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Video of Casey Stoner’s Crash at the Suzuka 8-Hour

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You may have already heard that Casey Stoner crashed out of the Suzuka 8-Hour this weekend, while leading the race no less. The result of which was a broken scaphoid and fractured left tibia/ankle for the 29-year-old Australian, who had finally found himself back in motorcycle racing.

Ultimately, the throttle on the MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO Honda CBR1000RR was to blame, with it getting stuck open at 26º of full throttle.

For fans that have been waiting the return of Casey Stoner, a rider we tip as likely the most talented ever to race on two wheels, this is a disappointing end to what could have been a fairytale weekend.

Time will tell if Stoner mounts another racing motorcycle, though we imagine this weekend’s events don’t help the realization of that pipe dream.

Click after the jump, for the carnage…and note why many riders consider Suzuka too dangerous a venue for motorcycles.

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Products

Gear Review: Arai Corsair-X Helmet

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When it comes to helmet brands, Arai Helmet is perhaps one of the best known in the business; and when it comes to the Japanese company’s flagship model, the track-focused Corsair reigns supreme.

So, it’s a big deal when Arai decides to update its ready-to-race helmet offering, creating the Arai Corsair-X in the process.

This week, we got to test the new Corsair-X in the flesh, spending a full-day riding at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, California on Monday — melting away in the 104°F heat — as well as riding around my new hometown of Portland, Oregon.

So let’s cut the fluff, breakdown what’s new with the Corsair-X, and talk about what our impressions are of this top-of-the-line helmet.

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Bikes

Finally, Here is the Honda Africa Twin in All Its Glory

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UPDATE: Technical specifications for the 2016 Honda Africa Twin have also leaked.

Honda has been teasing a six-part video series about the Honda Africa Twin, and the final installment has just leaked onto the internet. As you would expect, the video finally gives us the full monty on what the Honda CRF1000L will look like, along with some great action footage.

Perhaps even better, the final installment of Honda’s video series also features a very interesting discussion with HRC riders, Honda engineers, and stakeholders to the Africa Twin brand.

The discussion is very insightful to the development of the 1,000cc adventure bike platform, including off-roading’s first dual-clutch transmission (DCT).

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Bikes

2016 Yamaha XSR700 – Hip Meets Modern Tech

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Yamaha’s new FZ/MT platform has been a home run for the Japanese brand, with both the Yamaha FZ-09 and Yamaha FZ-07 selling well, here in the United States (the bikes sell around the rest of the world as the MT-09 and MT-07).

So how does Yamaha build on that success? How do they reach riders who aren’t looking for the modern naked aesthetic? Well, you give them what they want.

Meet the 2016 Yamaha XSR700. Underneath that retro-standard exterior resides the basic makings of the FZ-07. It’s the same 700cc parallel-twin engine with its 270° crankshaft mated to a new lightweight aluminum chassis.

The Yamaha XSR700 is the production version of Yamaha’s recently unveiled “Faster Sons” concept, and is an obvious offering to the hipster motorcycle crowd that has come to adore the work of Japanese bike builder Shinya Kimura, who made the concept bike.

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Bikes

“I Am From the Future, You Are Not”

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Last week I was down in California, mostly for the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca, but also to replace a dead hard drive on a server named Heather, and for the Arai Corsair-X helmet press launch. It was a busy week, to say the least.

I was lucky though to stop be and see the folks at Alta Motors, the ranks of whom have swelled greatly since I was last there, as the company is readying itself for production and is soon moving to its new facility for that very purpose.

It might be too early to talk about 2016 model year motorcycles, but the RedShift SM is definitely a bike I am eager to see in its production form, since the prototype definitely impressed me…all the way back in 2011.

Alta seems just about ready to deliver on its “faster than gas” marching orders, and they have been quietly letting friends and family ride their pre-production units at the shop.

One such person was Jon Bekefy, a stalwart of the motorcycle industry, and no stranger to electric motorcycles, having recently worked for the now defunct Mission Motorcycles.

Equipped with a RedShift SM, a helmet cam, and a microphone…good things ensue. We imagine soon-to-be RedShift owners will have similar reactions once they get their bikes. Enjoy the video, after the jump…and Jon, do you really kiss your mother with that mouth??!

