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Motus Motorcycles continues to grow its dealership presence, especially with the announcement that the American motorcycle outfit has added eight new dealerships to its dealer network.

That addition brings Motus’ total to 22 dealers in the United States with more on the way, the company says.

That’s good news for riders interested in a unique American-built motorcycle, especially those that are familiar with tinkering on push-rod muscle cars.

Overwhelming, but in a really good way. That’s the best way to describe the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. Officially categorized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest motorcycle museum, the collection at Barber contains over 1,400 motorcycles with over 650 on display at any one time.

Over 20 manufacturers are represented, and the collections spans over 100 years of motorcycling’s history. This is truly a destination that no motorcycle enthusiast should miss.

Founded by George Barber in 1995, the museum started in downtown Birmingham, Alabama before moving to its current location in the Birmingham suburb of Leeds in 2003.

The 144,000 square foot museum comfortably rests on the grounds of the Barber Motorsports Park, with the entire back half of the building overlooking the popular 2.38 mile track.

George Barber started as a car racer, racing Porsches and racking up 63 victories. From that background, he began collecting cars, but quickly realized there were numerous world-class car collections that already existed.

On the other hand, there really wasn’t a world class motorcycle museum that truly captured the history of the sport. Barber saw an opportunity, began collecting motorcycles, and the rest is history.

This past weekend, the largest gathering of Britten Motorcycles occurred at the Barber Vintage Festival at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

As many of you know, John Britten was a brilliant motorcycle designer from New Zealand who built a total of ten Britten V1000 racing motorcycles before his untimely death from cancer in 1995, at the age of 45.

These bikes were definitely ahead of their time and Britten’s engineering genius has been admired, even well after his passing.

George Barber, the founder and owner of the Barber Motorsports Park and Museum, was an early Britten backer and owner, who decided to pay tribute to Britten at this year’s Barber Vintage Festival.

Nine of the ten Brittens ever produced were at the event; the most ever gathered in one place, at one time. The only Britten not present was number three, which is owned by the people of New Zealand and is proudly displayed at the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand.

Throughout the weekend there were multiple events that paid tribute to John Britten and the amazing motorcycles he designed and fabricated. This included Brittens on the track during the daily lunch intermission.

Attempting to stop Justin Sanders for traffic violations, the 24-year-old lead Officer Troy Gurley and his motorcycle on a five-minute chase through the city streets and residential neighborhoods of Florence, Alabama. Gurley is eventually joined by other officers in patrol cars, and the chase ends with Sanders ditching his Mazda3, and making a run for it on foot.

With the whole incident caught with a helmet-mounted camera that is tied into the police radio channel, the video is a pretty interesting perspective of what law enforcement officers have to go through in such an extreme situation. As for Sanders, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but will be facing charges for the possession of drugs and firearms, resisting arrest, and of course his numerous traffic violations. The video is after the jump.

It has been almost a year and a half since we first heard of the third generation Confederate X132 Hellcat, and today we get word that the “more affordable” Confederate has been finalized and is ready for pre-production orders. Borrowing on the namesake of its predecessors, the new Hellcat shares some of the basic characteristics of the original Hellcats, while still bringing a very unique look and style to the custom cruiser.

Set to begin production in January, Confederate is taking orders now with a price tag of $45,000 through February, though that price will go to $49,500 in March of 2012. With only 164 Confederate X132 Hellcats to be made, the Alabama-based company expects to make only two units a week.

Talking to the Birmingham NewsConfederate Motorcycles spokesman Clay Morrison said that the boutique motorcycle firm will remain in Alabama, opting not to return to its origin of New Orleans. Expecting its best sales year ever, Confederate was reportedly offered $750,000 by the City of New Orleans to return to the bayou, but with most of its staff based out of Birmingham now, not to mention the supplier and vendor relationships the company has created in the Southern state, Confederate has decided to stay-put.