Accessibility British marque Langen is making the jump from bespoke UK-centric manufacturer to worldwide player with the launch of their new range-topping model. The LightSpeed LS12 – a muscular 1190cc V-twin producing a claimed 185bhp and 101lb.ft that we got our first glimpse of at Motorcycle Live last November – will be fully homologated through Type Approval to conform with markets in Europe allowing the Wigan based brand to go truly global for the first time Langen shot to prominence in 2020 after unveiling the Two-Stroke Although limited to a production run of just 100 machines the Two-Stroke garnered worldwide interest from 2T fanatics keen to get their hands on the first all-new two-stroke in decades Langen is hoping its first four-stroke will generate a similar impact “The LightSpeed has always been destined to become the first Langen to be fully homologated,” company founder Christofer Ratcliffe told MCN “Although the launch edition will be limited to registration through the UK MSVA system we have developed the components and electronics to have the ability to conform to the necessary homologation regulations.” The new model, powered by a 72° Rotax V-twin engine, as used in the Buell 1190SX is scheduled to reach its first UK customers by autumn 2025 – with a ticket price of £44,400 “We are currently seeking investment partners to help fast track the global version of the LightSpeed into production,” confirmed Ratcliffe “We have received a significant amount of interest about the LightSpeed from overseas particularly from the US due to the Buell derived engine.” Initial production for the LightSpeed is set at 185 bikes so although available to a wider audience than the Two Stroke exclusivity still plays a big part in the bike’s appeal each LightSpeed can be built to its owner’s preferences in terms of colours Performance is expected to exceed that of the Buell While power and torque figures for the British built bike match those of the 1190SX the LightSpeed’s overall mass – at 185kg – is 5 kilos less than its American competitor lightweight forged aluminium wheels (made inhouse by Langen) and a high-tensile tubular steel space frame chassis all help to keep the LightSpeed’s weight to a class-leading standard Suspension is fully adjustable Öhlins front and rear – 48mm FGRT 301 upside-down forks and twin 36mm STX piggyback shocks at the rear British braking specialists Hel supply the stopping power with a twin 320mm disc/4-pot radial caliper set up taking the strain up front and a single 265mm disc and 2-pot caliper at the back While we await the arrival of the first LightSpeed models (an MCN first ride on the prototype is planned for later this year) Langen’s Two Stroke is also making its mark abroad with the first ever model exported overseas in March to the delight of its new owner,” confirmed Ratcliffe “This signified a landmark milestone for Langen Motorcycles as we look to grow the brand globally over the next few years.” By Jim Moore Freelance road tester and writer Text description provided by the architects. The kindergarten extension is the result of a conversion and renovation of the existing community premises. The extension of the kindergarten in the existing community meeting point will take place under the current kindergarten with a south-facing external connection. The access to the group rooms can be extended to the west, onto the municipal land. The generous glass surfaces provide maximum lighting for the rooms and at the same time create an open kindergarten cluster. The team room is also open plan. © Adolf Bereuter, DornbirnAdapted to the staff situation there are only mobile workstations and a shared coworking table The children’s recreation areas are attached to the façade facing the natural space An acoustic ceiling made of untreated wood paneling in combination with an organic floor bellows ensures the best acoustics and a feel-good atmosphere You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email Volume 4 - 2016 | https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2016.00110 To improve Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass balance (SMB) simulation the subsurface scheme of the HIRHAM5 regional climate model was extended to include snow densification irreducible water saturation and other effects on snow liquid water percolation and retention Sensitivity experiments to investigate the effects of the additions and the impact of different parameterization choices are presented Compared with 68 accumulation area ice cores the simulated mean annual net accumulation bias is −5% (correlation coefficient of 0.90) Modeled SMB in the ablation area compares favorably with 1041 PROMICE observations with regression slope of 0.95–0.97 (depending on model configuration) correlation coefficient of 0.75–0.86 and mean bias −3% Weighting ablation area SMB biases at low- and high-elevation with the amount of runoff from these areas we estimate ice sheet-wide mass loss biases in the ablation area at −5 and −7% using observed (MODIS-derived) and internally calculated albedo Comparison with observed melt day counts shows that patterns of spatial (correlation ~0.9) and temporal (correlation coefficient of ~0.9) variability are realistically represented in the simulations the model tends to underestimate the magnitude of inter-annual variability (regression slope ~0.7) and overestimate that of spatial variability (slope ~1.2) In terms of subsurface temperature structure and occurrence of perennial firn aquifers and perched ice layers the most important model choices are the albedo implementation and irreducible water saturation parameterization the internally calculated albedo yields too high subsurface temperatures below 5 m but when using an implementation of irreducible saturation allowing higher values reducing the deep warm bias in subsequent years observed albedos combined with lower irreducible saturation give the smallest bias Perennial firn aquifers and perched ice layers occur in varying thickness and area for different model parameter choices While the occurrence of these features has an influence on the local-scale subsurface temperature the Greenland-wide runoff and SMB are—in the model's current climate—dominated by the albedo implementation Accounting realistically for firn permeability will likely become increasingly important with continued climate warming and we focus in this paper on representing the pathways of liquid water in snow and firn in a surface mass balance (SMB) model The meltwater penetration depth is controlled by the temperature and density of the snowpack Snow/firn density controls the hydraulic conductivity the pore spaces where water can be contained Subsurface temperature has an important control on densification rate and determines if and how much liquid water will freeze In this paper we present results from a HIRHAM5 subsurface scheme which accounts for snow/firn density evolution and hydraulic conductivity and employs two different albedo implementations (described in Section Model Description and Simulations) allowing for formation of firn aquifers and perched impermeable ice layers In Section Model Evaluation Using Observations we compare model results to observed net accumulation melt extent and subsurface density profiles at multiple ice sheet locations we compare simulations with observed subsurface temperature evolution at a single site in West Greenland We then perform sensitivity tests and discuss the choices made in the model which are particularly important (Section Sensitivity Results) Conclusions are given in Section Conclusions temperature and humidity as well as surface pressure ERA-Interim sea surface temperatures and sea ice concentration are prescribed The experiment covers 35 years (1980-2014) At the surface, snow mass is updated with snowfall, rainfall, melt and deposition/sublimation at each subsurface scheme time step (1 h). Likewise, the surface temperature is updated via energy budget closure with radiative and turbulent surface energy exchange above and diffusive and advective heat exchange with subsurface layers. If the surface temperature exceeds 0°C, it is reset to 0°C and the excess energy supplies heat for melting (Langen et al., 2015) The current subsurface model has a number of additions and extensions after the original five-layer ECHAM5 surface scheme (Roeckner et al., 2003) modified for use over glaciers and ice sheets by Langen et al. (2015) snow state-dependent hydraulic conductivity superimposed ice formation and irreducible water saturation as well as accommodation for water retention in excess of the irreducible saturation we describe the details of the new features The new subsurface scheme consists of a horizontal grid of non-interacting columns with 32 layers of time-constant water equivalent thicknesses Each layer's thickness is divided into contributions from snow (ps) While their relative magnitudes can vary through time the sum of these three parameters equals the layer thickness and remains constant The layer thicknesses increase exponentially with depth to increase resolution near the surface (N'th layer thickness DN=D1λN-1 with D1 = 0.065 m and λ = 1.173265 chosen to give a full model depth of 60 m w.e minimizing impacts of lower boundary conditions) are thus represented by 12 layers with thicknesses varying from 6.5 to 37 cm w.e. has 21 layers with thicknesses up to 1.6 m w.e The lowest subsurface layer has a thickness of 9.2 m w.e As mass is added on top of the subsurface model (via snow the scheme advects mass downward to ensure the constant w.e when mass is removed from the column by runoff mass is shifted up from an infinite ice reservoir below into the lowest model layer This up- and down mass flux is accompanied by an associated vertical transfer of sensible heat The original ECHAM5 heat diffusion solver (Roeckner et al., 2003) is modified to accommodate a density dependent snow thermal conductivity (Yen, 1981; Vionnet et al., 2012) where kice is the ice thermal conductivity (in W m−1 K−1) and ρs and ρw are The layer bulk thermal conductivity is calculated through a volume-weighted blending of ks and kice Accumulating snow is assumed to have the temperature of the upper layer while rain is assumed have 0°C temperature The possible energy source from rain with temperature above