Hong Leong Yamaha Motor and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. Japan celebrate 40 years of successful co-operation tonight.
Hong Leong Industries signed the joint-venture agreement with Yamaha in 1979.
The guess of honour was Yamaha Motor Japan’s President and CEO.
Hong Leong Yamaha Motor and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. Japan celebrate 40 years of successful co-operation tonight.
Hong Leong Yamaha Motor (HLYM) Managing Director Dato’ Jim Khor said that the objective of the joint venture was to produce motorcycles of high quality that are affordable to the people. To that end, HLYM has come a long way to build the brand to its No. 1 position in Malaysia.
The brand had grown regionally to cover other product segments such as marine applications, even to countries such as Vietnam.
For that, he thanked customers, dealers, business partners for their support, co-operation and contributions that led to the current success.
He also thanked the Yamaha Motor Co. for their passion in creating the best motorcycles, for it would not have been possible.
The guest of honour tonight was Mr. Hoshihiro Hidaka, the President and Chief Executive Office of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. Japan.
Apart from thanking HLYM for the great work, he also stated that Yamaha finds that motorcycles are closest vehicles to people. Hence the company has always strived to create Kando (feeling of happiness and satisfaction) among their customers. To do so, Yamaha fuse cutting-edge technology with human sensitivities. This principle is reflected in the “Expanding human possibilities” tagline.
Both gentlemen hope that the co-operation will continue for the next 40 years and beyond.
GIVI Asia organised a GIVI Mega Camp & Ride 2019 recently.
Participants rode to and camped at Lata Lembik, Pahang.
There was also an off-road class and ride on the second day.
GIVI Asia Sdn. Bhd. set up an online community recently and it has seen a meteoric rise since then. As such GIVI organized the GIVI Mega Camp & Ride 2019 as a way for the community members to come together to enjoy the GIVI lifestyle.
There had been a number of Ride & Camp activities besides charity rides thus far. All saw enthusiastic participation.
GIVI organised such an event at Late Lembik this time around.
As per tradition, the ride began from the GIVI headquarters at Bukit Beruntung near Rawang. There, participants were provided with light breakfast and refreshments. Each received a “number plate” and GIVISTA t-shirt upon registration. There was a good mix of large and small capacity motorcycles, all fitted with GIVI cases but there were those fitted with almost everything in the catalogue.
Sam Sharman, the Marketing Manager gave a briefing on the ride and activities. Participants pasted the number plates to their bikes so that marshals could keep count of those following. Such system was also used during the GIVI Malaysian Adventure 2019.
Speaking of the Malaysian Adventure, this ride was guided by the same head marshal.
The ride itself was a lot of fun for the riders as they crossed through Batang Kali and headed up to Gohtong Jaya, before descending on Karak Highway. Late Lembik laid close to halfway between Bentong town and Sungai Koyan.
Participants found the tents already pitched by the hardworking GIVI crew when they arrived in the late afternoon. The rain didn’t dampen anyone’s excitement.
It was dark soon, so GIVI showed a movie in the community hall.
GIVI provided breakfast again the next morning, while waiting for the off-road class to begin.
The instructor, Remy Buragas, showed up soon and conducted a short on-bike demonstration. The riders were shown the correct ways of handling the motorcycle in off-road conditions.
It was at this time that we saw a number of bikes with extended suspension. These guys lived up to GIVI’s Explore, Enjoy ethos. There were also riders who competed in the GIVI Rimba Raid.
The trail consisted of easy and medium difficulty sections. But the incessant rain had made it muddy and slippery so certain sections were abandoned. The riders took to it with glee, some of them even had road tyres on.
By now, the food trucks have shown up.
Some free time was provided and the participants took the opportunity to swim in the river.
Come dinner time, the GIVI crew fired up the BBQ. Participants ate to their contention since the food trucks were still there.
A sharing session was held after dinner. Sam described the role of GIVISTA Community, while another two shared their touring experiences. GIVI Ambassador Anita Yusoff gave a talk on her Dream Global Ride. Sam and Anita proceeded to unveil the new GIVI Vista helmets before ending the session.
