February 2011 - Page 8 of 9 - Asphalt & Rubber

News

Yamaha Closes Spanish Plant – Consolidates in France

By Jensen Beeler 02/07/2011 No Comments

Yamaha recently announced that it will be closing its factory in northeastern Spain, and consolidating the production into its Saint Quintin plant in France. The move comes as a result of Yamaha feeling the pain from the dwindling global demand for motorcycles, resulting in the Spanish plant having considerable excess capacity in its production.

Located near Barcelona, Yamaha’s Spanish Palau-Solita i Plegamans facility is capable of producing 130,000 units per year, but only managed 96,000 in 2010. The plant’s closure will affect 420 jobs, and Yamaha management has already reportedly confirmed that they will be forgoing any bonuses for the first half of 2011, and will be taking a healthy pay cut (15%-30%) during the same time period.

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Banter

“I’m So Sorry. Are You Okay?”

By Jensen Beeler 02/07/2011 20 Comments

We don’t really know how this accident happened on the byway (it’s hard not to notice a motorcycle that you sat behind at a traffic light just seconds earlier), but we’re pretty sure of two things: 1) that Suzuki is a total loss, and 2) the rider’s face plant into the Mitsubishi SUV will buff right out. It’s amazing that his rear-end job didn’t result in a worse outcome for the motorcyclist (from what we can tell at least). Thank goodness for ATGATT.

Source: Jalopnik

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Racing

Photo of the Week: Game Face

By Scott Jones 02/07/2011 1 Comment

With the 2011 MotoGP season right around the corner, there are several big questions waiting to be answered. The biggest is how Valentino Rossi will manage with the Ducati GP11. Last year Rossi won the season opener at Losail after Stoner crashed out of the lead, and was pleased to have what would become his final year with Yamaha off to a good start.

But his broken leg at Mugello put him out of the Championship running as rival Jorge Lorenzo rode the bike Rossi had developed to the title. Rossi’s challenge in 2011 is formidable if he is going to reclaim the premiere class championship, and go down in the record books as having done so with three different factories. He has a lot to think about before the lights come on in Qatar.

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Racing

One on One: Valentino Rossi & Masao Furusawa

By Jensen Beeler 02/06/2011 1 Comment

Continuing its “ONE on ONE” series, Yamaha has pitted two staples of its MotoGP garage to interview each other: nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi and former-Executive of Engineering Operations Masao Furusawa. The video is obviously a bit untimely, as Rossi has already made the switch over to Ducati, but the interview proves relevant as he and Furusawa talk about why Rossi made the jump in the paddock from Honda to Yamaha in 2003. If you supplant the appropriate manufacturers’ names, you could almost hear Rossi talking about his reasoning thus far with the Italian racing brand.

So far the video series is two-parts long, and has some great insights into the relationship that was the driving force for Rossi joining Yamaha, and for his departure (Furusawa’s retirement from Yamaha being one of many factors in Rossi’s decision to leave the Japanese marque). Over the course of their discussion, fun trivia bits come up, like what Max Biaggi said when Rossi won the opening GP race at South Africa in 2004. Check past the jump to find out what his response was, and to watch the videos in their entirety.

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Banter

Video: Vintage Cycle Service

By Jensen Beeler 02/06/2011 3 Comments

Maybe it’s the low-key feel-good guitar music, or the fact that this video is about a small motorcycle mechanic based in the picturesque city of Florence, Italy (a villa this author used to live in), but there is something about this short film that just makes us feel good about life, motorcycling, and everything else. Promoting a specialty shop for vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the time and effort gone into this five+ minute video is perhaps indicative of the sort of service you’d find at Vintage Cycle Service of Firenze.

With macro shots of some of the finer things regarding zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, we get a glimpse not only on the rich heritage of the Milwaukee brand (note the AMF co-branded tanks scattered about), but a full-immersion into the off-beaten path of motorcycle culture (note the human skull in open-face helmet). You could probably spend hours poking around this shop, looking at different interesting items…or just whittle the time away as the mechanic perfects one of America’s less-than-perfect designs.

The quality is so good, we thought for almost a minute that Harley-Davidson had finally put together a compelling demand marketing campaign, nope just some guys who love bikes and film, achieving what a Fortune 500 company cannot.

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News

Is This The Erik Buell Racing 1190RS?

By Jensen Beeler 02/04/2011 15 Comments

Posted to Erik Buell Racing’s Facebook page yesterday, this photo is what we presume is the soon to be released Erik Buell Racing 1190RS street bike. Based off the EBR 1190RR race bike, Erik Buell & Co. have been slowly teasing the idea of producing a limited production street bike, now that certain legal obligations are coming to a conclusion. No word yet on price or quantities, but we don’t expect this to be EBR’s foray into large production, and units are likely to be hand produced at the American company’s race shop.

