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Kawasaki UK has announced that it has setup a new website where interested riders can sign up to test ride a Kawasaki street machine from their local dealer. The site, kawasakitestride.co.uk, let’s riders search for new and used green machines by location, and then schedule a test ride directly with the dealerships. While this doesn’t affect us American riders too much, it’s a sign that the at least some portion of the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers are revaluating the motorcycle purchasing process.

Valentino Rossi made quite the scream with his face helmet at Mugello back in 2008. With all the buzz it created, AGV brought out a limited edition version replica of Rossi’s lid to the market in 2009. Now it’s 2010, and AGV has decided to spread the customized lid to everyone else, with a personalized touch. Opening up valentinosface.com, AGV has created a website where you can put your own mug on Rossi “Scream” rep, and have the helmet shipped directly to you from AGV.

It has been years since Al Gore discovered the internet, but apparently the fad of browsing “websites” has finally caught on in Italy. Rightly so, Valentino Rossi has finally created a web space of his own, valentinorossi.com. The site is well done, but can be difficult to navigate at times. Brace yourself as it will pop-up a full-screen window, and start blarring Italian rock music. Psshh…that’s so 2000 & 3.

Despite being the media-magnet that he is, Valentino Rossi has always lacked an official website of his own. Web going motorcycle racing fans have had to suffice themselves with the plethora of fan sites out there, including the Official Valentino Rossi Fan Club site. But, all these sites missed one thing, Rossi himself.

That’s all about to change. Rossi has teased the web with his upcoming site. Call it: The Doctor 2.0, valentinorossi.com. The site has been under development for the last 3 months, but just from the look of the splash screen, it would seem we can expect that usual antics from the outgoing Italian rider once it has officially opened its doors.

motorcycle-helmet-map

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is beefing-up its website of state laws by using interactive maps of the United States that  illustrate , with additional state law maps becoming available in the future. The maps provide geographic representations of the laws to illustrate the extent to which US states are addressing highway safety concerns.

Source: IIHS via Autoblog

Kawasaki has huffed the same crazy glue as BMW, and gotten themselves a video portal aptly named: KawasakiTV. Now while the BMW version has all the spit and polish you’d expect from the German AutoHaas, Kawasaki has all the lack-luster half-assed marketing attempts we’ve grown to cheerish from the Green Monster. The shows all of its ads, clips, and racing footage going back to 2006, although after playing with it for a bit, they appear to show you only a limited number of ads at random. Also, the site, for whatever reason, is in Spanish, but it’s easy enough to navigate around. The link can be found here.

On a marketing note. Kawasaki, why would you host a site on someone else’s domain? Why would you try and shoe-horn your logo onto a template that clearly is from a common bin. And lastly, who is your brand manager, and what street will he be committing ritual suicide over this botch job?

Source: moto.caradisiac

Wow, I can’t believe I got through this post without one reference to letting the good times roll…

Aprilia has relaunched aprilia.com with a much needed redesign, complete with media richness. For some time now Aprilia has been making beautiful and stylish bikes, without lending the same attention to detail to the rest of their corporate branding. The new site is bold, red, and clearly designed by someone who spends a lot of time in Apple’s iTunes.

Source: Aprilia.com

Looking good Aprilia, now call me when you have your supply chain figured out.