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CONTENTS
100
NEW 7
NEWS
22
PRODUCTS
30
POSTBAG
34
HYPER-RIDING
40
Everything that’s fun and funky and really the essential stuff you need to know from the Milan motorcycle show.
As above but this time it’s all about the product mix for certain budgets at the Milan show.
What’s been on your mind over the past four weeks, you busy lot!
Going out for a quick tour in a foreign location on the latest version of the Ducati Hypermotard.
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THE 2001 YAMAHA FJR1300
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THE ONE DAY RIDE
2014 DUCATI 899 PANIGALE
It costs a few thousand pounds less than its 1199 bigger brother, makes a staggering 34bhp more than the iconic 916 and is much more of a road bike than any Ducati so far. Almost.
At the time this was a motorcycle that really wowed. These days it’s still a helluva motorcycle for doing the miles on.
We’ve got a pearler of a route for a brief run out on your bike, this time it’s around the Welsh borders. Boyo.
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2014 MV AGUSTA RIVALE
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THE LONG WEEKEND RIDE
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THE MEGA-MERGE
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THE LIFE-CHANGING RIDE
Now this is a bit of an odd-looker from the front, but boy does it impress on the move! We’d say it’s the best MV so far. So there.
A massive European bike maker is merging with a quality (and also massive) Chinese bike maker, and they’re going to make lots of interesting things.
TOURING 50
GET THE GS OFF-ROAD
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RIDE BETTER: MOTORWAYS
So now it’s winter, everything’s slippery and grotty on the roads and your GS is sitting in the garage looking sorry for itself. So take it off-road like what we did. Here’s how.
Fancy being a better rider for nothing more than 15 minutes of your time and a bit of practise? Here’s all you need to know.
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How about tearing around the Spanish Picos on a feisty and flighty Triumph Speed Triple? T’was good fun!
The first in a brilliant two-part tale about riding from Japan to Blighty on a pair of 30-year-old MZ 250cc two-strokes.
KNOWLEDGE 84
THE EARLY BLADE
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TECH TALK: EXHAUSTS
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OUT THERE
Big and fast, even by today’s standards, there’s a certain cache to be had on one of the early versions of the bike that literally redefined what we expect from a super bike.
Those tubes from the engine do much more than merely venting the gaseous by-products from the engine. Who knew?
Another great FREE diary section to help plan your biking life... and a cracking route to ride.
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THE LEGENDARY YAMAHA
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DUCATI DARMAH
It’s been 40 years since the RD series first belched into life with a cloud of celebratory two-stroke smoke. Really, do we need any other reason to have a bit of an appreciation for those bikes? Nah, we don’t.
A truly iconic motorcycle this one, and one that doesn’t automatically appear on many people’s bike-history radar... mslmagazine.co.uk 5
NEW News First Rides Products
The VFR is BACK!
Honda revamps long-time favourite from the ground up for 2014 Bits and BoBs
Seat height is adjustable by 20mm, ABS is fitted as standard and – for the first time – a Honda Genuine Accessories shift assist system is available to bolt straight on.
Rolling cHassis
A brand new Pro-Arm singlesided swingarm, 43mm telescopic fork, radial-mount four-piston front brake calipers and redesigned wheels up the VFR’s ability-stakes on the road.
HEadligHt
The VFR-signature ‘X’ headlight shape is updated and now features LED lights – a first for Honda.
75000 how many VFRs Honda says are currently in use
Specification Honda 2014 VFR800F Engine: 782cc, liquid-cooled 16-valve DOHC 90° V4-VTEC Max power (claimed): 104bhp @ 10,250rpm Max torque (claimed): 55lb-ft @ 8500rpm Bore x stroke: 72mm x 48mm Compression ratio: 11.8:1 Fuelling: PGM-FI injection with 36mm throttle bodies Fuel economy (claimed): 50mpg Frame: diamond triple-box section aluminium twin-spar frame
EnginE
ExHaust
A single exhaust muffler has replaced the dual underseat design of the previous model and a host of detail changes save 7kg of weight.
