Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i BIKE

Rides of a lifetime? The first one, obviously. Puttering around grandpa’s garden on a smoky moped, getting confused about which direction you twist the throttle to slow down and detouring through a handsome flower bed. Then there’s the first big trip – all of 260 miles of it. And an astonishing 20 minute, eye popping, nerve shredding ride on a Honda Fireblade in 1992. There’s more, right round to summer 2018. The picture’s of Richard, Robert, Gisli, Skuli and me, outside a tin-roofed hut, somewhere on an Icelandic lava field about to start another ride of a lifetime. I may never get to Iceland again. Those really memorable rides don’t have to be long, tough or in some exotic location, though it probably helps. It’s the magical mix of bike…

» It’s the rear two cylinders of the 1200cc V4 that Norton have been developing for at least four years (the first customer V4 was started up at the NEC show to prove it’s finally completed). The twin’s stroke is lengthened to make it a 650 and it uses the same valve train, clutch and gearbox as the V4, saving development time and money. So if the V4 is, as it seems, sorted and ready for production, the 650cc twin should be well on the way too. The twin was developed along with engineering gurus Ricardo, who’ve worked with Triumph and BMW, and Norton have licenced the design to Zongshen. The Chinese manufacturer will use the engine in Asian markets and pay Norton a fee for each one made. The…

WE DON’T OFTEN feature American builders in these pages but NMoto Inc, Florida are changing that… BMW’s R7 was a one-off prototype embarked on in 1934 when art-deco was still a design force. It employed a then top-of-the-range 736cc boxer motor in a hardtail, drum-braked chassis which featured the first fully functional telescopic forks seen on a motorcycle and the whole shebang was clad in swoopy, aerodynamic bodywork. Pre-WW2 BMW feared the public mightn’t have an appetite for such a radical offering, and in any case they probably lacked the resources to put it into production, so it was disassembled and put into storage. Astonishingly the bike didn’t see the light of day again until BMW dug it out of a dusty basement and restored it for 2008’s Pebble Beach.…

Dear Bike, my beautiful wife of 30 years, sadly lost her two year brave battle with cancer three weeks ago at the very young age of 53. Throughout our fight against this terrible disease and especially now she has gone, just being out on my bike has been the absolute best source of therapy during this immensely difficult time. My wife was not particularly adventurous by nature, however she announced on her 40th birthday that she wanted to learn to ride! She said: ‘well if you can’t beat them then join them.’ She successfully passed her full test in 2009 and only gave up riding when she could no longer feel her hands and feet properly as a result of her chemotherapy. For the past 15+ years she subscribed to…

Triumph Speed Triple RS Pros: brilliant engine matches CB’s and the suspension is higher quality. Cons: design isn’t as cohesive or original. More expensive than CB yet no quickshifter or auto-blipper . Kawasaki Z1000 Pros: almost £2000 cheaper than the CB, which is a lot, with a similarly hilarious engine. Looks wilder too. Cons: no electronic rider aids, should you like that sort of thing. Weird two-part tacho too. Suzuki Katana Pros: slick retro looks, proven engine and chassis from GSX-S1000. Likely to be £1000 less than CB. Cons: absurdly small 12-litre tank. Plus it’s not actually on sale until 2019.…

‘Me and my dad ride the Beef Tub a lot and also ride up to the Isle of Skye. On my NC35 it’s an amazing place to ride’Natasha Moss JUST NORTH OF Moffat in Scotland is the Beef Tub, a 150m hollow carved between four mountains. It’s got all manner of historic and geological significance, but let’s set that to one side. More importantly, Beef Tub gives its name to one of the most spectacular and least congested riding areas in Great Britain. It’s riding paradise. ‘It’s our own personal TT course and we want more people to enjoy it. That’s why we started the bike show in Moffat ’Andy Tunnicliffe Nearest to the Beef Tub is the A701, which writhes north from Moffat, eventually hitting Edinburgh. It’s an…

Alpinestars Syncro £79.99 A popular sub-£100 option. They use Alpinestars’ Drystar waterproof/breathable lining which is held between the glove outer and the internal comfort lining, plus hard knuckle armour and a Velcro wrist closure system. Might be a little lightweight for deep winter, but ideal for autumn, spring and soggy summers. They’re a bit of a tight fit but tend to loosen with time. Available in black or grey. alpinestars.com Knox Covert MkII £119.99 Full leather gloves that feature a waterproof/breathable OutDry membrane laminated to the reverse of the leather outer to prevent water ingress and saturation. This glove is waterproof and warm because heat isn’t reduced by the wet material, plus the liner won’t pull out when you remove your hands. Benefits from a long-cuff, wrist restraint and Knox…

