Bikes from Orange County Choppers are generally out of reach financially for most of us, so this is a great opportunity to take one home for free.

The grand-prize winner will be selected shortly after November 30. The winner will be presented with the Mobil 1 Orange County Choppers motorcycle during Daytona Bike Week, which runs from February 26 to March 7, 2010. Fifty runners-up will also win Mobil 1 Motorcycle Oil polo shirts and hats.

“I had a great time working with the team at Mobil 1 on the design of this bike, and I think the end result is something that riders will really appreciate,” says Paul Teutul, Sr. “You don’t see motorcycles like this one very often. Whoever wins it is probably going to make a lot of friends in Daytona in a hurry.”

The Mobil 1 Orange County Choppers motorcycle features an S&S Cycle V-Twin X-Wedge engine, dual rear exhaust, a six-speed Baker RSD transmission, HHI four-piston brakes, and Metzeler ME880 Marathon tires, as well as custom paint and a custom derby cover from Orange County Choppers.

Related Reading
OCC Mobil 1 motorcycle contest
Paul Teutel Sr. Presents OCC Rocks

Do you absolutely love Kawasaki?  Are you constantly trying to keep up to date with their racing team?

Thanks to our recent involvement with Twitter, I’ve discovered Kawasaki’s new desktop widget to help you Kawasaki super fans stay up to date.  What is a desktop widget?  It’s just a simple program that is geared towards feeding you news and media.

If you are running a Mac or PC, you can have your Kawasaki info right on your desktop, right next to your stock quotes ticker and your stash of Megan Fox pictures.

Kawasaki also launched their online widget which you can implement into iGoogle, MySpace and Facebook.  That’s handy!

See the rest of the article to see some screenshots of the desktop widget on a Mac and learn what you can do with it.  Head over to Kawasaki.com to download it!

So what does it do?

- See the latest featured videos from Kawasaki
- Stay up to date on Kawasaki news
- Check out featured photos from Kawasaki
- See updated schedules directly from Kawasaki
- Even change the rider featured in the Kawasaki desktop widget!

Here’s a few screenshots of the installed widget on my computer (yes, it’s a Mac).

My only gripe with this, as a Mac user:  It’s not an actual widget, it’s an application.  It doesn’t appear in my dashboard at all, it sits amongest all the other millions of programs I have open at one time.  Otherwise it seems like a good news and media ticker for any Kawasaki fan.

Go download it!

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

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.

Since Picture of the Week had begun it’s unplanned hiatus several months ago, we haven’t thought much about restarting the feature. Nor have we had the time to – it’s been busy here at Motorcycle.com. However, when Pete Brissette asked us about the POW! for his latest review, we couldn’t refuse. These photos are too damn nice!

Seen in this Photo: Pete Brissette beams past complex industrial landscape on a picturesque early-summer day. Fading into the distance behind him are large raw immobile structures. Structures which contrast the tuned, polished and peppy café racer that Pete guides easily through the terrain. Looks like fun!

Kudos to Brian J. Nelson on this photo. For more information and photos on this bike read Pete’s 2009 Triumph Thruxton Review on, where else? Motorcycle.com.

*Article updated to fix the scary YouTube video!

It’s still Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and I’m still going to try and bring awareness to motorcycle safety to all of our readers!

The still lovely folks at Motorcycle.com have an article up on What to Wear When You Ride – and Why. The “and Why” is the interesting part.

“Do you know what 20 mph does to your skin,” Grindle asked, “Oh my God, it can take it to the bone.”

This may sound dramatic, but she’s not kidding.

The skin covering your joints – knuckles, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, and shoulders – is especially easy to damage, and a crash can remove it, and even flesh, and healing can take a year or longer.

Ack! I got all uncomfortable after reading that. WEAR YOUR GEAR!! Having a jacket and pants with built in armor around those points can literally save your skin!

To SCARE THE EVER-LIVING-BAJEEZUS out of you guys into wearing your helmet and other safety gear, I’ve found a shocking video of a crash test dummy hitting the side of a car.  Note his head and what kind of trauma it goes through. Now think of what would happen without his helmet.

See the full post for the video and a link to help you understand what a “Squid” is.  Head on over to Motorcycle.com to get the low-down on motorcycle gear and why you should wear it.

And if you are wondering what a “Squid” is, head over to the “Official Squid Pic/Vid Thread”.

Our sister site, ATV.com, has started up a contest to give away a Fully Modified Yamaha Raptor 250.  The 3 easy steps are:

1. Signing up for the contest
2. Follow along on ATV.com with the articles on the modified build of the Raptor 250
3. Take a survey at the end of it all to enter and win.

I did some research into the Raptor 250 to see what it’s all about:

• BASE MSRP is $4,499.00 but the one they are giving away is fully modified AND you get riding gear!
• You, the readers, gave it 4 1/2 and 5 star ratings in everything.
• Has a 4-stroke engine so it’s easy to maintain and runs clean.
• “It’s the best 250 sport quad we’ve had the opportunity to ride.” -ATV.com review from back in August 2008.
  
• To quote some user submitted reviews: “AWSOME!!!!!!”, “Definately one of the best Yamaha quads ever made by Yamaha.”, “ Yamaha did a realllly good job on this quad bike”.

So it looks like a damn good package you could win, it’s not just any ordinary quad.  To sign-up for this thing, head to the Yamaha Raptor Contest page.

Check out the rest of this post to see some details on what you have to do to win and also to see a bunch of pictures of the 2009 Yamaha Raptor 250 in action.

What do you have to do to win?

Sign-up on the contest page and follow along with the modification of a Yamaha Raptor.  ATV.com is releasing a 6-part series in which you’ll see how they modify and improve a base Raptor 250.  So besides part-taking in the contest, you could learn some tips and tricks.  At the end of the series there will be a short survey for you to take to enter to win.  By signing up you become eligible to take the survey, plus you’ll get the ATV.com newsletter that will link you to the latest contest article to check out.

Not bad.  You’re learning a few tips, getting some interesting reading, and you could win the finished modified ATV.

Head over and sign-up now!

If you want to read the review of the Yamaha Raptor 250, head on over to ATV.com’s review.

Here’s a few shots of the 2009 Yamaha Raptor 250 in action.

Motorcycle.com’s sister sites: ATV.com, Snowmobile.com, and Personal Watercraft.com, have launched their own classified sections and want to help you find or sell some motorized madness.

As a private seller you get a free posting to try out the service which allows you to upload photos and write a description for your vehicle.

As a buyer, ya never know when you might stumble across a fantastic deal!

	ATV.Com Classifieds
	Snowmobile.Com Classifieds
	PersonalWatercraft.Com Classifieds

Happy Selling and or Buying!

Grab the wallpaper and click over to SPECs where you’ll find honest user reviews for this bike. Don Hutchinson reviewed the Electra Glide in December, calling it a “Great Machine” and gave it a perfect Rating! Phil Nuccio also gave it a 5/5 rating all ’round and uploaded a picture of his HD for all of us to enjoy. “After many years on Yamaha Ventures this is my first HD and it is truly a pleasure to ride. Much lower center of gravity much easier to handle. The riding position, comfort, reliability, and value retention make this the best bike I have ever owned.” says Phil. Don’t forget to grab the wallpaper after the jump. Peace.

2009 Luxury Touring Shootout

Get more Motorcycle Desktop Wallpapers or…