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Video: Indian Motorcycle – The Spirit of Munro

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Indian’s war machine continues to gain momentum, and the challenger to Harley-Davidson’s throne continues to impress. A new video comes our way, this time building on the heritage of the American brand through Burt Munro. One of just many stories around the historic marques, it probably helps that Burt Munro’s name was vaulted into the public consciousness by Hollywood’s The World’s Fastest Indian.

Building an all-metal tribute to Munro’s streamliner, we can find a few flaws that gnaw away at us as we watch this otherwise perfect video campaign (salt veterans know what we’re talking about). Still, Indian is bringing a good fight to Harley-Davidson’s doorstop with marketing promos like these. If you are in the legacy cruiser market, you might have a tougher decisions to make than usual when picking a favorite ride.

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Video: Mark Toia’s “Reunion”

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We forgot to say it to our American readers, but welcome back from the long Fourth of July weekend. We hope you celebrated the birth of our great nation by blowing up a small piece of it. Trapped back in your work cubes now, longing for the five or days off you just came from, we have just the thing for your Munday blues.

Yamaha gave Mark Toia a few Yamaha WR450 dirt bikes, and let the filmmaker do his thing. Shot in Queenstown, New Zealand (yes, it really is that beautiful there), Toia tells a good story about childhood friends reuniting at their favorite meeting spot, many years later. It’s a beautiful short. It’ll make you feel good. Call your mother afterwards. She misses you.

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Nine Questions with Tomohisa Ichimaru – The Man Behind the Upcoming Suzuki V-Strom 1000

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I am not going to lie to you, after the jump is a set of very “marketing-heavy” videos from Suzuki about the upcoming Suzuki V-Strom 1000 adventure-touring bike. But since A&R readers are a clever bunch, and well-versed in smelling out the industry bullshit, I thought we would post these videos up anyways, since there are some interesting things going on with the new V-Strom concept.

Featuring nine questions with Tomohisa Ichimaru, the Product Planner in charge of the 2014 Suzuki V-Strom 1000, we get a sense of where the Japanese factory is coming from with its first proper modern ADV bike, and the lengths Suzuki has gone to ensure it meets the expectation of the existing devout Strom fan base.

Involved with the V-Strom 650 project, as well as wee-Strom owner, Ichimaru-san seems like the perfect choice for the person to guide the V-Strom 1000 project. We have heard plenty of stories coming out of Suzuki about the new V-Strom, so it will be interesting how closely the concept machine that debuted at EICMA is to the production model (expected to debut at this year’s EICMA show).

Price will be key for Suzuki, who will already have to compete for the non-BMW mindshare with the very stout Yamaha Super Ténéré.

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Dirt Quake II: Because Motorcycles Are Supposed to be Fun

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I’m not sure if this video about Dirt Quake II needs an explanation, and to be frank…I’m not sure I even want to even hazard a go at one. Organized by Sideburn Magazine and the Dirt Track Riders Association, a group of misfits on two-wheels did some racing around the Norfolk Arena in England. Merriment was had, a video was produced, and we are not sure if the world is ready for a repeat occurrence. Enjoy after the jump.

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Racing

Superlatively “The World’s Most Awesome Road Race”

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Monster Energy doesn’t really have a reputation for being understated, so we should probably cut them some slack when “The World’s Most Awesome Road Race” is the title of the their four-and-half-minute tribute to the Isle of Man TT. After all if you have seen TT in person, you will probably agree with Monster’s assessment. As the kids say, it’s cray.

The title sponsor for the two Supersport races, and the personal sponsor to a number of riders, namely the King himself John McGuinness, Monster Energy is a great supporter of this iconic road race, and has been doing its part to help cross-polinate athletes with the Manx race, so it’s good to see them promoting the sport even further with videos like this.

If you are like us and going through a bit of Isle of Man TT withdrawal, here is a little something more to help you ease those pangs. A video of the “most awesome” road race is after the jump.

