Our sister site, ATV.com, is ready to give away the Yamaha Raptor ATV they’ve been customizing over the last few weeks.

They took a base Yamaha Raptor 250 valued at $4,499.00 and modified it into an $8,000 beast!  Why they just don’t keep it in the office to use for coffee runs is beyond me.

They’ve slapped on new air filters, mufflers, new alloy wheels, new tires, front bumper and grab bar, skid plates, nerf bars, new grips, new seat cover, new plastics, and more!

PHEW!  That’s a heck of a lot of stuff thrown on!  AND you also get a couple hundred dollars worth of Shift riding gear thrown in!

Check this machine out:

Head over to ATV.com for a chance to win this puppy!

To see how they did it, check out their 6 part series on upgrading their Yamaha Raptor.

Yamaha Raptor 250 Project – Part 1
Yamaha Raptor 250 Project – Part 2
Yamaha Raptor 250 Project – Part 3
Yamaha Raptor 250 Project – Part 4
Yamaha Raptor 250 Project – Part 5
Yamaha Raptor 250 Project – Overview

And let’s not forget the review:
2009 Yamaha Raptor 250 Review

Steve Twist, a student from Bournemouth University, has created this great short film over the last 5 months morphing a Norton Commando into a computer animated living transformer.  Congrats Steve on a job well done!

Check it out after the jump.

Very impressive, these two guys from Germany attempt to change the front tire of a motorcycle while driving, talk about being on the edge of your seat!

Hit the jump to see if they were successful.

I thought at first this was a fake or mock Castrol Oil commercial but I think its real, sounds and looks like its from Asia or the Middle East somewhere, does anyone know what language this is?  Would there be any chance of this TV Ad showing up on U.S. airwaves?  I think not!

You just have to watch this after the jump.

Motorcycle.com keeps churning out the online tools to help you, the motorcycle community out.

This time they’ve released their free online motorcycle price quote tool that can get you quotes on bikes directly from motorcycle dealers.

Dang!

I’ve got to admit, the phone book scares me.  It’s big and heavy and yellow.  Then the calling.. oh the calling..  If you’re looking for a deal on a bike, tracking it down the old fashioned way will take you a Saturday afternoon or longer.

The Motorcycle.com Price Quote has the dealers coming to you with their best offers.  All ya do is pick out the bike you are looking for and what city you are in, and then wait for the emails or even phone calls from the dealers who can provide for you.

They’ve also conveniently put a “Get a Quote” button into the Motorcycle.com Specs bike listings to let you easily browse the tech specs on bike AND figure out how much you’d potentially pay for it at local dealers.

Not too shabby!

Check it out. You could find a great deal on your next bike.

Don’t forget, if you’re in the market for an older used bike, Motorcycle.com has a Classifieds section with private AND dealer listings of all kinds of bikes.  Check that one out too!

The Can-Am Spyder is an interesting beast (arachnid?).  A snowmobile for the road, one might say.  In any case, it’s automotive spectacle that is hard to ignore.

Do you love it, or do you hate it?

If you are at all curious about this beast, head over to the Can-Am Spyder Forums and have a look around.  People have already been posting their pictures, reviews, questions and rants about their Spyders.

If you’re an interested buyer, or just plain curious as to how much you could snag one of these things, why not get a free price quote?

Price quotes for:

2009 Can-Am Spyder Roadster SM5 (Specs)

2009 Can-Am Spyder Roadster SE5 (Specs)

Check out the rest of the article for Motorcycle.com’s video review of this … thing!  Head over to Motorcycle.com for a full written review.

Michael Jackson was not known for riding motorcycles, he did own a 2001 Harley-Davidson that was on the action block earlier this year that was listed for $6,000 - $8,000, I never heard if it was sold or not.  We all have our different opinions about the mega pop star but we can all agree that he was larger than life and truly a boy in a mans body, case in point, take a look at the “Speed Demon” video that features Jackson on a bicycle, motorcycle and scooter, sort of…

The “Speed Demon” video is available after the jump.

A new week and a new MotoGP race. This time the boys and their bikes are off to the Netherlands to sort-out their differences at a little race known as Alice TT Assen. Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo & Casey Stoner enter this round of competition in a 3-way tie for 1st. As the subtitle of the Motorcycle.com MotoGP: 2009 Assen Preview Article Says “It’s anything but lonely at the top”. So, before the race to break a 3-way draw begins, get familiar with the track in this installment of Track Facts “A quick look at all the tracks of the 2009 MotoGP season”. Enjoy. Peace.

Check out the track details and a lap video after the jump.

Designed by Yutaka Igarashi, this yellow robot bike prototype runs on an electric motor and is controlled by high performance robots. The swinging boom the controls steering while hydraulic actuators balance the motorcycle.  Good luck keeping this up on its two wheels, especially after watching how difficult it was for Blue Team and the “Ghostrider” project.

See the computer generated composite after the jump.

Sidecar racing is much more interesting and exciting when done off-road, checkout some entertaining footage from last years British Sidecar Championships after the jump.