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BEHOLD THE SHITBOX SHOOTOUT! + HARLEY-DAVIDSON FXDR + SPANNERMAN’S UNKILLABLE XT600 Issue 355 $7.95 inc GST

AUSSIE LAUNCH

ESH AIR

- YAMAHA KEEPS IT SIMPLE LIGHT, AFFORDABLE & LOTS OF FUN

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AHA TENERE XT660Z MOTORCYCLE INVESTMENTS

OUT WITH 10 BANKABLE THE OLD BEAUTIES

Is the last of the Tenere singles a future classic?

Collectables expert Ian Falloon reveals the future of fortune

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Contents

In this issue...

14

YAMAHA TENERE 700

1). It had to be lightweight 2). It had to be inexpensive 3). It had to have a fun factor

355

ISSUE 355/NZ 314 JANUARY 2020

24

36

50

BEHOLD THE SHITBOX SHOOTOUT!

FALLOON’S FORECAST

HARLEY-DAVIDSON FXDR

Not one of them costs more than $4000

The next bikes set to skyrocket in value

Dragbike-inspired, drag raced

68

76

100

SHED MASTERS

FUTURE CLASSIC

OUR BIKES

Rick Thomas’ All American Motorcycles

Yamaha Tenere XT660Z

Spannerman’s warhorse: the XT600

Regulars SPANNER & STROOTH

58

It’s all about reputation

MAILBOX

62

Yamaha Tenere XT660Z

COLLECTABLES

68 76

OUR BIKES 2011 Triumph Speed Triple 1984 Yamaha XT600 1971 Honda CB750-Four

UNDER THE HAMMER

114

The price of happiness

88

Brough Superior Mk I

All Amercian Motorcycles

FUTURE CLASSIC

82

Fixing the world

Tell it like it is

SHED MASTERS

SPANNERMAN

CLASSIC GROFF

118

What goes on up there?

94

ROOTHY, GUIDO & CAM

121

Motorcycling diversity personified

BUYERS GUIDE Retro bikes

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES: Dale Johnson, 0403 743 587, Dale.Johnson@TradeMotorcycles.com.au

128

Next month Former deputy editor Sean Muir escapes academia to test Triumph’s latest Street Triple RS, Guido looks to the future of electric bikes and photos of your first bikes and girlfriends will be publicly broadcasted...

MT #356, on sale January 22.

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

9

Editorial CONTACT MOTORCYCLE TRADER (02) 9186 9186 mct@trademotorcycles.com.au PO Box 2094, Oakleigh, VIC 3166

EDLINE

EDITORIAL Editor Chris Harris Chris.Harris@TradeMotorcycles.com.au Sub Editor Wolter Kuiper Art Director Paul Andrews CONTRIBUTORS Grant Roff, Cam Donald, Guy Allen, Ben Galli, John Rooth, Ian Falloon, Sean Muir, Karen Anderson, Sandy Burgoyne, Martin Harvey

with Chris Harris

ADVERTISING HEAD OF SALES – MOTORCYCLE DIVISION Dale Johnson 0403 743 587 Dale.Johnson@TradeMotorcycles.com.au

SAFARI BROWSING

I

think we could be missing something here, and I’m surely not alone. BMW has the long-running GS Safari, KTM has its own hardcore rally and Yamaha has the endearing Tenere Tragics, but – as brilliant as they all might be – those popular events are restricted to a specific brand or model.

Unless I’ve been looking with my eyes closed, I’ve yet to find any kind of multi-day adventure ride for all makes and models, specifically for bikes 25 years and over. Think early Africa Twins, Elefants, ‘Dr Bigs’, G/Ss and Teneres, whatever. Okay, the Himalayan kind of qualifies...

Europe seems to be a few steps ahead with non-competitive events such as BlueGreen in Italy (it’s more of a mobile salami, spaghetti and Sangiovese fest for owners of early GSs, which sounds awesome btw) and Spain has Sand Raiders (pictured below), a seven-day navigation rally across tracks, deserts and dunes of Morocco – strictly on 1980s desert

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MOTORCYCLE TRADER

sleds in true classic Paris-Dakar style.

Sweet! Entry is 2400 Euro (a tad under $4000), plus airfares for yourself (bike transportation to Morocco, presumably from Spain, is included).

Now, as awesome as all that sounds, I’m pretty sure we’ve got plenty of sand and access to enviably awesome trails here at home. How about something similar that takes inspiration from the classic Wynns Safari? Or any similar kind of gentleman’s rally that concludes each big day’s ride with cold beer and good company?

So, yes, as you can see, I have an itch.

BMW is this year celebrating 40 years of GS and its popular GS Safari kicks off from Phillip Island on March 29 for five days of adventure riding throughout Victoria, concluding in the NSW Blue Mountains. Hmm, I happen to have an old G/S. It’ll contrast nicely against the modern machines and will certainly help scratch the itch. But, again, no other makes and models will be there, will they?

Could somebody organise something please? Or at least steer me in the right direction? If not, I might have to go and join the Tragics with an old Tenere, which I also love. If you do too, then you’re in for a treat with this edition, but you’ve been warned: Cam’s enthusiasm after riding the recently arrived Tenere 700 is inescapably infectious. Guido’s ‘Future Classic’ reflection on the outgoing model is convincing. And Groff’s ‘Our Bikes’ story of his unkillable XT600 (the Tenere’s close cousin) is, what’s the right word... entertaining. Enjoy.

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Mark Evans 0422 805 205 Mark.Evans@TradeMotorcycles.com.au QLD SALES MANAGER Todd Anderson 0409 630 733 Todd@MotorMedia.com.au MANAGEMENT CITRUS MEDIA Publisher Jim Flynn 0449 801 899 PRODUCTION Production Manager Ian Scott Advertising Co-ordinator Yang Zhou

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NEVER R ST TOP

.

Hig H gher, Fast s r F rther X an ra s mix ort rt ss tance per p formance. h mi t o pass s s ev at 0 XR & F 900 XR e o offe er. mic x f h gh rf an n i ponsiv sivene n ss, ss en pa as in a in go omic des n d ar techno n logy. Ne er se tle for a e eve ve get oo o rtable le - #ne # ver e to c Re ist i err nte t rest: bmw-mo oto r .c m. / giste s -int n res st

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BMW Motorrad

News Desk

IN BRIEF 2020 Island Classic heating up Hurry up and arrange your travel plans because the 27th edition of the Island Classic – the largest historic motorcycle racing event in the Southern Hemisphere – is almost here.

Held on January 24-26 at the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, the Island Classic honours a century of motorcycling in three action-packed days that celebrate the splendour of historic racing across all levels.

As well the headlining International Challenge, which last year saw Australia conquer Team America, the Island Classic includes 52 other races for machines across the six historic racing categories: Veteran (up to 1919), Vintage (1920-1945), Classic (19461962), Post Classic (1963-1972), Forgotten Era (1973-1982) and New Era (1983-1990).

In addition to MT’s Cam Donald who will ride the mighty Irving Vincent along with Beau Beaton, Team Australia’s line-up for the International Challenge will include Dave Johnson, Jed Metcher, Steve Martin, Shawn Giles, Aaron Morris Alex Phillis, Craig Ditchburn, Scott Webster and John Allen.

Individual accolades will also include the Phil Irving Perpetual Trophy, awarded to the rider who accrues the most points outside the International Challenge races. That award last year went to Australia’s Steve Martin.

Qualifying will begin on Friday for all classes, followed by a full program of racing on Saturday and Sunday.

For more information and tickets, visit www.IslandClassic.com.au. Pre-purchase and save on general admission and camping tickets. Children under 15 free.

No 79 jus ha fe te ca 5kg hter.

Due in local showrooms in March, the five-model range is again split into two distinct personalities – a soft-roader and an off-roader – with XR and XC nomenclatures replaced by GT/GT Pro and Rally/Rally Pro. Pricing had yet to be announced as MT went to print, but expect it to be similar to (or slightly higher than) the outgoing model’s rideaway range between $20,450 and $23,500, with graduating levels of standard equipment and suspension specification marking the main differences.

All Tiger 900 variants are powered by a new 888cc threecylinder engine delivering 70kW (95hp) at 8750rpm and 87Nm at

mid ran e o er and 10percen more torque, according to Triumph. The outgoing 800cc Tiger produced the same power at 9500rpm and 79Nm at 8050rpm.

In addition to the bigger bore, the mid-size Tiger’s engine also gets a new 1-3-2 firing order for newfound character and throttle response, the company says.

Chassis changes include a new modular steel trellis frame and bolt-on aluminium subframe.

Suspension duties are by Marzocchi on the entry-level Tiger 900, 900 GT and 900 GT Pro adventure-touring models, with both GT variants getting 45mm forks (adjustable for compression and rebound) and 180mm travel. The rear shock

varies in s p ist cation f m a basic unit with manual preload adjustment for the Tiger 900 to an electronically adjustable unit for the GT Pro. All units come with 170mm travel. Meanwhile, the off-road Tiger 900 Rally and Rally Pro (pictured) feature fully adjustable Showa suspension with 240/230mm travel front/rear.

Other headline changes include a redesigned airbox with a more accessible air filter; Brembo Stylema monobloc brakes; a two-way quickshifter (GT Pro and Rally Pro); a 20L tank (+1.0L); a revised 7.0-inch TFT dash (GT/ Rally); updated cornering ABS and traction control (GT/Rally), and updated styling and bodywork.

MELBOURNE GETS TWO NEW CIRCUITS

Melbourne’s outer suburbs will gain two new motorsport facilities this year kicking off with a $1.6m motocross circuit in the western suburb of Laverton North, due for public opening mid-year.

The second will be a 3.6-kilometre racetrack on par with Sydney Motorsport Park, or equivalent to an FIA Grade 2/ FIM Grade B circuit, in Pakenham, 56km south east of Melbourne. Construction is set to begin around March following recent council approval.

During his 2018 term as Cardinia 12

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

Lawrie Emmins Motocross Reserve will reopen mid-year.

Shire Mayor, Councillor Collin Ross said the motorsport facility would include a racetrack, pit facilities and associated infrastructure, including an administration centre and hotel. It will offer driver training and education, and provide space for exhibitions

including an amphitheatre/stage area. It will also have space to house associated businesses and activities.

This includes housing the Koo Wee Rup and District Motor Cycle Club and the Pakenham Auto Club as well as the subsequent capital works required for both clubs.

“Over the next 20 years, the south east of Melbourne will be home to more than one million residents – a population larger than Tasmania, Darwin and Geelong combined – and Council is keen to see this site

‘BIG BOXER’ PUMPS 158Nm

ealed mechanical argest-capacity boxer engine - including outputs of 67kW (91hp) and a Harley-rivalling 158Nm of torque at 3000rpm - which will power the the German giant’s forthcoming R18 cruiser range, the first of which is due later this year.

But in the American-led segment where bigger is better, the 110ci/1802cc air-/oil-cooled ‘Big boxer’ (107.1x100mm bore and stroke) has been outpunched by Indian’s recently released PowerPlus V-twin - a 108ci/1769cc liquidcooled 60-degree unit - that throws down a 20Nm harder-hitting 178Nm at 3800rpm in the Challenger bagger. The ‘Big boxer’s’ torque output is also down on BMW’s own six-cylinder K 1600 range (175Nm at 5250rpm), the Honda Goldwing (171Nm at 4500rpm) and

Triumph’s forthcoming Rocket 3 - a 2458cc triple that makes 225Nm at 4000rpm. Meanwhile, HarleyDavidson’s current Milwaukee-Eight 114 air-/oil-cooled V-twin develops 160Nm at 3500rpm, or almost identical to the BMW’s.

But the headline numbers only tell part of the story, with the Big boxer said to produce more than 150Nm between 2000 and 4000rpm for an ultra-flat torque curve. Maximum engine speed is 5750rpm, while its idling speed is 950rpm. Also likely to play a significant part in the production R18’s performance could be a weight advantage over its American rivals, with the engine, including gearbox and intake system, coming in at 110.8kg.

There’s no official word yet on the performance upgrades, which

developed, both as a venue for events and as an employment generator for our community.”

Meanwhile, Melbourne’s motocross enthusiasts will no longer need to travel to Broadmeadows or Bacchus Marsh with the reopening of the Lawrie Emmins Motocross Reserve, dubbed CityMX, located just 21km from Melbourne’s CBD. The complex will be operated by World Endurance champion and former World Superbike racer, sports commentator and journalist Steve Martin.

“I’m so excited to be able to not only work the finished project but also help in the development phase of the venue,” Martin said. “When I first came into

contact with Wyndham City Council about the project, I instantly understood that my vision matched their goals in creating a family friendly place where motorcycle users from the district and beyond could come together to enjoy riding.

“Motocross tracks are getting harder and harder to find in modern times, so it’s a great initiative by the council to create this state-of-the-art venue,” he said.

“Junior bike sales have spiked in recent years showing growth in the motocross sector and, for this reason, I can’t wait until the first wheels roll in the nottoo-distant future, giving not only our youngsters, but riders of all ages and abilities a place to ride.”

are expected to eventually include a 2000cc kit; exhaust, intake and cam options.

The traditionally styled Big boxer takes its historic cues from early boxer engines of the original R5 to R51/2 with top-mounted pushrod tubes, large finning and classic peanut valve covers. It also features an overhead valve drive as well as a separate engine and transmission housing.

Inside the vertically split aluminium housing, however, the steel crankshaft has an additional main centre bearing to prevent bending vibrations of the crankshaft due to the large cylinder volume.

Other mechanical highlights include four valves per cylinder, dual ignition, a modern combustion chamber design and two camshafts driven by the crankshaft via a

sleeve-type chain, as per BMW’s historic models, for shorter pushrods and reduced inertia.

Fuelling is via conventional EFI instead of the prototype’s Solex carburettors from the iconic BMW 2002 sedan.

In the interest of simplicity and perhaps historical accuracy, valve clearance adjustment is via an adjusting screw with one lock nut for each valve, not modern hydraulic means.

Lubricating and cooling oil is supplied by a wet-sump lubrication system with a two-stage oil pump.

Running gear comprises a sixspeed constant mesh gearbox (with an option for an electric reverse), a single-plate dry clutch with anti-hopping function and an eyecatching open propeller shaft drive with universal joint.

Artist impression of Pakenham’s multidiscipline circuit.

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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WORDS CAM DONALD

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TEN TENERE PHOTOS IKAPTURE

At long last, Yamaha’s affordable, off-road focussed and bulletproof Tenere 700 is here, and Cam wants one

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MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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THE OPTIONS Yamaha currently offers almost 40 accessories for the Tenere 700. Here’s a snippet: Rally-style air filter $72, Akrapovic header pipe $895, Akrapovic titanium slip-on $1149, Engine guards $424.40, Headlight guard (above) $172.70, Alloy bashplate (above) $466.50, Rally seat (one-piece) $596.30, Low seat $280, Lowering kit $162.70, Centrestand $454.80, Mono seat rack (no pillion provision) $308.10, Heated grips $321.48, Waterproof soft bags $73 each, Waterproof tankbag $192.60

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MOTORCYCLE TRADER

TOP LEFT: No

big-screen colour TV here, just the basics. It works.

BOTTOM RIGHT: For a modern adventure bike, a switchblock like this is as basic as it gets.

Heated grips add $321.

You might want a set of more robust Barkbuster handguards too.

THE PROJECT

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LAUNCH REPORT

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Several things really stand out about the new Tenere. Against the competition, it’s affordable, agile, light and user-friendly, but the big one to me is its simplicity. You just turn the key, tap first and go. That’s so refreshing against the long pre-flight checklist of every other modern adventure bike. What ride mode am I in? Road, Rain, Sport, Enduro, Enduro Pro? What’s the difference again?

Is traction control on? What level is it set to? Is ABS on? What level is it set to? What’s the electronic suspension set to? Nup. This XTZ690 you just get on and ride. That’s it.

There’s no traction control because the 689cc parallel-twin engine from the popular MT-07 naked bike is so tractable it doesn’t

M A HA YA

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A

ustralians and New Zealanders have been praying for an affordable, off-road capable, bulletproof adventure bike. In the long-awaited Yamaha Tenere 700, without a doubt in my mind, our prayers have finally been answered.

Every current adventure bike I’ve ridden feels like a road bike with limited off-road ability to a varying degree. The Tenere, however, is an off-road bike first and foremost with solid on-road ability. That’s the difference. That off-road prowess paired with a $17,149 rideaway price makes it second to none. It’s a game-changer and I haven’t been this excited about a new bike in a long time.

That’s the first thing I’d tell you at the pub.

The next thing I’d tell you is I want one.

I haven’t been this excited about a new bike in a long time

need it. Likewise a quickshifter. There’s no adjustable screen because, even above highway speeds with a peaked helmet, it doesn’t need it. There’s only ABS with the option of ‘on’ or ‘off’. It’s all about simplicity or, as Tenere 700 project leader (and chief of chassis design of the MT-07 and WR250F models) Takushiro Shiraishi put it, “It came down to weight and cost. Finished.”

Throughout the bike’s three-year development, Shiraishi-san and his small team had to battle against internal pressures – especially from the marketing department – about what the Tenere 700 ought to be.

But too many cooks spoil the broth and Shiraishi-san stuck to his guns: 1). It had to be light; 2). It had to be inexpensive; 3). It had to have a fun factor.

Those three objectives have been met, but what took so long? A few reasons. That same small team of fewer than 15 specialists apparently accounts for the entirety of Yamaha’s R&D department, and it had other unspecified projects to complete first before working on the Tenere.

The second reason for the delay was setting the right target: what Yamaha wanted the Tenere to be and where it would be positioned in the market. For example, would it compete against BMW and KTM as far as bells and whistles go with electronic aids and straightout performance? Or would it take a triedand-true budget-conscious route like Suzuki’s old-school DR650? Instead, Yamaha saw a big gap right in the middle.

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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THE AUSSIE CONNECTION According to Yamaha studies of what customers actually do with their bikes, Europe has a 90-10 road to off-road split whereas Australia and NZ is closer to 50-50.

“Unlike the Europeans who dream about riding, Australians and New Zealanders go out and do it,” Shiraishi-san said. “Australia and

NZ is important to us because this is where the Tenere will be used properly, as we intended.

“The dream of most adventure-bike customers is 80-20,” and that’s where Yamaha engineers set their goal. Enter Yamaha Australia brand manager, company

stalwart and former International Six-Days racer Peter Payne.

He was the man behind the development of Yamaha’s first WR models and represented Australian and New Zealand riders when it came to feedback of what the Tenere 700 should be

Those modern farkles like a quickshifter, rider modes, multi-configurable ABS and traction control, cruise control, heated grips, electronic suspension are six major components that add weight, cost and complexity. That equals six fewer things to go wrong, especially if you’re really going bush. Simplicity equals reliability just like Yamaha’s old XT600 (such as Groff’s old warhorse that just won’t die, on page 100) as a turn-key, go-anywhere bike.

Delay number three: “We had the engine from the MT-07, which is basically bulletproof and needed very few modifications, but the chassis took a lot of time,” Shiraishi-san said.

“It’s 100 per cent ground-up and uses nothing from anything else.” That includes Yamaha’s Tracer 700 sportstourer (also powered by the same CP2 parallel twin), which was expected to be the donor chassis. Among the differences are the removable downtubes of the Tenere’s frame, that act only to protect the engine, which is a stressed member.

Shiraishi-san says the time spent on chassis development involved finding a balance between flickability and on-road stability. The result is incredibly light steering. So light in fact that it could well be the sharpest of the lot. At times I thought it might’ve been verging on nervous but, when I gave the ’bars a few hits and sat towards the rear of the seat to upset it, it was fine.

“We have a belief at Yamaha that if the bike is easy to wheelie then the balance is good.” Shiraishi-san’s right. It’s an easy bike to wheelie – without breaking traction on the rear tyre.

THE PERFORMANCE My first street bike was a Yamaha TRX850, and this parallel twin is every bit as awesome. The CP2 is very special to Yamaha and for good reason: it would have to be the most linear powerplant I’ve experienced since I last rode an MT-07. That’s a difficult bike to fault so, in many respects, the Tenere is the off-road equivalent.

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MOTORCYCLE TRADER

You might want the KTM, but the Yamaha’s no bridesmaid.

during the bike’s target study.

That included switchable ABS and firmer suspension.

“I argued for heavier springs, as did our American colleagues.

But don’t forget the majority of bikes will be sold in Europe, where they want them soft and plush on the road and they want to be able to put their feet on the ground.”

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1). It had to be light; 2). It had to be inexpensive; 3). It had to have a fun factor

Some might say the Tenere 700 could do with more power but, having ridden it more than 1000km on- and off-road, I never found it wanting. The absence of excessive power also means better tyre life as our hardridden test bikes proved.

With 54kW (72hp) at 9000rpm and 68Nm at 6500rpm, the CP2 is incredibly flexible and happy to be short-shifted and lug as it is to buzz higher up in the rev range.

At 100km/h, it sits between 5000 and 5500rpm (it’s tricky to spot smaller increments on the bar-graphic tacho) and passes cars in sixth with ease. I tended to drop it down for faster acceleration, however. Even at its 194km/h top speed, it’s not on the rev limiter, and it feels stable at those speeds too.

With no mechanical changes to the engine from the MT-07 (apart from a different airbox, filter and exhaust), Yamaha engineers have achieved a spot-on balance between power and chassis performance.

Another 20hp might be too much for that chassis and may even introduce traces of instability. It’s also especially fuel-efficient with a claimed range of around 300km between refills of its 16-litre tank.

Suspension performance on the road is plush and, like any adventure bike, the fork dives under brakes with 220mm travel up front and 200mm in the rear, so you just ride it accordingly. Still, you can really punt the Tenere through turns and keep plenty of sportsbike riders on their toes, which is always fun.

That razor-sharp steering means it requires very little input to turn. That’s also thanks to wide handlebars and very off-road-focussed ergonomics that put you in an assertive riding position by default. In fact, it’d be a dream to carve through traffic.

Conversely, riding through really soft sand without 100-plus horses just comes back to using a good technique while keeping the engine in its sweet spot. I rode it in scary, powder-soft sand and that’s when you have to keep it singing.

A bigger bike with more power might have sat on top of the sand better, but it could also have sunk thanks to its extra weight.

As soon as you get off-road, the Tenere comes into its own. It’s exciting. The cockpit, the feeling and the balance is much more off-road oriented than anything else apart from the KTM 790 Adventure R. MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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The time spent on chassis development involved finding a balance between flickability and on-road stability.

The result is incredibly light steering

The sharp steering makes it more like an enduro bike when steering into a rut, and I haven’t been able to steer any other adventure bike like that.

The soft suspension immediately works and rides the bumps. Over big hits, yes, it can bottom out, but I was riding it pretty hard on the few occasions it happened. A rider heavier than me (74kg) or carrying a heap of luggage would find its limits sooner.

The rear is fully adjustable while there’s compression and rebound adjustments up front. Four clicks of extra compression and rebound damping at both ends instantly made a massive improvement, but that, of course, made it harsher over smaller bumps at higher speeds. The solution would be to fit heavier springs to help prevent bottoming out, and leaving the damping will result in retaining that plushness, albeit with more support on bigger hits. At medium speeds it glided over corrugated 4WD trails to the point where I could sit on the seat. It all begs the question whether there are plans to introduce a higher-spec version of the Tenere similar to what Yamaha offers with some of its road-going models. Shiraishi20

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

san’s answer: “No. Not our focus.”

I was surprised how good the Tenere rides on road considering our test bikes were fitted with Pirelli’s Scorpion Rally full-block knobby tyres. The front pushes a bit through a turn, which makes you think you’re going to ride off the edge of the tyre but it’s just knobby flex. The standard rubber is the less-aggressive Scorpion STR which, given how dry the NSW conditions, would’ve been fine (apart from on the deep sand).

As for stopping, Yamaha really didn’t want a switchable ABS system because it saw it as a safety issue, but Yamaha Australia insisted on it for proper off-road riding.

The system, which dis/engages both wheels, is calibrated to road riding, but it works well on the dirt, even on loose pea gravel. To deactivate it, you’ve got to be stationary, but you don’t have to be in neutral. I tried to get around the system by attempting to disengage it while rolling in neutral as well as shutting off the engine via the kill switch, but neither works. The only workaround I found is to stall the bike when you come to a stop.

THE PRACTICAL Australia and NZ are the only markets where the Tenere 700 comes with a dustbusting foam air filter.

Located beneath the seat, access is simple. Use the supplied Allen key to remove two hex screws that secure the seat then a Phillips screwdriver to loosen the snorkel’s four screws to get to the filter. Smart owners will change the screws to Allen heads or wing nuts on studs.

The luggage tie-down points are brilliant – so simple yet so neat. The standard bashplate is a bit light but fine. A beefier version costs $466.

The ’pegs are comfortable enough but might clog with mud. If you want bigger, the WR450F’s are a straight swap.

Competition

M A HA YA LAUNCH REPORT

0

NE R E 7

ABOVE: A trio of sensible accessories: more offroad focussed Pirelli Scorpion Rally tyres; bashplate ($466), and headlight guard ($172.70).

ABOVE RIGHT: Job

$20,070 rideaway 853cc parallel twin; 70kW (95hp) at 8250rpm; 92Nm at 6250rpm; tank 15L; 229kg (wet)

It’s otherwise a matter of holding the ABS button on the dash for about three seconds, which is enough time to lose other riders.

THE COMFORT 0

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E

$22,695 rideaway 799cc parallel twin; 70kW (90hp) at 8000rpm; 88Nm at 6600rpm; tank 20L; 189kg (dry)

number one of the bike’s design involved wheeling the Dakar Rally bike into the design studio and mimicking it with a clay model. ‘‘That’s why our bike looks so good and the KTM [790 Adventure] not so much,’’ Shiraishisan said politely. Apart from preliminary styling, the T7 Concept bike featured a unique frame and got suspension from the WR450F.

Rally-inspired ergonomics mean the seat, tank and mid-section of the bike are more akin to an enduro bike than an adventure sled between your knees. It’s nice and narrow.

