2014 Yamaha V Star 950 on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Kevin Ash, one year on

I’ve lost dozens of friends in bike racing over the years, and while each death was a shock and incredibly sad, I’ve always had some kind of internal coping mechanism that allowed me to carry on relatively unaffected.  Maybe it’s because I was always extremely passionate and committed when taking part in my dangerous sport so was also prepared to pay the ultimate price should things go wrong.  Rightly or wrongly I’ve taken comfort from the fact that these unfortunate racers have checked out while doing something they love.   I’ve also lost a few journalist friends in bike accidents over the years but for some reason these have hit me harder.  The worst and possibly as it is the most recent is Kevin Ash who was killed last January while on a BMW launch in South Africa.  Starting in 2001, over a period of ten years, I was in Kevin’s company on countless new bike launches in pretty much every corner of the world.  At times he was cocky and occasionally irritating but always entertaining with a wicked sense of humour.  He was many things but no one can deny he was a brilliant journalist and his technical knowledge was second to none.  I always appreciated his complete enthusiasm to all things biking as he would ride through any weather on a daily basis to jobs or airports and seemed to always be tinkering with winter projects (mainly Ducatis) at home.  I also admired how much work he got through as he had columns in more than one weekly publication plus all his launch and web work. He was a competent safe rider who was certainly quick enough to evaluate any new bike thrown his way.  Kevin also drove a Porsche but then none of us are perfect!   I looked to Kevin as a wise Owl so not long after I started working with TWO/ Visordown, I asked him on an R1 launch in Australia he thought the motorcycle industry was currently in a good place.  His reply was, ‘we’ve just been flown here business class, been taken by speed boat to our five star hotel under Sydney Harbour Bridge, Yamaha have wined and dined us and furnished us with expensive gifts each day, what do you think Niall?  How times have changed.  On the subject on air travel he once told me, ‘when travelling business or first class it’s not about the pampering, comfy beds or fine dining, the important part is looking smug as you walk straight past all the people lining up at the cattle class check in! On more than one occasion I had food or drink spurt out when Kevin would deliver unexpected one line funnies at the dinner table.

Behind the scenes in Qatar

Just because you have the name Jorge Lorenzo on your screen and you've won a world championship doesn't mean you'll get an easy time at scrutineering. In Qatar the technical inspection staff made the factory Yamaha mechanics remove bodywork and unbolt some electrical components in order to get a better look at the guts of the 2011 M1. Everything was in order of course but what a great opportunity for the scrutineers to exercise their power and have a poke around the most high tech Yamaha on the planet.

Yamaha to Produce PES1 and PED1 Electric Motorcycles by 2016

Yamaha announced plans to release the production versions of its PES1 and PED1 concept models within two years as part of the company’s plans to enter the electric motorcycle segment. The PES1 and PED1 (which stands for “Passion, Electric, Street” and “Passion, Electric, Dirt”) concepts were first revealed at last November’s Tokyo Motor Show. In the company’s newly-published annual report, Yamaha confirmed plans to produce the two models, saying: “In sports motorcycles, we are working to create new value with EV sports motorcycles, which we aim to launch in two years, with the development of the small, on-road sports PES1, as well as the PED1, which are being developed to expand the scope of electric vehicles to the off-road world.