GuzziMoto

Marc Marquez is clearly a special talent. I don't like him, he races like he doesn't give a shit about the safety and well being of the other guys on the track with him. In fact he has shown a tendency to go out of his way to make contact with other guys on track, likely to establish his dominance over them. It is something that the late Dale Earnhardt perfected. But that aside, you can't deny his talent. He can do things other guys can't do. I don't think we will ever see him dominate like he did in the past. Put him on the same bike as everyone else, a bike that is not as hard to ride as the Honda was, and he will only be as fast as the other top guys. I don't see him able to go that much faster then someone like Pecco when he is on the same bike as Pecco. But he will certainly give Pecco a run for his money. And if Pecco is able to beat him on the same bike that will say a lot about the skill of Pecco. But if Marc beats Pecco everyone will say "of course he won, he is Marc Marquez". Everyone will put all the credit on Marc if Marc wins, so I don't see why Ducati wanted him on their bike. They would have had the potential for much more credit to them if Marc went to KTM and Pecco still beat Marc. Pecco beating one of the all time greats on a KTM would have made Ducati and Pecco look great. Now no outcome will really make Ducati look good, if Pecco wins, Pecco looks awesome. And if Marc wins, everyone says that Marc is one of the all time greats, of course he won. The biggest question now is where does that third current spec bike go and where does Fermin Aldeguer go. I would assume they are going to the same place, but at this point I don't want to assume anything. Prior to Pramac leaving Ducati the word was Fermin would go there and take one of their current spec bikes. But was Ducati really required to give him a current spec bike? If so, he would have to go where ever that third current spec bike goes. And so Ducati would need to sweeten that pot to get someone to take the rookie AND put the rookie on their only current spec bike they get. That would be, I would think, a hard sell.

You can get one way valves that go at the bleeder, some of them are even a replacement for the bleeder with a one way valve built in. The ones I have used in the past were inexpensive one way valves from a tropical fish store that I throw away after I am done. They are not made to withstand brake fluid, so it tends to destroy them. But they last more then long enough to do the job. With a one way valve you can pump the master cylinder all you want, just make sure the reservoir doesn't run out of fluid. But it is easier then cracking the bleeder and tightening it, then cracking it, then tightening it.

I prefer speeding up the process with a vacuum pump. But my favorite way is to pressure bleed, where you force fluid into the reservoir and from there through the system. That pushes the fluid and any air present out the bleeder. Applying a vacuum to the system can in some cases suck air into the system, which is opposite to what you are trying to do.

By the way, the 2023 spec Ducati had chatter issues last year, leaving the guys on 2022 spec Ducati's at an advantage in the early part of the season until the factory figured out how to deal with that chatter. It seems that they are possibly back in that hole again, with the riders on the 2023 spec bikes again dealing with the bike not liking the tires, even though supposedly little has changed. Makes you wonder how much of fixing the issue last year was in the set up of the bikes and how much of it was the riders changing what they were doing. And it would seem that Marc has already adapted, he has already figured out how to change what he is doing to make it work.

Yes, the math favors running three current spec 2025 factory Ducati's next year and three 2024 spec bikes. That means one of this years bikes will not be used, but that is no big deal. That is bound to happen either way, whether it is one 2024 bike not being used or two 2024 spec bikes not being used. Their issue will be that they are supposedly obligated to provide a 2025 spec bike to Fermin Aldeguer, which means that they would require the team that they give that single 2025 spec factory bike to run Fermin Aldeguer on it instead of their own rider. I would be surprised to see VR46 take that deal, although maybe Gresini would take the deal if they sweeten it by dramatically reducing what they charge Gresini for leasing their bikes. Where as VR46 would likely be willing to pay more to lease current spec factory bikes, they would only do so if they get one for their rider. If they only get one 2025 bike and have to put a rider Ducati signed a deal with on it they really have no incentive to take that deal as they get little out of it. Also factoring into the math is Yamaha and KTM will be running 4 2025 spec factory bikes next year while Ducati seem to be saying, as per Digi, that they will only run three 2025 spec bikes next year. I did not know Digi said that when I suggested they might do that, but it seems that is what they are planning on. That makes sense from a number point of view but it may hurt them from a performance point of view. Yes, I have heard about the testing being done with the new front tire, and I have heard about how they are 3D printing the rear tire. It is very cool tech. Not sure it is the best tech, as they still seem to have QC issues, some tires are not as good as others. But that has always been true with the Michelins, and no doubt this 3D printing is an effort to cure their QC issues. But, as mentioned, the official stance is still that the new front tire they are testing is for use in 2025, and for 2024 they say all they did was update a compound of the old design with rubber that is between the medium and hard tire. Simon Crafer is a great guy, and a good source of info. But I have not seen any info that says the new front tire design is already being used in races. The interesting thing to me about the Michelin tires in MotoGP is that the tire compound seems to directly effect the construction of the tire. Normally the tire is made from two different rubber compounds, the carcass of the tire would be one compound and the tread another. But with these Michelins it seems like the rubber compound of the tread is also the rubber compound of the construction, and a soft compound tire has a softer carcass while a harder compound tire also has a harder carcass. That is not the way it used to be. That results in a difference in the way the tire works far beyond the difference in the grip of the tire between different compounds.

