I didn’t get a new motorcycle for Christmas, but I did get a new chainsaw. They’re enjoying the same conundrum as we are over there in the chainsaw world – gas versus electric. Since “range” is not important for me (I only want to trim branches and cut things up around the house and maybe in the bathtub), I went with a plug-in electric. I didn’t know you could get a chainsaw for 75 bucks, or I probably would’ve gotten one years ago. I mean, I’d like to ride motorcycles every weekend, but somebody’s gotta take care of the homestead – and the faster the better.

Soon, our motorcycles will be so advanced they’ll be able to go for a ride while we stay on the couch, like the autonomous GS BMW showed in Las Vegas a couple months ago. I should probably call this one the “Hi-Tech Modern Motorcycle Quiz”, because you know somebody’s standing by to point out the Scott Flying Squirrel had all these features in 1929. Listen, we’re more like the NPR quiz show where the questions have been carefully researched but the answers have not. The research department is 90% me, and I haven’t got days, alright? Give it a shot and complain when it’s over, why don’t you? For at least one of these questions, there are at least two correct answers. As always, the images may be there to help or deceive. Work that brain! Ward off dementia! Okay, go.

You know what’s better than being wet and cold while riding a motorcycle? Not being wet and cold while riding a motorcycle. A few months back I was headed to my homeland, the Midwest, with a promise of big V-Twin motorcycles, and crappy weather. Since I’ve been calling Southern California home for nine years now, I haven’t kept too many waterproof bits of gear around. It was only after I had attended back-to-back rainy press launches, spanning the globe from Spain to SoCal, that I decided I would contact the nice folks at Alpinestars to procure a full one-piece rain suit.

So many more people grow up in dense urban areas today compared to when many of us long-time motorcycle riders cut our teeth. Add to increased traffic the higher cost of living, the myriad thrilling alternatives to motorcycling including video games and televised professional Cornhole, and well – it’s no surprise our numbers are dwindling. I don’t think human nature has changed, though, I just think getting started is harder than it used to be, so hats off to the Progressive IMS shows, and its new Discover the Ride program, for greasing the skids for that 3% of Americans who think it’s cool to ride around on motorized two-wheeled machines. New to 2 isn’t some lame lecture series, either, it puts butts in seats: kid ones, adult ones – and even wheelying ones!

What makes the best memories? Is it the people you’re with? Is it the motorcycle you were riding? Perhaps the location where it all took place? Most times, the best memories are a culmination of variables that fell into place in just the right way. We enjoy reliving those experiences. The feelings they gave us, the sights, the sounds, the entire damn thing, we hold these types of things near to our hearts. It’s healthy to remember, but it’s also easy to get caught up in the past.

Lightning Motorcycles is seemingly taking a page out of the Tesla playbook, and today declared it has officially opened reservations for its newest model, the recently announced Lightning Strike. Lightning says it has made this move based on an “unexpectedly high” number of customer requests after news of the Strike went public (of course, we’d like to say Motorcycle.com had a small part in that). Similar to the Tesla model of offering fully refundable reservations for the Model 3, Lightning is following suit and offering U.S. customers a chance to place reservations for the Strike – which will be available in two versions. The reservation structure will look like this:

The 2019 Yamaha R3 feels incredibly nimble as I flick it back and forth effortlessly between corners along a mountain road. As we snake our way up into the dense fog surrounding Palomar mountain in San Diego County, dodging gravel and mud that was spread across the roadway from the week’s downpour, I’m thankful for the precise handling the R3 offered. It easily changes direction, almost too easily I think to myself as I close into a tight right-hander just before the apex.

What a time to be a motorcycle rider. Why, you ask? Because motorcycles today are faster, safer, and more comfortable than ever before. Moan all you want about motorcycles becoming too smart for their own good, but it’s this very technology that allows us to be faster, safer, and more comfortable. Today no one will deny the motorized bicycle being superior than the horse and carriage, nor will they deny the advantages of electric starters over the kickers of yesteryear. But it’s really been the last five to ten years that we’ve seen a huge technological jump in motorcycling. Here are some notable advances seen on today’s motorcycles.

