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BMW Developing HUD Motorcycle Helmet

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Another release by BMW Motorrad at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the German company says it is working on a motorcycle helmet with an integrated heads-up display (HUD), thus responding to the call for more advanced helmet technology.

BMW already has this technology in its automotive wings, using an optional HUD system that is projected onto the interior of a vehicles windshield.

Now BMW seems to be taking a page from other players in the helmet space, and is looking to bring HUD technology to its motorcycle offerings with the help of California-based company DigiLens.

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Dirt

2016 Dakar Rally – Stage 5: KTM Closes In

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The second half of the marathon stage for the 2016 Dakar Rally, where riders and teams are forbidden from working on their machines until today’s liaison stage, Stage 5 had the added challenges beyond its 642km total distance and 327km special section, which brought them into Bolivia.

The navigational challenges also increased on Stage 5, as The Dakar begins to separate the wheat from the chaff. With most of the stage at over 11,00 feet, with a peak altitude of 15,000 feet, competitors traded the hardship of rain for altitude, an equally formidable obstacle.

The racers in orange fared the best in the high mountains, as Stage 5 was dominated by KTM riders, with Toby Price taking the top honors, followed by Stefan Svitko and Matthias Walkner. This result closes Svitko and Price to under two minutes of overall leader Paul Gonçalves, who struggled on the stage with altitude sickness, losing roughly nine minutes in the process.

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News

Yamaha Motobot Moves to Second Phase of Development – Will Ride on the Race Track by 2017

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Yamaha’s Motobot was one of the bigger announcements to come from 2015, with the motorcycle riding humanoid robot promising to garner Yamaha a great deal of information about several key industries, as well as some headlines along the way.

Showing off the Yamaha Motobot at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Yamaha has made public a very ambitious schedule for Motobot, for the coming years. The most daunting task from Yamaha? To have Motobot making laps on a race track by 2017, at over 200 km/h (125 mph).

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Dirt

2016 Dakar Rally – Stage 4: Big Red Rises

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Stage 4 of the 2016 Dakar Rally saw competitors racing mostly in a 420km loop near Jujuy, Argentina. Stage 4 is also the start of the marathon stage of the Dakar Rally, where this year team mechanics and competitors are forbidden from working on their machines, until the next day’s liaison section.

Always a decisive moment, it means that riders especially need to ensure no harm comes to their race motorcycles over the course of the stage, as they will not have the benefit of their support crews.

In that way, concentration is very much a key element to winning The Dakar, which as a segue, is something HRC rider Joan Barreda is learning the hard way.

Despite being the fastest man on Stage 4, another speeding penalty on the liaison section means that Barreda had five minutes tacked onto his time for the day, which drops him to third overall. With his pace in the special section, Barreda should be leading this edition of The Dakar, but the unforced errors are costing him.

Meanwhile, teammate Paulo Gonçalves continues to benefit from Barreda’s mistakes, and thus gets the stage win after the times for Stage 4 were tallied.

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Products

Nikon KeyMission Action Camera Offers 360° 4k Video

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Here is a fun fact: pretty much every regular photographer you see on Asphalt & Rubber swings a Nikon camera for their craft – even this lowly author. This is probably because Nikon and Canon are the big names when it comes motorsport photography, so the odds workout pretty well on that account.

We have another reason to like Nikon’s cameras though, as the iconic photography brand is keen on getting into the action camera market.

Hoping to give GoPro et al a run for their money, Nikon at CES this week entered wearable video camera market with the Nikon KeyMission.

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Dirt

2016 Dakar Rally – Stage 3: Hat Trick?

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Stage 3 of the 2016 Dakar Rally saw another modified route, as the competitors worked around the weather in Argentina. This means that the timed special section was reduced to roughly 200km.

With the shorter route, the navigational challenges were virtually non-existent for the motorcycle competitors, though plenty of radar speed traps were on the course, which caught a few riders out.

The day was most fruitful for Honda, as the fastest three riders through the timed section were all HRC riders, with Joan Barreda leading the pack.

