2012 Yamaha Super Ténéré on 2040-motos

Moto blog

New MotoGP Rules for ECU and Factory Status for 2014

The Grand Prix Commission released new rules for the 2014 MotoGP season regarding the standard electronic control unit and what constitutes “factory status” for manufacturers. Starting in 2014, the official MotoGP ECU including internal datalogger from Magneti Marelli will become mandatory. Factory teams will be allowed to program their own ECU software while privateers will be required to run the standard software.

Lorenzo Leads Sepang Test Day 1; Spies Fourth on 1000cc Yamaha M1

Yamaha‘s Jorge Lorenzo topped all riders with a top lap time of 2:01.657 on the first day of pre-season MotoGP testing at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit. With reigning World Champion Casey Stoner ailing and unable to ride, Lorenzo produced the top time as the only racer to lap Sepang in under 2 minutes 2 seconds. Riding the 1000cc Yamaha YZR-M1, Lorenzo topped second-ranked Dani Pedrosa and his Honda RC213V by 0.343 seconds.

OEMs Plug into Electric Bikes

KTM introduced its prototype electric motorcycle earlier this week, and electric bike manufacturer Zero Motorcycles almost immediately responded by opening sales on its 2009 Zero X dirt bike (look for our review of the 2008 model next week!). But these two companies aren’t the only ones exploring the possibilities of electric-powered motorcycles. In September, Japan’s largest industrial information journal Nikkei Business Daily reported that both Honda and Yamaha have set target dates for launching their own electric-powered motorcycles.