Somebody went off in the photo studio with the Factory Custom Thruxton, Triumph’s new ship of the line, fully encrusted with carbon fiber this, machined billet that, and basically dripping with exclusivity and the finest in suspension and exhaust bits.

I like electric vehicles. I mean, I really like them. But unlike a lot of journalists who say they like something, I actually went out and spent my hard-earned on an electric car, a 2018 Chevy Bolt; one of my best purchases ever. I bought it because when it was announced, it was the first affordable long-range electric vehicle, and it’s been great. It’s not perfect for everything, but what car is? For cars, EVs aren’t coming; they’re here.

After riding 5,000 miles through the Western States on CSC’s RX3 mini ADV motorcycle I figured the gig was up for me: Motorcycle manufacturers are usually left unsatisfied and hollow feeling whenever I butcher a motorcycle review. On that ride the RX3s ran fine and had nothing else to prove. So who’d be crazy enough to foot the bill for another long distance 250cc ride?

In case you somehow haven’t noticed by now, Motorcycle.com has a separate YouTube channel – because sometimes (okay, most of the time) you’d rather see the motorcycles we ride in action rather than just read our words about them. Sometimes it can be even better if you can get our immediate thoughts about a motorcycle directly as we’re riding them. Of course, this means talking and riding at the same time (it’s harder than it sounds if you’re a MOron like us). The challenge is capturing good, clean audio with little to no wind noise. Bonus points if you can do it on the cheap. Say hello to the HelEquip HelMic 3.1. Since this is a microphone review after all, watch the video below to get my thoughts. Otherwise, feel free to read on.

Mecum’s auction will include The “Stockholm Collection” for one thing, which is supposedly kind of a big deal. It includes such juicy motorcycles as the 1939 Crocker Big Tank in our lead image, which will be sold with no reserve (though the estimate is, ahem, $400,000 to 500,000).

The Bonnier Motorcycle Group, publisher of Cycle World, Motorcyclist and other titles including Hot Bike, has just pulled the plug on the latter and fired most of its staff. Maybe Bonnier is in fact down to two print magazines now? The print versions of Sport Rider and Dirt Rider folded last year, though the online versions remain. Sources tell us the Hot Bike site will remain open for business also, with content provided by a reduced staff that also provides editorial content for other BMG titles. Reliable sources tell us some other Bonnier magazines are also getting the axe, including such prestigious titles as Baggers, ATV Rider, and UTV Driver.

What? My vacation’s over? Sigh… as we enter a new year here at MO, let us ease into it gently by remembering that although hard work, skill and determination are all requirements for a happy and successful life, there’s no discounting the value of sheer dumb luck. That goes double for riding a motorcycle around a racetrack in professional competition. Though Marc Marquez is lately the king of falling off without crashing, there’s a long and honorable tradition that precedes him, most famously by former 500 GP savemaster Randy Mamola. This little 3:14-minute vid has been out for around nine months, but it captures some classic moments, as well as explanations from guys like Mamola, Colin Edwards and Marquez as to how they cheated the Grim Scraper. Watch and learn, and always strive to stay on the right side of the gods.

Here at MO, comparos and shootouts are what we do. We strive to give our readers the most informative bike-to-bike comparisons. Whether it be two class-leading models brought toe-to-toe to duke it out, or bringing in every bike in a particular category, we’re here to bring you the knock-down, drag-out deathmatches MO-style.

Nothing excites motorcyclists – who are often in a forced staycation from riding this time of year – like new model season. The manufacturers have revealed their new mounts, but most are not yet in show rooms. So, all we’ve got is highly produced photos, minimal specifications, and our fantasies to go on. This is the time of year that we motojournalists live for. Not only do we get to pad our frequent flyer miles, but we also sample the latest and greatest that the manufacturers have produced so that we can come home to tell you all about what the upcoming model year has in store for all of us.