Ducati would have a hard time running two current spec factory bikes and four last years spec factory bikes. That math does not work. You can't provide more of last years spec bikes then you have left over. I would think either VR46 will get the two bikes Pramac is giving up (they previously tried to get current spec factory bikes, so they seem to feel they have the finances to make it happen) or possibly VR46 would get one and Gresini would get the other. It is also possible that Ducati would move to providing three current spec factory bikes next year, leaving them with three last years spec bikes the following year. That math would work, but I can't see VR46 taking only one current spec bike and giving it to the rookie Fermin Aldeguer. I could see Gresini doing that, though. I could see them taking one current spec bike and putting Fermin Aldeguer on it for Ducati. For some reason Ducati apparently made a deal with Fermin Aldeguer to put him on a current spec factory bike in his first season in MotoGP. That was stupid. And a waste of a factory bike. But Ducati has been making some questionable decisions lately. I have heard about the new Michelin front tire in the works, but everything I have read says that it is coming in 2025. From what I have heard, this year all they introduced was new compounds for the same tires they have run for a few years. But it does seem that the 2023 Ducati does not like the 2024 tires, unless you are Marc Marquez.

Issues come into play when people breaking the law get overly cocky and start publicly bragging about what they are doing in an effort to gather more business. The EPA generally doesn't go after individual owners, but they will go after companies selling illegal modifications. And if you are doing something illegal you probably should keep quiet and discrete about it. But when you are rolling in money I guess it is easy to forget that what you are doing to make all that money is illegal. The good thing is, with progress the stock tunes are getting better and better, and the need to actually tune a motor, even after mods like exhaust and intake mods, is becoming less and less.

As Pete mentioned, the stock pipes are stainless steel, not chrome. Stainless is stainless, not stain free. Both Stainless and chrome tend to discolor based on heat. You can polish out that coloring if you want, but it will come back when it gets hot again. The color it goes to is directly related to the temperature it gets. You can cheat that effect by heating stainless or chrome with a torch, making it turn colors based on how hot you get it with the torch. No idea why you would do that, but I have seen people do that. There are even mufflers sold that achieve the same effect by heating the parts to a certain temp gradient to make the parts color a certain way. The stock front pipes between the engine and the collector are double walled, that is why the stock Griso head pipes are so oversize looking, that makes them less sensitive to temp as the double wall acts like insulation. It is much the same as if you have one of those nice YETI drinking cups. You can fill it with hot tea and the outside will stay cool to the touch. It would also affect the hot exhaust gases in the pipe, keeping them hotter longer. But that has been proven to be such a minor difference it really does not matter. But it does reduce the heat the engine gives off, which can't hurt when riding on a hot day. Just don't expect miracles. Hot is hot.

Sucks to be them. Word is Yamaha is giving them bikes for free and paying their riders salaries. So all they have to pay for is the day to day expenses of running the team. The big ticket costs are being covered by Yamaha. But who wants to be one of their riders? Mostly they are going to be looking for guys who are well past their sell by date and on their way down or new guys who may not really deserve a seat. And I would think their sponsors will be looking for the door, they were paying their money to sponsor a team that is running at the front and challenging for the title. Starting next year that will come to an end and they will likely be fighting to not be last. Who wants to pay good money to sponsor that? At a minimum they would likely be willing to pay a lot less, if they even want to continue at all. And sponsorship is generally where teams make their money.