H
onda isn’t messing about with the completely revamped VFR800F for 2014. e legendary favourite is completely updated with new looks, new forks, new swingarm, wheels and bodywork too. Upping the comfort stakes sees the following as standard kit on the bike: adjustable seat height, Traction Control System, ABS,
The 782cc V4-VTEC , bottom and midrange power have been boosted, striking a balance between sports riding and commuting. The VTEC transition has been softened and Honda’s traction control added.
heated grips and Honda’s new self-cancelling indicators. Overall the bike is 10kg lighter than the previous model, with the engine re-tuned for greater low and midrange torque.
BRakEs and wHEEls
New Fine Die-Cast (FDC) hollow aluminium wheels get dual 310mm floating discs up front and a 256mm disc at the rear. Two-channel ABS provides consistent and safe all-weather braking.
Subframe: revised die-cast aluminium subframe is 3kg lighter than the previous model Kerb weight: 239kg Rake: 25° Trail: 95mm Wheelbase: 1460mm
NeW Next MoNth
it’s the naked BMW superbike… But don’t worry too much, it’s been a bit tuned down to make for more sedate love on the road. Phew. It certainly looks the part and the stripped superbike from BMW has been a real attentiongrabber so far. But the boffins in Bavaria have been quite clever in what they’re doing with this bike... they’ve taken the power down to 160bhp (the faired superbike makes 193bhp) and 83lb- of torque (82 for the track-based version). BMW has also made the bike a bit longer with an extra
0.8 degrees more rake and 5mm of trail added to the wheelbase. Road and Rain modes are built into the bike, as is traction control and ABS, while riding the thing for miles should be more comfortable thanks to the revised riding position with lower pegs and pulled back, one-piece handlebars. But don’t let any of that fool you into thinking that
this bike has lost all its teeth. e suspension, radial Brembo brakes and lightweight wheels are still the same as on the awesome S1000RR. Price wise, the standard S1000R will cost £9999 while the Sport version (eek) will eventually sell for just under £11,500. Both bikes are available to order now with deliveries starting for UK customers from March 15, this year.
BMW S1000R
RiddeN aNd
Rated MSL gets physical with BMW’s all-new 160bhp naked. Read all there is to tell in next month’s round-up.
Caterham’s SUV bike… Okay…. This is the Brutus 750, described as the SUV of motorycles. Yes… staff at MSL are totally unsure about this too, but really want to ride it. Apparently you can convert this to a snowmobile in four hours. To be honest that’s not anything we’ve really thought we needed before, but now Caterham has said it can be done, we like the idea lots. No price idea as of yet, bikes are expected to be made in the spring and it’s going to be powered by the engine from a quad bike.
On Sale JanUary 3, 2014 mslmagazine.co.uk 13
Products
NEW 2014 RIDER KIT
It’s not just the new bikes we want to shout about, because for 2014 there are some seriously fantastic lids and textiles which have also been released. Here’s a few options no matter what your budget...
2014 Budget £300 RST Raptor II
Over recent years UK brand RST has grown massively in popularity, becoming renowned for its quality products at affordable prices. These products are epitomised by the likes of the 2014 Raptor II suit, which carries a high spec and quality finish, despite its entry level pricing. Within its tough ballistic fabric lining is a sinaqua waterproof and breathable membrane, along with a detachable quilted thermal lining. All panels are either double or triple stitched with a super-strong nylon to
maximise burst resistance, while CE armour comes as standard in the knees, shoulders and elbows. Reflective panels and piping is also common on both parts of the suit, along with multiple adjusters for a good fit.
BACK PROTECTION
The Raptor II jacket is equipped with a removable Contour plus Level 1 back protector.