Tf is thus disregarded with which the lowest model layer exchanges heat is set to the simulated local long-term mean near-surface air temperature This infinite sublayer choice may lead to a slight overestimation of refreezing since the model-bottom will be kept cooler than near-surface layers in case of latent heat release from refreezing the vertical temperature gradient and resulting heat diffusion associated with this bottom cooling will be minor the energy required to heat the snow and ice mass to Tf in each layer is used to freeze liquid water thereby freezing as much water as is available or as cold content allows within a single time step The temperature of the layer is raised by latent heat release to conserve energy Superimposed ice formation occurs when liquid water resides in a temperate layer above an impermeable layer (description below) with a temperature below the freezing point A downward heat flux at the layer interface is then calculated assuming that the cold impermeable layer has a linear temperature profile between Tf at the interface and the mean layer temperature at the layer mid-point This downward heat flux allows superimposed ice to form in the temperate layer and heats the impermeable layer beneath is the volume of water per pore space volume and may be written in terms of masses as and the water per snow-plus-water mass irreducible liquid water content The quantity Wmi may be converted to Swi through the relation As ρs increases, Swi calculated in this manner initially decreases from ~0.10 at 100 kg m−3 to ~0.07 at 300 kg m−3. Swi then increases to about ~0.085 at 600 kg m−3 and ~0.17 near 810 kg m−3 (Figure 1) Figure 1. Irreducible saturation, Swi, and irreducible liquid water content, Wmi (water per snow-plus-water mass), as a function of snow density following the parameterization by Coleou and Lesaffre (1998) we may calculate the effective liquid saturation which becomes positive when the snow contains more water than can be permanently held by capillary forces alone In our treatment of vertical flow of liquid water through the snowpack, we closely follow the implementation by Hirashima et al. (2010) Here, g is the acceleration due to gravity and νw is the kinematic viscosity of water (1.787·10−6 m2 s−1). Note that dg has mm units. We thus divide by 1000 to get the diameter in m units in accordance with Calonne et al. (2012). In the van Genuchten (1980) parameterization of Kr and h used by Hirashima et al. (2010) two parameters (α and n) must be calculated As the layers in our subsurface model contain both snow and ice, we need to take into account the hydraulic conductivity reduction resulting from the presence of ice. Colbeck (1975) developed an analytical model for a snowpack with interspersed ice layers and we employ it here for model layers with some ice fraction The bulk hydraulic conductivity of the entire model layer is where fsnow = Hs/(Hs+Hi) is the fraction of the physical layer thickness which is snow (here Hs = psρw/ρs and Hi = piρw/ρi are the physical thicknesses of the snow and ice fractions) and the fraction wh/wice is the ratio between the width of holes in the ice and the width of the ice A value of 1 for this fraction means that when ice is present in a layer it has a horizontal extent of half the unit area it is essentially a tuning parameter that can decrease the hydraulic conductivity in the presence of ice and we perform experiments with wh/wice values of 1 and 0.1 we also employ a “NoDarcy” version of the code which ignores the delaying effect of hydraulic conductivity on the vertical flow allowing all water in excess of the irreducible saturation to fully percolate within a single time step A layer is considered impermeable if its bulk dry density exceeds a threshold of 810 kg m−3. This value is lower than the classical value of pore close-off density at 830 kg m−3 (Cuffey and Paterson, 2010), since field studies (Gregory et al., 2014) show that in high-accumulation areas such as West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) divide (and presumably Greenland) impermeability occurs over a range of densities (780–840 kg m−3) centered around an average of 810 kg m−3 No water is allowed to flow to an impermeable layer from above and the same applies if a layer has its entire pore space filled (Sw = 1) water that would otherwise have flowed downwards through either the Darcy or NoDarcy mechanisms described above per time-step is calculated from the water in excess of the irreducible saturation where τRO = cRO, 1 + cRO, 2exp(−cRO, 3S) is a characteristic local runoff time-scale that increases as the surface slope, S (unit m m−1), tends to zero (Zuo and Oerlemans, 1996). The coefficients cRO, 1, cRO, 2 and cRO, 3 are set to 0.33 day, 25 days and 140, respectively (as in CROCUS/MAR, Lefebre et al., 2003) water in excess of irreducible saturation may linger in a layer until it forms superimposed ice on the layer beneath There is currently no representation of horizontal flow or routing of meltwater in HIRHAM5 Re-writing Equation (5) in Vionnet et al. (2012) where σ is the overburden pressure and η is the snow viscosity, parameterized as in Vionnet et al. (2012) Equation (7): Here, η0 = 7.62237·106kg s−1, aη = 0.1 K−1, bη = 0.023 m3 kg−1, cη = 250 kg m−3 are identical to Vionnet et al. (2012) neglecting the reduction in η for grain sizes smaller than about 0.3 mm The effect of liquid water on viscosity and compaction rate enters in f1 as Freshly-fallen snow has an initial density parameterized through a linear regression of surface density observations onto surface elevation bρ = −0.049376 kg m−4 cρ = 1.0427 kg m−3 deg−1 and dρ = −0.11186 kg m−3 deg−1 (Fausto et al. The snow grain size diameter, dg (in mm), used in the calculation of hydraulic conductivity is modeled following Katsushima et al. (2009) and Hirashima et al. (2010) in terms of the mass liquid water content in percent The first option, increasing with L3, follows Brun (1989) for low liquid water content, while the second option depends only on the dg-2 factor. As in Katsushima et al. (2009) we choose an initial value of 0.1 mm for the grain size diameter of freshly fallen snow We perform sensitivity tests with multiple subsurface scheme versions and parameter settings running the subsurface scheme offline from the HIRHAM5 atmospheric code by saving 6 h fields of surface fluxes of energy (downward short- and longwave radiation latent and sensible heat fluxes) and snowfall rainfall and sublimation mass fluxes from HIRHAM5 These fields are in turn read in to the offline subsurface code and interpolated to the 1 h time step employed there The upward short- and longwave fluxes are calculated in the offline code based on albedo (see below) and surface temperature Spin-up of the subsurface model is performed by taking an initial condition from a previous experiment and repeating the decade 1980-1989 (chosen since it precedes the warming in later decades) until transients in decadal means of runoff and subsurface temperatures have ceased A separate spin-up is performed for each sensitivity experiment the transient 1980-2014 experiment is started from the final model state Table 1 lists the sensitivity experiments with different combinations of albedo, water percolation mechanism, parameterization of Swi and choice of wh/wice. The experiments MOD-ref and LIN-ref, corresponding to a model with Darcy flow, Swi parameterized following Coleou and Lesaffre (1998) and wh/wice set to 1 (with either MODIS-derived or internally calculated albedo) Table 1. Overview of sensitivity experiments with different choices of albedo implementation (MODIS-derived or linear formulation), water percolation mechanism (Darcy or NoDarcy), parameterization of irreducible water saturation, Swi (fixed value of 0.02 or Coleou and Lesaffre, 1998 parameterization) and choice of wh/wice (used in Equation 11) The surface accumulation (and to some extent also ablation) is external to the subsurface model in the sense that accumulation is provided exclusively from the HIRHAM5 atmospheric model The ablation is a result of the downward energy fluxes from HIRHAM5 but also the albedo calculated in the LIN simulations and specified in the MOD simulations at the top of the subsurface model It furthermore depends on the subsurface energy flows and thus also on the other model choices A compilation of 86 ice cores providing annual w.e. net accumulation rate is available from Box et al. (2013), and spans elevations between 311 and 3188 m a.s.l. Here we select cores overlapping in time with our experiments and having elevations above 1000 m a.s.l. This gives a total of 68 cores (red circles in Figure 2 and Supplementary Table S1) providing a sample across elevations and east-west and north-south differences Figure 2. The position of the 68 ice cores used for accumulation evaluation (red circles), 351 SMB observation sites in the ablation area (blue circles) and 75 firn cores used in density evaluation (names of 7 sites included in Figure 7 are shown) with elevation contours (1000-3000 m a.s.l highlighted) and outline of the contiguous ice sheet Table 2. Statistics of comparison between 1041 observed (Machguth et al., 2016b) and simulated SMBs from 351 ablation area sites Interpretation of model-observation discrepancies is aided by the use of automatic weather station data from the PROMICE network (Ahlstrøm et al., 2008 From these stations we use near-surface air temperature The result is a daily melt or no-melt field on the 25 km resolution Equal-Area Scalable Earth (EASE) grid Resolution and accuracy vary for each dataset and are detailed in the studies above Each core was compared to the modeled density profile of the grid cell it is located in Different cores can therefore be compared to the same modeled density profile and illustrate within-cell variability of firn density The observed annual w.e. net accumulation rates compare with simulated net accumulation (calculated in the model as snowfall-minus-sublimation) with an average model bias of −5%, correlation coefficient of 0.90 and orthogonal linear regression slope of 1.01 indicating that the average magnitude and spatial variations are reliably reproduced by the model (Figure 3) Biases are locally both positive and negative and nearly cancel out in the mean but give a 25% root-mean-square-error