Yamaha Motor Co. announced Monday that it is cutting the ringers from its company rugby team.

The Yamaha Jubilo rugby club competes in the Top League, the highest level Japanese Rugby Football Union pro league.  The team currently sits fifth out of 14 teams with a 3-2-2 record with a roster of 17 professional players including nine non-Japanese imports.

That will change next season however as Yamaha Motors announced on its corporate site the team will only be made up of full-time Yamaha employees as of April 2010. Yamaha made the decision to cut costs after “a careful review of its team management amid the harsh business environment that has developed since 2009.”

According to Reuters, ringers who are also part of Japan’s national team will be offered corporate contracts. It’s not yet known what roles within the company the players will be assigned, but it’s expected Valentino Rossi’s receptionist job and Jorge Lorenzo’s janitor duties are safe.

Money saved from eliminating ringers from Yamaha’s rugby team is expected to fund the next album from WSBK racer James Toseland’s band Crash.

In other news, Suzuki’s three-legged race team is awaiting test results of the B sample after the first test came up positive for human growth hormone while Honda is considering withdrawing from egg toss competition.

[Source: Yamaha, Reuters]

He likes to go BIG (like his Super Bowl commercials), he likes to be edgy, so why not commission a life-size Ducati Groom’s Cake?!

All the specs and more photos after the jump.

Here are some details about the motorcycle cake:

· Modeled after Groom’s Ducati Streetfighter

· Cake was a ‘working motorcycle’ — YES, functional & edible!

· When the bike was “turned on”:

o Motorcycle engine would rev (loud engine sounds)

o Working lights

o Smoking exhaust

· Made of delicious layered, yellow cake

· Almost stole the wedding spotlight

· Took 8 men to lift (weighed around 400 lbs)

· Designed by ‘Ace of Cakes’ Chef/TV Star Duff Goldman

· Set to be featured on the Food Network program in 2010

· As a ‘thank you,’ Bob Parsons gave Duff a Ducati Monster, helmet, gloves, Ducati leather jacket

· Duff & Bob Parsons plan to ride together in 2010

· Duff’s ‘Charm City Cakes’ bakery is in Baltimore — Bob Parsons is from Baltimore

Here are some details about Bob Parsons:

· Owner & Founder of GoDaddy.com

· Joined U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War
Awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry & a Purple Heart

· Rode one of his motorcycles during an ABC “Nightline” feature this summer

· Loves motorcycles almost as much as his new bride

· Recently went on a 5,200 mile road trip with his Ducati

· Featured riding in Jan/Feb issue of Inc magazine

· To learn more about Bob & see national news coverage about Go Daddy & Ducati, click here

Looks can be deceiving…

Check out this heart-warming video after the jump.

Well done Jason!

What, you mean it’s not powered by a 1.2-gigawatt flux capacitor?

Motorcycle.com will get a chance to see the new YZ this week in a private unveiling, and we’ll unleash full details when the embargo ends on September 8. Stay tuned!

Hit the jump, watch and learn.

In my search through the Motorcycle.com community forums (see the links at the very bottom of this page) to find some handy, insightful and practical tips or projects for readers to check out, I’ve stumbled across a few bizarre things.

I felt I had to post this one.  It is awesome and scary all at the same time.

Blackdog 15 of the harley-davidsonforums.com has posted his method on mounting a sidearm (or two) on his motorcycle.  He admits that he and a buddy had a few drinks to inspire them on how they would attach such instruments of death to their rides.

I guess it’s kind of obvious (and hilarious) that they had a few drinks.

See the rest of the post for some more pics.  Go sign up on harley-davidsonforums.com to give a friendly hello and a pat on the back for a job well done.

How to Mount Guns on ur Harley

Buell is getting their priorities straight these days, and nothing says this more then their new 2010 Buell Blast (pictured above).

How do you ride that?

You don’t. Buell has deemed the Buell Blast as “cute”, which does not fit in with their drive towards making the best and fastest sportbikes out there.  And so they’ve crushed their remaining Buell Blasts and will try to ignore the bike ever existed (probably).

The Buell Blast was a cute little motorcycle. It just never made much of a sportbike. But, as luck would have it, it makes a killer ottoman. Or end table. Or art piece.

Believe it or not, Buell has submitted the New 2010 Buell Blast to Motorcycle.com’s own Specs tool, featuring specs and data on this fancy new Buell ottoman.

New 2010 Buell Blast Specs

See the rest of the post for the 2009 Buell Blast and then the crushed 2010 Buell Blast version.

Before (2009 Buell Blast):

After (2010 Buell Blast):

Want these as desktop wallpapers?  Head over to Buell’s website to nab them!

Adjectives fail me.  This almost seems like one of those sci-fi movies where an evil scientist tries to cross two deadly animals together to create the ultimate killing machine.

So what are we looking at?  It seems to be the deformed love child of a Citroën Xantia and a Kawasaki 1000 RX.

This custom project, called “Snaefell“, cost its creator about 15000 Euros and 10 years of part time work. I have to wonder “why?”.

I guess if you really love the thrill of riding a motorcycle but none of your friends and family do, this concept makes sense.  Or not.  Would they want to be seen in this?  Hopefully those windows are tinted.

Check out the rest of the post for more shots of this… hybrid.

Source: [ Snaefull via Gizmodo ]