And not once did I hit the screen or get my motocross boots or kneebraces snagged. That all makes it easy to move body positions, especially getting your weight forward, which is a common battle with adventure bikes.

The seat is high at 880mm but Yamaha offers a low-seat option ($280) and lowering kit ($162). Having said that, I’m 167cm tall and I didn’t have a problem with the standard seat height – nowhere near as much as any other adventure bike – thanks again to that lack of width and weight. It’s simple physics: 204kg (wet) is a lot easier than holding up 265kg. Sitting on it, pushing it, turning it and getting on and off, it’s so much lighter. And it’s worlds apart from the old Tenere 660 as far as any sense of topheaviness. In fact, if you were blindfolded, you wouldn’t believe the old and new

Teneres were even from the same brand.

The seat’s padding is also thin, which is noticeable after a few hundred kays of bitumen. If you’re likely to do 600km a day on blacktop, the Tenere will do it, but you’ll benefit from wearing a pair of cycling knicks with a good-quality chamois or buying a GS instead.

The simplicity theme carries through to the LED dash. It might look a bit like a roadbook holder from the Dakar, but it’s unapologetically basic with all the essential readouts. It’s no fancy colour TV but it’s easy to read at a glance – even with glare.

THE WEAKNESSES So, given the deluge of praise for the Tenere, what didn’t we like? Apart from the aforementioned soft springs (which are a cheap fix), nothing really. I spent a long time looking closely at the finer details, and rim strength in particular, but everything is good. There’s no distance-to-empty readout, which would be handy.

The standard exhaust note is a bit of a disappointment as we’ve come to expect these days, but the Akrapovic titanium slip-on ($1149) fixes that with a sweeter sound, even if MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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SPECS Standard Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tyres would’ve been fine along the dry, bushfire-ravaged roads. Test bikes were instead fitted with full-knobby Scorpion Rallys.

YAMAHA TENERE 700 ENGINE PE: Liquid-cooled, DOHC, ght-valve parallel-twin CAPACITY: 689cc & STROKE: 80 x 68.6mm MPRESSION RATIO: 11.5:1 FUEL SYSTEM: EFI

PERFORMANCE R: 54kW (72hp) at 9000rpm QUE: 68Nm at 6500rpm

TRANSMISSION TYPE: Six-speed LUTCH: Wet, multiplate FINAL DRIVE: Chain

The MT-07 is a difficult bike to fault so, in many respects, the Tenere is the off-road equivalent

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WHEELS & TYRES WHEELS: 21x1.85-inch (f), 18x4.0-inch (r) TYRES: 90/90 R21 (f), 150/70 R18 (r), Pirelli Scorpion STR (tubed)

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it doesn’t add much performance. it’s easier and happier to ride at the legal Some journos pointed to a vibrating speed limit than other bikes with more dash that might come loose, but it’s horsepower – 130km/h feels like 130km/h.

The Tenere 700 is what the F 850 GS rubber-mounted, which is probably should have been, but that can never why it vibrates. The clutch lever happen because BMW is too tech-heavy position isn’t adjustable for span, and too European-focussed. There’s no but we’re starting to split hairs.

A M H doubt the KTM 790 Adventure R The pillion seat is an absolute A YA offers more off-road performance, afterthought, but I suspect it’s LAUNCH I’m told, with higher-spec only there to dink a mate with REPORT suspension. Still, it’s great to see a a broken Euro bike.

Everything you’d do to the Japanese brand has done this, and E NE 7 R E bike to improve its on-road ability done it their own way. Yamaha has would compromise its off-road taken its time to set a target, and they’ve ability, which begs the question why buy hit it. Well done, Takushiro Shiraishi and one in the first place. your team. Thank you for sticking to your Cruise control would be great in a big guns about what this Tenere should be. country like ours, but that would mean You’ve answered our prayers. adding the complexity of ride-by-wire, Future Classic: Yamaha XT660Z, page 76 which goes against the original design Our Bikes: Yamaha XT600, page 100 brief. The nature of the engine means

CHASSIS & RUNNING GEAR FRAME: Double cradle steel tube chassis, engine as a stressed member FRONT SUSPENSION: KYB USD fork, compression and rebound damping adjustment, 210mm travel REAR SUSPENSION: KYB monoshock, fully adjustable, 200mm travel FRONT BRAKES: Twin 282mm discs with four-piston calipers, ABS REAR BRAKE: 245mm disc with twinpiston caliper, ABS

Second UNCLE WO I sold my F 8 DR-Z400E, a pushies, colle cans and lived on table scraps to save for this. I’ve also waited so long that I’m much closer to dying of old age. Shit.

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MOTORCYCLE TRADER

RRIS lution of 650 and 0 with more ability, agility and excitement. Light on the scales and wallet, and it’ll go forever. Well done, Yamaha.

GUIDO

GROFF

Mid-sized, grea engine and not too many electronic tricks to go wrong when riding across a river in Nodealershipistan. Sounds perfect for the big trip.

Like every red-blooded boy in Austra and NZ, I want one to go with my other Yamahas, one of which features in this issue.

DIMENSIONS & CAPACITIES WET WEIGHT: 204kg SEAT HEIGHT: 880mm WHEELBASE: 1590mm FUEL CAPACITY: 16 litres

OTHER STUFF PRICE: $17,149 rideaway COLOURS: Competition White, Ceramic Ice, Tech Black WARRANTY: Two-year/unlimited kilometres www.Yamaha-Motor.com.au

Performance Ergonomics Simplicity Value

No distance-toempty readout Nothing really

You’ve heard of peak oil but Groff has identified ‘peak bike’. Any of these could be yours for less than $5000…

WORDS GRANT ROF

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MOTORCYCLE TRADER

HOTOS BEN GALLI

W

e live in interesting times. Bikes are getting faster but the conditions in which we ride them aren’t improving, and the police are getting better at ruining the things we enjoy. Wages haven’t climbed anywhere near the rise in the cost of living in the past 20 years so we’re all less cashed-up than we expected. How do you make the most of the money you’ve got to get the maximum pleasure from riding?

Welcome to the theory of ‘peak bike’.

It works like this: A new bike from the showroom depreciates from the moment you move it off the carpet.

It continues to decline in value as

it ages and racks up more mileage.

Eventually, it finds a low point in the marketplace where it dwells for some years until the club-plate scheme kicks in (for some states) and you’re able to keep a 25- or 30-year-old bike on the road for a fraction of the regular registration cost.

By this time, only the well-kept bikes have survived, but they’ll be as cheap to buy as they’ll ever be. Get in too early and you’ll pay too much.

Get in late and the price will have started to rise. What you’re looking for is the point at which the best bikes will be at the cheapest price.

MT’s infallible computer currently puts this point at 21 years.

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REALLY? YOU WANT ME TO BUY A 21-YEAR-OLD BIKE? YEP, THAT’S RIGHT, but it’s not set in cement. For some bikes, 30 years is good and for others, 15 years will be the right time. It depends on their condition and what you actually want.

Twenty-one years sounds like an eternity for teenagers, but it’s not that difficult for older riders. We still remember the bikes we lusted after in the 1990s and early 2000s and it’s common to think that new bikes aren’t really that much better. Consider the Ducati 916, Suzuki’s GSX-R1000, Yamaha’s R1 and Honda’s Fireblade. Put Cam Donald on one of these from the ’90s and he’d be faster than 99 per cent of riders on 2020 models. Advances in electronics have better controlled what happens on a bike

ABOVE: ‘‘Come,

follow me and I will make you riders of men. But to follow me means to get lost with me.’’

- Groff 21:19.

He never disappoints.

= HONDA= VTR1000F FIRESTORM

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= HONDA= VFR750

= TRIUMPH= SPRINT 900

What you’re looking for is the point at which the best bikes will be at the cheapest price

= KAWASAKI= GTR1000

PROOF IN THE PUDDING We’ve just selected four of the hundreds of bikes from the 1990s and 2000s from which you could choose. Bikes that have celebrated their 21st birthday are the cheapest thrill you’re likely to get and are more than capable of being fast and friendly in 2020.

Membership of this club has never been easier. Don’t let the price of new bikes keep you off the road.

but the laws of physics still prevail.

Bikes from 1990 have everything most riders need in terms of speed and fun.

Oh, and they’re a sixth of the price.

So what do you want to do? We’ve identified touring and sportstouring as categories of interest to MT readers and we’ve picked a couple of bikes in each segment to evaluate their usefulness in contemporary riding. There are plenty more bikes we could have included, but the MT budget will only run to a certain number of counter lunches, so four was the limit.

We’ve concentrated on bikes that you

can buy for less than $5000, but all the bikes in our evaluation cost well under that. The cheapest one was only $900 but some work was required to make it reliable again. We haven’t gone for the high-end bikes in each category as really good examples of these bikes can push the $5000 limit and, once they comply with club-plate requirements in various states, their value will rise.

Want to go touring or want to keep up with your mates when they go for a weekend scratch with their sports weapons but you have a limited budget?

Read on…

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1995 HONDA VFR750 There were earlier versions of this bike (VFR750F) but our test bike came from the 1994-97 era when it was simply called the VFR750. It’s arguably one of the best bikes Honda ever built and was lavished with praise by the motorcycle media and those who bought it. It’s still considered a better bike than the VFR800 that replaced it.

Its velvety V4 powerplant produced 76kW at 10,000rpm and it had a top speed of 245km/h, which is exceptional compared with the VTR1000 in that it was giving away 250cc.

What riders loved about it was the fabulous midrange torque, which was often described as ‘tidal’.

Its most outstanding feature, though, was rider comfort. Yes, it was a sportstourer, but Honda nailed its ergonomics and it remains one of the most comfortable bikes in the world to go fast on.

It was also remarkably reliable. Our test bike had 76,000km on it but looked like it had just come from the showroom. It doesn’t use oil and runs pretty-much like you’d expect a new bike to run. Early examples had some issues with the alternator and suspension upgrades where required when the springs weakened at around 40,000km but well lookedafter versions of this model will still pleasure potential owners as much as a new bike would.

The owner of this bike, Cliff, picked it up for $3300.

You caught a glimpse of it in MT #354 when Cliff used it to do a ‘returning riders’ course. Current prices online range between $1950 and $5990 for an example with just 47,347km on it.

It’s arguably one of the best bikes Honda ever built and was lavished with praise by the media and those who bought it

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1997 HONDA VTR1000 FIRESTORM If you think you’ve seen this bike before, you’re probably correct. It won our ‘Three Challenge’ a few years ago when three teams were each given $3333.33 to buy the best bike they could and have it tested over 20 categories by Spannerman in the workshop and Cam on the track.

Cam blitzed the Broadford circuit on the VTR and it came up trumps in the workshop apart from a fried regulator/rectifier unit. This saved it from being sold as it took about a year for Spanner to find the three hours necessary to splice a new regulator/rectifier unit into the wiring loom. Since then it’s been the MT office hack. Deputy editor Sean finally crashed it while trying to dodge a plastic bag blowing in the wind and it’s only recently back on the road after most of the hardware on the lefthand side was replaced.

A week before the crash, ‘Dyno Dave’ of Dynobike in Melbourne had installed a Dynojet Stage 1 kit in it and tuned it to the aftermarket exhausts so it runs better than new.

The VTR1000 was available from 1997 to 2005 and was clearly designed to be a Ducati competitor after wins in World Superbikes by Colin Edwards in 2000 and 2002.

Our 1997 model is a seriously fast bike and, thanks to Dyno Dave, runs like a Swiss watch. The 90-degree V-twin produces 80kW and 97Nm to achieve a top speed of 250km/h. This is helped by a low weight of 206kg (wet) but its massive carburettors and 15.8litre fuel tank see you visiting service stations every 200km or so. It’s a blessing for 1997 model owners as the riding position is very much ‘sports’ rather than ‘sportstouring’. The second version of the VTR came with higher ’bars and a 19-litre tank so 2001-onwards models will be more comfortable.

Its highlights are a stonking engine and great handling that give pleasure every time you fire it up.

This example has 50,000km on the odometer, but it shows no signs of wear and is as strong as an ox when the throttle is opened.

Charris’ team bought this bike for $3000 a few years ago, but they’re available from as little as $2300 with a typical buy being a 2001 model with 41,000km for $4200.

Our 1997 model is a seriously fast bike and, thanks to Dyno Dave, runs like a Swiss watch

OPPOSITE PAGE: No, VFR750s never came with white wheels or clear tail-light lenses with a tail-tidy, but they did come with NR750-inspired styling.

ABOVE: MT’s VTR1000 is the star athlete here.

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1999 KAWASAKI GTR1000 Cast your mind back to 1986 (if you were born then) and remember the shocking unveiling of a 1000cc, inline four tourer with shaft drive from Kawasaki. It immediately went into comparison tests with BMWs of the time and came up a winner. Who couldn’t love an 85kW engine with 98Nm of torque in a touring package with a 28.5-litre fuel tank?

Our test bike is another from Brian Rix’s fleet. On his world travels he befriended a bloke who eventually turned up in Australia and asked Brian to help him buy a cheap bike on which he could circumnavigate the country. Wisely, Brian directed him to a Suzuki 650 V-Strom at Mick Hone Motorcycles but our hero opted for a well-looked-after GTR1000 instead. When the journey was over, Brian was offered the bike but the catch was it was in Brisbane and Brian lives in Victoria. Using the ‘buying a bike sight unseen and riding it home’ model currently being championed by Guido, Brian found a $90 flight and the rest is history.

This is among the last-of-the-line models for the GTR1000. It was sold here pretty-much unchanged from 1986 to 2005. The engine came from the GPz1000RX, which was retuned eight years after the bike’s launch to provide a little less power but a bit more torque. You still notice that it’s essentially a sports engine, though, and likes to rev rather than lug. Weight is a factor here as well: 296kg (wet) is a big lump to get moving.

Its touring cred comes from a great fairing that accommodates lockable pockets and cool air vents. It also has excellent, easily detachable panniers.

Brian rode it from Brisbane to his house in Victoria and it didn’t miss a beat. He then chased his mates through the Snowy Mountains on it where it not only kept up but stayed comfortable. It was such a ready-to-go package that he hasn’t even changed the oil yet, although he has replaced the screen which the previous owner had cut down so he could see over its top. Small change.

Brian paid a mates-rates price of $2600 for the GTR, but they range from $1500 to $4999 for an example with just 45,000km on it.

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You still notice that it’s essentially a sports engine, and likes to rev rather than lug

OPPOSITE PAGE: The

GTR gives an overwhelming sense that it’s ready to ride for days and back home for the hell of it.

RIGHT: Fast, comfortable and capable with a mix of Old Blighty charm.

1993 TRIUMPH SPRINT 900

The Sprint 900 got all the Trophy’s touring cred without the weight and price

This is a ‘Lazarus rising’ story. The current owner of this bike is Brian Rix who you might know from three books written with his wife, Shirley, on their global adventures on their trusty BMW R 1200 GS Adventure.

Brian found this Sprint 900 with 56,000km on it in the backyard of a friend’s place under a tarp where the bike had lived, unloved, for about eight years. Brian unloaded $900 and the bike ended up in his workshop where he’s refurbished it to its current condition.

It’s a 1993 example and comes from the early days of Hinckley Triumph where the company turned three engines and two frames into about 20 different models.

Punters in England and Europe embraced the naked Tridents but immediately put half-fairings on them to make them more comfortable. Triumph’s response was to put a half-fairing on the Sprint to sell it alongside the fulltouring Trophy model. The Sprint 900 got all the Trophy’s touring cred without the weight and at a much lower price.

Brian’s bike, with panniers fitted, weights 239kg and has a claimed output of 74kW at 9500rpm. While the 78Nm of torque isn’t produced until 6500rpm, the spread of power makes it sprightly up to its claimed 226km/h top speed.

Triumph’s experiments with other engine configurations have been interesting since 1991 but it’s settled on the triple as the signature design for its performance bikes. The early triples showed them the direction they should follow.

Apart from the extensive cleaning and polishing, Brian’s issues with bringing the 900 Sprint up to speed have largely been trying to get the carburettors clean enough to run normally and address a slipping clutch when maximum power is applied. He’s not quite there yet with the clutch but it doesn’t interfere with day-to-day riding and the mount is big and comfortable. He also fitted braided front brake lines and treated the green monster to a fresh set of rubber. All up, it still owes him less than $3000.

Current prices range from $3000 for an example with 200,000km on it to $3750 for a bike with just 47,347km showing.

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GOLD DIGGERS A DAY PLAYING on the backroads of Victoria’s goldfields largely confirmed what we already knew about these bikes, but there were a few surprises.

The VTR1000 Firestorm has benefitted over its 50,000km from a bit of suspension and engine tuning work. The fork on the model was criticised from the beginning for being too soft but our bike has a firmer front end that suggests the previous owner got it sorted. The recent fitting of a Dynojet Stage 1 kit and a dyno tune to match it to the aftermarket exhausts has resulted in an engine that’s crisp and very willing.

A day playing on the backroads of Victoria’s goldfields confirmed what we already know about these bikes The VTR won the Three Challenge largely because it had near-new tyres on it that gave Cam the confidence to explore its full performance at the Broadford track.

It’s even better now with new Michelin Pilot Road 4s fitted and this is one significant way you can keep up with the pack on an older bike: get the best current tyres available.

The Honda VFR750, on the other hand, presented as dead original. Well, apart from its clear indicators and tail-lights and white powdercoated wheels to emphasise its single-sided swingarm. It too benefits from excellent, fresh rubber, in this case Pirelli Diablo Rosso IIs. The VFR750 is still a beautiful bike to ride with 76,000km on the clock, but spending a little money to refresh the suspension would increase its ability without detracting from its day-to-day charm.

MT’s test crew for this exercise would probably pick the VFR750 over the 32

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

SPANNER’S FIVE TIPS

1 2 3 4 5

The bike with the lowest kilometres on it will probably last longer.

Look for something with less than 50,000km but be open to a higher-mileage example if there’s a reliable service history.

The fewer the cylinders, the cheaper the service and maintenan costs. Parts are usually inexpensive but labour is generally aroun $120 an hour. Fewer cylinders equals less labour time.

Allow for consumables in your budget: new chain, sprockets and tyres will transform the feel of an older bike.

It’s a bit costly and time-consuming but when you get an older bike, change all its fluids (including brakes) and give it a major service (valve clearances included). This will give you a baseline for future service and maintenance.

Find a club for your particular bike’s make and model and join it. The members will know all the secrets…

Firestorm as an everyday ride – mostly because of its sorted ergonomics – but if speed is your thing, the VFR wouldn’t see which way the VTR went. As well as being a great contemporary ride, the VTR could double as a potent track-day bike. In their respective categories, both are winners.

The choice is a little harder with the big tourers. In the Kawasaki’s case, there’s something comforting about having a big inline four pushing you down the road, but its extra 20Nm of torque over the Triumph is negated by its extra 57kg. It also uses more fuel and is slightly down on top speed. Does this matter? We’re going touring after all, MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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and both these bikes are likely to live out their lives at sensible road speeds where their performance will be almost identical. Ultimately, the choice would come down to which one was more comfortable for you.

Reflective of their era, both are a little top-heavy but the lighter weight of the Sprint 900 makes it a little easier to manage in tight situations.

While Triumph flirted with big fourcylinder engines, it’s stuck with the success of its three-cylinder units, of which the Sprint 900 is an early example.

It has a surprisingly exotic character about it – perhaps more so than the Kawasaki which, late in its model run, was regularly referred to as a ‘dinosaur’.

Of the two, Brian considers the Triumph 900 Sprint to be the sportier

PRODUCTION ENGINE CAPACITY POWER TORQUE FUEL CAPACITY FUEL USE SEAT HEIGHT WEIGHT TOP SPEED PRICE WHEN NEW PRICE NOW

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MOTORCYCLE TRADER

One significant way you can keep up with the pack on an older bike: get the best current tyres available but he seems to ride the Kawasaki more.

It might have something to do with the fact that the clutch on the Triumph is still slipping slightly when it’s trying to transfer 74kW to the rear wheel, but there’s also a theory going around that pets and their owners slowly grow to resemble each other. The masculine, blunt charm of the Kawasaki seems a more comfortable fit for its owner.

Victoria’s goldfields region offers a network of great roads and grand vistas. No wonder Spannerman’s always out there somewhere.

Honda VFR750

Honda VTR1000F

Triumph Sprint 900

Kawasaki GTR1000

1994-97 V-four 748cc 76kW (105hp) at 10,000rpm 73Nm at 8000rpm 21L 6.3L/100km 800mm 226kg (wet) 245km/h $13,900 $2000-$6000

1997-05 V-twin 996cc 80kW (110hp) at 9000rpm 97Nm at 7000rpm 15.8L 6.5L/100km 810mm 209kg (wet) 250km/h $13,990 $2300-$4200

1991-98 Triple 885cc 74kW (99hp) at 9500rpm 78Nm at 6500rpm 25L 6.1L/100km 780mm 239kg (wet) 226km/h $14,990 $3000-$3800

1986-05 Inline four 997cc 85kW (110hp) at 9500rpm 98Nm at 6500rpm 28.5L 7.1L/100km 797mm 296kg (wet) 216km/h $15,490 $1500-$5000

PHILLIP ISLAND

SUPERBIKE

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

FEB 28 - MAR 1, 2020 worldsbk.com.au

FALLOON’S WORDS IAN FALLOON PHOTOS MT ARCHIVES

Want to know which are the next bluechip bikes?

Who better to ask than MT’s world-renown collectable expert, author and authenticator, Ian Falloon?

You’re welcome

O

ne of the first features I penned for a motorcycle journal was in the early 1980s about the premise of considering motorcycles as collectables. Back then, very few items were collectable. This included cars and even art works. The average person had extremely limited disposable income and, with massively high interest rates, most struggled to pay a mortgage.

Because they were cheap, new bike sales were buoyant, but there was little or no interest in old motorcycles. So I wrote about the used bargains that were available at that time for very little cash outlay. This included Vincents, bevel-drive Ducatis, and even Brough Superiors.

In 1982, you could buy any old motorcycle for a lot less than a new one. I suggested it might be prudent to buy those Vincents advertised for around $500 because they may turn out to be decent investments.

Nearly 40 years on and those who heeded my advice would have done quite nicely, thank you. As the market for high-end collectables, particularly cars, has exploded it has dragged lower-value collectables (like motorcycles) along in its wake. And while motorcycles were once associated with the working class, as the working class has become wealthier so has the value of motorcycles as collectables. It has now reached the stage where all those motorcycles I predicted to take off in 1982 have now become unobtainable for the average collector. That doesn’t mean I’m a

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LU

ECHI

P

B

FORECAST BIKES soothsayer, but I can’t see this situation changing.

Wealth will continue to increase, as will the demand for collectables, including motorcycles.

SO WHERE DO YOU START? Typically, the value of collectable bikes is like a negative bell curve. From their new price, they drop dramatically over 10-15 years, flatten out for around 10 years and begin to rise over the next 15 or so. After 40 years, they should reach a price comparable with a current new model, and some will increase beyond that. Forty years seems to correspond to the period when buyers who originally owned these bikes, or always dreamed of them, are prepared to pay well over the odds to buy them again. This is why we are currently seeing a surge in the prices for Kawasaki Z1s and early Honda CB750-Fours.

To make the most from the next series of motorcycle collectables, we need to look at those bikes that are close to, or at, their lowest price point: between 1990 and up to 2008. Some are rare, high-end models, expensive new and still relatively so, but these should provide higher appreciation. Others are more popular models that could take off as they become less common.

The best bets are also mainstream makes. Unless they’re super-exclusive, history has shown that the best performing collectable motorcycles are from marques with a strong brand and loyal following. They also need to be a landmark model in some respect. Here are my tips for the future.

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Unfortunately, the D16 RR took the term “race replica” to another level. As it was built for the track, it wasn’t totally suitable for street use. The highly stressed engine didn’t cope well with city traffic and was prone to overheating. And the D16RR was also more difficult to ride fast on the track than a 1098R. But while other Ducatis may have been more practical and functionally superior, the D16 RR was the only one with a direct Grand Prix racing lineage. Ducati has only won one MotoGP World Championship, with Casey Stoner in 2007, and the 2008 D16 RR is its closest production tribute. I didn’t predict the Green Frame would crazily increase in value from $3000 to $300,000 in 45 years, and I can’t really see a similar increase in the D16 RR. The entry bar is too high but, with the future for highperformance race replicas uncertain in our increasingly regulated world, I wouldn’t bet against it.

The ‘Green Frame’ was the only round-case Desmo … the only comparable modern Ducati is the Desmosedici RR

CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$75,000

COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

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ONE OF THE models I predicted would become collectable back in 1982 was the 1974 Ducati 750 SS ‘Green Frame’.

Since that time, Ducati has moved from a minor to mainstream manufacturer and production levels have increased dramatically.

Ducati also leads the world in the released of limitededition models and, in my view, this devalues its prestige.

The main reason the Green Frame has earned its reputation is due to its finite status. The Green Frame was the only round-case Desmo and it was offered for just one year. The only comparable modern Ducati is the Desmosedici RR. Although built in quite large numbers (1500), the Desmosedici RR was also only produced for one year and was a factory race replica.

The parallels with the revered 1974 750 SS are numerous.

Also a true race replica for the street, the Desmosedici RR, or D16 RR, included many unique features.

In 2008, the D16 RR was the only four-cylinder production Ducati. While all the other production Ducati engines at that time used toothed rubber belts to drive the overhead camshafts, the D16 RR 90-degree V-four included a train of straight-cut gears. The basic engine specification was identical to the 2006 GP6, the final 1000cc version before the 800cc limit was introduced in 2007.

With an 86mm bore, and extremely short 42.56mm stroke, the displacement was 989cc. The positions of the desmodromic valve operating system (camshaft rotation axis, rocker arm centre, and valve centre distance), valve angle, and twin-pulse timing were also as for the GP6.

The pistons provided a 13.5:1 compression ratio, and with four 50mm Magneti Marelli throttle bodies, the maximum output was 200hp at 13,800rpm. This was an astonishing figure for a production bike in 2008.

