norton v ducati
Norton Commando 750
PRICE From £3500 PowER 56bhp@6500rpm ToRquE 49lb.ft@6500rpm ToP sPEEd 120mph CaPaCITy 745cc BoRE x sTRokE 73 x 89mm BRakEs Single 10.7in front disc, rear 7in drum TyREs 4.10 x 19in (front) 4.10 x 19in (rear) wET wEIghT 189kg PB LIkEs Shoulder-wrenching torque PB doEsN’T LIkE That it’s the last great British twin
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HOW FAR HAVE WE COME? words alan seeley Pics paul bryant
Progress. It’s not as easy to quantify as we might imagine. A kilo saved here and a quarter of a horsepower gained there might make us think that performance bikes are constantly moving forward. But stick the average owner of an 09 Blade on, say, an 04 CBR1000RR and he’d probably be hard pushed to tell the difference. Give top road racer Guy Martin a set of radial calipers and he’ll tell you they’re not appreciably better than conventional ones. Perception is progress’s niggling conscience – maybe the more things change, the more they stay the same. What we need is to set the parameters a little wider so we can gauge how far we’ve really come. What we need to do is take a bike that might have been ridden by the father of today’s performance bike reader and pit it against the current object of his son’s desire. Then we should be able to explore the vast chasm of motorcycle development that separates the generations. It’s 1972 Norton Commando versus 2009 Ducati 1198...
Ducati 1198
PRICE £13,116 PowER 155bhp@9500rpm ToRquE 89lb.ft@8000rpm ToP sPEED 180mph CaPaCITy 1198cc BoRE x sTRokE 106 x 67.9mm BRakEs Twin floating 330mm front discs with radial calipers, rear disc TyREs 120/70 ZR17; 190/55 ZR17 wET wEIghT 197kg PB LIkEs Powerhouse motor PB DoEsN’T LIkE Erm, trapped fingers on full lock
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get in touch
lETTErS
YOUTUBE gEMS
SUITED AND BOOTED
YOOF 2
I’m a driving examiner and during the week it’s suits and shoes, as I have to be seen to be the examiner. But Saturday and Sundays are different. Out come the leathers, boots, helmet and gloves and I become one of the lads. Instead of the Highway Code and rules and regulations it’s PB. We meet up with other riders, chat bikes and do the normal things. All too soon Monday rolls around and I’m the examiner again. I get asked what is it like riding a motorbike by many people, but how can you really describe it? Keep the good stories coming.
I couldn’t agree more with Scotty (PB letters, May): biking is alive and kicking and we should be doing everything to encourage today’s yoof, even if it’s just a nod in passing. A group of our pupils spent a day at a motorcycle training centre, completed the FBOS first aid course and visited the NEC bike show (thanks to Dave Edmondson at Top Rider training). Can’t wait to take them to Moto GP this summer. It’ll be a long ride on 50s… STEvE hAwCrOFT, EMAIl
COlIN KNEEShAw, ExETEr
PS: If there are any other teachers who want to do this I can give them the risk assessments.
lUBE
STICKINg DISCS
I saw you mention Lucas Assembly Lube in your mag. As I’m rebuilding my 99 R6 engine I thought I’d get some. However, Lucas appeared to want to violate me over the cost. I’m only 23 with a mortgage so I hopped onto Google and came across Duckeries (01909 477955) and they saved me £8 including the VAT & delivery. Great service always needs a mention.
I have an 2007 Fireblade which I use every day. I have being having trouble with the front brake pads and discs rusting together overnight after a ride in the rain. Is there such a thing as ‘winter pads’ with not as much sintered material? I don’t generate much heat on the brakes when it’s cold and wet on the way to work, and it’s not much trouble to swap to normal pads for the summer.
DANUl D’ArCY, EMAIl
RAcing V4 SEARCH: TT RC45 TT legend Steve Hislop commentates on a fast lap on the RC45. Dronetastic.
the WAY to Win SEARCH: MELANDRI SLIDE Show-boating to the crowd on the way to victory. Pure You Tube Gold.
SI ChAlMErS, EMAIl
You could try organic pads rather than sintered, but you’ll notice a slight loss of initial brake bite. Otherwise, try rinsing your discs with fresh water and then drying them after a wet ride.
get involved! Visit the PB mag forum www.PbmaGfoRum.Co.uk
Knee DoWn? PAh… SEARCH: SUPERMOTO NO LIMITS Dani Ribalta showing skills that, quite frankly, amaze us.