with no clear pattern in the distribution of positive and negative biases with elevation Comparison of modeled and observed annual net accumulation (snowfall-minus-sublimation) for 68 ice cores with elevation greater than 1000 m a.s.l The black line is 1:1 and the blue line is an orthogonal linear regression with statistics of the fit provided in the table These are unitless except RMSE and bias (m w.e.) they are all similar and no clear winner may be identified The same applies across the two LIN albedo experiments Comparison of modeled and observed SMB at 351 ablation area sites providing a total of 1041 observations The red line (and the statistics in the “All” column) is an orthogonal linear fit to all 1041 observations while the blue line is for sites above 700 m a.s.l The statistics of the fits provided in the tables are unitless except RMSE and bias (m w.e.) and the observations cover uneven time intervals: some are a few months Model numbers are integrated over the exact dates of the observation intervals To investigate the elevation dependence of the SMB comparison, statistics are redone for sites above and below 700 m a.s.l. (above 700 m shown in blue in Figure 4) the MOD-ref and LIN-ref experiments on average underestimate the net mass loss by 8 and 16% they overestimate net mass loss by 1 and 7% The small negative bias found for all sites (−3%) is thus a result of cancelation of under- and overestimates at high and low elevation sites To gauge the overall impact of the low- and high-elevation biases we calculate the total long-term runoff deriving from elevations above and below 700 m a.s.l about 38% of the total ice sheet-wide runoff derives from below 700 m a.s.l Considering the biases (+1 and +7% at low elevations for MOD and LIN and −8 and −16% at high) together with 38% runoff from low areas and 62% from high suggests weighted mean ice sheet-wide mass loss biases in the ablation area of −5 and −7% for the MOD and LIN cases For the very largest negative observed SMBs, the model has a pronounced tendency to underestimate the mass loss, see e.g., the leftmost points in both panels of Figure 4 corresponding to the PROMICE QAS_L site in southern Greenland [see Supplementary Table S2) considering solely the lower ablation area PROMICE sites (KAN_L (mean ± stddev)] yields mean underestimates of 29 and 37% for MOD and LIN Comparing Jun-Aug mean observed and simulated net incoming shortwave radiation (incoming minus reflected) over 2008-2014 QAS_L has model biases of −16 and −44% for MOD and LIN as a result of positive mean albedo biases of 0.16 and 0.34 (Supplementary Table S3) The U-sites also display a tendency for simulated near-surface air temperature cold biases but these are generally smaller than at the L-sites where particularly the LIN case overestimates mass loss there is a Jun-Aug mean 1.7 degree warm bias The warm conditions allow a positive feedback between warming surface snow and lowered albedo to be activated resulting in a positive net incoming shortwave bias of 41% Such a feedback is not active with the specified MOD albedo resulting in a small (−5%) net shortwave bias The “Temporal” statistics are calculated by summing each year the melt day counts across the entire ice sheet Table 3. Statistics of comparison between observed (Mote, 2014) and simulated annual melt day counts (see text for details) over the period 1988-2012 Comparison of 1988-2012 mean observed and modeled spatial distribution of annual melt day counts on the 25 km EASE-grid (see text for details) The maps show melt day counts in grid cells where both the observed and interpolated model fields have ice The scatter plots include only points where either observations or model show melt The black line is 1:1 and the red line is an orthogonal linear regression with statistics of the fit provided in the table The simulated patterns are similar to observations with the main differences related to the steep spatial regression slopes: The model tends to have too few points with few melt days and too many points with many melt days correlation coefficients (spatial and temporal) and slopes (spatial and temporal) are very similar while the LIN models have a better match in terms of mean Within the LIN and MOD groups the statistics do not give a clear winner Figure 6 shows the 8–10 m depth observed and simulated subsurface temperature records at the percolation area site KAN-U 1840 m above sea level (Figure 2). The subsurface model is generally too warm at these depths during winter (Figure 6) due to some combination of (i) a surface temperature warm bias (not shown) and (ii) excessive retention in the top 5 m which heats the modeled subsurface during winter Given that the Swi02 versions of the experiments (which have a fixed Swi of 0.02) display the same warm bias (not shown) excessive retained water is likely not the primary cause indicating that the simulated wetting front advance is too slow Once the wetting front has reached its maximum depth The MOD-Swi02 and LIN-Swi02 experiments (not shown) allow a more rapid percolation to depth and the early melt season cold bias is less pronounced Comparison between modeled and observed subsurface temperatures at KAN-U for 2009-2014 The positions of the thermistors are indicated by solid gray lines showing the difference between modeled and observed temperatures the −1 and −5°C isotherms from the top panel are repeated for reference Major ticks mark the beginning of the year Figure 7 shows nine comparisons of simulated and observed density profiles from MOD-ref and LIN-ref. More cores are presented in Supplementary Figures S1 and S2, showing that the following discussions apply more generally. The model gives realistic density profiles in dry snow areas such as core 7551 in Figure 7 MOD-ref and LIN-ref give similar results due to limited melt are shown in darker blue or red while dry firn density Modeled densities exceeding pore close-off density (810 kg m−3) are shown with thicker lines In areas where more melt and refreezing occurs (all other panels in Figure 7) ice lenses of various thicknesses appear in the firn and density profiles no longer increase monotonically with depth the smooth dry compaction profile is superimposed with sequences of higher and lower density peaks it is not possible to recreate these thin features agreement between the smoothed observed density (not shown) and modeled bulk density allows the model to accurately translate mass loss to surface lowering and calculate the thermal properties of the firn for that given resolution the modeled firn density (shown in lighter shades) should match the ice-free sections of the observed density profile observed density profiles have low peak densities that are smaller than the modeled values but with measurement uncertainty this overestimation of ice-free firn densities is perhaps less clear LIN-ref tends to give higher densities than MOD-ref because of the differences in meltwater input In some cases it allows the LIN-ref model to reproduce observed ice lenses as shown with thick lines at KAN-U in 2012 and 2013 LIN-ref clearly overestimates subsurface densities while MOD-ref fits the observed profile better The KAN-U core from 2009 only recorded densities to 1 m depth and stratigraphy down to 3 m and did not show any major ice lenses at shallow depth numerous ice layers are observed with some spatial variability (differences between multiple observed profiles) LIN-ref has reached pore close off at 5 m depth and replicates this densification process The cores from spring 2013 show how the ice lens complexes had merged into a consistent ice layer Accordingly the impermeable layer in LIN-ref also increased in thickness A good spatial match is also visible on the EGIG line (first 15 panels in Supplementary Figure S2 The LIN-ref model reaches pore close off at the same sites where ice lenses and higher densities become frequent in the cores (from GGU163 to H2-1 reaches pore close off lower on this transect The observed density profiles at DYE-2 show a similar stratigraphy to what was observed at KAN-U before saturation of the near-surface firn and may potentially undergo a similar transformation The EKT and Crawford Point cores also show increased ice features and density near the surface and can also potentially follow the same path It is satisfactory to see the simulated density profile represent this near-surface densification due to increased refreezing in recent years sites like H4 show a stratigraphy where meltwater refreezing has filled most pore space except for isolated firn pockets at depth simulated densities have reached pore close off at that site and surface melt is unable to percolate to depth Daily mean temperature at KAN-U of the upper 10 m for 1980-2014 for MOD-ref and for 2008-2014 for other selected experiments The black solid line marks the ρbulk = 810 kg m−3 contour indicating the presence of impermeable layers The net effect is therefore a downward motion of the ice layer after the end of the 2012 melt season runoff from the column lowers the liquid water level The high levels of water in excess of the irreducible saturation leads to runoff from the time water starts accumulating atop the ice layer until late in the autumn season rather than being distributed over large depths as in the three left panels Mass liquid water content (L = pw/ps) of the upper 10 m at KAN-U for days 136–289 (May 15–Oct 15) of 2012 for selected experiments The black solid lines mark the ρbulk = 810 kg m−3 contour indicating the presence of impermeable layers the accumulating water leads to values of up to 0.5 The distribution of liquid water content in MOD-ref vs MOD-w01 shows the impact of reducing the hydraulic conductivity of the layers Reduced conductivity in MOD-w01 slows the downward flow and allows for greater vertical gradients in liquid water to build up before being released Such buildup of vertical gradients leads to a more intermittent downward flow pattern but not to formation of an impermeable layer Opposite is the MOD-NoDarcy experiment in which excess water percolates instantaneously leading to a gradual rather than intermittent evolution of the water field Since surface accumulation and percolation leads to simulated vertical shifting of mass an ice layer effectively diffuses with time if no new