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RACING ISS AUG 2021 -81( ǫ 20 JULY £4.60

B r i t a i n ’ s

b e s t - s e l l i n g

b i k e

m a g a z i n e

WORLD SUP(P)ERBIKES

HEROISM

Marquez, Hutchinson, Dunlop, & Doohan

FROM RACE TRACK TO CHIP SHOP Why BMW’s S1000RR is Britain’s favourite sportsbike

Racing’s greatest ever comebacks by Mat Oxley

SCOOPS!

Aerodynamics, holeshot devices, last year’s chassis

MUST SEE

REASONS WHY BSB WILL ROCK THIS YEAR

10

2021 GP tech trends by Neil Spalding MOTOGP

by James Haydon

Rossi's star pupil Franco Morbidelli on racism, racing and beating his teacher

GROUP TEST

New Yamaha Tracer 9 GT v Triumph Tiger 900 GT v BMW F900XR

FLAT TRACK

ÄÝßçåêã åð åê ëê Ý ÔëõÝè Çêğáèà New slide school shows you how

ìÝãáï ëâ

£ Îåòåêã óåðä Ý ÆñßÝðå %! Õ Sporty 750 used bargains Äáïð èáÝðäáî æÝßçáðï Buy a Sportster

IT’S GOOD... REALLY GOOD!

New Harley Pan America ğîïð ×Í îåàá

PLUS Sidecars on rafts in Siberia O Aprilia RS660 1000 mile test on road and track

Get it regularly

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Hello

W

Print edition to your door

atching bike racing on telly is great.

You get to wear your fluffy slippers while seated on plump cushions, with beer and snacks close to hand. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon? Ah, well there is something…

Sadly missing from the comfort of your living room is the spine tingling sensation that comes when you watch the start of a British Superbike race at first hand. And while the spectacle of Josh Brookes launching for orbit from Cadwell Park’s Mountain is good when watched with your bum planted on Ikea soft furnishings, it’s substantially more impressive if you are standing on the grassy bank next to the corner (but get there early to bag a good spot). MotoGP is great when watched in high definition, but even better when your chest cavity is being rattled by a bunch of bikes that are hurtling out of Woodcote corner.

It’s been a long wait for top flight racing to re-start in the UK, so we wanted to celebrate with this issue of Bike. British Superbikes go again at Oulton Park on 26-27 June, World Superbikes are at Donington on 3-4 July and the British GP is at Silverstone on 29 August. Let’s make the most of it. If you’ve never been, or have missed it for a few years, make this summer the time to soak up the spectacle. Plus, there’s always a way to make the route to the races an excuse for a decent detour.

Me? I’ll be doing at least one BSB round (I always say Knockhill, but never make it ), and will be enjoying the chest rattling experience at British GP practice. I’m always up for some grass roots sporting action too. After my experience of flat-track (p106) I’m keen to watch some of that, maybe Redcar on 14-15 August.

Enjoy the issue and join us again next month when Bike will be celebrating our 50th birthday. How the heck did that happen?

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Hugo Wilson Editor

Bikes in this issue Aprilia Tuono V4 Factory 78 / BMW S1000RR M Package 48 / BMW F900XR TE 68 Captain America 16 / Electric boardtracker 10 / Harley Pan America 38 / MV Agusta Rush 13 / Triumph Speed Twin 14 / Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro 68 / Suzuki GSX-S 1000 86 Ural sidecars 80 / Yamaha R7 08 / Yamaha MT-09 26 / Yamaha Tracer 9 GT 68

Issue 581 August 2021 Contact us: bike@bikemagazine.co.uk or 01733 468099 PIC: JAMIE MORRIS

Cadwell Park: if you are able support your local race track, it’s been tough times for them too

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48

BMW S1000RR M Package: living that WSB dream

6

Contents Front end 08 THE FIVE BIKES THAT MATTER THIS MONTH New Yamaha R7, Captain America plus electric boardtracker.

19

BRAKING NEWS More strife for Norton owners and a shortage of bikes – new and used.

28 TECH Three ways MotoGP is getting faster in 2021.

33 LETTERS In praise of Stoner, cats, houses, and fridges v motorcycles.

36 SUBSCRIBE Get Bike delivered to letterbox or inbox, and save money.

Features and Tests 38 ×Í ÎÃ×ÐÅÊ ÊÃÔÎÇÛ«ÆÃØËÆÕÑÐ ÒÃÐ ÃÏÇÔËÅà Is the Pan really as good as first reports would have it? Actually yes.

44 TEN REASONS WHY BSB WILL ROCK IN 2021 We’ve been a long time sat on the couch, time to get out there.

48 ÙÑÔÎÆ Õ×ÒÒÇÔÄËÍÇÕ

G N I UE S C S RA I

THE

‘He sewed the dying leg to the good leg…’

BMW’s S1000RR M Package – destination, the chip shop.

54 COMEBACK KINGS If you’re a pro racer you are going to come a cropper.

60 ÖÊÇ ÑÚÎÇÛ ËÐÖÇÔØËÇÙ ÈÔÃÐÅÑ ÏÑÔÄËÆÇÎÎË ‘The story of my life is trying to overcome difficult times.’

68 ÉÔÑ×Ò ÖÇÕÖ ÕÒÑÔÖÕ ÖÑ×ÔÇÔÕ Tracer 9 GT v Tiger 900 GT Pro v F900 XR TE.

80 ÃÆØÇÐÖ×ÔÇ What happens when the road runs out…

88 ÄËÉ ÖÇÕÖ ÃÒÔËÎËÃĊÕ ÔÕ""

54

Italy’s high flying middleweight tackles 1000 miles of UK tarmac.

Know How 102 BUYING

38

ÊÝîèáõĊï êáó ÒÝê ÃéáîåßÝ on road and ëââ åð

Harley-Davidsons’ Sportster 1200.

104 LIVING WITH The inside line on Ducati’s ever impressive Supersport 950.

106 SKILLS Backing it in at Royal Enfield’s slide school.

108 ÖÇÏÒÖÃÖËÑÐ 750s: the greatest sportsbike all-round package. Yours for £3450.

116 TRY THIS Oil and filter change. We can all do it.

118 RACING Bike’s racing correspondent Pete Boast and protégé.

122 ÙÇËÔÆ ÃÐÆ ÙÑÐÆÇÔÈ×Î Vespa Monthléry: definitely not a shopping trolley.

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Light on electronics but bags of power where you want it

BIKES THAT REALLY MATTER THIS MONTH

Numbers: R7 v RS660 Yamaha R7 º Price º Engine

Aprilia RS660

£8000 (expected) £10,150 689cc, 659cc, 270° twin 270° twin 72.4bhp 90.8bhp º Power @8750rpm @ 11,750rpm º Torque 49.4 lb.ft 47.8 lb.ft @6500rpm @ 8600rpm º Frame Steel trellis Aluminium spar º Forks 41mm USD, 41mm USD, full adjustable reb adjustable º Shock Reb adj Reb adj º Wheelbase 1395mm 1370mm º Rake/trail 23.7°/90.0mm 24.1°/104.6mm º Weight 188kg 182kg º Tank size 13 litres 15 litres Heaps º Electronics Diddly squat

8

² NEW BIKES ³

Magnificent (R) Seven New R7 uses brilliant MT-07 engine and frame to create tempting new middleweight sportsbike

A

prilia’s RS660 twin has blown us away with its real world performance, practicality and precision. It’s a reminder of the brilliance of light, middleweight sportsbikes. Now Yamaha are getting in on the act too, and their R7 will cost around £8000 when it appears in October. That’s a hefty two grand cheaper than the Aprilia.

So how’s it going to stack up? We answer the key questions… º Wasn’t the R7 a racer back in the day?

Yes. But although the R7 name is shared with Yamaha’s 1999 World Superbike homologation special, the similarity ends there. Think of the 2021 R7 as an MT-07 with a full fairing, sporty riding position and most of the budget bits upgraded. It’s a proper road bike, not a track refugee. º What are the upgrades from the MT-07?

The R7 gets upsidedown fully-adjustable KYB forks instead of the MT-07’s basic conventional ones, and the rear shock has a new linkage. The MT-07’s competent but unflashy brakes are replaced by radial calipers and a Brembo master cylinder, and the steel trellis frame has an aluminium brace across the middle to increase stiffness.

The R7’s steering geometry is marginally feistier than the MT-07’s, with a steeper head angle and shorter wheelbase.

At around eight grand new R7 is a market disrupter, just like the MT-07 before it

º What about power?

Yamaha have chosen not to tune the MT-07 motor, instead just adding a slipper clutch, lowering second gear a smidge and doing what’s necessary to get the bike through Euro5. That means at 72bhp, the Yamaha makes a whopping 18bhp less peak power than the Aprilia. However, revs are part

of the RS660 equation – the redline is 3000rpm more than the R7’s – and its peak torque is 2100rpm higher up the rev range.

Yamaha have judged most road riders will enjoy the R7’s torquey motor – but with 20% more power the Aprilia will be faster. º Does it have all the bells and whistles?

Nope. Zero bells, one small whistle: the R7 gets a better LCD screen. No rider modes, no cruise control, no cornering ABS, no snazzy TFT screen – all of which are standard on the Aprilia. To hit £8000, Yamaha had to save money somewhere. º Is the riding position sensible?

Tricky to tell from the photos. The clip-on bars don’t look painfully low, and Yamaha say the ergonomics are ‘sporty yet adaptable’ but who knows what that means? Just pray it’s not as wrist-crippling through town as its big brother the R1. º Will we see R7s racing?

Almost certainly. Regulations for next year’s racing (short circuit and roads) have changed to allow the Aprilia and Yamaha in. In America, where MT-07s have been allowed to race for years, tuners say getting 90bhp from the Yamaha engine is easy, so expect to see increasing numbers of R7s on track. º Why isn’t it here until October?

Annoyingly, it’s in the USA now, but Europe is second in the queue. The bikes are being made in Japan, unlike some of the other models that share the CP2 engine, and Yamaha say they simply can’t make enough to enter both markets at once.

9

Five bikes...

Saddle was one of the biggest challenges

Electri TANK You’d think some electrics would be tucked away in the dummy tank, but it’s empty. All the wiring goes through the frame.

SADDLE Handmade by Giacomo (right) to avoid paying extortionate money for an original.

BATTERIES There are two, each hiding in faux steel cylinders fabricated by Giacomo.

WHEELS These are 26in, just like the original boardtrackers. Giacomo laced up the wheels himself.

MOTOR This is made by Italian specialists Bikee Bike, and makes around 3.4bhp – controlled by the throttle or by pedalling. The crank is by Mantova.

‘A faithful boardtracker but bringing it to the present day with more advanced technology and safety’ 10

² ELECTRIC BOARDTRACKER ³

B

oardtrackers have always fascinated me,’ Giacomo Galbiati tells Bike from his workshop in Como, Italy. ‘The composition of the word motorcycle is motor and cycle and in the early 20th century boardtrack racers were just that – bicycles with very powerful engines for that era. Hence the idea of building a faithful boardtracker but bringing it to the present day with more advanced technology and safety.’

We’ll take Giacomo’s safety claim with a pinch of salt – though there are modern hydraulic brakes, the Elettracker’s fork damping system uses quite a lot of cork. However, there’s no denying the tech – inside each of the handmade dummy cylinders is a 72V 840kWh battery, both linking to a cutting edge pedal-assist electric motor built specially for the bike.

‘After a lot of research I found an electric motor that satisfied me from an aesthetic point of view,’ says Giacomo, who runs GDesign Custom Motorcycles. ‘In collaboration with Bikee Bike [a high-tech Italian motor company specialising in conversion kits for bicycles] we developed a 2.5kW motor which gives excellent performance.’

Though 2.5kW converts to just 3.4bhp, Giacomo says the performance is sprightly because the bike only weighs 49kg. And for those of us of a certain age, it’s worth remembering that the hilariously entertaining Yamaha FS-1E moped only had a claimed 4.8bhp, and weighed 70kg.

‘The first time I seriously tried the Elettracker I was lucky enough to do it in a real velodrome and I reached a top speed of 54mph,’ says Giacomo.

STEERING

‘Without pedalling, the range is over 25 miles. The original boardtrackers that challenged each other on the great wooden ovals could reach 100mph, but to find one of those bikes you sometimes have to pay well into six figures.’

He’s not kidding – a Flying Merkel boardtracker sold for £298,000 ($423,500) in 2015. By comparison, Giacomo’s asking price of £8600 seems almost tempting.

The bike’s inverter – the device that controls the power and converts the batteries’ direct current (DC) into the alternating current (AC) the motor needs – is tucked away behind the dummy V-twin. It’s linked by Bluetooth to your phone, where you can monitor range, battery life and speed.

The rest of the bike is rather more low tech. ‘I obtained the frame from a cruiser bicycle and modified the steering, pedal hub, attachments for the hydraulic disc brake calipers and the saddle attachment. I bought the forks separately and modified them so they used a similar damping adjustment system as the 1930s bikes – it’s a kind of clutch using cork discs.’

Curiously, Giacomo says the trickiest part of the build wasn’t the electronics needed to control the batteries, but the saddle. ‘That was very difficult,’ he says. ‘You can only find original saddles in the States at a prohibitive price, and if you make your own, the leather is really hard to work with. First you have to make a mold, then wet and beat the leather until it takes on the desired shape, then sew it by hand, making the holes one by one.’ He did farm out the painting though, which was done by Arianna of Lake Design near Como. ‘She also did the decorations in gold leaf,’ says Giacomo.

On a real velodrome, at 54mph

The springer fork is a modified off-the-shelf item.

Because the bike can top out at 54mph, Giacomo decided a steering damper was in order.

11

PHOTOGRAPHY: MATTIA NEGRINI

city board

Italian customiser connects the past (boardtracking), with the present (electrickery).

Ready, steady, charge…

Five bikes...

Yes it’s 34 grand and has the subtlety of a water buffalo.

But if you want attitude…

² MV AGUSTA RUSH ³

Gold rush MV Agusta’s new Rush gets more midrange, more comfort… and a crate full of go-faster bits

he world’s most banzai production motorcycle has been upgraded for 2021. MV’s 208bhp Rush – the company’s flagship model since the demise of the F4 – has received multiple tweaks to get it through Euro5 and bolster what was previously a disappointing midrange. You also get a crate full of racing bolt-ons including a race ECU and exhaust for your £34,000.

There have been significant tweaks within the engine.

The new model gets revised cam phasing, which improves efficiency and increases torque at low to medium revs – though how much we don’t know. Hopefully it’s plenty, because the old Rush’s midrange felt flimsy compared with bargain basement rivals such as KTM’s 1290 Super Duke R and Ducati’s Streetfighter.

Other improvements include sintered valve guides for increased reliability, valve buckets with a Diamond Like Coating (DLC) to reduce friction and a stronger clutch.

T

How big are MV? º Titchy. MV sold 3000 bikes last year and employ 250 staff.

By comparison, Triumph have over 2000 staff and sold 50,000 bikes. Triumph have more people working in their R&D department than MV have in total. Yet the Rush and Brutale 1000RR it’s based on are civilised motorcycles – you can potter on them, despite the 200+bhp peak outputs. No small feat for a tiny manufacturer designing and building their own engines and customising there own electronics inhouse.

Definitely not one for the minimalists

Hazard warning tape chic

Yet more Rush, in a box

Electronically, the MV goes the non-Bosch route with a new IMU from Continental Automotive, which has been honed to give less intrusive wheelie control according to MV. There’s cornering ABS for the first time too, and the TFT screen is now bigger at 5.5in.

Aside from the disappointing midrange, the other real-world niggle with the old bike was its too-hard saddle. The new bike gets a redesigned softer seat fashioned from leather and Alcantara.

The crate of racing kit you get with the bike is more than a marketing gimmick. The new ECU and SC race exhaust lift power to 212bhp, plus there’s a stack of carbon bolt-ons and CNC machined goodies.

MV will make 300 new Rushes, and as Bike went to press 140 had already been ordered, just five days after being released. UK MV boss David Wilson expects to sell 10-15 over here: ‘It’s not a massive seller for us,’ he tells Bike, ‘but it’s not meant to be. It’s a flagship. And I like the fact the design is Marmite because it shows we’re doing something bold. And anyway, it’s not that left-field, it’s not a Yamaha Niken is it?’

‘It’s not that left-field, it’s not a Niken’

13

Five bikes...

ENGINE

FRONT END

There’s 3bhp more power at the top.

Torque is unchanged, but moves 500rpm lower down. The crank inertia is 17% less, meaning a faster spin-up.

ELECTRONICS Rain, Road and Sport modes have been tickled to give sweeter throttle response.

New fatter Marzocchi forks needed to cope with new Brembo M50 calipers and 320mm discs.

WHEELS ² TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN³

Now 12-spoke rather than the old bikes seven-spokers.

Tyres are racey Metzeler Racetec RRs.

Speedier Twin Big-selling Triumph Speed Twin gets more power, uprated electronics and completely new front end… ince appearing in 2018 the Speed Twin has cemented itself as the leading performance retro. It now gets its first update, primarily to pass Euro5 emission regs, but also to make sure the Kawasaki Z900RS and BMW R nineT don’t get any ideas.

The new Speed Twin’s spec sheet highlights – 3bhp more power, peak torque moved 500rpm down the rev range, 17% less crank inertia – suggest relatively minor engine changes. But there’s actually been a lot going on.

‘There’s a higher compression ratio, from 11.1 to 12.1, higher lift and longer duration cams, and modified intake ports,’ says Triumph’s chief engineer Stuart Wood. ‘This is all to

S

Specs º Price £11,000 (was £10,700) º Power 99bhp @ 7250rpm º Torque 82.5 lb.ft @ 4250rpm º Wet weight 216kg

14

get the emissions right, but also to get more performance. There’s more power, a wider spread of torque, an extra 500rpm at the top end, and faster response. It feels sharp. We’re having to run extra catalysts with secondary air systems so we’ve had to work hard to give the extra – there are a lot of changes.’

The only downside to all this appears to be that fuel consumption suffers, going from a claimed 59mpg to 46. Given that 59 was actually more like 50 in real life, 46 could easily end up being below 40, which would give a fuel range of around 125 miles, or 85 before the light comes on.

That could be annoying.

The other big changes happen at the front end, where the brakes have been upgraded to Brembo M50 radial monobloc calipers and 320mm Brembo discs (up 15mm on the old ones).

The increased braking potential meant Triumph needed to increase the support from the forks, which are now 43mm Marzocchis. The standard tyres go up a performance notch too – they’re now Metzeler Racetec RRs.

Update mercifully steers clear of widescreen TFT

Better brakes, better tyres, better forks.

Better

‘We’ve worked hard – there are a lot of changes’

Five bikes...

