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Moment of Zen: Up Close with the Moto2 Race Bikes

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Moto2 testing was underway in Catalunya this week, but rain sidelined a substantial portion of that testing event. For the Moto2 teams, this meant a rare opporunity to get familiar with thier machinery was lost, but for the roving eye of Italian site GPone.com, it was an opportunity to take a gander at some very beautiful race motorcycles.

Despite all the teams having the same Honda-sourced, 600cc, four-cylinder, four-stroke motor, there is a large variety in body styling and chassis approach. Check the RSV, Moriwaki, BQR, Kalex, Tech3 Mistal, and Suter MMX bikes out after the jump.

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News

MotoCzysz Confirmed with TT Zero – Will Return to the Isle of Man with 90% New Bike

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MotoCzysz has confirmed today that they will be racing at the Isle of Man’s TT Zero event. The Portland based team has been hard at work on a new bike design that they feel not only has a chance of breaking the 100mph barrier, but possibly winning the event as well. MotoCzysz was a favorite in last year’s event, but failed to finish after suffering a failure to its Agni electric motor drive system. Learning from that hard taught lesson, Czysz & Co. are expected to return to the Isle of Man with their new 2010 E1pc, and tackle the Mountain Course once again.

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Opinion/Editorial

Motorcyclist Magazine Steals From Online Motorcycle News Sites – Shows How Completely Incompetent They Are When It Comes to the Internet

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UPDATE 3: Because of our article Motorcyclist Online has further refined their “Buzz” section. Of course they’ve also removed Asphalt & Rubber from their feed. We’re not expecting an apology from them at this point.

UPDATE 2: A small victory, Motorcyclist Online has changed their format to only copy the first 50 words of our text…still no link love though, and still actually copying the wrong text from us.

UPDATE: It looks like Motorcyclist Online is actually copying this story as well. Sweet irony!

I got a strange email today…which isn’t that strange in of itself, because I get strange emails on a regular basis, but the email contained a link to Motorcyclist Online, the internet version of Motorcyclist Magazine, which is owned by Source Interlink Media.

Clicking onto the link I see an article that was written this morning, published in its full text. “That’s funny” I think to myself, because we certainly never gave Motorcyclist permission to use our articles…clicking further I see we’re not the only online motorcycle site whose content is being copied onto the online pages of Motorcyclist Online…we’re just the latest addition to this blatant act of plagiarism and IP theft.

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Bikes

Yuri Shif Customs DUster Streetfighter

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Belarus isn’t exactly known for its thriving motorcycle scene, let alone for its custom bike eye-candy, but Yuri Shif Custom is about to change all that. The small custom shop is creating quite a stir with its latest custom streetfighter the DUster. The DUster takes your normal mild mannered Ducati water-cooled motor, and dips it in an all white finish. Wrapping a completely custom chassis around the powerplant, Shif and his crew have made a very unique and eye-catching design.

The bike uses gold and italian themes for accents, with our favorite bit being the headlight casing, which has a gold band around it that looks almost like the focus ring on a camera lens. Other interesting pieces are the fuel tank filling cap, and perimeter brakes up front.

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News

American Chopper Cancelled by TLC

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UPDATE: American Chopper is back as American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior. The new show sees both Teutuls going head-to-head in bike build offs at their respective workshops.

The Learning Channel (TLC) has finally given the television series American Chopper the boot, releasing information that show’s season finale will debut this Thursday at 9pm (8pm Central). We can only conclude that the show’s demise comes as a result of the ongoing rift between Paul Teutul Sr. and his sons, in particular his former partner Paul Teutul Jr. The two Paul’s are locked in a legal struggle regarding ownership of the American Chopper business, which has bled onto the television screen.

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Bikes

2010 Fiat-Yamaha YZR-M1 Unveiled at Sepang

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MotoGP teams have flocked to Sepang this week to test their bikes on the Malaysian track in preparation for the 2010 season. Fiat-Yamaha was on hand to unveil their 2010 YZR-M1, along with riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. Despite Yamaha’s shuddering sales figures, there doesn’t seem to be too many drastic changes in the factory team’s camp, but perhaps the lack of change is indicative of Yamaha’s financial position.

Speaking at the unveiling, Managing Director for Yamaha Racing, Lin Jarvis said, “The MotoGP program is a very important brand image promotion activity and the racing requires us to demonstrate all of our company’s power in engineering, organizational and passion if we are to be successful at the top level. He continued with, “we are extremely fortunate to have retained all of our existing loyal sponsors and even to have added a few more to the team.” Enough of that, video and photos after the jump.

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News

Watch the Honda VFR1200F Be Built Every 90 Seconds at Kumamoto Factory

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Honda’s factory in Kumamoto is a high-tech enviormentally friendly facility that might just be as innovative as the new VFR1200F. Churning out a new VFR every 90 seconds, Kumamoto’s wrenches are all digitally linked, and store build information for each individual motorcycle. Did worker X have a habit of over-tightening the connecting rods? If so Honda can track exactly which bikes were affected by his/her mistake, pinpointing the problem. That’s pretty cool in our book.

Check out the video after the jump for more information about the Kumamota plant and watch the VFR1200F get put together.

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Banter

BMW S1000RR Stunting: Warning The Video You Are About to See Might Offend You

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When BMW set out to make the S1000RR superbike, they put the Japanese 4 squarely in their sights. There can be little doubt that zie Germans succeed in making a bike that can compete with the liter bike incumbents. While we’re not sure if the S1000RR is completely up to the hype with its alleged 183hp dyno figures, one thing is for certain: The BMW S1000RR has plenty of power on tap.

While we hear at A&R prefer to think of that power going towards canyon carving adventures or helping us become Sunday morning track day heroes, for some that power is better suited for lofting a front (or rear) wheel, and practicing cursive calligraphy on a tarmac surface. What we believe to be the first BMW S1000RR stunting video can be found after the jump.

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Bikes

Tamburini Corse T1 Rethinks the MV Agusta Brutale

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Tamburini Corse has done their magic on the MV Agusta Brutale in what they call the Tamburini Corse T1, which sounds like something out of The Terminator, but looks more like pure carbon sex to us. Massimo Tamburini’s son Andrea has the reigns at Tamburini Corse, and he builds off his father’s designs, appealing to a new generation of MV riders with the Tamburini Corse T1. Photos and more after the jump.

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