A basker band took over the proceedings to entertain the crowd.
The activities concluded the next morning. Everyone headed home happy and safe.
The community is made up of GIVI consumers, regardless of type of product and motorcycle the ride. Being an open group, members are free to share their experiences of using GIVI products and travels.
Motorcycles evolve hand-in-hand with the sentiments of the day.
Of course, the manufacturers always searched for ways to outdo their peers but motorcycle development also depended largely on technological know-how and discoveries, there were other influences such as economics, culture, fashion, so on.
The Backdrop
Ah, the 70s. It was a period of pivotal change in world history.
The most famous conflict of the time, the Vietnam war (“war” spelled with a small “w” as the United States never formally declare war with North Vietnam) would end with the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in 1975.
It was a time of self-discovery, often with people stating their claims to more egalitarian societies, no doubt led by “hippy” protests against the Vietnam war in the late-60s. This led to higher freedom of expression.
At the same time, there were energy concerns, specifically over the black gold – oil. The oil producing nations, OPEC, embargoed oil exports against nations that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur war. It triggered the Oil Crisis of 1973.
Another Oil Crisis happened in 1979 with the Iranian Revolution which saw the Shah outside by Ayatollah Komeini’s forces.
But science did progress.
It was during this decade that first saw an explosion of development in the integrated circuit (IC), besides others. The decade also saw other nations joining the Americans and Soviets in the space race.
The Motorcycles
Which leads us to the motorcycles.
The motorcycles scene of the 70s saw the decline of “continental” brands and the rise of the Japanese Big Four. The latter offered higher performance, better quality, reliability, better economy at much lower prices.
Thus the decade saw a bona fide arms race between manufacturers to build the biggest and baddest bikes. Sure, we saw the same happen decades earlier and four decades on, but the 70s saw some of the biggest breakthroughs in motorcycling whose impacts echo down later generations.
Honda CB750 (1969)
But we have to start with 1969.
It was the year the Honda CB750 came out.
It introduced the inline-Four engine, disc brakes and upright seating position to the masses. It also inspired the kind of motorcycles design which was adopted by every Japanese manufacturer henceforth, which came to be known as the “UJM,” for Universal Japanese Motorcycle.
The engine produced 67 bhp and propelled the 218 kg bike to 201 km//h, making it the fastest production bike of the time.
Mind you, the bike was rolling on a 3.25-inch (82.5 mm) front and 4.00-inch (102 mm) rear tyres!
The term “superbike” was thus coined.
Moto Guzzi V7 Sport (1971)
Based on the standard/roadster V7, the V7 Sport was the company’s cafe racer, complete with clip-on handlebars. It was also the first production bike which had a five-speed gearbox. Being stripped of superfluous parts, it was lighter and handled better. The later Uber-desirable Le Mans was based on this bike.
Guzzi commemorated the bike with the V7 Special in 2008 and again in 2012.
Suzuki GT750 (1971)
While Honda and Kawasaki traded blows and counterblows to produce the world’s fastest bikes using four-stroke engines, Suzuki and Yamaha duked it out with two-strokes.
The GT750 was a 3-cylinder, 2-stroke bike. But it was the first Japanese bike to feature water-cooling.
Hence it became affectionately (or otherwise) known as the “Water Buffalo.”
Benelli Sei (1972)
“Sei” meant “six” in Italian. The inline-Six was based on the Honda CB750’s inline-Four but with two more cylinders added on. As such, it became the first production motorcycle with a six-cylinder engine. Just as iconic were the six exhaust tips, to beat the Honda’s four.
The Sei first started as a 750 and became a 900 in 1979. It’s styling changed from round to angular, with a bikini fairing closely resembling the Moto Guzzi Le Mans added on.
Triumph X-75 Hurricane (1972)
This bike is credited as starting a new class of motorcycles called “cruisers.” The factory had enlisted the help of fibreglass specialist Craig Better to design the bodywork for the bike. It was originally unveiled as a BSA Rocket Three in 1969 but was sold as the X-75 Hurricane when production began in 1972.