mass is top-accreted after formation A greater amount of meltwater is thus needed for the buildup of an ice layer that can survive the winter and still block percolation the next melt season This could explain why MOD models do not form a sustainable ice layer at KAN-U Figure 10 shows the distribution of perched ice layers over the years 2012-2014 along with the April 2014 distribution of perennial firn aquifers Perched ice layers are identified from the three-dimensional field of ρbulk averaged over April: searching from the surface and downward if one or more layers have ρbulk ≥810 kg m−3 followed by ρbulk <810 kg m−3 then that grid cell has an identified perched ice layer Perched ice layers determined in this manner are present in a narrow band (typically 3–6 grid cells) going from the southwest up the west coast and around the north and northeast and in some cases interrupted in the west and northwest by perennial firn aquifers existence of layers with ρbulk ≥ 810 kg m−3 above less dense layers) in April of years 2012-2014 in black and distribution of total column liquid water in April 2014 in reds All panels include elevation contours (1000–3000 m a.s.l highlighted) and outline of the contiguous ice sheet (blue) our model simulates these conditions also in several places in the west and northwest Comparing cases with SwiCL and Swi02 (i.e., MOD-ref vs. MOD-Swi02 and LIN-ref vs. LIN-Swi02), the perched ice layers are more widespread with SwiCL. The KAN-U site is, as illustrated in Figure 8 allows an ice layer to emerge (in the LIN case) The higher retention of water in still cool near-surface layers apparently favors the formation of the perched ice layer Even though Figure 9 showed how daily variations in the subsurface water field and downward flow depend crucially on the implementation of hydraulic conductivity (MOD-ref vs it is apparently not important for the large-scale distribution of perched ice layers and perennial firn aquifers It appears that the seasonal supply of meltwater accumulation and irreducible saturation are important and not the exact timing of the downward flow on time-scales of days This is a useful result for climate models as it implies that capturing short-term variability is not as important as accurately capturing longer-term precipitation and snowpack processes Figure 11 shows differences in total runoff averaged over the years 2012-2014 arising due to the different model implementations. The top row shows the runoff in the MOD-ref and LIN-ref experiments and below is shown the difference between them. The LIN albedo promotes higher melting across the north, likely contributing to the more widespread occurrence of perched ice layers in that area in LIN-ref (Figure 10) the MOD experiment produces larger runoff rates One exception is the green band inland of the yellow band in the west indicating a higher runoff line in the LIN case (Upper row) Annual runoff (averaged over years 2012-2014) for experiments MOD-ref and LIN-ref (Lower rows) Runoff differences between selected experiments The last three have been multiplied by 10 to aid visualization Greenland-wide time-series of calendar-year total runoff and SMB are shown in Figure 12. Clearly discernible are the differences between the MOD and LIN cases, while the differences between SwiCL and Swi02 are very small. This is due both to the smallness of the differences in the lower row of Figure 11 (multiplied by a factor of 10) but also the competing effects from the perennial firn aquifer and perched ice layer areas The MODIS-driven experiments employ an average 2000-2006 daily albedo climatology in the period before 2000 This reduces the inter-annual variability and leads to larger differences from the LIN experiments in runoff (and In the post-2000 period with direct MODIS-derived albedos there is better agreement on the variability Greenland-wide annual runoff and SMB from selected experiments The subsurface scheme of the regional climate model HIRHAM5 has been extended to include firn densification snow state-dependent hydraulic conductivity and irreducible water saturation as well as retention of water in excess of the irreducible saturation and superimposed ice formation Sensitivity experiments have been performed to gauge both small- and large-scale effects of these additions as well as the impact of different parameterization choices The model results compare favorably with 68 ice core-derived annual net accumulation rates (spatial correlation coefficient of 0.90 and mean bias −5%) simulated SMBs compare very well with 1041 observations with regression slopes of 0.97 and 0.95 and correlation coefficients of 0.86 and 0.75 for MOD-ref and LIN-ref indicating only slightly underestimated net mass loss rates partially due to a cancelation of under- and overestimates at high and low elevation sites Splitting the sites between those above and below 700 m a.s.l and weighting the resulting biases with the amount of runoff deriving from low vs higher elevations results in weighted ice sheet-wide mass loss biases in the ablation area of −5 and −7% for MOD and LIN These numbers do not depend significantly on other model choices (Darcy Comparing observed and simulated annual melt day counts shows that the spatial and temporal patterns of variability are reliably represented in the model while it tends to underestimate the magnitude of inter-annual variability and overestimate that of spatial variability the choice of albedo dominates the differences and the statistics do not allow for a best choice of the other model settings to be determined 0.1) has an impact on short time-scale features of the subsurface liquid water field but appears unimportant for the seasonal-scale temperature structure and for the large-scale mass balance field shields the deeper part from latent heating from refreezing and reduces the warm bias at depth perched ice layers do form also with MOD and Swi02 in different combinations; just not exactly at KAN-U Perennial firn aquifers occur in the south and southeast in patterns corresponding to those found by Forster et al. (2014) and continue up the west coast interrupted by areas with perched ice layers These areas with perennial firn aquifers are not much impacted by the choice of SwiCL vs but the total amount of water in the aquifers is This is because the perennial firn aquifer water consists entirely of water held within the irreducible saturation SwiCL generally leads to less runoff because more water is held back against runoff in the summer and fall and remains available for refreezing in winter The fact that water exits the model domain once it runs off from a column may influence our results If water instead flowed to neighboring grid columns (at the surface or at the depth from which it runs off) it would become part of the water budget of that cell This could potentially increase the magnitude or areal extent of both perched ice layers and perennial firn aquifers Addition of a representation of lateral flow and routing of water along with vertical piping could potentially alter the current conclusions and should be the focus of further developments water which would otherwise have percolated and refrozen at deeper levels end up contributing to runoff instead This is visible in large-scale runoff maps this is more or less negligible in the model's current climate the same is true for details of the percolation mechanism and retention parameterizations: they matter for local-scale subsurface temperature ice and water fields; but for the Greenland-wide runoff and SMB the major impact is from the choice of albedo implementation Whether the large-scale effects of perennial firn aquifers and perched ice layers will change in a warmer climate is not yet clear PL led the development of the subsurface model performed the subsurface experiments and led writing of the manuscript and RM contributed to development of the subsurface model and RM performed the HIRHAM5 atmospheric model experiment and JB performed comparisons of model output to observations All authors contributed to discussions and writing of the manuscript This work is supported by the Retain project funded by the Danish Council for Independent research (Grant no The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest The reviewer PA and handling Editor declared their shared affiliation and the handling Editor states that the process nevertheless met the standards of a fair and objective review The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2016.00110/full#supplementary-material Ahlstrøm, A., Gravesen, P., Andersen, S., Van As, D., Citterio, M., Fausto, R., et al. 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Available online at: http://www.geus.dk/publications/bull/nr28/nr28_p69-72.pdf van den Broeke A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soil doi: 10.2136/sssaj1980.03615995004400050002x CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Surface mass balance model intercomparison for the Greenland ice sheet The detailed snowpack scheme Crocus and its implementation in SURFEX v7.2 Verification of the multi-layer SNOWPACK model with different water transport schemes Modeling the refreezing of meltwater as superimposed ice on a high Arctic glacier: a comparison of approaches Water retention curve of snow with different grain sizes CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar NH: United States Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Google Scholar Modelling albedo and specific balance of the Greenland ice sheet: calculations for the Søndre Strømfjord transect Google Scholar Keywords: liquid water percolation in firn Greenland ice sheet perennial firn aquifer Mottram RH and Box JE (2017) Liquid Water Flow and Retention on the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Regional Climate Model HIRHAM5: Local and Large-Scale Impacts Received: 04 October 2016; Accepted: 22 December 2016; Published: 12 January 2017 Copyright © 2017 Langen, Fausto, Vandecrux, Mottram and Box. