2004 Yamaha Midnight Roadstar on 2040-motos

Moto blog

The horrendous reality of restoring a 'classic'

It was with much excitement – displaced or not – that my freshly rebuilt 1976 SR500 Yamaha fired into life at the second kick this weekend. I say second kick. It was actually the thirty second kick – thirty of those spent frothing up a heady sweat until I realised the main fuel pipe was kinked to buggery.

Yamaha Unveils 2012 MotoGP Livery – Massive Gallery and Video

Yamaha has pulled the covers off the 2012 edition of its YZR-M1, the machines which racers Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies will ride to compete in the 2012 MotoGP World Championship. While last year’s M1 was predominantly blue, the new 1000cc version of the M1 sports more white paint with wide bands of Yamaha blue on the front fairing and along the side, flowing along the line of the seat. Like most MotoGP squads, Yamaha doesn’t want to be too specific about its MotoGP bike’s potential, estimating the power output from the crossplane crankshaft engine at over 240 hp.

US Motorcycle Thefts Down 6% in 2011

Americans reported 46,667 motorcycle thefts in 2011, a 6% decrease from 49,791 stolen motorcycles in 2010, reports the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Despite the drop in reported thefts, the non-profit organization representing nearly 1100 property and casualty insurance companies says the theft rate still averages out to one motorcycle stolen every 11 minutes in the U.S. The numbers were published in the NICB’s 2011 ForeCAST Report which examined theft reports as well as recoveries.