The D16 RR chassis was also derived from the GP6, with a tubular-steel frame and cast, forged, and pressed aluminium swingarm. The Öhlins suspension, Brembo brakes and Marchesini wheels were also GP-spec, the only anomaly being a 16-inch rear wheel shod with a special Bridgestone 200/55R16 tyre. The dry weight was only 171kg and the D16 RR promised true race replica performance.

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2008 DUCATI DESMOSEDICI RR

Production replica of the MotoGP Desmosedici.

The true successor to the 1974 750 SS Green Frame

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1990-91 NORTON F1 THE BRITISH MOTORCYCLE industry dominated the world for so long, so it inevitably maintains a strong grip over the collector market.

And while Norton may have had a fairly chequered history in recent years, it’s an historically important marque and certain models continue to perform well.

One of the stand-out Nortons of the more modern era is the F1 rotary. While Hercules and Suzuki struggled to find acceptance for their Wankel rotary-powered motorcycles, Norton was surprisingly successful.

The Norton rotary story began back in the 1960s when BSA and Triumph considered a Wankel as a replacement for their ageing parallel twins. Norton/Triumph continued to develop the rotary through the 1970s, and in 1984 it gained water-cooling.

By 1990 Norton was on the brink of financial disaster, but with success of Steve Spray and Trevor Nation in the 1989 British Formula

One and Supercup Championships, it seemed logical to create a race replica. The resulting P55 “F1” was the culmination of 20 years of rotary development, and one of the outstanding motorcycles of the era.

The basis of the P55 was the F1 racer and included Seymour-Powell designed, fully enclosed bodywork.

Apart from the rectangular Yamaha FZ250 headlight, the styling has stood the test of time remarkably well and the F1 still looks modern.

Powering it was a 588cc twin-rotor water-cooled Wankel engine mated to a Yamaha FZR1000 five-speed transmission. With a pair of Mikuni BDS 34 downdraft carburettors, the engine’s 95hp at 9500rpm was produced in a smooth, linear fashion, with absolutely no vibration. If it wasn’t for the excessive heat and thirst, it could’ve been the perfect motorcycle engine.

There was nothing wrong with the F1 chassis, which included a Spondon twin-spar aluminium frame

that straddled the Wankel engine, while suspension was an upside down fork and monoshock from WP. The front brakes were state of the art for 1990, with Brembo fourpiston calipers and 320mm fully floating cast-iron rotors. Rolling on a pair of 17-inch PVM alloys, the 192kg F1 beckoned for the open road.

Unfortunately, the F1 wasn’t developed to cope with stricter emissions regulations, and ultimately the F1 could only be sold in Britain.

Hand-assembled at a rate of one bike a day at the Norton factory in Shenstone, Staffordshire, a total of 205 F1s were built through until June, 1991. Now the F1 is seen not only as a legacy to the success of the racing RCW588, but also signals the end of an era that began in the 1930s with the Manx Norton.

The Norton F1 is the definitive limited-edition British race replica of the modern era. Already the F1 is one of the more valuable Nortons and this will only increase, especially if the marque survives.

Extremely rare British replica of the most successful racing rotary motorcycle CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$75,000

COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

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1996 MOTO GUZZI DAYTONA RS

MOTO GUZZI HAS never been at the forefront of collectability but, as a marque with a strong history and passionate supporter base, certain models have always been desirable. Strangely, while Moto Guzzi is predominately known for large-capacity cruisers and touring bikes, its most collectable models are sportsbikes. Think of Moto Guzzi and the most significant collectables are the V7 Sport and 850 Le Mans. Lesser known, and certainly set to shine, are the four-valve Daytonas, with the rare and virtually unknown Daytona RS at the forefront.

The Daytona grew out of ex-dentist Dr John Wittner’s modified Le Mans developed for Battle of the Twins racing in the US in the late 1980s. This featured a rectangular-section steel backbone frame and included cantilever rear suspension with a floating final-drive unit pivoting on the axle that virtually eliminated torque reaction.

Doug Brauneck rode Wittner’s bike to victory in the 1987 Pro-Twins Championship, including the Daytona race, and for 1988 Moto Guzzi provided Wittner with a new engine with four-valve cylinder heads. Twin toothed belts drove single-overhead camshafts positioned in the sides of the cylinder heads.

Over the next two years, Wittner continued to develop the four-valve racer, and while it eventually produced 128hp, reliability suffered.

Wittner then moved to Mandello to supervise the development of a production Daytona. A prototype 40

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Virtually unknown and extremely rare Moto Guzzi superbike CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$20,000

COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

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appeared at the end of 1989, with regular production beginning in 1992.

Fast-forward to 1996 and the flawed Daytona evolved into the much-improved Daytona RS. While it may have looked similar, the RS was the Daytona Guzzi should have built in 1990. There were significant changes to the 90x78mm 90-degree V-twin engine. Along with higher-compression 10.5:1 forged pistons were new camshafts and a lighter and polished crankshaft with Carrillo conrods. The power was 102hp at 8400rpm.

The strengthened frame was similar to the earlier Daytona, but the fork was now a 40mm upsidedown WP unit with a matching shock. The 17-inch wheels were new and completing the upgrade was new styling akin to the 1100 Sport. Unfortunately, however, the 221kg Daytona was deemed excessively large and heavy and didn’t receive universal acclaim.

But the Daytona RS was a significant improvement on the earlier Daytona, providing superior engine and chassis performance in a higher-quality package.

The RS was a great sporting motorcycle in the tradition of the earlier V7 Sport but unfortunately it came too late. Only 308 were built in 1996 and 1997. Undoubtedly the Daytona RS will become one of the more sought-after Moto Guzzis. I expect it to follow the V7 Sport and 850 Le Mans. Thus, it won’t achieve stratospheric prices but will provide a steady increase.

1992 HONDA CBR900RR-N FIREBLADE WHEN IT COMES to collectability, the first model of a ground-breaking generation is the one that becomes the most desirable. Sometimes this is out of proportion to functionality and it is generally associated with rarity, or the perception of it. The model must also be associated with the introduction of a landmark design. We’ve seen this happen with several popular models, notably the Honda CB750, but as we’re dealing with mass-produced models it’s a bit of a punt to predict this scenario. But few motorcycles have had the impact of the CBR900RR-N FireBlade, and it has all the credentials to become a desirable collectable.

While there was nothing revolutionary about the CBR900RR Fireblade’s design, the idea of combining open-class horsepower with the weight of a 600 was a recipe for instant success. In one fell swoop, the Fireblade virtually destroyed the 750 class and initiated the high horsepower, light weight approach that continues today. Now seen as one of the classic designs of the 1990s, it made the opposition seem like fat pigs,

and ensured sporting motorcycles were never the same again.

The 16-valve four-cylinder CBR900RR engine shared many features with the CBR600F2.

Displacing 893cc (70x58mm), the one-piece crankcase and cylinder block allowed the transmission to be located close to the crankshaft, with the camshaft drive on the right and a small one-piece alternator on the left. With four 38mm flat-slide Keihin carbs, it produced 122hp at 10,500rpm. While this power output was unremarkable, the engine was partially rubber-mounted in the twin-spar aluminium frame, and with a box-section alloy swingarm the result was spectacular. The suspension included a conventional 45mm fork, styled to look like an upside-down unit.

The CBR900RR-N continued Honda’s quest at that time for mass centralisation. The wheelbase was an incredibly short 1410mm, with every component trimmed to save weight. From the tiny battery to the small 296mm brake discs, and 16-inch front wheel with specially developed Bridgestone tyres,

the emphasis was on keeping the weight down to 185kg.

With an intriguing set of holes in the fairing to quicken side-to-side steering transitions, the CBR900RR turned the sporting motorcycle world upside down. Providing openclass horsepower with 600-class weight, Honda redefined sportsbike performance.

Over the next few years, the FireBlade lost some weight and gained capacity, with an all-new model appearing for 2000. It also lost some of its character and was overtaken by the Yamaha R1.

Among this proliferation of models, the first version stands apart. No other bike in the previous 20 years had generated as much hype as the CBR900RR-N and it ended up carving its own niche.

Will the CBR900RR-N replicate the Honda CB750 “sandcast” in value?

I don’t really think so. Forty years on most of the people who will remember it won’t be able to ride a sportsbike but it should do okay.

The Honda CBR900RR-N set the benchmark for the next generation of superbikes. A future collectable for minimal outlay

CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$6000

COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

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2006 BMW HP2 ENDURO

APART FROM PRE-WAR and rare racing models, BMW has struggled in the collector market. The German giant build too many bikes, offers too many models, and replaces them too frequently.

This planned obsolescence doesn’t aid the company’s classic and collector status. The only series that’s appreciating is the early R80 G/S due to the popularity of GS series in general.

By 2006, the R 1200 GS was BMW’s most successful model, and this led to the introduction of the first of the HP (High Performance) low-volume sports series, the HP2 Enduro. Developed by a small team of specialists, engineers and mechanics, the HP2 Enduro was also BMW’s first serious production sporting off-road motorcycle.

While based on the R 1200 GS, with the exception of the engine and the on-board network, nearly all the components were new.

Saving weight and focussing on essential off-road ability were the main criteria.

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twin engine was increased slightly, to 105hp, with the balance shaft removed to reduce weight.

The HP2 Enduro’s frame and suspension were also new, the tubular-steel spaceframe based on that of the R900R Dakar Rally machines of 1999-2001.

Instead of the R 1200 GS’s Telelever, the front suspension was by a fully adjustable longtravel 45mm upside-down fork.

The R 1200 GS’s Paralever was redesigned, and the light alloy swingarm made longer.

The shock was developed in conjunction with Continental, with an air spring and damper system.

Easily adjustable, the fully sealed unit was also more resistant to dirt and contamination.

As the HP2 Enduro was designed for off-road use, the wheels were cross-spoke aluminium, a 21-inch on the front and 17-inch on the rear. These were fitted with specially developed Metzeler Karoo tubeless tyres. The brakes included a single semi-floating 305mm disc with a twin-piston caliper at the front, and 265mm

The most focussed and highest specification off-road BMW boxer twin CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$20,000

COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

7 rear disc with the R 1200 GS’s floating twin-piston caliper.

Unlike the R 1200 GS, the brakes were without ABS, considered detrimental in off-road situations.

The bodywork was also new, with a relatively small 13-litre fuel tank nestling between the upper frame tubes.

Quality detail touches included asymmetrically drilled handlebar clamps to provide two positions; a tapered aluminium handlebar, and

stainless steel serrated footpegs.

With a claimed dry weight of only 175kg, the HP2 Enduro was the lightest large-capacity boxer yet.

Testing was undertaken in extreme conditions, including the Baja California Desert race with Jimmy Lewis. BMW subsequently supported privately entered HP2 Enduros in the Erzberg race in Austria and the German Cross Country Championship with thencurrent champion, the Finnish rider Simo Kirssi.

The HP2 Enduro was only offered for 2006 and 2007, but its success prompted BMW to release further HP versions (the Megamoto and Sport) in the following years.

While the boxer twin is an essential ingredient of BMW’s DNA and the dual-purpose GS its pivotal model, the HP2 Enduro offered significantly improved off-road capability. We’ve seen the appeal of the Paris-Dakar replicas for the serious BMW collector, and as it was rare and expensive, I believe the HP2 Enduro will eventually follow suit.

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1993 HARLEY-DAVIDSON FLSTN S IL NOSTALGIA ‘COW GLIDE’ HARLEY-DAVIDSON IS another marque with a huge customer base and passionate following. It has also fostered a sense of tradition and created brand loyalty by continually releasing anniversary models.

Harley’s first big party was the celebration of 90 years in 1993 and the Heritage Softail Nostalgia was one of five 90th Anniversary models released that year. While the others have been consigned as just another Anniversary model, the Nostalgia is now one of the most-coveted classic Harley-Davidsons.

The Nostalgia was basically a restyled Fat Boy with a Softail chassis, Evolution engine, broad mudguards, and a fat car-like front tyre. The Evo engine was introduced for 1984 to replace the Shovelhead. The result of seven years development, the Evo produced not only more power than the Shovelhead, but also ran significantly cooler and cleaner. As Harley’s first new large-displacement (1340cc) V-twin in 18 years, a lot rode on the Evolution’s success. Fortunately for Harley, they got it right and the Evolution’s improved reliability and durability saved them.

With an 88.8mm bore, long 108mm stroke and a single 40mm Keihin carb, the power from the 45-degree air-cooled pushrod V-twin was a moderate 57hp at 5000rpm. Inspired by 1950s customs, the Nostalgia’s shotgun-style mufflers included shark-fin tips and a suitably evocative throaty exhaust note.

The Nostalgia’s tubular-steel frame was shared with all the FX and FL-series Harleys, and reproduced the look of a traditional hardtail without the harsh ride.

Two horizontally mounted Showa shocks were hidden underneath the engine and a 41mm Showa reproduction Hydra-Glide front end provided a plush ride. As the Nostalgia weighed a hefty 312kg fully laden, the Nostalgia was more suited to highways, back roads and boulevards at sightseeing speeds.

The Nostalgia was as much about looks as function. Whitewall tyres sat on the 16-inch spoked wheels and Holstein calf-hide inserts on the seat and saddlebags provided an extreme visual statement.

Harley made no attempt to go modern with the Nostalgia. As the only FLSTN built as a numbered limited edition of 2700, the Nostalgia holds a special place in Harley’s history.

While some of the rare racing Harleys, like the VR-1000, achieve the highest prices for the more modern models, for most collectors, Harley-Davidson is still about style and cruising. Even when it was released in 1993, collectors paid over the odds for the Nostalgia “Cow Glide”, or “Moo Glide”, and it is now one of the most sought-after production HarleyDavidsons of the modern era. As Harleys age their price increases, almost exponentially as they become older and rarer. The Heritage Softail Nostalgia is a sure bet to substantially increase in value.

Harley’s only numbered limited edition.

One of the most coveted classic HarleyDavidsons CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$60,000

COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

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was Formula One-inspired. The wheels were forged aluminium 10-spoke Marchesini items and most of the bodywork was carbon-fibre. The dry weight was 183kg.

The F4 Tamburini was the most exotic motorcycle available in 2004. The list price was more than double that of a comparable F4 1000 S, and each of the 300 examples came with an embossed leather box containing a Tamburini-signed carbon-fibre certificate.

Castiglioni initially dreamed of creating an ultra-high specification F4 for himself, but in 2006 he decided to put his name to it and offer it as an exclusive limited edition. Ninety per cent of the components were bespoke items created by CRC (Cagiva Research Centre). The engine was significantly updated with a 79mm bore increasing the displacement to 1078cc for an output of 200hp at 12,200rpm.

The chassis featured a special Sachs steering damper, Sachs F1-derived shock and Brembo racing Monobloc front brake calipers. Each of the 100 examples of the €100,000 F4 CC was delivered with the expectation that it wouldn’t matter if the ignition key never turned in its lock or the bike was displayed inside on a stand.

MV is a more specialised brand than others but still has a dedicated following. There is never any shortage of buyers for its high-end limited-edition models and these two limited-edition F4s are approaching the lower point of their value cycle. Offering unparalleled quality with exclusivity, they should not only retain their value but also provide a modest increase.

CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$60,000 plus COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

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MASSIMO TAMBURINI WAS responsible for two of the most influential motorcycles of the recent era – the Ducati 916 and MV Agusta F4 – and is regarded as one of the most significant modern motorcycle designers.

While the Ducati 916 could rightly be considered a future collectable, some features detract from this significance. It was built in large numbers over a long period and, as there are so many variations on the theme, it is difficult to single out a specific model for favoured collector status.

The MV Agusta F4 may not have been as groundbreaking as the 916, but it was based on a similar blueprint and produced in far lower numbers. But, like the 916, the F4 also suffered from a multitude of model variations, with a large number of limited editions, so I’m concentrating on two high-end models: the Tamburini and CC (Claudio Castiglioni). Claudio Castiglioni owned MV Agusta and was responsible for its resurrection.

After dedicating limited editions to sporting heroes (Agostini and Senna), for 2004 Claudio commissioned the highest specification F4 yet to celebrate the greatness of the F4’s designer, Massimo Tamburini. The engine was basically that of the F4 1000 S, but the F4 Tamburini had hand-finished and polished intakes and a patented Torque Shift System (TSS) featuring variablelength induction tubes. The maximum power was an impressive 172.8hp at 11,750rpm.

The chassis included a magnesium swingarm and support plates, while the Sachs Racing shock

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2004-06 MV AGUSTA F4 1000 TAMBURINI/CC

Exclusive limited editions of one of the most beautiful motorcycles of the modern era

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2001-02 DUCATI MH900e WHEN I FIRST saw Pierre Terblanche’s prototype MH900 evoluzione at his studio at the Ducati factory in Bologna in 1998 I was unimpressed. Essentially a dressed up two-valve 900 SS, the engine and chassis specification was unremarkable and cosmetic additions even included plastic sump covers.

At the time I considered this stylist addition a travesty. But as only one series was built, and this included many unique components, the MH900e has now usurped many higherperforming limited race replica Ducatis as a desirable collectable.

Terblanche told me, “Ever since Mike Hailwood won at the Isle of Man in 1978, I wanted to build my own interpretation of those magnificent NCR racers.”

The prototype was unveiled at the Milan Show at the end of 1999 and it caused such a sensation the production version was announced soon afterwards.

Released on January 1, 2000,

purchase was only possible via the internet at a worldwide price of €15,000.

Powering the Evoluzione was the fuel-injected 904cc engine of the 900 Supersport, producing 79hp at 8250rpm. The tubular-steel frame was a special construction, with the engine placed as far forward in the frame as possible while retaining the same offset as the normal 900 Supersport.

Although a twin-shock swingarm, in the style of the original Hailwood NCR, was initially considered, this was discarded in favour of a tubular single-sided swingarm. In many other respects, the Evoluzione

was a parts-bin special. The fivespoke Marchesini wheels were from the 996, the twin 320mm semi-floating front discs from the 900 Supersport and the nonadjustable 43mm Showa fork was from the 750 SS. A Paioli rear shock controlled the rear wheel. But the most significant feature was the unique bodywork that replicated the NCR racers, this emboldened with the classic 1970s Giugiaro graphics.

The Mike Hailwood Evoluzione represented a new path for Ducati. “This is really an extension of the Harley factorycustom idea. Here we take basically a standard bike and alter it in such a way as to create a completely new expression,” Terblanche said.

“My idea was to get away from complexity and carbon-fibre. I also wanted to capture the feel of the racing bike that is why it is elemental, with very clean lines. Thus it becomes a custom,” he says, “And every component looks good.”

Modern interpretation of the NCR racing Ducatis as ridden by Mike Hailwood at the Isle of Man in 1978 CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$35,000

COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

8 Total MH900e production was 2010, with most produced after September, 2001, as 2002 models. Although it was not the rare limited-edition model that was originally envisaged, the MH900e hit the spot with a type of collector more interested in style than performance. As this isn’t my personal preference, I didn’t predict it, but the MH900e continues to perform well on the collector market.

The MH900e hit the spot with a type of collector more interested in style than performance

2000-06 HONDA VTR1000 SP-1/SP-2

HONDA’S RACE REPLICA V-fours, the RC30 and RC45, are now premium collectables but, for some reason, the comparable race replica twins have lagged.

Pensioning off its beloved V-four in favour of a twin was not something Honda did lightly, but Ducati’s success in the World Superbike Championship forced the Japanese giant into it. Honda only won one World Superbike Championship with its RC45 (John Kocinski in 1997) and as twins could displace 1000cc to the fours’ 750cc, it created the SP-1 (RC51) for the 2000 season.

The SP-1 was a pure homologation special, sharing nothing with the production VTR1000F. A bore and stroke of 100 x 68.3mm provided 999cc and, as with the RC30 and RC45,

gears drove the double-overhead camshafts. The cylinders were integrated into the upper half of the horizontally split crankcases for additional strength. A unique ram-air system sucked air through the vent between the headlamps, the fuel injection system was PGM-F1, and cooling was by side-mounted radiators.

Honda claimed 126hp at 9000rpm.

The frame was also unique, with an extruded aluminium twin spar incorporating the swingarm pivot in the crankcase and frame.

The fork was an upside down 43mm Showa and the 320mm front disc brakes included fourpiston calipers.

The bodywork was also claimed

to be slipperier than Mick Doohan’s NSR500.

Superbike regulations required a minimum weight of 162kg so the SP-1 was built with this in mind and weighed a solid 196kg. Honda couldn’t have asked for a better script in the SP-1’s first racing season. The SP-1 won the Suzuka Eight-Hour race, Joey Dunlop the TT F1 race and Colin Edwards the World Superbike Championship.

After only two years the SP-1 was replaced by the SP-2. Updates were aimed at curing some of the fuel injection stumbles, and the harsh and uncompromising ride. Power was increased to 133hp at 10,000rpm while chassis updates included a lighter, longer swingarm, lighter wheels, and slightly revised Showa suspension.

Revised bodywork

included a taller screen, but the SP-2 was still no featherweight, at 194kg.

Edwards won the 2002 World Superbike Championship on the SP-2 and teamed with Daijiro Kato to win Suzuka.

While supreme on the track, unfortunately the SP-1 and SP-2 were overshadowed in the market by the newer generation of fourcylinder superbikes, notably Honda’s own CBR929RR Fireblade and the Yamaha YZF-R1.

It took a connoisseur to appreciate the technical and engineering qualities the SP-1 and SP-2 offered. The SP-1 and SP-2 were seen as dinosaurs from an earlier generation, but this is selling them short. Just like the RC30 and RC45, the SP-1 and SP-2 were high-specification factory homologation models with an enviable racing pedigree. Eventually collectors will realise this.

High specification homologation specials with an impeccable racing pedigree CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$10,000-$15,000 COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

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But the speed wars were over before they really began. Fearing a European regulatory backlash, a year later the Japanese manufacturers got together for a handshake deal that stipulated none of their production motorcycles would be allowed to exceed 300km/h. After Kawasaki’s 2000 model ZX-12R fell short by 6km/h, the Suzuki Hayabusa’s status as the fastest standard production bike of the 20th century was sealed.

While mostly known for its top-speed performance, the Hayabusa was also an extremely competent allround sporting motorcycle. The handling, comfort, noise, fuel efficiency, and reliability were outstanding.

The dry weight was a modest 215kg and the highspecification chassis included an upside-down fork, rising-rate rear suspension and six-piston Tokico front brake calipers.

As with most collectable motorcycles, the first model Hayabusa is the most desirable. For 2000, a speed-limiting system was introduced and in 2001 a steel subframe added 4.5kg. Since then, the Hayabusa has only received one significant update, in 2008. The engine capacity was increased to 1340cc, and the new slippery bodywork introduced. ABS brakes appeared in 2013 but, even today, the Hayabusa continues as a dinosaur, eschewing creature comforts like cruise control and heated grips, and now commonplace electronic safety features such as traction control and wheelie control.

As the last motorcycle offered providing the highest possible top speed, the Hayabusa has earned its place in motorcycling folklore. And the unrestricted 1999 GSX1300RX model will always have the most cachet with collectors.

CURRENT MARKET VALUE

$8000$10,000

COLLECTOR SIGNIFICANCE

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IT MAY SEEM strange to include a model that’s currently available but, in a world of increasing technology and constant evolution, the Hayabusa remains an anomaly and a dinosaur that is still available. For now.

In production for 20 years, the Hayabusa remains available in Australia, the US, Canada, South Africa, Thailand, Chile and Saudi Arabia. Thanks to evertightening emissions laws, its days are certainly numbered and, as it’s no longer available in the UK and Europe, prices there are on the rise.

Honda initiated the top-speed war in 1996 with the 162hp 1137cc CBR1100XX Super Blackbird. Designed to challenge the 1052cc Kawasaki ZZ-R1100’s 283km/h, the Blackbird just managed to edge it with a timed 287km/h.

Also wanting a piece of the action, Suzuki released the Hayabusa in 1999. It was not lost on the Suzuki marketing department that “Hayabusa” is the name of the world’s fastest bird, the Japanese peregrine falcon, capable of speeds up to 325km/h. It also hunts the Japanese blackbird for food.

The first Hayabusa was powered by a 1299cc (81 x 63mm) double-overhead camshaft four-cylinder engine, at the time the largest displacement ever for a sporting motorcycle. A ram-air induction system assisted in providing a record 173hp and this, combined with sophisticated aerodynamics, allowed the Hayabusa to leapfrog the Blackbird in top speed. With a mark of 312km/h, the Hayabusa was unquestionably the fastest production motorcycle available in 1999.

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1999 SUZUKI HAYABUSA (GSX1300R-X)

The fastest standard production motorcycle ever

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The unrestricted 1999 GSX1300RX model will always have the most cachet with collectors

NOT QUITE 2006 DUCATI SPORTCLASSIC PAUL SMART 1000 The MH900e established a blueprint for a factory custom inspired by racing success and Pierre Terblanche’s second rendition was the SportClassic Paul Smart Replica.

Again, this was more of a custom than a replica but while the MH900e retained strong visual links to the original, the Paul Smart 1000 shared little with the 1972 Imola original.

Unfortunately for the PS 1000, Ducati had produced a real Imola replica 30 years earlier: the 1974 750 SS ‘Green Frame’.

As a limited-edition model, the PS 1000 should perform okay as a collectable, but it will never be a Green Frame.

1991 2003 KAWASAKI ZXR750R, ZX 7RR After dominating superbike racing for many years with a succession of air-cooled fours, with the introduction of the World Superbike Championship in 1988 Kawasaki turned to water-cooling.

But its initial ZXR750 was too streetbased to be competitive. Then, for 1991, Kawasaki released a limited-production homologation ZXR750R. This shortstroke 750cc engine produced 121hp and an updated version appeared for 1993.

In 1996, the limited-edition version became the ZX-7RR, and this continued to form the basis of the factory Kawasaki Superbike racers until 2003. Almost forgotten, the rare, limited-edition homologation ZXR750R and ZX-7RR were Kawasaki’s equivalent of Honda’s RC45 and RC51, but they haven’t achieved the same recognition. That’s sure to change.