Kawasaki H2 Mach IV (1972)
The H2 Mach IV superseded the H1 Mach III. But the design brief stayed the same: To build the fastest accelerating motorcycle.
The 500cc, two-stroke triple H1 was built for the American market where traffic light drag racing was the most prominent. Hence the bike was made as light as possible. To do this, the engineers made the frame thinner and the forks looks like they were taken off a moped. Consequently, the bike was fast but didn’t handle.
The H2 Mach IV was to improve on its predecessor. It debuted with a new 750cc, three-cylinder, two-stroke engine which produced 74 bhp. It was the world’s fastest accelerating bike but didn’t have the top speed of the Z1. The H2 is said to be the bike which killed the British motorcycle industry.
Now you know where the current supercharged Ninja H2 name originated from.
It was sold alongside the Z1 until 1975.
Kawasaki Z1 (1972)
Kawasaki had planned to introduce an inline-Four 750 that year, too. Finding themselves beaten to the punch, the went back to the drawing boards and came out with the iconic Z1 in 1972.
The manufacturer upped the displacement to 900cc and added another camshaft to DOHC to take the fight to Honda, resulting in 81 bhp and a 212 km/h top speed. It was now the fastest production motorcycle.
In that same year, the Z1 set a new world FIM and AMA 24-hour endurance racing record on the Daytona racetrack. It covered a total of 4234 kilometres at an average speed of 176.45 km/h. And yes, it had 82.5 and 102 mm tyres, too.
The Z1 was voted by MCN readers as the “Machine of the Year” from 1973 to 1976, too.
BMW R90S (1973)
BMW R90S
BMW had an image problem prior to 1973. People came to regard their bikes as too gentlemanly. Think about a man in a smoking jacket with a pipe.
BMW knew they needed to change that. They employed a certain designer called Hans Muth to redo their bikes. Thus, the R90S was born.
It was the first production bike to feature a fairing, albeit on the headlamp only. It went on to win at Daytona in 1976. BMW issued a special two-tone Daytona Orange paint scheme to commemorate the victory.
Yamaha RD350 (1973)
It’s hard to believe that the later RD350LC began as such a staid-looking bike! The parallel-twin two-stroke featured piston port induction with reed valve. It also had the signature Yamaha Autolube automative two-stroke oil (2T) injection, which did away with having to manually mixing with gasoline in the fuel tank.
Suzuki RE5 (1974)
Oh yes, motorcycle manufacturers flirted with Wankel rotary engines before. A rotary engine was supposed to produce more horsepower per cc when compared to a piston engine engine of the same capacity.
But because it produced more heat (make that WAY more heat), the engine required a whole bunch of sub-systems to keep it cool. In fact, the exhaust temperature reached 930-degrees Celsius so the exhaust has four layers.
It made the bike heavy and overly complex, negating the power gains.
On top of that, that funky design by Giugiaro was roundly criticised.
Yamaha YZ250 (1974)
Scramblers were a huge thing in the 70s. Every manufacturer fought for honours in the dirt, including in Malaysia. The YZ250 went up against the offering from Honda and Suzuki.
Honda GL1000 Gold Wing (1975)
First, it had only four cylinders. Secondly, it was only 1000cc. Oh how you’ve grown.
Honda had wanted a flagship superbike due to the success of the CB750. The CB750 was already being called the “King of Superbikes” thus the new bike would be called the “King of Kings.” However, they couldn’t resort to another 750 since Kawasaki had upped the game by introducing a 900cc inline-Four.
However, when the design team learned that American riders were touring heavily, they decided to change the bike’s intended purpose to a comfortable long-distance runner.
The development team decided on a 1000cc, liquid-cooled, horizontally-opposed flat-four with a shaft final drive. That arrangement remain until today, although the current Gold Wing has an 1800cc horizontal-opposed flat-six.
BMW R100RS (1977)
BMW R100RS
An evolution of the R90S, the R100S was also designed by Hans Muth. It was the first production bike to use a full-fairing. It was this design that carried on until today.
