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Valentino Rossi’s 2016 Mugello AGV Helmet

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Another year, and another Italian GP at Mugello. As usual, this means that we have another special AGV helmet from Valentino Rossi to show you.

This year’s helmet is called “Mugiallo” – a play on the Italian word for yellow (“giallo”) and of course the Mugello race track – and is the work of Aldo Drudi, the same man who made the Burasca 1200 that we showed you yesterday.

As you can see from the photos attached, the AGV Pista GP helmet features “Mugiallo” across the crown of the neon helmet, with Rossi’s “46” stenciled on the top of the rear spoiler.

On the nape of the helmet, Rossi’s two dogs (Cesare and Cecilia) and cat (Rossano) are featured, while the Italian flag is on either side of the chin. The top of the helmet as the layout of the Mugello circuit drawn on it.

As we saw during Saturday’s qualifying sessions, the bright neon yellow helmet really stands out on the time sheets.

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MotoGP

Iannone Pays Homage to Dead Seagull with Winter Helmet

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You don’t have to be a raging Ducati Corse fan, or even a fan of Andrea Iannone, in order to appreciate the humor in the Italian rider’s winter test helmet this week at Sepang.

In case you missed it, the bright red AGV Pista GP helmet is adorned with a familiar face, Gavin the seagull. If you don’t remember Gavin, we are sure the mentioning of last year’s Phillip Island race will help jog your memory.

Coming down the hill, into Turn 10, Andrea Iannone found a spectator whose vantage point was a little too close to the action. The seagull, finally realizing the error of his ways, took flight, though not in time to avoid the outcome everyone feared.

The bird struck Iannone’s Ducati Desmosedici GP15, while it was in mid-flight, leaving a gaping whole in the front of the race bike and a puff of feathers in its wake.

Joking aside, Iannone was lucky not to be injured in the collision, and actually went on to take third in the race. Bird strikes are not uncommon at Phillip Island, and they can cause grave injuries when they occur at speed. Thankfully for Iannone, Turn 10 is one of the slowest corners on the Australian track.

While we mourn the loss of Gavin, as he has made his way to the big race track in the sky, it is good to see that he has not been forgotten. A few photos of Iannone’s helmet are after the jump.

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Event

At the American International Motorcycle Expo

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The American International Motorcycle Expo (AIMExpo) was held in Orlando, Florida from October 15th to 18th. It was billed as “the show that changed the powersports industry”; the event included over 560 exhibitors from across the motorcycle world.

Additionally, AIMExpo hosted an outdoor demo area that offered rides on bikes and ATVs from 11 different manufacturers. The question is, with all that it had to offer, did AIMExpo live up to expectations?

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MotoGP

Valentino Rossi’s 2015 Misano AGV Helmet

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It’s another home round for The Doctor, so that of course means another special helmet design. For this year’s San Marino GP, Valentino Rossi’s AGV Pista helmet plays to the theme of the coastal race track, with an underwater theme.

Very obviously, Rossi is pictured as a yellow fish that is being chased by a shark (we’ll let you decipher the symbolism there). The words “Via Via Via!” in Italian are on either side of the helmet, translating to “Get Away Get Away Get Away!” in English.

Not one to leave his pets out of the design, on the back of the helmet are Valentino’s dogs Cecilia and Cesare, as well as his cat Rossano, who are sporting some snorkels for their underwater excursion.

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MotoGP

Valentino Rossi’s 2015 Mugello AGV Helmet

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It’s the Italian GP…at Mugello, which means two things: 1) hundreds of thousands of rabid Italian motorcycle fans, and 2) another special AGV helmet from The Doctor.

Of course, riders wear special helmets all the time — there’s probably a one-off design at every race — but for some reason Valentino Rossi’s lids, at his home grand prix, are always a special occasion for GP fans.

For the 2015 Italian GP, Valentino Rossi is wearing the very attractive “Yellow Energy” helmet, penned of course by Aldo Drudi. For the VR46 fans in the crowd, we have a smattering of high-resolution photos of the custom AGV Pista GP helmet. Enjoy!

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Products

AGVisor – AGV Helmets Get LCD-Tinted Visors

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One visor to rule them all, that’s the dream of many motorcyclists that enjoy tinted visors during the day, but want an easy “clear” option for night-time riding.

Until recently, if you wanted to protect your eyes from the sun, most helmet systems required you to have two shields: one clear – for night-time riding, and one tinted – for daytime use.

Not always a convenient or practical solution, we have seen riders resort to wearing sunglasses behind clear visors; or worse, wearing tinted visors at night.

Thankfully, some solutions have emerged from the motorcycle helmet industry, namely transitional visors (as seen from Bell Helmets), which change tint based on the ambient light.