1998 YAMAHA YZF R1 Like the Honda CBR900RR Fireblade, the Yamaha YZF-R1 established a new superbike standard. Whereas Honda pursued a lightweight, minimalist approach, Yamaha’s mantra was “no compromise”. The YZF-R1’s key component was an extremely compact engine, with a ‘stacked’ gearbox, which saw the mainshaft above the output shaft. The engine produced 150hp at 10,000rpm, and while this was more than adequate, the most impressive feature of the YZF-R1 was its compactness. The wheelbase was only 1415mm with an optimised centre of gravity. The dry weight of only 177kg was less than the Honda CBR900RR, and the R1 immediately set the standard for superbike performance. Over time, the R1 has been continually improved but the first model will be most remembered.

1994 96 TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE Triumph’s Hinckley resurrection began in 1991 and got off to a slow start. The range was initially built around a series of spine-frame triples and fours, including the sporting Daytona. But while the Daytona didn’t really succeed as a stateof-the-art sportsbike, for 1994 Triumph released the niche-market Speed Triple.

With its low ’bars, rearset footpegs, and single round headlight, the naked café racer style pioneered a new market.

This was the Triumph triple in its rawest form, and it was an instant hit. The 885cc triple was much the same as the Daytona, but the exposed plumbing was tidied and the gearbox was a five-speed unit. The spine-frame Speed Triple was Hinckley’s most significant model of the 1990s and will eventually receive the recognition it deserves.

TOO NEW BUT PROBABLY SURE BETS If you’re looking at a new bike with potential collector status these are worth considering

BMW R NINET When BMW released the retro R NineT in 2014 it was an instant hit. This continued into 2015 and when considering future collectables, such popularity is always a good sign. And as the R NineT is based on the earlier air/oil-cooled engine and transmission layout, it’s probably due for imminent replacement – another good sign for future collectability.

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MOTORCYCLE TRADER

KAWASAKI NINJA H2R Ultimate performance is always popular and the Kawasaki Ninja H2R offers more than any other production motorcycle. We’re talking here about the limited-edition 2015 non-street-legal supercharged Ninja H2R that pumped out an astonishing 326hp. But if you can’t find one of the few H2Rs, the 210hp H2 is a decent substitute, and they’re still available.

TRIUMPH ROCKET 3 TFC Triumph released the Rocket III in 2004, and the 2294cc triple has been the largest-displacement motorcycle available since. However, it has had difficulty finding a niche. This changed for 2019 with the introduction of the limited-edition Rocket 3 TFC. Produced as a limited edition of 750, this sold out almost immediately – always a good sign for future values.

LONG LIFE. LONG ADVENTURE. GET MORE OF WHAT GETS YOUR MOTOR GOING with a K&N® High-Flow Air Filter,™ designed to increase horsepower with more airflow—and washable/reusable so you can ride stronger for longer. Also, enhance your upgrade with a K&N Wrench-Off® oil filter, ideal for synthetic oils. Ideal for Adventure Touring riders who spend hours in the saddle, both on and off-road. Find your filters and order online today.

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ut, o k a e a Br y u b DR u X o F y l a e i r Befo rley’s spec fast – u a o try H rows on y tg first. I

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FXDR Harley

T

ROAD TEST

Davidson

here’s no doubt about it, the FXDR is fast. A quarter-mile time of 11.83 is quick for any motorcycle, but even more so for a near-standard bike weighing 303kg. Much of the FXDR’s impressive drag times come down to its big, fat back tyre that just grips and goes. Turns out there’s function to its form after all.

In the FXDR, you’re looking at an overt drag-bike-inspired powercruiser that picks up where its super-popular, super-chrome Breakout sibling leaves off. It also fills the gap left by the popular V-Rod, which is as close as it gets to a spiritual predecessor.

If you’ve had your eye on an FXDR but have been slow to do anything about it then you’re in for a treat because it now has a rideaway of $32,495 – $3000 below its 2018 launch price – which makes it cheaper than the Breakout too ($34,250). So if you like the stretched-out cruiser and its big back tyre but want more performance and less chrome then look no further than the FXDR.

SCREAMIN’ EAGLE MODS Titanium muffler kit $1434.80 Claimed to be 50 per cent lighter than stock muffler with increased performance.

There are plenty of similarities and differences between the Breakout and FXDR. Both bikes have the same raked-out front end, a fat 240-section rear tyre, forward controls and are powered by the big MilwaukeeEight 114. But that’s where the similarities end because from there, the solo-saddle FXDR breaks away with upside-down forks and twin discs from the Fat Bob for sharper handling and a 19-inch forged aluminium front wheel instead of the showy Breakout’s 21-incher. Ground clearance is up 25mm over the Breakout (140 vs 115mm) and the wheelbase up 40mm (1735 vs 1695mm).

There’s also an extra 5Nm and an air intake that proudly sticks out like dog’s balls. It’s even got clip-on handlebars, which aren’t uncomfortable. The FXDR also introduces more aluminium throughout the bike for some decent weight savings. An aluminium swingarm is said to be 4.6kg, or more than 40 per cent, lighter than the conventional steel item (6.25 vs 10.8kg) as found across the other 10 Softail models. There’s also an aluminium subframe and mudguards, which are said to save a further 3.2kg. We’re still talking about 303kg wet here.

SO WHAT’S IT LIKE? The FXDR looks huge, and is huge. It’s heavy and cumbersome at slow speeds but, once rolling, it corners surprisingly well. For such a big, long bike, it offers a heap more 52

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

Milwaukee-Eight Stage II Power Kit $666.95 Produces 25 per cent more acceleration in the mid and upper rev range (from 3000rpm).

Heathcote Park Raceway was the venue for our dragstrip action. It’s located 32km from Bendigo in Victoria and runs regular ‘test and tune’ meetings and burnout sessions as well as major competition events such as the Ford versus Holden Nats.

Pro Street Tuner $465.30 Allows you to adjust key engine parameters or simply upload the latest Engine Control Module (ECM) calibrations to match your bike’s state-of-tune.

cornering clearance than you’d expect, and a lot more than the Breakout. In fact, not once did I scrape the ’pegs, no matter how much I tried, especially on more open sweepers.

It handles mid-corner bumps reasonably well – much better than other Harleys I’ve ridden, which typically get upset when you hit bumps on the side of the tyre. In these circumstances, Harleys tend to want to stand up, but the FXDR doesn’t and tracks nicely through the turn despite the width of that back tyre.

But let’s not kid ourselves. The FXDR is best suited to short jaunts than longer days in the saddle thanks to its limited rear suspension travel and forward controls, which mean your butt and lower back will take a beating. But for shorter rides and smooth roads, it’s fine.

When it comes to people’s opinion, the FXDR also takes a beating. The orange touches, like the graphic etching on the wheels, look really trick, and that soliddisc back wheel looks horn, so the bike certainly stands out. But there’s no hiding some poor attention to detail. Our test bike had weld peppering around the headstock – front and centre of your view – which is simply shithouse. It’s impossible to miss and shouldn’t have left the factory. This is a $32,500 bike after all, and Harley needs to lift its game here.

Now back to the good news.

This is my first taste of the MilwaukeeEight engine, so I didn’t know what to

FXDR Harley

ROAD TEST

Davidson

If it was mine, it’d be a case of rear ’guard off, reflectors off, loud muffler on and straight to the pub MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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Competition

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Ducati XDiavel $30,190 rideaway

Harley-Davidson Breakout 114 $34,250 rideaway

Suzuki Boulevard M109R $19,790 rideaway

1262cc liquid-cooled V-twin; 112kW (152hp) at 9500rpm; 126Nm at 5000rpm; 18L tank; 247kg (wet)

1868cc air-/oil-cooled V-twin; 155Nm at 3000rpm; 13.2L tank; 305kg wet

1783cc liquid-cooled V-twin; 92kW (124hp) at 6200rpm; 160Nm at 3200rpm; 19.5L tank; 347kg wet

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

It just goes to show how drag racing is an exact science

expect. The 114 version is a torque monster. At 1868cc, it’s almost hard Harley ROAD Davidson to believe the size of the pistons. The TEST resulting 160Nm at 3500rpm delivers awesome grunt. Just feed it gears and let it drive. It sits on 100km/h at about 2200rpm, which is barely ticking over. It’s such a flexible engine that happily revs out.

But then there’s that pipe.

You buy a Harley-Davidson for the look, sound and feel, but that optional Screamin’ Eagle exhaust doesn’t add much bark for the bucks. You need to make noise when you’re on a Harley – you’ve gotta hear that engine.

The problem is testing a Harley-Davidson isn’t representative of the real world where bikes rarely roll out of the showroom without an upgraded air intake and exhaust. Our test bike had a few bells and whistles on it, including a Stage II Power kit and Pro Street Tuner (see breakout for details), which took ABOVE LEFT: The timing display shows Cam’s reaction rear-wheel power from 79 to 100hp, but the time (0.56sec); the time to big Milwaukee-Eight 114 was still muzzled.

60ft; time to one-eighth If it was mine, it’d be a case of rear ’guard mile (‘half-track’); speed off, reflectors off, loud muffler on and at the one-eighth mile mark and the elapsed straight to the pub.

FXDR

time, and speed at the end of the quarter mile.

The timing slip provided to competitors has even more information. The time to 60ft is critical to the quarter-mile time.

11.83sec at 119.02mph - ‘‘Not bhed’’.

THE DRAG STRIP Before heading to the strip, I figured it’d be wise to chat with experienced drag racer, Harley guru and my good mate Denis Ackland who featured in MT’s Shed Masters series three issues ago.

When asked how he thought the FXDR would go, Denis answered with a question: “How much horsepower and how much weight we talkin’?” This one’s got about 100hp and she weighs 303kg.

“If you can get off the line clean and get a 60-foot time under two seconds then you’ll run about a flat-12 at 118mph.” I got my 60-foot time down to 1.9 seconds, and we did 11.83 at 119mph. How’s that for spot-on?

It just goes to show how drag racing is an exact science.

I’ve only been to the drags a few times, so I also asked Denis for some tips.

“Do a good burnout and get some good heat in the tyre. Do it in second gear, which won’t be too hard on the clutch,” he said. “Wheel it through the water, grab the front brake, valve bounce it and dump the clutch. Give it a heap of revs and just get that clutch out. You’ll damage the clutch by pussyfooting around – just get it out then get it in. Give the bike at least 30 minutes between runs to allow the clutch to cool, too. That’s the best way to make the clutch last.”

I was a bit nervous the first time on the burnout pad as I dumped the clutch in second, and watched the big, back tyre light up beneath me.

As I rolled to the start line, I recalled Denis’ next tip: your clock doesn’t start until the light beam reconnects – not when it breaks. That means you don’t need to destroy the clutch by feeding it out.

In first gear, bring the revs up slowly. Do your first start in lower revs and add rpm with each run.

With anywhere between 2500 and 3000rpm with each start, I’d add a bit of rear brake, take up the slack in the clutch, edge forward, watch the lights, and go. Get the clutch out and get the power on.

Thanks to that big, hot back tyre, the FXDR gets awesome grip off the line, and next to no wheelspin compared to, say, those GSX-Ss we took to Calder Park a few years back.

Once moving, it was all about shortshifting into second. I over-revved it a few times instead of shifting up at around 5200rpm because, against the roar from other bikes, it’s just too quiet. A shift light would’ve been handy. There is a tiny digital tacho, but it’s pretty much impossible to read when you’re going flat-out down a dragstrip.

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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SPECS

HARLEY-DAVIDSON FXDR ENGINE

As far as tyre pressures go, we started with about 38psi in the rear and went down to 24 then 18.5. One of the drag boys suggested going as low as 14psi. Dropping to 18.5 helped and gripped the surface a bit better, but the FXDR gets great grip anyway, without wheelspin. It’s a heavy motorcycle – there’s a lot of weight on that back tyre – so there’s an awesome amount of launching performance.

I played between winding it out in fourth and shifting up into fifth because the Harley gearbox has a very slow gearchange with a big, long throw. No blipping the throttle and upshifting without the clutch here. You’ve got to pull that big, heavy clutch lever in and ensure it’s a nice, positive shift.

The FXDR is super stable at speed, as you’d expect for a bike with such a long wheelbase. It’s equally as stable under heavy braking, too. Victoria’s Heathcote Dragway doesn’t have a massive runoff when you cross the line, but the FXDR pulls up nice and stable well before the cyclone fence, helped by the twin disc front-end.

There’s no getting away from that riding position, however. At 200km/h on a naked bike with forward controls, you’re nothing but a parachute, and it pulls at you pretty hard.

As a relatively standard bike on the

TYPE Milwaukee-Eight 114 air-/oil-cooled 45-degree V-twin with four valves per cylinder CAPACITY 1868cc BORE & STROKE 102 x 114mm COMPRESSION RATIO 10.5:1 FUEL SYSTEM EFI

PERFORMANCE POWER Not given (our modified test bike had 100hp at the rear wheel) TORQUE 160Nm at 3500rpm

TRANSMISSION TYPE Six-speed, including overdrive FINAL DRIVE Belt CLUTCH Wet

CHASSIS & RUNNING GEAR dragstrip, the FXDR is damn impressive.

It got off the line well, it was reasonably comfortable, it wasn’t scary and it never got flighty.

Over the course of several runs, reduced rear tyre pressures and without a hint of clutch failure, we managed 12.41 at 117mph, 11.92 at 124.65mph and a best quarter-mile time of 11.83 seconds at 119.02mph. That’s not hanging about.

The FXDR grew on me as quickly as it took to the drag strip. When I first saw it, I cringed and when I first rode it around the block at slow speeds, I thought it was bloody terrible. Despite that, however, by the end of our affair, I was sad to see it go. Before you put your money down on a Breakout, try the FXDR. It grows on you. Fast.

Second ops UNCLE WO I’d like to see a quarter-m time for this with a freer exhaust. That Screamin’ Eagle pipe is just too restrictive.

5,

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

RIS etter than akout but similar, so that’s a ‘Yeah, nah’ from me.

It’s got some straight-line snot, though. Fat Bob 114 instead, ta.

GUIDO

GROFF

Sexy looks and lots of grunt. Y that works - has the makings of one day being a classic.

A quarter-mil time under 12 seconds? For 303kg bike? Go directly to jail. Do not pass go and collect your $200...

FRONT SUSPENSION 43mm upside-down fork, 117mm travel REAR SUSPENSION Shock with remote adjustable preload FRONT BRAKES 300mm discs with four-piston calipers REAR BRAKE 292mm disc with twin-piston caliper

WHEELS & TYRES WHEELS: 19-inch split five-spoke cast alloy front, 18-inch solid disc rear TYRES: 120/70-19 (F), 240/40-18 (R), Michelin Scorcher

DIMENSIONS & CAPACITIES RAKE 34 degrees WET WEIGHT 303kg SEAT HEIGHT 720mm WHEELBASE 1735mm FUEL CAPACITY 16.7 litres

OTHER STUFF PRICE $32,495 rideaway COLOURS Vivid Black, Barracuda Silver Denim, Black Denim, Performance Orange, River Rock Grey Denim WARRANTY 24 months, unlimited km www.Harley-Davidson.com

Acceleration Surprising cornering clearance

Screamin’ Eagle pipe too quiet Weld peppering is unacceptable

Spanner n’ Strooth

PANNER

MUSINGS FROM YOUR TWO FAVOURITE OLD BLOKES

and

Good reputations are hard to get and easy to lose SPANNER: Aha, the life mechanical. Why carry the burden?

ROOTHY: What have you screwed up this time?

SPANNER: It’s not me. I had a letter this month from a bloke in a NSW country town who was critical of the service he got from his local bike shop. I made a few calls and it turns out the problem was definitely with the customer, not the mechanic.

It reminded me of the time we were both starving to death in Armidale and I was making a modest quid doing bike stuff in my garage.

My clients were mostly poor students, so nobody had any money. This bloke came in on a stepthru he’d borrowed from another student which was making clicking noises in third gear. He wanted it fixed before he gave it back.

I still make mistakes.

The only thing that’s changing is getting better at finding them I ended up splitting the crankcases to find a tooth missing on third gear. Love or money couldn’t locate a third-gear cog by itself and the closest I got was the entire gear cluster from a wrecker in Sydney. My client baulked at the cost and asked if the missing tooth was going to cause any long-term problems. I told him ‘no’ if I cleaned up the gearbox and he didn’t make third gear work too hard. That’s what he decided to do so I reassembled the engine and charged him $80 for the two day’s work.

Bugger me, I was in the Railway Hotel public bar two weeks later and I overheard a conversation where one bloke was asking 58

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

another if “that bloke who’s fixing bikes down the end of Beardy Street is any good.” “Nah, my mate took his stepthru there with a gearbox problem, got charged $200 and when he got the bike back, the problem was still there!”

If you’re trying to run a business, reputation is pretty bloody important. It’s hard to get a good one and it’s very easy to lose it.

ROOTHY: Yeah, I was working part-time for John Wheatley back then, sorting out trade-ins for Woodies. He said he could sell anything as long as people didn’t know it’d been worked over by that long-haired Rooth kid. But how good was it in a small town? Charlie Peters was the mechanic at Park View, and he was so good he didn’t mind passing on a few tricks.

In a place like that everybody knew who was good at what and there was less chance of getting burnt.

Some of the big-city blokes get away with crap, though. A mate of mine trailered his 916 to a specialist Ducati shop in town with a fuel leak and needing a belt change. The mechanic came out, loudly let everyone know it was the worst-kept bike he’d seen and told him it’d cost upwards of $6000 to sort out this ‘heap of shit’ to his standards. My mate was gobsmacked. He loves that bike and just rides it more than most of the knob polishers do.

So, he took his 916 down the coast and got it sorted. Okay, so it’s a Ducati, but it’s still not brain surgery. If that’s all that pretentious twat ever worked on you wouldn’t take your mower into him, would you?

Some mechanics do think they’re a bit close to God. They’re not, they’re men and very experienced men in some cases. Like my mate Pat. He charges people for the hours he

works on their bikes, but 50 years of experience means he’s usually diagnosed it before it’s on the stand. You can pay a lot of hours to have a twat tinkering around looking for the problem.

SPANNER: Yeah, I had a ball in the 1980s when most of the Japanese manufacturers of inline fours had mounting points for vacuum gauges cast into the inlet manifold. They were used to balance multiple carbs and usually had rubber caps on them when not in use. These mounting points were directly behind the hot engine and the caps would eventually become brittle from constantly heating up and cooling down.

When one of them would jump ship, the engine would sound like a chaff-cutter. Bike owners immediately assumed there was something major wrong with the engine and you could feel the relief when I could fix the problem in a couple of seconds. I used to charge a six-pack for the job rather than money.

ROOTHY: Gawd, over-charging again? No wonder afternoons were always a bit loose around your place. Talking loose, I did much the same thing with those old Harley primaries with the ridge and bolt adjustment. They’d get a few miles up and start sounding like the clutch basket was chewing itself a new hole. All it took was a sprung-loaded plate and a Teflon guide and they’d run smooth as Kylie in Lycra.

No chance of that these days with all the fancy electronics. Once they’ve plugged their gizmo into the ECU it can be great, or you can do more time than Doctor Who if the first error code leads to a heap of parts-swapping.

Try sorting that in a bush town from the IGA hardware shelf.

SPANNER: Oh yeah. There’s a letter in Spannerman section of this issue from Chris

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT

Pat House of Pat’s Motorcycles (Brisbane); Chris Ray of BJ’s Bikes and Bits (Brisbane); Rick Johnson of Pablo’s Motorcycle Tyres (Melbourne), and Brian Browne (left) of TT Motorcycles (Melbourne).

Spanner n’ Strooth

Collins whose Guzzi would start fine from cold but wouldn’t start from hot. Without the fault computer, the normal line of inquiry would involve about 10 different checks before you arrived at the engine temperature sensor. Paul from Kyogle Motorcycles got there eventually but it’s left-brain stuff to make the link between a faulty engine temperature sensor and a bike not starting. The ECU thought the bike was cold when it was hot – a bit like trying to start a hot bike on full choke. Good effort, Kyogle Paul.

ROOTHY: Wiffo’s V-Strom started blowing raw fuel on our ride back from the Rallyman. It had all the symptoms of a choke being left fully closed, so I figured it’d be the exhaust temp sensor not telling the ECU the motor was warm. Wrong, about three mechanics and a thousand bucks later it proved to be one of those weirdo many issues contributing to the same problem things.

Dirty fuel, a slack fuel pump, some tired wiring connectors. The whole process twisted his wick so much he went out and bought a Honda.

I’ll stick to what I know, I guess. After a lifetime of tuning carbs, setting timing and valve clearances and tensioning heads there’s still more to learn with the stuff I know before braving this science-fiction crap. I still make mistakes. The only thing that’s changing is getting better at finding them.

SPANNER: Tell me about it. You know that 4WD trip I did recently? I gave the LandCruiser a service before I left and the engine warning light wouldn’t go out afterwards. I was passing a Toyota dealer when I noticed it and a plug-in check told us I’d broken the knock sensor off the engine cases while I was doing up the oil filter! The 80 Series is a good truck, but the oil filter and fuel filter are bloody hard to get to without a hoist.

ROOTHY: Does this story have a moral other than you need a hoist?

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Put some time into developing a relationship with the good businesses and good mechanics you find SPANNER: Yep. Put some time into developing a relationship with the good businesses and good mechanics you find. They’ll value their reputation and always be fair with you. You of all people would know the truth of this.

ROOTHY: That’s all most of us want, isn’t it?

A fair deal, a bit of honesty. I’ve always done my own work, mostly from being broke but also because of this handicap that won’t let me relax with a machine unless I understand it. Fortunately, it never worked that way with the ladies.

But with all the technology stashed under handlebars these days, expect more of the ‘sorry mate, we’ve spent three days on it and we still can’t find the problem’. Find a good shop and bung them on your Christmas beers list. Cultivate friendships because there’ll be a shared love of motorcycles somewhere. I’ve never met anyone who works on bikes because they couldn’t get a gig on cars. Doesn’t always mean they know what they’re doing but it’s a good starting point.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT

Graeme Norfolk of Suspension Improvements (Brisbane); Phil De Gruchy of Lightfoot Engineering (Melbourne), and Barry Jones of Italian Motorcycle Engineering (Melbourne).

It’s not where you’re going ...

It’s how you get there.

The modular luggage system for all motorcycles Photo by Barnabas Imre

VENTURA ŝƐ ĂǀĂŝůĂďůĞ ĨƌŽŵ LJŽƵƌ ĨĂǀŽƵƌŝƚĞ ŵŽƚŽƌĐLJĐůĞ ƐƚŽƌĞ͘ &Žƌ ŵŽƌĞ ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶ about VENTURA products visit www.kenma.com.au email: sales@kenma.com.au or phone 02 9484 0777.

Mailbox

YOUR LETTERS Write to MT’s Mailbox at mct@trademotorcycles.com.au or Motorcycle Trader, PO Box 2094, Oakleigh, Vic 3166

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

I belong to a classic motorcycle club and not only enjoy the riding with this group but, maybe more importantly, enjoy the company of its members. I’m considered a junior at 67 years, but ride with several guys aged 87. At times I have to help them off and on their bikes but, once the engines start, they can still leave most behind.

Recently Ray, a riding legend in our area, mocked the new concept of Afterpay. He told us the

story: Back in 1956 he sold a 1954 Matchless G9 (Ray says he has a photo of the exact bike if you want it). As was the way, back then, a deposit was given and regular payment was expected, but no further payments came.

A year later, the buyer was selling the bike but the test rider hit a dog and wrote the bike off. At the time, Ray put it all down to experience and never heard from the debtor again. That is, until 63 years later when a guy knocked on his door and

LETTER OF THE ISSUE WHAT’S SHE WORTH?

It isn’t worth much in this condition, Anthony, as it’s hard to I’m trying to find out how much my neighbour’s 1970s sell excellent examples for much more than $1000. Where’s the Honda C50 Shore line bike bike located? I still have my old might be worth. It has Honda 50 from 1968 but it needs 3171km on the dial. a new third gear, so I’d be happy Any ideas? to part with $200 for this bike so I Thanks.

Anthony Fritz can use the parts. Let me know if stormanimal83@hotmail.com you’re interested. – Spannerman

said, “I owe you some money for a bike I bought from you.” Ray says he originally sold the bike for 15 pounds.

The “Afterpay” amount possibly did not reflect the bike’s current value

but was a handy sum.

Afterpay a new concept?

It’s 63 years too late!

Brian Friend wendyandbrian7 @bigpond.com

To take former editor Greg ‘Snag’ Leech’s motto: ‘Older, wiser, faster’ and, in this case, better late than never.

Can you imagine the price adjusted for inflation and interest? Brilliant story.

EVO IS NOT A DIRTY WORD Some years back, Roothy, you told me that you only use Penrite HPR 20W-60 Diesel in your Harley Evo. Good enough for me back then and I converted and still use it in my own 1996 Heritage with no issues (the engine has never been touched to this day).

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ROOTHY’S HARLEY HI

STORY

1984 HARLEY DAVIDSON S OFTAIL

Just a quick revisit.

Given the changes to oil products over the years, do you reckon it’s still the good bet for my muchloved H-D? I ask this because for many years it was listed as the go-to oil on the Penrite Netlube guide but, in recent years, the company is recommending other products.

I expect the answer will be that if all is well and it ain’t broke to just keep using it, but I thought it might be time to ask again.

PS. I’m never gonna sell the Evo! It takes me back to a simple, easy time and still puts a smile on my face. Fast, complex and smooth ain’t always what’s needed.

David Woods mrdfwoods@gmail.com

G’day Dave, What’s going on here is that Penrite is always experimenting and when they figure it’s appropriate expanding their range, often making things more product specific. I’m luck in that after a 40-year history of being known to use their oils they let me

FULL OF REGRETS I’ve been riding for a good few years now and hang out with like-minded people. The conversations are generally about bikes and quite often the topic comes up of “Jeez, if I only had kept that”.

Everyone has a story of a bike that they regret selling but, for a multitude of reasons (home, kids, newer model, they had to let go).

Mine was a mint 1979 900SS for $6000, and I’m pretty sure that many people will have a similar story.