ASK hANNAh
AIDy MURRAy asks : ‘When coming out of a big lean angle tight bend, my CBR600 bogs down and then comes back on song when upright. What do you think is wrong with it?’
www.performancebikes.co.uk
has had a facelift – check it out
Hannah says: ‘Hmm, tricky. Sounds like you might be running with the fuel level too low for the tap’s oN position, or the tank’s internal filter might be blocked.’ Email us at editorial@pbmag.co.uk
and be part of it
TElEMETrY Reader Phil Norton joins PB to gain work experience. He immediately tidies the lock-up, arranging tyres in alphabetical order and binning a load of Mito junk.
Ben pumps up the tyres on his bicycle. ‘I’m hugely impressed with the new work experience boy,’ says Ben.
‘He’s got to go,’ says Matt.
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Ben spots a mobile camera and slows down. Two weeks later a summons arrives. ‘It must have clocked me 600 metres away,’ he fumes. Then he buys a suit.
TT, Matt and Kar drop in at French circuit Folembray to see if they can get on track. The track’s being used by millionaires driving their supercars. At 30mph.
Ben goes to court.
At the TT, Valentino Rossi tells Guy that he’s beautiful.
The first PB 90s Trackday of summer is rammed with great bikes and good humour. Only four crashes, too – a record!
We finish another project! Ben’s HRC CBR600FS is ready to take on the French.
Spot the difference. One strap box is BW’s. The other belongs to MW.
ducati Street fighter
First ride
the real Monster wordS ben Wilkins picS PAUl bRYAnT
Why this is Ducati’s best naked. By miles.
DUCATI STREETFIGHTER S
PRICE £13,995 EnGInE 1099cc liquid cooled V-twin BoRE x STRokE 104mm x 64.7mm PowER (mEASURED) 142bhp@9750rpm ToRqUE (mEASURED) 78lb.ft@9500rpm FRonT SUSPEnSIon 43mm Öhlins, fully adjustable REAR SUSPEnSIon Öhlins, fully adjustable RAkE/TRAIl 25.6°/114mm wHEElBASE 1475mm wET wEIGHT 197kg FUEl CAPACITy 16.5 litres
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neW products
Words AlAn seeley pics john noble
TYRE DOWN BIKE
STRAP SYSTEM
As skilled as we are here at PB at strapping down bikes in vans and onto trailers, there has been the inevitable scuffed panel and top yoke, not to mention perforated ply lining and dimpled van panels. Ratcheting a bike down hard on its suspension always seems a bit harsh, too. Enter the Tyre Down, which requires strapping of the rear wheel only. It has a pair of metal plates, each with a friction pad, which grips the rear tyre. Webbing straps (rated to hold 400kg) on either side attach to mounting points and are secured by heavy-duty ratchets. You just slip the plates over the rear tyre, locate the hooks in suitable anchor points and tighten each ratchet. No compressed suspension and no scuffed panels, cans or top yokes either. >£60 >V2 MAl 08700 677 617 >WWW.V2MAl.coM
Choosing a datalogger p106 Kar Lee’s camcorder p120
WEISE TORNADO PLUS SPS
AIM SMARTYCAM ONBOARD
Full-grain leather race gloves with kangaroo palms for under a ton? We’ll have some of that please. The gloves have Knox SPS sliders and grippy chamude overlay on the palms. There are TPU shields on the knuckles / fingers, and pre-formed fingers with stretch panels over the back and thumb. plus the usual velcro wrist strap and adjustable cushioned cuffs. Matt black or black/white in small to XXX-L. >£99.99 >Weise 0117 971 9200 >WWW.Weise-clothing.co.uk
Incriminate yourself in spectacular new ways with the AIM SmartyCam. Actually, this is an incredibly clever piece of technology with high-speed GPS and the ability to connect to your bike’s ECU or an AIM datalogger. This allows you to make your own DVD-quality videos in the style of the onboard footage they show on the telly with speed, rpm and so on overlaid. It will also show GPS lap timing and real-time track position. Hours of high-tech fun. >£799.25 >AiM 0844 800 2183 >WWW.AiM-tec.co.uk
GLOVES 030
CAMCORDER
performance bikes
t-shirts
All-new PB T-shirts are here. And they’re most excellent value at just £15 each, including p&p*. All orders get free stickers included. Sizes are S-XXL. Ladies versions also available. To order, call Hannah on 01733 468081 or Sal on 01733 468099 to pay by credit card, or send in a cheque, made payable to Performance Bikes, to PB at Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA. Patches still available at £2.50 each including p&p. *overseas customers should call +44 1733 468099 for postage rates
Art editor Stew, not included
Only £15 each
race story
The parallel lives of valenTino rossi and Marco Melandri BY MAT OXLEY PICS GOLD & GOOSE, WWW.MARCOMELANDRI.CO.UK
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sportsbike britain
90s trackday cadwell park 24/5/09 The sun shone, the tarmac was grippy – all you
needed was a wristband and the keys to a legend Words Kar Lee photos rory Game, Jamie morris, Kar Lee
technically a trackday; actually a festival
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sportsbike britain
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PB road test///the Plan
Grandstand, Rockingham Motor Speedway, www.rockingham.co.uk Lots of corners here too
2009 KTM RC8R 159bhp
The pReTendeR. WiTh a RaCe seRies To iTs naMe, The RC8R is a seRious ConTendeR on boTh The TRaCK and Road.
