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July 2016

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Skully Closes Its Doors and Ceases Operations

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It was just two weeks ago that we told you about Skully’s investors ousting brothers Marcus Weller and Mitch Weller from the San Francisco startup, and today TechCrunch reports that the motorcycle helmet company will be rather swiftly closing its doors.

A&R readers may remember that Skully’s latest delay to market stemmed from the Skully AR-1 helmet not being ready for mass production, despite the nearly $15 million raised through seed money and a Series A funding round, which was led by Intel Capital.

As such, the closure surely stems from Skully’s investors choosing to shut down the company’s operations, rather than rebuild Skully’s tarnished reputation and retool its product for mass production.

According to TechCrunch, operations at Skully have already ceased, and the website is expected to go offline later today, though as of this writing Skully’s website remains, and its social marketing team is still on Facebook cooling the heels of angry customers.

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Bikes

The Honda X-ADV Adventure Scooter is Coming

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The Honda City Adventure concept is set for production, according to a new teaser video from Honda. Now called the Honda X-ADV, the basic idea is to have a step-through scooter design with off-road “ADV” attributes, such as longer suspension and dual-sport tires.

Showing us a short video with a scooter that looks almost identical to the Honda City Adventure concept, the clip hard-cuts between city scenes and dirt roads. Ending with a nod towards August 30th, we can almost certainly expect Big Red to debut this adventure scooter then.

The idea of an adventure scooter is a weird notion, to be sure, but Honda likes remixing established segments to create new machines, so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by this recent mashup.

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News

Italian Court Rules Benelli into Bankruptcy

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The story of Italian motorcycle companies falling into bankruptcy is not a new one, but Benelli’s version of the narrative is a strangely interesting departure from the norm. Let us explain.

Things apparently kicked off when Benelli failed to pay WP Suspension roughly €120,000 for suspension pieces. WP eventually took Benelli to court, despite the Italian company’s commitment to repay its debt.

An Italian court in Pesaro then declared Benelli bankrupt, and ordered the sum owed to be paid. Somewhere in this process, some of Benelli’s completed motorcycles were seized by a trustee, as collateral for payment.

This spurred Benelli’s Chinese owners, the Qianjiang Group, to release a statement after the court’s ruling, saying that the Italian brand is strong, and has ample cash on-hand to repay its debts (rumored to be in the €1 million range), and has already begun doing so.

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Racing

Q&A: Jonathan Rea – The WSBK Season, So Far

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Our man Kent Brockman (possibly his real name), sat down with Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea, to ask him how his World Superbike season is going so far.

Rea gives an account of his season, what’s been going on inside the Kawasaki Racing Team. He talks not only about the development of the current model Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R race bike, but also about himself as a racer.

The interview is a frank and detailed insight to one of the fastest riders in the World Superbike Championship right now, and sheds a great deal about who Jonathan Rea actually is. We think you will find the interview extremely interesting. -JB

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Bikes

First Images of the 2017 Honda CBR250RR

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The rumor was that we would see the 2017 Honda CBR250RR debut this week, and that news didn’t disappoint.

Getting our first glimpse of the machine today, the Honda CBR250RR is finally breaking cover, and we can bring you the first images and technical specs of the quarter-liter sport bike.

As we already knew, the Honda CBR250RR will use a 250cc twin-cylinder, DOHC, eight-valve, liquid-cooled engine that revs to a 14,000 rpm redline. There’s no word yet on power, but we would expect it to surpass the other 250cc offerings from the Japanese manufacturers.

We also expect a 350cc version for markets like North America and Europe, though there’s no official word on that, just yet.

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Recall

Recall: Kawasaki Z125 Pro

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Kawasaki’s pocket-sized motorcycle, the Kawasaki Z125 Pro, is getting a recall for a faulty shock absorber, which according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), may leak oil and lose functionality.

Since the loss of oil from the shock absorber can change the handling characteristics of the motorcycle, which in turn could lead to a crash, Kawasaki is recalling 1,282 units of the Kawasaki Z125 Pro.

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MotoGP

Paddock Pass Podcast – Episode 33 – Sachsenring

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Episode 33 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, just in time for your weekend listening. This episode sees David Emmett and Neil Morrison discussing the German GP at the Sachsenring, as well as the first official MotoGP test at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Major points of conversation include Cal Crutchlow’s performance in the wet conditions of Germany, as well as Scott Redding’s string of good results.

David and Neil also talk about the progress made on both the Ducati and Honda racing machines, with of course some obvious attention given to the landslide results that the Ducati riders posted in Austria.

The show finishes up with a look at the Moto2 and Moto3 paddocks, where we are seeing some great racing unfolding, as well as some movements for next year.

As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!

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Bikes

TVS Akula 310 Launch by End of Year, But Is It Too Late?

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What you see here is the TVS Akula 310, the Indian company’s 310cc sport bike that shares a platform with the BMW G310R.

The Akula 310 isn’t likely to be seen on city streets in the United States, or even in Europe for that matter, but it gives us a glimpse of what is to come from BMW Motorrad on the small-displacement front.

As you can see, the TVS Akula 310 is quite fetching, getting a strong response from motorcyclists since its debut in February of this year.

As such, TVS is moving up the timeline on the project, with the Akula 310 likely to go into production by the end of this year, as a 2017 model (supposedly renamed as the TVS Apache RTR 300).

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MotoGP

FIM Releases Report Analyzing Luis Salom’s Crash

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The FIM have published a report into the crash in Barcelona, in which Moto2 rider Luis Salom lost his life.

The report, which can downloaded from the MotoGP.com website, was drawn up based on information from Technical Director Danny Aldridge and Director of Technology Corrado Cecchinelli, as well as analysis of the data by an independent telemetry expert, Lluis Lleonart Gomez, who was appointed by Luis Salom’s family.

The report reaches a number of conclusions. The first is that there is no evidence of mechanical failure on the part of the bike. The right clipon, holding the throttle and brake assembly, was found to be loose when the bike was examined after the crash.

However, this could be put down to crash damage, as clipons often come loose when the bike hits the ground. Salom’s bike slid on its right side before impacting the wall, and this is the most likely cause of that damage.

The rear wheel was also damaged, but data from the (compulsory) pressure sensors showed that rear tire pressure was at the recommended pressure of 1.5 bar when the bike crashed.

The most likely cause of the rear wheel damage was when the bike hit the wall, the air fence not being sufficient to absorb the impact of the bike.

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Recall

Two Recalls Hit the Yamaha YZF-R3 at the Same Time

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Yamaha YZF-R3 owners should take note, as not one, but two recalls have been issued on their motorcycles. Both recalls appear to affect the entire crop of Yamaha YZF-R3 motorcycles sold in the USA, totaling 11,280 machines.

The first recall affects the YZF-R3’s oil pump, which may not be regulating oil pressure correctly, and thus could potentially seize the motorcycle’s engine from lack of oil.

The second recall affects the YZF-R3’s clutch pressure plate bearing, which may break due to an insufficient load rating. This may cause the clutch not to disengage, and prevent the transmission from shifting properly.

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MotoGP

Silverstone Day of Champions Tickets Now On Sale

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After several weeks of uncertainty, the future for Silverstone’s Day of Champions has been settled.

Questions started when the UK arm of Riders for Health ceased operations, but thankfully a new organization, Two Wheels for Life, has taken over the running of the Riders for Health, and will continue to support their programs aimed at providing primary health care in Africa.

The handover means good news for MotoGP fans as well. The Day of Champions is to go ahead as usual, on the Thursday before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

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