I recently read a copy from 1996

ROOTHY’S KEEPER

Nine carbies, ends, four bottosimx paint jobs, five front rebuilds, two ts ends, three gearbox of Fournales shoc one girlie shoose ks, t an later, and Ruby’sd at least 770,000km still going strong WORDS & PHO TOS

JOHN ROOTH

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trademotorcycle s.com.au

have high compression, which hits white metal conrod bearings hard talk to the oil engineers – who are bike, car and fourby nuts themselves as you’d expect – so I get ’the good oil’, so to speak.

As a result, I switched to their classic Penrite of that other classified bike mag and was amazed at the price of what are now considered classics going for flat-screen TV money.

Now I love your Future Classics

y 750, which ran perfectly happily on HPR 20W60 turbo-diesel oil. The change hasn’t made any noticeable difference but, as you know, oils tend to affect things long-term rather than day-to-day.

However, having used nothing but 20W-60 in Ruby, my ’84 Evo, and the ’97 Evo Road King, and most of the other bikes in the shed including my ’93 BMW R100LT, I’ve got no intention of changing at this stage. Never had section (also the rest of the great mag) and, considering that this used to be a classifieds mag, it would be great to dig up an old ad on a bike and do a bit of a story on it. Feel

p expect to. Like you said, don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.

Why turbo-diesel oil?

Okay, diesels have high compression which hits white metal conrod bearings hard. So, the oil has to have a high protection and retention rate. But it also has to lubricate the turbo, which can be spinning at sixfigure revs while sitting in a 600-degree exhaust flow.

The result is a good turbodiesel oil has absolutely everything and more to free to use “The One That Got Away” title. Anyway just an idea.

Keep up the great work.

Simon Taylor scamb66@gmail.com Good idea, Simon. So good in fact that it might’ve been a regular section when the mag was chock-full of private classifieds.

Still, your suggestion is a good reminder and there’s no reason why we can’t bring it back. Who doesn’t love reliving a nightmare of regret?

We’ll put it to the white knights of the round table. Our condolences on selling the Duc.

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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Mailbox

lubricate a conventional petrol engine. I got a tad over 260,000km from Ruby before a top-end freshen and almost 400,000km before the bottom end needed a refurb.

That was dependent on changing oil filters at every oil change, using the kicker to get oil flow before starting and always warming the motor up before labouring it. Good oil is cheap insurance and you might have noted I’m a tad anal about making my machines go the distance.

Right, one last comment.

I tried a good brand of synthetic oil in one of my Evos a decade ago (they gave me a box of it to try). One trip around the block and the hydraulic tappets still rattled more than a bin full of empty beer cans. There’s a place for synthetics in tighttolerance alloy motors and when people don’t bother warming up engines, but not in my world.

It’s only my opinion, but I hope that helps mate!

– Roothy

HAPPY HIMALAYAN I enjoyed reading about your review and obvious liking for the Royal Enfield Himalayan.

You may already know about the journeys by ‘Itchy Boots’ on YouTube.

So far, India to Malaysia, then Oman to Holland (about 36,000km) on an Indian-spec Himalayan.

She could not get it certified for registration in the EU. Then, for the past month, she has been 64

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PAGING DR GANGE

Noraly may be responsible for the doubling of sales of the Himalayan in the past year travelling south on a European-spec Himalayan (swapped for her old bike for the publicity and drawing power by the Dutch importer – not the factory!) from Buenos Aires to Patagonia and the southernmost roadreachable point of South America. She has now turned northwards with an ultimate goal of Alaska, which may take another 17 months.

Noraly has her own YouTube channel of course, (nearly 300,000 subscribers and millions of viewers) and may be responsible for the doubling of sales of the Himalayan in the past year.

You, of course, may also have assisted.

John Smith johnsmith@snap.net.nz

As a fellow sidecar owner I’m always interested in news of Dr Gange. My current outfit is a 2004 Moto Guzzi California with a Twin G chair and, among other mods, an Earles fork front end and 15-inch spoked wheels wearing radial car tyres with tubes. About the only thing I have left that I’d like to do to the outfit is run it on tubeless tyres.

Sealing the spokes inside the rims remains an option but I’d really like to have custom-made steel rims as I understand are fitted to Dr Gange.

I’ve recently been considering the possibility of using space-saver car wheels with new centres to suit the bike. All the advice I have received so far is that this would potentially work, but its way outside my own capabilities and, with one exception, I am yet to find a fabricator with any enthusiasm for the task.

I’ve been discussing this for some time with my local sidecar man here in Townsville.

While I’m confident that he could do the work we agree that it would be good to track down somebody who has actually done it previously. I’d therefore be really interested to know who fabricated Dr Gange’s wheels and I hope you will be able to assist me with a lead.

Peter Hill pkhill@bigpond.com

My wheels were done by Bob Martin Engineering a very long time ago and I suspect that no longer a legal option.

Your idea of the spacesaver conversion sounds plausible, but you would be in uncharted waters.

My first call would be to Premier Sidecars in NSW (they have a website), as they already do a fair bit of fabrication and will at least understand your situation.

– Guido

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How to pack your bike like you’re in the army

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acers and regular dirtbike riders get it pretty quickly: you only need to miss one race or trailride to realise your preparation was poor.

If you need the lesson a second time then you’ll probably never learn.

I’m constantly amazed at road riders’ abysmal packing, so here’s the Frank Sinatra motorcyclists travellers’ guide, brought to light by my near-90-year-old father in the UK as he recently watched me pack after a couple of months on the bike, including a trip to Mandello, in Italy.

“Just like the army, Dad. Everything has a back, put it there.”

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1

1

THE IMPORTANT STUFF

First, the bike stuff. And don’t chuck this stuff at the bottom of your bags. It needs to be accessible, quickly (we’ll get into where it goes later).

Tools Bike-specific, of course, but some wire, a few cable ties and pliers cover a multitude of sins. These are essential. Most important, of course, is a puncture repair kit and the knowledge of how to use it. Practice on a bald tyre before you change it if you’ve never done it (again, it’s amazing how many never have until they find out they don’t know how to).

Inflation You’ve got three choices: a hand pump, CO2 bottles or a compressor. The former and latter have the advantage of never running out, but all will work at least once.

Spare parts I only carry clutch and throttle cables, but if your bike uses oil then carry some or always check on refuelling. Chains need lube, visors/glasses need cleaning. Use a clean cloth, not your t-shirt.

Bike security Go ahead and put your faith in an immobiliser, steering lock and insurance, but don’t forget bad guys have vans and utes. Make it hard for them and use a lock. When it’s in use, try and keep it inaccessible so bolt cutters or angle grinders cannot be an option.

Navigation I’ve used good ol’ paper maps and handwritten notes for turns and road numbers, but I’ve eventually succumbed to the modern world and now use a smartphone mounted to the ’bars for turn-by-turn directions as well as an iPad in the tankbag for a bigger picture like a paper map. Electronic devices can die, of course, so never rely on just one of them because chances are they’ll die in the middle of a foreign city. Same applies to USB inputs, the spares of which are essential. This year I spotted the phone not charging, stopped, swapped USB inputs and barely lost a minute.

Cooking If you’re going to camp, think about food and cooking gear, and where it will fit. Sleeping bags in drysacks (plastic bags for the frugal). Tent might need to go up in a hurry, so it needs to be one of the last items you pack.

You can place the weight high, back and wide if you want the bike to handle like a pregnant camel

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THE DRESS CODE

My rule is to pack your bike with the least you will wear.

It might sound obvious, but people leave in the cold and wet blissfully unaware of the sunshine tomorrow will bring. Then where will the heavy stuff go? Wets need to be quickly accessible, not stowed in the bottom of your bag while it’s belting down (I’ve seen a lot of people soaked before getting them on).

Now we can talk civvies. I say it a lot but what we need for a fortnight is enough for a month, a year, a lifetime. Wash your clothes in the shower and buy extras en route as needed but, FFS, don’t overload the bike with things you don’t need.

We have a theory that works most of the time: one nice shirt for me and one dress for her because it’s rare that you go out with the same people twice, so the same ‘good’ outfit can impress a lot of people. Choose clothing that folds up nice and small. Linen and silk are Natalie’s friends. Socks, jocks, a merino base layer, t-shirts, a pair of shorts and I’m pretty much done. I carry a pair of swimming shorts too, which aren’t often for swimming but they’re convenient for lounging around in the sunshine I chase. They double up as jocks too. One jumper each. I carry sandals. Natalie, sandals and a pair of lightweight pumps.

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WHY YOU LEAVE ROOM

3

CUT TO THE CHASE

Okay, now we actually pack the bike. I’m using my UK-based Guzzi for pics because it’s my brother’s runaround not permanently set up to travel.

I made the tankbag and leather throwovers but textiles are easily bought and, for the purpose of this story, identical in use. We store drysacks inside, but plastic bags work too.

Natalie carries a small Camelbak rucksack, primarily for hydration as well as a small washing kit. The bag is often our carry-on luggage when boarding a flight, too.

Note there’s no camping gear. That requires a bit more thought on the plane luggage, but it’s possible and plenty of other riders do it.

Keep bags and weight low and forward.

Conversely, you can place the weight high, back and wide if you want the bike to handle like a pregnant camel.

It’s much easier with older bikes than more modern machines but use the bike’s hidey holes to stash stuff. I fitted the toolkit on this bike from an earlier model so tools and spare cables go in there. Space behind the battery holds a puncture repair kit, various ropes, plugs, etc, all of which are easy to reach.

The compressor is in that round tube cabletied to frame. The space above the battery is for spare gloves. Wets (one piece of course, water will always find the join otherwise): mine on top of headlight, hers on the rear ’guard. If you have a rack that’s where they live. Saddlebags: his ’n’ hers, clothes and footwear.

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3

I like to leave my tankbag nearly empty, with spare glasses and glasses/visor cleaning stuff, a handful of cable ties and iPad as previously mentioned. This is where we carry each day’s needs and purchases like food and wine. See the picture of the tankbag when we were in Calais – everything that was in the tankbag was moved to saddlebags, my clothes moved onto ’bars (wetsuit on) to get eight nice bottles of wine onboard while fully loaded after a month away from base, the last fortnight in Europe.

Can anyone really get on that boat without taking a few last bottles of reasonably priced wine before going back to being gouged by UK wine merchants?

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HER COMFORT IS PARAMOUNT

Before anyone asks, “How does she sit on that?” There was a little bit of discomfort this year, admittedly. We had an Airhawk thing, but it fell to bits so we’ll try another brand or a better version for the next trip.

Perfection is a dream, there’s always room for improvement. Even after 45 years of doing it!

This is an edited extract from a forthcoming audio/book by Martin Harvey.

1. Everything you need, nothing you don’t. 2 As we travel, loads of room left.

3. Always leave room, we squeezed in eight bottles onto a fully loaded bike.

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Ri c k T h om a s All Am e r i c a n Mot or c ycle s

AMERICAN DREAM WORDS GUY ALLEN

PHOTOS BEN GALLI

From a modest start six years ago, Rick Thomas and his specialist American shop are getting more work than they can handle

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ED MASTERS SH

Ri c k T h om a s All Am e r i c a n Mot or c ycle s

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ick Thomas is sitting in his workshop/dealership, All American Motorcycles, contemplating expansion.

Business has pretty well hit the limits of his Ringwood, Vic building, where he works with two technicians including his son Jaydn, and he’d like to grow another side of the business, concentrating on Triumphs.

The crossroads has appeared after a 40-year career in the industry, starting out as an apprentice light engine mechanic, and working for numerous business – including three of his own – along the way.

Where did it all start? “I was lucky enough to grow up on a dairy farm and grew up riding minibikes, which I loved.

Being poor farmers, we could never afford to pay anyone to fix these things, so it was either learn to fix it yourself or don’t ride it when it broke down.

“I guess like many who evolved into this industry I started fixing bikes and did a bit of racing as a kid, then because you could fix bikes friends brought you theirs.

“My first bike was a Tas 50 – manual clutch,

stepfather was a serviceman and that was the honourable thing to do.

“Having never left our country town in Victoria I was off to HMAS Nimimba in NSW, which was a training base. I spent about a year there and decided I hated it.

I was never good with discipline at the best of times, let alone being homesick at that age. It’s a crazy thing at 15 years of age, that you sign up for nine or 12 years.

It was too big a decision to make.”

Long-term service contracts typically had a get-out clause in the early stages and Rick made use of his, heading back to Victoria. He undertook an apprenticeship as a light engine mechanic. It covered anything smaller than a car from mowers, generators through to motorcycles.

“I did that at a place in Eltham called BV Honda and worked there for some years.

By the late 1980s the trades had split and I was working just on bikes anyway and I went on and got my trade certificate for motorcycles.”

Over time, he worked in a number of dealerships and eventually branched out with a shop of his own,

“In my over 40-year career, Harley was the best company I ever worked for” no gears. It was a good little bike.

Eventually it split the flywheel down the key and genius as I was as a child, I couldn’t fix that. Then I tripped across a cheap QA50 Honda, then a Z50, then a YZ80B, which frightened me to death – and it went on from that.

“Most of my racing was scrambles – the equivalent of motocross, but it was done in the country, so it was on tracks in paddocks and around trees.”

That idyllic lifestyle got interrupted somewhat abruptly when it was decided young Rick needed to step out and make his way in the world. “I actually joined the Navy at 15 as an apprentice, in what they called marine technical propulsion. My parents pushed me into that, it wasn’t what I wanted to do. My 70

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called Ace Motorcycles. Opening its doors in 1988, it thrived as a workshop and then bike wreckers, until Rick sold the business in 2000.

“I worked at home for a while, repairing ECUs for Guzzis and Ducatis – Weber Marelli stuff – doing coil rewinding, electronics.” Where did he pick up that from? “My grandfather raised me and he was an electrical engineer for Bosch, both in Germany and then here. He brainwashed me from a young age, so he got me in the shed helping him and making gadgets with boards and switches and batteries, making lights come on – I remember doing all that.

“It was great. I’ve always embraced technology, anyway. A lot of guys our age kind of fear it. I’m the opposite.”

ABOVE: Buell, Victory and American Ironhorse are just some of the orphan brands that sit alongside Harley and Indian in Rick’s workshop.

Triumph is the next set for expansion.

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GOING UP A GEAR His sometimes-meandering career path then took another unexpected turn when he was contacted by the Milledge family, which had been a Yamaha importer and in 2000 was running Guzzi and Laverda distributor Australian Motorcycle Importers. They needed the services of a technical bloke, in part to check components being sent back for warranty claims.

While he was chatting with them one day, he was told they had a container load of Guzzi V11s coming in that couldn’t be sold as they had no ADR compliance – the company that was supposed to do it had been mucking them around. Rick did that job for them. “I was lucky enough that Alex Milledge asked if I’d like to go in and help out. It was a wonderful job and I worked there for a few years. We got Benelli while we were on that journey – mainly for the scooters, though we knew the Tornado was coming.”

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Rick moved on and was offered a job by commodity trader Rick Atkinson, who had taken on Hyosung distribution (later taken over by Peter Stevens). The story is Atkinson was having dinner with someone in Korea who said, “I make these motorcycles, would you like to sell them in Australia?”

“He knew nothing about motorcycles, other than he rode one,” says Rick. “So he rang up saying he’d been given my name.”

Rick spent a year commuting to Sydney, doing a bit of everything including setting up the dealer network, spare parts and a host of other jobs. He describes going through parts books at night, figuring what they needed to have, and making owner and dealer manuals in English.

He says Hyosung’s big opportunity came when Yamaha decided to drop the Virago 250 as a local model and go with the Royal Star at $2000 more. That left an opening for Hyosung’s only motorcycle at that stage (it also had scooters): the Aquila 250 cruiser.

ABOVE RIGHT: Rick

is a bit of a fan of the Buell Ulysses, so it will be interesting to see what he thinks of the Harley Pan America when it lands. The 19-inch front wheel will a big contrast to the 17-inch on the Buell.

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Ri c k T h om a s All Am e r i c a n Mot or c ycle s

“I went to every Yamaha dealer I could with our little Hyosung Aquila 250 …

It worked a treat”

“Dealers went from selling 30 Viragos a month to maybe two Royal Stars because they weren’t competitive in the market. So I honed in on that and went to every Yamaha dealer I could with our little Aquila 250 and said here’s a good replacement and you can try it out for a week. It worked a treat.”

A year of living out of a suitcase started to pall, so Rick moved on, opting to help out at Jim Parker Indian for a few months.

That lasted three years.

The announcement that Harley-Davidson was going to take over distribution in Australia was the next challenge that got his attention and he made contact, eventually scoring an interview. “In late 2005 they got in touch and said come on board, you can manage four states in Australia for us. So I was part of that team getting ready to take over from the 2006 model year.”

Rick was in a unique position in this environment, as he had retail industry

experience and understood how dealerships worked. “The dealers loved that. That I didn’t come from a university marketing background [which is common at HD], trying to sell them stuff, that I had actually been a dealer.”

LIVE TO RIDE Now here’s a big statement: “In my over 40-year career, Harley was the best company I ever worked for.” Rick says the Australian arm of the company, run by John Shingleton, was genuinely supportive of the dealers, wanting to see them prosper and grow. “it was a really unusual journey,” explains Rick. “When we first stepped in the door, they’d heard all these rumours that we were going to sack everyone and appoint car dealers.

“Then we started working with them to improve their business management.

We had dealers who’d started out fixing and racing bikes but nowhere along that journey had they become MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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All American Motorcycles has become something of an oasis for what are now orphaned brands such as Buell and Victory a businessperson – their success was through passion, not business skills.

“Harley wanted them to keep that passion and then try and turn them into businesspeople as well.”

Along the way, Rick spent some time engaging with the company at HarleyDavidson University (yes, there is one), the corporate training facility. “They’re very good at what they do, which is why they’ve been around for 115 years.”

In the end he was offered a more senior role, but it was based in Sydney and meant moving away from family and friends, so it was time to move on.

The next step was a role with Victory, which was on the cusp of buying Indian.

“I wasn’t a fit for that company,” he says, though he was there for two years. That brief contact was enough to give him a very real respect for parent company Polaris and its engineering ability.

He rates Victory motorcycles as very solid gear, able to take fairly dramatic power-ups, to around 120 horses, and survive being “ridden like they’re stolen”.

He’s owned a few, and is currently working on turbocharging his Hammer S, insisting the installation has to be neat and look like the factory did it.

When you start delving into his own fleet, you soon discover he has reasonably broad and sometimes eclectic tastes. For example, Buell Ulysses – not exactly a top-selling model for the firm – have been among his favourites. He’s currently on his third example.

“I do love my American bikes,” he says,

ED MASTERS SH

Ri c k T h om a s e All Am r i c a n Mot or c ycle s

Contact

AllAmericanMotorcycles.com.au 6 Olive Grove, Ringwood, Vic Ph (03) 9879 3322 74

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

hence the establishment six years ago of All American Motorcycles, which has become something of an oasis for what are now orphaned brands such as Buell and Victory.

The relationship with Polaris and Indian has meanwhile flourished – he’s owned a few and is an authorised service agent, taking some of the pressure off the Melbourne city factory-owned store.

“We’re bursting at the seams. We’re considering now what we do.” His long-term and arguably secret affair with Triumph triples means he wants to see that side of the business (All Triumph Motorcycles) get up and running, too, but that requires another technician and more space. In any case, you can’t imagine him sitting still for long.

Photo: F. Lackner

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Future Classic YA

MAHA CLASSIC

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Yamaha’s legendary Tenere name has drifted onto another twin – does that make the last of the singles a keeper?

WORDS GUY ALLEN

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PHOTOS MT ARCHIVES

FOCUS Y

amaha’s launch of the Tenere 700 twin creates an interesting little milestone for motorcycle collectors, as it potentially makes its predecessor – the XT660Z – the last of the Tenere big singles. If that turns out to be true, it’s a significant occasion given the nameplate’s 36-year history.

It took an incredible amount of time for Australians to catch on to the whole adventure bike thing – years longer than our European cousins – but once we did, we made it one of the dominant categories in local sales. Really, you wonder why it took so damn long.

In theory there’s no better style of motorcycle for our conditions. Long-travel suspension for often ropey conditions – even when the road is sealed – big-capacity fuel tanks for long hauls without stressing over fuel, and an engine package that is all about mid-range rather than top speed.

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Future Classic air ducts in the mo ocoque frame are shown in blue, with the AIR-COOLED 600CCaFOUR-VALVE 20L tank having hard 1983: First generation (34L) job going over the top.

TENERE TIMELINE

1986: Second generation (1VJ) Electric start introduced. Fuel tank reduced to 23L, partly due to the air filter being moved from under the seat to under the tank.

Power upped to 46hp thanks to bigger valves, modified carburettor and new airbox.

1988: Third generation (3AJ) Complete redesign with frame-mounted fairing with dual headlights. Engine changes included a modified cylinder head, larger cooling fins and a new lubrication system.

A disc brake improved rear stopping power. Debuted trendy low front ’guard.

LIQUID-COOLED 660CC FIVE-VALVE 1991: Fourth generation: XTZ660 (Not sold in Australasia).

New five-valve, liquid-cooled single contradicts the simplicity of the Tenere concept.

The company line at the time was guaranteed reliability, minimum maintenance and 48hp. The bike is slimmer and less rugged than before, following the trend towards road-biased adventure tourers. As such, suspension travel is shorter and fuel capacity down to 20L.

1994: Fifth generation: XTZ660 New streamlined bodywork with air scoops. Last of the five-valve XTZ660 Ténérés globally, or the first for Australia. No significant mechanical changes to engine or chassis.

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XT

Headline features included a front disc when drum brakes were common, and Yamaha’s Monocross suspension with aluminium swingarm for 235mm wheel travel. The 41mm fork offered 255mm travel. The 595cc engine delivered 43hp. No electric start and only a small headlight cowl, but a huge 30-litre fuel tank.

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Easy, yes? Well, no. For some time there, we had a record for buying machines that were spectacularly unsuitable for actual real-world conditions. But they were fast and sexy.

We did buy BMW GS variants by the container load, but anything else was an also-ran and only sold in very modest numbers. Among that surprisingly large group, one model name is a stand-out both as a survivor and having some credibility behind it: Tenere.

The genesis of the really dates to the 1970s and ue of French s spearheaded maha employee Claude Olivier. um- to large-capacity off-road were hardly anything new, scrambles meetings had red them for decades. What ged the character of the scene, ver, was the emergence of ternational rally events that ately turned into phenomenon as the Paris-Dakar raid and its ssors. ier led a four-rider team d by French Yamaha importer uto in the first, 1979 Parisr. They managed a one-two finish (that’s outright, leading the cars!) on modified XT500s with riders Cyril Neveu and Giles Comte doing the honours.

Yamaha remained a force in the

event over the coming decade, though it was BMW and Honda that tended to dominate the results.

Nevertheless, Yamaha by 1983 had established the Tenere model name, which was said to have a dual meaning as referring to ‘desert’ and ‘solitude’.

Back then this was a radical bit of gear, with the giant 30-litre fuel tank alone being a talking point. Developed alongside its TT600 enduro cousin, it also boasted the first front disc brake on an off-road Yamaha, Yamaha’s Monocross rear suspension and an aluminium swingarm.

Power came from the four-valve 600cc single breathing through a unique dual carburretor set-up tagged as the ‘Yamaha Dual Intake System’.

It sold okay here, but the local numbers were dwarfed by the European market. A very healthy 61,000 of the first-gen were made, with a third of them being sold in France.

Since that time, the Tenere singles have been through several generations, including a five-valve 660 in 1991 and a four-valve 660 in 2008. It’s that latter generation XT660Z we’re interested in.

Given Yamaha’s huge experience with this sector, you’d have to give this bike some credit for having a fair bit of thought put into the

You’d have to give this bike some credit for having a fair bit of thought behind the design

Yamaha of France and Italy have traditionally play a large part in the Tenere’s story. In the XT660Z, this was reflected in the preying mantis-like styling and lofty launch price at launch.

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Future Classic THE TENERE MULTIS Yamaha’s new twin-pot Tenere had a predecessor in the form of the XTZ750 Super Tenere 750 (right).

Powered by a five-valve parallel twin, it was sold between 1989 and 1995 (but not in Australia) and is highly collectible.

Less well-known is Yamaha built a couple of four-cylinder Teneres, strictly for competition. One was

Adventure riding on bitumen - typical Europeans. No wonder they want the bikes softly sprung.

ABOVE: This is how we ride Teneres in Australia, mate.

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design. The basics were a fuel-injected four-valve four-stroke, liquid-cooled and running fuel injection. Matched to a fivespeed transmission, it claimed a modest 48 horses (36kW) at 6000rpm, which really suggested tuning that emphasised midrange.

There were no surprises in the chassis, which was based around a steel frame, with long-travel suspension at both ends and adjustment for preload only. You scored twin Brembo discs up front, with another disc on the rear. Stock tyres were Metzeler Tourance, which tended to favour good surfaces.

Fuel-carrying capacity had long been a talking point for Teneres, and this one was nothing radical at 23 litres. Given its ability to travel 20km per litre without drama, that still gave it a very respectable range.

It was actually a pretty sexy-looking thing, with a serious attempt at aggressive styling and a minimal fairing that provided a useful windbreak. Also, much of the bodywork was made of hardy material that would tolerate the odd spill.

On the downside, it was heavy, weighing just shy of 210kg wet (near enough to 190kg dry) and relatively expensive. Priced at around $14,000, it was near enough to double the ask for Suzuki’s admittedly lesssophisticated DR650. That tended to stop a lot of potential buyers in their tracks.

It was tall, and quite sensitive on the throttle at low speed, so early impressions weren’t always positive. In addition, there was talk of some fuelling glitches, where the throttle response wasn’t as smooth as it could be. This may have something to do with tuning for Euro 3, and I’ve seen owner

SPECS reports suggesting a good aftermarket tuning set-up can work wonders.

Whether you like the suspension will depend heavily on personal taste. The front in particular can feel soft and does a fairly typical dive under heavy braking.

Some suspension tuning would be worth investigating on a used model.

