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Welcome to News Cycles, Common Tread’s roundup of what’s happening on our servers and everywhere else. Every Friday, look for a collection of news, stories, and all things moto from around the web. This week: motorcyclists turn a town around, AIMExpo news, and shotgun pipes.
“Back of the Dragon”: How motorcycle tourism turned a small town’s fortunes around
The Virginia town of Tazewell was in a bad spot after its coal industry fell into decline, taking many of the town’s businesses with it. Motorcyclist Larry Davidson saw an opportunity to revitalize Tazewell by promoting the surrounding roads to riders and sports car enthusiasts, and started selling shirts to get the word out about the “Back of the Dragon.” Judging by Main Street, his idea is working.
Spot upgrade
The popular Spot system gets a big change with the addition of a keyboard and smarter functionality, which "lets users send and receive texts and emails via satellite as well as create breadcrumb trails and waypoints for navigation.” Let us know how the Common Tread Digest renders on that screen.
Inside Peter Egan’s toolbox
It’s an older article, but one I’d never seen before: a tour through the toolbox of the legendary Peter Egan. Even the toolbox itself is every bit as storied as you’d expect.
One-year suspended prison sentence for driver in Hayden collision
Judge Vinicio Canatarini found the driver who fatally struck Nicky Hayden guilty of road homicide this week after a review of the case. The unnamed driver was stripped of his license and ordered to pay court fees, though he did not receive the maximum sentence.
Marijuana sponsorship comes to motorsports
Motorsports is starting to see an infusion of cash from cannabis companies. Motorcycling sports have a long and complex history of relationships with the alcohol, tobacco, and energy drink industries. How will this new sponsorship go?
The supersport class is not dead and other AIMExpo news
There wasn't a lot of news out of the opening day at AIMExpo in Las Vegas this week, but there was good news for sport bike fans. Yamaha showed a new YZF-R3 with an inverted fork and Kawasaki unveiled its ZX-10R with tweaks for 2019. But most interestingly, Kawasaki proved the 600 class is not dead by showing a revised ZX-6R with a quickshifter and other improvements. We'll have a first ride review in a few days, but you can get ready with the video above and the press release linked below.
Fixed it! S&S already producing the pipes the FTR1200 needed all along
Spurgeon’s first look article for Indian’s new FTR1200 drew plenty of comments about the new bike’s deviation from the stock exhaust. S&S is already showing their aftermarket set of pipes for the FTR, which make the street tracker look a whole lot more like the prototype. Now, about all that carbon fiber bodywork...
Thanks for reading; that's all for this week! If you've got feedback or moto news you'd like to share, shoot an e-mail to commontread@revzilla.com. Check back for more News Cycles every Friday.
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