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Peter L. Langen, cGxhQGRtaS5kaw== Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish So it's not hard to understand why many startups these days are looking outside the normal avenues of starting a business on the right foot There are a few different pathways to do so, i.e. venture capital, personal loans, crime...But the folks over at Langen Motorcycles out of the United Kingdom the motorcycle shop that's planning to build a 300 horsepower turbocharged naked superbike are aiming to use crowdfunding to get its business off the ground and consumers listening to the sweet and they're already pretty close to their stated goal "Our reputation & success is driven by a tailor-made programme, offering fully bespoke, premium machines enhanced by the dependability of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)," states the crowdfunding campaign on the site, Republic Europe "Building on the success of our first model we aim to deliver our new innovative models to global markets - turbocharging the business & brand." The funding round aims to secure 300,000 euros which is around $326,000 at today's exchange rate Langen's already sold over $2.5 million worth of its first motorcycle model since 2020 And that's just through 32 of the 100 motorcycles delivered and with 81% of its allotted production reserved Langen then states that its "Second model targets global markets which we believe could as much as 28x larger than the UK market (according to our calculations based on new motorcycle registrations in 2023 in key markets including the EU US and China.)" That second model is the aforementioned turbocharged motorcycle called the Lightspeed as it requires quite the regimen given its high-horsepower delivery As for what happens next for Langen Motorcycles but based on the fact that the company's already been able to secure 70% of its intended goal it seems more than likely it'll be able to do just that especially a startup in the powersports industry and even more things you just don't think about What Langen has going for it is that its scope is fairly small and demand for a bespoke motorcycle appears to be unaffected by the current state of the world Here's hoping I can one day set my hair on fire riding a Lightspeed Polaris Axes This Year's Financial Guidance Amid Uncertain Times KTM's Parent Company Lost Nearly 1.2 Billion Euros Last Year Wigan-based Langen Motorcycles have this week gone live with a new crowd funding scheme, hoping to raise £600,000 of additional investment to create tooling and meet homologation standards on their incoming Lightspeed muscle cruiser Accessible online through europe.republic.com the investment program will allow people to become shareholders in Langen A £300,000 minimum target has been outlined on the website although it’s hoped that this figure will be doubled The Lightspeed concept was first seen November 2023, making its public debut at the Motorcycle Live show at Birmingham’s NEC. It’s powered by a Buell-derived 1190cc V-twin Power sits at a claimed 185bhp, with a tubular steel frame, raked out proportions, and its sights set on the likes of Ducati’s £23,995 Diavel V4 It’s hoped that the funding will allow the brand to achieve homologation standards to sell the bike into Europe with a slightly more powerful version coming to UK customers courtesy of Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval (MSVA) rules “We’re going for higher volume production tooling and we want to try and bring the cost of the bike down if we can and hopefully we can sell more because it’s a more affordable price for everybody,” Langen founder for the chassis and bodywork tooling we need £150,000 but then the cost of the parts is decreased and the quality stays very high over time,” he continued “If we are successful with the raise and we get the figure that we want then we’ll also start working on type approval concurrently.”  Ratcliffe added: “Since the very beginning we’ve designed the Lightspeed with type approval in mind we’ve got the right ECU to do OBD 2 diagnostics because the UK bike is still going to be noisier and more power than perhaps we’re allowed to do in Europe Ahead of going live with the crowd funding the company had attracted £212,241 of investment from 33 bodies It’s hoped that they can raise a total of £600,000 to bring their bikes to a more globalised market in a shorter space of time bikes sold must currently adhere to Euro5+ emissions rules which came into full force at the start of 2025 Chris and his team hope to appear at the EICMA trade show in Milan in 2026 to showcase the production bike for export “We’ve got a very clear plan on our objective and time frame,” Ratcliffe continued then we can accelerate the type-approval plans “If we raise slightly less than the £600,000 then all the plan still works because we’re still a functioning operating business.”  The money will also assist with the development of a Lightspeed Turbo model, which was teased to the public in early February at the first announcement of the crowd funding plans we’re told that the power could be as high as 300bhp in bursts – with some customers registered to a Lightspeed already upgrading their orders so that’s our job now,” Ratcliffe said in reference to the drag-racing-derived turbos being used “If you look at the design of the swingarm it’s kind of a gull arm and that was done to make room for the turbo we can manage the waste and boost very accurately The goal is to make it rideable,” he explained where you’d want it for riding around on the road but it will unleash around 300bhp at that point.”  The first Langen production model to reach the UK market was the £29,400-on (+VAT) Two Stroke it blends an almost retro roadster chic with 249.5cc two-stroke V-twin engine over 80% of the 100 available units have now been reserved Langen founder Christofer Ratcliffe has told MCN that no more will be produced “We will never make more of the 250 Two Stroke,” Ratcliffe explained We want Langens to retain value over time and be not only fantastic bikes to ride Despite being sold in the UK through Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval (MSVA) two bikes have now also gone to customers in Japan “We’ve got a few more to go there,” the Langen founder continued “We’ve got a bike on the water to New Zealand at the moment and the US are going crazy for the Two Strokes as well “We can’t sell to Europe because there’s too much red tape for us there’s a unique rule for bikes under 250cc and we’re 249.5cc.”  Chris admits that other smoking engine designs could grab his attention in the future adding: “If in the future another engine was developed then we’d be first in line with our hands up to try and build a bike with it but at the moment there is no immediate plans.”  For more on the Lightspeed, visit Langen’s website today According to a recent report in the economic newspaper The Marker, the Israeli government has requested that the Nagel Commission formed just a couple of months ago to advise on the country’s defence budget provide quick conclusions to facilitate the approval of major arms deals This comes as retired general Yossi Kuperwasser who previously served as head of research for Israel’s military intelligence division has pointed to the scale of the challenges facing the country’s army In an article in the Israel Hayom newspaper, he noted that Tel Aviv’s strategy is based on “weakening the Iranian axis and eliminating the threat from the north to enable the residents of the north to return to their homes safely and removing the threat from Gaza to the state of Israel” All of this implies a long-term war that will require increasing military capabilities Estimates from Israel’s central bank indicate that the costs of escalating the war with Lebanon and potentially also with Iran will be significant which is partially reflected in Israel’s increased military spending for 2024 and 2025 While the Israeli war budget has not been published in detail (the central bank publishes figures but not the detailed budget) new forecasts from the central bank provide a hint showing that current expenditures will increase by about 30 billion shekels ($8bn) this year a figure that primarily includes military equipment and compensation for reservists for service days This is a modest amount when compared with the overall anticipated costs of Israel’s plans to bolster its military capabilities headed by former national security adviser and retired general While the details of the commission’s recommendations will remain confidential Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government wants the body to facilitate the urgent acquisition of advanced weapons systems The central bank’s estimates are based on the assumption that Israel’s wars across the Middle East will be prolonged and extend at least into the first quarter of 2025 Even before the escalation in Lebanon and Iran the bank had already concluded that the country’s military spending had exceeded all expectations In addition, compensation for damaged properties since 7 October 2023 has reached 1.5 billion shekels ($404m) Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war Reports indicate that a significant increase in state revenue from local taxes could alleviate some of the strain of military spending on the overall budget. And none of this accounts for forthcoming US financial aid totalling 83 billion ($22bn) shekels for the years 2023 and 2024 primarily to procure additional US military aid The Nagel Commission’s interim report (the final report will be released by December) aims to establish a policy within the current budget framework to optimise the use of existing equipment and ammunition while allowing for weapons procurement deals The war on Israel's northern front is just one part of its regional plan to dismantle the resistance axis and undermine the 'unity of fronts' strategy indicate an annual spending increase of 55 billion shekels ($14.5bn) is more likely In short, it is evident that Israel is moving towards a profound shift in the structure of its military, based on long-term wars that align with its regional ambitions. As indicated by media reports the focus will be on both ground and naval forces with priority given to long-range regional combat The war on Israel’s northern front is just one part of its regional plan to dismantle the resistance axis and undermine the “unity of fronts” strategy in an effort to undermine the regime in Tehran and neutralise its nuclear and missile programmes The war on Gaza is expected to continue for a long time potentially turning into a