PRICE: Jacket – £149.99; trousers – £119.99 SIZES: Jacket: 40-52; trousers 30-42 COLOURS: Jacket: black/ sand/red/blue Trousers: black/sand CONTACT: www.rst-moto.com
Held Segana
VENTING
Specifically located vents on the front and rear of the jacket ensure a controlled flow of air through the garment.
This entry level, ABS construction helmet might be budget on price, but it’s high in spec – which includes a quick release chin strap and integrated sun visor. The removable and washable inner linings are 100% polyester and the visor is scratch resistant for added
22 mslmagazine.co.uk
peace of mind. Vents at the front of the helmet and on the chin are in place to keep the rider cool. PRICE: £81.99 (plain) SIZES: XXS-XXL COLOURS: White/black matt/ black gloss CONTACT: www.held-uk.co.uk
ADDED COMFORT
The three-quarter length jacket features a detachable throat coat to suit the rider’s preferences.
NEW
2014 Budget £500 PROTECTION
CE approved, 3D profiled body armour protection is located in the elbows and shoulders.
POCKETS
Between the jacket and trousers there are a total of nine pockets, both internal and external.
Held Centuri / Acona German brand Held is well known for its textiles and for 2014 the new Centuri jacket and Acona trouser combination suit is bound to be a welcome addition. Based around existing adventure kit, the road-focused, enduro-spec products feature a tough 500D polyamide outer and a waterproof, windproof, breathable membrane, which can also be removed, just like the jacket’s thermal sleeveless liner. Both components are equipped with a polyester mesh lining and CE approved body armour. There are pockets aplenty with two
externally located on the trousers and a further four on the jacket, which is backed up with a further two internal holding areas as well as a pouch specifically for your phone. Vents are located in key places, as are Velcro adjusters for a good fit.
REMOVABLE LINERS
Both the jacket’s protective inner membrane and the sleeveless thermal liner can be removed to suit the rider’s preference.
PRICE: Jacket – £299.99; trousers – £199.99 SIZES: S-4XL COLOURS: Black-white/ grey-red CONTACT: www.held-uk.co.uk
AGV Skyline In AGV’s own words, the Skyline has been specifically designed to be the highest specification touring style GT helmet available. Constructed with a carbonglass shell, the lid also boasts an integrated sun visor as well as fully removable and washable, antibacterial linings. The visor is both antifog and anti-scratch, while a double visor sealing system helps to keep the cold out, with the aid of a detachable
chin curtain and nose protector. Meeting ACU Gold approval, it is also AGVoice Bluetooth ready and comes with a two-year warranty. PRICE: £249.99 SIZES: XS-XL COLOURS: Block UK Flag CONTACT: www.agv.co.uk
mslmagazine.co.uk 23
First Rides Ducati Hyperstrada
DUCATI’S HYPERACTIVE TOURER
Ducati calls this bike a sports-tourer. Here’s what MSL makes of it. WORDS: Bruce Wilson PHOTOGRAPHY: Ducati
A
s journalists we like to put bikes in figurative boxes, but on occasion – and mixing plenty of metaphors – there’s oen a fly in that clinical ointment. A bike which blurs the lines and gets the brain ticking. Truth is, it’s hard to pin the tail on Ducati’s Hyperstrada. Look past the lippy and you’ll see this is a dressed up Hypermotard... and if you know anything about that model, you’ll know it’s got an über heavy bias towards fun over practicality. It’s a headcase of a 34 mslmagazine.co.uk
machine, fuelled with more testosterone than a bull on steroids. e very brave would consider commuting on it, while only the foolish would see it fit for touring. e same can’t be said about the recently launched Hyperstrada though. Ducati brackets the bike as a sportstourer, armed with the argument that it will get you to your location, where you’ll then relish the benefits of its lightweight feel and torquey motor. Coupled with panniers and a minimal screen, there are also nine other key differences over its radical sibling, including the lowering of the bike’s seat height to 850mm (a lower version is
NEW
mslmagazine.co.uk 35
Weekend Ride
Off piste in the Picos Mountain tracks in the Spanish Picos... on a Triumph Street Triple. WOrDS & phOTOgraphy: Glendon Franklin
Our man may never use sat nav again.