Ryland Wakeley Sr. was born in Chicago’s Beverly Hills neighborhood, a slightly less bougie part of town compared to the California city of the same name, in 1915. As a young child growing up in Chicago, one day Ryland found himself cruising on the back of a neighbor’s Harley-Davidson, watching the pavement fly by beneath him. It was at that moment the fire was lit. A lifelong passion for motorcycles, specifically Harley-Davidson, would ensue. From then on, whatever he had going on in his life, he made sure he had a motorcycle.

Every year Motorcycle.com gets invited to the press introductions for several new motorcycles – it’s the biggest perk of our job, and the reason all of us have stuck around as long as we have! The cycle goes like this: at the end of one year or the beginning of the next, manufacturers talk a big game about a new model launch, and/or the internet goes wild with social media rumors and opinions about a new bike. In turn we, the media, can’t wait to be the first to throw a leg over said bike to see what the fuss is about. Sometimes the motorcycle in question is a dud, other times it exceeds beyond our wildest dreams. Then you get the rare model that didn’t get much fanfare but turns out to be unexpectedly awesome.

Congratulations to all of you who’ve survived the holiday season (relatively) unscathed—you deserve a reward, and some of the web’s biggest moto gear retailers have got you covered. Both Revzilla and Cycle Gear (among others) have been discounting some of your favorite motorcycle gear as we count down the final days of 2018. In the case of Revzilla, their aptly named “ Holiday Hangover Sale” covers a range of riding gear and casual gear from a ton of different brands. Cycle Gear on the other hand is looking ahead to 2019, and their multi-category sale seems to have been meant as an early 2019 promo that they decided to launch early. This January Clearance Sale deals in riding gear, helmets, bike parts, and other goodies. Of the range of deals, here are a handful that stood out to us as being worth a closer look.

You’d think we’d learn our lesson by now with these darn 24-hour races. Our Grom debacle was a serious test of our resolve and had us questioning why we even rode motorcycles in the first place, while our time aboard the Kymco K-Pipe we also rode around the clock didn’t present us with any problems, but boy was it ungodly slow. Maybe in my attempt to recreate the sense of accomplishment that comes with being the first electric team to complete a 24-hour race, I’ve tricked my MO cohorts into thinking racing little bikes for a whole day is fun. Thankfully, being MOrons, we clearly don’t learn our lesson.

Many collectors would be happy to own just one, okay maybe two, perfect original examples from motorcycling’s short-lived but exciting turbo era. Now’s your chance to scoop up ONE OF EACH! For the cost of one supercharged Kawasaki H2 and a year’s supply of avocado toast, you get one each: 1982 Honda CX500 Turbo, 1983 CX650 Turbo, 1984 Kawasaki GPZ 750 Turbo, 1983 Suzuki XN85 Turbo, and one `82 Yamaha XJ650 Seca Turbo. Five turbos!

We’ve covered motorcyclist’s wishlists of all sort in previous years, but with the popularity of off-road and dual-sport riding growing, we felt we should throw together a list of what these special riders of ours might like more than the odd set of socks.

Time really does fly. Hopping onto the laptop for my morning coffee and daily fix of the American Dream, Facebook informs me that I joined it ten years ago. What? How is that possible? A lot of people my age refused to take the FB plunge, but that’s okay because I still see what they’re up to on Instagram, via random text and on the news ( David Pecker). I tweet but rarely.

Well, you know, it’s a slow news day. Even if you’re lucky enough not to be snowed in somewhere, there’s still not a lot going on in terms of breaking motorcycle news in this traditional slow period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a good time for reflection, however, to ponder and give thanks for all we’ve got. But also to give thanks for the stupid stuff other people do, but not us. A little schadenfreude. It’s easy to grow bored watching motorcycle fail videos, as most of them are so highly predictable and derivative. Like this one, for instance, where a young man bravely embarks up the steep learning curve of performing a wheelie from a standing start on what looks like an R6. Wheeliewise, I’m no expert, but it doesn’t look like this is the way to do it.