The 8V Griso gets less mpg then the 2V Griso it replaced, I commonly got 45 - 48 mpg with my 2V Griso. You seem to get decent mpg, better then most report. But that can come down to how you ride. If you rode a 2V Griso the way you ride an 8V Griso I suspect you would be in the upper 40's to 50 mpg. The 2V Griso and 8V Griso are pretty close to exactly the same size motorcycle, they should get the same fuel mileage. Some would say the 8V Griso should get less fuel mileage as it makes more power. But that would only hold true if you were riding it in a way that uses that extra power. At 70 mph going down the road both the 2V and 8V would need almost exactly the same amount of power to go down the road. To make the same amount of power the 8V motor uses more fuel, and thus gets worse fuel mileage. I think two things offer a clue as to why that is the case. The 8V Griso does not seem to like free flowing exhausts. It seems to have a lot of valve overlap and without enough restriction in the exhaust air and fuel goes into and straight out of the combustion chamber. That wasted air and fuel does not make power but it does reduce fuel mileage and contribute to poor running. And even with a more restrictive exhaust system the motors is not as fuel efficient as the 2V motor, and that is usually indicative of an inferior combustion chamber shape, which results in needing more fuel to make the same amount of power. Of course, as I mentioned, all that being so I would still take an 8V Griso over the 2V version, as I am not buying a motorcycle for purely logical reasons. It is for fun, and I think the 8V version would be more fun. As mentioned, I bought mine long before the 8V version was a thing. And other then the tappet fiasco with the first version of the 8V motor I would rather have the power of the 8V. To make this even further into the weeds, and to rattle Pete, I will mention that when they showed the protype of the Griso it had the 4V motor of the Daytona and Centauro. And that is the motor I really wanted in my Griso. I was disappointed that by the time they released the Griso it had basically the V11 Sport motor. I really wanted the 4V motor. My Daytona is so cool to ride. The motor has a feel that other Guzzi's don't, it has a feel like a hot rod tractor.

Most modern cars and motorcycles have that feature. Most anything that runs an O2 sensor has it, some better then others. My Buell ran a Weber / Marelli fuel injection system, and it did it very well. In fact, most vehicles today will use the O2 sensor input to adjust back out any fueling corrections you make, hence the BMW tech telling Tomchri that he can correct the fueling but it won't last. I know the PC6 has the ability to use the O2 sensor input, but to do so you must disable the O2 sensor input on the original ECU. I have that set up on my Griso. I give the PC target air fuel ratios and it adjusts the fueling for me. The original ECU does that but it does not allow me to pick what target air fuel ratio it is adjusting to, it only targets the air fuel ratio it was told to target from the factory, which is an air fuel ratio chosen to meet emissions standards while delivering the best throttle response and power it can. But the primary factor there was emissions, because first and foremost the bike has to meet emissions. I wonder if the UpMap allows you to adjust those targets. I know the PC can't, but the Up Map looks like it can write to the original ECU. But if it can do that it should mean you don't need the PC6. But the UpMap site seems very light on details, and I am not going to put any real effort into learning what it does and how it does it. It is hard to balance "best emissions" with best running. Most internal combustion engines make the least emissions they can with a slightly lean mixture while they make best power and best throttle control with a mixture on the rich side. Part of that is because while we think of rich and lean mixtures as a single thing, the mixture is either rich, lean, or right in the middle, reality is that in the combustion chamber parts of it are rich, parts of it are lean, and some of it may very well be right in the middle. The air and fuel in the combustion chamber are virtually never homogenous. Lots of effort go into trying to design the intake and combustion chamber to mix the air and fuel as well as possible. But it is hard to get the air and fuel to fully mix. So if I only add exactly the right amount of fuel for the amount of air in the combustion chamber some of it is going to be clumped together still at the time of ignition, creating some areas with more fuel then the air in that area can burn. But that means that in other areas there will be too little fuel for how much air is there and that results in those areas being lean. Trying to balance that out is tricky.

