Putting Dunlop’s Q5 Trackday Tire Through The Ultimate Test

When Dunlop released the Sportmax Q5, and its Q5S sister tire, I was skeptical. To get straight to the point, I wasn’t a big fan of the previous Q4 tire. Yes it warmed up quickly, but it also wore quickly and didn’t have enough edge grip to feel confident on the throttle on a powerful 1000cc-plus bike. Dunlop addressed a lot of the Q4’s shortcomings with the Q5, and after a day sampling the Q5 and Q5S, I came away impressed with the new tire. But that was just an initial impression. I was still skeptical about the tire over the long haul. How quickly does it wear? How does it behave once it’s worn? How much life can I really expect out of these tires? And are they really worth it?

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MotoGP 2023 Season Preview

The opinions expressed by Mr. Allen do not reflect the views of the editorial staff here at Motorcycle.com. In fact, we would be surprised if they reflect the views of anyone remotely familiar with the sport.

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MO March Giveaway: Two Sets Of MotoAmerica Live+ Subscription And 3-Day Event Tickets

In honor of the beginning of the 2023 racing season, MotoAmerica, North America’s premier motorcycle road racing series, has agreed to give two lucky entrants a subscription MotoAmerica Live+ for the 2023 season and a pair of three-day passes to the MotoAmerica event of the winner’s choice. For those who don’t know, MotoAmerica is officially sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), and its racing series features seven classes of motorcycle road racing: Medallia Superbike, Supersport, SportTrackGear.com Junior Cup, Yuasa Stock 1000, REV’IT! Twins Cup, Mission King Of The Baggers, and Mini Cup by Motul. The 2023 calendar features 10 full weekends of the best roadracing to be found on the continent. While it’s always preferable to see racing in person, most of us don’t have the time to travel the country to attend every event. MotoAmerica Live+ makes it possible to stream six to eight ours of coverage per day for each race weekend. This means fans can watch practice, qualifying, racing, and special features from the comfort of their couch.

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Riding Indian's 2022 Championship-Winning Challenger Bagger Race Bike

The Harley-Davidson vs. Indian rivalry is a great American classic on par with the likes of Army vs. Navy, Lakers vs. Celtics, Ford vs. Chevy, Pepsi vs. Coke, and even…Google vs. Bing? Ok, maybe not that last one, but you get the point. Harley and Indian have been at each other’s throats going back over a century, save for a 50-odd-year pause in the middle when Indian originally closed its doors. But when Polaris bought the keys to the palace and opened the doors again, the fight resumed as intense as ever when the FTR750 flat tracker started beating Harley’s legendary XR750. Repeatedly.

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MO Tested: Dunlop Q5 and Q5S Trackday Tire Review

The invention of the trackday tire is the single greatest thing to happen to trackday riders since, well, trackdays. Being able to leave the tire warmers at home (or not own any at all!) has a trickle-down effect for those lazy riders among us – myself included. No warmers means the stands can stay home, and so can the generator. Better still, leaving all those things behind doesn’t compromise anything out on track; modern trackday tires provide plenty of grip and more longevity than your average race slick. (But let’s make one thing clear: if you’re actually racing, a slick is still the way to go.)

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World Superbike to Raise Price Cap on Production Race Bikes

When Ducati revealed the 2023 Panigale V4 R last week, we raised an eyebrow when we saw its $44,995 price tag. As we noted in our First Look article, this exceed the price cap to be eligible for World Superbike racing. According to 2022 regulations, sport production machines were capped to a price of €40k, and the previous Panigale V4 R fit snugly below that price cap. The 2023 model, however, comes in at €43,990 in Ducati’s home market, Italy. We figured another shoe had to drop.

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2023 Ducati Panigale V4 R First Look

After a one week delay due to “organizational reasons,” Ducati released the fourth part of its 2023 World Première series, “This is Racing”. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the subject of the episode is the new 2023 Ducati Panigale V4 R. We knew the V4 R would represent the pinnacle of Ducati’s racing development, so we eagerly awaited the official details.

