2011 450 4-stroke Yamaha Dirt Bike, 2 Risers (central Mn) on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Rainy BSB tests are nothing new

THE combination of bad weather in the UK and a European testing ban means that most BSB teams will now start the season with very little track time. This sounds like a disaster for the top teams but history has proved this isn’t necessarily true and it sometimes doesn’t matter how much pre season preparation has taken place.  Back in 2002 Sean Emmett won on the IFC Ducati at the opening Silverstone round after first riding it in unofficial practice the same weekend. Steve Hislop took the other win on Pauls Bird’s well sorted Ducati. More recently in 2009, Leon Camier took an untested new model R1 Yamaha to victory at the Brands Hatch opener after GSE took delivery of the bike just the week before. Sylvain Guintoli won the other race on a well developed, well tested Crescent Suzuki. You could argue if no one has had testing then it is a level playing field but you have to feel for riders moving up to the superbike class in the world’s toughest national series.  Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobson is one such rider but having spent some time with him over the past few weeks he seems to be taking it all in his stride. It may be the confidence of youth or maybe the fact he has won in every other class he has entered in his short BSB career, but I suspect he fancies at least standing on the Superbike podium at Brands (He also does a bit of ice racing which is not dissimilar to the this year’s UK testing).  The testing ban was implemented with all the best cost cutting intentions and if it had been any other year in the past decade all would be well. The teams may be feeling frustrated but the fans should be excited. With so many unknowns, the 2013 BSB opener at Brands Hatch could be the best ever!

Off-Road Riding on a Yamaha Zuma 125 [Video]

Off-road capability isn’t the first thing people consider when shopping for a scooter but it is one of the more surprising traits of the Yamaha Zuma 125. In his review of the Zuma 125, Tom Roderick says the scooter “radiates a more adventurous attitude” than most scooters, with its knobby tires and hand guards making it capable for the odd excursion off the pavement. But if you’re still not convinced, Yamaha‘s Taiwanese arm has released a video featuring the Zuma 125 (or BWS 125, as it is known internationally) getting rough and rugged in the dirt.

Yamaha Trademarks Design for Three-Cylinder Sport-Tourer

Yamaha has registered a trademark for the design of a sport-touring model based on the FZ-09. Filed with European Union’s Office for Harminization in the Internal Market, the trademarked design reveals a brand new model sharing the same frame and engine as the FZ-09 (known in Europe as the MT-09.) Discuss this at our Yamaha FZ-09 Forum. The new model will likely be compete against motorcycles such as the Suzuki V-Strom 1000 and a rumored S1000RR-based model from BMW.