I don't understand why you would need both. But II am not up to date on the V85TT. It could be the difference between closed loop and open loop running. The V85TT would run in both modes at different times, depending on a couple factors. The PC6 should easily allow you to adjust fueling in open loop mode. Perhaps the UpMap would allow you to adjust fueling in closed mode. Beyond that I don't get why you would need both. That said, if I had a V85TT and was upgrading it like exhaust upgrades I would do the upgrade and see how it ran before spending money on anything to correct fueling. If the Fuel Injection system is decent it should correct the fueling without any extra effort. Christ, back in 2001 I had a Buell that you could watch correct fueling when you freed up the exhaust, ride it and the fueling would adjust within a few miles, smoothing out and getting crisp. The exhaust pipe I ran was a SuperTrap tune-able disc muffler and I could add or subtract discs to vary the back pressure. The O2 sensor would feed the data to the ECU and the ECU would adjust the fueling tables. Even the part of the fueling table that was open loop would adjust based on the O2 sensor readings the same way the fueling tables adjusted for changes in the air pressure reading or air temp reading. That was back in 2001, if they aren't at least as good as that now I am disappointed. So I would do whatever it is you are planning on doing and ride it to see how it runs. The V11 Sport may have needed fueling help, but by now they should be past that I would think.

Well played. Funny story about red vs orange. Among friends we have the term "Scooter orange". Scooter is a friend, and he would paint his racebike what he called orange. It was red, but he insisted it was orange. So we would call reds like that "Scooter orange". His red / orange was something of a tomato red, funnier because he hated tomatoes. But there will always be a grey area between red and orange. Often times it can come down to the light at the time. But I do like your orange Griso.....

That is a nice looking Griso for an insane amount of money unless that is some other version of dollars, maybe Canadian dollars. I guess you can ask for however much you want, doesn't mean you will get it. But you never know, there is always someone willing to pay more then I would. I would rather buy an 8V Griso given the choice. But I already own a 2V Griso and it is great. I just think more power would make it even better. To be fair, I am not super impressed with the 8V motor, I think they made some mistakes in the engineering of it. Evidence of that is in the tappet / cam failures of the original flat tappet versions and in the poor fuel mileage of all 8V Griso's. But given the choice I would still prefer an 8V version if I were buying one today. But even if I was buying a 2V Griso I would steer clear of one that is a collection of parts like the one posted above unless it was so cheap as to make it disposable. Maybe 2 or 3 grand for it, something that I would be willing to write off if it comes to it. But I reckon everyone's "disposable" threshold is different. For over $4,000 I would expect a better example. But whatever I am thinking, I would not let color play a deciding factor unless it was between two comparable examples.

Bikes are fairly cheap to paint. I would buy the mechanically better option. If you need it to be a particular color that is easy enough to do. You could not pay me to have that red 2V Griso, especially given the weird back-story of it. It is a hodge-podge of parts off different Griso's it seems, down to the wheels. But then I like the orange and black 2013 you also pictured. I like that color scheme.

I don't understand why Pramac would leave Ducati and sign with Yamaha. Who would want the Yamaha on the grid. The Yamaha factory team has to run them, why would any other team run them by choice? If Pramac were truly pissed off at Ducati for how they treated them it would seem signing to run a pair of KTMs would be smarter, and I am sure KTM would make them a good deal. But many media outlets are reporting Pramac's defection to Yamaha as a done deal. Although it is not official yet. If Pramac does bail, whomever gets the factory Ducati's that frees up would likely also end up with Aldeguer. Ducati is supposedly obligated to put him on one of the factory bikes, so their factory bikes would come with him as one of the riders. That would work well if VR46 gets the two factory bikes, as they would be able to take FA as well. I think Ducati messed up signing him so soon, but everyone seems really anxious to sign up anyone who might be the next great talent. Look at KTM and their huge score with Pedro Acosta. That worked great. But for everyone that is a win like that there are more that are a fail. I hope Acosta wins Assen. As to Toprak, I think a lot of speculation is being added on top of reality. It sounds to me like Toprak is trying to push BMW into entering MotoGP.

