Marc Marquez admits he is still “not sure” of Honda's new carbon fibre swingarm he and MotoGP team-mate Dani Pedrosa tested during the three days of running in Thailand.
The reigning world champion spent all of Sunday at Buriram evaluating the new swingarm, which was first debuted at the Valencia test last November, and was used briefly again at Sepang last month.
Marquez – who brushed off a small tumble at the final corner to end Sunday fourth fastest – felt the new swingarm offered more grip with a fresh tyre, but found the rear to be less stable towards the end of a long run.
“Yeah, we tried the carbon swingarm, the one we've been using since Valencia; no one asked about it [then], so we didn't say anything,” he said.
“But we're doing back-to-back tests, we're not sure [about it] because it's a new prototype and has positives and negatives.
“Today was the first time I did a long run with it. When the tyre is new, maybe we get more grip, but when it's a used tyre [there is] more shaking.”
Pedrosa ran the new swingarm on Saturday and found it to be a “positive” step, but switched back to the standard aluminium one for the final day.
“We're trying this style of swingarm which no other manufacturers are using,” the overall test pacesetter said.
“It's the first time we've gone into that area and we're still in the process [of development].
“It's not easy when you don't have experience with it, but I think it's positive, learning more about it and getting feelings, feedback and a starting point.”
The Honda duo will be in Jakarta, Indonesia on Tuesday February 20 for the official launch of HRC's 2018 campaign.
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