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Bikes

More Details on the Husqvarna 701 Supermoto

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Husqvarna is getting ready to unleash a 690cc supermoto on the world, in case you’ve missed the Swedish brand’s marketing campaign and dedicated website. Unsurprisingly, the bike is based off a comparable KTM model, though that’s not to say the folks at Husky haven’t improved on the KTM 690 Duke for their purposes.

(Re-)Releasing some tech details this week, we again know that the Husqvarna 701 will feature a ride-by-wire throttle (with three engine maps), slipper clutch (because supermoto), premium WP suspension, and what Husqvarna calls “Supermoto ABS” that is really the Bosch 9.1 MP race ABS, which allows one to still lock-up the rear wheel while the front wheel engages the ABS.

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Lifestyle

PSA: How To Ride Bitch

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On the lighter note of things, here’s a useful entertaining video that illustrates the proper way of “riding bitch” on a motorcycle.

Mimicking the iconic PSA video style of the 1960’s, our protagonists take us through several useful riding positions, like the meerkat, teapot, and cowboy, along with some helpful tips about riding two-up, along the way.

Incredibly tongue-in-cheek, we hope the creators make some more of these videographic gems. Enjoy!

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Products

GoPro Hero4 Session – A Smaller GoPro Video Camera

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GoPro continues to find ways to take our hard-earned money, and today the action-sport video camera company has a new model for us: the GoPro Hero4 Session. The concept here is simple, take GoPro’s Hero4 video camera, and make it smaller in a form-factor.

This sort of progress should surprise no one with a basic understanding of Moore’s law, as we can expect company’s like GoPro to continue to make strives in making their products smaller and more powerful.

In the case of the GoPro Hero4 Session, the gains in size come with trade-offs in performance, as early reviewers suggest that the Hero4 Session has video capabilities just shy of the GoPro Hero4 Silver. All things considered though, that’s still a lot of power, now in a smaller footprint.

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Racing

Ordos International Circuit – China’s Forgotten Race Track

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In Inner Mongolia, Ordos City is known better to the Western world as “China’s Ghost City” – a name that came about after a report by Al Jazeera and an article by Time magazine, both of which featured the newly built Chinese prefecture-level city, in all its failure.

The name comes about because of the massive construction projects taking place in Ordos, and the essentially non-existent population that lives in them.

This situation even more true in the Kangbashi New Area, where there is a goal to house one million residents (the actual current capacity is 300,000), though only 50,000 to 100,000 people claim the city as their home.

Many words have been written about Ordos, its buildings, its failures, and its future, though little has been said about the Ordos International Circuit.

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Bikes

Video: Remembering John Britten & The Britten V1000

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A special event took place earlier this year at the Ruapuna Raceway in Christchurch, New Zealand. Paying tribute to John Britten, not one, not two, but seven Britten V1000 motorcycles were on-hand to celebrate the 20th B.E.A.R.S. Sound of Thunder gathering.

Attending the occasion were Britten racers Andrew Stroud, Shaun Harris, and Loren Poole, as well as new owner of the CR&S V1000 “Black Beauty” race bike, Bob Robbins. Fans were given the special treat of two of the Britten V1000s superbikes lapping around the race track.

Undoubtedly, the day was surely a special event for those in attendance. Thankfully, Britten Motion Pictures commemorated the day with a short video, for those of us too far away to experience these special machines. Enjoy it, after the jump.

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Racing

IOMTT: PokerStars Senior TT Race Results

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If there is one event everyone gets excited about at the Isle of Man TT, it’s the Senior TT. Often called “the blue-ribbon event” at the Isle of Man, the Senior TT is not a race for the elderly, like the name suggests, but instead it features the biggest, meanest, machines on the road course.

Most of the PokerStars Senior TT grid is filled with bikes from the Superbike TT, as the classes have a great deal of overlap, but the Senior TT usually has one or two special machines, who fall outside of the Superbike rules — the Norton SG4 is one of those machines.

All the TT riders want to win the Senior TT, and it fittingly is the final race of the Isle of Man TT, which only adds to excitement.

With Friday being drama-filled at the Isle of Man TT, the Senior TT was no different.

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