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Moto blog

Day 11 Dakar 2014: Coma Wins, Extends Overall Lead

Day 11 marked the longest stage to date of the Dakar Rally, as the competitors tackled the 605km (376 miles) special stage, covering a variety of terrain, hard ground, mountains, plus 120km (75 miles) of sand and dunes in the Copiapo area. Despite this, and a fall at the beginning of the stage, Marc Coma again demonstrated his status as boss of the Dakar 2014, by picking up his third victory of the year, further reinforcing his position at the top of the general standings. Five-time Dakar winner Cyril Depres opened the piste for 400km before dropping slightly to finish just 02:31 behind Marc Coma in first.

Filling a void with an RD350LC

Last winter I managed to fill a void in my life when I stumbled on a very reasonably priced Yamaha RD350LC.  It was a tad scruffy, had the wrong exhausts but most importantly it was blue and white with all numbers matching.  I had the usual euphoria when the deal was done but I underestimated how much pleasure this particular purchase would continue to deliver another eight months down the line. The difference with this old bike is, instead of just taking it for the occasional ride I was talked into doing a full nut and bolt restoration.  Having never taking a bike apart completely before, initially it was quite daunting but I soon found the RD is easy to work on so it turned into a truly satisfying experience.  I’ve had some help from LC enthusiasts with the rebuild, however, the stripping, sourcing and organising was a total labour of love.  And call me sad but it has made me bond with this bike like no other which only adds to the feel good factor.  The bike cost £1800 and I’ve spent around £1000 but I reckon my mint Elsie is now worth a fair bit more.   I fancy rejuvenating a Fizzy  next time but there’s lots of other cheap 70’s and 80’s winter projects  out there so why not have a go yourself?

Yamaha Focusing on Developing Model Platforms

Following the success of its MT platform, Yamaha says it will continue to develop new models based on shared platforms, allowing for a choice of multiple models while reducing overall costs. Speaking in a presentation on the company’s business operation, Yamaha Motor President Hiroyuki Yanagi reiterated the strategy of developing multiple models sharing the same engine and frame. Honda has followed a similar strategy with its NC models, seeing the platform evolve to include the CTX700 and NM4.