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The “Big Red Pig” (as it is affectionately known) is a stalwart in Honda’s dirt bike lineup.

That is to say, the Honda XR650 has gone relatively unchanged over the past 20 years, and yet the big 644cc thumper has a loyal, loyal following.

In the US market, we have lost the “R” spec machine, but the XR650L continues on, as a plated dual-sport that comes in a mild, yet reliable tune.

So, when VMX Restomod cranked the bike up to 11 in order to make it into a proper street-legal supermoto, it got our attention.

While the Ducati Streetfighter V4 was the crown jewel of the Ducati unveiling event in Rimini last week, the items that everyone seems to be still talking about after the media launch are something else, they are the two concept bikes for the Scrambler range.

For those that didn’t watch the live stream, Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali presented two different Scrambler models that have the potential to go into production, an ADV bike and a supermoto.

There simply are not enough big-displacement supermotards in this world we live in. There is the Ducati Hypermotard 939, the Aprilia Dorsoduro 900, then there is the Husqvarna 701 Supermoto, and well…that’s about it.

Thankfully, I am not alone in feeling that this is a big travesty – a crime against motorcycling itself, even. That is where Maxwell Hazan (the man behind Hazan Motorworks) comes in, with his “HazanSMR” project.

It starts with a 942cc LC8 v-twin engine from KTM, and it ends with a ~310 lbs motorcycle that spits 110hp to the rear wheel. Go ahead, we’ll give you a moment to compose yourself before continuing onward.

Riding a supermoto might be one of the most fun things you can do on two-wheels. Basically dirt bikes with street tires, supermotos offer an approachable way to hoon yourself around town, as well as practice some more advanced riding techniques in a lower-risk platform.

If you don’t have a dirt bike background though, your street bike habits might mean bad habits on the pavement with a supermoto, which is why the good folks at SoCal Supermoto put together this informative video about the five most common mistakes they see with new supermoto riders.

It’s a pretty informative, and heck…any chance to talk about supermoto riding, right?

America might have invented supermoto racing, but the sport’s largest support base easily comes now from that other side of the Atlantic – more specifically, from France.

So, it shouldn’t surprise us to learn that Honda’s French importer Superboost makes a special supermoto version of the Honda CRF450 for the French market.

For the 2017 model year, the Honda CRF450 Supermoto follows that changes made to Big Red’s 450cc dirt bike, which notably includes the return of fork springs (goodbye air forks), an electric starter, and down-draft fuel injection.

Basically a kit that is added at the importer level, the 2017 Honda CRF450 Supermoto lineup has three models, building off the CRF450R (€11,299), CRF450RX (€10,999), and CRF450X dirt bike (€10,999), with each getting their own taste of the supermoto treatment.

For American readers, don’t expect to see these supermoto models at your local dealership, as this is strictly a project undertaken by the Frenchies.

Though, it would be nice to see American Honda supporting the local supermoto scene, and offering some sort of motard kit for its venerable CRF450. The Swedes and the Austrians shouldn’t have all the fun.

Maybe it’s because my poor Yamaha YZF-R1 track bike gets left in the garage way more often that my Husqvarna SMR 511 does, but I’ve had supermotos on the brain lately. It’s easy to see why, supermoto racing is a cheap and fun way to get your doctor prescribed dosage of braaap.

So, it is a bit of a mystery why supermoto racing isn’t more popular in the USA. Thankfully we’ve got a series starting up in the Pacific Northwest this year, and it looks like with the AMA involved again that supermoto might get second coming on this side of the pond.

If you haven’t tried riding a supermoto yet, you should. It doesn’t take much, really just a dirt bike that you are willing to shod with 17″ wheels, which brings us to the story at hand, as one of the better places to get some cheap quality supermoto wheels has been Warp 9 Racing, a company based right here in the USA (Salt Lake City).

Warp 9’s spoked wheelsets might not be the lightest on the market, but they do offer great bang for the buck for racers and enthusiasts alike, and what has us really excited today is the debut of Warp 9 Racing’s new forged aluminum wheelsets for supermoto bikes.

Just last week we were lamenting the lack of popularity of supermoto racing in the United States, and this week we hear that the American Motorcyclist Association has thrown its weight behind the folks at USA Supermoto.

Forming the AMA Supermoto National Championship Series, supermoto racing now has a nationwide pro series at its disposal, with six races on its inaugural calendar. We are pretty pumped to here supermoto racing process to the National level in the USA. We highly recommend you attend a race if one is by you in 2014.

When KTM’s product road map leaked onto the internet, it showed that three small-displacement motorcycles would be built by the Austrian brand (with some help from its Indian shareholder and partner Bajaj). The first of these machines was the KTM 390 Duke and its progeny, and the second of these machines was just released: the KTM RC390 (along with the RC125 & RC200).

A third model was teased on that now infamous powerpoint slide, a bike that was simply labeled as an “Enduro 350” model, though sources since then have described the bike to be more like a supermoto or small adventure bike. It seems today we have our first glimpse of the machine, as a supermoto based off the Duke platform has been spotted in Austria by a forum member at  KTMForum.eu.