Genuine Easy Rider bike, but which bits of it?

² EASY RIDER CHOPPER ³

Captain America rides again?

Arguably the world’s most famous motorcycle has been sold yet again. But is it the real thing? Well, some of it certainly is…

16

I

s this the real Captain America bike from the 1969 film Easy Rider? It’s just sold for $280,500 at auction on that premise, but it probably isn’t. Bits of it are most likely genuine, but the whole bike? No. Settle back and savour one of biking’s most enduring sagas…

The story revolves around Grizzly Adams, or rather the actor who played the bearded bear botherer in the 1980s TV series. Earlier in his career Dan Haggerty was an extra and stuntman on Easy Rider and after the film finished production he ended up with the remains of the Captain America bike used in the final crash scene – the one where it catches fire.

Some years later Haggerty built two bikes from what was left of the machine and – here’s the rub – provided written authentication that each was genuine. The bike you see here is one of those two creations.

Naturally, the various owners of the two Captain Americas have always claimed theirs is the genuine one, and because Haggerty never revealed which bike got which parts, there was no way of proving

Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson pillion

The man behind Captain America º Cliff Vaughs was the extraordinary man who built the bikes used in Easy Rider. In fact, he did a lot more than that, little of which was credited by Fonda or Hopper.

Research by historian Paul d’Orleans has proved that Vaughs – a black civil rights activist – came up with the name of the film, the theme for the Captain America bike itself and Fonda’s costume. Also, many of the pivotal scenes were based on elements of Cliff’s life, mostly as he was riding across the southern states of America on his chopper. º Read more in Paul’s book, The Chopper.

‘Grizzly Adams ended up with the Captain America bike’ which one has the strongest claim. Haggerty died in 2016, so the fog is unlikely to clear.

Another factor is that the wrecked machine was a ‘B-bike’ used for stunts and held in reserve in case the main bike conked out. The B-bike wasn’t built to the same standard as the main one, so you could argue that the two Haggerty machines aren’t descended from pure Easy Rider stock in the first place.

‘There have been attempts to get Peter Fonda [the Easy Rider star], and Cliff Vaughs [the builder of all the choppers in the film] to authenticate the bikes,’ says Paul d’Orleans, a cultural historian and author of The Chopper: The Real Story. ‘I flew Cliff to LA for a photoshoot with this bike and he was happy to point out what was wrong with it. He wouldn’t sign the authentication [that the then owner wanted him to]. He told me, at best, it was the blown up B-bike.’

So where is the original screen bike? Here comes another twist: ‘Three of the bikes were stolen,’ says Paul, ‘and the only one left was the

Captain America bike that was wrecked in the final scene. There are a lot of rumours about who stole them, and where they went. It was probably a patch club [ie Hells Angels], because that’s who stole motorcycles back then, and the bikes were probably broken up. I’ve heard lots of rumours about people knowing where one part or another is, and they might be true.

‘But let’s just say that this bike is as close to the original Captain America as you’re going to get. It was in the Art of the Motorcycle exhibition in Chicago and was displayed using the word replica, so it has that word attached to it now. But that’s not quite right because it has some of the DNA of the original – we just don’t know which bits.

There isn’t a word for what this bike is.’

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F I X I N G P L AT E W I T H ALLOY S EL F -TAPPIN G SC RE WS FO R WH EN O N - R OAD B EC O M ES O FF - R OAD Fuses hand to wrist • Impedes grip strength NOTE: This is a restricted movement model

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M A N Y A C C I D E N T S I N V O LV E S P E E D I N G. M A N A G E Y O U R S P E E D

Brakıng News From the wonderful to the weird, Bike’s pick of this month’s stories from the motorcycling world…

M

‘We’d given training, but it was difficult for them. This year is much, otoE had the worst possible baptism of fire when it much better – the guys who have been working on the bikes from started in 2019 – a short circuit in a charger caused the beginning know what is safe, what to wear, and what a blaze that destroyed every bike prepped they can touch. But it’s been tough to get across all the for the series. Since then it’s established itself as one of safety measures. Sometimes they were too cautious, the most entertaining classes, with identical bikes, sometimes too brave…’

15-minute sprint races and ex-MotoGP stars. But the fire Energica is an electric road bike business, so aside highlighted that eco-friendly doesn’t mean safe. from the marketing benefits of MotoE, which runs ‘With petrol, if you see it dripping or smell it, you alongside MotoGP at certain rounds, there are know you have to be careful. But with electricity technological benefits of having a bunch of maniacs you don’t get that,’ says Giampiero Testoni, the chief Giampiero: at thrashing your motorcycles. ‘Yes, it’s a very good test technical officer of Energica, the Italian company the heart of the bench for our technologies,’ says Giampiero. that designs and builds all the bikes. electro revolution ‘For example we introduced a new battery and we did ‘99% of the race mechanics are from petrol bikes, so almost all the testing for road use with the racers because they know about bikes, but not electricity. During the first the battery was stressed so much in MotoE. It was a big advantage year our team at Energica was so stressed because the mechanics and the new battery was introduced a year ahead of schedule.’ knew almost nothing. Every single crash and every single problem º The next round of MotoE is on 27 June, at Assen. provoked, “what’s happening, what should I do?”.

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Braking News Ǯ BIKE SHORTAGES AND PRICE RISES ǰ

Bike drought hits UK B

Bike shortages, new and used, are driving up prices across the board. If you want a new bike and they have it in stock don’t dither…

ritain’s motorcycle market has turned into a feeding frenzy, with demand oustripping supply of both new and used bikes according to research by Bike. Prices for secondhand bikes have risen by as much as 20 percent in the last year according to dealers.

‘We’ve got about 30 percent of the used stock we would normally carry,’ says Mick Godfrey from Alfs Motorcycles in Worthing. ‘Partly that’s because of problems getting stock, but also because as soon as it comes in, it goes out. Prices are going up. If you want a decent used bike, there are no longer hundreds and hundreds to choose from, and dealers are thinking, “if I can’t replace it when it’s sold, I might as well try and make the best money from it”.’

Used prices up Used prices have actually been rising since last June according to Alan Elsworth of industry price experts CAP. ‘The first big auction [of used bikes] after the first lockdown last year saw a ten percent average increase over the previous sale. That carried on and didn’t really drop off over winter as you’d expect. Trade buying has gone mad recently, particularly at auctions.’ From the six dealers Bike interviewed, used prices have risen by around 20 percent in a year. ‘I spoke to two dealers who bought at auction yesterday who said if it wasn’t for the fact they didn’t have any stock, they would never pay the money being asked at the moment,’ says Alan.

Foreign buyers The shortage of used bikes is partly because of the pent-up demand created during lockdown, but also because of the pound’s weakness.

‘Dealers as far away as Poland, Croatia and Cyprus are increasingly looking to UK shores,’ says Alan. ‘Some analysts estimate 250,000 used bikes have been taken out of the UK market since 2008 and the increased competition, coupled with lower used stock levels, has resulted in increasing used values.’

New bike shortage With used prices rising, several dealers reported buyers coming in for a used bike and leaving with a new one. ‘Because of used prices, we’re switching used buyers into new bikes,’ says Michael Hammon of Colin Appleyard Motorcycles. ‘My advice is to buy new because you’ll spend too much money on a used one.’

That’s easier said than done, because new bikes are also in short supply. ‘Who could have predicted that a microchip factory in Japan would burn down, freezing weather in Texas would create a shortage of resin they need to finish the plastics, and that a stupid boat would get stuck in the Suez canal?’ says Mick from Alfs. ‘Plus there’s Euro5 and bloody Brexit. If you want a new bike, buy it now. Don’t hesitate, because chances are it won’t be there tomorrow. I think stocks will be very, very low by the end of the year.’

‘Stocks will be very, very low by the end of the year…’

Remember days like these?

Burning microchip factories, stranded cargo ships and a resin shortage have emptied showrooms

20

Ǯ GHERKINS ǰ

Cops in lorries º If a weaving driver has ever put the wind up you on a motorway, good news: the police are on it. Highways England But where’s the jam sandwich livery? officers have been patrolling motorways in HGVs so they can more easily see into cars, vans and lorries to take pictures of idiot drivers. Among the 26,000 people they’ve charged (yes, 26,000) was a driver steering a lorry with his knees while eating lunch on his lap, one eating lasagne with a knife and fork and another eating gherkins from a jar with his elbows on the steering wheel. Banning food from lorries seems a good idea.

Ǯ '(9,77 0&1 )(67,9$/ ǰ

Moped Mayhem returns… º 7KLV \HDUoV 'HYLWW 0&1 )HVWLYDO ZLOO RQFH DJDLQ IHDWXUH WKH DVWRQLVKLQJ VSHFWDFOH WKDW LV 0RSHG 0D\KHP 0RWR*3 LV DOO ZHOO DQG JRRG EXW FDQoW FRPSHWH ZLWK GR]HQV RI PLGGOH DJHG JHQWV VRPH RI ZKRP PD\ KDYH TXHQFKHG WKHLU WKLUVW UDWKHU WRR HIILFLHQWO\ DW WKH EDU WKUDVKLQJ PRSHGV URXQG D GLUW RYDO ,I \RX VRPHWLPHV ZRUU\ WKDW +HDOWK DQG 6DIHW\ FXOWXUH LV H[WUDFWLQJ DOO WKH IXQ IURP %ULWLVK OLIH LWoV D WRQLF 7KHUHoV DOO WKH RWKHU XVXDO 0&1 6KRZ JRRGQHVV WRR WHVW ULGHV RQ ELNHV ORDGV RI XVHG ELNHV IRU VDOH VWXQW VKRZV DXWRMXPEOHV DQG DFFHVVRULHV JDORUH 7KH VKRZ LV RQ 6HSWHPEHU (DVW RI (QJODQG $UHQD 3HWHUERURXJK º mcnfestival.com

The white heat of competition returns to Peterborough

Next month ºEstablished 1971 º Next month Bike is 50 years old º Special big capacity issue º plus Pan America v rivals in adventure bike giant test

September issue on sale 21 July

Braking News

If it were my money...

Mike Armitage, Bike deputy editor and all-weather big-mile road rider, on his pick of Retros

For authenticity…

Moto Guzzi V7 Classic º My choice for simple feel-good.

Yes, Enfield’s best-selling Interceptor does the same job for less, Triumph’s Street Twin is punchier. But the V7’s spot-on mix of classic charm, modern usability and genuine heritage gives an authentic air the others can’t match.

For style with performance…

Triumph Speed Twin º 6W\OLQJ WR PDNH ROG ER\V JR PLVW\ H\HG WKH QRLVH RI D SURSHU ELNH EXW WKH SHUIRUPDQFH RI D PRGHUQ VSRUW\ QDNHG s QR ZRQGHU ZH ERXJKW PRUH 6SHHG 7ZLQV ODVW \HDU WKDQ DQ\ SXNND VXSHUQDNHG 0\ SLFN IRU EULVN EODVWV DQG XSVHWWLQJ 6SHHG 7ULSOH ULGHUV

For true classic feel...

Kawasaki W800 º Pop on a black and white plate and the period details would fool many into thinking it’s a classic. The 47bhp parallel twin feels how bikes used to as well: the ť FUDQN JLYHV WKH WKXPS DQG VRXQG of an old Bonneville or Commando, and its thin-tyred handling is oh-so-Sixties.

We fit, we service, we bike. Maybe…

Ǯ SHOPPING ǰ

Halfords back bikes º +DOIRUGV KDYH DOZD\V KDG D IHZ ELNLQJ VSHFLILF ELWV DQG EREV s RLO EDWWHULHV DQG EXOEV s EXW QRZ WKH\oUH JHWWLQJ VHULRXV 1H[W WLPH \RX SRS LQ \RXoOO VHH KHOPHWV VHFXULW\ NLW ELNH FRYHUV DQG FORWKLQJ IURP 2[IRUG 6KDUN DQG 5LFKD n0RVW RI RXU WZR ZKHHOHG FXVWRPHUV ZHUH $ WR % HUV ZKR SXUHO\ XVHG WKHLU ELNH IRU WUDQVSRUW o VD\V +DOIRUGVo 'DQLHO 7RPVRQ n:H ZHUHQoW DWWUDFWLQJ PRWRUF\FOLQJ HQWKXVLDVWV 0\ XQFOHoV D ELNHU DQG KH VDLG WR PH pLI +DOIRUGV WDNH PRWRUF\FOLQJ VHULRXVO\ WKHQ PRWRUF\FOLVWV ZLOO WDNH +DOIRUGV VHULRXVO\q 6R WKDWoV ZKDW ZHoUH WU\LQJ WR GR o 6R ZLOO ZH VHH KLJKHU HQG EUDQGV LQ +DOIRUGV" n:HoYH JRW WR OHDUQ WR ZDON ILUVW o VD\V 'DQLHO n%XW \HV ZH ZRXOG ORYH WR LQFOXGH FRPSDQLHV VXFK DV $OSLQH6WDUV DQG WKH KLJK HQG KHOPHW EUDQGV 7KHUHoV D UHDO RSSRUWXQLW\ KHUH o

Ǯ (175< /(9(/ ǰ

New MV 800 º 7KLV LV WKH QHZ nHQWU\ OHYHOo 09 ) 5RVVR WKRXJK DW ~ WKH OHYHO RI HQWU\ LV QRW H[DFWO\ RQ WKH JURXQG IORRU 7KH QHZ ELNH JHWV SOHQW\ RI XSGDWHV LQFOXGLQJ ORZ IULFWLRQ SDUWV LQVLGH WKH WKUHH F\OLQGHU HQJLQH KLJK SUHVVXUH LQMHFWRUV DQG D QHZ H[KDXVW ZKLFK DOO KHOS WR JHW LW WKURXJK (XUR HPLVVLRQV ZLWKRXW ORVLQJ DQ\ RI LWV EKS ,W DOVR JHWV DQ LQHUWLDO PHDVXUHPHQW XQLW ,08 ZKLFK PHDQV LW JDLQV FRUQHULQJ $%6 DQG WUDFWLRQ FRQWURO 7KHUHoV D IDQF\ QHZ LQ 7)7 GLVSOD\ WRR

For daily grins…

Lambretta V125 º ,WoV D GUHVVHG XS 6\P DQG \RX SD\ PRUH WKDQ IRU RWKHU )DU (DVW PDGH VFRRWV IRU PHWDO SDQHOV SRVK SDLQW DQG WKH QDPH %XW WKH 9 ZRQoW JR ZURQJ FRVWV QRZW WR UXQ DQG LWV FRQYLQFLQJ VW\OH PDNHV HYHU\RQH VPLOH RQ WKH FRPPXWH <RX LQFOXGHG

º Next month: Bike’s founding editor Mark Williams chooses his top four bikes from 1971.

22

IMU and fancy TFT screen obvs

Ǯ PARTS ǰ

RC30 Forever

Ǯ MORE TROUBLE FOR NORTON OWNERS ǰ

Garner’s poisoned legacy O

º Honda have bowed to pressure from RC30 owners around the world and started a new line of spares for the gorgeous V4 that went out of production in 1993.

When Honda first investigated the idea of remaking hard-to-find spares, they discovered none of the original moulds had been kept.

Fortunately there were blueprints, but of course these were all hand drawn and needed to be painstakingly translated into computerese.

One hundred and fifty parts in the RC30 Forever scheme are now available to buy from main Honda dealers.

Norton V4SS owners have just received a letter telling them their bike is a potential deathtrap

module calibration; cracks in swingarm; oil hose wners of Norton V4SS superbikes made failure and faulty indicators. under the Garner regime have received a ‘To earn the trust of our customers going letter advising them to stop riding the bikes. The forward, we have to be honest with them, and letter from the new Norton team lists 35 faults their safety is our priority,’ says John Russell. that were found during tests to assess the V4SS. ‘There can be absolutely no compromise on this as ‘It was essential for us to get an accurate far as we are concerned.’ understanding of the current situation,’ said Unfortunately, the owners have no interim CEO John Russell to an Indian power to make the new Norton fix the magazine (Norton’s new owners TVS bikes because that’s the responsibility are Indian). ‘Unfortunately, our review of old Norton (or rather, the delivered mixed results, which meant liquidator). The new Norton team say that we had to recall V4SS bikes they will provide information to assist delivered to customers in 2019 and the liquidator resolve the problems. early-2020, even though they were not Skinner Someone else also likely to be unnerved manufactured and engineered by the “new” by the list is Simon Skinner. He was Norton’s head Norton management.’ of engineering and design during Garner’s reign Over 20 of the faults on the long list are and oversaw production of the fault-riddled V4SSs. potentially lethal. A sample of these includes: He currently has a similar role at new Norton. throttle jamming open; brake line melting; ABS

Ǯ REA ON EBAY ǰ

£39,260 for a used ZX-10R? º You can buy ZX-10R Winter Test Edition bikes new for under £16,000, but this five year old model with a few exotic bolt-ons sold on eBay for €45,601 (£39,260 ). The reason?

The person who chose the bolt-ons was Jonathan Rea, and he used the 207bhp road bike as a trackday tool to keep sharp between WSB winter tests. Judging by six WSB titles, and another one on the way, he no longer needs it as further sharpness is not required.

23

Braking News

Deals on wheels Too hard, too fast, too small, yeah yeah – but nothing else has the thrill, potential or steering precision of a sportsbike. Save a bundle and streak into summer...

£2650 saving

£4404 saving

£8000 saving

£2407 saving i

Honda Fireblade

Aprilia RSV4 Factory

Ducati 1299 Final Ed’

Yamaha R1

º There’s definitely something about the current CBR1000RR-SP Fireblade. I know that it’s too firm for the road, the riding position is torturous anywhere other than Donington Park, and the shortstroke engine is a revvy bugger with none of an older version’s tractability. And yet I don’t care, because the elegance, class and sheer HRC-ness of the SP gives goosebumps when the garage creaks open. It feels special. Pop to Thunder Road (01633 868888) and new 2020 models are £20,849.

º Want to feel like a MotoGP star?

Buy an RSV4. Though their race bike might not be a front runner (yet), the road bike’s gargling, soaring V4 and standard-setting front end give the closest to a race bike feel of all the large sportsbikes. Compact and exotic too, especially in electronicsuspender Factory form. This one at Wheels (01733 358555) is a 2020 bike without the latest swingarm or electronic tweaks, but you won’t tell on the B676.

And it’s £17,995, not over £22k.

º To give their big V-twin a suitable wave goodbye, Ducati made a 1299 Panigale R Final Edition. It had the chassis of the homologation R model, with a Superleggeraderived 1285cc 209 horsepower motor, full electronics, Akra’ pipe, one-off paint, the whole nine yards.

This celebratory showstopper was £35,995 when released in 2017 but Potteries (01782 969730) have a brand spanker, pre-reg on a 20-plate, for £27,995. And as a limited-run Ducati its value is likely to only go one way in the future.

