MotoGP: Michelin - Racing technology key for road bike development

Michelin boss Jean-Philippe Weber believes the rapid development in MotoGP technology must not be stifled, with advances in electronics vital to improve production bikes on the road.

Weber believes the huge advances in electronics since 2002 has helped produce much better and safer production bikes, and believes that limiting development would be a detrimental move for road machines.

Several MotoGP riders including Valentino Rossi have bemoaned the growing influence of electronic rider aids in the premier class, claiming technology is taking too much away from rider input.

But Jean-Philippe Weber said: “We work in a prototype class, working with manufacturers who use traction control, and you can see that this development work is very useful because some street bikes already have traction control.

“Obviously everyone is looking to keep costs down but on the other hand we are looking to increase performance and the level of performance is very high.

“The work we do here creates new solutions for street bike technology.

“The relationship between race bikes and street bikes is much closer than in cars, a lot of tyre technology we develop here is used on street bikes, like dual compound technology for example.”