Yeah, the modern 2V heads can all use the same valve covers. I swapped the valve covers on my 2V Griso for an aftermarket set made for V11 Sports and the like. It never occurred to me to swap a set of Griso valve covers on to a V11 Sport, I never really liked the look of the valve covers on the 2V Griso. But to each their own I reckon.... @p6x, Yeah, what you are posting as what they said doesn't make sense. There may be something lost in translation. A 2013 Griso could only have an 8V motor from the factory. In fact, there was never a point when you could get a Griso from Moto Guzzi with a choice of 2V motor or 8V motor. They made the 2V Griso for the first couple years of production and then switched to the 8V Griso. The standard solid red Griso pictured above clearly has a 2V motor in it. Is it a motor from a 1200 Sport? I don't know, could be. But it is clearly not a motor from a 2013 Griso, that would have been an 8V motor, the valve covers would look like the orange and black Griso also pictured above. As Pete said, you could swap a 2V motor into a Griso that originally came with an 8V motor, or vice versa. But it would require a fair amount of work with lots of other little bits also needing to be swapped out as part of the swap. Often with swaps like that it is the details that get you. I am a big fan of the Griso, on my 2V Griso all I needed was a different set of handlebars as the stock bars had a weird bend to them. Once that was resolved I found the bike super comfortable and remarkably fast. For me it is a couch of a bike that handles great and goes fast. A true GT bike. It almost seems wrong for a couch to go that fast. I would happily buy a newer 8V Griso, as long as it is a roller motor. And 2013 and newer are roller motors, but it is easy enough to confirm. The 8V motor has more power, and that is a good thing. The 2V motor is no slouch, but the chassis can clearly handle more.

The 2007 model Griso's in the USA were only made with the 2 VPC 1100cc motor. They started selling them in 2006, but called them 2007 model year bikes. After a couple years of that they switched over to the new 1200 8V motor. There was also a 2VPC 1200 motor, but that was never offered in a Griso. If that Griso really has a motor from a 1200S it may be a case of someone blowing up the motor and finding a rebuilt 1200S motor to replace it with. But why the original 1100 motor blew up or why the 1200S motor it was replaced with needed rebuilding would be a scary question you probably don't want to know the answer to. There is no good answer for why such a young Guzzi motor needs rebuilding. Your best saving grace is probably that whatever caused those two motors to fail isn't really important to you, all that matters to you is that the person rebuilding the 1200S motor knew what they were doing and did a good job. Is the question here which one of those two Griso's would be the one to buy? If so, I would say mechanically the newer 8V bike has the better engine for power but the older engine is probably more fuel efficient and reliable. The first gen of 8V motor had serious mechanical issues but by 2015 they had pretty much resolved all that so the newer one should have a better motor, but there is something to be said for the stone axe simple motor in the first gen. But if that motor is not the motor it came with and has been meddled with all bets are off. I would pick the newer 8V Griso between those two. As to the name of the color, the first one, the 2V one, is red while the second one I would say is orange (not red). It didn't start out as red and fade to that color, it was always that semi-flat orange. They offered the SE version in a couple different interesting colors like that. For example in 2013 you could get an SE in a silver/black combo with the same design but what was orange on that one was silver. I don't think that orange color was ever offered for the 2V Griso. As mentioned, it is a little confusing with the various big block options from the CARC days. The original Griso in the USA only came in a two valve per cylinder layout. They made an 1100cc and 850cc version of that two valve per cylinder motor, but I have never seen an 850 version in the USA (they may be here, but I never saw one). Then they switched to the 8V motor, meaning four valves per cylinder. They called it an 8 valve motor likely to differentiate it from the older 4 valve per cylinder designs like the Daytona and Lario. So, a 2V motor has two valves per cylinder while the 8V motor has four valves per cylinder. The SE designation was not referring to the motor but rather labeling the model a Special Edition, or SE. It had fancy paint and wire wheels as I recall, but motor wise it was the same 8V motor used in other Griso's of that year. Mainly with Griso's in the US there are the 1100cc 2V motors that they originally came with for the first couple years and then after that they switched to the 8V motors. You can typically tell which are which by looking at the cylinder heads / valve covers. I am pretty sure in Pete's picture his red Griso is an 8V 1200 motor while the black Griso next to his is an earlier 2V 1100cc motor. Interesting side note, the first gen Griso with the 1100cc 2V motor can use earlier 2V valve covers from the V11 Sport era. Where as the 8V motors use a completely different valve cover that is in no way interchangeable with the earlier motors.

Rumor has it Aprilia signed Marco Bezzecchi for next year to replace Mav. Should be good. Looking forward to Assen this coming weekend.

You may be able to make the cable work with only one angle-drive if you only have one working angle drive. I seem to recall some V11's did not come with an angle-drive at the transmission. The angle-drive at the transmission helps with the cable routing, but it may not be required. And the angle-drives do tend to be a failure point. But I could be wrong, I am pretty old.

Yeah, the inner cable only slides in one way as Pressureangle said. You want the cable oriented so that it only can slide in from the speedo end. That way if the cable comes loose from the transmission the inner cable will not fall out.