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Dainese’s The TT Trilogy – Part 3: The Legend

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The final installment in Dainese’s TT Trilogy, “The Legend” appropriately features famous World Superbike racer Carl Fogarty. Talking first about The Fairy Bridge and the supersitituions that motorcycle racers have, Fogarty goes on to explain how important the Isle of Man TT is to him, as a former racer of the course.

We couldn’t agree more with his assessment of how laid back and approachable the TT paddock is for fans and racers — it truly is the best part of the two-week long show. With famous names trolling Glencrutchery Road every day, it isn’t just movie magic to see a legend like Foggy talking to riders, and signing a few autographs for fans. Mega.

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On-Board Joey Dunlop’s Honda RS850R at the 1983 IOMTT

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We’ve just about wrapped up our coverage of the 2013 Isle of Man TT, but I wanted to leave you with this final video. On-board with Joey Dunlop during the Formula 1 practice session for the 1983 Isle of Man TT, you can hear the roar of Joey’s Honda V4 RS850R production racer, and watch one of the greatest riders ever on the Mountain Course.

With its ultra-short stroke, titanium valves, magnesium case covers, and a reported 135hp at the rear wheel, the RS850R is the machine that Joey took to his first win with the Japanese brand — a landmark occasion, which HRC just celebrated the 30th anniversary of at this year’s TT, with John McGuinness wearing Joey’s old livery.

We can’t think of a better way to end the TT season, nor can we think of a better way to remember Joey. Listen carefully as he narrates the course, you are listening to a true legend of the sport.

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Slow-Motion Footage of the Erzberg Rodeo

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They call the Erzberg Rodeo the toughest single-day event in motorcycle racing — we’re inclined to agree. For the 2013 edition of the hard-enduro race, 1,500 riders entered to compete, 500 qualified on Saturday to the main event, and come Sunday’s race, only 14 finished.

Battling against the added challenge of the rain this year, Erzberg riders also had an even tougher time than usual with the giant hill of mud that leads out of the quarry pit, and onto the other more technical 20 other checkpoints of hell. The one great thing about the race though, it makes for great video…especially in slow-motion with all the water, mud, and tears.

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Dainese’s The TT Trilogy – Part 2: The Race

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The second installment of Dainese’s little Isle of Man TT video series, we get to hear from Milwaukee Yamaha rider Conor Cummins. “You should be fully focused on the road ahead, because it bites hard,” says Cummins in the video. No rider should know the truth of those words better than Conor, as in the 2010 TTT the Manx man had a horrific crash that he was lucky to survive.

Back to full-health now, Cummins clocked a third in the Lightweight TT, a fifth in the Superbike TT, and a fifteenth in the second Supersport TT. The fastest Manx rider ever around the Isle of Man’s Mountain Course, Cummins is the pride of the Isle, and a serious contender in any race he enters.

However, Milwaukee Yamaha didn’t get the results they wanted this year, but you can’t rule Cummins out for 2014. As he says himself,  “we’re not going racing to finish second. We’re going to win.”

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Video: Still Think Electric Motorcycles Are Slow?

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The progress in the last five years on electric motorcycles has been astounding. Taking their first laps around the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, a 87.434 mph pace was the best an electric motorcycle could do at the prestigious road race in 2009 — a pace that was on par with the 50cc record set in 1971. Since that time though, the development of these machines has grown by leaps and bounds.

In just five years after the first laps were taken by electric motorcycles at Snaefell, these machines have grown their average lap speeds by over 20 mph at the TT Zero race, setting a new record of 109.675 mph in 2013, and boasting a rate of improvement of roughly 5 mph each year since 2009.

If hitting 142.2 mph down the Sulby Straight speed trap wasn’t further proof of the speeds these bikes are achieving, maybe some visual evidence will help support the notion. Checkout the on-board videos of Michael Rutter (on the 2013 MotoCzysz E1pc) and John McGuinness (on the 2013 Mugen Shinden Ni) after the jump.

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