Despite the reservations, this model has actually lasted very well in service and those who could cope with the inevitably tall stance of the bike tended to love it. It’s too big to be taken seriously as a pukka offroad proposition but it is pretty well spoton as a relatively light outback tourer.

There’s a reasonable supply of these things in the used market (production stopped in 2016) and you’ll see prices ranging around $7000 to $9000. Really, the advice with this one is buy on condition rather than year.

As for becoming collectable, I reckon they will always have a specialist audience that ‘gets’ the name and the history behind it. I doubt it will ever rate as an investment, but it would make an interesting talking point in your shed. Cyril and his mates would approve.

Good breeding, page 100

YAMAHA XT660Z TENERE ENGINE TYPE: Liquid-cooled, four-valvesper-cylinder, SOHC single CAPACITY: 660cc BORE & STROKE: 100 x 84mm COMPRESSION RATIO: 10.0:1 FUEL SYSTEM: EFI

PERFORMANCE POWER: 36kW (48hp) at 6000rpm TORQUE: 58Nm at 5500rpm

TRANSMISSION TYPE: Five-speed, constant-mesh FINAL DRIVE: Chain

CHASSIS & RUNNING GEAR FRAME TYPE: Steel diamond shape FRONT SUSPENSION: Telescopic fork, 210mm travel, preload adjustment REAR SUSPENSION: Monoshock, 200mm travel, preload adjustment FRONT BRAKE: 298mm discs with two-piston Brembo calipers REAR BRAKE: 245mm disc with single-piston Brembo caliper

DIMENSIONS & CAPACITIES WET WEIGHT: 209kg SEAT HEIGHT: 895mm WHEELBASE: 1500mm FUEL CAPACITY: 23L

WHEELS & TYRES

They will always have a specialist audience that ‘gets’ the name and the history behind it

FRONT: 90/90-21 REAR: 130/80-17

OTHER STUFF PRICE: From $14,000 (plus on-road costs) when new

Great name Bulletproof mechanicals Decent allrounder

Vibey at higher revs Tall

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Spannerman

Write to MT’s Mailbox at mct@trademotorcycles.com.au or Motorcycle Trader, PO Box 2094, Oakleigh, Vic 3166

SPANNER’S

SOAPBOX

Let the mechanical master solve your woes. It might even be about your bike There’s lots of advice from readers in this month’s column, which is always welcome. Brian Hartin extols the virtues of heatguns in restoring plastics introduces a product that repairs torn rubber. Cri Underwood talks about the modifications to his Triumph Tiger that have worked in the bush a Chris Collins thanks MT readers who got in touch after his letter was published about his Guzzi California that refused to start when it was hot.

It was a bit contentious when we first did it but we decided many years ago that we’d publish the email addresses of correspondents along with their requests for help. One reason for doing it was to encourage exactly what happened with Chris Collins: readers with direct experience of the problems raised could contribute to the solution.

As you’ve also probably noticed, we don’t publish the full address of people who still use snail mail.

You can’t steal a bike from an email address but you sure can from someone’s house.

“I live at 69 Valentine Street in Bondi and I’m having trouble with my Vincent Black Shadow. It lives in an unlocked shed by the side of the house and, as I’m an international airline pilot and rarely home, it doesn’t get used very often…”

In other news, I’ve had a change of wardrobe. I have

THE HEAT IS ON I’ve been reading about plastics with interest in the last couple of issues. I have been recommissioning a few old dirt bikes: a Suzuki TS185; a couple of Yamaha DTs; a Yamaha AG100; an MX100 and a Yamaha RT100.

Trying to bring the plastics back to life after cleaning, sanding and 82

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polishing, I gave up and, in desperation, visited my local bikeshop. It told me to use a heatgun so I got a garden variety paint-stripper heat gun and started to experiment.

I found that by keeping it moving, you can see the plastic reacting to the heat. The MX100 front guard was red on the inside and the outside was faded to pink, almost

ut 100 t-shirts, half of which I never wear because y’re too ‘special’. Four are from the Isle of Man, w are $50 Deus ex Machina items, there’s the hirts from various clubs and events and special that commemorate memorable events like the BEARs meeting at Ruapuna where Andrew Stroud rode a Britten.

Why am I saving them? From now on I’m going from the top to the bottom of the pile without fear or favour. I might as well enjoy them while I can.

Which brings me to the t-shirt competition MT ran four years ago where the first prize was a year’s supply of motorcycle-related t-shirts. That amounted to 52 tees as real bikers only change once a week, whether they need to or not. The winner was Ray Dickinson from Nhulunbuy in NT whose contact details we (okay, I) immediately lost. I’ve spent years trying to find him to no avail.

This included ringing the pubs in Nhulunbuy and emailing a number of people in the area with the surname of Dickinson. It turns out to be a remarkably common name in the area.

We still have the t-shirts, Ray, and would be most pleased to send them to you. We’d be equally pleased to hear from you personally or from anyone who knows your whereabouts. It’s been a while – I hope you’re still size M.

white. It came back to almost new.

On the RT, even some of the white fold marks on the rear guard almost disappeared and the DT came up like brand new.

I don’t know anything about the make-up of plastics, but I know the heatgun seems to work on most.

Another problem I managed to solve was torn rubbers such as the inlet manifold from the air cleaner and the concertina filler pipe on the AG100. I tried to replace them and found they were made of unobtanium, so I tried a product called Sikaflex 572AT that stays like rubber (it doesn’t go hard) but sticks like shit to a blanket and is as tough as nails. After letting it set for 24 hours, I couldn’t pull the tear apart.

Hope this information helps someone and while I’m here, if anyone knows the whereabouts of an oil tank for a Yamaha TY250, I’d like to hear from you.

Brian Hartin, hartinb@hotmail.com

a bugger in that they go hard over time from the heat of the engine and are difficult to refit once they’ve been removed, particularly on multicylinder bikes. Tears and breaks are common and, as you’ve found, they can be very hard to locate as new-old stock.

Good luck with the TY250 oil tank.

TIGER TIGER BURNING BRIGHT Thanks for publishing my letter in #353 about foot pumps. I thought you’d overlooked it for the (far inferior) letter that someone else wrote about foot pumps in the issue before!

Thanks also for running an image of a Triumph Tiger, but it looks far newer and neater than mine. My old girl has lost her nose and supports various modifications making her almost unrecognisable from the original to the point where people often ask, “What bike is that?”

Anyhow, she’s clean on the inside and will be handy when the

I tried Sikaflex 572AT that stays like rubber in that it doesn’t go hard but sticks like shit to a blanket apocalypse comes.

Some of the best modifications are a steering damper, a Safari tank (more weight but no fuel bladders), Pivot Pegz, a sheepie on the seat (covering an Airhawk), Givi screen and locally made canvas engine bar bags. Heated grips are gold, as is the old- school twist cruise control.

I’ve included a few pictures: one of my Tiger in the Outback and one of me and the missus on an Indian Bullet 350 in Western Nepal in 1998. No, you didn’t need helmets then, but I wouldn’t do it now.

Lastly, humour will

probably end up saving the world – you guys are keeping the mirth!

Crispin Underwood underdewoods@gmail.com

Your Tiger looks excellent, Crispin, and each of your modifications gets a tick.

I’m curious about your ‘old school twist cruise control’, though.

I went on a long club ride recently (see MT #356) and one of the bikes had a small, plastic clamp on the end of the throttle with a flat surface where you could rest the outside of the palm of your hand. The idea was that you could open the throttle by pressing on this flat surface rather than twisting, which can encourage RSI or carpal tunnel issues for some older riders. It also made it a lot easier to sit on a constant speed.

I’m guessing your cruise control is one of those manual, mechanical devices which is supposed to disengage when you accelerate or decelerate. I haven’t seen one for years – where did you get it?

Your dedication to the little ones is admirable, Brian, and your heatgun technique makes technical sense on lowdensity polyethylene, which is colour-infused.

The heat would spread the colour. I’m not so sure how it would work on ABS plastic, though.

I’ll have a go and let you know the results.

Sikaflex 572AT sounds interesting as well. The rubber inlet manifolds on older Japanese bikes are MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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Spannerman of the rear sprocket, Bernard. The TF has a 46-tooth sprocket that lowers the gearing and would account for your lower top speed. The low gearing allows the bike to be used more easily in steep and rough terrain (like on a farm).

The TS sprocket has 39 teeth which will allow for a higher top speed at the same engine revs. The gearboxes are identical – it’s just the size of the rear sprocket that makes fference. kets are ly cheap – fit th sprocket ow you go.

LASS GUZZI I saw a letter in #352 from a bloke regarding his Suzuki ER185 which prompted me to ask about the 1989 Suzuki TF185 I bought from a farmer two years ago.

It’s in good condition and has less than 10,000km on the clock. I recently got a roadworthy for it and put it on a Victoria Club Permit.

I like riding it more than my Triumph Thruxton 1200 at the moment, but I can only get it to go about 85km/h.

This restricts use on 100km/h highways and freeways.

I’m nearly sixfeet tall and weigh about 98kg,

should be able to get more power and speed from the bike somehow.

I’ve heard that the TS185 has a different gearbox and that’s why it goes faster than mine, which was made just as a farm runabout.

The carburettor hasn’t been touched, nor has the exhaust. It starts second kick from cold (I’m guessing the first kick primes it) and first kick when warm. As it is at the moment, it idles and runs nicely.

Bernard Dwyer terecia68@bigpond.com

The main difference between the TF and the TS is the size

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rote to you problem on my 1992 Moto Guzzi California 3. It would start easily from cold but would refuse to start when hot. The combined wisdom was a problem with the throttle position sensor and the bike was left with Paul O’Brien at Kyogle Motorcycles.

Paul is super-busy but when he was able

The Weber EFI wasn’t the most sophisticated system, which is good in a way in that there’s less to go wrong to attend to this issue, he worked out that the problem was the oil temperature sensor. How or why the bike would flood when hot is beyond me, but it fixed the problem and the bike is running like new again.

Thanks for printing my letter and I had a few suggestions from other MT readers who’d had similar problems so thanks to them as well. Oh, and thanks, of course, to Teo Lamers.

I would like to recommend Kyogle Motorcycles for its great service. Paul was also very generous on price for such a difficult problem to diagnose.

Chris Collins chrisdon59@bigpond.com

USE IT OR LOSE IT In #352 in the ‘Our Bikes’ section, Guy Allen attempted to resurrect a neglected Suzuki GS1000G. His advice for us bike owners was to ‘use it or lose it’.

I have a secondary bike that gets occasional use which I think is sprouting a new oil leak. I was just wondering how often a bike should be run to prevent it from deteriorating? At the risk of annoying the neighbours, does leaving a bike to run on the centrestand help keep it in running order?

Brian Breakey, bbreakey33@gmail.com Guy tries to exercise his giant fleet on average around once a month, Brian, and, for most bikes, that’s probably enough. Ideally, you’d go for a ride as it’s not just the engine that needs love. All the bike’s moving parts appreciate being reminded of what they’re

Before I got to the engine temperature sensor, Chris, I’d have gone through a series of checks to identify whether the issue was related to fuel, air, spark or compression. All would have checked out with your engine but, when I finally got to test the temperature sensor itself, I’d have noted that the voltage signal sent to the ECU was too high when the engine was hot. It should be around one volt, but it was probably sending four, which would have been like trying to start a hot engine with the choke on.

Great work by Paul O’Brien to have identified it. You said in your original letter that it

supposed to be doing.

It heats the tyres so they don’t develop flat spots from sitting on the garage floor. The pistons in the brake calipers move in and out, moistening the bore with brake fluid. The piston in the master cylinder moves in and out as well. The fork goes up and down, damping the stanchions and discouraging rust while lubricating the seals at the same time. You’re doing the same thing with the rear damper/dampers.

The engine should get to its normal operating temperature, and that ensures oil is spread to all the places it should be. Oil is designed to work best when it’s hot and properties it has including detergents, dispersants and boundary lubrication (the oil clinging to internal parts when the engine is shut down) do their job properly at that temperature. Internal seals are also lubricated and don’t dry out and become brittle.

Same goes for the gearbox –

would occasionally fire on full throttle, which is surprising as the throttle position sensor would have been telling the ECU to provide more fuel again.

Anyway, it’s fixed now, and you can get on with your life. The Weber EFI that appeared on your bike wasn’t the most sophisticated system, which is good in a way in that there’s less to go wrong. Stay in touch with Paul, though…

DON’T BE A JERK I’ve owned a Suzuki GSX-S1000 for nearly two years. I love the bike. The only dislike I have is the jerky throttle.

I changed the way I grip the throttle so that part

Our 1980 SUZUKI GS1000G

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Guido lets time play some nasty tricks on Dr Gange the outfit

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changing up and down through the gears spreads the love.

If you can’t go for a ride (bike isn’t registered/it’s unroadworthy), you can replicate a ride as best you can with the bike on a centrestand.

Allow the engine to idle to normal operating temperature and, with the rear wheel off the ground, you can change up and down the gearbox. It goes without saying you need to do this with one hand on the clutch and the other on the front brake.

of my hand rests on the bar end. This helps a lot, particularly when going slow on rough roads.

Someone suggested fitting a Power Commander, but they’re pretty costly and I’m not after more power – just a smoother throttle.

I’m currently looking at a product called ‘Booster Plug’. The manufacturer says it improves throttle smoothness by giving the ECU a false temperature reading (cooler), which richens up the fuel mixture.

Do you know if this works and does the product do what it claims?

I love the GSX-S1000 and I can live with the throttle the way it is, but it would be good if I

Push the bike around the yard to use the brakes and bounce it up and down on its suspension.

You’re lucky in as much as you only have two bikes. I’m not sure how many Guido has at the moment, but it could be up to 30.

I’m not even a collector and I’ve got 12! We ran a story on this a few years ago and MT’s small staff had 47 bikes between them. The staff is the same size today but I’m guessing we’re getting closer to 60. I hope we never grow up.

could make a great bike better.

Paul Weegberg pjweegs@gmail.com

First up, Paul, the Power Commander doesn’t provide more power – it’s about retuning what’s already there to get the most from the fuel/air mixture across the rev range. I’m a fan and Power Commanders do what they say they’ll do on the box.

Are they too expensive?

Your best option is to get a business like InTune Motorcycle Services in Ringwood, Victoria, to fit and dynotune the device in one go. The benefit of spending the extra money is that if you decide to modify your GSX-S1000 in the future (different exhaust system or airbox, MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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Spannerman for example), retuning to get the best from the changes is a lot easier.

Another option is a mail-in Flash Tune. This involves sending your ECU to someone like Dynobike in Moorabbin (Melbourne, Ph (03) 9553 0018). It costs $595 but promises a smoother throttle action and a few things you mentioned you didn’t want like more power and torque.

I haven’t seen a Booster Plug but read the technical stuff on the company’s website and it makes sense.

If you just have the modest ambition for your GSXS1000 of reducing jerkiness, what the Booster Plug offers will probably improve your ride. In its favour is a very easy fit which also means if you don’t like it, it’s a very easy reverse.

The site weaves promotional material into the technical narrative

to present itself as the best option which usually means it has strong competition in the marketplace. The actual components of the Booster Plug kit don’t add up to the $260 asking price, but what you’re really paying for is the development cost of the product. If you go ahead with it, I’d expect a smoother ride but a slight increase in

fuel consumption – not enough, I would think, to turn you off the idea.

Let me know how it goes, Paul, as I’m guessing other MT readers will be interested in the results.

Now some of you might be asking yourselves why this can’t all be fixed at the manufacturing stage before the bike ends up in the showroom?

Manufacturers including

Suzuki have to meet stringent emissions and noise targets in many of the markets in which they operate and to do that often requires some compromises.

Just as an example, traditionally to get Australian Design Rule (ADR) approval to sell a new model here, a bike has to pass ride-by noise tests which are much easier to pass if the fuel/air mixture is leaned out at the revs at which the bike is tested. In the past, this often created a ‘flat spot’ in acceleration which owners needed to correct after they’d bought the bike – hence the rise in popularity of ‘sports’ exhausts and Power Commanders.

All this mostly affects sports models and it’s something you don’t have to worry about with smaller capacity bikes and commuters.

Recalls

INDIAN MOTORCYCLES 2014-19 PROBLEM: The gear-position switch on the dash may provide an inaccurate signal that could lead to owners starting the engine when they thought the gearbox was in neutral and the bike moving forward unexpectedly.

ACTION: Indian is working on a comprehensive fix and owners were to be notified of their progress by late December.

SPANNER SAYS: How many bikes over the years have had this problem? Some have only ever been able to give a vague approximation of what gear your bike might be in, but the problem is magnified on really big bikes like Indians.

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PROBLEM: The gearbox has the potential to engage two gears at the same time, which may lock the rear wheel at low speeds but has the potential also to shear off the teeth on the gearwheels at higher speeds.

ACTION: Make an appointment with your local dealer pronto.

SPANNER SAYS: The possibility of this happening is extremely low, but BMW is being typically cautious. The fix is straightforward as the 1600 has a cassette-style gearbox, which can be removed and replaced relatively easily and without the need to remove the engine to split the crankcase.

PROBLEM: Cracks in the rubber hoses to the oil cooler may allow oil to leak onto the rear wheel and tyre.

ACTION: BMW knows the 100 buyers of this model so far and will contact them directly but, otherwise, contact your nearest BMW dealer.

SPANNER SAYS: I suppose you could call this ‘antitraction control’. It’s a serious issue on a bike with the performance potential of an S 1000 RR and it’s a rider’s worst nightmare to have oil leaking onto the rear tyre without them knowing about it. I’m not picking on BMW here as all are involved but it raises the issue again of exactly how few development kilometres manufacturers travel on the finished product before it’s released.

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Collectables

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WORDS & PHOTOS IAN FALLOON

A father-son tiff put the ‘Superior’ into the most revered name in motorcycling

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re-World War II motorcycles dominate the high-end collectable market, and Brough Superiors sit at the pinnacle.

Much of the Brough’s appeal is due to its association with T.E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, who owned eight examples and was killed on one in 1935. But the Brough Superior

also harked back to an era where bikes were built in smaller numbers, with an emphasis on quality. And as they are now around 90 years old and extremely rare, the Brough’s status is even higher.

George Brough was originally involved in a partnership with his father, William, producing MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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˜ New $25 O R T H ?

0( ˜ Now (Fa 1922) ir) ˜ Mint $50 $300,000+ 0,000+

the Brough motorcycle. After World War I, George wanted to build a luxury motorcycle for gentlemen, but his father wasn’t so enthusiastic. So, in 1919, the 29-year old George decided to go it alone.

He bought a small plot of land on Haydn Road in Nottingham and erected a small workshop, office and stores. He then bought some engines from J.A. Prestwick, in Tottenham, which were about six years old at the time. Recent research suggests George probably offered to take them off J.A.P.’s hands for a job-lot price. With frames and other accessories emanating from Coventry and Birmingham, the Mk I Brough Superior was born.

THE ENGINE ROOM Known as the ‘90 Bore’, the J.A.P. engine was a 986cc, 50-degree V-twin with a 90mm bore and 77.5mm stroke. The two overhead valves were set vertically, with the valve guides set 90

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The dummy rim rear brakes were sometimes described as “paint scrapers”, because all they could do was remove paint from the rim

in detachable port blocks and the valve seats in the top of the cylinder.

Working on the J.A.P. engine required special skills, however. The special alloysteel valves were removed by unscrewing the valve guides. The big-end bearings included four rows of rollers; the threering pistons were aluminium, and the valves were operated by external pushrods and two camshafts. The engine finish was exceptional, with plated valve gear and cylinders, sandblast-finished crankcases, and finned aluminium heat-dissipating exhaust ports. A beautiful cast-aluminium silencer connected to a perfectly straight exhaust pipe on the left. The silencer shape was mimicked in a specially designed aluminium casting attached to the multi-jet A.M.A.C two-lever carburettor and forming an inlet manifold.

The gearbox was a Sturmey-Archer CS three-speed unit. While most other British

RIGHT Carburettor’s cast alloy intake tube seems to draw hot air from the cylinder head fins of the rear pot, the complete opposite of current thinking with ‘ram-air’.

Five Brough Superior auction results

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At the H&H Classics National Motorcycle Museum Sale in the UK last March a basketcase Brough Superior set a new auction record of £425,500 ($795,000).

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The previous auction record for a Brough Superior was £315,100 ($590,000), fetched by a 1929 Brough Superior SS100 at Bonhams’ Bond Street sale in 2014.

motorcycles also used this gearbox, Sturmey supplied it exclusively to Brough with a shock absorber in the clutch body and strengthened shafts. Ignition was by an ML Magneto, with a Lucas Magdyno fitted if lighting was requested. Although optional, most Mk Is were supplied with Acetylene lighting, including a small taillight. This was despite such luxuries not being required until 1930.

A strong open-diamond frame supported the engine, mated with Enfield or Webb wheels and 26 x 3.0-inch tyres. While the rear end was rigid, the fork was initially a Brampton No. 2 or Brampton Biflex unit.

From 1921, a Druid or Montgomery fork was also fitted.

Stopping was poor, with an archaic Ferodo block stirrup bicycle-style front brake and a dummy-rim rear brake. These brakes were sometimes described as ‘paint scrapers’ because all they could do

was remove paint from the rim. But as traffic was almost non-existent by today’s standards, these brakes were actually considered adequate in the early 1920s.

The light Mk I could cruise at 100km/h and top out at an impressive 130km/h if required. Few motorcycles (or cars) could match this in the early 1920s.

THE ATMOSPHERE DISTURBER Apart from the exceptional finish, what really set the Mk I apart was the trademark saddle tank. While other motorcycles had angular tanks sitting underneath the top frame tubes, the Brough included a beautiful hand-beaten curvaceous saddle-style tank set off with sparkling nickel plate. Compared to the drab flattwins William Brough was building at the time, the Mk 1 was on another level.

George Brough was extremely proud of his creation and his first advertisements

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George Brough’s personal bike ‘Old Bill’ made £291,200 ($545,000) in 2012.

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Brough hysteria reached fever pitch in 2016 when a hoard, ‘The Broughs of Bodmin Moor’ in Cornwall, came to auction following the death of owner Frank Vague.

Despite having been stored in the weather for decades the eight bikes reached £752,100 ($1,408,000).

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At the same auction, one of only 10 1938 750cc BS4 three-wheelers sold for £331,900 ($620,000) to an anonymous German bidder.

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referred to it as an “Atmosphere Disturber”. As the supply of J.A.P. overhead valve engines was limited, for sidecar work Brough soon offered a 25hp side-valve 1000cc J.A.P. engine. This had a bore and stroke of 85.5 x 85mm and, as it was slightly cheaper, proved more popular than the OHV ‘90 Bore’. Also at this time a Mk II version was offered with a longstroke 750cc Swiss M.A.G. engine, but very few were built.

With the introduction of the SS80 in 1922, Brough expanded production from just over 100 per annum in 1922 and 1923 to nearly 200 in 1924. This encouraged more development and led to the spectacular SS100 that would set the standard for performance motorcycles until 1939.

With no production records surviving, it is estimated only about 100 ‘90 Bore’ Brough Superiors were built between 1919 and 1923. Only a handful survive

Compared to the drab flat-twins William Brough was building at the time, the Mk 1 was on another level 92

BELOW Nickel-plated saddle tank hid the top frame tube at a time when most fuel tanks were rectangular units hanging underneath.

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today. This example was found in Australia around 20 years ago in a very dilapidated state.

Using celebrity Brough collector Jay Leno’s example in California as a guide, this Mk I has undergone an extensive and painstaking restoration over several years.

It is now on its way to the Mecum auction in Las Vegas, being held later in January.

Will this Brough set another auction record? The market is unpredictable, but for the ardent collector the question must be asked. Where will you find another?

Many thanks to Jon Munn and Geoff Knott for the use of the 1922 Brough Superior Mk 1 featured here.

WANT TO KNOW MORE? This is a brief Brough Superior Club history; www.BroughSuperiorClub. com/index.php/history/ history-of-brough-superiormotorcycles Here is another brief history: CyberMotorcycle.com/ marques/brough-superior Get this book: Brough Superior: The Complete Story www.Crowood.com/details. asp?isbn=9781847971128 This is a good article on Jay Leno and his Broughs: www.Rideapart.com/ articles/245107/jay-leno-isthe-king-of-brough-superiors

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Our 2011 TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE

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Former deputy editor Sean Muir keeps Canberra life interesting by making bad decisions WORDS & PHOTOS

SEAN MUIR

TRIPLE THREAT

I

have learnt three fairly obvious lessons since I bought my 2011 Speed Triple. The first is that it’s terrible for riding on icy roads. The second is that it’s even less suited to dirt roads (duh). The third is that when the conditions are perfect and there’s no ice or dirt on the road, there are few bikes I’d rather be on. So how did I learn all of this? The hard way, of course.

NUMBER ONE The first lesson came on my first morning with the bike, about 18 months ago. I’d woken up in my new hometown of Canberra, shivered out of bed and down to the hotel car park to find my bike covered in a thick layer of

Our Bikes

frost. It was on the unheated seat, the unheated grips, the slightly warped front disc. But the frost was not the real problem. It was what it signified.

In winter, Canberra’s roads often get covered in black ice.

The worst part of that is the ice seems to take particular pleasure in forming on the many racetracklike roundabouts, on which it’s extremely hard to exercise restraint. Now, imagine you’re on a bike with 95kW (128hp) and 111Nm of torque but no traction control or ABS. Then imagine that one of the front discs is warped, which makes the brake pads slightly stick with every rotation of the wheel. Also, you’re in a hurry to get to work because all your winter riding gear is still in Melbourne and you’re not so much shivering as you are convulsing. Yep, I’m not sure how I made it to work that day, but I learnt something valuable: catch a taxi when there’s ice on the road.

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NUMBER TWO My second lesson – that the bike is terrible on the dirt – came during the triple’s first multi-day ride. And I know what you’re thinking: ‘of course the bike’s terrible on dirt, it’s a road bike’. But what I’d like to clarify is just how bad it is, because few people would be stubborn or stupid enough to really find out.

