The 70th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota featured a variety of different acts but none were more surprising when Pee-Wee Herman was announced and added to the bill.  Like always, somehow Pee-Wee seems to win the crowd over no matter who that crowd is, his presence at Sturgis this year was no exception.

Check out Pee-Wee’s big adventure at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally after the jump.

If you’re looking for a motorcycle that can be used to tow a trailer across a field or help a hunter carry home his bounty (who isn’t?), take a look at the EcoRider. Check out a video description of the EcoRider below the jump.

Our friends at the Scooter Scoop recently featured this strange, fat-tired motorcycle and it got us intrigued. Unfortunately, the official website is no longer working (ecorider.com), but through the magic of the Way Back Machine we were able to learn a little more about this marvelous little wonder.

The EcoRider, which was made in Scotland, was available with three different engine types – regular unleaded gasoline, diesel, and biodiesel. The diesel model features a 230cc Hatz diesel engine and was marketed to farmers. It is equipped with a tow hitch and is rated to tow more than 500 pounds!

Hit the jump and see it in action.

Edmonton, Alberta, claims to be the first Canadian city to officially start fining motorcycles for excessive noise levels that exceed 92 decibels while idling or 96 decibels while the engine is revving to benchmarks of 2000 and 5000 rpm.  The city council passed the new bylaw amendment that took effect on July 1st, the fine was set at $250.

During the demonstration prior to July 1st, police tested in excess of 100 bikes and found about 15 percent of the motorcycles failed by using a sound meter that was placed 20 inches from the exhaust.  Police will be “fine tuning” their ears in order to decide who will be pulled over for a sound test.

Check out the videos after the jump.

Everyone knows brake lights are to alert drivers behind you, but what about when you roll off the throttle, and tailgating drivers fail to notice your decreasing rate of speed?

Would you like them to know you’re decelerating, rather than potentially becoming another statistic?

Nikkos Designs of Fort Myers, Fla. has a deceleration-sensing Safety Light pending that looks like a good idea.

Recently here on Motorcycle.com, we’ve been bringing you reviews of a handful of Honda scoots that are available to our neighbors (or is that neighbours?) to the North in Canada, yet remain forbidden fruit for American consumers.

Reviewer Costa Mouzouris gave us a look at the naked CB1000R that Honda Canada is considering importing, the already-available half-faired CBF1000, and the entry-level CBR125R.

Meanwhile, Honda’s competitors have also announced some new products for Canada that have yet to be made available in the U.S. Yamaha Motor Canada is importing the new Fazer 8 and FZ8, while Kawasaki Canada announced it will offer the new Ninja 400R.

But before you start thinking of Canada as the land of milk and honey and “$#!+ we ain’t getting”, Honda brings some sobering news about the Canadian motorcycle industry, especially when it comes to the Japanese manufacturers.

When you were a youngster did you ever go on the carousel at your local park and see how fast your friends could spin you around? Well, a group of German teenagers have you beat.

Wanting to kick things up a notch, our heroes thought it would be great fun to use a scooter to really get the carousel spinning. What’s strange is they were smart enough to come up with the idea and even execute it – the carousel does indeed spin damn fast – but didn’t quite consider what would happen to the folks who were going for a ride.

As you might expect, the results are awesome…at least for the two million or so people who have seen the video.

If you’ve got an obscene amount of spare time on your hands and more than a few shekels in the bank, why not do what British man Tim Cotterill did – build a 200mph monster trike.

Cotterill’s creation, which he dubs the Road Rocket II, is a whopping 16-feet long and 2,700 pounds and is powered by a fire-breathing 1000bhp engine. It’s also equipped with a parachute to help slow the beast down.

He probably won’t let us ride it, but Cotterill was kind enough to put together a 10-minute video of the Road Rocket in action, which is positively oozing unintentional comedy. At times this mini-movie looks like it could have been a Whitesnake video from 1987. At about the 4:45 mark we even get to see a scantily clad lady waiting on the side of the road. Cotterill deploys the parachute (so to speak) to pick up the video vixen, who is forced to sit on what might just be the least comfortable pillion we’ve ever seen. We won’t spoil this by describing her seating position in mere words – only the visuals will do.

Here’s a video clip demonstrating new technology out of the Netherlands that could revolutionize motorcycle safety.

Developed by a company called TFKL Engineering, the technology is somewhat similar to Volvo’s pedestrian detection system that scans the area around the vehicle for anything that might cause an accident.

The TFKL system scans the environment to look for potential hazards. Any dangers are shown on a heads-up display that’s built into a motorcycle helmet visor.

Take a look at the video after the jump to see how it works. (Note: keep in mind that this IS still just a prototype!)

In today’s news that really isn’t news, an interview of Ducati CEO, Gabriele del Torchio, by Bruno de Prato found on Cycle World’s website on August 3rd, reveals the CEO speaking in a matter-of-fact tone about Valentino Rossi’s status as a team member on Ducati’s MotoGP effort.

In the CW article, Del Torchio states that the 2010 racing season “will not bring to Ducati any crown in the sport,” but that he looks “forward to Valentino Rossi teaming up with Nicky Hayden.”

The Popular Mechanics site has a fun time waster, if you have any free time on your hands anyway.  When you go to their motorcycle wars page it will randomly select two bikes for you to vote on and will show you the won/lost stats below after you vote, then on to the next battle…

Click here and bring it on!