2009 YaMaha YZF-R1 159bhp
The inline FouR ThaT’s been designed To gRip and pRolong TYRe liFe liKe a TWin buT WiTh The beneFiTs oF The inline FouR.
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it’s all about corner exit. The slower the corner, the harder it is to get power down. The rsV4 is trying hard
ONLY ONE WaY TO SpLIT THEM: LOTS OF THROTTLE, LOTS OF CORNERS aND a DaTaLOGGER words BEN WILKINS pics PAUL BRYANT
Yamaha’s crossplane crank has been designed to give the R1 an advantage coming out of a corner. Designed to allow the rider to get the power down and get out of a corner hard. Effectively to make it less like an inline four. This puts it head to head with V-twins and V-fours that are already good at it. The question is, do any of them have an advantage?
2009 ducATI 1198 155bhp
The STAndARd. ducATI TWInS hAVe Been The BIke of choIce foR geTTIng ouT of coRneRS quIckLy. ARe They STILL?
2009 APRILIA RSV4 156bhp
The homoLogATIon SPecIAL. VeRy SPecIAL. JAPAneSe WSB RAceRS ARe mASS PRoducTIon mAchIneS. The RSV4 ISn’T.
THIS MONTH WE HaVE
● Ridden some of the most delectable bikes on Earth ● Eaten, slept and wept driveability ● Loaded £53,105 of bikes into a single van ● Pondered the future of road bike engines
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HOmOLOgAtION SPeCIALS
s v 4 V S R A I L I 5 R 4 P C A R A D N O H Pic ildee att w m s d wor
e y g am s ror
the s e k a at m h t e k i the b d r a o Ab
No speedo, no mirrors, no switchgear. Just an RC45 and Honda's 1995 'A' race kit. That RSV4 won't be leading for long...
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... w o l s em e s v s r
F
ramed by the rough black fibreglass of race-kit ram-air scoops, the granite and green of Dartmoor blurs like the fuzzy VHS of an ancient TT video. But this isn’t a video replay from the comfort of a soft sofa, this is real and with every passing second I’m being consumed by sensations. The shocks of vibration, buffeting and noise are ruling my world. The RC45 is gulping in the air, pulling hard and chasing an invisible redline and a 14,500rpm limiter. The blare from the exhaust is bouncing off the dry stone walls, reverberating through my plug-less ears. This bike has almost every HRC go-faster bit you can get bolted on. It’s almost too much.
Aprilia RSV4 Factory-mounted Kar Lee and myself are cutting across the B3212, threading our way between the sheep, tourists and wild horses that roam the Peaks. We shouldn’t be here and nobody looks pleased to see us. We’re hardly being inconspicuous, but when we’re riding bikes this good it’s hard not to be excited. Kar’s on the only V4 superbike of the modern era, developed to massage Max Biaggi’s ego and bristling with electronics and high-tech components. I’m riding the last great V4 performance bike. As standard the RC45 is special, but this one has a full HRC endurance race kit, kicks out 145bhp and weighs 162kg. You could have won Suzuka on it in the mid-90s. Pared down and undiluted by the compromises that made a showroom spec RC45 tardy, this 15 year-old bike covers ground faster than almost anything else I’ve ridden. If the RC had mirrors, I’d be able to see the following RSV4 disappearing from view behind me. Out of the slow corners it pulls first gear forever, growling with an intensity and aggression that makes the Aprilia seem soft. If the RC had a speedo, I’d know that the bottom cog lasts until 110mph, before the next five ratios shotgun into place with pump-action accuracy, engine note hardly wavering, rear Pirelli digging in and driving. If it had any comfort, my knees wouldn’t be brushing my wrists and there wouldn’t be 077
ObsessiOn
Translogic quickshifter caused a few teething problems at the first outing.