I found myself in that exact situation after consulting Google Maps and choosing the twistiest road out of Canberra to Melbourne. As you probably know, Google doesn’t distinguish between unsealed roads and sealed roads and escaping the nation’s capital on bitumen is almost impossible if you want to avoid motorways. The real problem, though, is that you can ride for quite a while on bitumen before the road abruptly turns to dirt.

So there I was having a great time about an hour after leaving Canberra, fanging

OUR BIKES

ABOVE Google Maps doesn’t distinguish between dirt and tar if you ask it to go between silly little towns in the middle of nowhere.

ABOVE One of the front discs was warped when Sean bought the bike, but they’ve both been replaced.

MIDDLE LEFT The Ventura rack rattled loose, possibly due to the gravel roads he was riding on.

around some tight, narrow bitumen corners, when I hit a thick patch of gravel in the middle of a hairpin. Did I mention this triple has no traction control? Yep, so the front slipped out about half a metre at full lean, before abruptly finding traction again, sending the bike bucking. I managed to stop the Triumph just before the road turned completely to dirt. But my heart was beating madly.

Some might take a near crash as an omen.

But I have a rule, which I’m reconsidering, about not turning back. So I pushed on up the hill, bouncing over rocks and sliding into ruts, the bike writhing wildly like a garden hose turned on full blast with no one to hold it. ‘How long can this go on?

Canberra is the nation’s capital – I’m bound to find a bitumen road soon.’ Turns out it can go on for hours. Also, I was low on fuel.

Also, I had no phone reception. Also, the Ventura rack I’d fitted for the trip had rattled loose and I didn’t have any tools. Perfect.

So, to cut a long, traumatic story short, that day’s ride was undoubtedly the worst I’ve MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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When I’m swooping around a corner up a lonely mountain, the engine singing, the feeling I get is hard to describe. It is something like perfection ever done, all three hours of it. But that’s okay, because the next day was one of the best I’ve ever had.

NUMBER THREE This brings me to the third and final lesson I’ve learnt about my Speed Triple: on a twisty, dry bitumen road, in the middle of nowhere, I’d prefer only a handful of other bikes, and none of them can be bought for less than $10,000 with low kilometres (mine has done less than 19,000km). In fact, the very things that make the Speedy so ill-equipped to deal with icy or dirt roads are what I love about it most on the road.

It’s firm Showa suspension. Its refreshing lack of riding aids, which allows you to push to the brink of good sense without intervention. Its highly strung rev-craving engine. When I’m on this bike, swooping around a corner up a lonely mountain, the engine singing, the feeling I get is hard to describe. It is something like perfection.

So, since I bought the triple a year and a half ago, I’ve hardly needed to spend a dollar on it (except for its scheduled services, some ugly luggage and new front discs). For road riding, I like it just the way it is. But for Canberra, I think I need to move it on and find something better suited to the terrain – an old GS would be nice, hey Charris?

If you’re interested in relieving Sean of his Speed Triple, email him at seantmuir@msn.com 98

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

TOP Bobeyan Road is considered the back way into Canberra and runs between Adaminaby and Tharwa. NSW has promised to seal the 20km of gravel on its side of the border but wants the ACT to do the remaining 15km, hopefully not before Sean gets his adventure bike.

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Our 1984 YAMAHA XT600

Bikes

Remember Groff ’s XT500 from #353 he calls too good to ride? Here’s an example of the pendulum swinging too far the other way - his XT600 WORDS G R A N T R O F F

PHOTOS B E N G A L L I

GOOD BREEDING

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I

’d already paid the $1000 for it before I heard the story of its most recent crash. Its rider had gone over a cliff and the bike had end-for-ended deep into a ravine. It was a helicopter rescue for the rider and the XT600 had a well-deserved rest lying in the soft mud and hard rocks until its owner, Alec Simpson, had time to collect it.

Alec wasn’t the registered owner. That was Ralph Green. The registration had never been changed because of a blip in the state motoring authority’s registration database that told everyone once a year that the re-registration cost was just $36. Why would you advise them differently?

I put it on club plates when I acquired it as, understandably, Ralph was getting sick of the speeding, trespass, red-light camera and dangerous riding fines that kept appearing in his letterbox.

For Alec, the XT600 had been an in-between commuter compromise while the most recent of his Ducatis was being rebuilt. He cared little for it and didn’t see much future for a dirt bike that had already done 50,000km, although he did replace the back wheel out of necessity and kept all the original plastic work in a box in his garage so when I acquired it, I got a complete bike.

CHANGING TIMES So popular was the XT500 that Yamaha kept producing them for some markets (sadly, not Australia and NZ) until 1990. Alongside the XT500, the XT550 was produced for two years (1982-83), the XT600Z Tenere was introduced in 1983 and my bike, the XT600, saw the light of day in 1984.

The XT600 was intended for riders who didn’t want the Tenere’s 30-litre fuel tank and required something lighter and more manoeuvrable for city work as well as for bush adventures. With its 11.5-litre tank, the XT600 was 14kg lighter than the Tenere.

Technically, it was also a big step up from the XT500 both in the areas of engine and chassis.

The four-valve head from the XT550 was used and most of the other bits of the engine were new as well. It also introduced YDIS (Yamaha Dual Induction System), which was a dualstage Teikei carb with a combination of slide and CV features, a trendy feature at the time.

Thirty years later and with 50,000 hard kilometres under its belt, $1000 may have been a fair price

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It also had a monoshock rear end and it could be argued that every Yamaha dirt bike since 1984 owes something to the first of the XT600s. It was well worth the $2800 asking price.

THE BURDEN OF TIME Thirty years later and with 50,000 hard kilometres under its belt, $1000 may have been a fair price. I happen to think it was a bit of a bargain as once I’d cleaned it up a little and refitted all the plastics, I had a completely original example of the first XT600 available here.

Oh, the originality lasted about five days.

As Spannerman has taught me to do over the years, every time I acquire a new bike I give it a complete service and tune, which includes replacing all the fluids, checking valve clearances, cleaning everything that can be cleaned, checking chassis bearings and bushes along with chains and sprockets and replacing what’s necessary.

The last thing was an oil and filter change.

I left the bike to idle itself up to normal operating temperature afterwards and while I was in the shed cleaning up, it idled off its sidestand and fell onto some bricks, puncturing the original fuel tank.

I was more upset than I should’ve been

BELOW LEFT The

weeping fork seals means you never have to worry about a squeaky front disc brake but stopping distance may be a problem.

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

103

Our Bikes given I’d only paid $1000 for it, but I’d probably added $1000 in parts and labour.

Paul Newbold from the SR500 Club came to the rescue with a replacement original tank for which I swapped an ex-army largecapacity tank (the army loved the XT600), but I still haven’t forgiven myself for the original blunder. If you’re an XT600 pedant, you’ll have noticed the decals on the tank aren’t official Yamaha. They came in a kit from the US (good ol’ eBay). I painted the tank with a couple of rattle cans, applied the stickers and then gave it not enough coats of clear. I’ll do it properly next time.

The engine is worn but not to the point where it blows smoke. It could do with a rebore and new rings, but the fix in the meantime is perfect valve clearances, a new ’plug at each service and a 15W40 engine oil. It starts easily (probably because the compression is so low) and runs well. The YDIS is in good shape and the engine operates admirably from idle to maximum revs. It’s hard to stall, which is handy in the bush.

ON THE ROAD As you do when you get a new bike, you read the period road tests. Some American magazine claimed five litres per 100km, which made me think initially I’d get around 200km from a tank. I called the

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There was some discussion about whether the horse had more power.

OUR BIKES

RACV 10 kilometres out of Mansfield after having drained the tank at 115km. It should do better, but it was a combination of a worn engine and trying to sit on 110km/h.

The same magazine claimed a top speed of 160km/h which suggests they never actually rode it. Mine’s finished at 130km/h, but I did see 140km/h once with a tailwind while I was riding down a hill.

At 90km/h, fuel consumption is much reduced which may make my marriage last longer as it’s the preferred speed of Ms Groff on her Royal Enfield Himalayan (read all about it in the next edition of MT).

Otherwise, it’s a comfortable ride with its upright seating position and

padding, which is better than the 2019 Suzuki DR650.

It’s also still a handy bush ride. At around 150kg, it’s relatively light and the bottom-end torque allows it to be pushed around without too much effort. A good friend of MTs, Mark ‘Mav’ Fattore, has just bought the Elphinstone pub in the goldfields area of Victoria and the XT600s last adventure was trying to find a bush track from Chez Groff to the pub without having to trouble the police on public roads.

I was joined by a TT600 and a DR650 ex-army bike and it took us an hour to cover the 10 kilometres. It involved three crashes and one push over a particularly difficult hill, but the XT was the pick of the mounts and we’ve since discovered a much easier route which, for a price, I’ll share with interested parties.

The best thing about the XT600 is I’m happy to test its limits in the bush without worrying

I called the RACV 10 kilometres out of Mansfield after having drained the tank at 115km

TOP Groff does his best impersonation of the classic Ace of Spades album cover, even though he’s probably never heard of Motorhead or the similarly hard-living, hard-drinking late Lemmy Kilmister.

What a dangerous duo they’d be...

too much about hurting it. I look after it the best I can, but it’s expected to work and it’s certainly in good enough condition to rebuild if I ever break it. With proper service and maintenance, I can’t see why it won’t outlive me in its current state. Yamaha was very much on the ball when the bike was released and it’s a credit to the designers and engineers that it still performs so well 46 years later.

Elsewhere in this issue, you’ll read Cam’s launch story of the much-anticipated Tenere 700. Yamaha set out with that bike to do exactly what it did in 1984 with the XT600: produce a bike that would work hard, be competent, last indefinitely and not cost a fortune. It’s a heritage of which Yamaha should be proud.

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Our Bikes

Our 1971 HONDA CB750-FOUR K1

Bikes

FOILED AGAIN A quick oil change and off we go? Maybe not WORDS G U Y A L L E N

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PHOTOS B E N G A L L I

Y

ou’ve got to love bureaucracy.

As much as we enjoy ranting about its evils, it does actually serve lots of useful functions. For example, it supports and enables the incredibly useful club permit or club plate scheme in Vic – ditto other states. And it saves a bundle.

I now have 15 bikes on the system, with more joining as they age. The $70 cost versus over $600 for full reg, albeit for 45 days (you can also opt for 90 days), means I can afford to keep a collection and it removes any temptation to ride with fake or shared plates. At such a modest cost, it’s not worth the risk.

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However, the local system does sometimes go awry. There must be some weird wrinkle, where every now and then they take your money for a renewal, your log book gets stamped, but it’s not actually recorded. So no renewal notice turns up and a year or more down the track you discover it all went belly-up.

So that’s where we were when photographer/shed counselor Ben Galli turned up on a Saturday morning. All dressed up and no reg. Bugger. It’s easy enough to sort out, but here’s a tip based on past experience: keep your receipt with your logbook, so when there’s a question over whether it was really renewed, you have the evidence.

Right, so that’s Monday’s problem.

Meanwhile, we charged up the battery and tried to get the engine fired so we could at least warm it up for an oil change. In the end, I had to call in one of my modest fleet of lithium jump-starter batteries, which are very handy things.

I’ll often pop them on even when the bike 108

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

battery is okay – if the machine hasn’t been run for a while – just to give it a little boost.

Another tip: before you buy a jumpstart battery, have a look at the alligator clamps. A lot of them are huge and simply won’t work in the confined space of a motorcycle. The smaller-capacity batteries often have smaller clips. My preferred car unit is a 1000A Noco, while the one I use for the bikes is a 400A Mastercraft. The latter is actually sold for small cars and is fine for a motorcycle.

Though the Honda is a dry-sump design, a fair bit of oil finds its way into the crankcase, particularly when it’s been sitting, which is no drama. It’s a hassle on the 1970s Norton Commando and has to be drained before you fire it up, but not on the Honda. The catch with all this is you can’t believe what the dipstick is telling you until the engine has been run – otherwise you’re likely to end up overfilling.

Anyway, the oil in the beast has been

MAIN Guido adjusts the mixture so that he can get the big aircooled mill warmed up.

Here’s a tip based on past experience: keep your receipt with your logbook

OUR BIKES

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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Our Bikes

OUR BIKES

LEFT Quality Penrite HPR30 spends a lot of time sitting around doing nothing in the CB750 Four.

BELOW Google gave Guy a good idea of how the front brake adjuster went in.

there too long – a couple of years – though it’s done bugger all miles in that time. I decided to leave the oil filter this time around, so the change was simply a matter of emptying the tank under the sidecover, plus the crankcase, and refilling with a good mineral oil – Penrite HPR30 in this case. Start the engine again, run it for a minute, then recheck the level. Easy.

Next on the list was fitting a front brake adjuster bought from Pud’s Four Parts, which has been missing from day one.

The bike manages perfectly well without it, but it was one of those things that was irritating the hidden pedant in me.

It was a cheap fix and, as is often the case, I was scratching around Google looking for pictures to give a hint on how it was fitted. European parts site CMNSL had an exploded parts diagram that showed the pieces in their correct order, while an owner forum had a good pic of how one should look once fitted. All of which helped to confirm my love of the iPad as a workshop tool.

Hopefully by next weekend I’ll have the paperwork sorted and can take the thing for a ride!

Before you buy a jumpstart battery, have a look at the alligator clamps 110

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New Products

OUTBACK TRACKS Motorcycling Adventures is the story of Michael Rohan Sourjah, a Sri Lanka native who came to Australia in 1984. He left his Yamaha YB90 behind and didn’t manage to re-engage with bikes until 2004, when he found a Yamaha DT175 in a pawn shop. Turning 50 in 2005 gave him the excuse to buy a new BMW F 650 GS. Not content with humble commuting, Michael completed a round trip from Sydney to Perth in 2010 and from Sydney to Darwin in 2014.

Eighteen-thousand kilometres later, he’s recorded his observations in print and shared a swag of the images he captured.

His perspective is different from the usual outback adventurer through the contrast between his homeland and the arid centre of Australia. He has the fresh innocence of seeing this land for the first time and marvelling at many of the things native Australians take for granted.

The 256-page book features Hema maps and plenty of illustrations. $29.95 MotorcyclingAdventures.com.au

PANNIERSKY One of the downsides of motorcycle travel is keeping food and drink cool or even cold. And who isn’t partial to a coldie or seven after a good day’s ride?

Andy Strapz certainly is, which is why he’s been chasing a solution for years. Enter the Panniersky. The double-insulated 5.0-litre bag is constructed of high-density foam (75PE for those who know that sort of stuff) and efficient Dacron insulation wadding, encased in a zippered, 1000-Denier Nylon bag.

Also included is an inner dry bag to prevent ice from flooding the rest of your luggage as it melts.

Made to fit inside Andy’s saddle bags, the Panniersky fits most soft or hard panniers or can be strapped on top of the rest of your gear.

Holds a six pack of bottles or cans, of course! $68 including inner dry bag (value $20) AndyStrapz.com

GEARBOX HOG’S BREATH

Got a Harley-Davidson with a Milwaukee-Eight engine? K& air filter that should make the improved engine work even According to K&N, benefits of the K&N HD-1717 filter includ ervice intervals, a million-mile limited warranty and the fa hey’re washable and pre-oiled.

The main reason you’ll probably want one, though, is for th creased filtration surface, which should improve airflow to t rottle body and increase horsepower and torque.

The filter has been designed for the Milwaukee-Eight 107 d 114 engines, which power all Softail and Touring models. t fits directly into the OEM air filter assembly with OE-style unting tabs to ensure a precise fit, and fuel-management mods uldn’t be needed for better performance.

81 NFilters.com

GOLD STANDARD Replacing a chain or sprocket is Motorcycle Maintenance 101. It can also be a real pain in the butt, and doing them separately only doubles the anguish. However, most standard chains and aluminium rear sprockets have roughly the same lifespan, so swapping them at the same time is usually a g d and RK Racing has come to the party with well-priced chain and sprocket kits for motocross bik With a distinctive gold chain that’s light yet heavy-duty, a heat-treated front sprocket made from SCM-415 alloy steel, and an anodised rear sprocket made from 7075-T6 aircraft aluminium these Race Pack kits come ready to install with taped bolts and nuts. The sprockets are made fo racing, being CNC-machined with self-cleaning mud grooves – and the rear one even comes in various hues to suit your team colours, as well as basic black, so you’ll look the part as well. $199 LinkInt.com.au

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ENDURISTAN SANDSTORM 4S These could well be the ultimate tankbags. They’re narrow, fully waterproof, full of functionality and some of them even come with a clever expandable-volume system.

Enduristan has finally broken out of Europe and now the Swiss motorcycle luggage brand is ready for Australia.

The 12-year-old brand is said to be the brainchild of a couple of adventure riders who weren’t happy with the market’s current offerings, so they decided to make their own. The key ingredients of their products? Clever, robust, waterproof products that don’t cost the earth.

There are five tankbags in the Enduristan’s lineup, which range in size and intended purpose while being compatible with all makes and models of motorcycles.

The Sandstorm 4X ($179), or Extreme, is the smallest offering (3.5-litre capacity) and aimed at enduro riders with its soft outer to prevent nut-squash.

The Sandstorm 4H ($195), or Hard Enduro, is a larger version, with a 7.0-litre capacity.

The Sandstorm 4S ($249), or Sport, introduces the brand’s expandable volume-

feature as seen here with a second outer layer that works as a sleeve with the inner layer for a simple expansion system while maintaining rigidity. Volume ranges between 7 and 12 litres.

The Sandstorm 4E ($319) and 4A ($349) are the grand-daddy versions of the 4S, which see a capacity range of 13-20 litres, plus outer pockets. The 4A’s underside is curved to suit the tank shape of larger ADV bikes from BMW and KTM, for example.

All versions are constructed of a waterproof three-layer fabric, which combines a heavy-duty rubberised polymer outer for grip and durability, a thick 1000D Nylon mesh middle layer for tear resistance and a vinyl inner layer for

further water protection. The contrasting red interior also helps to locate small items. In fact, the tankbag’s three-layer material application is the same across all Enduristan luggage products. The zip is well protected to keep water out, too.

Each tankbag also comes with a removable (and waterproof) map pocket that attaches to the tankbag’s lid via Velcro; a removable inner compartmentaliser to help stay organised; a waterproof cable duct to the main compartment and map pocket to keep your devices charged as well as a removable document pouch under the tankbag’s lid for passports and visas, etc.

That’s a lot of bang for your buck.

Fitting is via a quick-release front strap and buckle to fix around your bike’s headstock, plus a pair of clever, Aussiedesigned Rokstraps (that feature partial elasticity built into them) at the other end to firmly secure the tankbag to your

frame (like somewhere near your shins).

The elasticity’s give is especially handy when it comes to refitting the tankbag after refuelling your bike – no need to slacken and retighten the straps.

Enduristan conveniently supplies the loose female ends (that connect with the rear straps, pictured) with padding to prevent frame scratches as well as a range of cable ties to secure them. That makes getting the tankbag on and off especially easy. If you want to use the tankbag on another bike, however, you’ll need to buy another pair of female ends ($15). Spare front straps are $15.

For comparison, BMW’s small 8L tankbag retails for $285 while its large offering, which similarly expands between 11 and 15L, costs $499. The BMW version’s map and outer pockets are water repellent, not waterproof like the Enduristans’. Warranty is five years.

Brilliant stuff.

– Chris Harris

SANDSTORM RANGE ENDURO

4X $179, 4H $195 EXPANDABLE

4S $249, 4E $319, 4A $349 MotorcycleAdventure.com.au MOTORCYCLE TRADER

113

Under the hammer

Sold

$3000

SHANNONS

C1959 BSA BANTAM D1 Did you know that the most British of learner motorcycles, the BSA Bantam, had German ancestry? At the close of WWII, Germany was forced to make reparation to Allied forces. A prime target was the DKW factory at Zschopau from where many countries on the winning side carried off plans for the RT125 motorcycle. It may have been a humble single-cylinder two-stroke, but it used a sophisticated design.

Early two-stroke engines had poor scavenging (removal of exhaust gas), which limited efficiency and output, but DKW used a radical design

by German marine diesel engineer Adolf Schnürl This positioned an inlet port either side of the exhaust, which greatly improved the flow of fuel mix around the cylinder and allowed the design of a better combustion chamber.

BSA, along with Harley-Davidson, Yamaha, Voskhod and MZ, were among the lucky recipients of the plans.

However, BSA decided that the bike 114

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Sol0d0 $3N0NONS SHA

wasn’t British enoug and ma e some changes. The gearshift and kickstarter were moved to the right-hand side, all the metric sizes were converted to Imperial and British electrics were used throughout. The unit-construction

123cc Bantam D1 was released in 1948 with a three-speed gearbox, telescopic fork and rigid rear. Plunger rear suspension was an optional alternative from 1950.

The model proved rugged and sold well. Capacity increased over the years to 175cc when production ceased around 1970. Estimates vary on how many Bantams were produced, but it

was at least 250,000.

This lot came from a private collection. The frame dated from 1956 while the engine was likely a 1959 unit. The bike appeared to be mostly complete but lacked a speedometer.

The engine kicked over freely but hadn’t been started recently.

Sold without reserve at the Sydney Spring Classic.

C1948 EXCELSIOR UNIVERSAL 125CC Excelsior was a popular brand name at the dawn of motorcycling. Companies in Germany, the US and the UK used it and, as the term comes from Latin for ‘lofty’ or ‘high’, it is easy to see what the marques were claiming.

The British manufacturer started out in Coventry as Bayliss, Thomas and Co., makers of penny farthings and tricycles.

In 1896, the company demonstrated a motor-bicycle at an exhibition in London’s Crystal Palace and manufacturing began soon after. After a few years, production ceased due to poor sales but restarted in 1910 under the Excelsior brand.

In 1921 the Walker family bought the business and production moved to Birmingham. The company used its own engines and proprietary

powerplants, such as Villiers, JAP and Blackburne, in its models.

During the 1930s, the company was successful in racing. In 1933 an Excelsoir running a special Blackburne engine with a radial four-valve head

and twin carburettors won the IoM Lightweight TT. The company later released the Manxman model in 250, 350 and 500cc configurations.

This never won the TT but was placed second in the Lightweight

section in 1937 and ‘38. The Manxman won the Manx GP from 1936 to ‘38.

During the 1920s the company made a brief foray into car manufacturing under the name Bayliss-Thomas.

In post-WWII austerity Britain, Excelsior produced a range of lightweights including the Universal, which had a single-cylinder 125cc Villiers two-stroke engine (bore and stroke of 50x62mm). Front suspension was a central compression spring-link fork with pressed-steel blades and a rigid rear-end. Gear selection was via a hand-lever slotted through the fuel tank.

This lot came from a small private collection and nothing was known of its history.

Sold without reserve at the Sydney Spring Classic.

C1961 MATCHLESS G12 CSR During the 1930s that stalwart of British motorcycle production, the big single, was reaching its limits. Having been developed to 500cc, the engine was difficult to kick start and vibrated at higher revs. A new direction was needed and that’s what Triumph did when it introduced the 500cc Speed Twin in 1937. Edward Turner’s design rewrote the rule book. The two cylinders were placed parallel and the narrow engine fitted into the existing single frame. Production of the Speed Twin was curtailed at the outbreak of WWII as Triumph concentrated on military supplies. Shortly after war’s end, the Speed Twin was back on sale.

Triumph’s new model proved popular and, naturally, the other Brit manufacturers wanted part of the action. BSA and Norton quickly introduced parallel twins and Associated Motor Cycles followed in 1949 with the Matchless G9, also a half-litre.

In the parallel universe that was AMC, an almost-identical model was sold as the AJS Model 31. Much of British motorcycle production was then destined for the US market. AMC’s Los Angeles importer, Frank Cooper, entered

Matchless singles in local desert races in the late 1940s, and the frequent successes were a great promotional tool.

When the G9 arrived, he campaigned for a bigger engine and more power.

He got his wish in 1958 with the introduction of the 646cc Matchless G12.

Perhaps through Cooper’s influence two off-road models, the CS and CSR, were

introduced. In 1960 a factory-backed CSR won the Thruxton 500-mile race for production-based motorcycles.

This lot had been on static display for several years. The engine kicked over freely with good compression but had not been started or ridden recently.

Sold without reserve at the Sydney Spring Classic.

Sold

$7000

SHANNONS

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

115

Under the hammer

1989 HONDA VFR750R RC30 Honda’s RC30 was a race bike with lights. Designed as a limited-edition road-going motorcycle, just enough units were built to qualify for acceptance into the World Superbike series. Racing success for the RC30 quickly followed. In 1988 and 1989 US rider Fred Merkel won the WSBK Championship and Brit Carl Fogarty took out the TT F1 World Championship.

The company’s V-four concept had got off to a shaky commercial start.

Honda’s first try at a 750cc V-four, the VF750, had been plagued with problems including rapidly wearing camshafts.

The company went back to the drawing board, completely revising the engine and adding gear-driven cams. Honda got it right and the updated VFR750F proved to be smooth and reliable.

The RC30 shared the VFR’s engine dimensions of 748cc with bore and stroke of 70x48.6mm, but little else. Honda lavished expensive and

So l d

lightweight materials on the new superbike. These included valves with a special Stellite coating, titanium conrods that were eight times the cost of traditional ones, forged alloy

pistons, a high-tech CDI ignition system, magnesium engine covers, four 38mm Keihin downdraught carbs, plus a close-ratio six-speed gearbox and slipper clutch to limit back torque.

Power output was 112hp in stock form, but replacement of the standard exhaust system with an HRC titanium unit produced more power. The RC30 had a dry weight of 185kg, around 12kg lighter than the standard VFR. All this

$50,000

SHANNONS

technology and special materials came at a high price, however, but Honda had no trouble selling the number of units necessary for homologation.

This lot recently had the carburettors tuned plus the brakes and clutch overhauled at a cost of more than $3500.

Sold at the Sydney Spring Classic.

1972 LAVERDA 750F

Sold

$23,500

SHANNONS

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MOTORCYCLE TRADER

Established in Italy during 1949, Moto Laverda SAS manufactured smallcapacity lightweights throughout the next decade. During the early 1960s, Massimo, the founder’s son, toured the US and returned convinced that a largecapacity Laverda could be sold there.