I don't completely agree with Phil, but I do agree that I would start with what he said and see how it runs. It is certainly possible that it will be more then satisfactory with Mistral's and the stock map. Unless it is not, I would leave it like that. If it is not satisfactory that way, I would start with the standard tune up procedure to make sure your baseline is right. If it is still not to your liking only then would I start messing with the tune. And to mess with the tune you can either load a map from one of the maps already made, which is what I would do, or you could come up with a custom map, which I would not do. But I would bolt them on and see, first.

Fabio and Yamaha are struggling. But with the drastic concessions Yamaha have right now I don't expect them to struggle for long. They are already making steps and are now arguably better then Honda. Yamaha won't be at the back forever. If they aren't near the front next year or the year after I would be surprised. The concessions they have been given are pretty extreme. But while talk is of Pramac going to Yamaha I would think going to KTM would make more sense. That is a bike that could win the title as it is right now, and just needs the right rider. That is why Ducati so feared Marc leaving Gresini and going to KTM that they were willing to shaft their top two guys.

It is a mess. And time will tell if Ducati made the right decision or the wrong decision. Clearly it was Marc driving this train and calling the shots. Which I think does not bode well for how this will pan out. Letting one of your racers run the show, especially a racer who is in it only for himself (Marc cares not for the Ducati brand), seems like a bad idea. On top of what you said, not only did they drive Martin to Aprilia with this choice but they may have driven Pramac to Yamaha. It is not official at all, but Simon Crafer has suggested that Pramac may be leaving the Ducati fold after being offended so severely by how this happened. Not only did Marc Marquez directly insult them, but if they continue with Ducati they will have to take Fermín Aldeguer for Ducati along side whatever scraps they can get after expecting to get Marc Marquez. Aldeguer has been less then super impressive this season so far. One win but not looking like he did towards the end of last year. They may have jumped the gun signing him. Time will tell. Everyone was told back in 2023 when VR46 was trying to get one or two additional current spec Ducati bikes that Pramacs contract not only gave them current spec factory bikes but also prevented other teams from receiving current spec factory bikes. In previous years Ducati was able to move the third and fourth current spec factory bikes to whichever team they wanted to have them. They could even produce a 5th or 6th factory bike. But it seems in 2023 Pramac was able to get a contract signed with Ducati that reserved that to Pramac. Smart. And it would seem if they were to exercise their contract renewal option that would continue into 2025. Of course, now there is the possibility that Pramac will leave the Ducati fold, opening up who can get a current spec Ducati but also being a huge blow to Ducati. Loosing Pramac to Yamaha (or in my opinion to KTM, as I am sure KTM would be glad to have them) would be a huge blow. I don't know why Pramac would go to Yamaha, but I get leaving Ducati after this. I would be talking to KTM as we speak if I were Pramac. KTM could surely provide them with current spec factory bikes.

In my opinion, if Aleix Espargaro can run at the front and even win on the Aprilia a top level rider can certainly win the title on it. They do occasionally have reliability issues, but not to often. And I expect that will get better over time. If Martin can find the right set up balance I think he is in contention for the title next year. The Aprilia seems like an easier bike to adapt to then, say, the KTM / GasGas. It handles well and seems to do exactly what you tell it to do with minimal quirks you have to adapt to. I agree, Pedro Acosta is going to be one to watch. Between him and Bastianini on KTMs / GasGas, as well as Martin on Aprilia I suspect Ducati will not be so dominant next year. Add to that the chaos in the factory Ducati team after adding Marc and it should be fun to watch. I hope Joe Roberts is able to win the Moto2 title, he is riding better then he ever has now that Moto2 runs Pirelli tires. He really seems to gel with the softer construction Pirelli's. I am not sure he is ready to move up yet, but time will tell. If he does move up I hope he adapts better then he first did after joining the Moto2 class. I am not sure the new Pirelli's in Moto2 are comparable to the Michelins in MotoGP, I get the impression the Michelins are of a harder construction vs the soft construction Pirelli's in Moto2. He is on his 7th full season in Moto2 and is only now starting to show talent. How much of that is the tire switch and how much is him, I don't know. But I can't see him getting 7 seasons in MotoGP to figure it out. How he got 7 seasons in Moto2 I don't know. But he did, and he is finally doing well. Go Joe.