#Yamaha

Nature abhors a vacuum. On a day when Marc Marquez uncharacteristically slid out of the mix, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi stepped up to fill it. With an Italian icon and two Ducatis on the podium, it was another great day to be Italian. (Even if they don’t exactly have a government at present.) The 2018 standings have tightened up to some extent. Enough, at least, to hold our attention for a few more rounds.

To be honest, I didn’t pay any more attention when Yamaha announced it would actually produce the Niken than I do to the unicorns that occasionally wander into the back yard as I’m semi-dozing on the patio after a nightcap. Fanciful creatures of the imagination. But I snapped to fully woke when the invite came in over the email transom to come to Austria and ride the thing. What, it actually exists? Sure, why not?

It’s a question we get all the time at Motorcycle.com: What should I get as a first bike? Well, there isn’t just one answer to this question, as different people have different wants, needs, and desires in their first motorcycle. We’re lucky to live in a time where, no matter what kind of riding you’re into, there’s a lightweight, beginner-friendly machine just for you. Here, we’ll give you our take on the 10 best beginner motorcycles available today.

The 30th running of the Grand Prix de France at Le Mans – Round 5, for those of you keeping score at home – arrives at a critical time for the factory Yamaha team. Both Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales have been struggling with the YZR-M1 this year, searching in vain for feeling in the front and grip in the rear. Le Mans has been très Yamaha-friendly of late, M1s having gone three-for-three since 2015. Sunday would be a really good time for a replay.

Kids say the darndest things, don’t they? They also ask some great questions, often when you least expect it. That’s just what happens here, when factory Yamaha MotoGP riders Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales are interviewed by 12 year-old fan Hayes Edwards. Wait, Edwards? As in Colin Edwards? Yep, we’re talking about the offspring of the Texas Tornado, having a sit down with two of the fastest riders in the world – and honestly, we’re impressed with his questions and composure!

Today’s Red Bull Grand Prix de España served as a vivid reminder that in the premier class of MotoGP there is Marc Marquez, and then there are a bunch of other riders. We are clearly living in the heart of The Marquez Era in MotoGP, which appears likely to extend into the future as far as the eye can see. With the best rider in our generation astride the best bike on the grid, in mid-career, an air of inevitability has settled over the 2018 championship.

While we eagerly await the final production version of the Ténéré 700, Yamaha is taking its prototype on an international “World Raid” tour with professional racers and brand ambassadors putting the 689cc adventure bike to the test.

With but eight points separating the top five riders, MotoGP storms into Jerez on fire, happy to be back in Europe, the contenders looking for a little separation as Round Four is upon us. Jerez is one of those beloved tracks – along with places like Mugello, Assen and Valencia – where riders aspire to join the great ones. With almost a dozen legitimate podium threats starting the race, of which only four have ever won here (in the premier class), the odds of a fifth rider from this grid finishing Sunday standing on the top step of the podium has never been better. Paging Cal Crutchlow.

The 2018 edition of the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas will not be remembered as one of the best tilts of all time. Truthfully, it might not make the Top 100. But for defending world champion Marc Marquez, today’s walk in the park restored some order in the championship and washed away the ashes of Argentina. The series, picking up speed, now heads for Europe with the top five riders separated by eight points. Tight as tree bark.

There seems to be much doom and gloom in the motorcycle industry surrounding the state of sportbikes these days. We keep hearing about dropping sales and shifting consumer interest, which will combine to turn the sportbike as we know it into a museum piece one day, gone the way of the Dodo bird.

Now that we’ve had 10 days to assess the Argentinian misadventure, a consensus seems to have formed around the BS being widely peddled by a petulant Valentino Rossi that Repsol Honda head case Marc Marquez should be put in front of an Italian firing squad and summarily executed. Marquez, it is true, may need to reconsider his approach to racing. This weekend could offer the opportunity he needs for a solitary retreat off by himself for a while, to ruminate on the sport and his place in it, and take the checkered flag when he’s done.

Right now would be a pretty good time to forget most everything you thought you learned two weeks ago in the Arabian Peninsula. This week the sadists at Dorna take us from the desert to the jungle. From them sizzling wide open man-made Qatari spaces to a grueling, tighter Argentinian layout hacked out of triple canopy, deep in the humid heart of nowhere. Marquez and the factory Yamahas like this place.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past two decades, the name Valentino Rossi should be a household name to motorcyclists worldwide. So beloved is “The Doctor” that the joke is Valentino is the hometown favorite at every race on the calendar. The truth is Rossi hails from a small town in Italy called Tavullia – a stone’s throw away from the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Rossi has single-handedly put Tavullia on the map and still calls the place home. If ever someone could be labeled a hometown hero, Rossi is it. In this video, we get a taste of just what the nine-time champion means to Tavullia and how much the locals cherish him.

There was some discussion as to whether Motorcycle.com should even cover eBikes, an indecision that got thrown out the window when we realized we were talking about not just any bicycle builder, but Yamaha – and also that we had the opportunity to have the inimitable Mark Cernicky sample the four new Yamaha eBikes on MO’s behalf. Long before he became the guy who starred in all the Cycle World hero shots and videos up until a few years ago, Sir Nicky was a pro skateboarder and BMX guy.

Yamaha officially introduced the TY-E electric trial bike, announcing an official factory effort in the 2018 FIM Trial-E Cup. The announcement, made at the 2018 Tokyo Motorcycle Show, confirms what we suspected when we first reported on Yamaha’s trademark filing for the TY-E name. Unfortunately, Yamaha did not announce any plans to sell the TY-E, instead Yamaha will be racing it, with All Japan Trial Championship factory rider Kenichi Kuroyama set to compete with it in the 2018 FIM Trial-E Cup.