º If craving fast trackday laps is your thing then fix your sights on the Yamaha. It’s not the most powerful 1000cc sportsbike, nor the most up-to-date, but its circuit prowess is staggering.

I reckon most people will go quicker on the R1, with less effort and more safely, than any other hairy superbike. Yamaha ask an entirely reasonable £17,402, but Chorley Yamaha (01257 444706) have a zero-mile pre-reg 70-plate bike (2020, but identical to this year) for an attractive £14,995.

Deal of the month

Save £3204 Suzuki GSX-R1000R

» Sure, it’s a 2020 model rather than the 2021, and yes, it’s pre-registered with a couple of delivery miles. Who cares?

7KH RQO\ GLƬHUHQFH ZLWK WKH ELNH DW Millenium Motorcycles (01744 413138) is the colour – which is better than this year’s dreary matt black anyway. And the 70-plate is close enough to still impress beaky neighbours. And you’ll have got the ballistic GSX-R with its supple suspension, cunning variable valves and top-notch electronics for just £13,795.

24

What’ll it do, Mister?

New bikes versus our dyno, scales and datalogger

Yamaha MT-09

Already powered by one of the standout internal combustion engines of the last 20 years, this year’s substantial redesign means a larger and freer-revving inline three engine for the evergreen MT. Does it really live up to the claims?

Photography: Yamaha

New frame, suspension, engine, looks... but glad bright wheels remain

26

It’s like one of those brain-scrambling puzzles... how many circles can you see?

Triple goes from 847 to 889cc – it’s lighter, quicker revving and has more low-rev clout

THEY SAY

WE SAY

117.4bhp

111.5bhp

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68.6 lb.ft

66.2 lb.ft

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189.0kg

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190kg

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54.3mpg

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143mph

132.5mph

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ON THE DYNO

AT THE PROVING GROUND

Power 111.5bhp @ 10,000rpm Torque 66.2 lb.ft @ 7100rpm

60

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120

100

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2000

4000

6000

8000

10,000

3HDN ƮJXUHV might not be up much, but the previous 847cc motor didn’t have that bulge in the middle.

The new MT makes more grunt from 5000 right to 8000rpm, giving the already perky triple even more glorious rollon thrust.

Builds revs 12,000 quicker too.

ǫ 03+

3.21s 11.07s 55.9m 5.47s

New electronics allow small wheelies in ƮUVW DQG VHFRQG JHDU IRU RSWLPXP GULYH This is a superbike-matching 0-60 time.

Ǭ 0,/(

This is about the same as the previous bike. Nowt wrong with that, as hitting 126.5mph in 11s dead is respectable.

ǫ 03+

The brakes have feel and power, but the ABS is too eager. It jumps in way too much, extending the stopping distance.

ǫ 52//ǫ21

Crack the gas in top gear and the Yam’s torque and snappy gearing mean it’s only 0.2s slower to 80 than a new Busa.

27

Tech How stuff works, and why it’s made this way

That’s the duct that maybe fixing Ducati’s understeer issues

3

ways MotoGP is getting faster in 2021

Excluded from pitlane by Covid, MotoGP technical analyst Neil Spalding has been watching a lot of telly. These are three things that he’s spotted. Photography: Ducati and Redbull Content Pool

1

Ducts for Ducati

Historically, Ducati’s problem has always been understeer, with the bikes pushing wide and not holding a line as well as their rivals. Yet, finally, this now seems to have been cured. How? The problem used to be caused by weight distribution, but since the new physically smaller engine has been moved forward in the chassis, that’s not the culprit. The new issue is wings. In a straight line these hold the front down under acceleration remarkably effectively, but of course the aerodynamics also work when the bike is leaned over, with the forces travelling in the direction of the forks and pushing the front wide. Ducati have fixed one problem and created another.

Most of the downforce is generated by wings high up on the front cowling, with secondary wings on the front edge 28

of the lower fairing adding a little more.

Ducati’s major new additions are the two ducts right at the bottom of the fairing. All the other aero is designed to push the front of the bike down but these two ducts are clearly trying to do something else. It looks like a pure aero device (rather than a cooling duct) that takes air from the front and fires it down, which will create lift.

So what is the game? At full lean, the new duct on the side nearest the ground will, if it is shaped like a wing inside and is parallel with the ground, work extremely efficiently. The lesson from F1 is that wings increase their efficiency exponentially the closer they get to the ground so at full lean the Ducati could generate significant down force, but this time in the right direction, straight towards the ground rather than down the fork legs. And now the bike holds its

line mid-corner. Until someone takes a photo into the duct’s snout we can’t know for sure, but the evidence seems to point that way.

Neil Spalding For 20 years Neil Spalding has been the foremost technical writer on MotoGP. With pitlane access restricted in 2021, he’s conducting his analysis via the TV coverage and concentrating on his slipper clutch business, Sigma Performance.

we have our 2Can chassis back?

Marc Marquez has pulled rank and swapped his chassis with an old one from an LCR. Why? My guess is it’s a side-effect of his injury. Because he was out for so long, by the time he returned, his Honda had a new chassis and he quickly learned that re-acclimatising to MotoGP on a bike that performed differently to the one he had stepped off last year wasn’t ideal. He wanted an old chassis.

And where do you go for last year’s kit? The satellite team of course. It’s not uncommon for a works team that wants to re-test a bit of old equipment

G N I UE S C S I A R

THE

Jack Miller practising starts on the ‘slammed’ Ducati

This is the 2021 chassis Marquez used at the start of the season. He’s since been using an older, all aluminium version

to pop next door and ‘promote’ one of their customer team riders to the latest kit and borrow the previous year’s stuff. And that’s what’s happened here: Marquez suddenly has two chassis that look like 2019/2020 units and each LCR rider has one of this year’s ‘carbon reinforced beam’ units. Limitless money and supplies in MotoGP? Er, no.

3

Holeshot devices

Motorcycles have conflicting design requirements. A high centre of gravity is needed for cornering and a low one for quick acceleration, so how to get the best of both worlds? Ducati started to lower the back of their bike with a hydraulic device in the rear suspension link two years ago. Now they are holding both ends down for the start and also using the rear unit while the race is underway.

MotoGP bikes have always had way too much power to keep the front wheel down but thanks to start devices they are now limited by rear tyre grip and clutch strength rather than wheelies.

All the factories now lock down the front during starts and it looks like Suzuki are the only ones without a rear unit. The rules require all the systems to be ‘rider operated’ rather than automatic, which is relatively easy at the start but difficult during the race. A typical sign of the rider getting the timing wrong is someone riding a bit erratically on a corner exit – watch Morbidelli carefully and you might catch him messing up as he tries everything to bully his old Yamaha nearer the front. The Ducatis don’t seem afflicted by this so it’s possible they are doing something slightly differently.

29

Braking News

30

The Road A celebration of UK tarmac ÒËÅ ÅÊËÒÒÛ ÙÑÑÆ°ÄÃ×ÇÔ

31

Glynstell Park, Glynstell Close, Cardiff, CF11 8EY t. 02921 921 177 | bikesales@mandp.com

CARDIFF

NO CONTACT, FREE DELIVERY* TO YOUR DOOR FINANCE AVAILABLE ON ALL MODELS#

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Wr te Off Bike, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA

Telephone 01733 468099 Email: bike@bikemagazine.co.uk

facebook.com/bikemagazineUK

twitter.com/BikeMagazine

² ÄÇÇÐ ÖÊÇÔÇ ÉÑÖ ÖÊÇ Ö«ÕÊËÔÖ ³

‘18 guys and two girls squashed into a van’ ssen,1999: I went as a ‘mechanic’ helping my friend Andy Reynolds, who was racing a Seeley in the classic event. The races were held on Saturday, and on the Friday evening TT Night takes place in the nearby town – bars, live bands, food stalls, plus 30,000 very happy lager loaded bikers. Andy and I travelled there with 18 other guys and two

A

girls squashed into a small van! Poor Andy couldn’t drink any beer. I helped him with his racing at six Manx Grand Prix, and also road circuits in Ireland and Europe, all of which are related in his excellent book Racing Classic Motorcycles - First You Have to Finish.

John Walker, email

ËÈ ÛÑ×ĊØÇ ÉÑÖ ÃÐ ÑÎÆ Ö«ÕÊËÔÖ LIKE JOHN’S AND FANCY SEEING IT IN BIKE, TAKE A PIC OF THE WHOLE SHIRT, ARMS ,1&/8'(' $1' (0$,/ ,7 72 7+( $''5(66 $7 7+( 723 2) 7+( 3$*( ,) :( 38%/,6+ ,7 :(o// 6(1' <28 $ 1(: 7ǫ6+,57

33

Write off

² STAR LETTER ³

‘Only twice the price of my house’

BMW M1000RR: the pension might not quite be enough

s my current bike approaches its first MoT, thoughts of a change came into my head. This took me to the 100 Bikes, 100 Deals article (Bike, June). As someone who is unconvinced by PCP deals I looked at the cash price you gave for each bike. And in so doing I was struck by the costs involved…

I acquired my first bike in 1962 (not, I hasten to add, a new one) and have been in the market virtually ever since. Your 100 bikes came up with an overall total value of just over £1.3 million. The average price being £13,326. The range began at £4399 for the Royal Enfield Himalayan and rose to an incredible £30,935 for BMW’s M1000RR. So, if I’m Mr Average I should be looking at the BMW R nineT – fairly good choice I would have thought. But £13k! I bought my first house in 1969 for £3600 on a 25-year mortgage. I would now need an extra £10k for an ‘average’ motorbike. What does that tell us about decades of inflation, and bike costs?

My pension and savings will have to lower their sights to a belowaverage machine if I’m to avoid the fears of the MoT. Perhaps an MT-07, Interceptor or maybe a Trident? They’re only twice the price of my original house.

A

Dave Johnson, email

EACH MONTH WE GIVE AWAY A CABERG DUKE II HELMET AND A YEAR’S SUBSCRIPTION TO BIKE FOR THE MONTH’S STAR LETTER. ON YOUR MARKS

Stoner respect I was saddened and moved by Mat Oxley’s interview with Casey Stoner (Bike, June). I didn’t particularly like Stoner because as modern spectators we’ve come to expect brilliant racers to be entertainers on and off the track. But you couldn’t help but admire his outrageous skill and utter determination to win, even ‘bending’ the recalcitrant Ducati Desmosedici to his will and ultimately making the bike a success – something a long line of other illustrious talents failed to do.

And not many racers have a corner at the ‘hard-as-nails’ Phillip Island track named after them.

I’d suggest when he was racing you couldn’t help but be drawn into hoping you were about to witness another epic battle – just like the duel with Rossi at Laguna Seca in 2008. Surely one of the greatest races of the modern era.

It was shocking and tragic to read about him suffering such a debilitating 34

quality time with his family that he so richly deserves.

Dan Wilson, email

Naked and unimpressed

Above: Stoner and wife Adriana

illness. After all his years of racing, hard work and sacrifice it doesn’t matter what you thought of him, he’s earned his right to enjoy his retirement.

I, for one, wish him all the best for a full recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and hope he gets to enjoy not only his retirement but also the

I’m starting to investigate a suitable replacement for my ageing GSX-R1000 and the new Speed Triple (Bike, July) seems a good place to start. The other bikes of interest are the BMW S1000R, Aprilia Tuono V4 etc.

All these bikes are super nakeds with the latest electronics but less extreme riding positions than the latest crop of superbikes. But now I’ve looked at the Speed in the showroom and photos of the others I’ve come to the conclusion these bikes are just as impractical as the current superbikes.

I don’t carry a pillion these days but I want a seat that I can strap my gear to for a weekend away, or the occasional track day. The Tuono V4 seems to make some attempt at accommodating a pillion or luggage, but the others

Bike, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA Telephone 01733 468099 Email: bike@bikemagazine.co.uk ignore function in order to replicate superbike rears.

Why do the manufacturers do this?

On a track day I ride to the track. On the pillion seat I carry tyre warmers, front and rear stands, some tools and spares, a change of clothes (to use between sessions), lunch and wet weather gear if rain is predicted. The only modification necessary to carry the gear is an aluminium angle under the tail-tidy to hook an ockie strap to.

It seems that with a new naked I will get a quickshifter and the security of 6-axis IMU. I might gain a couple of seconds a lap at the track but I would also lose a couple of hours in transporting the bike and gear to and from the track on a trailer.

I like the thought of riding the latest supernakeds, but it seems they are limited to day trips or commuting.

That means maintaining two bikes – one with the bling and a practical one.

EDITORIAL

ADVERTISING

Above: Devil’s Bridge, not a fridge or dishwasher to be seen

ËðĊï Ý îåì ëĞ I’ve just taken delivery of a Ténéré 700 Rally, love the bike but if you look through the accessory list, guess what? Yamaha do a tail tidy. I know I’m stating the obvious but a dual sport/offroad bike should come ready equipped.

Manufacturers should be held more accountable even though it goes against the million £ accessories market they so like to encourage.

ST (Bike, June). His conclusion that the only things he missed that he’d find on a current bike was an easy to set trip meter, ABS and maybe cruise control hit the nail on the head.

Being a grumpy old git I thought I was in a league of one living without all the current whiz bang tech.

I swapped my Sprint for a 650 Versys and the only tech I still have is an easy to operate trip and ABS. Can’t help with the cruise control though (but there again I don’t miss it). Starts first time too…

Chris Sheridan, email

Fridge v motorcycle

Ken Dagless, email

I’d like to heap more praise on John Westlake’s review of his 1050 Sprint

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Phone 01733 468000 Editor Hugo Wilson Art Director Paul Lang Deputy Editor Mike Armitage Contributing Editor John Westlake Road Tester James Haydon Managing Editor Nigel Grimshaw Sensible Adult Colleen Moore Head of publishing, motorcycling Steve Herbert-Mattick

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So simple

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Below: a modern cat will have this cleaned up in a jiffy

Walking along a line of parked bikes at Devils Bridge I can’t help but have a debate: which is the best, the MV, Ducati, Aprilia, or an off the scale Rocket 3? What is the USP of a conventional motorbike? Is it the brand, design, looks, engine size/ configuration, purpose of use?

The USP of a fridge/washing machine/spin dryer is the cost of the appliance, not the type or make of electric motor that is in the housing.

Which leads us to the inescapable fact that fossil fuel engines are to be phased out. Electric bikes (and cars), will be just another type of electrical appliance. No engine noise, no character, they will be tools. And you won’t turn round to look back, unless you can’t remember whether or not you’ve plugged in.

John Howard, email

Clean air There was an article in Bike June where Jamie Turner made a comment about modern engines actually cleaning the air in cities. I found this fact fascinating. I wonder how many other people are aware of this?

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37

40 CRUCIAL MILES… The name of the new Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 S suggests epic, continent crossing adventures, but the first UK ride was a brief, wet and wiggly excursion in Wales. That can’t answer every question, but the signs are very encouraging…

By Hugo Wilson Photography Harley-Davidson/Gareth Harford

It’s very good

ÆÝîåêã ðë Þá àåĞáîáêð

º Even on a very short, very wet and very, very wiggly ride in Wales (we barely got beyond fourth gear, or the 9500rpm at which H-D claim the bike produces 150bhp) it’s obvious that Harley-Davidson’s all-new Pan America 1250 Special is a very good bike. But it needs to be. The adventure bike market is already crowded, with seven manufacturers offering brilliant bikes in the 1000cc+ area, and the benchmark and best-selling BMW1250GS has had 40 years of evolutionary development by brutally logical, planet brained Bavarians.

An all-new machine from a traditionally cruiser company needs to be something remarkable if it’s going to cut it.

º Given the competition in this sector Harley needed to do something very different to stand out. And they have – the Pan America looks like nothing else (make up your own mind, I’m just delighted that they’ve gone their own way) and the optional adaptive ride height, that lowers the bike by two inches approaching standstill, is a super innovative solution to the tip-toe wobble that shorter riders need to suffer for their adventure bike aspiration. It’s a major talking point about the new bike.

The engine is a compact 60° V-twin, but with off-set crankpins to provide 90° vee characteristics, with variable valve timing and a 13:1 compression ratio. The chassis is

So why an adventure bike? º H-D have invested massively in the new bike because they reckon the American adventure bike market can grow significantly. For them it’s a variation on the American touring sector in which they are traditionally strong.

With a good dealer network and a powerful brand they should be able to exploit this potential, but the European market will be harder. In the UK the goal is a modest 4-500 sales. With an aggressive pricing policy that seems feasible.

Revolution Max: typical H-D understatement

38

Harley-Davidson Pan America Despite being very late to the adventure party Harley have taken this radical move super seriously

‘Given the competition in the adventure sector Harley needed to do something very different to stand out. And they have’ 39

Harley-Davidson Pan America

‘It’s clear that the PA doesn’t have the magical low speed agility of a BMW R1250GS’

clever too with front and rear subframes bolted to the engine, and the swingarm pivoting from the back of the crankcases. As you’d expect there are sophisticated electronics with multiple rider modes (five on the base model, seven on the Special), high specification levels and loads of options and accessories.

And while it may be like no previous H-D, there are subtle hints of the established brand in the styling. Things like the horizontal headlight which has a hint of Fat Bob and the fairing adding a touch of Road King.

Êåãä ïìáßåğßÝðåëê º Keyless ignition (though not for fuel cap or steering lock), cruise control, a big TFT screen with connectivity, LED lights, rider modes, cornering ABS and traction control, plus hill hold starting are standard on both versions of the bike. Additionally the ‘Special’ comes with semi-active suspension, centre stand, quick adjust brake pedal height, tyre pressure monitoring, hand guards, crash bars, bash plate, heated grips, cornering lighting, steering damper and hand guards. All as standard. The Special can also be fitted with wire spoked wheels and adaptive ride height, both of which were fitted to our test bikes. The easy way to tell them apart is that the premium version features the big ‘bar and shield’ logo on the fuel tank.

Ñê ðäá éëòá º Immediately it’s clear that the PA doesn’t have the magical low speed agility of a BMW R1250GS, though adaptive ride height definitely adds to carpark manoeuvring confidence.

Once you’re on the road the handling is neutral, with positive inputs required to turn, and the Special, with semiactive Showa suspension front and rear, feels well balanced.

Given the nature of our ride, stability and suspension quality at speed remain questions, but its great on a bumpy B-road, niftily hiding its 258 kilo wet weight.

Just over there to the right: there are 26 buttons split between two ‘fist’ size clusters. 26 is a lot

From the off, the engine’s low rev performance is docile.

Variable valve timing gives 150bhp potential, but it rolls from small throttle openings with all the menace of a fat, tail wagging Labrador. This makes it a great ride on dripping wet Welsh roads and easily manageable off-road too. From 4500rpm induction noise rises and there’s a few vibes too, though these seem to decline higher up the scale. Ultimate potential? Honestly, based on this ride I’ve no idea about high speed performance or stability.