Harley-Davidson XLCR (1977)
“CR” stood for cafe racer. It was rumoured that Willie G. Davidson had designed the XLCR from the XLCH (grandaddy of the Sporster) as his personal ride. But it was actually designed by three people. It did however, take on some of the styling cues of the company’s XR750 flat track racer.
Largely panned by critics back then, it has since become a collectors item.
Kawasaki Kz1000 (1977)
1977 Kz1000
The descendent of the Z1, the mighty Kz1000 was even faster. So much so it was the fastest production bike of its time. It proved to be so on the tracks too. A number of future 500cc legends road it to victories including Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner and Eddie Lawson.
Suzuki GS750 (1977)
Back then, people meant this bike when they spoke of the “GS.” It was Suzuki’s attempt to turn away from two-strokes and the start of the “GS-series.” Just like its UJM peers, it had a 750cc inline-Four four-stroke engine. It was the basis of all four-cylinder, four-stroke engines until the GSX-R was introduced.
The engine was mounted to a double cradle frame and the bike was lauded for its good handling characteristics.
Honda CBX/CBX1000 (1978)
Honda would fight back against Kawasaki with the CBX. It was as audacious as it was jaw-dropping.
It was fitted with a 1000cc, DOHC, 24-valve, inline-Six which was inspired by Honda’s six-cylinder RC racing motorcycles in the 60s. It produced 105 bhp, punching the 247 kg bike to 225 km/h. Honda regained the world’s fastest superbike crown.
Moto Guzzi 850 Le Mans (1976)
As we mentioned earlier about the 1971 V7 Sport, the 850 Le Mans sees its displacement upped to 850cc. It was the fastest and best-handling motorcycle at the time. It was named Le Mans after the famous racetrack and 24-hour endurance race. The 850 Le Mans is the most collectible Italian bike.
Valentino Rossi thinks Yamaha will be crazy if they don’t hold on to Fabio Quartararo.
Quaratararo’s contract with PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team ends at the end of 2020.
Moving up to the factory squad means he will replace either Rossi or Vinalez.
Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi says that Yamaha will be crazy if they do not hold on to MotoGP rookie sensation Fabio Quartararo from 2021 and beyond.
Speaking to autosport.com, Rossi says that Yamaha will “pull out all the stops” to make that happen. He added that it is very important that the factory retains Quartararo for the long term. It would mean a promotion to the full factory team in 2021, at the expense of either Rossi or Maverick Vinalez.
“I expected that he can be very fast, because he was always very fast from when he was young, but nobody expected like this,” said Rossi.
He added that that the Frenchman did something special and everybody would want him to ride for them.
“At 21 (years old) for sure Yamaha will want want Quartararo, if not it’s crazy.”
Quartararo has been the revelation of the 2019 season. His current form flies in the face of one-time critics who thought that it was a foolhardy for the PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team principal Dato’ Razlan Razali to have picked him over “other better riders.”
The French rider had not achieved much success in Moto2, except for a single win in Catalunya last year. His PETRONAS Yamaha SRT teammate Franco Morbidelli was the 2018 Moto2 champion, finishing way ahead in the championship.
However, he seemed to have found something which clicked in the satellite Yamaha and often finishing ahead of the factory riders. To date, he has scored four pole positions, finished on the podium five times and set two fastest laps.
Kawasaki reveals the name of the supercharged Z model.
It is called the Kawasaki Z H2.
The teaser video also revealed the bike’s silhouette.
The third teaser video for the Kawasaki supercharged “Z” model has been released, and the name of the bike – Kawasaki Z H2 – along with it.
The release of this model will expand both Kawasaki’s supercharged and Z naked bike lineups at one go.
The supercharged family currently consists of the H2R, H2, H2 SX and H2 SX SE. With the new Z H2, the lineup is complete with a track-only sportbike, sportbike, two sport-tourers with different trims and a supernaked.
Over in the Z-model naked bike family, it currently consists of bikes from 150cc all the way to 1000cc. We wonder what will become of the Z1000. Will Kawasaki develop another normally-aspirated model or will they supplant it with the Z H2?
The video also shows the bike’s silhouette for the first time. It doesn’t appear to be a H2 without bodywork, instead it looks like it evolved from the Z900. Check out the shapes of the headlight nacelle, flyscreen, fuel tank and tail section. Oh, it has higher handlebars, too.
