2014 Yamaha Vstar 950 on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Ben Spies talks MotoGP

TECH 3 Yamaha man Ben Spies gives a fairly in-depth interview about Mugello MotoGP, his championship hopes and his riding style with On The Throttle TV. The multiple AMA superbike champ, who's racing for the first time on many of the MotoGP tracks, reveals he spends most of Friday practice learning the circuit, while others are focusing on set-up and fast lap times. Spies fan or not, it's well worth a watch.

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.

Japan-only 'race base' R1

Yamaha have proved once again that all-black bikes never fail to please, this is the Japan-only R1 supplied to you by Yamaha if you're going to be racing in the All-Japan Superbike Championship. So that'll be none of us getting one of these, then. The good news: you can choose between an R1 or an R6, they're supplied black and with a racing ECU and loom.