Unfortunately for Barreda though, the Spanish rider got another one-minute penalty, which officially knocked him back to fifth for the day, robbing Honda of its scorecard domination.

“Today was a great day after yesterday, when I had to open the track, but today we started from behind which gave us a good position to attack from,” said Barreda.

“We were very focused throughout the stage, which had very little navigation but plenty of radars that you had to be careful of. I kept a great pace throughout the 200 km and I’ve got the leadership back.”

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Bikes

Make a Scale Model of the Yamaha YZF-R1M, Out of Paper

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Yamaha’s paper craft creations are always amazing pieces of work, and each one seems to surpass the prior, which is certainly saying something. The latest creation from Yamaha features the company’s crown jewel: the Yamaha YZF-R1M.

We cannot imagine the patience that goes into creating a paper 1:5 scale model like this, but artist Nobutaka Mukouyama must certainly have it in spades.

Yamaha calls Mukouyama-san’s latest creation an “ultra-realistic” version of the R1M paper craft, and warns that it is no small-undertaking to complete. We believe them.

Photos of a completed paper Yamaha YZF-R1M are after the jump, and if you want to tackle this project yourself, you can download the necessary files right here.

If any A&R readers finish one of these bad boys, please send us photos of your work!

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News

BMW Brings Laser Headlight Technology to Motorcycles

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Today is “pass off old news as new news” day in the motorcycle industry. In addition to re-discovering that Dainese is working on a space suit design (circa 2014), another story from 2011 is getting some play: BMW’s laser headlight technology.

The rehashing of this story comes about as BMW Motorrad is at the Consumer Electronics Shows (CES) today, showing its laser headlight technology now on a motorcycle. Cue your Austin Powers jokes, now.

Laser-powered headlights are already available on BMW cars, with the 7 Series and i8 electric car featuring the technology. Thus, the logical progression was to add the frickin’ laser beams to BMW Motorrad’s flagship model, the BMW K1600GTL, which is showing at CES.

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News

Marzocchi Bought by Italian Automotive Company VRM

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Suspension brand Marzocchi has been saved from liquidation, as Tenneco is set to sell the Italian company to VRM – an Italian automotive company from the Bologna province of Zola Predosa.

Last year, Marzocchi seemed destined for the chopping block, as Tenneco seemed set on shutting down the business, and its 70 employees, rather than selling the company.

However with intervention from the local government in Bologna, and its strong labor unions, Marzocchi has been seemingly saved before the new year.

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Dirt

2016 Dakar Rally – Stage 2: Beginning, In Earnest

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Racing almost 800km from Villa Carlos Paz to Termas de Río Hondo, Monday marked the first earnest day of racing in the 2016 Dakar Rally, after the timed section of Stage 1 had to be canceled because of the incredibly weather at play in Argentina.

This doesn’t mean Monday was without weather though, as the special section was trimmed from 450km to 354km, because track conditions had deteriorated after Sunday’s thunderstorms.

That slight respite proved to be a boon for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price, as the Australian took the first Stage win of The Dakar. Price finished just 20 seconds ahead of Husqvarna’s Ruben Faria, lining up a duel that is likely to be a major part of this year’s edition of The Dakar.

While KTM might be without Marc Coma and Cyril Despres, both riders now having retired from two-wheel racing, KTM has a strong showing so far in 2016, with Stefan Svitko of Slovakia rounding out the podium, third in Stage 2, though he carries a one-minute penalty from the day.

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Recall

Recall: Honda VFR1200F

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Honda is recalling 1,825 Honda VFR1200F (2010 & 2012-2013 model year) motorcycles for a faulty universal joint in the driveshaft, which may have been manufactured or assembled incorrectly.

Because of the defect, the driveshaft’s universal joint bearings may prematurely wear, which can cause the universal joint to separate or break.

As you can imagine, if the universal joint separates, it could cause the motorcycle to stall. Even worse, if the universal joint breaks all-together, it could interfere with the swingarm, which could lock the rear wheel. Both scenarios create a safety issue, and thus a recall has been issued.

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