×ïÝÞèá áèáßðîëêåßï º Given the tractability and smoothness of the power delivery provided by variable valve timing, rain mode is almost pointlessly strangled, even for a very wet Wales. Road allows easy cruising and in Sport she picks up her coat tails and, on the S, get’s stiffer damping too. The difference in feel between those three basic modes is more obvious than on most bikes. There are two off-road modes too, with much reduced levels of ABS and Traction Control interference, and also a button to turn off the TC. The S version has two further modes that can be customised to rider preference.

Controlling all this requires two huge switch clusters with more buttons that my TV remote – 12 buttons on the right 41

Harley-Davidson Pan America SPECIFICATIONS

cluster, 14 on the left. Despite the potential for confusion it’s all relatively intuitive and despite the fiddly looks this luddite managed to make it all work, even wearing wet gloves.

The dash is a substantial 6.8-inch TFT item that’s angle adjustable and, at least on a cloudy, wet day, very clear. It also features touch screen usability.

Price x ! #! ÄÝïá éëàáè x Engine ! ßß $ òÝèòá " Ø ðóåê Òëóáî ! Þäì ßèÝåéáà Torque % !èÞ âð ßèÝåéáà Rake/trail $ "éé Wheelbase !$ éé Kerb weight !$çã ßèÝåéáà Seat height $! $#!éé Tank size èåðîáï

ÑĞ îëÝà º You’d be nuts to try, so we did anyway. On tight tracks and firetrails the PA is decently agile for a big unit, the off-road mode delivers easily controllable power with minimum electronic intervention.

ÒîÝßðåßÝèåðõ º The hydraulic tappets never need adjustment, though oil changes are specified at 5000 miles. With a 21 litre (4.5 gallon) tank the PA should deliver 200-mile range.

ØÝèñá º At £15,750 on the road for the Special and £14,000 for the more basic model prices are really competitive. Adaptive suspension is a £600 extra.

Comfort º Realistically, we don’t know. Our ride was short, with multiple stops and no high speed riding to test the effectiveness of the screen – it can be adjusted between four positions on the move, but feels flimsy – and how noisy it is. The seat has two positions 850/975mm, but I suspect the pegs are slightly too high and too far back to allow decent peg pressure to be applied. The adaptive ride height offers a further two inches of seat height drop at standstill.

than when parked. What you may notice is the bike sinking slightly when, while sat on the bike, you turn on the ignition.

That’s because it has re-pumped slightly when you put it onto the sidestand, but when the ignition is turned on the suspension’s valves re-open and it loses that ‘extra’ height.

The speed at which the suspension drops can be adjusted.

Below: H-D claim they spent half a million miles on off-road development, but only 10% of riders will venture off tarmac

Next º On the basis of this brief ride, we’re really impressed. If you want to break from BMW’s adventure default this is a refreshing alternative worthy of consideration. We’ll ride again, and for longer, next month.

The big question… º You don’t notice the Pan Am lifting itself up as you move away from standstill and the self-pumping suspension raises itself to full height, but trailing your feet on the move proves that it’s taller on the go

‘If you want to break from BMW’s adventure default this is a refreshing alternative’

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3.6Kg

WEIGHT

12 - 15.5Kg

DIMENSIONS

87 x 124mm

Length

1.5 - 2.0m

LOCKING PIN

30mm

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10

REASONS WHY BSB WILL ROCK IN 2021

Ex-WSB and BSB star James Haydon explains why you need to get a weekend of racing in the diary. Round 1 is 26-27 June at Oulton Park. Be there. Photos: Jamie Morris

T

he British Superbike championship is starting late this year because of you know what, but once it kicks off at Oulton Park on 27 June the schedule is relentless – there are 11 rounds going through until October, and each one is a triple header. Here’s why you need to get along to at least one round

The riders

1

º BSB is known around the world as a stepping stone to WSB so it’s stuffed full of classy riders. For 2021 Josh Brookes (Ducati), Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha) and Christian Iddon (Ducati) are my favourites because of their speed and consistency but BSB is famous for new names bursting through. Kyle Ryde (BMW) has impressed me in preseason testing on the new M1000RR, as has Ryan Vickers (Kawasaki).

44

Some big names join the 2021 party. Head of the list is recent Moto3 World Champion Danny Kent (Suzuki) who has earned his ride after a few difficult years [he got a suspended prison sentence in 2019]. He’s incredibly talented and has gone brilliantly in preseason after a year of Superstock 1000.

There are big changes at Honda who have kept Glen Irwin (fourth last year) and will run 22-year-old Ryo Mizuno alongside him. Ryo was Japan’s GP3 champ in 2015 and all Japan GP2 champ in 2017. They’re also running highly regarded 31-year-old Honda test rider Takumi Takahashi – a three time Suzuka winner. But UK tracks can be tricky…

There’s a gaggle of other fast guys too – Tommy Bridewell (Ducati), Tarran Mackenzie (Yamaha), Bradley Ray (BMW), Pete Hickman (BMW), Danny Buchan (BMW) and Andrew Irwin (BMW) will all be in the mix at some point.

James Haydon Eurosport commentator and ex-BSB, WSB and MotoGP racer who’s still devastatingly fast on a bike.

There will be fire.

Peter Hickman sparks up the FHO BMW

Lastly, keep an eye on the exciting young Scot, Rory Skinner (Kawasaki). He’s the current Supersport 600 Champion and it’s great that he’s moved straight to British Superbikes without any ingrained bad habits from the 600s. If he stays injury free, expect a podium or two later in the season.

2 Take off at Cadwell’s Mountain, one of biking’s best sights

The tracks

º Foreign riders often can’t quite believe our tracks. If you haven’t been, go and watch at Cadwell Park – there’s nowhere quite like it in the world, especially on a sunny weekend in August. Watching the bikes launch off the Mountain and flying past before a sketchy landing is mesmerising. Afterwards take the short walk into the trees above Hall bends and grab a view from there too – it’s rare to be above and yet so bloody close. Awesome.

45

Why BSB rocks

3

The bikes

4

The starts

Will Blades cut it this year?

º The new BMW M1000RR makes its debut, as does the new Kawasaki ZX-10RR that Rea is using to dominate WSB. They’re up against the awesome Ducati V4R Panigale, the revised Yamaha YZFR1M, plus Honda’s evolving Fireblade and Suzuki’s GSX-R1000R. All are making 220bhp+.

º There’s nothing like the buzz of a BSB start. The pressure and energy build slowly at first with mechanics and organisers scurrying about, then the bikes roll up and it’s suddenly frantic, with tools, tyre warmers, wheels flying about all over the place. Then the grid empties for the warm-up lap and it’s oddly calm until they roll back for the start.

The hairs on your neck will rise as a grid full of superbikes pin their throttles, then boom! You’ve got to see it. At some tracks you can watch the start and the first corner from one spot – the grandstand at Brands Hatch for example.

5

Innovative rules

º Another area where British Superbikes leads the world. Perhaps the most entertaining rule change was the introduction of a control ECU. Overnight, traction control, launch control and antiwheelie were gone. Not only does this provide a better spectacle, but it allows more teams to be competitive. Control tyres by Pirelli take the levelling effect even further. One new 2021 rule is that eight bikes not six go through to the Showdown title fight.

6

Discover talent

7

Elite teams

º Want to see future champs? Watch BSB. Casey Stoner, Troy Bayliss, Neil Hodgson, James Toseland, Tom Sykes, Jonathan Rea, Sam Lowes and Cal Crutchlow all spent time in BSB.

º BSB has an incredible number of top teams. Some are manufacturer supported and run BSB factory bikes, but there are dozens of high-end privateer squads plus all the support race teams too. And you’re allowed to wander round the paddock.

It’s professional, but BSB riders still talk to one another

8

It’s a party

º It’s not just BSB. There are eight other races on Sunday, and if anyone in the family gets bored, there are fairground rides, stalls and paddock shows.

9 Amazing live TV coverage

º Clearly I am in no way biased [James is one of Eurosport’s experts]. But the coverage really is excellent – the live show on Saturday and Sunday includes qualifying, all the big races and most of the support races.

Brands Hatch and BSB on a summer day. Perfect

10

º We’ve all been locked up at home, watching repeats for far, far too long. It’s time to get out there and see something exciting happening in the real world.

‘It’s time to get out there and see something exciting happening’

46

It’s LIVE!

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TOM SYKES 35 years old, 5ft 7in, winner of the 2013 World Superbike championship. Quite speedy

On the left is Tom Sykes, top-class racer chasing another World Superbike title, along with the rest of his team, on a factory BMW. And on the right Mike Armitage, a road rider revelling in an evening ride to the chip shop…

By Mike ‘mushy peas’ Armitage Photography Adam ‘battered sausage’ Shorrock and BMW

48

MIKE ARMITAGE 46 years old, 6ft 2in, watched quite a bit of racing and good at shouting at the telly. Not quite as speedy

49

World Supperbikes Now do I go large cod or fish cake? And what about the chips/ potato scallop conundrum?

WSB Blighty feast º Your one chance to see WSB in Britain this year is at Donington Park, Friday 2 to Sunday 4 July.

The championship is a true food processor of machinery and characters, with variable-valve BMW versus mighty Ducati and shrieking Hondas and Yamahas, and Tom Sykes, Scott Redding, Jonathan Rea, Chaz Davies, Alex Lowes and Leon Haslam all with every chance of home victory. Add hungry new talent ZLWK WKH OLNHV RI 7RSUDN 5D]JDWOLRüOX Garrett Gerloff and Michael Ruben Rinaldi, and great racing is assured.

Sunday race day tickets start at £35, three-day weekend at £55, with under 13s free. See doningtonpark. msv.com for more.

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Poor little sausage, all on his own

any other Beemer, with 30% more examples sold than of the adventure-sport S1000XR. The UK’s sixth bestselling big bike overall, the RR is the country’s favourite device for playing at being a racer with around four times more bought than Ducati Panigale V4s or Yamaha R1s.

And this evening I’m playing at being factory BMW star Tom Sykes. Destination is Donington Park, home to the British round of World Superbike and the perfect place from which to mount a low-level assault in the direction of sliced, deep fried potato with far too much salt and vinegar.

One of the standout features with BMW’s monumentally powerful sportsbike is its tractability. The 999cc engine shrieks to a giddy 14,000rpm and 204bhp, but thanks to its cunning ShiftCam system giving variable intake camshaft timing the inline four has a gutsy bottom end and thrusting midrange. We’re not quite talking the surreal whoosh of a Suzuki Hayabusa, but the RR’s roll-on clout is immense.

Any occasional vehicles are tossed into its blurry mirrors with the tiniest sniff of gas. Fabulous manners too: fuelling is smooth and glitch-free, and the two-way quickshifter is light and precise regardless of revs or load. With a firm

Pro or not so pro, S1000RR is the go-to chip pursuit device (CPD)

yet unexpectedly compliant ride from the semi-active Marzocchi suspension progress is pleasingly breezy.

There’s an almost eerie still approaching Donington.

Making the pilgrimage here for BSB, WSB and GP races some 25 years ago, I have vivid memories of the A453 being temporarily one-way to cope with the quantity of sporty bikes streaming to the circuit – the feeling of being part of something special amid the kerb-to-kerb throng. Perched

Above: Sykes’ teammate Michael van der Mark leaves his pit; our Mike’s crew look more cheerful

‘RR’s roll-on clout is immense…

Vehicles are tossed into its mirrors with the tiniest sniff of gas’

outside the entrance, I can’t help misty-eyed recollections about the good ol’ days.

Maudlin thoughts vanish as a CBR600RR zings past, followed by a couple of ZX-6Rs, a GSX-R1000 and a Fireblade. Their riding kit is more flip-up and textiles than race lid and one-piece, but it’s a timely and very welcome reminder that many of us still relish the pin-point steering, crisp response and vivid sensations of sportsbikes.

And by buggery does the S1000RR M Package deliver vivid sensations. Slicing out of Derbyshire and across Leicestershire, these jumbled B-roads used to be my stomping ground, the quiet ever-flicking tarmac where my mates and I would explore our sleek 600s and fit 750s. At a flyweight 193.5kg ready to race (sorry, ride) the BMW has twice the power-to-weight ratio of my old Suzuki GSX-R600 51

World Supperbikes SRAD and its ridiculous performance makes the hedgelined routes feel like overgrown garden paths. There’s such brain-scrambling response and urgency even on half throttle in Road mode that I can rarely fully rotate my right hand anywhere near full gas, and don’t even contemplate sharper Dynamic mode. And there’s a Race setting as well?

Madness. I’m sure the myriad electronic controls (traction, slip, wheelie, engine braking and more) are doing their thing, but other than feeling the electronics reining in wheelies the techy gubbins all goes about its business subtly.

Yet despite the overwhelming motor and intoxicating snarl of its accessory ‘M Titan’ Akrapovic exhaust (£2400… eek), it’s the RR’s amazing chassis that has me jibbering. Last updated in 2019 the Beemer is trimmer than ever before and it’d be easy to describe it as 600-like, but it’s way better than that. The way it turns is sensational – not just the micronprecise steering and easy-access agility, but how the RR hugs

It’s never been easier to experience racerlike thrills on the road. While we can folks…

‘It’d be easy to describe it as 600like, but it’s way better than that.

The way it turns is sensational’

52

ever-tighter lines. Drive through a corner at proper lean and the chassis is so eager to change direction I’m forever turning tighter then expected. I can’t ever remember another superbike carving like this.

Or giving such reassurance while doing it, either. BMW talk about the bike having a ‘Flex Frame’ to generate more traction and give greater feedback and confidence than the older RR’s super-rigid beams. It’s the sort of stuff all too easily dismissed as marketing guff, but the sensation through the controls while in full I-really-am-Sykes mode is amazingly reassuring.

Part of the S1000RR’s popularity is the way it makes you feel most like a World Superbike hero. From paint scheme and hidden taillight to the works-style swingarm, aggressive engine racket and bewildering 204bhp rush, there’s edginess to the RR. And this 20-grand M Package version adds an extra layer of specialness, taking the full-trinkets Sport model and adding carbon wheels and an adjustable swingarm pivot. It’s the most convincing race replica.

Yes, of course, I know. Tom’s WSB bike is the M1000RR. But his new version of the RR is effectively a homologation special, designed for race teams to pull apart and fettle.

For the road you still want this posh S1000RR, with just as much performance (the M has an insignificant 5bhp more right up top, but the S has greater oomph lower down) and

SPECIFICATION Contact Price (otr) Typical finance

Tyres (f/r) Rake/trail Wheelbase

bmw-motorrad.co.uk £20,013 (£26,380 as tested) 4005.66 deposit, 35 months at £229, £10,478.87 optional final payment 999cc 16v DOHC variable-valve inline four 80 x 49.7mm 6-speed, chain 204bhp @ 13,500rpm 83.3 lb.ft @ 11,000rpm 190mph (estimated) aluminium beam 45mm USD fork, electronic damping, manually-adjustable preload monoshock, electronic damping, manually adjustable preload 2 x 320mm discs, four-pot calipers/ 220mm disc, one-pot caliper 120/70 ZR17, 200/55 ZR17 ť PP 1441mm

Wet weight

193.5kg (claimed)

Seat height Tank size Economy

824mm 16.5 litres 43mpg

Electronics

Colours

TC, ABS, modes, quickshifter, electronic suspension damping, hill hold, slide, wheelie, pitlane limiter, launch, cruise, anti-theft, SOS button red/white/blue

Availability

now

Bike rating

9/10

Capacity Engine Bore x stroke Transmission Power (claimed) Torque (claimed) Top speed Frame Front suspension Rear suspension Brakes (f/r)

just as many electronic aids, but with flattering electronic suspension… and a ten-grand saving. And let’s not forget this phenomenally potent tool comes with heated grips, cruise control, hill hold control and a three-year warranty.

The light is fading and there’s a crisp edge in the air by the time I indulge in my hot, salty, enjoyable supper. I’m as ready to turn my nose up at sportsbikes as the next doubter, but tonight has been a clear demonstration of why the S1000RR is so popular. I’m joined in ogling the BMW by an old boy whose head spins as I reel off the RR’s numbers, and he wanders off saying, ‘it’s a proper bit of kit’. Five minutes later he’s back for another gawp. ‘Yeah, that’s a proper bit of kit.’

It’s an understatement and a half.

Paul’s Plaice (see what they did?) is far more tempting than energy drinks on the WSB grid

BMW S1000RR M PACKAGE

53

G N I UE S C S I A R

THE

COMEBACK K As Marc Marquez has discovered, if you’re a professional motorcycle racer you will get hurt, probably badly. That’s just the way it is. Indeed, the ability to bounce back from injury is just as important as the ability to ride fast around corners.

Sometimes, however, riders don’t so much bounce back from injury as crawl…

By Mat Oxley Photography Dave Collister, Honda, Shutterstock and Bauer Archives

Hutchy in his happy place at the 2017 TT

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KINGS ‘Surely no other racer has been through so much without giving in.’ Never a truer word… º Some people know when to say, enough is enough. Ian Hutchinson isn’t one of them. In 2010 Hutchy became the first rider to win five TTs in a week. But since then he’s lived through a nightmare of one serious injury after another, followed by similarly agonising comebacks.

And he’s still going. Why? Because he doesn’t want to even think about life without racing.

Three months after his mighty TT achievement he crashed at Silverstone and got run over. His left tibia and fibula were so badly smashed surgeons told him there was no alternative but amputation. Hutchinson told the surgeons to fuck off and found someone willing to undertake the challenge of reconstructing his leg.

Twenty-four operations later – including one 16-hour epic from which he awoke convinced he was no longer of this world – he was ready to race again.

‘I presumed I had died and been taken away on a spaceship!’ he writes in his autobiography Miracle Man. ‘My only thoughts were about getting back on a bike, racing as hard as I ever had and taking the same chances that had become such a crucial part of my existence.’

And then he rebroke the leg, while riding a minibike, because the fracture site Bike’s Mat had been weakened by infection.

Oxley and In May 2012 he removed the external Hutchy fixator from the messed-up leg to score three top tens at the TT, changing gear with his right foot and operating the back brake with his left thumb.

Immediately afterwards he was back in hospital for

another six operations.

Hutchy came back from this latest nightmare in November 2013 at Macau – arguably a more dangerous Hutchy’s Superbike TT win in 2017 was racetrack than the TT – awe inspiring where, incredibly, he took an emotional victory.

Now he was really on the way back.

At the 2015 TT he won his first victories since 2010 and another three the following year.

In 2017 he proved he was fully back to his best by winning his first Superbike TT – the most demanding of them all – since 2010.

