82 Yamaha 650 Custom Bobber (romulus) on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Yamaha to Cut Motorcycle Production in 2009

With mounting inventories coupled with a drop in demand, Yamaha will be cutting its motorcycle production in Japan by 24 percent this year or to about 260,000 total units; one newspaper reported this would be a 40-year low for the manufacture. Yamaha plans to cut production for motorcycles and other products by 30 percent in the Americas, 20 percent in Europe but will maintain production levels in Asia where demand has not dropped off. The company is forecasting its group sales to fall 22 percent with an operating loss of about $300 million.

2014 Superbike Shootout Air Dates Announced

Fans of professional motorcycle road racing who don’t want to wait until the next AMA round at Road America can now rejoice in watching the GEICO Superbike Shootout presented by Yamaha. One-hour TV shows from each round will air on MAVTV twice a day on six consecutive Thursdays at consistent times, as follows: Round One, RaceFuelZ Pro Superbike from Yamaha SoCal Nationals at Fontana June 5, 10:00 a.m. Pacific/1:00 p.m.

Mystic Mac's 2014 MotoGP predictions

There is no real off season in Moto GP.  Although we complain about being starved of racing, for those at the sharp end, in little more than two months they have new bikes to assemble, team staff to put in place and sponsors to nail down that will pay for it all.  This time frame is also tight for riders, as it seems more every year go straight under the surgeon’s knife after the last round and spend the short winter recuperating for the season ahead. The 2014 Moto GP championship looks like a cracker as apart from the ten full factory riders we now have at least eight non factory riders with properly competitive machinery.  We also have five Brits on the grid, two with podium potential.  Whatever happens though (providing you have BT Sport) you can just sit back and enjoy watching the incredible Marc Marquez do things that shouldn’t be possible. Speaking of whom, I didn’t believe a Rossi replacement would come this soon.  And when I say replacement, I mean a rider that is the full package.  Although in some ways quite different to Vale, he’s an equally phenomenal talent plus a very likeable character that appeals to the masses and although respectful to his rivals off track, deadly competitive in the heat of battle.  Being young and good looking he’s obviously a dream for sponsors and the sport in general.  Marquez has evolved in his own way but thankfully into a perfect replacement for our sport when the VR steps down.