Yamaha/Star Vmax:Good news is that Yamaha's questionnaire shows that there is no doubt what the public wants. Anything below 200 horsepower will not cut it with buyers. France was one of the great markets for the original Vmax and it was a commercial success. The new Vmax is most likely to become a 2009 model now. In France everyone still have to settle for a pitiful 100 horsepower version. Can you imagine this? Yamaha will launch its most powerful production model ever, and the French motorcyclists have to settle with less than half of that power.

Claudine Maffiolo at Yamaha France told me that they have no information regarding the timing or the reason for delay. But they have big expectations still for the Vmax in France despite the cap on power. At the Paris exhibition in 2007 everyone asked about the Vmax, Maffiolo said. I asked Maffiolo whether French motorcyclists would complain about being robbed of all that V4 power. "Nobody will complain because in France these are the rules. The previous Vmax was big in France, but in France there are big safety issues regarding powerful motorcycles." Whilst we feel sorry for the French biker, we move over to the UK where motorcyclists will get the full spec version.