Five days later and competing in the Senior he crashed at a missilefast corner on the Mountain Mile.

This time he fractured his left femur and smashed his already mangled ankle.

Back to the operating table, where surgeons rebroke the tibia so they could lengthen the bone and fuse it to the foot.

This comeback also had its setbacks. When Hutchinson returned to action the leg was still weak, so at the 2018 TT he couldn’t put enough load into the footpeg to control the bike. His best finish was 11th in the second Supersport race. The following year’s TT wasn’t much better – one tenth place.

Due to Covid there hasn’t been a TT since, but Hutchy is still at it, contesting the 2021 BSB Superstock championship. Surely no other racer has been through so much without giving in.

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Comebacks Mugello GP, 1996: Four years after nearly losing a leg, Doohan is on his way to winning a third world championship

Mick Doohan

‘He sewed the dying leg to the good leg, using that leg’s blood supply to keep the injured leg alive…’ º Mick Doohan very nearly became a one-legged former motorcycle racer in July 1992.

Incredibly, six years later he had won five 500cc world titles. There is Austria 1997: world championship #4 is little doubt that his is the most successful on the way comeback in bike-racing history.

The teak-tough Aussie was leading the 1992 title chase by a mile when he slid off his Honda NSR500 during practice at Assen. The crash wasn’t big but it had huge consequences. A local surgeon botched the operation to fix his broken right tibia and fibula, so that within days the leg was dying.

‘It was starting to smell like bad meat,’ he recalls.

The surgeon’s solution? Amputation below the knee. The operation would’ve gone ahead if MotoGP medic Dr Claudio Costa hadn’t intervened. He kidnapped Doohan and flew him to his Italian clinic in an air ambulance.

Doohan’s only thoughts were for returning to racing to protect his points lead. Costa’s only thoughts were for saving the leg. Numerous treatments didn’t work, so he sewed the dying leg to the good leg, using that leg’s blood supply to keep the injured leg alive.

‘There were numerous operations – I lost count of how many – and they were long operations,’ he adds.

‘This one was a success but it wasn’t pretty, they never were.’

After 14 days the legs were separated.

Doohan could hardly walk, yet his target was to race at the penultimate GP in Brazil, five weeks later.

‘Brazil was a pretty rough weekend. It was

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extremely tricky because I didn’t have any feeling from the knee down, so my foot would come off the ’peg and I wouldn’t know until it was floating in the breeze.

‘The night before the race I woke up and the leg had basically exploded with all the infection. All this puss oozed out over the bed, so Costa came in to flush it out with saline solution. He’d pour a litre through this hole, like a big boil-type thing, then flush it back out to get rid of all the crap.’

Doohan missed the title by just four points and then set about preparing for 1993.

‘The problem was that the leg was infected so the bone was pretty soft. I pushed it too hard in training and the bone started to collapse. Also, I still had no feeling in the leg, so I ground half of my little toe away during testing. There were times when I thought what the hell am I doing? But I wanted to ride and I knew if I could get strong again I should be able to win.’

Doohan struggled through 1993 with the wonky leg, which had no movement at the ankle, so HRC made him a thumb-operated rear brake. During the off-season surgeons attached an external fixator to the leg, a rarely used technology at the time. Each day he tightened the fixator screws to bend the bones straight, millimetre by millimetre. During this phase of treatment patients take morphine tablets. Doohan used aspirin.

‘Mick took so little pain medication, it was During almost superhuman,’ said his surgeon Kevin treatment Louie. ‘It’s like he reset his pain thermostat.’ patients Still limping, Doohan came out all guns take morphine. blazing in 1994. He won that year’s title and Doohan the next four. Only another huge accident in used 1998 stopped him winning more. aspirin

Robert Dunlop Recovered from horrific TT injuries.

Lost his life as a result of those injuries º There cannot be a bigger story of sporting triumph and tragedy than that of the Dunlop family.

Three of the Dunlop roadracing greats are dead: Joey, younger brother Robert and Robert’s eldest son William.

Only Robert’s younger son Michael continues to race at the top of the sport.

Robert Dunlop didn’t win as many TTs as his big brother but he made the mightiest of comebacks from a horrific accident during the ’94 TT to win again on the Isle of Man. The crash wasn’t his fault. His Marvic rear wheel had collapsed, throwing him into a wall and nearly killing him.

His right arm and leg were so badly mangled that doctors said he would never race again.

Two years later, after multiple operations, he tried returning to racing with a specially modified Honda RS125 (he knew he wasn’t strong

When the wheel collapsed, Robert stood no chance

enough to race anything bigger). Dunlop could operate the throttle but not the front brake, so he moved the brake lever to the left handlebar, alongside the clutch. But he was told his right arm was still too weak to race.

In 1997 he was passed fit to race at the TT and took third in the Ultra-Lightweight race. The next year he won the class, a mind-boggling achievement, considering his considerably weakened body and his unique brake/clutch arrangement.

‘It’s brought me back from the brink of despair,’ he said.

‘It’s been a bridge over troubled water for me.’

In May 2006 Dunlop took his 16th victory at the North West 200, once again on the 125.

Two years later he entered the 250 class at the event.

During practice his engine seized at 150mph. Dunlop grabbed the front brake instead of the clutch, which flung him over the handlebars. He died instantly when he was hit by another machine.

On the podium with Foggy at the 1993 NW200

‘There can’t be a bigger story of triumph and tragedy…’

1997, UltraLightweight TT. Note absence of brake lever on right bar

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Comebacks

Marc Marquez

July 2020: Back four days after surgery

This comeback trail is no history lesson, it’s alive and suffering here in 2021…

º This isn’t Marc Marquez’s first comeback from serious injury.

A crash at the 2011 Malaysian GP banged his head so hard it stretched the muscles in his right eye. He saw double for months and doctors told him he might never race again. Finally, complex surgery fixed the problem.

At the end of the 2018 season he had his left shoulder reconstructed and at the end of 2019 he had his right shoulder rebuilt. Each time Marquez emerged from hospital stronger.

Will it be the same this time? When Marquez returned to racing at April’s Portuguese GP he hadn’t raced for nine months. Even Doohan was never out of action for more than a couple of months.

Marquez broke his right humerus (upper arm) bone last July. The humerus is a bad bone to break and has ended many careers, including Carl Fogarty’s. ‘I was one per cent of the guy I had been,’ said Fogarty.

Marquez had the fracture pinned and four days later was at the next race, determined to win a seventh MotoGP title. Big mistake – riding further damaged the arm.

Two weeks later he went under the knife again, to replace the bent titanium plate. Four months later surgeons went in again because the fracture had become infected, so it wasn’t healing. A bone graft from his pelvis did the trick.

Marquez returned at April’s Portuguese GP. He finished first practice third fastest, tucking the front and kicking out the rear like he’d never been away. He finished the race in seventh, just a few seconds behind the winner.

At May’s French GP he led the rain-lashed race, until he slid off, proving he has lost none of his speed or willingness to take risks. And at Barcelona he was in the lead group when he again fell – Honda’s 2021 RC213V has some serious grip problems.

‘I enjoyed today, I was Marc!’ he grinned after that race.

‘Today it was time to take a risk, because burning fuel and tyres for 12th isn’t me.’

However, some muscles in Marquez’s right arm are still at less than 60% strength, so his best chances of a return to form are anti-clockwise tracks such as Sachsenring in June, Aragon, Phillip Island and Valencia. ‘In left corners I feel really good, I feel normal,’ he says.

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‘The humerus is a bad bone to break and has ended many careers’

Marquez at Jerez in 2020, just before that crash

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‘The story of my life is trying to overcome difficult times’ Franco Morbidelli probably has the coolest head in the 220mph world of MotoGP, but his calm demeanour conceals a difficult past By: Mat Oxley Photos: Petronas SRT, Marc VDS, VR46 and Monster Energy

I

owe one of the more embarrassing moments of the three decades I’ve spent chasing MotoGP riders around the world to Franco Morbidelli. It was all my fault, obviously, but the way he dealt with my idiocy showed the mark of the man.

This happened during the post-qualifying media conference at last year’s Teruel grand prix at Aragon, the 11th of the 14-race 2020 championship. Morbidelli’s team-mate Fabio Quartararo went into the race four points behind championship leader Joan Mir, while Morbidelli was sixth overall, a further 28 points down.

‘Franco,’ I asked. ‘If you get the chance to help Fabio, because he needs every point he can get, while you’re not really in the battle for the championship, will you help him?’

Morbidelli smiled and answered my question with another

60

question. ‘Why am I not in the battle for the championship?’ he asked.

I laughed nervously. ‘Um, erm, well, I’ve looked at the numbers and… well, I suppose you’ve answered my question.’

Morbidelli calmly continued to make his point.

‘I didn’t say I wouldn’t help Fabio if he needs help to win the championship and I’m out of the championship battle, but I’m not out of it yet, so what’s the point of helping him?’

The next day Morbidelli went out and destroyed everyone to take his second MotoGP victory, while Quartararo had a nightmare and didn’t score a single point. A month later Morbidelli completed the 2020 championship second overall, only 13 points behind champion Mir.

The

xley interview Mat is a TT winner, endurance racer, author and MotoGP paddock insider

Watching Morbidelli in his garage is like watching Buddha go to work

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When Morbidelli won the 2017 Moto2 title he became VR46’s first world champion

‘When he was 18 his father committed suicide. It’s impossible for anyone to imagine how such a thing might affect them…’

Three superb race wins made Morbidelli 2020 MotoGP runner-up

Morbidelli is even more chilled at home. He’s a big fan of his couch and the TV

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The Oxley interview Some riders might’ve taken my question as an insult, but Morbidelli remained polite, reasonable and good-humoured throughout. Because that’s what he’s like – cool, calm and collected.

‘The best way is to stay calm,’ says the 26-year-old Italian during our interview. ‘It helps you to see more around you and to judge what’s around you with more precision. Maybe I’d like to yell or smash up the garage after a bad race, but I understood pretty early in my career that this isn’t the right way to go forward.

‘Of course, it’s also my way of being. I’m not a crazy person at all, I’m generally quite quiet. When I’m at races I try to stay even more calm which helps me perform better and that’s the most important thing.’

Morbidelli’s placid, philosophical attitude to life may be part of his nature, but events have also played a significant part in forging his character, which is so unlike most adrenaline-charged youngsters chasing MotoGP glory.

Morbidelli grew up in Rome, the son of a Brazilian mother and an Italian father, a former racer who owned a motorcycle shop. At school he suffered racist abuse because his skin wasn’t the same colour as the other kids’.

When he was 18 his father Luigi committed suicide. It’s impossible for anyone to even begin to imagine how such a thing might affect them, but perhaps it destroys you unless somehow you don’t let it.

Morbidelli didn’t succumb. He kept focused on the road ahead, winning his first major success – the European 600 Superstock title – a few months later.

Five years earlier his family had moved from Rome to Tavullia, so he could train with Valentino Rossi. Morbidelli’s dad and Rossi’s dad had raced together in the 1970s and 1980s, hence the connection.

‘Valentino started giving me advice about riding,’ remembers Morbidelli. ‘Then he started asking me what championship I was doing

and what I was going to do next year, then he started watching some of my races and started giving me more advice.’

In 2013 Rossi established his VR46 Riders Academy. The idea was to find young Italians who Rossi could support. At the same time these youngsters would train with Rossi, helping him stay sharp.

Morbidelli was the first rider to officially sign with the VR46 Academy, but by then Rossi was more than just a mentor to him. The teenager had lost his dad and needed looking after. Rossi told him, ‘If you need me, I’m here’.

‘The story of my life is trying to overcome difficult times,’ Morbidelli adds. ‘It’s happened in the past and it will happen in the future. I hope to be hard enough and ready enough to overcome all the difficult moments I will face.

‘Vale and I talk a lot with each other. We spend a lot of time together – training, chilling out after races, doing the usual stuff friends do. We talk about our tough moments, which helps you get through them. I guess we are lucky that we’ve had more times to celebrate together than to share misery.’

Whenever I see Morbidelli on top of the podium after winning a GP his face seems to change for a moment. The ecstatic grin disappears, replaced by a look of sombre reflection, like he’s wishing his dad was there, enjoying it too.

While Rossi drifts through into the twilight of his career, Morbidelli leads the charge of the VR46 protégés. In 2017 he became the first VR46 rider to win a world championship, the Moto2 title, the next year he became the first VR46 rider in MotoGP and last season he became the first VR46 rider to win a MotoGP race.

‘This fills me with pride but it doesn’t mean I’m the best rider in VR46 because VR46 is full of great talents.’

Partnering with mate and mentor Rossi for a 100km dirt race at the VR46 ranch

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The Oxley interview

Former teammate Quartararo now rides a 2021 factory M1 while Morbidelli has to make do with 2019 bikes

He’s not wrong. Other VR46 riders in MotoGP include factory Ducati man Pecco Bagnaia, Rossi’s half-brother Luca Marini and Moto2 riders Marco Bezzecchi and Celestino Vietti.

Morbidelli fully acknowledges the crucial role VR46 has played in his career. ‘I wouldn’t be here without them,’ he says.

During his first MotoGP season Morbidelli rode Honda’s hardto-handle RC213V. In 2019 he signed with the new Petronas Sepang Yamaha team, alongside Quartararo. That year the French rookie dazzled, giving Marc Marquez a hard time at several races, while Morbidelli steadily worked his way up to speed aboard his YZR-M1.

That’s why Yamaha kept him on a 2019 bike last year, while Quartararo was promoted to latest-spec factory machinery. This spring Quartararo was further promoted to Yamaha’s factory squad and Morbidelli stayed at Petronas, still riding 2019 M1s.

It’s a strange situation. Last year Morbidelli bettered Quartararo and factory team-mate Maverick Vinales in the championship but he’s racing two-year-old bikes, while the factory men have new-andimproved 2021 machines.

Morbidelli’s chassis are so old that his renowned crew chief Ramon Forcada swaps them around, so they don’t exceed their intended mileage life. ‘We try to race with the fresher ones – once we see the kilometres are getting high with one frame we switch to another,’ explains Morbidelli.

Is he angry about this? Of course he is, but he’s clever, so he rationalises the anger and magically transforms it into better results.

In fact there are some upsides to riding the same bike for three seasons.

‘I’ve ridden this bike for so long that I know it so well. From a technical point of view maybe it’s not an advantage but the more you ride the same bike the more you feel every small thing that’s happening, so now I can make saves that I couldn’t have made two or three years ago.’

Morbidelli’s strengths as a rider are smoothness, consistency and intelligence. He’s not the kind of rider – like Marquez and perhaps Quartararo – who can make a motorcycle do things it shouldn’t be able to do. Instead he works with Forcada to extend the bike’s limits through 64

Franco with genius Spanish crew chief Ramon Forcada, a huge asset in his garage

honing the set-up and then rides to those limits while adapting his technique accordingly.

‘I’m a really flowy rider and I really like to maximise every movement in every aspect of my riding,’ he says. ‘That’s what I try to do once I feel good with the settings.’

And that’s exactly what he did when he won last September’s Teruel GP. Indeed he was so flowy during the race that he had a kind of transcendental experience, like Wayne Rainey at Suzuka in 1991 and Ayrton Senna at Monaco in 1988. Coincidentally psychologists name this mental state ‘flow’.

‘The race really was a trip,’ said Morbidelli after that victory.

‘Meaning, how can I say…’

‘You felt pretty high?’ prompted another journalist.

‘Yes, I felt great. It wasn’t a journey, it was a trip.’

While Morbidelli was racing for last year’s MotoGP title there were bigger things happening in the world, like Covid-19 and the Black Lives

Morbidelli’s lid celebrates his mixedrace heritage; halfItalian, half-Brazilian

‘When I was at school I was bullied because the colour of my skin wasn’t usual. I felt the need to be accepted and I wasn’t accepted at all’

Tackling racism: Black Lives Matter helmet, worn at the San Marino GP last year

Matter movement. While Formula 1 king Lewis Hamilton made BLM his rallying cry in F1 there was hardly a murmur about BLM in the MotoGP paddock. Apart from Morbidelli.

His experience of racist bullying had a profound effect on him and helped make him the man he is today.

‘When I was at school I was bullied because the colour of my skin wasn’t usual – I’m not black but I’m not white either. The bullying didn’t make me feel good at all. I really felt the need to be accepted and I wasn’t accepted at all.

‘The lesson I learned very quickly was that it’s not nice being pushed aside, so I try never to do that to anyone, whether in racing or outside.’

Morbidelli made his feelings clear at last year’s San Marino GP, where he wore a Black Lives Matter-themed helmet. He is a big movie fan, so his Misano lid featured him as one of the star characters in director Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do The Right Thing, which deals with racism in New York.

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The Oxley interview – that riders have to work harder, have less fun and The helmet caused quite a stir. It also worked wonders Morbidelli had a technical disaster at constantly narrow the focus of their lives if they want to for Morbidelli who went out on Sunday and won his first the season-opener in stay in the game.

MotoGP race. He wore it again at the next race, with Qatar ‘I have had to sacrifice my sofa time for training and Spike Lee also featuring, after the director had heard commitment,’ he grins. ‘And now I need to sacrifice about the helmet and got in touch. that time a bit more because the level in MotoGP is so high it’s totally ‘It was great to talk with such an icon of culture such as Spike,’ he unbelievable. You cannot lose one inch or lose focus for one tenth of says. ‘I will always remember the chat we had and it gave me a lot of a second. It’s very difficult but it is engaging and it is nice to be a part positive energy.’ of it.’

The first time I interviewed Morbidelli back in 2017 he told me his Without a doubt Morbidelli is a contender for this year’s MotoGP favourite thing was sitting on the sofa at home, watching movies and title, and that is despite a disastrous start in Qatar where his M1’s sport. But things have changed since then. holeshot device (which lowers the bike by pumping down the rear ‘When I went to MotoGP in 2018 I learned that a machine can be shock to reduce wheelies and thereby allow more acceleration) so powerful and that the performance of the tyres can be so high, so wouldn’t disengage. Result: he rode the whole race with the rear end I learned there’s really no limit to the performance of a machine on down and the front up, like a chopper. two wheels. In 2019 I learned that commitment is really the key to Most riders would have ridden into pit lane and thrown a few perform well in MotoGP and last year I learned that just being fast things around the garage, but not Morbidelli. He completed the isn’t enough to win the championship.’ race distance and didn’t even finish last. Once again this was his These days MotoGP races are so ridiculously close – the top ten philosophy at work. sometimes covered by less than ten seconds at the chequered flag ‘I just tried to stay focused on my job and hang on tight. We had a technical issue, so all I could do was maintain my concentration and give my maximum.