The advent of the Z H2 is much anticipated as it will Japan’s inclusion into the supernaked category, which is so far dominated by European manufacturers namely Aprilia, BMW, Ducati, KTM, Triumph.
Ducati is set to unveil the Streetfighter V4, while KTM has also teased with a new Duke which we think is most likely the new 1290 Super Duke R. Triumph may also introduce a new more powerful and lighter Speed Triple.
It means that Kawasaki needs to show at least 180 bhp on the Z H2. 200 ponies is a possibility.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in the glorious age of horsepower wars!
We are inclined to believe it is the 2020 KTM 1290 Super Duke R.
Will we see a power increase in the face of upcoming new supernakeds?
Before we continue, we’d like to say, “Here’s another teaser video.” This time it’s from KTM with the hashtag #GetDuked. But certain frames in the teaser got us to believe that it’s going to be the new 2020 KTM 1290 Super Duke R.
Eagle-eyed viewers freezes certain frames in the video and pointed out that there were glimpses of a bike with a single-sided swingarm. That’s the dead giveaway for a 1290 Super Duke R, since a revised 1290 Super Duke GT had been introduced for this year.
The prototype 2020 KTM 1290 Super Duke R was spotted on a number of occasions. If the pictures are anything to go by, the new bike will have a new frame and subframe. The new bike’s frame looks more sparse, rather than taking on the appearance of a ladder. As for the new subframe, it resembles the aluminium one used on the 790 Duke.
We were thinking of either the rumoured 490 Duke or 890 Duke initially. But there’s still no confirmation if KTM is indeed working on these two.
This new bike will be unveiled on 5th November 2019, the opening day of EICMA.
But the most important question is probably whether we’ll see a power increase for the new 1290 Super Duke R. The model has held the title of the most powerful supernaked for many years. However, Ducati is set to introduce the Streetfighter V4 while Kawasaki has teased with a supercharged “Z” model which is a naked H2 in essence.
Alpinestars released the data from Marc Marquez’s crash at Buriram.
It recorded a peak of 26.14G.
Marquez would walk away and went on to win the race and championship.
There’ve been countless times in the past two years when riders walked away after suffering massive crashes. Marc Marquez crashed heavily at Buriram over the weekend, and was another saved by his Alpinestars airbag suit.
Marquez said that he had shut the throttle for Turn 7 on his out lap in FP1, causing the cold rear tyre to let go. The force of highside crash threw him high in the air before coming back down hard. He said he couldn’t breathe for five seconds immediately after. The trackside doctor even sent him to the hospital for CT scans to verify that he was indeed okay.
Alpinestars have released the crash data captured by the sensors in Marquez’s suit, just like after the crash involving Fabio Quartararo and Andrea Dovizioso at Silverstone not too long ago.
It’s immediately apparent that Marquez hit the ground at 26.16G. That’s 26.14 times the force of gravity. We’re not sure how much he weighs, but let’s assume it’s 80 kg. Thus 26.14 x 80 = 2091.2 kg. It means he hit the ground equivalent to weighing 2091.2 kg.
Remember that it’s not how one crashes, instead it’s how one stops in a crash that does the most damage.
Looking at the graph again, the sensors determined that Marquez was flying through the air, marked the spikes a fraction just before airbag deployment. The air bag inflated at 0.585 second before impact to cushion the blow.
Marc Marquez lived to see another day. In fact, he went on to post fastest times in practice and qualifying before winning the race and securing his eighth overall world title.
Kudos to the men and women who designed the technology.
The 2020 Kawasaki Ninja 650 has been revealed. Kawasaki revised its looks and added some new features to make it an even better value for money.
The biggest news is of course the new 4.3-inch TFT screen. But it is not just a pretty screen as it includes features that could be found on bigger (read: more expensive) bikes. There is the auto contrast feature; Bluetooth connectivity for music and phone calls; GPS navigation via connection to a phone app; and thankfully a gear position indicator.
