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IOMTT: Colin’s TT Blog – You Always Remember Your First

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A world traveler on two-wheels, Asphalt & Rubber reader and good friend Colin Evans is attending his first Isle of Man TT this year. We asked him to share his perspective on the trip, as both someone new to the Isle of Man, but also as a veteran of the world and riding motorcycles. Our hope is that it will be an informative, yet different, perspective than your typical coverage of the IOMTT. Please enjoy! -Jensen

You always remember your first…well this is my first visit to the Isle of Man TT so let’s start with a little perspective and history for the uninitiated – ME.

The Isle of Man is a British Crown Dependency – 200 square miles of rock in the Irish Sea that somehow never quite officially became part of the United Kingdom, but is essentially under its wing; Queen Elizabeth II is Lord of Mann.

The island can make most of its own rules for things like finance and taxes, which makes it a tax haven but, much more importantly for this week, it independently controls matters of road safety. Or not.

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Bikes

Honda RC213V-S Spotted on the Road

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All signs are pointing to the Honda RC213V-S road bike debuting the Thursday ahead of the Catalan GP; and if you believe the rumors, Casey Stoner himself will parade the MotoGP-inspired hyperbike around the Spanish track.

Shown above, with Honda test ride Hiroshi Aoyama at the controls, the Honda RC213V-S has been seen on the road, in its final trim. The bike has also been on display in Thailand this past week, helping fuel its official launch in Spain.

This means that in just a week’s time, we should finally know all the details about the RC213V-s. Expected to cost north of €100,000, the hand-built street bikes will be very special machines, with production likely limited to how quickly Honda can make the motorcycles.

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Racing

Franck Petricola Has Died While at the Isle of Man TT

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We are sad to report that the 2015 Isle of Man TT has claimed its first fatality, as French rider Franck Petricola died during Wednesday’s qualifying session, in an incident at Sulby Crossroads.

The 32-year-old was competing in his first Isle of Man TT, though he had been a regular in the Irish Road Racing Championship, where in 2013 he achieved his top overall finish with an 11th in the Superbike category.

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Racing

Wednesday Practice at Kirk Michael with Tony Goldsmith

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We were treated to much better conditions for Wednesday evenings practice session.Being the first timed practice session of the week the riders were keen to get out and put some laps in.

By the end of the evening Bruce Anstey had set the fastest Superbike lap at a of speed of 128.641 mph, on his Valvoline Padgett’s Honda.

Sadly the session ended in tragedy when French newcomer Frank Petriccola was killed following an incident at Sulby Crosswords.

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Bikes

First Look at Ronin’s Pikes Peak Race Bike “Oishi Yoshio”

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When we first saw Magpul’s custom Buell motorcycle, called the Magpul Ronin, we were smitten. Thankfully, the Colorado gun accessory firm spun the project into its own company, with 47 Ronin motorcycles to be produced.

You may have seen the Ronin on our pages here at Asphalt & Rubber, or in person at shows like The One Show in Portland or The Handbuilt Show in Austin, and if you did, you probably noticed the supreme workmanship that’s gone into these bikes.

So maybe it’s a bit worrying that a Ronin plans to partake in the 93rd Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, which is being held June 28th. The bike question is a special machine too, it is Ronin #1 — named Oishi Yoshio, after the samurai leader of the same name from the “47 Ronin” story in Japanese history.

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News

UC Berkeley Study Shows Lane-Splitting to Be Safe

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The University of California Berkeley has finished its study of lane-splitting in California, and the results are encouraging for lane-splitting proponents.

Researchers, led by Dr. Thomas Rice of the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC), reviewed nearly 6,000 motorcycle-involved traffic collisions between June 2012 and August 2013, including 997 in which the riders were splitting lanes at the time of the crash.

The big takeaway from this research is that when done reasonably, lane-splitting is just as safe as riding a motorcycle. As such, one of the more important insights found by Rice and his team was that motorcyclists can travel up to 15 mph faster than the flow of traffic with no statistical increase in crashing.

This study will be important for shaping the conversation about lane-splitting, not only in California, but throughout the entire United States. It’s no coincidence then that California’s current attempt to codify lane-splitting mirrors these findings from UC Berkeley.

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Racing

Tuesday Practice at Greeba Castle with Tony Goldsmith

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One of the worst “summer” storms of recent memory (by Isle of Man standards) brought about a 24 hour delay to the start of practice for the 2015 Isle of Man TT.

The organisers did a great job of clearing the track of any debris, no mean feat on a 37.73-mile circuit, and the first practice session of TT 2015 got away at 18:25.  Due to high winds and the threat of rain, the Clerk of the Course declared it an untimed session.

Sadly the session was brought to a premature end after an incident at Laurel Bank left petrol and oil on the track. That was particularly bad news for the sidecar crews who have yet to take to the track.

Thankfully better weather is forecast for the next few days.

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MotoGP

Sunday Summary from Mugello (Moto2 & Moto3): On Winning Races & Consistency Winning Championships

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There is more to Mugello than just MotoGP. Being so large and so fast, the track makes for great racing in all classes, though each with a decidedly different character.

While the MotoGP race saw one rider escape and a tense game of cat-and-mouse behind, the Moto2 race was a game of chess with riders gaining and losing over twenty-one laps, and the Moto3 race turned into a spectacular battle, with the outcome uncertain to the end.

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Bikes

2016 Kawasaki Z800 ABS – Coming to 49 States of the USA

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Back in 2012, Kawasaki debuted the Z800 naked bike, as a 2013 model. Featuring an 806cc inline-four motor, the European Z800 comes in two flavors: the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja Z800 & the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja Z800e.

In Europe, the Kawasaki Ninja Z800 makes 111hp and 61 lbs•ft of torque, while the Kawasaki Ninja Z800e gets a bit more watered down with 94hp and 56 lbs•ft of torque, though it saves 6 lbs over its more burly counterpart.

Now making the Kawasaki Z800 ABS available in the American market, of course not to the USA’s largest state for motorcycle sales (California), the middleweight streetfighter is any early look at Kawasaki’s model lineup for next year.

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Bikes

Report: Hero HX250R Launch Pushed Back Because of EBR

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Word out of India is that the Hero HX250R, the quarter-liter sport bike that Erik Buell Racing helped design, will not be arriving later this year, as was originally intended. Rumors instead suggest that the HX250R will debut in 2016.

The delay is said to be directly linked to Erik Buell Racing going into receivership earlier this year, and it’s a fair bet that the delay is due to something in the design of the HX250R.

However, we would also bet good money that Hero realized there was no point in releasing a North American bound model without a North American distributor with which to sell it.

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News

Dainese D-Air Racing Suits Coming to the USA*

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*For reals this time.

For those looking for more protection from their racing leathers, Dainese D-Air Racing suits are finally coming to the USA. Already bringing the technology in Europe last year, Dainese is set finally to bring the D-Air Racing technology to the USA, in September 2015.

Riders interested in the airbag-equipped leather suit have two options: 1) the top-of-the-line off-the-rack Misano D-Air cow leather suit ($2,499), or 2) the made-to-measure Mugello D-Air custom kangaroo leather suit (Price TBD).

This announcement represents the first airbag-equipped motorcycle race suits to go on sale in the USA (Alpinestars Tech-Air system is still not available, though the rival Italian brand is close to coming to market), and offers track riders the same level of protection as Dainese’s MotoGP riders, like Valentino Rossi.

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