‘If I’d had a bad race like that last year, or two years ago, I would be Born: 4 December, 1994 much sadder and more daunted than I am in 2021. This time I was Lives: Tavullia, Italy upset but I’m always looking ahead, so my mind doesn’t spend too » 2011 17th European 600 Superstock championship much time thinking about what happened in Qatar. » 2012 6th European 600 Superstock championship ‘This year I have more knowledge of myself, more knowledge of » 2013 European 600 Superstock champion what I can do on the bike in a race and more self-trust. Of course I » 2014 11th Moto2 world championship have got more pressure to deal with, but it’s a good kind of pressure » 2015 10th Moto2 world championship and it’s a well-earned pressure which I would like to have for many » 2016 4th Moto2 world championship more years.’ » 2017 Moto2 world champion As Rossi’s sun sets, Morbidelli’s rises. » 2018 15th MotoGP world championship » 2019 10th MotoGP world championship What was it like being a MotoGP » 2020 2nd MotoGP world championship

Franco Morbidelli CV

NEXT ISSUE

‘This year I have more knowledge of what I can do on the bike’

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rider 50 years ago? Oxley talks to GP winner Ginger Molloy…

Group test

T OU R

Time was when the sports tourer department was where good bikes went to retire. But not now. Today’s adventure-influenced high-risers are a force to be reckoned with. Yamaha’s new Tracer 9 GT thrusts its way between Triumph’s Tiger 900 GT Pro and BMW’s F900XR TE…

By Mike Armitage Photography Jason Critchell

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DE

E

F O R C E S ports tourer and all-rounder have always been wishy-washy terms. Though great devices, it was an area of the market generally populated by once-sharp machines eased into a steadier role for their autumn years. Even Honda’s evergreen VFR750 ended up there. No recycling these days, mind – Yamaha’s Tracer 900 might

have been based on the MT-09 but its creation was more than slapping on new ’bars and a rack. A proper, complete bike in its own right, it’s defined mid-size do-it-all bikes since launched in 2015 and this year becomes the larger, fancier Tracer 9. Have Yamaha stretched the gap to their rivals, or spoilt the recipe with unnecessary tinkering?

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Group test

Yamaha Tracer 9 GT Its forebear has been a top-three bestseller across Europe and won pretty much every road test that we’ve slung it in – so no pressure for this complete redesign, then…

Above: R1-alike visage is a refreshing break from the beaky pack

H

ave you noticed how things aren’t simply ‘new’ anymore? No, ‘new’ just doesn’t sound exciting enough. These days if you want to really push home your product’s refreshed status it has to be ‘all-new’. Which is all a bit dubious when attached to a bike with just an updated dash or a helmet with a different paint scheme. In fact it is right up there with ‘pre-order’ on the scale of bloody annoying modern language (you’re just ordering, forchristssake). But, it’s entirely justified with the all-new Tracer 9.

Engine, frame, geometry, suspension, wheels, ergonomics, weather protection, dash and even the footpegs are new. Looks different, too.

Yet despite the changes Yamaha managed to do something important with their bestseller: they’ve made sure that it’s remained a Tracer.

‘It’s not lost its personality – the new bike still definitely feels like a Tracer,’ says Bike subscriber and guest tester Chris Tyrrell, who returned to bikes at the end of last year after many years away, and got a cracking deal on the departing 2020-model Tracer 900 GT. ‘But it’s also definitely changed. As soon as you get on it feels like you’re sitting in the bike more, and a little lower, and this gives greater confidence straight away – it’s easier at low speed, sharper, keener to swing about.’

New Kayaba forks sit the Tracer 9 lower at the nose, removing the previous model’s high-feeling front end and eradicating any hint of a desire to drift wide in fast corners, helped by lighter ‘SpinForged’ wheels. These changes also bring the increased agility and breezier flickability at trundling pace; previously the Yam was out-manoeuvred in tight situations by the doddle-to-place BMW, but this new bike is as nimble as the F900XR, and feels as secure too. It’s only 2kg lighter than the outgoing Tracer 900, however, Chris reckons it easily feels ‘like ten kilos or more’.

Being the GT version means this bike also has semi-active forks and rear shock, as well as being adorned with tenstage heated grips (ten!), cornering LED lights and model-specific luggage. Early semi-active systems could be a bit unpredictable – you were never quite sure how the bike would respond or feel. The Yam shows how quickly things have developed, though. As well as providing the best ride quality of the three bikes and steadfast handling at all speeds, its constant tweaking and adjusting is subtle enough to go unnoticed – ever-sharp Chris doesn’t realise it’s semi-active until we point out the gubbins protruding from the fork tops. (‘Ooh, look…’)

There’s a claimed six percent more grunt from the 889cc inline three, with 68.5 pound-feet giving 117bhp. Any difference isn’t particularly obvious, though this isn’t a biggie – the previous 847cc motor was one of the greatest engines of all time, and the inflated Tracer is still smoother than the Triumph and longer-legged than the BMW. Occasional road tester Andy Gurski has plenty of experience of the previous Tracer (and

Left: GT gets semiactive suspension Below: being of a certain age we’re thinking Short Circuit.

It came out when?

1986!!

MT-09), and is reassured to find that, ‘the Yamaha engine is still easily the best one here’. We all reckon it has the finest soundtrack as well.

Yamaha have played with the intake to tune the honk and the new exhaust outlet points down, so the hubbub bounces back – it sounds far meatier and sportier than the 2020 model.

Toys? Glad you asked. The Yam now has lean-aware traction and ABS, cruise, many modes, plus a quickshifter on GTs. Circling while devouring his garage forecourt sandwiches Chris notes less blingy updates, and they’re all things he prefers over his bike: rubber-topped ’pegs, more protective screen, larger pillion seat, shorter (more precise) gear lever, better mirrors. But both he and Andy grumble at the looks, and neither is taken by twin TFT displays. The data is too small, and it lacks both contrast and brightness.

I agree to disagree about the looks. For me, the Yam’s styling gives a sportier and more road-focused look, rather than being yet another beaky wannabe, and the R1-style tucked-in lights are smart. Anyway, surely riding dynamic and performance are what really matters – and the Tracer 9 definitely moves things on. ‘I paid £10k on the nose for my Tracer 900 GT,’ says Chris, ‘and at just over £12,200 the new bike’s not two-grand better. But it’s definitely five percent better, with a clear improvement in what it’s like to ride and how it makes you feel.’

‘… it’s easier at low speed, sharper, keener to swing about’

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Buy a used Tracer 900 GT Small advances with the new bike mean a used 900 gives almost the same experience for much less. From £4500 º Engines are super-reliable and swallow miles, but make sure the 24,000-mile valve check hasn’t been skipped. º Corrosion can make a mess of fasteners and chassis fittings. º Bodywork gets rattly. Make sure the screen stays in position.

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Buy a used BMW F900XR There are a few used 900s on the market now – just over £8000 or so gets you a low-mile base model º Steering locks can be bothersome – a few have been replaced under warranty. º Hand guards like to vibrate loose. Make sure the bar-end bolt is still there. º Build quality is high. There should be no ill-fitting parts. Look for scruffy exhausts, though.

Above: it’s sparkling gold for some folk, but just ‘pissy beige’ to others

Left: big TFT screen impressed our resident tech-lover Right: optional semi-active is on the rear shock only, and doesn’t bring much to the BM’s table

BMW F900XR TE Eighteen months since burbling into the light Beemer’s twin is as chirpy, reassuring and easy to ride as ever. But it seems things have moved on in just a year and a half…

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T

here is absolutely chuff-all wrong with Beemer’s parallel twin middleweight tall-rounder. I was fortunate enough to ride the F900XR on its launch at the start of 2020, just before the world turned upside-down, and have clear memories of it dancing effortlessly through wayward Spanish traffic, whirring soothingly on motorways, and being fabulously reassuring and egoboosting on slick, damp, chilled mountain roads. I stuck my chest out and blurted that I’d rather have the tossable 900 over its bigger, faster, fancier S1000XR stablemate. I stand by it, too. We did a Big Test on the 900 just a few months back, and again heaped praise on its compact form. ‘A modern-day VFR,’ reckoned our design chap P. Lang.

The world’s changed in the year and a half since the XR chugged out of the factory though, and not just with all the hand washing and mask wearing. Yamaha have just completely revised their Tracer, the bike that BMW openly declared was the target for their 900 – and all of a sudden the German bike has less of an attractive sheen.

In terms of measured outright performance the 895cc side-by-side twin can accelerate as briskly as the Tracer or Tiger and achieve an equally irrelevant top speed. Its torque is easily accessed and deployed, bringing real rideability. The chassis combines nimbleness and proper sucked-down stability, with easy-steering manners at car park pace and steadfast composure at lean on a wriggling B-road. In the TE guise

Group test

we have here it’s chocker with must-have whatnots as well – cornering ABS, cruise, lots of modes, pannier mounts and heated grips – and this test bike also has optional Dynamic ESA (posh electronic rear shock), quickshifter, daytime running lights, centrestand and keyless ignition.

There’s a workman-like aura around the XR, though. It’s always been there and is part of the bike’s charm, but with the new Yamaha now matching its town centre friendliness while also being sportier than ever, it’s harder for the BMW to shine.

‘I don’t think that I really like the XR as much as I used to,’ muses Andy. ‘I’m not keen on the riding position – the relationship between the seat and ’pegs is fine, but it feels like the ’bars are too far back, and at six-foot I feel a bit cramped. I can’t sit where I want to, and though the chassis steers very well at low speed and the handling is completely fine the riding position affects my confidence.’ He’s not alone – the smallest and most compact bike here, Chris reckons the XR is the hardest of the three to adapt to, and the one on which he’s least confident when attacking unknown corners. The twin doesn’t have the luxurious torque of the Tracer or the Tiger’s low-down wallop either, and, ‘needs working harder to keep with the two triples’.

Of course, while the BMW delivers a mildy less sparkly dynamic its slightly worthy nature brings the small-but-pleasing bits and bobs that you notice as an owner. Screen height is adjusted with a neat lever that makes the Triumph’s spring-loaded system look like a lash-up, the heated grips are the most roasty-toasty, the headlight is great and the centrestand is easy to employ. Chris does something to do with IT and computers (we think he’s the bloke who turns the interweb on each morning) and is a hardened tech-lover, and so thinks the XR’s widescreen dash is the hands-down winner. ‘They’ve done a much better job than the other two,’ he gushes.

‘The switchgear seems a bit fiddly to me, but on a 12-grand bike the display is the sort of equipment you expect – it’s like an iPad.’ It feels wrong to be a bit down on the BMW. We know it’s still a really good motorbike to ride, still has plenty of feel-good extras, and is still well made and a safe buy. But I can’t forget something Langy said about our long-term test bike: ‘It would be the perfect second bike for doing everything your quirky, bonkers, fun first bike doesn’t do.’ He’s right... but now you can buy the sportier, faster, more fun Yamaha instead and get all the BMW’s usefulness as well.

‘A perfect second bike for doing everything your fun first bike doesn’t’

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Buy a used Tiger 800 You might find a used 900, but go for the previous 800 – it’s smoother, and in late XC form has a supple ride. From £4000 º Bikes between Sept 2010 and Aug 2011 had a recall to stop random stalling. º Water gets in the swingarm and makes the wheel adjusters rust and seize. º Engines are reliable, but paint flakes off them easily. º Watch for a dodgy main stand spring.

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Group test

Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro Knobblies, snouty looks and a rumbling racket, EXW WKH WRS VSHF *7 3UR LV WKH %ULWLVK ƮUPoV PRVW URDG IRFXVHG 7LJHU ,WoV DOVR WKH PRVW expensive bike here... so that means best, right?

I

mmediately I feel confident on the Tiger,’ reckons Chris after a brisk cross-county foray. ‘I adjusted to it really well, really quickly. I’m having more fun than on the BMW, and I’m happy throwing it through corners. And the brakes are good too.’

All of this is true, of course. Bikes are all about sensations, feel and confidence, and clearly the Triumph delivers something that he clicks with. And it’s his opinion, and so it’s right. But I’d like to put my hand up and disagree heartily.

Last time we tested the Tiger 900 GT we came away rather underwhelmed. Having recently enjoyed the supple ride and engaging character of the taller, plusher, dirtier, spoke-wheel Rally version, the road-biased cast-wheel GT seemed a bit ‘ah’ instead of ‘ooh’. Capable, well equipped, comfortable, all that, yes. But, in the presence of its accomplished peers (notably the previous-model Tracer 900) the GT’s handling, ride and engine lacked wow-factor. And it’s the same with this bike today. For me its brakes don’t have any bite, the suspension provides the worst mid-corner control, it’s easily the first of the three to grind away the footpeg blobs, and there’s nothing sparkly about how it behaves. It’s all a tad... normal. Maybe a little bit bland.

And then there’s the three-cylinder engine. Triumph have made the triple their own, their signature powerplant.

And yet when boosting the Tiger 800 into the 900 they bizarrely saw the need to use a T-plane crank, sacrificing the creamy thrust, smoothness and sense-tingling wail of the 120˚

motors for a twin-alike rumble and lumpier feel. I’m sure the claims about throttle connection and finding grip off-road are true enough, but for road riders it’s a negative point.

Andy has ridden every Triumph triple from Daytona 675 and Street Triple to the Explorer 1200, and has just bought a late-model 995i Speed Triple. He finds the T-shape carry-on equally bemusing. ‘My 955 has more top-end power, but needs revs to deliver its potential where the Tiger just goes, regardless of what your right hand or left foot are doing.

It’s really flexible. But it seems like the Tiger is trying to do what the Tracer and F900XR do and be a great all-round road bike, but while sounding and vibrating like a BMW GS – and I just don’t get it.’

Pro spec means the 900 has lots of widgets and gizmos to further entice tech-fiend Chris. Your £13,100 gets a large dash with colour and layout options, the ability to connect and control a phone or GoPro camera, heated grips and heated seats, electronic rear suspension adjustment, light-up switches, cruise, fog lights, cornering traction and ABS, tyre monitoring… you get the idea. It all seems to work splendidly, though some of the display options are a bit games console for our middle-aged eyes.

Practical touches aplenty too, including a pleasingly handy 20-litre fuel tank and a centrestand. As a pair of six-foot buffoons Andy and I both appreciate the Tiger’s spacious accommodation too – there’s more room than on the Tracer (or certainly the impression of extra space), a real sense of being ‘in’ the bike, and it doesn’t lock you into position like the scooped-out perch on the F900XR. Shame the screen height adjustment system appears to have been designed by Mr. H Robinson.

Another hour of flicking, darting B-roads and it’s clear Chris enjoys the beaky Brit. He’s leaning further, carrying more speed through turns, but also taking smoother lines – the confidence he feels from the 900 shows in his riding. As a returning rider he’s attracted by the Tiger’s solid build, easy drive and reassuring feel – what Andy and I see as a lack of fizz and excitement, Chris interprets as the bike not being imposing or demanding. So it’s his favourite, right? Er, no. ‘The new Tracer 9 is just as practical and comfortable, creates just as much confidence, but also causes more smiles. Yamaha every time.’

‘It just goes, regardless of what your right hand or left foot are doing’

Above: huge screen has various display options, including having twin tacho bars. Er... why?

Below: all logical enough, though joystick next to indicators requires precise thumb management

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Group test

Verdict One bloke’s culinary masterpiece is another’s tasteless bowl of nondescript nosh. Or, in this case, the Tiger 900 GT Pro’s confidenceboosting handling and reassuring feel aren’t quite as tasty for everyone.

Fresh back to two wheels, guest jockey Chris is seriously taken with the Tiger’s dynamic and behaviour, but for Andy and I it hasn’t the engagement, pizzazz or hook of the other two.

Sure, it handles well enough, doesn’t abuse your limbs or cheeks, and provides almost twist-and-go performance from its curious booming triple. But there’s no wow moment, USP or must-have feature. It’s not sporty enough and doesn’t deliver enough fun for this modern sports-tourer sector. Interestingly, Andy reckons if he was buying he’d take it over the BMW, but only because the bigger-boned Tiger suits his bigger-boned frame – he thinks the smaller BMW is actually the better bike.

And I concur. Despite being something of a bitsa (derived from the F850GS) the F900XR feels like a very complete motorbike, and its low-speed agility and control, confidence-

giving front end and oh-so-accessible handling are stand out features. It’s also comfortable, frugal, and dotted with useful touches like the easy-adjust two-height screen and proper, old fashioned, solid bungee points. But there’s something a bit too sensible about the XR: it’s too tour; not quite enough sport and lacks the zip of the triples. Yes, it’ll easily turn its hand to anything, but does so with a workman-like air. ‘Feels the most sanitised,’ reckons Chris.

And so the new Yamaha Tracer 9 GT takes over where the departed Tracer 900 left off – at the top of the tree. Yamaha haven’t tried to reinvent anything here, and crucially haven’t spoilt what was already clearly a ruddy wonderful package (more than 50,000 happy customers says plenty). Instead, they’ve made the Tracer even easier to ride, more agile and connected at low speed, more accurate at high speed, gruntier, more comfortable, and noticeably better equipped. Improved for both distance and thrashes, it’s also the best value of the trio. Even the looks grow on you. It’s still the defining mid-size sports tourer.

