On the long special of the day, Marc Coma was victorious. The Spanish rider did a very efficient job and and picked up his 12th stage victory on the Dakar in San Salvador de Jujuy, ahead of Cyril Despres. The Frenchman holds on to the race lead by a small margin, whereas outsiders Paulo Gonçalves and Olivier Pain did their chances a whole world of good. Coma was not the only beneficiary of the day’s battles. Paulo Gonçalves, third-placed 3’36” behind the stage winner, moves up a rank with his fine performance. Read the full article »

Polaris has released a new UTV for the 2011 model year, the Ranger RZR XP900. The brand new machine features a 875cc DOHC twin-cylinder 4-stroke engine delivering 88hp, electronic fuel injection, automatic transmission. The engineers of the company designed a new suspension with 3-link design, extra-long radius rods and a far forward-connecting trailing arm resulting a lightweight system. The new 3-Link Trailing Arm IRS, paired with premium Fox Shocks, creates a monstrous 14" of terrain-absorbing rear travel. Read the full article »

Harley-Davidson announced a new customization program for 2011. With the H-D1 program Harley is targeting customers that like to stand out from the crowd. The program starts 4th February, but the manufacturer already released a teaser video. Customers will be able to design their custom motorcycles through Harley’s special website, and when they need help, customization experts will be available to help advise on customization ideas. Read the full article »

Italian firm Pirelli and ad company Y & R Milan wants you to know that burnout is mindless and it’s hazardous to your health. The three ads take inspiration from the warning labels of tobacco products. The three slogans include „Smoking can cause circulation problems”, „Smoking is highly addictive, don’t start”, and „Protect chicks: don’t make them breath your smoke”. Although the ads have excellent photography and clever word play, it’s interesting that a tire company encourages the destruction of its own product for no reason other than for you to go replace it with more. Read the full article »

The two title holders, Cyril Despres and Carlos Sainz, both won their second consecutive stage on the Personal Dakar Argentina Chile 2011. In the bike category, the Frenchman boasts a lead of 2’35” over Marc Coma. Already delighted with the performance of Ruben Faria during the afternoon, Cyril Despres learned yesterday evening that in fact he had picked up victory on stage 1, after a one minute penalty was handed out to his team-mate for breaking the speed limit. Read the full article »

This video is a bit old but still funny. Norwegian Motorcycle Union (Norsk Motorcykkel Union) says 8 of 10 collisions are caused by drivers that never see the motorcycle. On the video, riders look like bugs on windshields, and the drivers don’t know how to get rid of them. Scandinavian strange sense of humor. But it definitely works. Good scenario, and the comedy get the point: be careful at motorcycle! Read the full article »

Portuguese rider Ruben Faria (KTM 450 Rally) won the first stage of Dakar yesterday, while Cyril Despres (France, KTM) and Marc Coma (Spain, KTM) finished second and third. After downloading the GPS data from the instruments of Ruben Faria, the race officials have handed down a one minute penalty to him for a slight breach of the speed limits. As a result, he loses the best time of the day by a whisker, which has gone to Cyril Despres, declared winner of the first stage. The best US rider was Jonah Street who finished 6th. Read the full article »

Shoya Tomizawa was a talented Japanese motorcycle racer who died after sustaining cranial, thoracic and abdominal trauma at the San Marino Grand Prix in 2010 at age 20. To honor the Moto2 rider, Japanese helmet company Shoei created a limited edition model wearing Tomizawa’s graphics. The special helmet is lightweight (weighs only 1.45 kg/3.2 lbs), rigid and features AIM+ Plus Advanced Integrated Matrix Materials. Read the full article »