XLVI
Who is... Mark Hanna?
A former weLder-fAbrIcAtor turned chAssIs technIcIAn empLoyed by top teAms sInce 97. he Is currentLy workIng wIth syLVIAn guIntoLI And hIs rAce-wInnIng gsX-r1000 In bsb.
Rear brake pedal is from Yukio Kagayama’s BSB GSX-R. Footrest hangers were made by XXX Sport.
W
hen one of Performance bikes’ favourite motorcycle design mavericks, Roland sands, created a few examples of the 450 supersingle we became very excited. Mark Hanna read about the 450 and became excited too. Currently employed by Crescent suzuki as sylvian Guintoli’s chassis technician, as a hobby Mark also builds one very high-line race replica special every year.
The 450 SuperSingle concept is simple – take a used 450 MX bike and make a few changes to create a new class of entry level road racer. Used 450s are cheap and plentiful in the US, and not much more expensive over here. The class modifications are limited so the racing is cheap by modern standards. It helps that the bikes look so right. ‘I heard the 125 classes were going to end and there might be a move towards bikes like this,’ says Mark. ‘I thought “great”: a four-stroke 450, so I bought one.’ Mark bought the fuel-injected Suzuki RMX450 in April 2008, then realised the 450 SuperSingle propaganda about just taking a motocross bike, bolting in supersport forks, wheels and a reworked shock, then slinging on a fairing wasn’t all the story. 098
CHAssis
Mark knows about motorcycle chassis. He knows exactly how moving the swingarm pivot of Guintoli’s 200bhp GSX-R1000 K9 up or down one mm will affect the machine’s character. So, when he was halfway through the SuperSingle build, he looked at the work in progress and knew in his gut something wasn’t quite right. ‘If you bolted the forks and yokes straight in (like the Americans had said you could), the rake is 18˚,’ Mark says. Mark’s chosen rider, Mike ‘Spike’ Edwards, expands on that, saying, ‘A Supermono running with 21˚ of rake is nervous. 18˚ is virtually unrideable. The front would want to tuck on every corner.’ This is at odds with what the Roland Sands website (www.rolandsands. com) quotes. They say their Yamaha has a rake of 22.9˚. I wouldn’t have thought a Yamaha 450 and Suzuki 450 would be so radically different. Still, the answer to the problem was clear: yokes with more offset and more rake. New headstock bearing cups that change the rake without cutting and re-welding the headstock (which is illegal in this class), had to be made. But while finding the answer was clear, finding someone to make the parts took a lot longer. XXX Racing machined the yokes in the
INGREDIENTS
1
Brand new RMZ450
2
GSX-R600 fork legs
17
inches of forged Marchesini wheel
-6
inches of rear travel
1
year to sort
Forks are 194mm apart (MX pitch) rather than the standard GSX-R’s 207mm.