‘Yamaha haven’t tried to reinvent anything here, and crucially haven’t spoilt what was already clearly a ruddy wonderful package’ 76

SPECIFICATIONS

TRIUMPH TIGER 900 GT PRO

BMW F900 XR TE

YAMAHA TRACER 9 GT

Contact

triumphmotorcycles.co.uk

bmw-motorrad.co.uk

yamaha-motor.eu

Price (on the road)

£13,100

£10,690 (£12,530 as tested)

from £12,202

Typical finance

PCP: £2500 deposit, 36 months at £156.77, optional final payment £7041, 7.9% APR

PCP: £3132 deposit, 36 months at £145.32, optional final payment £6091.32, 7.9% APR

PCP: £2500 deposit, 36 months at £148.45, optional final payment £5985, 6.9% APR

Capacity

889cc

895cc

890cc

Engine

12v DOHC inline three

8v DOHC parallel twin

12v DOHC inline three

Bore x stroke

78 x 61.9mm

86 x 77mm

78 x 62.1mm

Transmission

6-speed, chain

6-speed, chain

6-speed, chain

Power

94bhp @ 8750rpm (claimed)

100bhp @ 9150rpm (tested)

117bhp @ 10,000rpm (claimed)

Torque

64.2 lb.ft @ 7250rpm (claimed)

65.4 lb.ft @ 6600rpm (tested)

68.6 lb.ft @ 7000rpm (claimed)

Top speed

130mph (est)

136mph (tested)

130mph (est)

Frame

steel tube trellis

steel tube trellis

aluminium perimeter

Front suspension

upside-down 45mm fork, adj. compression and rebound

upside-down 45mm fork, no adjustment

upside-down 42mm fork, semi-active damping, manual preload

Rear suspension

monoshock, electronic preload and rebound

monoshock, adjustable preload, rebound

monoshock, semi-active damping

Brakes (f/r)

2 x 320mm discs, 4-pot calipers/ 255mm disc, 1-pot caliper

2 x 320mm discs, 4-pot calipers/ 265mm disc, 1-pot caliper

2 x 298mm discs, 4-pot calipers/ 245mm disc, 2-pot caliper

Tyres (f/r)

100/90-19 / 150/70 R17

120/70 ZR17 / 180/55 R17

120/70 ZR17 / 180/55 ZR17

Rake/trail

24.6° / 133.3mm

29.5° / 102.5mm

25° / 108mm

Wheelbase

1556mm

1521mm

1500mm

Weight

198kg (dry, claimed)

233kg (wet, claimed)

220kg (wet, claimed)

Seat height

810/830mm

825mm

810/825mm

Tank size

20 litres

15.5 litres

18 litres

Economy

49mpg (tested), 215-mile range

50mpg (tested), 170-mile range

51mpg (tested), 201-mile range

Electronics

ABS, traction, modes, cruise, heated grips and seats, connectivity

ABS, traction, modes, cruise, heated grips, connectivity

ABS, traction, modes, cruise, heated grips, connectivity

8/10

9/10

9/10

Bike rating

77

First Ride Tuono base model V4 also available. Not that anyone cares

Still the best bi naked

The champion of the supernaked division has rivals coming out of is Euro5 exhaust. No matter…

By Michael Neeves Photography Adam Shorrock

A

prilia’s mighty Tuono V4 Factory has, despite ever-improving rivals, managed to stay one step ahead in the escalating supernaked scrap. But with Ducati giving their 200bhp-plus V4 Streetfighter more low-down punch this year and Triumph unleashing a new Speed Triple RS with heaps more power and tech, Aprilia decided to give their Tuono a tickle. And when we say tickle we mean a host of engine, chassis and styling updates. And it’s worked.

First things first, it hasn’t been treated to a capacity hike like the 2021 RSV4 superbike, instead its glorious V4 stays faithful to its 1077cc. Although, it does get a new Euro5 exhaust and mapping.

Despite the Earth saving restrictions it still makes the same 173bhp (now 350rpm higher) and 89 lb.ft of torque. And it still accelerates with the brutality of a superbike and has a deliciously wide spread of perfectly delivered power that can be as docile or bonkers as you want it to be. Its ghostly soundtrack, even in the midrange, is completely and utterly addictive. No V-twin, triple or crossplane crank super naked comes close to stimulating your senses like this most magnificent of powerplants.

Rider aids are now more refined, too, thanks to a more powerful new Marelli 11MP ECU. You won’t notice any traction control or ABS intervention on the road because there’s so much grip, but the up/ down quickshifter is slick and the anti-wheelie works well. Thankfully you can turn it off.

Out of the exit door goes the old Tuono’s fussy 5-inch colour display and in comes a much easierto-read version with bigger, bolder graphics. The light-sensitive, Bluetooth-enabled dash has a Road and Track mode and is rammed with info, including six rider modes, including a ‘User’ mode that lets you set your own levels of traction, engine braking and wheelie control, power levels and ABS intervention.

The huge new left switchgear block, also fitted to the 2021 RSV4 and 660 models isn’t the most elegant 78

New and less fussy

SPECIFICATIONS Price £18,100 Engine 1077cc, liquidcooled, 16v, V4 Power 173bhp Torque 89 lb.ft Top speed 165mph Rake/trail 24.8°/99.9mm Wheelbase 1452mm Kerb weight 209kg Seat height 837mm Tank size 18.5 litres Economy 39mpg Colours Black and red Availability Now Bike verdict From its wailing exhaust and top tech to its designer chassis labels and luxurious finish, the Tuono is a class act. Still the best supernaked money can buy… and that’s saying something these days.

Bike rating 10/10

‘A’ is for…

of things, but it does have buttons for the easy to use cruise control and finger/thumb paddles to adjust the TC. Like the 2021 RSV4 the new Tuono V4 gets a slimmed-down 17.9-litre tank with more than a hint of original RSV Mille to it, a new longer, comfier seat and a reshaped tail unit, complete with a sliver of a padded perch for masochistic pillions. It also has a new top fairing with the latest Aprilia family look LEDs, cornering and daytime running lights and faired-in winglets. With its lower tank and underbraced swingarm its proportions have changed dramatically and it now looks lower and longer. Fit and finish are still top notch.

Aprilia haven’t needed to mess with the handling much over the years – it’s been pretty much perfect, especially the Factory version with its electronic Öhlins and Pirelli Super Corsa SPs. Its plush ride and the way the front end seems to be unstickable as you roll into corners are Tuono high points (although the ABS robs the brakes of some feel). And it’s roomy enough even for taller riders to enjoy. For 2021 it gets the same underbraced swingarm as the new RSV4, which makes little difference on the road, but improves stability on the track.

Ducati have improved the Streetfighter V4 S for 2021 and its unquestionably more exciting, but it doesn’t have the same joyful fluidity of the Aprilia.

It’s more luxuriously finished but costs £1895 more.

Triumph’s new Speed Triple RS now has the muscle to be a fully-fledged supernaked for the first time, it’s £3000 cheaper and has Öhlins and Brembos, but while its fabulous new engine and chassis are good enough to challenge the Aprilia on track, it isn’t as involving on the road. The KTM 1290 Super Duke R is also less in basic trim and undoubtedly wilder, but it isn’t as well rounded as the Italian.

No other motorcycle is blessed with such a supple road ride that’s also razor sharp on track. It’s still the best super naked money can buy.

Despite Triumph, Ducati and KTM putting their supernakeds into the gym, Aprilia remain the class of the field

‘Its ghostly soundtrack is completely and utterly addictive. No V-twin, triple or crossplane crank super naked comes close’ 79

THE ROU T E Germany, Mongolia, Chukotka, Bering Strait, Alaska, USA, New York

GONE FISHING Five friends take the chance to ride from Germany to New York via Russia and Alaska, in Ural sidecar combinations. The problem is that 1000 miles of their chosen route involves a river…

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Adventure

I

t feels like every step we take, the road is collapsing behind us, making it impossible to turn back. Every step we take there’s another pothole, another swamp, another river… another bridge split in half. Yesterday we crossed minor rivers and bigger puddles. But that was just the warm up for what’s waiting for us: a real Siberian river. Over the next 24 hours we unload everything from the sidecars, empty out the petrol tanks and remove all electronics – luckily these old Urals don’t have much of

those. It’s hard to imagine that a few months ago we didn’t have motorcycle licences and now here we are pulling 600 kilos from one pothole to another.

Johannes goes back and forth, scratching his head, trying to calculate how to tie the ropes and pulleys so we can pull the first Ural across. Kaupo is standing on the shore rubbing his cold legs, hoping that the rope is strong enough for him to drag himself against the current to the other side of the river. Anne is going through our medical supplies and trying

If you’ve got a rod and line you’ll never be short of grub on your motorsidecarboat

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Adventure to recall the steps, learned from a Skype tutorial, about how to use a suture kit. Should the need arise. Which, right now, it might. There isn’t a hospital in sight and we don’t have a satellite phone.

Meanwhile Efy is setting up a fire to combat the effects of the icy water we will be in and out of all day. She scans through the rest of our food, trying to figure out what we can eat today. What’s left? Something like a cup of flour, 150 grams of alphabet soup, a packet of Yum-Yum noodles, coffee and some vegetable stock cubes. Today’s menu will be instant broth: we need to keep some food in reserve because there are still 90 kilometres between us and the main road.

Which could take us another six full days.

And then the rope snaps…

By sunset we are ready to pull the first motorcycle across. Elisabeth sets up her tripod with the camera. The choice between helping out with the river crossing and documenting whatever happens isn’t an easy one. She somehow manages to bounce back and forth doing both.

The first Ural reaches mid-way across the river, wallowing like a wayward duck. Then the rope breaks. By the time we get the motorcycle 95% across the river the moon is out. With grumbling stomachs we roll under the tarp and into our warm sleeping bags. Let’s hope for better things tomorrow…

It feels like 100 years ago since we were art students but actually it was just 12 months. Our main concerns back then were modelling tools, paintbrushes and sketchbooks. And then we graduated, and got those precious bits of paper that proclaimed us actual artists. We had to figure out our next steps in the real world. And that’s how we ended up with the whole wide world. We went from creating weirdness for white-cubed galleries to exploring places called Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Siberia. We became those weird objects we had imagined, but in a foreign space not a minimalist gallery.

But we needed a sort of costume, which is how we ended up with Ural 650s: a charming yet moody sidecar motorcycle, with an appetite for self-destruction.

Among many other things this fine piece of 1990s machinery can also be described as Russian Lego. Which makes it an excellent choice for a bunch of kids unable to differentiate a screwdriver from a spanner.

The film and book The story of Anne, Efy, Johannes, Kaupo and Elisabeth is one of the most awe inspiring and smile inducing adventures we have published in Bike. But there is so much we have been unable to tell. Thankfully the fivesome wrote a book and made a film.

Check it all out at 972breakdowns.com

Bon voyage: 1000 miles on the Kolyma river followed by 50 more across the Bering Strait

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‘We buy sausages, chocolate, cookies, milk, cheese and we eat everything… while smoking’ Our friend Tom, also known as The Ural Pope, was the one who suggested we take Ural 650 sidecar combinations.

Sure, we would suffer a bit along the way, but he knew we could find spare parts almost anywhere. And, hopefully, we would eventually be able to tell a generator gear from a transmission gear. Rumour has it that during the 1990s the best working Urals were exported from Mother Russia and the decent working Urals were given to the police and military, which leaves the worst ones which were disposed of domestically. All of which means we were lucky enough to get a decent set of 650s.

Every night we gather together to set up our base: the tarp, a 25 square metre sheet, is our mobile home and every day ends with us trying to transform this green square into a house. Having trees around makes things easier, but in places such as Mongolia our bikes become the poles and petrol canisters the anchors. Then every morning we demolish our home, pack up and keep going. At least until the next breakdown...

Because of our chosen motorcycles it’s hard to make a plan, but it usually goes something like this: wake up; have coffee; brush teeth; breakdown; lunch; breakdown. And by the time the third breakdown kicks in it’s time to set up the tarp again. This turns out to be our daily routine for two years, 25,000 miles and 972 breakdowns on the ‘land route’ from Germany to New York.

Escape from Siberia But first we need to get out of this Siberian swampland.

Eventually we manage to drag all the bikes to the other side of the river, only to discover three more days of swamps, mud and rain. And the only remaining supplies are black coffee and some petrol. And then, just three miles from civilisation, we hit a big, big river. This time we choose to abandon our motorcycles and walk for food. We reach a junction and meet a couple of local truckers who greet us with wide smiles.

Homeless and bedraggled as we look they are eager to help us. Within an hour or so all our bikes are over the river, thanks to our new friendly locals and their Ural truck. Yes, Ural. Next stop – the closest Russian grocery store where we buy sausages, chocolate, mayonnaise, cookies, milk, cheese and we eat everything in one go… while smoking. However, we are not finished with large obstacles made from water,

Rescued by friendly locals and their Ural truck. Could it have been anything else…

For those of you wanting to recreate this adventure, here’s your blueprint

EVERYTHING YOUR SIDECAR NEEDS FOR ITS RIVER CRUISE 1 Standard household equipment: Spark plugs, cylinder, engine, screws, petrol canister, tarp, cutlery, pots, toilet paper, wet wipes, cigarettes, lighters, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, towels. 2 The bureau: x6 Russian visas, x4 ural 650 doppelganger papers, pending applications for special permits for Yakuta + Chukotka.

3 Food supplies: Canned meat, canned vegetables, canned tomato paste, apples, cabbage, onions, secret breakdown chocolate, noodles, dried legumes, buckwheat, rice, horse food (Efy was hoping it might be orzo rice), dried meat, sunflower seeds, dried fruits, flour, dry yeast, sunflower oil, sugar, coffee, milk powder, salt. 4. Boat construction: x10 pontoons, x10 aluminium ladders, 200 metres of rope, x10 iron pipes, x5 propellers, x5 rudders, x10 chains, x10 bearings, x5 shafts, x10 custom made sprockets for the chain, x10 replacement sprockets, x2 air pumps. 5 Precautionary measures: x5 2 metre long paddles (hand carved

by Kaupo), fishing rod, hooks, flies, turn signal, x3 mosquito nets, x6 mosquito hats, x6 lifejackets, inflated inner tubes could potentially serve as lifebuoys, bear deodorant, highly chemical mosquito spray, mosquito cream, axe, satellite phone, water filter system, beer, vodka. 6 Navigational equipment: Binoculars, Kolyma river map from 1985, photos from some captain’s river map, obsolete motorcycle navigation system. 7 Documentation equipment: Drone, solar charger, cell phones, GoPros, Garmin action camera, SLR cameras, Polaroid camera, Sony camcorder, hard disks, laptops, journals.

83

‘With pontoons clamped to each of the bikes and propellers replacing final drives we are ready to sail’

Honestly, this is far worse than it looks

Clearly of the two you would go for the Ural

84

Adventure as before us lies the Bering Strait, our gateway to Alaska and the United States of America.

Standard Urals and water don’t go well together so we gather parts: custom sprockets; propellers; bicycle chains.

And then we get down to work. From the start our plan was to motorcycle from Germany to New York, but we didn’t really go into the details of how to do it. The problem lies between Russia and Alaska: 50 miles of open sea… the aforementioned Bering Strait! Which is where all those sprockets, bicycle chains and propellers come in handy. With a pair of pontoons clamped to each side of the bikes and propellers replacing final drives we are ready to sail.

Setting sail… by Ural Before attempting the Bering Strait we need to test our amphibious creations, and by this we mean a 1000 mile sail on the Kolyma River – basically the only ‘road’ leading to the Bering Strait is this river. During the winter the water freezes over making it passable by trucks, but in summer once the ice melts you need to adapt to the conditions. At the end of the day we believe it’s possible to get anywhere with any vehicle… it’s just a matter of time, some imagination, and a bit of engineering.

We reach the shores of the Kolyma River and there are just a few hours before we set sail. Everyone is quietly excited, and a bit anxious. However, when you are travelling as we are you are always curious. Curious about what is round the next corner and about who you will meet. The past year on land has introduced us to so many people – often during our breakdowns it has to be said. Some would stop by the roadside to invite us into their workshop, which would then turn into a cup of tea, which would then turn into cooking food together, which would then turn into telling stories. We wonder about the stories we might hear along this secluded river. How do people live here? Are there schools? Discos?

Postmen? What do they eat? Where do they sleep? How do they move around in a place which is ruled by nine months of winter. And when there’s no winter, the bears come out…

And just like that, we head off on our voyage.

Left to right: Kaupo, Anne, Elisabeth, Efy and Johannes

No matter how crippled your motorcycle there is always alternative propulsion

After just five minutes of sailing, a tree trunk floats by like a huge whale attempting to swallow up Kaupo… along with our 400kg of spare parts. That’s when reality hits: our air-cooled engines don’t have enough power to go against the current so none of us can sail/drive back to help him.

Drifting further away, all we can do is stare as Kaupo tries to free himself from the branches with an axe. (Thank the river gods, he has that axe.) Mercifully he is successful.

He catches up with us and we tie ourselves together.

Suddenly we’re 50 square metres wide and five tons: a MegaFloat. Sticking together like this is the most logical decision to keep us safe, but it changes a lot; for the past year we at least got a bit of privacy under our helmets. Even riding in a convoy we could decide for ourselves to stop or not. You always have the choice of deciding whether you go left or right. But now it’s like we’re all steering a single mass of a motorcycle. Sure, going left or right are both good options.

But when a sandbank just pops up out of nowhere five people need to come down to just one decision – and fast!

And we have to learn the hard way that trying to maintain a democracy on a motorcycle ship is perhaps not the best solution. And now we’ll have to figure out how to drag this five-ton float off of this damned sandbank. New York looks a long way away…

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First Ride Sharper styling, more tech and extra ooomph

Sharpe smarter, more…

Suzuki’s GSX-S is the overlooked big naked. Which, all things considered, is hard to understand

By Phil West Photography Jason Critchell

S

uzuki’s GSX-S1000 has long been one of the best value street-focused nakeds.

With seductive shunt from its recycled GSX-R1000K5 motor, better parts (Brembo radials, multi-adjustable suspension) than its price tag suggests yet a somehow understated presence, it was a late but welcome addition to the streetfighter class in 2015. 148bhp for just £10,000 (or thereabouts) is not ignorable.

And now it’s had a substantial makeover. Six years unchanged meant the 2021 GSX-S required a Euro5 update and Suzuki seized the opportunity to help it stand out with an all-new, more aggressive look, bolstered performance and extra tech and features.

Suzuki say all this means the ‘S’ is now ‘Sharper, Stronger, Smarter’. On the strength of this outing in the Yorkshire Dales, they are right.

First off you notice its sharper, more aggressive look – there are more points and angles, and homage to Suzuki’s 2020 MotoGP winner by way of winglets and blue livery. Its face is dominated by new, stacked twin LED headlights (as seen on the new V-Strom and ’Busa and quickly becoming a Suzuki signature).

‘Urban camo’ overlays on side panels and shrouds complete the styling makeover.

So that’s ‘Sharper’ dealt with, what about ‘Stronger’? For this read improved midrange and acceleration – although still K5-based the silky, yet meaty, four has a raft of updates. A new catequipped exhaust and revised injection get it through Euro5 while new cams, airbox, valve springs etc compensate for the added strangulation by enhancing peak power (by 2bhp) and smoothing midrange torque.

For ‘Smarter’ we get Suzuki’s new ‘SIRS’ (Suzuki Intelligent Ride System) electronics bundle, as recently debuted on the latest V-Strom 1050 and Hayabusa. Although, with the GSX-S being more budget it’s a fairly basic version without an IMU (and thus cornering ABS and traction). Still, with three 86

A bit dark

SPECIFICATIONS Price £10,999 Engine 999cc, liquidcooled, 16v transverse four Power 150bhp Torque 79.6 lb.ft Top speed 145mph (est) Rake/trail 25°/100mm Wheelbase 1460mm Kerb weight 214kg Seat height 810mm Tank size 19 litres Economy 46mpg Colour Blue, grey or black Availability June Bike verdict The GSX-S was always a bargain big naked with a surprisingly good engine and chassis. Now its stronger, slicker and more distinctive for virtually the same budget price.

