Fantic Motor has closed a deal that sees the Italian company buying 100% of the Motori Minarelli operation from Yamaha Motor Europe – a move that is said to strengthen the partnership between the two motorcycle manufacturers.
There is a rumor going around that Yamaha is working on a full-fairing version of its popular MT-07 street bike.
The story goes that Yamaha is keen to bring a bike to market that will compete head-to-head with the Aprilia RS 660, which currently is the only full fairing bike in the middleweight twins category.
Fresh on the heels of the recall of the Yamaha FJR1300 for its gearbox issues, Yamaha has another recall on the books with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, this one affecting over 18,000 motorcycles.
At the core of the problem is a faulty brake light switch that is used on seven different models: the Yamaha FJR1300, Tracer GT, Niken GT, Super Ténéré, Star Eluder, and Star Venture.
The Yamaha FJR1300 is the latest subject to a NHTSA recall, as the the sport-tourer’s second gear can crack and break under high-speed loads.
Yamaha FJR1300 owners are advised not to operate their motorcycle until the repairs for this recall have been performed.
The recall affects 2,285 units – FJR1300 bikes produced between December 9, 2015 and February 2, 2020.
I am always a bit envious of designers who can look past the lines of a rather bland motorcycle, and see something new and stunning. That vision is a rare gift.
Yamaha’s three-cylinder budget platform, the Yamaha MT-09, is surely one of those bland motorcycles, and even in its XSR900 form, it can be hard to see how the bones of this machine can be something bigger and better.
The eyes at Diamond Atelier saw the potential in the MT-09 platform though, taking a Yamaha XSR900 and turning it into a creation they call “Æon”.
The news came first from Europe, that the Japanese brand would no longer make the Yamaha YZF-R6 for the European market because of the costs associated with Euro5 homologation, and because of the dwindling number of supersport models sold in the region each year.
Then, the news came as a final thought in a much larger press release from Yamaha Motor USA. It said that 2020 would be the last model year of the Yamaha YZF-R6 in the United States.
If you took a look at the all-new Yamaha MT-09, and were left wanting something with a bit more of a premium punch, then Yamaha Motor USA is picking up what you’re putting down.
As such, say hello to the more premium-spec 2021 Yamaha MT-09 SP.
The concept here is simple: take the value-positioned Yamaha MT-09 that just debuted a few days ago, and put on it better suspension and visual features. Pricing starts at $10,999 MSRP.
Andrea Dovizioso’s future is becoming increasingly clear, and his choices are going to have a knock on effect for the test rider market.
According to a report from Motorsport.com‘s Oriol Puigdemont, Dovizioso has decided to take a sabbatical and spend a year racing motocross, in the hope of making a return to MotoGP in 2022.
It has been such a bad day for Yamaha that I feel bound to start this report off with the highlight for the Japanese factory: Franco Morbidelli finished in the top three for both sessions of free practice on Friday at Valencia.
He and Petronas teammate Fabio Quartararo are directly through to Q2, at least provisionally, dependent on the weather on Saturday morning.
Garrett Gerloff, replacing Valentino Rossi in the Monster Energy Yamaha team on Friday, was very impressive, getting up to speed quickly in very difficult conditions, despite not having any experience of either MotoGP bikes, Michelin MotoGP tires, or the Ricardo Tormo Circuit at Valencia.
And Valentino Rossi’s second PCR test came back negative, meaning he can take over from Gerloff again from Saturday morning.
That was the good news. The bad news was pretty terrible, however, bad enough that it made even a cynical old hack like me feel sorry for Yamaha’s PR staff.
Yamaha has been punished for an infringement of the MotoGP technical rules at the opening race of the 2020 MotoGP season at Jerez, and at the same time, their riders have dodged a bullet.
After the infringement was finally uncovered, the FIM Stewards decided to deduct points from Yamaha in the manufacturers championship, and the Monster Energy Yamaha and Petronas Yamaha SRT teams have had points taken away in the teams championship.
But crucially for the 2020 MotoGP riders championship, no penalty was given to Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Viñales, or Franco Morbidelli. That means that the standings in what everyone regards as the most important championship, the riders championship, are unchanged.
Valentino Rossi may yet be forced to miss his third race of the 2020 season, after still being unable to provide a negative PCR test for Covid-19.
The Italian tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of first round in Aragon, and was forced to miss the two races at the Motorland Aragon circuit.