Mattie660

Devastating combination I would think, if the Ducati is running faultlessly. I can see Lorenzo getting despondent though, if there are troubles with it.

On my old Suzuki V-Strom i used to tie a normal hiking backpack along the length of the rear seat and tail. There was not enough room then for a Top Case, but it worked fine. The tent was strapped to the bottom of the rucksack, just like it would have done if you were hiking. But rather strap the rucksack to the bike rather than wear it The good thing about the VFR is that it is easy to load side cases, or soft throw over bags - which are quite cheap. Then a roll bag above that. That gives plenty of carrying capacity. I have also found that the difference in packing size is not relative to the amount of time - that is a week camping requires essentially the same amount of stuff as a two or even three week camping trip. The big difference is between trips staying only in Motels, versus camping trips.

Walk into jewellery store: I would like to buy a fine watch . Would you like to look at Rolex, or Breitling perhaps ? No, I want to look at the range of CVSTOSS watches please . CVSTOS ? Yes, particularly the ugly one with somebody else's name on it - has to be bright horrible colour, and be almost useless for telling the time - oh, and nothing under fifteen big ones. . CVSTOS ? Yes. (some things just make me laugh !)

Excuse me, have you got the time - er, yes it is 93 No, I mean what is the time by your watch ? - yes, 93 Thanks.

Fireblade is tricky one to beat. I read that in 2014 one third of all sales of sports bikes over 1000 cc were Honda Fireblades, and at the end of the day it is about sales. On the Gen 8 forum here I have seen quite a few comments about pricing of the Gen 8, and it does boil down to cost - and not relative cost like arguing between a Ferrari and Porsche when you cannot afford either. So I can imagine anything new will be about cost, otherwise it will not sell. I notice that the Yamaha MT range have been huge sellers, probably a lot to do with what you get for their bargain price. Yamaha sold more MT range of bikes than BMW sold bikes in total, and Yamaha's new R1 is not particularly expensive either. So while we bitch about wanting the trickest latest high tech, it is most definitely with both eyes on the price tag.

I did this by using the fuse box under the seat. I pulled out the fuse for the headlights and put the positive wire in there, then put the fuse back in. The negative was wired to the (-) battery terminal. It then comes on and off with the ignition.

MCN - "Stoner set for sensational MotoGP return...with Ducati" Big picture article of Casey's return to MotoGP, as a test rider and wildcard entry. "Having Stoner involved will no doubt accelerate that development programme even further by putting one of the sharpest racing brains on the planet in the heart of their team." MCN - Nov 18 2015 Page 66. Honda can have Marquez, and good luck with all the falling off, and Ducati get Stoner. Best of luck to Ducati and Stoner for 2016.

No dude they completely change the bike from 2015 to 2016. Talking about sponsorship, not performance. My argument that it is difficult to raise sponsorship because Dorna is controlling tightly the TV rights. My argument is that this means sponsors do not get the exposure that they want, and so are not prepared to pay the high price, just to advertise to a smaller audience. I used Suzuki as the example, to show they had few sponsors, and the sponsors for 2016 are more or less the same as 2015. It follows that if sponsorship money is difficult to get, then big sponsors will have more of a say in what goes on in the team. This is my whole argument.

^^ There does not appear to be much difference from last (2015) season. Motul have been involved with Suzuki for many many years. Michelin, has replaced Bridgestone as tyre provider for the series. And Suzuki's own brand of motor oil will be their Title Sponsor. Maybe there is just more value in advertising themselves, rather than accepting a few $$$ to advertise someone else. I notice that the bikes in World Superbikes seem to be covered in sponsorship adverts.

I was reading that the current TV arrangements were causing concern for some sponsors, because I believe Dorna sells exclusive TV rights for coverage of MotoGP. This means that sponsors pay a lot of money to advertise to a small exclusive audience. Could this be why we have seen Suzuki has no major sponsor other than its own brand of motor oils ECSTAR ? Aleix Espargaro, Assen TT 2015

Tickets not on sale yet, but looking at maybe Mugello GP which is on 22 May. It seems you have to get in quick to get the best tickets ! Provisional calendar published on the MotoGP website: motogp.com Round Date Grand Prix Venue 1 20/03 Qatar Losail International Circuit 2 03/04 Argentina Termas de Río Hondo 3 10/04 Americas Circuit Of The Americas 4 24/04 Spain Jerez de la Frontera * 5 08/05 France Le Mans 6 22/05 Italy Mugello 7 05/06 Catalunya Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya 8 26/06 Netherlands TT Assen 9 10/07 Germany Sachsenring 10 17/07 Great Britain Silverstone 11 14/08 Austria Red Bull Ring 12 21/08 Czech Republic Brno * 13 11/09 San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini Misano 14 25/09 Aragon MotorLand Aragon 15 09/10 Malaysia Sepang International Circuit 16 16/10 Japan Twin Ring Motegi 17 23/10 Australia Phillip Island 18 06/11 Valencia Comunitat Valenciana - Ricardo Tormo

I prefer Stoner to Marquez. Stoner won a World Title on a Ducati - very cool. Apart from his riding ability Stoner always talked a good fight as well. I felt you could learn something by listening to him, his race analysis. Honda probably got more useful feedback from Stoner than they do from Marquez, granted that is just speculation on my part. I do not know how much influence the sponsors have on the teams. Two Spanish riders on the Repsol Honda team, coincidence ? hmm. Maybe Honda feel that they can sell bikes all over the world, and the nationality of the riders and sponsors do not matter. Perhaps that was the case, but now the cat is out of the bag, or at least suspicions have been raised because of 2015 season. So Honda had better be careful otherwise their reputation will suffer. So come on Stoner, get back in there. And glad the same rules will apply to all the bikes in the same race.

Has the 2016 MotGP World Champion been chosen yet ?

Contracts have been signed for 2016, but could they still be changed at this late date ? it seems there is an option in the contracts for Jorge and Yamaha to part company even now. In a TV interview Yamaha MotoGP boss said "very disappointed in Jorge Lorenzo" http://www.marca.com/en/2015/11/04/en/more_sports/1446667166.html It would be brilliant if they did ask him to hop it, clear off !

Yamaha will take on the forces of darkness that have shadowed the end of the 2015 season, and the force will be with them. ........and Lorenzo will be sacked from Yamaha.