Bike rating 8/10

Stacked and angled

performance modes, five traction settings, Suzuki’s ‘Easi-start’ and ‘Low rpm assist’, and, best of all, a new, standard quickshifter/autoblipper, it’s probably enough for most. All of it’s easy and intuitive enough to navigate via the left-hand switchgear and sophisticated-looking new reversed LCD dash, although the digits are on the small side and the screen (like Honda’s similarly reversed ones on its CB500 family), is annoyingly dark.

What hasn’t changed much, of course, is the basic riding experience – and that’s no bad thing. The old GSX-S was always impressively able – a meaty, evocative powerhouse of a motor enhanced by a typically Suzuki slick gearchange, neutral handling with surprisingly good suspension and brakes and all for a price which undercut by £1000s not just European exotica but all Japanese rivals.

That all remains or has been enhanced.

Performance has been bolstered, the GSX-S sounds better, the quickshifter makes the transmission even slicker and the new electronics and dash lift Suzuki’s streetfighter into the 2020s – just.

Instead, what irked most about the old ’un was how unremarkable it looked and how basic its spec was. With the restyle, like it or not, plus the tech upgrade, that no longer applies – and all for a hike in price of just £300.

Yes, the GSX-S is heavier, less powerful and far less sophisticated than the latest super-nakeds from Ducati, Aprilia, BMW, KTM or even Triumph. But that’s missing the point: the big Suzuki’s not playing that game. Instead it remains a real-world naked at getting on for half – yes, HALF – their price. It also significantly undercuts the prices of rival Japanese nakeds, has more than enough performance for most yet now has enough style and spec to stand out in a crowd.

Suzuki nakeds have long brought to mind butchered GSX-Rs and Bandits. This one, appropriately enough, remains a steal.

Great bike, that undercuts opposition by £1000s, just got better

‘The old GSX-S was always a meaty, evocative powerhouse of a motor… That all remains or has been enhanced’ 87

RS660: a genuine breath of fresh air for fairing lovers

88

The

Big test Miles ridden: 1161 Riders: Hugo Wilson, Mike Armitage, Peter Boast Fuel used: 89 litres Cheek aching grins: 457

APRILIA

RS660 Our first, brief ride on the all-new Aprilia RS660 left us deeply impressed, but how will the Italian middleweight fare over the longer term? Six weeks and 1000 miles should provide the answers…

By Hugo Wilson Photography Chippy Wood

T

he decline in the popularity of sportsbikes is a chicken and egg story. Did sportsbikes lose popularity because they became ever more track focused, chasing ultimate performance at the expense of all-round ability? Or did they become more track focused because a changing (but significantly smaller) market demanded it? Whatever, the new Aprilia RS660 seems like a breath of fresh air – the first middleweight sportsbike in years that’s been designed with the road rider in mind. A spacious riding position for ordinary humans, accessible performance, but in an exciting and all-new light weight package that’s bristling with attitude and technology.

We tested the new bike on the road, mixing fast scratches on twisting local runs with longer jaunts that included dual carriageway tedium and long stretches in the saddle. And we took it to Cadwell Park where our tame racer Peter Boast ragged it in the fast group to find whether the new machine’s road civility would cost it time in the trackday GP. This is what we reckon…

89

The Big Test

We’re suckers for the Reggiani replica paint scheme

90

LIVING WITH... ÕóåêãÝîé ïßñĞï º With no heel protectors the swingarm soon starts to scuff up. So add the cost of some accessories to your budget.

And wouldn’t it be nice if the swingarm was polished ally rather than painted?

Folding mirrors º For those with restricted storage, folding mirrors are a boon. The Aprilia’s flick up and out of the way easily, but they do blur slightly at speed. Still good enough to see flashing blue lights though.

Cruise control º Easy to use cruise control takes the stress out of average speed camera situations with easy adjustment of speed and simple activation and cancellation. Dip switch can be accidentally flicked.

Simple dash does what’s needed, but appears dated

Nifty back rack º So simple, so clever, so why has no-one done this before?

Pillion pad can be removed at the turn of the key to reveal a much more useful back rack with bungee slots that allow easy transport of clobber.

COLOURS

‘If they let these race in the MiniTwins class at the TT it’s going to be a game-changer’

Got to be Reggiani, surely? º There are three colour options for the new bike, which Aprilia describe as Acid Gold, Apex Black and Lava Red. The Lava Red scheme on our test bike harks back to the colours of Loris Reggiani’s mid-1990s race bikes and the production RS250 of 1994. If the intention was to stir strange emotions in men of a certain age then mission accomplished, though Mike Armitage wants both wheels colour matched. Acid Gold isn’t as offensive in the flesh as it appears in some pictures.

91

The Big Test Better on road than track which, to be honest, is a pleasant surprise in this day and age

‘Confidence is everything’ explained Bike’s quick and experienced deputy editor Mike Armitage, ‘and the RS660 gives me loads. There are other more focused race reps with superior outright handling, but the feel through the Aprilia’s front end and the action of its forks gives me oodles of confidence, wet or dry.’

On track Boastie was less complimentary about the rear suspension. ‘Poor,’ opined the Lincolnshire legend after a concentrated track session at Cadwell. ‘Turning at the bottom of The Mountain the shock is in all sorts of bother – wallowing and uncontrolled.’ To be fair Boastie was bothering fast group riders on 1000cc superbikes, and the bottom of Cadwell’s Mountain is a stern test, with combined direction and camber change. It’s also worth noting that although Peter was complaining, and the Pirellis were scuffed right to their edges, nothing seems to have touched down on track.

However, there’s no doubt that the suspension is a compromise, and a lack of damping adjustability on a ten grand bike is a fair complaint. Piaggio are tight lipped about the prospect of a Factory model with fancy suspenders, but surely one is on the way.

92

Easy to use cluster allows electronic adjustment

FACTS AND FIGURES º 400lb in old money, combined with 90bhp is a fun recipe, but the fuel economy figures are impressive too; 59mpg average and 70mpg within easy reach.

)XHO ƮJXUHV

59

MPG AVERAGE Tank size:

15 litres

Wet weight

Distance to fuel light:

140 miles Range:

181.6kg

195 miles

Price

Rake

£10,150

24.1º

Seat height

‘There are more focused race reps, but the feel through the Aprilia’s front end gives me oodles of confidence, wet or dry’

Electronics

High quality quickshifter is a standard fitting

You get a load of superbike standard electronics with the RS660 and, even for this aging luddite, they are relatively easy to understand and access, providing varying levels of traction and wheelie control plus cornering ABS and engine braking variation.

The modes are structured into road and track options with road settings offering Commuter, Dynamic and a personalisable ‘Individual’ option too. Frankly, you don’t buy an RS660 to potter about in commuter mode, so I spent most time in Dynamic, which is a decent compromise though Mike complained that anti-wheelie and traction control were still coming in too early. Time spent adjusting those facets in the Individual set-up delivered a perfect compromise between show-off and safety.

For track use there is also Challenger and Time Attack modes with lap timers, pit lane speed limiter and other toys, and with the safety nets removed. All these options are accessible through four-way switches on the left cluster, and a single button on the right.

Road riders will get more benefit from the excellent, average-speed-camera-defeating cruise control.

820mm

Wheelbase 1370mm

Trail 104.6mm

PERFORMANCE TESTING º Despite a blustery sidewind the 660’s sportiness is confirmed: it accelerates as quickly as a Ducati 748.

We’d expect 150mph in fine weather conditions too.

Performance 0-60mph: 3.5s Standing-start 1/4 mile: 11.67s @ 119.05mph Top speed: 139.2mph (indicated 145) 40-80mph top gear: 8.13s Braking 70-0mph: 54.8m (ABS on)

ALTERNATIVES Kawasaki ZX-6R £9850 º Last survivor of the old supersport 600s, still an engaging and exciting ride, but feeling quite dated.

KTM 890 Duke R £9649 º Latest generation sporty middleweight nakeds are ace; see also Triumph Street Triple and Yamaha MT-09SP.

Yamaha R7 £8000 º Less power, modest spec and keener price than the Aprilia, but should be good on the road. See page 8 for more.

93

The Big Test Decent quality components add to the Aprilia’s appeal

‘For road riders, less flexible than a tantric yoga devotee, the riding position is a revelation’

94

Controls and comfort Sure, the Aprilia is tech laden, crisp, perky and sweet handling. But for road riders, and especially those who are bigger than a typical jockey and less flexible than a tantric yoga devotee, the riding position is a revelation too. Praise the lord, here is a high tech sportsbike that is hours in the saddle comfortable. Confidently, this is a bike that can deliver far more than track outings and Sunday rides. Never mind the nonsense of vanning bikes to Spanish trackdays, you can ride this one down there.

I’m 5ft 10in and not very bendy, with the aches that arise from old impairments and advancing years. But, I was blown away by the comfort of the RS which allowed me to rattle off easy three hour runs without a twinge.

You need to adopt the sportsbike crouch, with horizontal lower arm and the fuel tank embrace but peg, bum, wrist ratio is ideal for avoiding neck aches.

Except… ‘The pegs are too low’

POWER AND TORQUE observed six-foot Boastie at Cadwell. ‘It’s comfy, but I couldn’t pressure the pegs properly to get it to turn, and I had my bum on the pillion seat on the straight to get properly tucked in.’ Still, at least he used the pillion seat.

Mrs W wasn’t prepared to test the accommodation for its intended function.

The dash is basic but didn’t cause irritation, switchgear is logical though the dip switch is easy to accidentally activate and the cruise control is user friendly.

Practicality The riding position is the biggest step towards practicality, but there are other nice touches too. Remove the pillion seat to utilise a handy luggage rack, fold the mirrors conveniently away for storage (but watch them blur at high rpm), use the cruise control to save your licence from average speed cameras and, get this, enjoy 70mpg economy.

During speed testing the RS’s thirst was quenched at 45mpg, but on the road it was usually delivering in mid-sixties, with one 120-mile round trip providing a measured 70mpg without trying. Typically the fuel light comes on at 150 miles, but the 3.3 gallon tank should provide an almost 200-mile range in regular use.

Service intervals are 6200km (3850 miles) with valve clearance checks at twice that.

Quality and finish After six weeks, 1000 miles, a few wet rides and three washes, we’ve nothing to complain about except that the lack of heel plates means that the painted swingarm is quickly scuffed.

The bare metal surfaces on the RS660, engine casings and exhausts, have a quality feel, but painted parts and plastics are slightly less convincing for a £10,000 bike. One suspects that fairing stickers might succumb to careless jetwashery. This is a bike that will require pampering to maintain its appearance, but it’s such a jewel that won’t be a hardship. ‘Can I have one with colour matched wheels and a polished swingarm?’ asks Mike, suddenly enthused about sportsbikes again.

º Power is basically torque x revs, and by making the RS scream, Aprilia have got more power than a competitive ER-6 MiniTwins racer – yet with silencing and decent service intervals (MiniTwins can be like grenades). Wow. 90

75

Power 90.8bhp @ 11,750rpm

60

Torque 47.8 lb.ft @ 8600rpm

45

30

15

3000

4500

6000

7500

9000

10,500

12,000

TYRES º The standard fit Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa II seem to suit the Aprilia well and, because the bike isn’t carrying an excess of weight, they should last OK too. But with common 120/70 17 and 180/55 17 sizes there are plenty of other options available.

ACCESSORIES Heel plates £26.99 º RG Racing have been quick off the mark with RS660 accessories, including essential, swingarm protecting heel plates.

Tank bag £219 º Aprilia’s own tankbag is a ridiculously salty £219, but there are plenty of other options available.

Tall screen £75 º ‘Increased 18%’ according to the Aprilia site, whatever that means, but it might make the bike even comfier on long runs.

Aprilia MIA media platform £219.99 º Plug-in allows smart phone This man is not travelling to an osteopath

connectivity with navigation, call management, music etc. For people who need distractions.

95

The Big Test APRILIA RS660 Contact

aprilia.com

Engine

8-valve dohc parallel twin, 270° crankshaft

Capacity

659cc

Fuel system

fuel injection

Transmission

six-speed, chain

Frame

aluminium twin-spar

Front suspension

41mm USD fork, adj. pre-load

Rear suspension

monoshock, adj. pre-load

Front brakes

2 x 320mm discs, four-piston calipers

Rear brake

220mm disc, twin-piston caliper

Tyres

120/70 ZR17, 180/55 ZR17

If you’re not really buying into the 200+bhp power wars of current superbikes…

‘Value? At around £10k it’s amongst some real quality machinery: Street Triple RS; MT-09SP; Duke 890’

Verdict We really like this bike, and the way it’s reminded us that sportsbikes can make sense of British roads. As a riding challenge it’s all about corner speed and planning. Big litre sports bikes are hard and uncompromising, arriving at corners so quickly that you react by braking too hard, and then wobble around realising that you should have got round far more quickly and elegantly. The RS allows a more measured approach resulting in a deeply satisfying ride. Plus, and it’s only a small thing, that rack is genius, adding real practicality.

Value? At around ten grand it’s amongst some real quality machinery: Yamaha’s MT-09SP; Triumph Street Triple RS; KTM Duke 890 – all have a similar attitude to the Aprilia, but with more power and less wind protection.

We’re convinced that the Italian bike is a very valid alternative to these machines.

The fly in the ointment concerns spares back-up. Aprilia don’t have the best reputation for this, and depreciation on some of their bikes has been savage. However, we believe that the RS660 is a strong enough package to be well worth consideration, and it’s in with a shout as our Bike of the Year.

Bike rating

96

9/10

Clockwise from above: gets flustered on the limit; clever luggage solution; fantastic open-thegarage-door presence; just in case you needed a reminder of what Aprilia means

Built to suit your rider weight & riding style 2 year guarantee Fully re-buildable Stainless 304L damper body Billet machined mounts 18mm piston rod Made in England

www.hagon-shocks.co.uk 020 8502 6222

. $-&"/ MOBILE MOTORCYCLE CLEANING SERVICE

BEFORE

AFTER

RETURNING YOUR BIKE TO SHOW ROOM CONDITION

TEL: 02083648588 The area covered is 75 miles radius from EN63LT Static wash available at our base • other services offered Bike transport • Bike storage • Restoration work • Servicing ONE TIME OFFER: BOOK YOUR FIRST MO-CLEAN DREAM WASH AND YOU GET AN ACF-50 & RUST TREATMENT & A TIN OF CHAIN LUBE FREE

www.mo-clean.com

First Ride Wings that only work over 150mph? Not for the S1000R

One for th road

In supernaked world it’s all MotoGP wings and 200+bhp. But not for BMW. Have they gone mad?

By Chris Newbigging Photography Double Red

G

iving motorcyclists what they think they want is a fraught ambition. After all, decades of sportsbike buyers shouting ‘More! Faster! Lighter!’ have resulted in bikes so focused, fast and advanced few can access their potential. Supernakeds have gone this way too.

Think Aprilia’s Tuono V4 and Ducati’s Streetfighter V4 in particular.

By basing their S1000R on the S1000RR superbike it’s easy to see how BMW could have strayed down this same strasse. The frame, swingarm, suspension and engine have always been generally the same, with detail changes to suit the nakedness. However, the two previous ‘R’ generations have been equipped with at least 25bhp less than the sportsbike but with more midrange. Ducati and Aprilia favour less differentiation.

For their 2021 S1000R you may have expected BMW to follow the Italians down the wings and big bhp route, as once again they take all the major components from the latest generation of double-R, the sportsbike now packing over 200bhp at the rear wheel. Not only that, but the RR is more focused than ever in an attempt to win Superbike races.

Yet, refreshingly, the new single-R continues to plough its own furrow. Peak power remains the same as the old model at 165bhp. And where the S1000RR uses Shiftcam technology, the supernaked goes all conventional, with camshaft profiles matching the RR up to 10,000rpm before falling behind and revving to a lower 12,750 ceiling.

On the roads of north Lincolnshire it proves to be everything you’d expect: grunty and urgent with a flat power curve and flawless throttle response. The broad torque spread allows wider spaced ratios – you rarely need to stab it down to get the response you need, and if you want to cruise, drop the revs right down for reduced consumption and vibes.

Unpleasant high-frequency vibes have plagued the S1000 for years, and they’re not resolved here. Hold

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Slick, efficient, BMW

SPECIFICATIONS Price x !! x # % Ýï ðáïðáà Engine %%%ßß èåíñåà ßëëèáà àëäß "ò åêèåêá âëñî Òëóáî " Þäì Torque $ èÞªâð Top speed " éìä áïð Rake/trail

%" éé Wheelbase ! éé Kerb weight %%çã ßèÝåéáà Seat height $ éé Tank size ! ! èåðîáï Economy éìã îëÝà Colours Ôáà óäåðá Ýêà Þèñá ëî îáà ëî õáèèëó Ýêà ÞèÝßç Availability êëó Bike verdict ÄÏÙĊï Ýèè êáó Õ Ô óëêĊð ïÝðåïâõ ðäëïá óäë Þñõ ïëèáèõ ëê ïìáß ïäááð ÞîÝòÝàë Þñð åðĊï Ý òáîõ ìëèåïäáà Ýêà ìëðáêð ïñìáîêÝçáà Bike rating 9/10

Semi-active is great on road

it above 7000rpm for too long and your fingertips will buzz.

Moving on to better news and the major chassis improvements: the frame relies on the engine to provide structural rigidity, yet both elements (and ancillaries such as the exhaust, swingarm, subframe) are all lighter. The whole bike weighs a claimed 199kg and it’s narrower between knees, while new handlebars connect you more directly with the front tyre. They’re adjustable for 10mm more forward reach from standard position, too. Suspension is all new, the rear shock boasting a larger damping piston for better control, and the DDC semi-active control option pulls data from a new IMU and refines settings to increase comfort and control. It’s made the S1000R much more agile, more dynamic and easier to control at town speed.

The 1000R uses the Hayes calipers as seen on the 1250GS and S1000RR. They’re not confidence inspiring, although the ABS system is very good – as are all the electronic systems. The new suspension balances refinement and poise brilliantly in road mode: Dynamic suspension mode was redundant until the Lincolnshire launch moved to Cadwell Park for an evening of thrashing.

On a circuit the ‘R’ is as capable as you could wish from a road bike, yet it is easy to ride. Ground clearance, grip, electronic rider aid intervention, stability and feel are all more than good enough.

Shame about those brakes though.

I tested a mid-spec model with stock cast wheels, as well as another with optional forged wheels which save nearly a kilo in unsprung weight. Worth it? No. It’s already light, with plenty of leverage from the wide handlebars, so the benefit of racy wheels isn’t particularly needed. Nor is the adjustability of the Dynamic Pro mode – when the pre-set settings are so good and you can turn them off entirely if you want, it seems silly to blow a year’s fuel money on the feature.

If you’re looking for the spec sheet winner this isn’t it, but if you’re looking for a supernaked to ride on the road…

‘Grunty, urgent and flawless throttle response – you rarely need to stab it down to get the response you need’ 99