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Yamaha Releases Letter for R1 Owners Regarding Recall

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By now, Asphalt & Rubber readers should be well aware of the recall being issued on all the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 & 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1M motorcycles sold in the USA.

We broke the news back in November, and even covered how recalls work in Episode 11 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast – the show is well worth having a listen to if you want to know more about how recalls work.

In the show, we speculated a bit about what Yamaha would do to fix the gearbox issues with the latest R1 superbikes, and now we have official confirmation from Yamaha Motor Corp. USA on how it will handle the 3,500 or so models that need to be recalled.

Yamaha was kind enough to supply us with a letter, which will be sent to all affected R1/R1M owners, as it outlines what is being recalled, what actions Yamaha and its dealers are taking, and what owners should do going forward. Read it, after the jump.

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News

MV Agusta Sales Up 30% for 2015

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MV Agusta reports today that the company’s annual unit sales are up 30% for 2015, continuing the growth that the Italian brand has seen over the past years.

With nearly 9,000 units sold worldwide in 2015, MV Agusta is seeing the most growth outside of Italy, with a 140% increase in the UK, 54% increase in Spain, 26% increase in Germany, and 20% increase in France.

MV Agusta also saw strong gains in the United States, with a 50% increase in units sales reported. Interestingly, sales in Italy remained fairly flat, with a 0.1% decrease when compared to figures from 2014.

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News

Erik Buell Racing Bid Contested, Headed Back to Court

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The receivership of Erik Buell Racing continues to go on, as the company’s second round on the auction block ended with no fruitful resolution.

It was hoped that Monday would see the announcement of a Erik Buell Racing’s new owner, after the auction on Thursday seemed to show that a new bidder, Liquid Asset Partners LLC, had snatched up the American motorcycle effort and had plans to liquidate EBR’s assets.

However, it appears that the winning bid on Erik Buell Racing’s liquid assets has been contested by previous auction-winner Bruce Belfer and potential-bidder US Heritage Powersport. Accordingly, a new date in court set for January 14th, 2016 and formal motions to be submitted by January 4th, 2016.

This means that the ongoing saga and future of the Erik Buell Brand will continue, well into the start of the new year.

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Bikes

Yamaha YZF-R1 Gearbox Recall Affects All USA Units

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More trouble looms for Yamaha and its pending recall of the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1, as our sources have indicated that all of the superbikes sold in the USA will be affected by the new R1’s transmission issues.

You may recall that Asphalt & Rubber broke the story two weeks ago about the upcoming recall for the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1, and we explored the topic in-depth on Episode 11 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast.

Still, we are surprised that a more formal announcement hasn’t emerged from Yamaha Motor USA regarding the matter.

In the meantime, Transport Canada – the importer for Yamaha motorcycles in Canada – issued a recall for 240 units, while some YZF-R1 owners in the USA have begun to receive letters from their local Yamaha dealers concerning the recall procedure.

For 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 owners who haven’t received a recall notice from the dealer, you should expect one, as it’s our understanding that ultimately all of the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 and 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1M motorcycles sold in the USA will need to have their transmission replaced.

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News

LVMH to Acquire the Deus Ex Machina Brand?

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Like the word “cool” itself, it is hard to describe what exactly Deus ex Machina is, especially to the uninitiated. The motorcycle/surf lifestyle brand is 10 years old now, and will go down in moto-history as being partially responsible for the “post-authentic” motorcycle movement.

The easiest explanations is that the Deus ex Machina brand is known both for its two-wheeled creations, and also its destination stores in Sydney, Bali, Japan, Los Angeles, and Milan.

In talks now with L-Capital, the private equity arm of LVMH (which is better known for its Louis Vuitton, Moët, and Hennessy brands), Deus ex Machina looks to be the second major exit for its founder and majority shareholder Dare Jennings, who sold his Mambo brand to Gazal Corporation back in 1990.

