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Jensen Beeler

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BMW S1000 “Lightburner” Concept by Oberdan Bezzi

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Oberdan Bezzi has been on a roll lately, making some intriguing concept sketches for two-wheeled fans. And his latest render, the BMW S1000 “Lightburner” concept doesn’t disappoint, either.

Based off the BMW S1000R streetfighter, Bezzi sees another naked model in the BMW stable – one that would roll on 16″ rear wheel, and have a 230 sized tire mounted to it.

We are not sure what purpose a 16″ rear wheel would serve on a street bike, or if you could even find good street rubber in a 230 size, but the visual affect of the Lightburner is what draws us to this design.

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Recall

Honda Recalls Over 45,000 Motorcycles

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American Honda is recalling a slew of motorcycles for a faulty starter relay switch. The recall affects over 45,000 units made between 2013 and 2016. The affected models are the CB500, CBR500, CRF250L, CBR650, CTX700, NSS300, VT750, VT1300, 2015 CB300F, CBR300, CBR600, and NC700.

On the affected motorcycles, a sealant may have been incorrectly applied to the starter relay switch, and as a result the electrical system can suffer from a loss of power. This can cause the engine to stall, and the motorcycle to crash, so a recall is in order.

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Racing

Watch Dani Pedrosa Rip It Up on a Supermoto

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A riding buddy of mine taunted me last night about how he was going out to the supermoto track, while I’ve been itching to get out on mine…so we’re starting today off with a little homage to the Sultans of Slide, the European Luc1 supermoto team.

I hope all motorcycle racing teams take a long look at what Luc1 is doing, because they not only win on the track, but they also win at content creation. At the end of the day, professional motorcycle racing is about selling for sponsors, and Luc1 not only gets that, but they excel at it.

Take this video here, where they are joined by Dani Pedrosa, who has a little free time right now since it is MotoGP’s summer break. Good things happen.

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Bikes

Victory Empulse TT — A Rebadged Brammo Empulse R

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When Polaris acquired Brammo’s electric motorcycle business, and left the startup to be its electric drivetrain guru, much was talked about what would come to the electric motorcycle manufacturer. So, when a Brammo Empulse RR electric race bike showed up at the Isle of Man TT in Victory Motorcycles livery — let’s not forget the Brammo employees in Victory t-shirts — a bit of Polaris’ game was tipped.

Therefore it is perhaps without surprise that today we bring you the Victory Empulse TT, which is basically a rebadged Brammo Empulse R street bike.

There are some improvements to the Victory Empulse TT over the Brammo Empulse, namely a larger battery pack (+10% for 10.4 kWh nominal), a narrower rear tire (180 is now a 160), a new seat, and most importantly, a rubber cush drive for the rear wheel.

We won’t waste words hyping a motorcycle that has effectively already been on the market for several years, but we will point out two things: 1) Brammo Victory has improved upon an already competent design, and 2) the addition of the cush drive could change our luke-warm opinion of the Empulse R.

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News

Hero Acquires Unfinished R&D from Erik Buell Racing

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Hero MotoCorp Ltd (HMCL) has filed paperwork with the Bombay Stock Exchange stating that its wholly-owned subsidiary, HMCL Americas, has entered into a settlement agreement with Erik Buell Racing, which sees the American arm of the Indian brand acquire “certain consulting project” from EBR for $2.8 million.

The filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange reads: “”As part of the settlement agreement, HMCL Americas Inc has agreed to acquire the ownership of certain tangible and intangible assets of EBR Entities, free and clear of all encumbrances, for a consideration of USD 2.8 million.”

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Bikes

These Are Not the Eagerly Awaited Suzuki GSX-R250 & All-New GSX-R1000…But They Should Be

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These images are very likely not of the hopefully-soon-to-be-released Suzuki GSX-R250 & GSX-R1000 sport bikes, as their purveyor, Japanese magazine Young Machine, has a fairly horrible track record with these sort of things…but that doesn’t mean that we should ignore them.

After all, here we see two very attractive offerings, which we hope the folks at Hamamatsu will take a long look at, as the Suzuki GSX-R1000 rendered here would be an attractive update to a name that was once the superbike to beat.