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Yamaha's Coming Out With a Race-Spec R1 In 2023

In a move further supporting my argument that R1s are purpose-built racebikes with lights and mirrors to make them legal on the roads, for 2023 Yamaha is introducing the R1 GYTR – an R1 prepared specifically for track duty, without any of the homologation pieces for roadworthiness (don’t worry, the standard R1 isn’t going anywhere). Yamaha similarly does the same thing with the R6, offering it for sale exclusively as a track-only model.

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What To Do With Crashed Leathers

As a kid, I remember my folks would take their shoes to the local shoe repair shop. I take it for granted now since I’ve been working from home long before it was cool, but there was a time when people not only had to go into an office, they also had to wear nice clothes, too! And the bit of that wardrobe that got the most punishment were the shoes. Those business shoes never looked comfortable, with their hard soles and weird patterns on the leather. But they lasted a long time, and if the soles ever wore out – which they did regularly with my folks – the local repair shop (I guess they were called cobblers even further back in time) could just put a new sole on and breathe new life into what would have been (re)tired shoes.

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MO Tested: Alpinestars Tech Air 10 Review

Let’s clear the air right off the bat with this one: This is *not* a crash-tested review, though I can understand why you would think so after I wrote about my recent experiences tumbling down the road in the Forcite MK1 helmet and Alpinestars’ own GP Force Chaser entry-level suit. While it’s never a great time to crash a motorcycle, the timing of those experiences brings a great deal of context to the latest in safety innovation by Alpinestars: the Tech-Air 10 airbag system. 

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MotoGP 2022 Mid-Season Report

[Note: The half-baked opinions, reckless allegations, mis-statements of fact and otherwise actionable slurs below do not represent the views of Motorcycle.com. In fact, we are surprised if they represent the views of anyone at all.]

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Out and About at The Isle of Man TT 2022 – Part 2

With two years of racing canceled due to COVID, the lead up to the 2022 Isle of Man TT was fraught with concern over… well, everything. The Isle of Man is a speck of a country in the middle of the Irish Sea, with only 88,000 residents, that somehow girds up and welcomes 40,000 visitors, 13,000 bikes and an army of riders, teams, volunteer Marshals and support personnel for a two-week festival around the incredible Mountain Course.

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MO Tested: Dainese Steel-Pro In Gloves Review

I’ve worn gauntlet gloves for years because I like the superior protection they offer. However, it always came at a cost of no cooling air flow up the sleeves. So, when I found myself looking for a new set of gauntlet gloves, I thought I’d try a pair with gauntlets that go inside the sleeves to see if they allowed for the ventilation I was craving. I ordered up a set of Dainese Steel-Pro In Gloves because of both the protective features and the fact that they had a low-profile cuff that would fit inside of jacket sleeves. When they arrived, a visual inspection showed the features to be every bit as stout as I had hoped they would be. The funny thing is that when I first put them on, I didn’t like them at all. It had been a while since I’d worn a pair of gloves that required more than a minimal break-in period. However, after the all-day use afforded by my multi-day tour in Virginia and North Carolina, I changed my tune considerably as the Steel-Pro In gloves had molded themselves almost perfectly to the shape of my hands. 

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BMW Releases The M 1000 RR 50 Years M Edition (UPDATED)

BMW has released an exclusive anniversary edition of its road-going superbike, the M 1000 RR, to celebrate nearly a century of motorcycle production, but more specifically, to celebrate 50 years of BMW M vehicles. 

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MO Tested: Motorrev Suspension Big Piston Fork Budget Upgrade Kit

Jim Lindemann was a genius in the suspension business who saw opportunity where others didn’t – by improving upon the suspension a motorcycle came with from the factory. Many moons ago, when Kawasaki Ninja 250s were littering race tracks as a fun and inexpensive way of getting into racing, competitors were replacing their shocks with aftermarket pieces. Lindemann, in keeping with the inexpensive nature of the class, modified a stock shock and gave it adjustable rebound and compression circuits, along with a remote reservoir to house the pressurized fluid, all for less than the aftermarket shocks on the market at the time. The result? I set a lap record around Willow Springs Raceway using that shock on a Ninja 250 (that was beaten a lap later by another racer). 

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