permanent occupation based on ethnic cleansing operations in the northern part of the territory Despite the strength of the Israeli economy and its reserve assets Tel Aviv is increasingly reliant on US support in military Any regional war that Israel wages will thus become an American one as Tel Aviv continues to deny the Palestinian cause in an attempt to end it definitively The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye Copyright © 2014 - 2025. Middle East Eye Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters Middle East Eye          ISSN 2634-2456                      Search for academic programs, residence, tours and events and more Award-winning artist Vicky Talwar will bring her interdisciplinary talents to the Robert Langen Art Gallery at Wilfrid Laurier University to present the exhibition Shifting Energy from Sept Talwar — a Hindu Canadian who lives and runs a studio in Stouffville “Shifting Energy draws upon Talwar’s personal experience as a South-Asian Canadian and speaks to the hybridity of her cultural identity and the understanding of social displacement This entanglement of social identity and post-colonial diasporic history invites viewers to reflect on the space between what is tangible and what is a distant memory,” says Suzanne Luke university art curator of the Robert Langen Art Gallery Reoccurring spiritual motifs such as floral garlands sacred threads and salt are also introduced into Talwar’s works to suggest the intention of presence I invite patrons to engage with the paintings and mandalas as a starting point to reflect on the ideas of purification and the space between what is tangible and what is a distant memory,” says Talwar Talwar was bestowed the juror’s award as part of the Annual Juried Exhibition at Latcham Art Centre in 2017 She holds both a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts in Art Media and Design from the Ontario College of Art and Design as well as a Bachelor of Education from York University Among the highlights of Shifting Energy:  The Robert Langen Art Gallery is located on the main floor of the Laurier Library The gallery’s hours are Monday to Friday from 9 a.m For more information, email RLAG@wlu.ca By selecting “Accept” and continuing to use this website Sign In Register Florida — A Thunder Bay woman who just moved to Florida last month was preparing Wednesday to spend a somewhat anxious night watching the path of Hurricane Milton relocated to Fort Myers in September to live with her fiancé They were hoping for the best but preparing for the worst Although Fort Myers is in the southern part of Florida and is not expected to be hit as hard as the Tampa Bay area to the north some residents have been forced to move inland away from the water to avoid potential flooding The couple's home is about 32 kilometres inland "so we shouldn't have too big of an issue with the water," Rychel said in an interview at mid-afternoon explaining that the property is about 10 to 12 feet above sea level But the pair took precautions such as putting hurricane shutters across their windows "Everyone's pretty prepared here," Langen said but I think we are so far inland we feel we're in a good place." "We're keeping a close eye on the situation We have our belongings ready just in case we have to leave." Langen said she believed it would be difficult to sleep since the hurricane wasn't expected to arrive in full force until about midnight She was worrying a lot for Rychel's aunt and uncle who drove down from Sarasota to stay with the couple "They're going to get hit pretty good there A lot of people who were in the evacuation zones have migrated to our area." Friends from the Tampa area have also had to flee to safety.  Langen said she was mindful parts of the Fort Myers area sustained damage from Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago "The people that live close to the water had a lot of flooding and a lot of damage done to their homes you're kind of just waiting around and watching the news to see what transpires." SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Heartbroken families continue to grieve the loss of five Marines who died in a helicopter crashduring a training exercise last Tuesday who shared they had just been married last month “It was the most perfect wedding ever,” said Casey “It was the best day of my life and I just remember how happy he was.” “He was just this loving and selfless person,” she said Casey recalled the last text she received from her husband last Tuesday: “I’m headed home to you…that is the last thing he sent to me and the last time I heard from him.” Casey and Alec lived together at their home in Tierrasanta but were planning a move to North Carolina so he could pursue his career as a flying instructor and she as a nurse “Our plan was to go over there and get a big house and get a couple dogs and start a family.” Alec’s parents spoke about their son’s recent wedding in an interview last week. “They were deeply in love,” said Alec's mother “It was just really special because I got to witness it I could just tell how much he cared about her [...] You agonize over getting married and being young and whether or not it’s going to be okay you would have seen it was going to be okay.” Casey says she's been surviving through the overwhelming grief one day at a time “I think what helps the most is just hanging out with his squadron and being with his friends because I can see him in every single one of them And hearing all their jokes and memories of Alec,” she said Casey says she’ll hold onto those memories forever along with a motto of Alec’s: to lend a helping hand to anyone in need The Wingman Foundation has set up a fundraiser to help the families of the five fallen Marines. 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By on January 18, 2023No Comment Robert Langen, 29 added by on January 18, 2023View all posts by Matt Mackinder → and website in this browser for the next time I comment and they’ll probably get all misty-eyed at the mere mention of two-stroke Making a lot more power for their size than the equivalent four-stroke two-stroke engines were once a huge deal in the motorbike world but emissions rules mean they’re not really a thing anymore a British company busy preparing a brand new 250 two-stroke sports bike That’s the two-wheeled equivalent of someone building an all-new ultra-lightweight sports car with an N/A six-cylinder and a manual gearbox The bike will use a 90-degree V-twin with a counter-rotating crankshaft from Italian firm Vins considering that the 250 - which features carbon fibre panels on an aluminium frame - weighs just 112kg At the front you’ll find 43mm Ohlins forks while at the back - shirking the de rigueur monoshock setup - is a pair of Ktech Razor dampers with piggyback reservoirs Designed to evoke the classic cafe racer style in a contemporary fashion the bike includes real 24-carat gold details and naked carbon on display with a big emphasis placed on customer choice “During the design and build of the motorcycle each new owner will have an input over the final design geometry to truly create a unique machine,” Langen says See alsoAbt Unveils Audi Quattro Restomod With 523bhp It isn’t going to be cheap, then. Pricing hasn’t been confirmed, but Motorcycle News is reporting that it’ll be around £30,000 when launched this summer We suspect a lot of OG 250 two-stroke fans will consider that a small price to pay for reliving the smoky glory days in a modern setting reviews and unmissable promotions from the team direct to your inbox For more information see our Privacy Policy Next Genesis G70 Sprouts Huge Wing For Track Day Concept Matt Robinson Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.  How can a oil burning two-stroke pass any emissions regulations In reply to by Anonymous (not verified) Registering new two-stroke vehicles has been banned in the EU for years now the UK will still be in the EU by the time this vehicle launches The example from the press photos doesn’t even feature a license plate holder A Valley family held a local memorial service to honor Sgt ABC15’s Christine Stanwood was invited to the private memorial event on Monday my last text that I had received from him was just a day prior and it said "Alec did the job he loved and we know that he left us in a way he wanted to go — alongside his brothers." Sgt. Langen was among five Marines killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month near San Diego said his son was following in his footsteps 'I want to do what daddy did,'" Steven told ABC15 Steve pinned his wings on him when he finished training," said Caren Langen got married in a small ceremony in Sedona “It was the best day of my life and I just remember how happy he was,” Casey Langen, his wife She described him as a "loving and selfless person." They were planning a move to North Carolina so he could pursue his career as a flying instructor and she as a nurse “Our plan was to go over there and get a big house and get a couple dogs and start a family,” she said The United States Marine Corps held a separate memorial for the five Marines The family says any donations in Alec's memory can be made to the Wingman Foundation The cause of the crash remains under investigation will unveil the Langen LightSpeed 1200 (LS-12) at Motorcycle Live 2023 at the National Exhibition Centre Birmingham from November 18th to 26th Building on the success of their initial production motorcycle, The Two Stroke Langen's latest model showcases the company's expertise in crafting aesthetically pleasing high-performance motorcycles using top-tier components The LightSpeed boasts an impressive power-to-weight ratio of 1,000hp per tonne Constructed with carbon fiber bodywork surrounding a steel tubular space frame the LightSpeed features Öhlins front forks and rear shocks and Hel performance calipers gripping 320mm twin floating front discs The heart of the LightSpeed is a liquid-cooled born on the racetrack and delivering 185hp @ 10,600 RPM at the crank Manufactured by Buell Motorcycles and refined by Langen the LightSpeed embodies a fusion of innovation and emotion The UK launch edition will be limited to 185 units homologated for the UK providing customers with customizable options Worldwide type-approved models will be available in limited