2011 Yamaha Stryker on 2040-motos

Moto blog

You Have Questions, Rossi Has Answers

Prior to arriving at Laguna Seca for this weekend’s MotoGP race, nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi made a stop at Yamaha’s U.S. headquarters in Southern California for a meet-and-greet with his fans, and we were there to see The Doctor, along with Tech 3 Yamaha stablemate Bradley Smith, in person. As part of the trip, fans had a chance to participate in a Q&A session with the champ, where Rossi picked 12 questions at random.

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.

Yamaha Files Suit Over Scooter Design

Yamaha has filed a lawsuit against a pair of Japanese companies alleging their electric scooter copies the design of the Yamaha Gear BX50 scooter. The Yamaha Gear  BX50 (pictured left above) is a 50cc four-stroke scooter sold in Japan as a commercial-use model, aimed for small business such as newspaper distributors. Yamaha has been offering the BX50 (and the BX50N variant) since 2007, selling 39,917 units as of December 2011.