G
azing over the edge of what appeared to be a precipice at a rutted, muddy track I reflected that maybe the Street Triple wasn’t really designed for off-road work. On the other hand, there seemed to be no way back, and anyway, you only live once. Dropping into first gear I set off down the mountainside, heart in mouth, buttocks clenched, nuts crushed up against the tank (it was really, really steep). It had all begun so well. I had always wanted to ride the roads of northwest Spain, especially those in the Picos mountains. Everyone said they were fantastic, with great Tarmac, sweeping bends and hairpins galore. Just the sort of thing my Street Triple excels at. e only mods I made to the Triumph were to have a Ventura rack and a sat nav mount fitted. I also bought a four litre spare fuel can since I had no idea how easy it was to get fuel in the mountains and my reserve light comes on at 100 miles of enthusiastic riding. All these things came in useful, except the sat nav.
SMOOTH START
Muddy Street Triple after its off-road excursion.
Doesn’t look too bad here does it? It got much worse...
I took the Portsmouth-Bilbao ferry, which even with a comfy en-suite cabin worked out cheaper than riding down through France – the other bonus is that you don’t square off your tyres before hitting the twisty
SPAIN ON SPEED TRIPLE
mountain roads. And I already knew where I was staying in Spain, an English-run B&B in the village of Aliezo, just outside Potes. Aer 80 boring motorway miles to the town of Panes I headed into the mountains through the Gorge of Hermidas. ink Cheddar Gorge on steroids, times 10, with a gorgeous, twisty piece of Tarmac threading its way through. On that first ride I took it easy, mindful of the blind bends with who knows what around the corner – coming back the other way at the end of the week, I was still within the speed limit, but a fair bit quicker. Despite going steady I made good time to Aliezo and decided to go straight on and have a look at Potes. is led me to a road signed to Fuentes De. Always a sucker for strange names I set off along what turned out to be a glorious piece of road, about 25km of smooth snaking Tarmac. e Spanish may be broke but they do not seem to have cut back on the road maintenance – there wasn’t a pothole or overbanding to be seen. As for Fuentes De, the road ends here at a turnaround, car park, cafe and cable car station, all about 1000m above sea level, though the cable car takes you a further 800m up a sheer cliff to the snow fields you can see glittering in the sunlight far above. I checked into Casa Gustavo, the B&B, but with plenty of time until dinner decided to explore a promising looking road on the map. I had saved Casa into the sat nav, which would of course find the quickest way back if I got lost. How wrong I was... I took the road which started at Ojedo, just outside Potes towards Cervera. At first the Tarmac was iffy but there were merry road workers doing their best to turn it back to race track standards so I pressed on and was rewarded with an uphill run around a long series of moderately tight bends and sweepers.
Evening sun tinges the mountaintops, caption writer gets lyrical.
ABOVE LEFT: This was the easy bit. ABOVE: View from Casa Gustavo. RIGHT: Titter if you must. BELOW: Bridge at Rianos.
