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Dakar Rally – Stage 2: Wrong Turn Costs Despres 8 Minutes

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Sunday marks the second day of the Dakar Rally, and the first real day of racing. Despite completing only two stages thus far of the 2013 Dakar Rally, the racing has gotten interesting, as race-win favorite Cyril Despres has lost eight minutes to the overall leader, Husqvarna’s Joan Barreda.

Fifth fastest overall thus far, Despres’s lost time was due to navigating around a massive dune, a move that caught several other riders out as well. With Monday’s Stage Three expected to be an even more difficult day, Despres said he was happy to start from behind, and let the other riders tackle the course ahead of him, where he could learn from their mistakes.

The Dakar Rally has been settled by less than the eight minute gap that Despres currently faces, though the Frenchman’s navigational error would have been more critical if rival and teammate Marc Coma was entered in the race this year, instead of sidelined with injury.

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Opinion/Editorial

Why Implementing Price Caps Is the Best Way of Cutting Costs for Teams in MotoGP and WSBK

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With the announcement of the introduction of price caps for brakes and suspension in MotoGP from 2015, the Grand Prix Commission, MotoGP’s rule-making body, appears to have finally found an effective way of controlling costs in the series. Instead of trying to control costs indirectly and seeing their efforts kicked into touch by the law of unintended consequences, the rule-makers have decided to attempt to go straight to the heart of the problem.

Will capping prices unleash a whole set of unintended consequences of its own? Will, as some fear, the move to cap prices lead to a drop in quality and therefore a reduction in R&D in the areas which are price-capped? And will the price cap act as a barrier to new entrants, or stimulate them? These are hard questions with no easy answers, yet there are reasons to believe that price caps are the most effective way of controlling costs, while the risks normally associated with a price cap, such as a reduction in quality, are lower in a racing paddock than they are in other environments.

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News

BMW Motorrad USA Says Sales Were Up 14% in 2012

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2012 was a good year for BMW Motorrad USA, as the German motorcycle brand saw its sales rise 14% over last year’s figures, despite the industry trend of marginal growth. Selling 12,057 units in 2012, BMW’s leading bikes in the USA were the BMW S1000RR and BMW K1600GT/GTL.

BMW Motorrad sold 1,934 S1000RR superbikes last year, a figure that is surprisingly 21% higher from the RR’s 2011 numbers. Zie Germans also had their first full-year of K1600 sales, where the six-cylinder touring bike had 1,601 delivers of the GTL model, and 697 deliveries of the GT variant (note: these are dealership deliveries, not customer sales), seemingly making it the best-selling motorcycle in the BMW fleet for the USA.

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Racing

2013 World Superbike Provisional Calendar v.2

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The cancelling of the Argentinian round of MotoGP has had a knock-on effect for the World Superbike series as well. The dropping of the race in Argentina caused MotoGP to push its season opener at Qatar back a week to April 7th, which then put it on the same weekend as the World Superbike round scheduled for Aragon on the same date.

To avoid a clash of the two series, the FIM has chosen to move the date of the Aragon WSBK round, moving it back a week in turn to April 14th, filling the gap between the MotoGP rounds at Qatar and Austin.

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News

Indonesian City Plans to Ban Women Straddling Motorcycles

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Fresh off the international presses, the Indonesian town of Lhokseumawe (population 170,000) aims to pass a regulation that would forbid women from straddling a motorcycle while a passenger on a male-riden motorbike. The town’s mayor, Suaidi Yahya, says the regulation aims to save people’s “morals and behaviors” — unsurprisingly, Lhokseumawe resides in the only region of Indonesia that follows Sharia law.

The regulation will now mean that women need to sit side-saddle when a passenger on a motorcycle, though it would seem that the regulation doesn’t apply if another women is driving the motorcycle. According to Mayor Suaidi, women can still sit straddled on the motorcycle when they are riding alone, assuming they are appropriately dressed.

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Racing

Video: Yamaha Welcomes Back Valentino Rossi

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There is no real mystery to why Yamaha signed Valentino Rossi. His seven MotoGP titles are a sign of his undisputed talent, and despite two years in the wilderness at Ducati, he is expected to be competitive from the start of the 2013 MotoGP season.

But with the reigning MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo already signed, there was more to Yamaha’s decision than the need for a competitive rider. Marketing also played a massive role in the decision to sign the Italian, with reports that the decision came mainly after pressure from the marketing department, and in face of resistance from the people inside Yamaha’s racing department.

Whatever the truth of the matter, Yamaha will be sure to maximize their return on investment in Valentino Rossi. Rossi’s massive popularity in key markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and India mean that he could be a significant factor in expanding market share and sales in those regions, as well as consolidating Yamaha’s position in contracting sports bike markets such as Europe and the US.

Today, Yamaha took advantage of the first opportunity to use the selling power of Valentino Rossi to their advantage. The factory posted a video on Youtube welcoming Rossi back to the fold. The video runs through the highlights of Rossi’s career, ending with photo highlights of his return to Yamaha at the Valencia test in November 2012. It will be a fascinating time for both Yamaha and Valentino Rossi.

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Racing

Ben Spies Talks About Leaving Yamaha

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Today, Cycle World posted a great story by none other than MotoGP’s Ben Spies. Now out of his contractual obligations with Yamaha Racing, Spies can finally speak candidly about his 2012 season, and what was occurring behind close doors within the Yamaha factory team, as well as his contract negotiations within the MotoGP and World Superbike paddocks.

Some of the story we already know, like how a high-ranking Yamaha official told Ben Spies to give 100% or not show up, after the American was sidelined with food poisoning at Mugello. Spies also sheds light on the rumors about his switch back to WSBK, namely with the BMW Motorrad team. Discussing his interactions with HRC and Gresini Racing, Spies also sheds insight about how he ultimately landed in the Ducati Corse camp. Head over to Cycle World, the article is well-worth a read.

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Recall

Recall: 2013 Triumph Trophy Tire Data Label

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If you need further proof that the devil is in the details, Triumph is recalling 244 units of its 2013 Triumph Trophy touring bike because of an incorrect tire data label.

Affecting bikes that were manufactured between September 5, 2012 and November 29, 2012, the Triumph Trophy’s tire data label  fails to conform to the labeling requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 120 and the certification requirements of 49 CFR Part 567.

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Bikes

Benchmark by Walz Hardcore Cycles

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Regular readers will know that I am not a big chopper guy, but every now and then one comes along that tugs enough on this sportbiker’s heart strings that I feel compelled to post about it. Such is the case with the Benchmark by Walz Hardcore Cycles, whose close proximity to the F1 course in Hockenheim, Germany certainly must play a factor.

I am fairly confident that the Öhlins superbike suspension, carbon fiber wheels, carbon/ceramic disc brakes, and debadged Akrapovic exhaust can aren’t going to really make the difference on this low-slung S&S-powered motorcycle, but they certainly do add to the bike’s sporty lines.

The streamlined sporty-chopper look has always worked well on me, and the Benchmark is no different with its brushed aluminum metal bodywork and carbon fiber accent pieces. I can’t say that I am a fan of the Ducati Monster headlight though, a design element that kills the donor machine for me.

With pricing that starts at €124,900 (€149,900 for the bike shown here), there is a hefty dose of sticker shock that comes with the Benchmark as well. So, we doubt one will find its way into your garage anytime soon, but for now it is something nice to look at, even if the chopper thing isn’t your bag of two-wheeled fun.

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