Another technology is electrochromatics, which tints the glass or plastic by applying an electrical current (actually, the electricity makes the cells clear in most use-cases). Helmet startup Skully features this technology on its now vaporware AR-1 helmet design.

Add respected helmet manufacturer AGV to the mix now, as the Italian company debuted its LCD-based AGVisor system in Switzerland last week, though with little fanfare.

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MotoGP

Photos: Rossi’s “Ugly Xmas Sweater” Helmet at Sepang

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Valentino Rossi is sporting a new winter test helmet design, as is tradition for the nine-time world champion. Looking like a riff on something you would find at an “Ugly Christmas Sweater” party, Rossi’s new lid design is certainly…festive.

Perhaps that’s too harsh of a critique for The Doctor, but you can’t mistake the snowflake’s design as something straight from J.Crew’s yule-log holiday catalog.

Ugly Xmas sweater or not, Rossi put a bow on Wednesday’s lap times — second-fastest overall, and by far the most comfortable looking on a MotoGP bike.

Rossi said at Sepang that he is hunting for his 10th World Championship this season, and we believe him. Only a man with that level of confidence could rock a helmet with a snowflake on it, after all.

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MotoGP

AGV Helmets Analyzes Valentino Rossi’s Crash at Aragon

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The crashes of Valentino Rossi and Andrea Iannone at Aragon two-and-a-half weeks ago raised a lot of questions about safety, leading to the Safety Commission deciding to start removal of all the artificial turf from around the circuits used by MotoGP.

Rossi’s crash, in particular, was severe, the Italian being clipped and knocked briefly unconscious by the back wheel of his Yamaha as he tumbled.

That Rossi did not suffer much worse injuries is in no small part down to his helmet. The AGV Pista GP helmet which Rossi helped develop provided an incredible level of protection for the Italian.

After the incident, AGV took the helmet away to analyze the damage done to the helmet in the crash. They issued a press release, complete with close up photos of the damage sustained, explaining the damage done and how the helmet had protected Rossi.

The press release makes for interesting reading, and the close up photos of the damage are especially revealing of just how well the helmet stood up in the crash. Make sure you click on the photos to view higher resolution versions. The AGV press release appears after the jump.

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MotoGP

Photos: Valentino Rossi’s Special Misano Helmet, 2014

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The San Marino GP is truly Valentino Rossi’s home MotoGP round (Tavullia, Rossi’s home town, is only a few kilometers from Misano), and tradition sees him sporting yet another special helmet for the event.

This year Aldo Drudi has focused his design on the people close to Rossi’s life, with the helmet also sporting the phrase “Misano ci dà una mano”, meaning “Misano gives you a hand”.

A colorful piece, Rossi’s AGV Pista helmet is adorned with the handprints of the mechanics of the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team. There are also the paw prints of his beloved dogs Cesare and Cecilia, as well as his cat Rossano.

You will also notice two sets of lips, from the two women currently in Rossi’s life, his mother Stefania and his girlfriend Linda. The last mark is a thumbprint from Aldo Drudi himself, a long time friend and designer for The Doctor.

On the front row for the start of the San Marino GP, Rossi has made it no secret that he hopes to win this weekends’ race. As such, expect to see him to fighting hard for that top podium step.

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MotoGP

Valentino Rossi’s Special Mugello Helmet Explained

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It’s the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, and that means another special AGV helmet from Valentino Rossi. A wonderful tradition from the nine-time World Champion, Rossi’s helmets can however at times be enigmatic, especially to non-Italians.

Thankfully, the folks at AGV have helped us understand Aldo Drudi’s latest work, which we assume will popularly be called the “Di Vale Helmet” hence forth. We decode the receipe, with photos, after the jump.

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MotoGP

Photos of Valentino Rossi’s LED Helmet from Qatar

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If you have been watching the practice and qualifying sessions from the Qatar GP, you may have noticed that Valentino Rossi is once again wearing one of his special helmet designs. This one is a bit different though — instead of a crazy or clever paint scheme, Rossi and his crew have subtle lit the AGV Pista helmet’s clear rear spoiler.

Under the night lights of the Losail International Circuit, the effect is pretty astounding. Usually a spectacle of glowing brake discs and flaming exhausts, the night time atmosphere of the Qatar proves itself once again to be an interesting canvas for the light, which Rossi has masterfully tapped into.

A favorite event for our main man Scott Jones, we’ve got a few shots of Rossi and his LED light show. It’s interesting how the LEDs change some of the more classic Rossi photos, and of course it makes Rossi really pop on the TV feed. Enjoy!

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