The company displayed a prototype SOHC 650cc parallel twin at the 1966 Earls Court Show in London. However, the production model did not appear until two years later.

Few 650s were made before the capacity was increased to 750cc. In 1970, Laverda introduced the SF – Super Freni, meaning ‘super brakes’. This model used a twin-leading shoe brake system that Francesco Laverda had designed, replacing the Grimecas. The SF also had a new frame plus an exhaust balance pipe to smooth out the power flow. The SF1 was introduced in 1972 with a new cylinder head, crankshaft and larger 36mm Dell’Orto PHF carburettors.

The vendor bought this lot three years ago as a stalled restoration and restarted the project. The rebuild included stripping the frame to bare metal and repainting the bike in Laverda factory colours, relining the petrol tank, having the seat professionally restored and replating all chrome fittings. After the engine was blasted and cleaned, the crank was replaced along with new main bearings, pistons and sleeves, fresh gaskets, seals and bearings. Electronic ignition was installed, the carburettors rebuilt with new gaskets and jetted to original specifications. The original Borrani rims were polished and rebuilt with stainless steel spokes then shod with period-correct Dunlop tyres. A new exhaust and headers made to the original pattern were fitted and new Ikon shocks added. More than $15,000 was spent on this rebuild and an extensive receipt file was available for inspection at the showroom.

Sold at the Sydney Spring Classic.

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Classic Groff

Joe

Groff

INSIDE THE HELMET What do you think about when you’re riding?

W

hat did you think about during the ride?” Guido and I are finally sitting on the verandah of the Tintaldra Pub after seven hours of more-orless constant road time.

He uses earplugs and I don’t so I can often still hear the engine roar long after the ignition key has been removed. I probably shouted the question. Riding with earplugs makes me feel like I’m doing drugs: there’s stuff happening around me, but I can’t experience it as I should. Guido ponders the question for what seems like five minutes before he answers.

“Nothing.”

Nothing? How can you spend seven hours inside your own head and not think about anything? Perhaps I didn’t shout the question loudly enough. It’s finally calm and we can hear the young magpies in the trees begging for food and the dull gurgle of what’s left of the Murray River as it slides past the pub.

Maybe he just doesn’t want to talk.

I nearly got collected by a truck just out of Melbourne and spend some time pondering my mortality. I will die eventually – everyone does. Jeez, I’ve been to some awful funerals. I wonder who’ll speak at mine?

How many people will turn up? I should put a thousand bucks aside somewhere and make a prior arrangement to have it deposited on the bar of my favourite pub. It would be nice to shout one last round but what if only half a dozen people go to the wake? They’ll have enough to drink and the barman will say,

118

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

I’ve put on a bit of weight – must do something about that which doesn’t involve less red wine, red meat or more exercise

“There’s still $920 in the kitty – what do you want me to do with it?” People will laugh and the story will spread.

“Who did he think he was? There’d probably have been change out of $50!”

I’ve upset a few people over the years, I suppose. I’ve lost touch with some of them without rebuilding the bridges.

“Did you hear Groff was killed in a motorcycle crash? Pity it didn’t happen earlier.”

We passed a girl as we rode through Yea who looked like my first girlfriend, Robyn.

She might come to the funeral. She might have one of those ‘What if’ moments. I wonder where she is now. I stumbled on a way to make contact with her a few years ago (someone who knew her brother), but I didn’t follow it up. It’s not too late. I wonder does she ever think of me. I should do one of those rides where you visit all your ex-girlfriends.

I’ve put on a bit of weight – must do something about that which doesn’t involve less red wine, red meat or more exercise. I wonder what it was that made us like each other? Mostly physical attraction, I suppose – like in that Rod Stewart song. “You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul, you’ll be my strength when I grow old.” Hmm, that sounds pretty good when I sing it in my helmet but something’s going wrong. I don’t want to keep singing it, but I can’t seem to think of any other song. Actually, I don’t even like Rod Stewart. Mandolin Wind was okay – “No

mandolin wind, could t change a thing.”

I can hear a faint whine in the gearbox.

Change back to fifth – it goes away. Change up to sixth. I can’t hear it anymore. Wait – I think I can hear it again. Maybe it’s not gearbox whine but just the wind noise because I’m going faster.

Jesus, I hope I win that Bisley work clothes competition. A 4WD with a boat on a trailer, a camper-trailer and another trailer with two trailbikes on it. There are some jet skis too, but I’d sell them.

Some people probably enter a thousand times. Somebody must win. The dice might fall my way. What if they make me go on TV and say, “I always wear Bisley work clothes”?

There goes your credibility. It would be easier to win Tattslotto. You can keep it secret.

I’d give some of the money to my brothers so they could pay off their mortgages and I wouldn’t be ostentatious with the rest.

Might get a new bike, though – something that doesn’t whine in sixth gear and with a more comfortable seat. That’d fix Robyn up if I turned up on a Goldwing with a million bucks in my back pocket. So much for, “You’ll never amount to anything.”

I hope work doesn’t ring up to see if I’m really sick. I should have briefed the bloody kids. “No, Groff’s fine. He’s gone on a bike ride with his mates.”

“You are my lover, you’re my best friend, you’re in my soul…” Merciful Jesus! Some other song, please.

Hmm, Guido’s upping the pace. I wonder

ABOVE Just

imagine these two with an intercom system on their bikes.

Assuming Groff could work it (Guido would be fine), who would crack first?

does he really think I’m as fast as him?

I’ll have to try to keep up. If he sees me often enough in his mirror he might conclude I’m just tooling along and could pass him anytime I like. He looks so relaxed. Jeez, he’s getting away. Maybe I should stop and see if my sleeping bag is still attached. Good excuse.

I should do an advanced riding course, but someone told me they grade you. Everyone thinks I can ride fast already. What if they put me in the yellow group? It’s too late to be honest about anything in my life but it would be nice not to be under so much pressure. I should cut down on my drinking – that might help. Wouldn’t mind a beer right now, though. We used to always stop at pubs but now everyone seems to stop at cafes. I wonder where my old hip flask is.

Jenny gave it to me – she got it in Russia and it has an image of Lenin on it. She obviously liked me, but we didn’t play the beast with two backs. I wanted to but maybe it was for the better although I can’t think why. She used to wear those low-cut dresses and I remember once when I dropped my bike keys and she leaned down…

Guido finally breaks the silence on the verandah.

“What did you think about?”

I adjust my testicles so that I’m no longer sitting on them and spend 10 seconds or so staring at the gum tree with the magpies in it before answering.

“Umm, nothing…”

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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Roothless

John

Rooth

KEEP IT SIMPLE

After 40 years riding the latest and greatest, the old Bomber trumps the lot

A

s a writer for MT I should be interested in new bike nomenclature but, fact is, after 40 years of the latest and greatest with names, capacities and acronyms tossed around like lollies in a bowl, I can’t be bothered anymore. The bikes I love are old for the most part, the names I remember from simpler days. Maybe the brain stops absorbing what it doesn’t understand.

I can’t remember what model BMW Spannerman took on our last UNEMC run. My old mate took the precaution of adding ‘Rooth’ to the potential rider list because he knew I’d want a go. I do remember the ride, though. It was incredible, possibly more so after stepping off the old R100LT. Now there’s a name I can remember. It makes sense.

R because they were all Rs until the Ks came along, 100 for 1000cc and LT for Luxury Touring. Things were a whole lot simpler in 1995. And slower.

The new BM was a tiger with kitten-like control. It could have been a triple, a four or even a jet turbine for all the motor’s lack of noise and vibes, but two great lumps poking out below said twin. All whisper-quick and total control though, even if a tad doughy thanks to computer fisting. Punching the throttle meant flying over horizons backed by brakes that flexed like a fighter jet landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Grant tells

It takes decades to realise you don’t have to pick up every thrown gauntlet me the BM lads will be able to see how many times the bike got redlined thanks to something digital and even know it was me. Bugger.

Yep, incredible stuff. Nice ’lecky screen that went up and down at the press of a button and a radio that wouldn’t shut up despite pressing all the buttons.

Suspension to dream of.

So, after blasting a few horizons and grabbing more clutchless gears than a Burman parts bin, I pulled over and waited for Grant to catch up. Despite all my frantic peddling he wasn’t far behind. He was grinning too, enjoying the old LT. “What a good thing,” Spanner said, “Feels like it’d go to Perth and back without any issues. Sounds tight, too.”

High words of praise from the bike whisperer. I make a

few ‘wow’ sounds about the newby and ask the price.

Now this is the bit where I’m supposed to step back 25 years to an old LT and start yearning for the honed delights of modern machinery. On the new BMW, everything is better, sharper, faster with a couple of ‘muches’ thrown in. It’s as pointless as comparing an F35 fighter to a Lancaster bomber.

So how come I like my old Bomber? How come part of me can’t wait to ditch the technology and get back on something I understand?

Something that doesn’t talk to me because I can’t find the radio button but definitely thunders if we’re going over the speed limit.

Something that still feels as if front and rear suspension are dancing to different

tunes while yelling big twin for all to hear.

The ’95 LT is the most modern bike in my collection. I could probably cash in some of the bikes the shed and afford a new Wundermaschine. Grant probably could too, and Bill, and a few other mates I could think of. But we don’t or haven’t so far anyway.

Why? Possibly it’s because being in the bike trade means getting enough rides on new rockets to quell the urge to own. In my own road-testing days with Two Wheels and then Channel 31’s Bike Show a week or so on the latest (Hayabusas and Blackbirds back then) would have me hanging out to go home on Hilda or spend a weekend away peddling Ruby. Some of that was pure fear, I’m not the best rider on earth and time on mega blasters always meant plumbing depths I wasn’t comfortable with.

My favourite rides were the old Teneres and KLRs on outback tracks. Then there was the Top Gun thing: you test bikes for a living, so every other bastard likes to show you how quick he is. Or she. It takes decades to realise you don’t have to pick up every thrown gauntlet.

Maybe it’s because if I have to download a manual to turn off the radio, but all it takes is a screwdriver, pliers and patience to balance those carbies.

And yes, they need doing again.

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

121

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Guido

Guy

Allen

AGEING GRACEFULLY Is there such a thing? Or is ‘patina’ another word for ‘rooted’

Y

ou might be familiar with this.

Unless you keep your machinery in a climate-controlled shed, which is way beyond most of our budgets, it rots. There are days when this drives me crazy, particularly on the tail end of winter.

This year, sunny Melbourne was not at all sunny across several months. In fact, it was grey and, when it wasn’t raining, the humidity was so high you felt like you needed an aqualung just to walk around.

While that’s fabulous for the greenery around Chateau Conrod, it’s murder on motorcycles.

Particularly anything that’s dripping in chrome, like the decadeold Kings Mountain Indian, or any of the 1970s bikes, such as the CB750, T160 and Commando.

It seems as if you turn your back for 10 minutes you’ll hear the corrosion happily chomping away on the shiny (and now very expensive) surfaces.

If you were the sort who shows bikes and competes for awards (muggins doesn’t have the patience) it would either keep you fully employed or drive you round the proverbial twist.

It would be a little

If you turn your back for 10 minutes you’ll hear the corrosion happily chomping away on the shiny surfaces like owning the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where painters and maintenance crew start at one end and work their way to the other, only to start over – and that goes on, year in and year out. With a bike, you’d just put a final buff on the last spoke on the rear rim, and have to start all over on the sharp end of the beast. Who’s got the time for that?

I will admit to experiencing a certain warm inner glow on the rare occasion I’ve

collected either a new motorcycle, or one that’s near enough to perfectly preserved. They do look wonderful. But they also scare the crap out of you.

In my world nothing is perfectly preserved, so having something that is throws out the balance of the universe and becomes a source of fear and consternation. Anyone who steps too close must be punished. It must be ridden very slowly, preferably preceded by a man waving a red

flag to ward off traffic.

Eventually, thank your god, something happens.

It gets a stone chip, or a scratch from a passing idiot (usually me) – something like that. Then we can all relax, as it’s no longer flawless.

That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s allowed to rot. So I do put a bit of effort into keeping them looking reasonably tidy. I don’t mind the odd chip or scratch or sign of general wear and tear as the thing gets ridden. There’s a certain dignity in a motorcycle that has been used and doesn’t mind showing a bit of age. But you can feel a little robbed if the corrosion fairies have a jamboree in your shed and add five years of age in the space of a month.

There are of course a few solutions: give up and buy a Camry; put them in a glass case in an airconditioned room; hire a full-time cleaner, or just ride them more and stop worrying about it.

Let’s see, that would be: Hell no; nope – too much like a mausoleum; dream on and, yeah, alright.

At least if you’re riding them, it’s a whole lot easier to live with the gradual ageing as it’s giving you some joy.

That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

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Cam

Donald

AND SO IT BEGINS

The arrival of a ‘first bike’ marks the beginning of a new rider

I

never imagined owning an electric motorcycle, but we’ve just gone and bought one! The day has finally come: we’ve hit the button on our daughter Lola’s first motorcycle.

I wrote in a column recently about Lola’s increasing interest in motorcycling, and it hasn’t waned. Kaz and I have always said that we wouldn’t rush her into riding – I’m a firm believer in waiting until a child is hungry to ride, not just showing a fleeting interest.

After a few late-night discussions once the kids were actually asleep, Kaz and I agreed that this Christmas was the time to get Lola her first bike.

We considered a 50cc Suzuki quad after recently seeing a friend’s kids riding theirs. Lola thought the quad looked fun, especially in that it wouldn’t require any balance while learning to use a throttle. Being the same yellow colour as mum’s RM125 motocrosser might’ve had something to do with it.

Kaz took Lola for a walk past the local bike shop and let her sit on a small quad to see how it sized up while rating her excitement without her knowing our plan.

As expected, she was thrilled to sit on the bright yellow four-wheeler, but

she was also quick to climb aboard the Yamaha PeeWee 50 beside it (below). This confirmed Lola was more than able to touch the ground on a PeeWee and manoeuvring it around the showroom was no problem.

Our one-year-old Joni is already showing signs of being a daredevil compared with her reserved older sister, so we figured the

as many houses in the area in those days, and I wasn’t troubling neighbours with my screeching Suzuki RM50 two-stroke, but I recall being told to keep away from my cousin’s horses on “that noisy bloody thing”.

Another place Lola can ride is when we go camping. Whether it’s along the Murray River or in the

My dad taught me how to mix two-stroke oil and clean air filters, but it looks like I’ll be teaching Lola how to plug the bike in for recharging quad could be handed down sooner than a twowheeled bike, but if Lola was more interested in a ‘real motorcycle’ then all the better.

If it was going to be a twowheeled minibike then we couldn’t look past the electric options due to their silent running.

Lola will be able to ride on the same family land I cut my teeth on back in the mid-1980s. There weren’t

Victorian High Country, there’s always the chance of campers nearby, and a bike that makes no noise should mean trouble-free riding.

With that in mind, we started researching the electric options.

I know the Oset brand from my years in the UK. They’re popular there, and it’s not uncommon to see kids riding them around the Isle of Man TT race paddock.

They appear to be the highest-spec and best quality, so the next decision was what size. With several options, Lola is on the cusp of the 12.5-inch wheel and the 16-inch. As tempting as it was to go for a bike she can grow into, we decided to go for the smaller model to begin with.

Anybody’s first bike should be manageable, with the rider in control – not the bike being too much to manage – while learning the basics.

An electric minibike appears much more userfriendly than my first smoke-blowing mini, and it’s also how I learnt about mechanical maintenance, but I can’t see an electric bike being especially involving. My dad taught me how to mix two-stroke oil and clean air filters, but it looks like I’ll be teaching Lola how to plug the bike in for recharging. Still, checking tyre pressures and oiling the chain will need to be done.

We decided this gift will be from Mum and Dad, not Santa. Lola knows bikes are expensive and I’d rather she knows it was worked for and not delivered down the chimney by Spannerman in a red suit!

With Christmas morning just around the corner, we’re set for a Christmas none of us will forget.

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

125

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Buyers Guide

RET

BENELLI (All prices rideaway) Leoncino Leoncino Trail Leoncino 800 Leoncino 800 Trail

500cc SOHC I-twin 500cc SOHC I-twin 745cc SOHC I-twin 745cc SOHC I-twin

$8990 $9590 TBC TBC

BMW (All prices rideaway) R NineT Pure R NineT Scrambler R NineT Urban G/S R NineT Racer R NineT /5 R NineT Roadster

1170cc DOHC boxer 1170cc DOHC boxer 1170cc DOHC boxer 1170cc DOHC boxer 1170cc DOHC boxer 1170cc DOHC boxer

$20,290 $21,370 $21,370 $21,790 $23,550 $25,340

DUCATI (All prices rideaway) Scrambler Sixty2 Scrambler Icon Scrambler Full Throttle Scrambler Cafe Racer Desert Sled Scrambler 1100 yellow/black Scrambler 1100 Special Scrambler 1100 Sport black 128

(All prices rideaway) Iron 883 SuperLow Iron 1200 Forty-Eight Forty-Eight Special 1200 Custom

883cc pushrod V-twin 883cc pushrod V-twin 1202cc pushrod V-twin 1202cc pushrod V-twin 1202cc pushrod V-twin 1202cc pushrod V-twin

$15,995 $15,995 $16,995 $18,995 $18,995 $19,750

124cc SOHC single 649cc DOHC I-four 998cc DOHC I-four

$5599 $10,299 $17,199

373cc SOHC single 373cc SOHC single 693cc SOHC single 693cc SOHC single

$6595 $6595 $8795 $9295

HONDA 803cc DOHC V-twin 803cc DOHC V-twin 803cc DOHC V-twin 803cc DOHC V-twin 803cc DOHC V-twin 1079cc DOHC V-twin 1079cc DOHC V-twin 1079cc DOHC V-twin

$13,490 $13,990 $17,540 $18,990 $19,290 $16,990 $18,990 $19,990

Monkey CB650R CB1000R

HUSQVARNA Vitpilen 401 Svartpilen 401 Vitpilen 701 Svartpilen 701

KAWASAKI W800SE Black Ed. W800 Street W800 Cafe Z900RS (green) Z900RS (black) Z900RS (brown) Z900RS Cafe

773cc SOHC I-twin 773cc SOHC I-twin 773cc SOHC I-twin 948cc DOHC I-four 948cc DOHC I-four 948cc DOHC I-four 948cc DOHC I-four

$11,999 $12,999 $13,999 $16,099 $16,099 $16,499 $16,499

744cc pushrod V-twin 744cc pushrod V-twin 744cc pushrod V-twin 744cc pushrod V-twin 744cc pushrod V-twin 744cc pushrod V-twin 853cc pushrod V-twin 853cc pushrod V-twin

$15,790 $16,590 $18,490 $16,990 $17,590 $17,890 $16,890 $16,890

MOTO GUZZI (All prices rideaway) V7 III Stone V7 III Special V7 III Racer V7 III Milano V7 III Rough V7 III Carbon V9 Bobber V9 Roamer

MV AGUSTA (All prices rideaway) Superveloce 800 Superveloce 800 Serie Oro

799cc DOHC I-triple 799cc DOHC I-triple

TBC $54,990

NORTON Commando 961 Sport Commando 961 Cafe Racer Dominator 961 Dominator SS

961cc pushrod I-twin 961cc pushrod I-twin 961cc pushrod I-twin 961cc pushrod I-twin

$32,990 $34,990 $42,990 $52,990

ROYAL ENFIELD (All prices rideaway) Classic 350 Bullet 500 Classic 500 Interceptor 650 Classic Interceptor 650 Custom

346cc OHV single 499cc OHV single 499cc OHV single 650cc OHV I-twin 650cc OHV I-twin

$6490 $8690 $8990 $9790 $9790

Interceptor 650 Chrome Continental GT 650 Classic Continental GT 650 Custom Continental GT 650 Chrome

650cc OHV I-twin 650cc OHV I-twin 650cc OHV I-twin 650cc OHV I-twin

$9790 $9990 $10,190 $10,490

249cc SOHC single 999cc DOHC I-four

$6990 $18,990

445cc SOHC single 445cc SOHC single

$4990 $6990

900cc DOHC I-twin 900cc DOHC I-twin 900cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin 1200cc DOHC I-twin

$14,100 $16,200 $15,300 $17,400 $17,450 $18,150 $18,450 $18,000 $19,500 TBC $19,500 $18,700 $21,300 TBC TBC $18,000 $20,300 $21,700

942cc SOHC V-twin 655cc DOHC I-twin 847cc DOHC I-triple

$10,349 $12,749 $14,849

SUZUKI (All prices rideaway) TU250X Katana

SWM (All prices rideaway) Silver Vase Gran Milano

TRIUMPH Street Twin Street Scrambler Bonneville T100/Black Bonneville T120 Bonneville T120 Black Bonneville T120 Diamond Bonneville T120 Ace Bobber Bobber Black Bobber TFC Speedmaster Thruxton Thruxton R Thruxton RS Thruxton TFC Speed Twin Scrambler 1200 XC Scrambler 1200 XE

YAMAHA (All prices rideaway) Bolt C-Spec Cafe XSR700 XSR900

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129

Trivia Pursuit

1

In the crystal-ball-breaking ‘Which Way The Future’ feature last month, which motorcycle manufacturer did we reveal was producing motors for pedal-assist bicycles? a) Honda; b) Triumph; c) Yamaha; d) Kawasaki.

2

Cliff went back to school for Stay Upright’s Road Smart II course.

What did he do to prepare? a) Cleaned his visor; b) Fitted new tyres; c) Wore wet weather gear; d) Packed spare undies.

3

The Stay Upright course was conducted at a Victorian circuit but which one? a) Phillip Island; b) Winton; c) Calder Park; d) Broadford.

4

Editor Charris mentioned an Australian road race series conducted for the Yamaha 321cc twin but what’s the series called? a) YMF R3 Cup; b) Yamaha R3 Trophy; c) YZF-R3 Cup; d) YMI R3 Racing.

7

What do the Indian Challenger and Ducati Panigale have in common? a) Brembo brakes; b) Lightweight design; c) Engine used as stressed member; d) Superb handling.

8

What conditions did Groffy have to agree to before Ms Julia would go on the BMW TS Safari? a) Travel at legal limits; b) Ride at a comfortable pace (for her presumably); c) Ignore peer group pressure; d) Provide access to single-malt whisky at all times.

9

Back home from another BMW trip, what did Strooth tell Spanner were the critical things in maintaining his motorcycle engines? a) Money and experience; b) Access to a fully equipped workshop; c) Courses at BMW’s training school; d) Getting someone else to work on them.

PAYING ATTENTION?

nd u o s u o y p l e h To r at the pub smarte

12

At the Mt Tarrengower Hillclimb, Stacey Heaney was riding a Honda CB750 Four instead of her usual bike but beat her dad by how much? a) 0.42sec; b) 3.79sec; c) 5.91sec; d) 7.5sec.

13

Brad the Bike Boy is a oneman band these days but cut his teeth in which Melbourne dealership? a) Peter Stevens; b) Nova Ducati; c) Moto Italiano; d) Moto One.

14 5

Moto Guzzi launched a dressed up version of the V85 TT adventure tourer at EICMA that didn’t make it in our show coverage. What’s it called? a) Wanderer; b) Rover; c) Trophy; d) Travel.

6

Harley-Davidson appears to have found someone prepared to ride its prototype Pan America adventure bike. What was the last adventure bike H-D was involved in? a) Buell Baja; b) Sportster Americana; c) Buell Ulysses d) Buell Blast.

10

How far did two-year-old Meg ski across the Norwegian mountains so she could become famous at the Adventure Travel Film Festival in March? a) 500km; b) 400km; c) 300km; d) 200km.

Spanner and Roothy have both had dealings with a man who goes by the name of Kog. What is “Kog’s touch”? a) He has a way of getting money out of people; b) He’s very successful on the horses; c) He can restore life to dead motorcycles; d) He can down a pie in 10 seconds.

15

A letter criticising one of BMW’s finest slipped through last month. What were the alleged problems with Dick Mizerski’s R75/5? a) Porous cylinder castings; b) Small battery; c) Loose kickstarter; d) Nasty Bing carburettors; e) All of them.

16

What was the big win with the stock version of our ‘Future Classic’, the Ducati Streetfighter 1098 V-twin? a) It had the same engine as the S; b) It looked the same; c) It was lighter; d) It got the high-end traction control.

17

Which bike gave Ducati its first Isle of Man TT victory? a) Mike Hailwood’s NCR Ducati; b) 250 Mach 1; c) 450 Desmo; d) 750SS.

18

Why was there a sticker for “DENIM” on the 1989 Bimota YB6 in ‘Under the Hammer’? a) Designer Frederico Martini used to wear denim all the time; b) The original seat was covered in the fabric; c) The male fragrance label of that name sponsored the Bimota superbike team; d) The assembly workers got the free, long-lasting aftershave for putting the stickers on.

11

In his column, what astounding claim does Cam Donald make about traffic policing in Singapore? a) It’s just as rigorous as Australia; b) It’s much worse; c) It’s far better; d) It’s not as bad as you might expect.

ANSWERS: 1 c) Yamaha supplies electric motors to bicycle manufacturer Giant as well as building its own electric mountain bikes.

2 b) New tyres was the one we were after, but possibly all of those answers.

3 d) You should have recognised Broadford.

4 a) YMF R3 Cup in 2019.

130

MOTORCYCLE TRADER

5 d) Travel 6 c) One could argue that the Ulysses wasn’t much of an adventure bike with its 17-inch front wheel but Erik Buell convinced H-D it was.

7 c) We were after c) but will accept the obvious one, a).

8 All of them … hardly seems worth going.

9 a) Money and experience (but that came later).

10 c) 11 d) The speed camera tolerances and fines aren’t nearly as harsh as here.

12 d) But he taught Stacey everything she knows.

13 c) It was Moto Italiano at the time, later Moto One, later defunct.

14 a) 500km 15 e) Hard to believe but it was all of them.

16 d) 17 b) What a little jewel that was.

18 c) Denim was formed in Italy in 1976.