Also new are the LED headlamps. Kawasaki also revised the fairing to match that of the Ninja 400 and Ninja ZX-6R, for a more familial resemblance.
Since the Ninja 650 is considered a beginners bike and would be used for basically everything, the manufacturer revised the passenger’s seat, too.
Last but not least, there are now sportier graphics, no doubt inspired by the World Superbike race team. The manufacturer and team are still flush from winning their fifth consecutive WorldSBK title.
The engine was left alone. The 648cc, DOHC, parallel-twin still produces 67 bhp and 66 Nm of torque. It still has plenty of low-RPM and midrange punch.
Hafizh Syahrin revealed that he will not have a salary while racing in Moto2 in 2020.
He now needs to look for sponsors to help with flight tickets, lodging and training.
The Angel Nieto Team targets a top five finish for Hafizh.
Just after we published the story about Hafizh Syahrin returning to the Moto2 category with the Angel Nieto Team in 2020, a reader alerted us that the rider will be racing without a salary.
Instead, Hafizh will be paid an incentive every time he achieves a podium result. The team set a top five target for the Malaysian, judging by his previous experience and exploits in the class. He had finished in the top six in the 2016 and 2017 seasons before being tapped for MotoGP.
The rider revealed his desire to keep pushing for the best despite riding without a salary during a press conference yesterday.
“I do not know the cost at the moment. I need to look for sponsors to pay for the flight tickets, lodging and training while overseas.”
Hafizh also thanked Sepang International Circuit CEO, Dato’ Razlan Razali for being the most helpful individual during his struggles at the Red Bull KTM Tech 3 Racing team. He also revealed that there could be a MotoGP slot the following year should he finish in the top five.
Also for the first time, he also told the assembled press about his frustration with KTM and the RC16.
“My machine package was very different to my teammate Miguel Oliveira’s. I did not receive what was promised by the team. I was using an engine from the early season that was not upgraded at all.,” he said.
It was a bitter pill for the rider who lost out the 2018 MotoGP Rookie title by just 4 points to Franco Morbidelli who in turn was the 2017 Moto2 champion.
The march of technology impacts motorcycles directly.
Future motorcycles will be better, faster and safer.
It goes without saying that motorcycles and anything motorcycle-related will keep improving. The relentless march of technology is brought on by the relentless need to outdo the competition and sell more bikes, driven by the relentless appetite of riders.
Many years ago, no one could even fathom the thought of ABS or traction control. Now we have lean-angle sensitive ABS and traction control.
Let’s take a look at what we can expect in the near future and leave the concepts out.
1. More power, better control
Bikes will become more and more powerful. It’s demanded by customers everywhere, no matter how you cut it. But gone are the days when power outstripped the bike’s ability to control it. Bikes will have better chassis, brakes, tyres. Carbon brakes on the road? Bring it on!
While only Honda equipped certain models in the past, almost all manufacturers are equipping their bikes with this tech. The application of VVT/VVL applies to sportbikes, sport tourers, dual-sport bikes, tourer and even scooters these days. The tech hasn’t found industry-wide application for more bikes yet but ever-toughening emissions regulations will push VVT/VVL to the fore.
BMW Shift Cam engine
3. Supercharger/turbo
Only Kawasaki is utilising the supercharger at the moment but it might just become widespread. Again, to overcome emission requirements, forced induction is one sure way to overcome loss of power. Forcing in more air results in cleaner emissions. Cars and trucks are already doing this. The biggest factor is cost, of course. Supercharging and turbocharging requires complex support systems and materials.
H2R’s supercharger
4. All-wheel drive
Driving both wheels for optimum traction isn’t a new concept. What has kept manufacturers away is cost and the weight penalty. But as materials can be made lighter and stronger (enter 3D printing), it could be applied sooner than one would think.
Homemade all-wheel drive system – Photo credit newatlas.com
5. Self-riding motorcycles
As traffic picks up the world over and increases traffic jams and the chances of accidents, future motorcycles will form a part of a network of vehicles. This idea is being pursued seriously by many manufacturers and technology firms as we speak. The vehicles will communicate with each other and a network. The network will determine the best course of action and regulates traffic flow. Look out for the introduction when 5G networks are up and fully operational.