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MotoGP

MotoGP: Circuit of Wales Clears Final Planning Hurdle

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The proposed Circuit of Wales has cleared the final planning hurdle left standing between it and the start of construction.

After an eight-day public inquiry, the decision was taken to approve the deregistering of common land needed for construction of the site. That clears the way for construction work to start once financing is in place.

The request to deregister common land was approved on the basis of extra land – 320 hectares, or some 800 acres – being provided to replace the deregistered land.

The Planning Inspector charged with examining the proposal judged that the overall effect of the land swap would benefit the nature conservation efforts in the area.

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News

Energica Looks to Go Public on the London Stock Market

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While most consumers will say that the company’s big news at EICMA was the finalized version of the Energica Eva electric streetfighter, it is really Energica’s aim to be on the London Stock Market that should be dominating the conversations in Milan, Italy.

The news is an extension to our earlier report that Energica hired UBS to help the Italian electric motorcycle company navigate the financial waters of investment.

At EICMA, Energica provided more details on its plan, saying that it would look for private investment to raise the necessary free capital in order to be listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Italia sub-market, a special market that caters to small and medium-sized businesses, usually in the technology sector.

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News

Erik Buell Racing Deal Falls Thru – Will Be Sold…Again

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The situation around Erik Buell Racing is rapidly becoming comical, as the American motorcycle brand is headed back to auction, after its sale to Bruce Belfer failed to close.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Erik Buell Racing will go back to the auctioning block on December 10th, because Belfer was unable to secure financing on his $2.25 million purchase price for Erik Buell Racing.

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Bikes

Build Your Own Bimota BB3 – Kits Now Available

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Bimota has a history of providing do-it-yourself kits to customers, allowing racers and owners the ability to use their own engines with Bimota chassis. And now, you can do that with the Bimota BB3, as the boutique brand is offering its BMW S1000RR powered superbike in kit form.

All you need to provide is the 1,000cc inline-four engine from the S1000RR, as well as its wiring and electronics, and the Bimota BB3 kit provides the rest.

While the package should be an affordable way for collectors, enthusiasts, and racers to come about owning a Bimota BB3, the kits genesis is very much grounded from adversity in the business realm.

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News

Ducati Reaches 50,000 Units Sales Mark for First Time Ever, And Other Red Herrings

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Ducati Motor Holding is reporting that it has sold over 50,000 units to customers, for the first time ever. This is a substantial improvement over the 40,650 units that Ducati delivered at this time last year, and the 45,100 units the company sold to customers in 2015.

This news is a bit of a red herring though, as the sales increase comes due almost solely because of the addition of the Ducati Scrambler line, which in the first three quarters of the year was at 13,609 units sold.

As we have reported before on Asphalt & Rubber, the sales increase being posted by Ducati is a bit of red herring with the brand. While the Scrambler line has shown strong growth for Ducati, the rest of the model lines have been weak for the year.

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News

You Can Legally Work on Your Own Motorcycle, Still

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You may have not realized it, but if certain OEMs had their way, you would not be legally allowed to work on your own motorcycle. That’s right, because of a perversion of the US copyright law, it would have been illegal for you to turn a wrench on your motorcycle, all in the name of digital rights management.

The issues comes around because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law from 1998 that was originally intended to update the Copyright Act of 1976 for life in the digital age.

Of the more important provisions, the DMCA protects ISPs from copyright claims, and it defines how copyright law would work on the internet and other digital mediums.

One of the major sections of the DMCA deals with digital rights management (DRM), and attempts to circumvent digital systems that are meant to block access to copyrighted information and material. This effectively makes it a violation of the DMCA to circumvent any sort of DRM or encryption put forth by a rights holder.

The original intent of this provision was to protect record labels and movie studios, who were seeing their products shared on peer-to-peer networks ad infinitum, but crafty lawyers have been able to expand this portion of the DMCA to include just about any digital system, including your motorcycle…until now.

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