‘THE 450 SUPER SINGLE CREATES A NEW CLASS of ENTRy LEvEL RACER’ end and Mark is very happy with them. The forks came from a GSX-R600 K7. They have K-Tech 25mm cartridges, mainly because Mark wanted to make this 450 an extreme example of what could be done within the rules. ‘I wanted the prettiest one,’ he says. (For his next project, he hopes to build a 450 on a real budget with used parts from eBay to show the other extreme.) The rear shock is a stock RMZ item. K-Tech has transformed it. After the first race weekend Mike Edwards was very impressed with it. Frame and swingarm are also stock RMZ, as the class demands. The subframe was fabricated by FabTech of Buckingham. They made KTM’s
GP-winning 250 frame and also the frames from the Red Bull Rookie fleet, plus swingarms, tanks and frames for many of the teams in BSB. Mark bought Marchesini 17in wheels. Front is a 3.5in and rear is a 4.5in, intended for supermoto RMZ450 racers. Mark also fitted Dunlop GP209s favoured by Superteen 125 riders. Front brake is a monobloc Brembo with titanium pistons. The caliper is spaced out to allow for the larger (than stock GSX-R600) 320mm Brembo disc. They have a smaller one for wet races. Mark also fitted a Brembo radial master cylinder with GP-style remote span adjuster, plus braided lines with £120 a pop dry-breaks. ENGINE
‘Fit a Power Commander, air filter and pipe and you’re on the 55bhp class power limit,’ explains Mike Edwards. That is cheap tuning. In comparison, UK supermono racing has now become so competitive that without £3000 to £6000 worth of tuning that requires a minimum of a £1000 rebuild twice a year, you won’t have a chance of being on the podium. And some of the leading supermono racers have sunk £20,000 into their chassis. 099
Get The Picture words maT OXLEY Pic GOLd & GOOsE
MICK DOOHAN’S
FINAL GP Believe it or not, it’s Been a decade since Mighty Mick’s last race... He was the hardest of the hard. When he broke his right leg while leading the 1992 world championship surgeons came close to amputating the limb and only saved it by sewing both legs together for six weeks. After that Mick Doohan trained so hard to regain full fitness that he bent the weakened leg like a banana. after he retired in 1999 the wonky limb still required major corrective surgery, for which he refused morphine. ‘mick took so little pain medication, it’s almost superhuman – it’s like he’s reset his pain
130 000
thermostat,’ said his awestruck surgeon. But doohan did feel pain. ‘I can still feel those Band-aids being pulled off like it was yesterday!’ he smiles. Otherwise, he insists that the horrific injuries he suffered during his decade at the top are just a fading memory. ‘The only thing is my right ankle is still fused but I’ve lived with it for so long now that it’s not something that even bothers me. I’m pretty scarred up in places, but I look a lot more beat up than I actually am.’ doohan’s comeback from the 1992 accident that nearly ended his career was heroic in the extreme. ‘I wasn’t ready to retire, I probably should have, but I wanted to continue racing.’ and not only did he have to deal with howling pain, he had to relearn the art of riding motorcycles, operating the rear brake with his left thumb. ‘I had to find a different way to ride because I didn’t have any feeling in my leg. There were times I doubted whether I was going to be able to make it but I wanted to exhaust all avenues before I gave up, and thankfully it came good. I would have been unhappy if I hadn’t given it a shot.’ doohan won 45 of his 54 GP victories and all five of his world titles after his comeback.
next month 09.05.1999 Spanish GP, Jerez
Mick Doohan always lookeD raDical on a Motorcycle... ...all the way to the bitter end. this is the Mighty one moments before his glittering career came to an abrupt end, his mangled body lying motionless by a Jerez trackside barrier. it’s the opening qualifying session for the 1999 spanish 500 GP and Doohan is full of fire, anxious to reignite his bid for a sixth straight 500 world title following kenny roberts Junior’s surprise victories in the opening two races of the season. shortly before the session gets underway a rain shower dampens the track. roberts Junior is the first to fall but walks away. then Doohan gets his nsr500 a bit sideways out of the turn three lefthander, drifts wide onto the still-damp white line, highsides and slams into the armco. the impact breaks his right leg, left wrist, hand, collarbone and foot. it renders him briefly unconscious and also temporarily paralyses his right arm. Defiant to the last, the five-time 500 champ announces from hospital: ‘i’m not leaving racing in the back of an ambulance.’ sadly he’s wrong – the career of one of the world’s greatest racers is over.
A decade into retirement Doohan is reaping the rewards of the agonies he suffered during his career. When he quit racing, friends expected him to return to the beach-bum lifestyle he had lived before he got serious. But it didn’t quite turn out like that. ‘I did try sitting on the beach for a while, not doing a great deal, just goofing around,’ says Doohan, whose first job out of leathers was a largely figurehead role as HRC’s general manager of GP racing. ‘But that wasn’t that mentally challenging.’ After HRC he went slightly off the rails, larging it with mates and then that famous fall from grace in a Darwin strip club where a very worse-forwear Doohan made the mistake of headbutting a bouncer. The cops threw him in clink for the night. Nowadays Doohan keeps himself out of trouble with various business ventures, which must be making a few quid because he recently treated himself to a new toy, an Agusta Grand helicopter, list price $7 million US. ‘It’s quite big, more your limo style of helicopter,’ he explains. ‘It takes seven passengers and it’s got a little fridge and a place to put your wine and your glasses. I just like buzzing around for my own joy.’
561bhp no fairings
The naked bikes ThaT maTTer
don’t miss the sePtemBeR issue of
on sale auGust 5 117 000