And speaking of supermoto, around the turn of the century it seemed to be growing in popularity. By 2003, it had evolved into a full-on AMA championship series, drawing unto itself unlikely competitors such as Kevin Schwantz, Jeff Ward, Chris Carr, both Bostroms, Jeremy McGrath… in easy-access venues including downtown Reno and the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. It even spawned at least one full-color glossy magazine. What went wrong, Lord? Oh well. Yamaha made the effort, at least, and herein Minime and Roland Sands sample Damon Bradshaw’s factory YZ426F. Enjoy the tiny photos, embrace change, and ask not for whom the bell tolls.

For instant news, the web is obviously where it’s at, but there are many of us that are still bound to the physical connection of reading. That in mind, we went on the hunt for interesting magazine options for the motorcycle, automotive, and RV enthusiast, all of which make an interesting (and affordable) gift this holiday season. Of all places, Amazon actually offers a good number of magazine subscriptions in all categories, and skimming through the list there are a handful of interesting titles to choose from. Coming in at between 67% and over 80% off of the cover price, these are the titles that caught our eye.

If there’s one thing the motorcycling community is full of it’s opinions. Ask 10 people what they think is the best tire and you’ll get 10 different answers. Same goes for oil, exhaust pipes, and heck, motorcycles themselves. Despite this, I think we can all agree: starting your own motorcycle company is not a great idea. Thankfully, Markus Kramer never got that memo. Well, he did, he just didn’t care – and, to me, the world is better off for it.

I think the first time I ever encountered the famed Rock Store, Malibu’s truly iconic riding destination, it was in this 1980s Kawasaki magazine spread. That’s just what I imagined California must look like from the confines of my ghetto-adjacent Kansas City apartment. Beautiful people on swell new motorcycles under towering oaks on a perfect Fall day. Who knew I’d wind up spending a small chunk of the rest of my life there. Stopping to kick tires, grab a cold drink, shoot photos – but mostly run up and down the crazy-tight section of Mulholland Highway that begins just past the Store’s front door. We’re testing, see. It didn’t even matter that the Store was usually closed during the week when we were there “working.” It was still the Rock Store.

Is print dead? I consume current events almost exclusively online lately, reaching for my beloved old leatherbound tomes usually only in the last half-hour before toddling off to Dreamland with a warm glass of milk. Some magazines are hanging in there, but many are slowly sliding off to oblivion. There’s just no way for a thing printed on dead trees to match the speed of the internet. But maybe that’s a good thing for really good books worth reading? Just in time for the holidays, we’ve rounded up the Best Books for Motorcyclists. (Having said all that, most of these are also available electronically.)

It’s flying under an odd name, but Revzilla’s new Orange Week Sale is giving you yet another great excuse to shop for motorcycle gear in time for the holidays (whether for yourself or for others). They’re blowing the doors off all sorts of moto apparel and accessories, with daily deals being added every 24h, and other deals lasting all the way through the week. Of the many deals on the list ( the full list can be found here), here are some of the biggest savings we spotted so far.

Another show season, and another year for that matter, is screeching to an end after exciting announcements from plenty of manufacturers. Intermot delivered the unveiling of notable models such as the 2019 Indian FTR1200 and the 2020 Suzuki Katana, while EICMA, as is usual, showcased new models from 15 major OEMs, making it the show to watch for new models releases. Between the two European shows, the US’s own AIMExpo was used to release new iterations of Kawasaki’s ZX-6R and ZX-10R as well as Yamaha’s revamped R3.

Harley-Davidson moves in a mysterious ways, its wonders to perform; it plants its footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm. With the imminent exciting arrival of a brand-new flat-track inspired American motorcycle in January that’s not a Harley-Davidson, it’s fun to remember the tenth anniversary of the last flat-track inspired motorcycle that was. The XR1200 was such a crazy idea, H-D was afraid to bring it home to America for a whole year.