© 2013 Google basado en BCN IGN España mslmagazine.co.uk 67
Caveat Emptor (or: Buyer Beware) Steve Rose
T
he bike looked pretty straight, the seller was a pleasant enough old man and we were at the Stafford Show, where generally one bunch of enthusiasts sell to another. I’m three weeks into what might be a very long process, helping my mate John buy the right bike. He (having been away from bikes for a few years) is struggling to match the fantasy of finding a perfectly maintained, fully serviced minter with the reality of buying a 14-year-old Honda FireBlade. And to be honest, this one we’re looking at is a good example. All original, one previous owner, no sign of any crash damage and, apart from some well worn brake discs and a bit of crazing around the screen mounting bolts, it all looks pretty good. But John’s not happy. Something’s not right. Something always isn’t right and his search for the right bike has already been littered with problems. is time it’s the service book. It’s a photocopy and a bad one at that. ‘Would the official Honda one be printed at an angle?’ he asks the seller. ere’s no need for an answer. I suggest, in desperation that maybe the bike was a parallel import back in 1999 and the supplying dealer made up a parallel service book to go with it. But John’s mind is made up. No deal. Buying a used bike is hard. Look beneath the surface and you’ll be surprised how many less-than-immaculate machines are out there. So far John has seen an XJR1300 with a (probably) bent frame, a Bandit 1200 that looked great in the pictures, but, in the flesh appeared to have been dragged from a swamp. A couple of FireBlades that were not quite as good as described and a Ducati Monster that I managed to put him off because the dealer was ‘selling it for a mate’ which is dealer-speak for (as I’m sure you all know) ‘It’s a pup and there’s no way I want to see it again once it leaves the shop’. e problem is that he used to have a Ducati Monster S4, wich he sold when his baby daughter arrived. Last week he tried a Harley (not enough power) and a Bandit 1200 (not eough character). e obvious answer is, of course, just buy another Monster. ere are two things at work here. Firstly we all expect too much. A typical 14-year-old motorcycle will have been crashed once, dropped a couple of times, barely ridden for the last eight years and nowhere near a main dealer for the last 10. It will still have the same fork oil it came with and tyres fit only for the side of a boat. e Stafford FireBlade had Michelin M90X Macadams, which haven’t been on sale for more than 10 years. 122 mslmagazine.co.uk
Scouring the small ads for a bargain bike, or trawling stands at a big bike show, is all very well and good – providing you ignore the silliness.
Who is Rose? Steve Rose is a high mileage road rider. A former editor of Bike and RiDE magazine and one time back street bike dealer. He’s also one of the UK’s most experienced and trusted road testers
e reason we still get fooled is because we live in a society full of adjectives and believe that everything is as described. Take a look at your packed lunch. Cheese is no longer just ‘cheddar’, but ‘Lowesto mermaid cheddar’ or some such nonsense. Crisps are no longer ‘salt and vinegar‘, instead we get ‘cracked white sea salt and Suffolk malt vinegar’. Which is borrox, of course. ey still taste the same and the flavour is largely just chemicals anyway, it just uses more print on the packet. And have you ever read the label on the air freshener that she makes you spray round aer a particularly smelly one? Hilarious… but all those adjectives are infectious. So, when we read the advert stating that a used bike has a full service history, we expect that to mean that every service has been carried out on time by a factory trained mechanic. Not that the seller’s brother, who used to be a car mechanic has changed the oil from time to time. e thing is, that once you get beyond this… once you stop searching for the perfect used bike, what you actually have is just a bike. e flaws and fibs in the advert are bargaining chips and it doesn’t matter if there are scratches and marks all over it because you’re only going to thrash it and abuse it anyway, aren’t you? Oh… I see. And that’s the other issue with an ageing bikie population. We’re becoming obsessed with condition and immaculation. Instead of just riding it, we’ve become too interested in maintaining it and loving it. Stuff that. It’s a mode of transport not a Ming vase and if we don’t break them now where will the fun be in restoring them to classic status in 20 years time? My suggestion right now is to go out and buy a tatty example of the most ridiculous bike you can think of, for next-to-no money. Enjoy the haggle (you’ll always win because no one is buying the most ridiculous bikes any more) and enjoy the bike more. I’m in a toss up between an ex-CHiPS police spec Kawasaki Z1000 and a Harris Magnum turbo – surely either would make the perfect winter bike. Care to join me? Oh, and John? As I write this he’s still looking. In the last five days he’s narrowed (!) it down to another FireBlade, an SP-1, Kawasaki ZRX1200 and a Buell. Listen John...Just. Buy. A. Monster.