With the Honda RC213V-S debuting at Catalunya last week, much has already been said about Big Red’s road-going GP bike…especially in terms of how it compares to other halo bike motorcycles that have been 0r currently are on the market.
So, in the interest of exploring solely the most basic attributes from a motorcycle’s technical specification sheet, we have compiled a spreadsheet to see how the Honda RC213V-S stacks up against its most analogous street bikes.
As such, we have compiled the horsepower, dry weight, and cost of the the Ducati Desmosedici RR, Ducati 1199 Superleggera, Kawasaki Ninja H2R, MV Agusta F4 RC, EBR 1190RS, and Yamaha YZF-R1 motorcycles — you can see the easy-to-read chart (after the jump), and make your own comparisons to the RC213V-S.
As expected, the Yamaha MT-25 naked street bike has broken cover in Indonesia, thus adding a fairingless option to Yamaha’s small-displacement lineup. As the name implies, the machines is powered by a 249cc parallel-twin engine, the same one found in the Yamaha YZF-R25 sport bike.
This means the Yamaha MT-25 is good for 35.5hp, and 16.7 lbs*ft of peak torque. The quarter-liter machine tips the scales at 363 lbs, just one kg lighter than the R25, and include a 3.7 gallon gas tank.
Made in Indonesia for most markets (we hear India will have local production), the MT-25 will go head-to-head against bikes the Honda CB300F and Suzuki GW250F, and provide a more upright alternative to the current crop of quarter-liter sport bikes.
Word from Indonesia is that the Yamaha MT-25 is about to officially break cover, and Yamaha Indonesia is already teasing the date. As the name implies, the Yamaha MT-25 is the naked version of the Yamaha YZF-R25 sport bike, and it should look a little something like this.
With a 250cc parallel-twin at its heart, the MT-25 will go head-to-head against the Honda CB300F and Suzuki GW250F, and provide a more upright alternative to the current crop of quarter-liter sport bikes.
The line up for the Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race looks to be the strongest for years. Today, Yamaha confirmed that Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider pairing of Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro are to race for the factory entry at Suzuka, alongside Yamaha test rider and Japanese Superbike champion Katsuyuki Nakasuga.
Smith and Espargaro will face Casey Stoner and Michael van der Mark, who will be racing for the Honda factory team.
Rumors that Yamaha were taking their entry for the race very seriously first emerged at Jerez, where paddock gossip had Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo entering the race in the factory team.
Yamaha has been rolling out some interesting YouTube fodder lately, with the most recent installment being a short video that features the five project leaders from the different generations of Yamaha YZF-R1 superbikes.
Unfortunately, we don’t get to hear too much from the Japanese project leaders, other than a quick one-line synopsis of what their project goals entailed, but we are treated to some good visuals of Valentino Rossi flogging the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 down the race track.
The best part of the video though might be the pride shown by these project leaders — they look like proud fathers standing next to their creations.
If you like your small displacement machines sans fairings, then this might be the bike for you, as the first clear photos of the Yamaha MT-25 are hitting the internet, courtesy of Indonesian blog TMCblog.
Based around the same 249cc parallel-twin engine as the Yamaha R25, the MT-25 will go up against the other quarter-liter naked bikes on the market, like the Honda CB300 and KTM 200 Duke.
As we can see from the photos, the MT-25 shares many of the same parts with the R25 — most notably the chassis, suspension, exhaust, seat, and engine. Added is a new headlight, fairing chin, and air intake tubes.
When Öhlins announced that it was recalling certain aftermarket shocks and steering dampers earlier this year, the obvious question was whether it would affect motorcycles that were equipped with the Swedish suspension from the factory, namely the new Ducati 1299 Panigale and the Yamaha YZF-R1M.
While a recall was expected for both machines, so far we only have word from Yamaha USA that the R1M will be recalled to replace the Öhlins shock. The recall only affects 350 units for Yamaha, a figure that likely indicates the total number of R1M motorcycles in the USA.
Yamaha is looking to defend its FIM Endurance World Championship title, won last year by the Yamaha GMT94 squad. Yamaha is still very much in the hunt for the 2015 title, though the GMT94 guys will have to post some strong results to overcome their 5th place finish at the EWC’s first round, at Le Mans.
You wouldn’t know that the reigning world champions were having a tough time of it, after checking out their promotional video from the 24 Hours of Le Mans Moto — it’s that well done.
Hopefully that will translate onto the track for the French team, and their Austrian counterparts at YART, who are also featured.
Jorge Lorenzo is to remain with Yamaha for the 2016 season. The Spaniard had an option to leave the Movistar Yamaha team at the end of 2015, but has decided not to exercise it, and will stay with Yamaha for next year.
The Movistar Yamaha team also had an option to end the two-year deal a year early, but Yamaha Racing director Lin Jarvis told the MotoGP.com website that both the team and Lorenzo and decided to see the contract through to the end.