It may still be almost 2 months until the season opener under the floodlights of Qatar, but the new Moto2 championship is already starting to hot up as testing is scheduled to get underway with fans and journalists alike waiting with baited breath for their first opportunity to view the new chassis’ and product design that people have come out with.
The basis for the new formula is to have a standardised 600cc Honda engine, which will in effect be similar to that of the CBR600RR engine with some slight performance tweaks. Another standard component will be the tyres which will all be Dunlop, as was similar in the 250cc formula which preceded it.
With standard tyres and engines, the only area where teams can gain an advantage is through hiring the correct rider and also by producing the perfect chassis to house the engine. Several team have already spent large sums of money evaluating the benefit of different product design ideas and chassis’ over the winter to bolster their overall position and move them to the front of the pack.
When you ride a motorcycle you have to accept that there is an element of risk involved. Obviously that risk can be significantly reduced if you take the appropriate precautions and wear the correct protective clothing and there have been several advances made recently thanks to the aid of advanced 
But a new take on this legendary piece of product design has been developed by Stuart Karten Design (SKD) and Starkey Laboratories, Inc, aimed at addressing these issues. Starkey’s S Series behind-the-ear (BTE), with its Sweep Technology, enables the wearer to adjust their hearing aid with just the sweep of a finger. The entire bottom edge of the hearing aid’s spine area is touch activated. This control area is ten times larger than traditional volume controls, and five times bigger than the usual memory button size.
The series, which offered one lucky designer the chance to spend a 6 month stint at Philippe Starck’s design school in Paris involved 12 British designers. Ilsa won over Starck with her innovative walking aid – Flo. Following her time with the famous French designer, Parry returned to Liverpool and established her own design agency – Rethinkthings. Her new product is being stocked by Firebox.
Companies in the UK know that in many areas, the quality of China’s output has increased dramatically over recent years. With this in mind, manufacturing facilities in China can take on the whole spectrum of manufacturing, from the simplest household items to high technology items such as digital cameras and flat screen TVs.