The rendering exercise from Young Machine also shows that a quarter-liter sport bike from Suzuki should be directly related to its liter-bike brethren, not only to strike the aspirational nerve of riders, but also to justify the added expense and limited return on the company’s superbike offering.

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Racing

Video of Casey Stoner’s Crash at the Suzuka 8-Hour

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You may have already heard that Casey Stoner crashed out of the Suzuka 8-Hour this weekend, while leading the race no less. The result of which was a broken scaphoid and fractured left tibia/ankle for the 29-year-old Australian, who had finally found himself back in motorcycle racing.

Ultimately, the throttle on the MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO Honda CBR1000RR was to blame, with it getting stuck open at 26º of full throttle.

For fans that have been waiting the return of Casey Stoner, a rider we tip as likely the most talented ever to race on two wheels, this is a disappointing end to what could have been a fairytale weekend.

Time will tell if Stoner mounts another racing motorcycle, though we imagine this weekend’s events don’t help the realization of that pipe dream.

Click after the jump, for the carnage…and note why many riders consider Suzuka too dangerous a venue for motorcycles.

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Racing

2015 Suzuka 8-Hour Endurance Race Results

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In Japan, the Suzuka 8-Hour is a huge deal, but for the rest of the world, it ranks on par with the rest of the FIM Endurance World Championship.

That’s kind of a shame, really, as the Endurance World Championship is the only motorcycle championship where we still see different tire manufacturers competing against each other, the bikes are beautifully technical in their own special way, and in the case of Suzuka, there are often heavy-hitters at play.

This year was no different, with Yamaha fielding its “Yamaha Factory Racing Team” with two MotoGP stars, Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, along with factory test rider and MotoGP podium-finisher Katsuaki Nakasuga.

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Recall

Harley-Davidson Recalls 185,000+ Bikes for…Saddlebags

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Harley-Davidson has another massive recall on its hands, as the Bar & Shield has a bevy of models who are affect by saddlebag mountis that may not adequately secure the saddlebags to the motorcycle.

The recall affects certain model year 2014-2015 Road King (FLHR), Street Glide (FLHX), Street Glide Special (FLHXS), Electra Glide Ultra Classic (FLHTCU), Ultra Limited (FLHTK), Police Road King (FLHP), Police Electra Glide (FLHTP), CVO Ultra Limited (FLHTKSE), 2014 CVO Road King (FLHRSE), and 2015 Electra Glide Ultra Classic Low (FLHTCUL), Ultra Limited Low (FLHTKL), Road Glide (FLTRX), Road Glide Special (FLTRXS), CVO Street Glide (FLHXSE), and CVO Road Glide Ultra (FLTRUSE) motorcycles.

Say that three times fast.

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Recall

Recall: KTM 1290 Super Duke R

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Attention 2014 KTM 1290 Super Duke R owner, KTM North America is recalling 640 units of “The Beast” for a fuel leak that may occur from the threaded inserts at the rear of the gas tank.

Obviously, a fuel tank poses a safety hazard to the rider, not only for its propensity to combust, but its ability to degrade traction to the rear tire. As such, KTM will notify affected owners, and KTM dealers will seal the threaded inserts to prevent future fuel leaks.

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Rumors

Erik Buell Racing Acquired by the Flying Spaghetti Monster

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Social media and some assorted motorcycle news websites (first here, and now here) are feverishly reporting that Erik Buell Racing has been out-right acquired by Hero MotoCorp, during the company’s receivership auction, thus confirming the wet-dream conspiracy theories of Buellistas around the world.

The report was first started by the stalwart news source Motorcycle.in.th, and was then elevated quickly into the realm of semi-truthfulness by a bevy of other news outlets.

Sources close to Buell and Erik Buell Racing have since come forward and discrediting the report, calling the story a complete fabrication. Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp stock has risen 0.50% on the news.

With the journalistic bar now set so low, Asphalt & Rubber feels comfortable reporting that there is indeed a new owner for Erik Buell Racing, but it is not Hero MotoCorp, but instead the Flying Spaghetti Monster — deity to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

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