Not a week ago, I was barreling down a tight road in Baja comprised of deep sand at about 70 mph. I love riding in the sand. It doesn’t intimidate me, and I enjoy it. You see, I began riding off-road in southern California where the sand is deep and rocks are aplenty. To quote Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, “Oh, you think darkness sand is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark sand; I was born in it, molded by it.” I’m no pro desert racer, but I was living out fantasies of being one for the last seven days in Mexico. As I ripped through deep sandy trails, I thought back to an analogy someone once told me.

As we get ready to head to our local International Motorcycle Show stop in Long Beach, CA, we wanted to look back at some of the best bikes of EICMA 2018. Next year looks like an exciting time for performance-minded motorcyclists, adventure enthusiasts, and those looking for stylish bikes. Hopefully, we will have a chance to see some of these new models in person. So, look forward to our video recap from IMS Long Beach.

I recently had the privilege of attending two events that brought me to Utah two weeks in a row. Utah is, and has been, one of my absolute favorite places to visit. Since I first laid eyes on its mars-esque landscapes, I was hooked. Every cross country ride or drive I take, I route them through Utah. I’ve passed through more than I’d like to admit, while only stopping to enjoy parts of the state a handful of times.

Well, there’s absolutely nothing funny about the latest set of fires consuming California. Closest to home is the Woolsey fire, which is currently burning up our finest riding roads in Malibu, all the famed “canyons” I read about in the bike mags when I was a kid. Not to mention a few friends’ houses who live up in there – at least one of whom managed to secure for himself a quite palatial estate right in the middle of the burn zone complete with an impressive chicken coop. I hope his five-car garage makes it. I knew this was a serious fire when I saw a beautiful ’69 Camaro SS driving past the roadside reporter when the news first broke last week: Oh damn, that’s another downside to being wealthy I never thought of: Which of your collectible automobiles do you flee in? Your motorcycles, since they can’t carry much stuff, probably aren’t going to make it unless you’re good at loading your trailer pronto.

We at MO hope everyone enjoyed a safe and fun Veterans Day this past weekend. We also hope everyone remembers why we celebrate Veterans Day, to honor those who have served in our military and those currently serving. To that point, since we were out celebrating our vets yesterday, we’d like to share this inspiring video recap from Can-Am and the Road Warrior Foundation of their 2018 Road Warrior Ride.

On this 100th Armistice Day, what better, less inappropriate way to remember all the WW1  gefallenen than by throwing an American and two Italians into battle. Okay, yeah it would be better with also a BMW and a Peugeot or Midual. It didn’t happen ten years ago, alright? But this comparison did. Nice work, Pete, and a moment of silence please, for Erik Buell – who gave the last, final measure of devotion not once, but two or three times. So far.

Riding the Ducati Panigale V4 S is quite a trip, as the experience is nothing short of relentless. There’s power everywhere, and if ever there was a machine to remind us that we, the riders, are the limiting factors in performance, this is it. By now there has been quite a lot written about the Ducati Panigale V4 S on the digital pages of Motorcycle.com. From our First Look of the bike a year ago, to Kevin Duke’s subsequent First Ride Review, we’ve then gone on to put it on the dyno against its natural rival, the Aprilia RSV4 RF, followed by a full-on showdown between the two Italians on both the street and the track. Hell, despite some of its shortcomings, we even gave the Panigale V4 S our 2018 Motorcycle of the Year award!

On Monday, October 22, 2018, I found myself on a flight from Long Beach, CA, to Salt Lake City, UT, for a week of ripping all sorts of powersports machinery through the beautiful areas surrounding St. George, UT. As we neared the SLC airport, we were instructed, as is the norm, that we would begin our descent into the Salt Lake City area. Not ten minutes later, I look up from my book to see both flight attendants hurriedly searching their luggage loudly and frantically before pulling out bright yellow binders. I thought to myself, “Those sure do look like some sort of emergency scenario type documents.”

