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Officially Official: Brammo Racing at Laguna Seca

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Confirming what we already knew, Brammo has officially announced that it will be racing at Laguna Seca in the e-Power Championship in two weeks’ time. Taking to the track with its new Empulse RR race bike that’s based off the new Brammo Empulse, Brammo will be reunited with racing rivals MotoCzysz and Team Agni (the latter has not been independently confirmed).

With the addition of Brammo to the line-up, the FIM’s e-Power Championship race at Laguna Seca is looking like the electric race of the year, as the “Flying Banana” of Lightning Motors, which is currently leading the TTXGP points standings in the US, will race at the event, along with Betti Motors who have been dominating the European rounds of the e-Power Championship.

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Bikes

Brammo Empulse – This Changes Everything

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We’ve been expecting an electric sportbike from Brammo for over a month now, getting our first clues from our Bothan spies last week that the bike’s launch was imminent. Now we can officially say that the Brammo Empulse is the latest creation from the Ashland, Portland based Brammo, Inc. Continuing Brammo’s electric motorcycle offering, the Brammo Empulse represents the first production sportbike to be available by consumers. The Empulse comes in three flavors (Brammo Empulse 6.0, Empulse 8.0, & Empulse 10.0) with differing amounts of on-board power each variant.

With the Empulse 10.0 having a 100 mile range, and costing only $13,995 MSRP, Brammo is offering a potent and affordable package, and when you factor in that federal and state government subsidies that could bring that price down to around $7,000 in some states, you have a motorcycle that could change the way we think about electric streetbikes.

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Racing

Biaggi Has No Plans for a MotoGP Comeback

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With his dominant season in World Superbike, rumors have begun to swirl about Max Biaggi’s possible return to the MotoGP racing. With MotoGP’s rules set to change in 2012, there’s an opening to see manufacturers like Aprilia and BMW enter in the premiere series with its 100ccc/81mm specifications.

With many pundits believing those entries are a certainty, there’s a considerable amount of talk as to whom would ride an Aprilia prototype, and the name at the top of the list is The Emperor himself. Talking to GPone however, the 39-year-old Italian is emphatic that he has “absolutely no desire to return to MotoGP.”

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News

The $40 Desmosedici

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UPDATE: All the tickets to the raffle are now sold out.

Ducati’s Desmosedici RR is about as close to a MotoGP race bike as you can get on the street. But with a $72,500 price tag, the Desmo replica is a bit out of the price range for most mortals, so what if we told you could get one for $40? That’s what’s going on right now with the Los Feliz Charter School raffle, sponsored by ProItalia. There’s only a hundred or so of these $40 tickets left, so if you want a chance of snagging a Desmosedici on the cheap, you better act fast.

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News

Visordown to Go Paperless – Online Only Magazine After September Issue

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British motorcycle magazine Visordown will sell its last hardcopy of its magazine this September, as the publication shifts to a digital-only format. Formerly Two Wheels Only (TWO), the magazine changed its name to Visordown in 2009. The move to an online-only format is result of the dwindling advertising revenue in the print world, which hit the motorcycling industry especially hard in the recession, and reduction in Visordown‘s circulation.

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Racing

Rossi Ready to Race at Sachsenring – Needs Chief Medical Officer’s “Ok” in Order to Race

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Valentino Rossi announced today that he is fit enough to race at the German GP this weekend. Crashing only six weeks ago, Rossi has undergone a miraculous recuperation process, which saw the Italian rider utilizing a hyperbaric chamber to expedite his body’s recovery process. After a painful testing session at Misano, Rossi looked to be in far better physical shape a couple days ago at Brno.

Riding a WSBK spec Yamaha R1 at near Superpole pace (and faster than James Toseland), Rossi looked ready for Sachsenring this weekend, but postponed his scheduled annoucement on Monday to today. Seeing now that he has the fitness to race again, Rossi hopes to ride the Fiat-Yamaha M1 once again. Howver, Rossi will first have to get the green light from the MotoGP Chief Medical Officer before he can race, but that’s more of a formality than a material concern.

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Recall

Recall: 2010 Kawasaki Z1000

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Kawasaki is recalling 1,161 2010 Kawasaki Z1000 street bikes for a left-front brake hose that may contact the front brake rotor during extreme braking. The resulting contact could cause the hose to be worn through, which would lead to a loss of brake fluid and braking ability. Kawasaki dealers will inspect the front brake hose for damage, and move it to avoid possible contact. If necessary, dealers will replace the hose free of charge.

Considering the demographic being targeted with the Z1000, its optional snake skin seat, and aggressive street looks we can’t imagine any Kawi owners who would use the front brake under such extreme settings, like for instance popping massive stoppies.

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Products

Helmet Phrenology by Death Spray Customs

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Phrenology is a passé theory in psychology that centered around the belief that you could understand a person’s mental faculties and character traits based on the shape that person’s skull. Phrenologist used to make a healthy living rubbing the temples of patients, and examining the various bumps and lobes on their cranium, before things like the scientific method starting infiltrating the medical field.

Phrenology reached it’s peak during the late 1700’s – early 1800’s, and was superseded by the next fad in the industry: psychoanalysis. This vastly superior theory of psychology was dubiously famous for claiming cocaine as a panacea; and for a fun factoid, Sigmund Freud did enough nose candy to kill a small elephant.

With so many great connections between personality types, motorcyclists, and of course head injuries, we were tickled pink when we saw Death Spray Custom’s latest helmets titled “Head Set”, which features a trio of brainy paint schemes. Check them out after the jump…and no, we don’t know why this model isn’t wearing a shirt.

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Racing

Outed by Partner Press Release – Brammo Racing at Laguna Seca

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Confirming what we already knew, Brammo’s plans to race at Laguna Seca just got outed by a press release issued by their partner ESX Motorsports. Discussing the company’s partnership with Brammo, ESX motorsports let it slip that it will be the promoter behind Brammo’s presence at Laguna Seca…as Brammo races at the e-Power Championship race. As a marketing company, you’d think they’d know better than to pre-empt their client’s own press releases.

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Racing

WSBK: Ducati Gets Another Weight Reduction

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From the official results of World Superbike’s stop at Brno, the FIM has once again determined that twin-cylinder motorcycles, i.e. Ducatis, will get another minimum weight reduction. Averaging more than a five point deficit over the last three WSBK events (Miller Motorsports Park, Misano, and Brno), WSBK rules require that twins be given another 3kg weight reduction, as the rules have been deemed to “favor” the 1000cc 4-cylinder motorcycles too heavily.

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Racing

Fiat-Yamaha: Rossi Announcement Wednesday

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After first that Rossi would make an announcement after his testing session today, Fiat-Yamaha has issued another statement saying that Rossi won’t make a decision on this weekend’s race until he arrives at Sachsenring on Wednesday. Heightening the anticipation of his return, Rossi has seemingly delayed making a decision to race, and wants to wait another two days before making it public what his intentions are for the weekend.

We assume this also means that we won’t hear an announcement from Rossi or Ducati about the 2011 season until the German GP as well. As such, Sachsenring will be an interesting round as both Rossi and Wataru Yoshikawa will have to prepare to race on Sunday, but also there will be the added fervor of the impending Rossi/Ducati announcement.

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