numbers from 2026 Langen HQ has reported that some existing Two Stroke customers have already placed deposits for the LightSpeed Christofer Ratcliffe Founder and CEO of Langen comments: At Langen yet motorcycles move the soul” - it demonstrates the intangible and unmatched human experience of riding and owning a Langen When you throw a leg over the LightSpeed you soon realize that it’s not just another motorcycle but a heart-pounding Discover more at: https://www.langenmotorcycles.co.uk/ Become a Motorcycle.com insider. Get the latest motorcycle news first by subscribing to our newsletter here More by Press Release All us 4stoke slug owners take note .That little two stroke will eat more lunch than a Hyabusa... I think he's talking about the 250cc two-stroke that was their last weird project - and that I would gladly spent the big bucks on It’s pretty gratifying to discover a youthful British entrepreneur’s madcap gamble that he could find sufficient customers ready to stump up the steep price for his self-conceived self-manufactured and self-promoted series production motorcycle that’s unique in today’s marketplace Lancashire-based Langen Motorcycles’ founder/CEO Chris Ratcliffe admits he uttered when he banked the deposit for his breakeven bike 30 of the 100 examples of the nowadays unique limited edition Langen Two Stroke streetbike he’d brought to the marketplace This came after it broke cover in September 2020 at the prestigious Salon Privé motoring garden party held in the grounds of Britain’s largest stately home Langen’s 250cc V-Twin debut model unveiled there defied convention by reviving the performance two-stroke engine for street use It’s been almost two full decades since the much-loved road-legal ring-ding race replicas like the Suzuki RGV250 and Aprilia RS250 two-stroke twins disappeared from European dealer showrooms in 2004 victims of ever-tightening emissions and noise environmental edicts thanks to a downright improbable tie-up between a group of current and former Ferrari engineers in Italy and the British designer who invented the hard-nosed hooligan bikes now sold so successfully by England’s historic offroad brand the wait for the strokers’ resurgence is finally over as deliveries of the Langen Two Stroke start to ramp up The new bike is the brainchild of Langen’s Chris Ratcliffe previously Chief Design Engineer for ten years at CCM Motorcycles in nearby Bolton he established his credentials for thinking outside the box by creating the mental Spitfire and Stealth 600cc single-cylinder four-stroke hotrods headlining today’s CCM range “Our aim at Langen is to push boundaries by building bikes that are out of the ordinary and heaps of fun to ride which we hope will please people interested in something completely different,” says Chris “This is the first of several unusual but exciting such models we plan to deliver in coming years.” Sounds like the Langen motto of ‘We Do Things Differently Here’ is justified Langen’s debut model is powered by a 90° V-Twin 249cc crankcase reed-valve two-stroke engine with twin counter-rotating cranks that’s being produced for the British company by its Italian engine supplier Vins Motors just a stone’s throw from the Ferrari factory and its Formula 1 race team’s HQ Vins was founded in 2017 by a group of five Ferrari R&D engineers past and present Over the last six years they’ve worked on developing the liquid-cooled 250cc two-stroke motor fitted in their own leading edge Duecinquanta model whose structural carbon fiber monocoque chassis incorporates Fior-type carbon wishbone front suspension as fitted to Brough Superior’s current range of models and especially the Aston Martin AMB 001 also made by them Vins has joined forces with Langen to supply a dedicated street legal version of its track-targeted engine to the British company and has taken care of dyno-tuning the motor to customer ready compliance In its street application the Langen’s liquid-cooled Vins V-Twin motor measuring 54 x 54.5 mm produces peak power of 76 bhp at 11,700 rpm at the gearbox and 33 ft-lb of torque at the same revs – but with a redline of 14,500 rpm It comes with fully CNC-machined crankcases A combination of Vins-patented direct EFI with two flatslide throttle bodies made in-house with elliptical chokes measuring a 40mm equivalence and separate oil injection direct to the crank’s main bearings controlled by Langen’s Performance Electronics PE3 ECU Vins based its development on enable the engine to produce those impressive dyno figures while being environmentally-friendlier completely robust and 100% road legal in the UK who will willingly produce the hard-earned British MSVA homologation certificate to show to any doubters Power-to-weight ratio is the key to the Langen Two Stroke’s blistering performance thanks to Ratcliffe’s design philosophy which follows the famous mantra of legendary Formula 1 design guru Colin Chapman then add lightness.” The Two Stroke is claimed to scale just 262 lbs with oil water and full street equipment but no fuel thus delivering an impressive power-to-weight ratio of 655bhp/ton better than most of today’s one-liter Superbikes The Langen Two Stroke’s modular ceramic-coated spaceframe chassis is hand-built from specially-made laser-cut TiG-welded large-diameter (1.5mm dia./3.2mm wall) 7020 T6 aluminum tubing with a self-supporting carbon-fiber seat unit The frame’s attached to swingarm pivot plates CNC-machined from aluminum billet The work of art represented by the 600mm-long needle-roller swingarm is made from the same material as the chassis Fully-adjustable suspension comes via a 43mm TIN-coated Öhlins RWU upside-down fork pivoting in sealed taper-roller bearings and set at a 23° rake with 97mm of trail and twin direct-action K-Tech Razor cantilever rear shocks with progressive-rate springs This results in a downright rangy 57.1-inch/1450mm wheelbase in 250GP race rep terms not an outright GP racer,” says Chris Ratcliffe “We have to make space for people taller than Marc Márquez to sit on the bike But it’s also mainly all about ensuring high-speed stability when combined with those GP steering geometry stats.” Twin 320mm Brembo front discs are gripped by UK-made HEL radial four-piston calipers (with a 240mm rear disc and two-piston caliper) CNC-machined in Exeter Devon from solid billets of 6082-T6 aluminum while the Langen’s exquisitely-welded 1990’s GP racer-style TiG-welded twin expansion chamber exhausts emit sufficient of the signature smoky sights sounds and smells to be a nowadays all too rare reminder of the iconic two-stroke racebikes of yesterday “They’re a dedicated Langen exhaust design for the Vins motor because we’ve got a different rear suspension layout compared to Vins’ own bike - they don’t have as much rear wheel travel as we do so the exhaust is packaged differently because of that,” says Ratcliffe “Packaging the exhausts was one of the biggest challenges in building the bike because each section has to be identical on both the upper half and the lower half the exhausts are manufactured in Italy for us in stainless steel but we’re looking at making titanium ones here in the UK.” Such bodywork as there is on this minimalist motorcycle is created from hand-laid carbon fiber made using a special resin and then in the case of both the 3.7-gallon fuel tank and the separate 0.26-gallon oil tank in its forward section because part of their business is doing carbon fiber work for Ferrari,” says Chris “They’ve got a huge autoclave in their Maranello HQ so they’ve made much larger F1 carbon fuel tanks in the past This meant that after we developed what the design should look like Each Langen Two Stroke is a handbuilt, bespoke creation which is essentially made to measure for the person ordering it. The price of the high-spec standard model starts at $37,500 tax free, each of them constructed to specific order direct with the factory, with a deposit payable via Langenmotorcycles.co.uk But each bike can be personally tailored to the owner's wishes via a plentiful range of options ranging from a wide choice of different paint colors chassis finish and suspension type to wheels with wire-wheels with anodised alloy rims the default choice but with Dymag forged magnesium or BST carbon fiber wheels available as an option The controls layout and ergonomics are tailored to each individual customer footrest location and rear suspension tuning It’s very much a bespoke bike built to suit Sir – or Madam for this is a motorcycle whose light weight and contained 32.3-inch seat height will suit female riders The Langen Two Stroke’s acclaimed 2020 debut and the global publicity that spun out of it was however frustratingly followed by a standstill caused by Britain’s second But a successful test program in both Italy and England meant that Langen Motorcycles was finally able to kickstart Two Stroke production at the end of 2022 with the first customer bike delivered to its owner in the Northeast of England on Christmas Eve in a whole new take on the Jingle Bells tale – as in another eleven handbuilt bikes have been delivered after orders began flowing in fast now that potential buyers could see this project was for real “Our breakeven point was 30 bikes,” says Chris Ratcliffe “and we’ve now more than doubled that with 71 bikes under deposit at present [as of July 27] three to the USA and one each to New Zealand we leave it up to the customers to register it themselves locally – if they wish I know at least two of the overseas owners intend just to use them as track day bikes.”  