6. Smart helmets
Some of these are already here. They integrate data such as speed, RPM, heading, among others. It’s hoped that they avoid needing the rider to look down at the instrument panel and keep their eyes on the road at all times.
7. Electric/hybrid motorcycles
This is inevitable. Even Ducati’s CEO said that the future is electric. There are already a (small) number of electric bikes but they are expensive at the moment. There’s also the concern about charging infrastructure, charging times and battery longevity and safety, not the least. But battery technology as well as the electronics governing them are progressing quickly.
Anyway, some current electric bikes are already as fast if not faster than petro-powered bikes.
8. Better electronics
It would seem that current electronics have reach their zenith. Think about it: The aforementioned ABS and traction control, in addition to ride modes, wheelie control, engine braking control, quickshifter, rear wheel lift mitigation, slide control, electronically-controlled suspension, etc. etc. But don’t be surprised that there will be more. At the moment, the systems will react faster given the increasing computing power.
Hafizh Syahrin will join the Angel Nieto team for Moto2 in 2020.
He will partner current Moto3 title contender Aron Canet.
The team hasn’t announced which chassis will they be running.
Hafizh Syahrin fans and Malaysians can breathe a sigh of relief as the rider will join the Angel Nieto Team for the Moto2 championship in 2020.
The announcement was made today.
Hafizh will partner Spanish rider and current Moto3 title contender Aron Canet, who will move up to the intermediate class.
The Malaysian began his world championship career in Moto2. He joined as a wildcard in 2011 before progressing to become a full-time rider in 2014. He showed a steady progress from that point, achieving a number of podiums and finished in the Top Ten in 2016 and 2017.
He received the call from Tech 3 Yamaha’s boss Herve Poncharal to join the MotoGP team in 2018, replacing Jonas Folger who was afflicted with an illness. He progressed well and was in contention for the MotoGP Rookie title until a couple of unfortunate crashes saw Franco Morbidelli clinch the title instead.
Hafizh moved together with the Tech 3 team when they migrated to KTM. Unfortunately, he found it difficult to adapt to the KTM RC16 as did his ex-Tech 3 teammate and two-time Moto2 champion Johann Zarco. KTM announced bringing in Brad Binder to replace Hafizh in 2020, midway through the season. Zarco, on the other hand, pleaded for the team to rescind his 2020 contract. He was then removed from the team for the remainder of the 2019 season.
Although Hafizh spent a number of seasons in Moto2, he will find himself returning to bikes with different engine (Triumph) and chassis. The team didn’t announce which chassis will the opt for, since KTM will pull out of the 2020 Moto2 season.
There are four new colours for the 2019 Yamaha Ego Avantiz.
The model has been sold since 2016.
It continues to be popular among Malaysia motorcyclists.
Mention the name “Yamaha” in the small motorcycle segment and the Ysuku (Y15ZR) is the first model that comes to mind. Truth is, other models sell just as well. That’s why Hong Leong Yamaha Motor (HLYM) has just rolled out new colours for the 2019 Yamaha Ego Altiz.
Launched in 2016, the Ego Avantiz is the most popular twist-and-go scooter in its segment despite the onslaught of competitors.
The Yamaha is powered by a 125cc, air-cooled, SOHC engine which utilises Yamaha’s Blue Core set of solutions for optimum operational. The criteria include efficiency in cooling, low friction and lubrication. Consequently, the engine produces more power and torque while minimising fuel consumption and emissions.
Yamaha scooters always feature lots of storage space and the Ego Avantiz has a 14-litre underseat storage capacity.
Additionally, this model pioneered the use of LED headlamps and taillamp in its segment.
More importantly, the bike has a low seat height, making it accessible to anyone. But most important of all is its very affordable price.
So, it’s easy to see why the bike is still popular among Malaysian motorcyclists. As such, HLYM introduced four new colours for the 2019 Yamaha Ego Avantiz.
They are Blue, Cyan, Grey and Red. Pricing remains unchanged at RM 5,536 (basic sales price and not on-the-road). They will be available from this month onwards.
