Wheels

BMW has been striving to reconcile its dueling images for years. Best known for its luxurious, sport-oriented cars, the German manufacturer's motorcycles are only beginning to shed their reputation as wheels for safety-conscious old men, thanks to exciting new bikes like the S 1000 RR and K 1600 LT. At this weekend's International Motorcycle Shows event in Long Beach, BMW is likely to confuse its image even further when its first scooters make...

The revolution is over - and big wheels have won. The "29er" mountain bike, which first appeared on the scene a decade ago with monster-truck tires 3 inches taller than the age-old 26-inchers, now dominates the market. It's easy to see why: The bike makes you faster and safer, gaining more momentum and floating better over sand and rocks. This year, the demand's so hot for huge hoops that some companies don't even sell 26ers anymore. Others have started experimenting with different-size big wheels, like the 650B, a "27.5er" (reviewed below)

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

Cycling on the streets of Los Angeles has never been for the faint of heart. The roads are crowded. Drivers are distracted. Potholes can be perilous. So can car doors, suddenly swung open. Even the mayor is not immune. Two years ago, when a taxi pulled out in front of him on Venice Boulevard, he flew off his bike and broke his elbow. It's no wonder some cyclists seek out whatever help they can get — be it designated bike lanes, bike paths or even bike blessings. On Tuesday, as part of Bike Week L.A., dozens of cyclists rode to Good Samaritan Hospital for the ninth annual Blessing of the Bicycles.

Due on the market in July is a portable copier-printer that fits in your pocket, so you can copy materials almost anywhere, any time. The Pocket Copier--weighing 4.6 ounces with battery and measuring 3.9-by-2.8-by-1 inch--is part of a new line of portable automated office products called Sony Personals. The copier, Sony representatives say, is "the world's smallest." Copy and Print Pocket Copier HCP-C10 has a dual memory, a tint control for darker or lighter copy and a replaceable ribbon cartridge that prints about 50 feet of data.

The sinister-looking black coupe sits in a corner of the showroom floor, oozing macho and muscle. Square headlights. Evil sneer for a grille. Six cylinders of turbocharged fury. If Darth Vader drove a car, this is what you might find in his garage. This new car is 23 years old. It's a Buick Regal GNX, and in 1987 car enthusiasts including celebrity collectors Reggie Jackson, Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone snapped them up. This menacing Buick ? one of only about 500 ?

Even the police are driving Porsches. Chinese officials love their cars - big, fancy, expensive cars. A chocolate-colored Bentley worth $560,000 is cruising the streets of Beijing with license plates indicating it is registered to Zhongnanhai, the Communist Party headquarters. The armed police, who handle riots and crowd control, have the same model of Bentley in blue. And just in case it needs to go racing off to war, the Chinese army has a black Maserati that sells in China for $330,000.

The car: 2013 Nissan GT-R The power: 545 horsepower and 463 pound-feet of torque coming from a twin-turbocharged, 3.8-liter V-6 engine mated to a six-speed, dual-clutch transmission with magnesium paddle shifters. The photos: 2013 Nissan GT-R The speed: 0-60 in a startling three seconds. Some tests have shown that number as low as 2.7 seconds. The bragging rights: If being one of the world's fastest production cars to do 0-60 isn't enough, maybe try world's cheapest supercar.

I'm quite certain that somewhere right now, emotionally shattered BMW technicians are gathering in a church basement for a support group, huddled around the cookies and the coffee urn, their hands fairly vibrating with frustration. For as well deserved as is the title Ultimate Driving Machine, BMWs also have earned the reputation as the Ultimate Hangar Queen, taking up residence in dealership service bays and sending mechanics over the crumbling edge of insanity. Hello -- sob!

'Hell on Wheels' Where: AMC When: 10 p.m. Sunday Rating: Not rated

WASHINGTON - The Republican-led House approved a plan for deep spending cuts in food stamps, Meals on Wheels and other domestic programs - while sparing the Pentagon - in a vote that showcased the party's election-year priorities. The legislation to cut $240 billion over a decade is expected to stall in the Senate, where Democrats have the majority, but the exercise Thursday allowed the GOP to contrast its agenda with President Obama's efforts to reduce the deficit. Democrats decried the bill as "literally taking food out of the mouth of babies," in the words ofRep.

Manuel Vega was in the courtroom when the Los Angeles Archdiocese agreed to pay clergy abuse victims a landmark $660-million settlement. The bailiff had to whisk some of the victims out to make room for all the high-fiving lawyers filing in for their payday, he says. "Some were even chest-bumping," recalls the retired police officer. "To me, it looked like a frat party. " Vega, who says he was molested as a boy by a priest in Oxnard, went along with the settlement only because his attorneys assured him the church would turn over confidential personnel files that would reveal the truth about priest abusers, and those who shielded them, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.

The car: 2012 Bentley Continental GTC The power: 567 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque coming from a 6-liter, twin-turbocharged W-12 engine. Power is routed to all four wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters and sport mode. The photos: 2012 Bentley Continental GTC The speed: Zero to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds en route to a 195-mph top speed The bragging rights: Among the world's fastest, most luxurious convertibles The price: Base price: $212,800.

Toy giant Mattel Inc.reported a 53% decline in profit in the first quarter, sending its stock down more than 9%, after higher production costs, slower sales of Barbie and Hot Wheels and a recent acquisition affected its bottom line. For the three months ended March 31, sales totaled $928.4 million, down 2% compared with $951.9 million in the same quarter last year, the company said Monday. Profit dropped to $7.8 million, or 2 cents a share, from $16.6 million, or 5 cents. The results fell below analyst expectations of a profit of 7 cents a share.

A British company's proposal to build an observation wheel about as tall as a 20-story skyscraper at Venice Beach has some residents' heads spinning at the prospect of more crowds, trash and noise. With enthusiastic support from Los Angeles park and tourism officials, Great City Attractions is seeking permission to operate a 200-foot-tall mechanical ride just west of the Venice Beach boardwalk at Windward Avenue. The attraction would consist of 42 enclosed, air-conditioned "capsules," each capable of accommodating eight people.

Remember this name: Jeremy Wuitschick. The 13-year-old from Milton, Wash., is being hailed as a hero and, when you hear his story, you'll have no doubt that the kid is destined to do great things. He already has. Wuitschick was one of dozens of students on his way to Surprise Lake Middle School, about 30 miles south of Seattle, on Monday morning when he noticed that the bus driver "starts acting all funny. His eyes are bulging. He's twisting in his chair," Wuitschick told KCPQ-TV.

"Hell on Wheels" is the latest original series from AMC, the cable network also currently committed to shows about zombies, ad men, a meth-making former high school teacher and the yet-unsolved murder of a Washington teenager. What they all share is a certain gritted-teeth tension and an air of incipient violence, except for when violence is actually occurring. There will be blood, literally or figuratively. The new series, which premieres Sunday, is set not long after the end of the Civil War in a tent city called Hell on Wheels at the advancing, westward edge of the Union Pacific railroad.

A solution to the world's urban transportation problems could lie in two wheels, not four, according to executives of General Motors Corp. and Segway Inc. The companies plan to announce today that they are developing a two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle designed to be a safe, inexpensive and clean alternative to traditional cars for cities across the world.

You are going to watch this video of Sand Flea, a robot developed by Boston Dynamics, and for a few seconds you are going to be bored. After all, Sand Flea isn't much to look at - just an 11 pound robot with large plastic wheels that don't look hi-tech or expensive, and all the robot does at first is move noisily over what appears to be a parking lot - much like a remote-control car. But then Sand Flea comes to a wall, and instead of...