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News

Dymag Wheels are Back

By Jensen Beeler 02/04/2011 3 Comments

Once thought for dead, Dymag wheels are again be available for motorcycle enthusiasts, as the brand has been bought by CSA International Ltd. Resuming production in the United Kingdom, Dymag finds life again after going into administration in 2009. A maker of racing wheels since the 1970’s, Dymag made the first 3-spoke magnesium racing wheel, which helped propel Eddie Lawson to claim the AMA Superbike Championships in 1981 and 1982 & MotoGP World Championship in 1984.

Talking about the rekindled brand, Chairman of CSA International Limited Chris Shelley said, “Dymag is a legendary brand respected by racing and bike enthusiasts across the globe for design and performance excellence. We are currently investing heavily in new production processes and equipment to modernise the manufacturing process and shorten delivery lead times.”

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News

BMW’s New Liquid-Cooled Boxer Spotted in the Wild

By Jensen Beeler 02/04/2011 5 Comments

The writing has been on the wall for some time for BMW to replace its air-cooled boxer twin with an updated liquid-cooled version, and that hallmark day appears to be coming, as SoloMoto (additional photos on their website) has captured the next-generation German motor out testing in the wild (enhanced photo above) on the Spanish roads near Tarragona. This photo appears to confirm reports that BMW is testing a new R1200GS model, which will feature the liquid-cooled boxer twin, and has obvious differences from its air-cooled predecessor.

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Racing

Corser Sits Out Testing After Crash at Phillip Island

By Victoria Reid 02/04/2011 1 Comment

Troy Corser was forced to sit out the second day of testing for BMW Motorrad at Phillip Island after a crash Wednesday left him heavily bruised. The team was testing at Phillip Island after skipping the official World Superbike test at Portimao in favor of warmer climes, first at Eastern Creek and now at Phillip Island in Australia. Though the team said the test was satisfactory, any crash major enough to force a rider to sit out a day of testing can be worrisome. He is apparently fine, but had “painful bruises” that kept him from riding effectively.

That crash left Leon Haslam to do the bulk of testing for his new team. “We were still focusing on electronics and worked on a setup for this race track,” Haslam explained. “This was important as in three weeks time we are going to have our first races of the season here. We have already found a good base to work on. I am happy; we made some good progress. My lap times were quite good for these hot conditions. Of course we still have some work to do before the season starts but I am happy with the progress we made so far. The bike improved a lot in the last month.”

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News

Harley-Davidson Lost 36 Dealers in 2010 – More to Come

By Jensen Beeler 02/04/2011 21 Comments

Harley-Davidson has instructed its dealers not to talk about how sales have been throughout the recession, but the news that 36 dealerships have closed in the past year, and more closures are expected in 2011, speaks for itself on how sales have been. On a conference call with analysts CFO John Olin said, “This contraction was expected and in-line with our desire to modestly consolidate our U.S. dealer network in response to lower overall volume since the economic downturn took hold,” which is a very glossed over way of saying that American brand has become too bloated over the past years, and needs to go on a diet.

Harley-Davidson expects to ship between 221,000 & 228,000 motorcycles worldwide in 2011, which is up 8% over last year’s figure, but still pales in comparison to the numbers the Milwaukee brand was posting before the economic collapse (303,479 in 2008). Since 2006, sales at Harley-Davdison have continued to slide, but the most dramatic affect was in 2010, where sales were down 30% compared to before the recession (over 36% in the domestic market).

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Bikes

Agility Saietta Electric Motorcycle Unveiled

By Jensen Beeler 02/03/2011 13 Comments

In what seems to be the growing trend of motorcycle startups latching onto the growing EV market, the Agility Saietta debuted today at the Carole Nash MCN Motorcycle Show in London. The design is likely going to be a love or hate affair for most riders, and we doubt it’ll do anything to convince petrol-heads that electrics are the future of this industry, but the Saietta packs some seriously dubious performance claims, which if true should impress performance geeks.

Engadget is reporting an ambiguous performance figure from Agility of 675 hp/ ton, which would work out to 169hp on a 500 lbs motorcycle, and 135hp on a 400 lbs machine. Spying the air-cooled brushed DC Agni motor nestled within, we imagine that figure is peak power rating, and as we’ve seen at the Isle of Man TT, those Agni motors are finicky about running at those power levels for extended periods of time.

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