At EICMA 2016, Husqvarna showcased a concept Vitpilen 401 Aero ahead of the release of the 401 production models in 2018. We now see the Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 Aero Concept being shown at EICMA 2018. Aside from the updated display and a few other styling details, the faired version of the Vitpilen looks like it could be easily offered in the way of bolt-on parts to the standard Vitpilen 701. Of course, that is just speculation and the fact that we haven’t seen this come to fruition after the 401 Aero means it may just be wishful thinking.

Out of the 40 individual accessories Indian has already cataloged for its new FTR1200 street tracker, it’s gone ahead and “curated” bunches of them into four packages for buyers who want to one-stop shop their FTR into something a bit more specific: Tracker, Rally, Sport or Tour. That’s the Sport in our lead image. Here’s the scoop on all of them, which Indian sprung on the public earlier today at EICMA.

There’s a motorcycling renaissance happening right now in a location you’d never expect. It’s far from any coast, and temperatures can be downright brutal in the winter. Nevertheless, for three seasons out of the year it’s not unusual to hear the sounds of roaring American V-Twins interspersed with the wail of Japanese Fours, British parallel-Twins, and everything else in between. Motorcycles new and old roam this land, and when the winter months make their presence felt, the locals make lemonade out of lemons – out come the dirtbikes, on go the studded tires, and off to the frozen lakes they go, shredding the ice in the land of never-ending traction.

The Haas Moto Museum opened earlier this year, April 11 to be exact, with a beginning collection of 140 motorcycles. Six months later, there are over 180 cycles spanning 12 decades housed in the Museum and in an adjacent gallery in almost downtown Dallas, Texas.

Our V-Strom 1000XT didn’t win the big 2018 Big-Bore Adventure Touring Shoot-Out, but then it didn’t lose either: Fourth place (out of six) isn’t bad for a bike that undercut the next least expensive bike in the test (Honda Africa Twin DCT) by $1600, and the most expensive one (BMW R1250 GS) by $9,000.

There are a variety of options to choose from when you think of beginner bikes, many of them centered around sport-type models or standards. This is often because manufacturers spend more of their marketing dollars hyping their beginner sportbikes or standards. But fear not, cruiser rider – there are great entry-level models for those craving the feet-forward stance. Here, we’ve gathered eight of those great choices for your viewing pleasure.

Photos by: Evans Brasfield Video by: Sean Matic and Nik Wogen

Has it only been ten years? In those days, King Duke and Pete the Apostle had nothing better to do than compare a pair of naked middleweights, thereby calling it Naked Middleweight Comparison, and it was good. Let he who is without sin stow the first throne.

If not a lighter, slimmer version of the Gear Up, what could the Ural Gear Up Air be? A $17,999 launch pad for a drone! That’s what! The latest limited edition Ural to be announced from our Russian comrades (the Americanized ones in Redmond, Washington at least) is the Ural Gear Up Air, a brand mashup from none other than: DJI, a popular drone manufacturer; Ram Mounts, a manufacturer of mounts of all sorts; and Stratasys, experts in the 3D printing and manufacturing landscape. The cool thing about paying $18k for a drone launchpad, is that you also get a fun sidecar motorcycle out of the deal. Essentially a rolling Russian command post for your surveillance drone!

What to do if your resto-mod Z1 just doesn’t feel up to snuff? First of all, relax, and realize you are not suffering alone. Here’s what RCM, an offshoot of AC Sanctuary, has to comfort you, according to its website:

There, I was rocketing across the German countryside on the way from Cologne to Heidelberg with number-one son at my side. With no traffic ahead, my mechanical steed lowered its head and plunged ahead, bit firmly in teeth, rolling along the silky smooth bahn… 240 kph said the digital speedo, 260, 288, 303… yo that’s 188 mph! The telephone poles looked like a picket fence as the countryside flew past. We’d just spent a couple days at the big Intermot motorcycle show, and now were rewarding ourselves with a couple days of European vacation. How could it get any better than this, I asked myself as we sped crazily along? Pinch me.

