Long … but VERY interesting / unbelievable ….

Greenranger (pictured in the black MONSTER shirt) and I (pictured in the KAWI green shirt) were at the MotoGP in Indianapolis this weekend. On Saturday night in the lobby of our hotel, an Italian guy that spoke broken English asked if he could use my lighter. So I went outside to bullshit with him. While out there he was trying to tell me (in broken English) that him and his friend knew Valentino Rossi and he had Rossi’s bike was out on a trailer in the hotel parking garage. I immediately thought he was full of **** so I started to ask questions. I asked, “you mean a replica bike?” He said, “No … his actual M1 MotoGP race bike”. Again, I thought he was full of ****. I mean, why would they have his bike? He said he and a friend towed the bike behind a “little car that would only go 45 mph” from New York to Indianapolis for the GP. He told me I could go check it out in the parking garage. I just called bullshit, got my lighter back, and went back up to my room. When I got back upstairs, I told Greenranger about my conversation and we went out to find it. It wasn’t in the garage, so we figured he was full of ****. That evening when we left to go eat, we were leaving the parking garage and saw a tiny *** Fiat with Italian license plates pulling into the lot with a small trailer behind it. There was a bike that looked to be exactly like Rossi’s bike. When the guy parked, we parked next to him and got out to take a look and chat. It turns out, the guy was from Fiat (Rossi’s sponser) and this was Rossi’s ACTUAL 2007 M1 race bike being used by Fiat for promotional purposes. He was bringing the bike to Indy so that it could be transported back to Italy with Rossi’s current bikes that were at the track. At the time we only had our cell phone cameras with us so we shot a quick shitty picture. After we returned back to the Hotel (very early in the morning) the bike was still out there and unattended …. so we went back out with our good cameras and snapped LOTS of pics. You can see this was in fact the REAL deal!

Can you believe that they were transporting this bike on an open trailer…parking it in an unsecured parking garage…and only covering it with a fitted bed sheet??? And get this…there wasn’t even a HITCH LOCK on the ******* trailer!!! Good thing we are honest guys because we could have easily unhitched that trailer and towed it home!

Here we are…uncovering the bike for the photo shoot. Please note that we did NOT disturb, rape, or pillage the bike in any way, shape, or form. We only did this to get some pictures to share with all of you.


Notice the car has vintage Italian license plates on it…


The dashboard of the car was signed by Rossi…


As for the authenticity of the bike, check out the following… starting with the fact that there is a serial number badge on the outside of the frame versus the neck …

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Check out the fairing stay, instrumentation, and front fairing. It is damn near all carbon fiber. Even the air intake is all carbon fiber! Also take a look at the green, gray, and red buttons on the handlebars. These are NOT blinkers children. I believe these electronically control the suspension dampening and traction control.





Check out the carbon rotors, quick connect brake lines, wheel speed sensors and dampening adjustment rod. Also, the wheel weights are still duct taped. Definitely a bike that made it around the track.





Check out the data acquisition terminals for the wheel speed sensors and traction control system (even this is carbon fiber)…





Notice that the right side of the rear tire is completely clean of numbers etc…with the exception of the Bridgestone sticker (and yes, believe it or not…it is a sticker). Also check out the Termignoni pipe and the quick connect brake line! Saweeeeet!




Look at all the carbon fiber! DAMN!





Gotta love the chain adjuster and quick release for the rear wheel. Not to mention those lift arms for the rear stand. The chain was a DID chain.






How about the Ohlins shock??? Not gonna be able to get this one off the shelf for certain! Notice the nitrogen reservoir at the top of it.




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Looks to be an “unmarked” Ohlins linear damper that he is using.




Here are some various pics of the body …









Now for the fun…. Greenranger and I striking a pose with the bike...




I just had to twist the throttle on Rossi’s bike …. HAD to!

And we definitely had to test out the feel of Rossi’s grips and rearsets …






What fun we had!!! Hope you enjoyed our pictures of Valentino Rossi’s bike … Up close and personal.