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With the downturn in the economy manufacturers have been finding ways to squeeze out as much profit as they can out of existing products, often by charging the same, or more, for less. Buy a bag of chips and you'll pay the same as you did last year, but you get half the amount of chips in the bag. Portions are shrinking, stuff gets made more cheaply but you pay the same or more. Alpinestars SMX Plus Boots are on item that haven't changed for the worse over the years, though a price adjustment did take place recently pushing them over the $300 mark at $349.95. They are, we feel, one of, if not the, best boot you can own for serious sport and track riding or racing. The SMX Plus is Alpinestars top selling roadrace boot and for good reason. Great fit, super comfortable and full blown protection. They last and protect for many years and miles of use and provide excellent ankle, toe and shin protection. The specs read like this: Contoured shin plate protector is injected with high

Though these two brands may not enjoy being in the same room together, both ICON and Scorpion put out some new helmets for 2009 that will stir the stagnant pot of 2008 and earlier helmets. ICON kicked off their product launch a few weeks ago with a long and gritty behind the scenes online videotizement bounced off their web site that is well worth a watch. Particularly hilarious is the honking chew loogy the guy drops on the scorpion bug in the first few seconds of the desert scene.  ICON's 2009 graphics are great, especially if you happen to be a Buccaneer. The Jolly Roger waves mightily on the Crossbone helmet  and there's a women's Hella Crossbones jacket to match.  Since November 2008, Scorpion has been trying to keep up with the huge demand of their EXO 700 Neon helmet . Scorpion was literally caught off guard by the huge demand this helmet has enjoyed and this means you just can't get one without waiting for a lengthy back order. It is, without a doubt, the brig

For the past two months Motostrano has been secrety selling a new line of helmets put out by local SF Bay area clan Kali Protectives . Call it "test selling", maybe. The good people at Kali kindly visited our showroom recently to introduce the helmet to us and we were intrigued, evnetually leading us to let the products into our catalog. Actually, our first impression of the helmet was something a lot like "Holy shit! that is light!" Yet another MX helmet on the market you say? Not really, but yea, a little. But these do stand out, both technically and graphically. Super light weight and feature packed. The EPS liner of the Kali helmets are sprayed into the helmet shell, rather than made outside the shell and glued in as other helmets. This creates a lighter and stronger helmet, more solid.  The Kali Aatma helmet s are very vented and have all the usual higher end features as far as removable liners and so forth. Priced at $299.00.  They say " From the dreams o

The new Michelin Power One Tire is available now. This is the tire to replace the all powerful Pilot Power and the word on the street is - it's great.  Michelin has even designed a nifty Power One web site devoted entirely to, what else, the Michelin Power One tire . The web site allows you to plug in various parameters and specifications to then dictate which version of the Power One is right for you. Tell it what you ride, where you ride, how fast you ride, whether you ride in the rain or not and the Michelin man then zaps out a response.  There's not much tread on this DOT tire. Very slick-ish. Could be good for zzzzupermoto? 

The past 12 months have been economically hard on everybody. On a personal level, my bonus down at the mortgage finance company where I work was only $4 million this year so, jeesh, having to sell the Ferrari to pay for the Lambo, not being able to buy that ranch on Maui that I had planned on, and only being able to vacation 3 months out of the year instead of 4, it's been almost unbearable. And yet, human kind's great March of Progress continues on, to what destination, we'll never know. With budgets strapped and wallets full of lint or "postcards" from the bank, many folks are struggling to get the biggest BANG for the buck when it comes to supermoto these days. For others, like the permanent Mr. Cheap-o, it's a buyer's haven. With that in mind, here's some comments about getting into Supermoto on the cheap. For starters, there's currently a glut of both new and used bikes on the market with folks needing to sell their used moto inventory to help

The 2009 Spring release of the AGV Valentino Rossi Celebr-8 Helmet has been made official. The helmet will ship some time in April 2009. Motostrano is taking pre-orders on this limited and rare collectible helmet now. Rossi rode with the " Celebr-8 helmet " after his eighth Moto GP World Championship and has been wearing it during the cold and brutal winter testing months. Available in Black. Very limited helmet. Only 250 will be introduced into the American market. Shipping in AprilCertification DOT/ECE 22-05 Liner Fully removable and washable (including neckroll). Multi-featured fabrics with hygienic treatment for maximum comfort; humidity and sweat absorbing CoolMax for forehead, temples, and at the back of the neck; hyper-breathable material for the top and rear are for effective air-flow; micro-fiber material on the cheekpads to guarantee comfort and coolness Retention System Double D-Ring Shell SSL (Super-Super-Light) Carbon-Kevlar construction. 3 Shell sizes for the p