We’re back from AIMExpo 2018 and have had time to noodle over what we saw at the annual event. The good news is that, by having the show a few weeks later than 2017, more 2019 motorcycles were announced, and some that were previously unveiled at Intermot were on display in Las Vegas. The tone for the show was upbeat with the aftermarket on hand to display their new wares. Naturally, you may be curious to see what caught our eye as we wandered the show floor. So, without further ado, here are the Top 10 shiny objects sighted at AIMExpo 2018.

This motorcycle helmet sale over at Cycle Gear is a big one, including a ton of our favorite helmet brands including Arai, Bell, HJC, Shoei, and many more. Literally hundreds of offerings are up for grabs for discounts ranging from 15% to over 60% off, covering a healthy mix of styles from full-face street helmets to helmets for motocross and ATV/UTV riders as well. Solid colors, race replicas, and bold graphic helmets are all part of the equation as well, and a quick skim revealed that a number of HJC’s Marvel Comics series helmets ( Captain America, The Punisher, Iron Man, and others) are up for grabs for a reasonable 20% off. If you missed the info on the Revzilla End of Season Clearout sale we covered a few weeks back (it’s still on!), here’s another chance to save big on new gear.

What starts out on four legs in the morning, walks on two in midday and three in the evening? Wait, that’s the riddle of the Sphinx and has nothing to do with this. Or does it? Lots of us (at one time anyway) started off on cheap little scooters, graduated to bigger, faster motorcycles – and may return again to the scooter in our, ahhh, golden years. Not that there’s anything wrong with riding a scooter at any life stage in between. Today we are tasked with listing the advantages of each, motorcycle and scooter.

Only a company like Red Bull could pull together the resources to rent the largest airport in the world to stage the world’s ultimate drag race. Seeing as how this yet-to-open airport is in Istanbul, Red Bull called up seven of the fastest vehicles and pilots – including fighter pilots – Turkey has to offer to go head-to-head in this exhibition of speed.

In many corners of the country, it’s turning into that time of year where your favorite toys are due to be tucked away until next spring. Thankfully we’ve found a huge sale on motorcycle covers, RV covers, and covers for all of your other favorite weekend toys over on carcovers.com. Dubbed the  Fall Super Sale, every item in their online store is on sale for up to 50% off, and includes free shipping throughout the US and Canada.

According to the story in Rimini Today, the 31-year old driver of the car that hit Hayden last May is off to prison for a year, pending further appeals, will pay court costs and lose his license. That driver, a 31-year old identified only as being from Morciano, was reportedly going just over 70 kph in a 50 kph zone (42 mph in a 30) in his Renault when the collision occurred. It might’ve gone worse for the driver, though, if the court had not found Hayden also negligent. The court found Nicky had rolled through a stop sign on his bicycle at about 20 kph (12 mph) when he was struck, and assigned him 30% of responsibility for the crash. Italian law requires a criminal investigation any time there’s a fatality as a result of a crash.

As we roll into fall, you’re looking at primetime motorcycle gear shopping. With roughly half the continent reaching the end of riding season, motorcycle helmets, jackets, and other types of motorcycle gear are popping up on sale across the web. In particular, Revzilla.com has recently opened up a significant closeout sale featuring all sorts of gear from Dainese, Alpinestars, Icon, and many of your other favorite brands, with savings ranging from 20% to 65% off!

We teased you recently with a dyno shootout between the Aprilia RSV4 RF and the Ducati Panigale V4 S, with the Ducati blowing the doors off the less powerful – and smaller displacing – Aprilia to the tune of 187 hp for the Panigale and 168 hp for the RSV4. This set the stage for our track shootout between the two Italians nicely, as on paper, anyway, the Ducati seemingly has the Aprilia’s number. A bigger engine clearly gives it a power advantage, while 20 pounds less mass on the official MO scales and electronic Öhlins suspension prevails over the RSV4’s extra heft and manual Öhlins bits. But what does that all translate to once the tire warmers come off and fast lap times need to be set?