actually building the bikes to satisfy them was another owing to a shortage of engines coming from Italy “I think the commercial success of the Two Stroke took Vins a little by surprise,” says Chris Ratcliffe diplomatically “Initially they couldn’t keep up with our demand for engines because originally they’d planned to do everything in house But now they’ve now outsourced most of the machining and component supply to local companies around Maranello who were already used to supplying Ferrari Vins is now exclusively focused on assembly and on dyno testing each motor before shipping it to us So we’re starting to receive them in much bigger quantities and are working hard to catch up with where we should be with deliveries.” Ratcliffe says he’ll cap production strictly at the 100 individually numbered Two Strokes he promised from the start before moving on to the next Langen model that’s already under development but which he remains tight-lipped about – beyond saying that in keeping with his mantra it’s something completely different My only previous ride on the pre-production prototype Langen Two Stroke had come in 2021 on the damp in a brief window between Covid lockdowns – so a taster Which made the chance to ride the finished version on dry surfaces in something approaching anger at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed and to wind the throttle wide open up the Duke of Richmond’s driveway all the more enticing – especially as in doing so I encountered what felt like quite a different motorcycle than two years ago This was confirmed by a much longer day’s ride a week later through the Lancashire countryside behind Chris Ratcliffe on his EBR 1200 Superbike [see photos] – like I said This sense of dissimilarity came about partly thanks to the intensive work Vins has undertaken in the meantime to refine the power delivery and part-throttle pickup of a motor that began life as a 250GP race engine delivering 95 bhp in typically brusque all-or-nothing manner This came about via repeated remapping of the ECU to get a more drivable so coming off zero throttle is now much better making the Langen more practical as a real world ride in traffic – but without sacrificing any of the blistering performance up high Some mechanical changes to the throttle body assembly including different coatings on the throttle slides themselves have produced more precise throttle control particularly at low revs making the Two Stroke a genuinely practical real world ride But another key improvement is the quite different riding position Ratcliffe has dialed in via a change to the default handlebar fitted to the bike The prototype’s adjustable clip-ons clamped to the Öhlins fork under the upper triple clamp have been replaced by a taller flat one-piece Renthal 828 ‘bar mounted in 40mm risers incorporated in the machined-from-solid aluminum fork yoke This gives a more aggressive but also much more comfortable straight-backed riding stance that’s pure streetfighter and likely to find favor with most Langen customers in the kind of everyday use that however improbable this ring-ding racebike now invites So when I slid my way onto the Langen’s seat at the start of my ride it felt immediately more spacious than I was expecting although crouching forward over the flat bar also lets you load up the front Dunlop Sportsmart TT tire with your body weight for extra grip in turns as well as instantaneously correct any momentary loss of grip via the extra leverage that bar delivers this allows you to position the Langen very precisely into a turn and that leverage also lets you strangle at birth any desire for the bike to sit up under hard trailbraking into the corner and head for the hedges on you and despite its light weight it’s very stable both on the brakes and around long So the Langen chassis has undoubted flickability inviting you to waltz the Two Stroke through a series of third-gear turns with precision and panache the riding stance is that much more upright than on an outright racer meaning that although there’s a certain amount of weight on your shoulders leather seat narrows just where it meets the fuel tank giving you a sense of being at one with the bike while also making it easier for shorter riders to put both feet on the ground at stop lights It’s a sporty but sane riding stance that's likely to appeal to Langen’s target customer aged 35-plus “We find that several of the bikers who walk through the door interested in buying a Langen have a limp or an injury of some sort and we often discover this came about when they rode two-strokes back when they were 17 or 18 years old!” says Chris Ratcliffe.”For that reason one guy wanted a riding position that was a bit more comfortable on his neck and shoulders so we developed this clamp riser system which lets us offer three different types of bars with altered sweeps meaning there’s something for everyone – plus in case they want to do a track day with the bike Renthal are just down the road in Greater Manchester so they can even make a custom handlebar if necessary.” Hop aboard the Langen and after activating the keyless ignition via the fob tucked in your jacket flick on the upper red switch on the right handlebar pod thumb the button to start the motor and get ready to revel in the unmistakable crackle from those twin exhausts as it instantly catches alight and settles to a 1,500 rpm idle with trademark wisps of smoke exiting from the silencers The Vins motor sounds deeper and more butch than you might expect being ‘just’ a half-size quarter-liter motor versus the last direct-injection two-stroke I’d ridden the troubled 500cc Bimota Vdue back in 1996 - but that was probably due to the intake roar from the Vins motor’s forward facing throttle bodies But then I thought back to the last time 15 years ago that I’d been honored to ride a bike with an engine like this which had sounded pretty similar – except it wouldn’t idle but this was Marco Simoncelli’s 2008 World champion 250GP Gilera and after a career of track-testing 250GP racers I freely admit that these are my own personal Ultimate Rides – fast enough to be thrilling In producing 76 bhp against the 107 bhp of SuperSic’s bike while fully street-legal and weighing 262 lbs half-dry with full street equipment versus the Gilera’s 220 lbs the Langen Two Stroke is very definitely The Real Thing a relatively accessible way to enjoy this unique riding experience for yourself and kudos to Chris Ratcliffe for having produced it So snick the one-up race-pattern gear-shifter (easily altered for road mode) into first gear via the light-action clutch lever which thanks to the sweet-action two-way clutchless quickshifter you need never touch again before coming to rest with the needle of the analog tacho with digital speedo and info panel set into the carbon headlamp shroud hovering around the five-grand mark as you feed out the clutch It needs quite a lot of that to get the eager-revving Langen off the mark though not as much as a genuine GP racer like the Gilera – inevitably accompanied by clouds of smoke as you do so which shows the direct oil injection to the crank is working But the Vins engine pulls like a turbine from low down – it’ll drive away from as low as 2,000 revs without slipping the clutch though 3,000 rpm is the initial power threshold of what is a triple-layered power band From there to around 6,500 rpm is the happy zone for coping with traffic which the Langen is improbably adept at doing It’s quite content to bumble along at 40 mph in fourth gear in a way the Bimota Vdue absolutely would not – but then when you spot a space in the oncoming traffic kick it down two gears and wind on the gas with no need to clutch it into the powerband but controllable – I could definitely appreciate the work Vins has done on smoothing the engine’s transition into the powerband - but between 6,500-7,000 rpm there’s a brief stutter as those beautifully made exhausts clear their throats before driving much stronger than before to around 9,000 revs – and that’s when things get really exciting For above that mark the Vins engine comes on ultra-strong presumably when the computer-controlled exhaust valves are wide open and the power delivery hardens with a huge amount of still controllable extra punch that propels the tacho needle into the green-is-good zone The Langen will rocket down the road as you flick through the gears to keep it on the boil and winding it up to 13,000 revs in third gear past Goodwood House was an undeniable thrill with the digital speedo telling me I was doing 92 mph past the Duke of Richmond’s front door - and doing the same thing in fourth gear on the long run up the hill to the Finishing Paddock was just as addictive This bike is a street legal reminder of the Way It Was years ago before Dorna murdered the 250cc two-stroke twins in favor of an illegitimate pretender to a World Championship title based on Honda CBR600 streetbike motors that were less powerful than its own World Supersport engines Riding the Langen Two Stroke anywhere remotely fast is super thrilling especially the meaty HEL calipers gripping the large 320mm Brembo discs I’ll admit to having initially looked askance at these as maybe too much brake for such a light motorcycle especially in the absence of the ABS that SuperSic’s Gilera rather improbably had But in fact it’s a super controllable brake package and the ability to modulate the braking response from the front pair of calipers especially Just ease the brake lever towards you to cram off a little extra speed in a turn And the HEL calipers aren’t snatchy – whatever pad compound Chris has fitted worked really well in delivering a soft initial response followed by total stopping power This is the first bike I’ve ridden with these brakes fitted The large 240mm rear stopper is quite strong and all important not only in helping you slow fast from high speed but also in the way it assists you in obtaining good balance and stability trailbraking into a bend – just use the rear brake first before the front pair and you’ve pulled down the rear end for a more balanced stance to the bike as a whole the twin K-Tech shocks delivered unexpectedly good ride quality for such a light bike and I could feel the rear suspension rising and falling over bumps in the road surface so the neo-classic twin-shock rear end was unexpectedly compliant Coupled with the predictable but exciting power delivery and the benchmark handling of its sweet-steering chassis Langen Motorcycles’ debut model has hit the bullseye by providing a literally unique riding experience in today’s context The fact that the bike’s a commercial success is just reward for Chris Ratcliffe’s bravery in giving up a well-paid creative job at CCM in favor of striking off on his own the Two Stroke is just the first new model out of left field that Langen Motorcycles will be delivering to the marketplace in future More by Alan Cathcart I cut my teeth riding 2-stroke GP bikes in Japan and brought back two Suzuki RG's the the States in cars (under 40yrs old) complain about the smell It's such a different and precise riding experience