2008-2011 Moto Guzzi Griso 1200 Super stylish roadster features updated transverse V-twin engine with new four-valve heads. Build quality is stunning and there’s top quality cycle parts from Brembo and Marzocchi. This original 1200 had issues with its cam followers but these should’ve been replaced. 1151cc – 222kg – 110bhp – £4500-£5500 2009-2011 Moto Guzzi Griso 1200 SE Special edition with a striking green paintjob, spoked wheels and contrasting tan leather seat. But most importantly the SE features a slight boost in the low-rpm torque – up from 79 lb.ft @ 6400rpm to 83 lb.ft @ 5800rpm. 1151cc – 222kg – 110bhp – £5000-£6000 2012-2015 Moto Guzzi Griso 1200 Guzzi updated the valve train of the 2013-onwards 1200 Quattrovalvole motor to roller tappets instead of the previous flatties, which were…

This isn’t a limp brochure-style round-up of all the bikes you can buy. No, your guide is far more useful as it only contains bikes that we have tested, with comparable on-the-road prices plus data, expert opinion and must-know detail gathered by fussy full-time testers. We do hundreds of thousands of miles, dyno, datalog, weigh and answer the big questions. Don’t buy a new bike without reading this first. ✱ ADD LIGHTNESSÉ Ducati’s bonkers new Panigale V4R makes three trillion horsepower and hits inaudible revs. It also weighs just 172kg dry. To put that in context, when defunct Italian superbike firm Laverda built a 996cc V6 to go endurance racing in 1978, that weighed 175kg dry – except we’re talking about just the engine… ✱ DESERT EXOTICA Honda’s NXR750 won…

FACING A DASH to Ipswich with a weather forecast that involved the word ‘miserable’, I casually palmed off our excellent-but-naked Speed Triple RS onto someone else and nicked the humdrum-yet-practical Yamaha Super Ténéré off Hugo. And after about two miles I stopped, gave myself a stern talking to and slapped my own wrists for foolishly thinking of the big Yam as humdrum. Shame on me for forgetting just how efficient, enjoyable and usable the XT1200Z truly is. It was a surprise star on our huge adventure bike test a couple of years back ( Bike , August 2016), and the 260-mile round trip to Suffolk was an eye-opening reminder of its abilities. The screen’s superb, the riding position’s comfy and the heated grips work. Handling is light yet reassuringly solid,…

THE THREE NEW 650cc Nortons launched at the NEC show are just the start of the company’s middleweight offensive according to Norton boss Stuart Garner. Speaking to Bike at the show, he said the new parallel twin engine could power ‘plenty more models’ besides the two scrambler-style Atlas models and the £19,995 Superlight sportsbike. The two new Atlases – called Nomad and Ranger – are particularly interesting because of their claimed power, a very respectable 84bhp and their price: the Nomad is £9995 and the higher spec Ranger is £11,995. Not cheap, but far more affordable than the £16,495 Commando and not a million miles from bikes like Triumph’s £9000 Street Scrambler or Ducati’s £9795 Scrambler Desert Sled (those are 2018 prices, so the 2019 ones will probably be higher).…

‘All very elegant, and very clever for 1948’ LOOK AGAIN. YES, the front and rear suspension are single-sided, and the wheels are interchangeable. It gets weirder. The exhaust pipe doubles as the rear swingarm and is rigidly connected to the engine, so that the whole assembly pivots – when the wheel goes up, the engine goes down, so chain tension remains constant. The front suspension uses parallel links with a solid leg and the wheels are mounted on stub axles. All very elegant and very clever for 1948, when the little Imme began production. The engine is a 99cc two-stroke with a three-speed gearbox, but no neutral. The clutch allowed the engine to run while the bike was stationary. It’s a twistgrip gear change on the left-handlebar, but first is…

Where are you right now? I’m in Quito, Ecuador. You’ve been on a big journey – personally and geographically – from your upbringing in the former Soviet Union to riding around South America… I think I got the adventure bug from my dad. As long as I can remember, I always wanted to go on expeditions and discover… something. So when I found myself backpacking in Peru in 2013, it just felt right to keep going. Even though I didn’t know where to, or how… What did you ride for your South American journey? I’d never ridden a motorcycle before then, so I wasn’t picky. I bought a Chinese make 150cc motorcycle in Peru. It was perfect! I’ve had no issues except for a few flat tyres, a cracked exhaust…

20 December 2018 Bike Shed Club Night, London EC1V 9LT Bike Shed’s Club Night happens every Wednesday, but this one looks particularly welcoming if you’re feeling submerged by pre-Xmas shopping and fake bonhomie. Hope to be there myself. thebikeshed.cc 15–17 February Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show 2019’s wing-ding promises even more customs than last year – which itself was pretty great. Another sign customs are now part of the mainstream. mcnmotorcycleshow.com…

NO-ONE LIKES WET feet, but if you ride motorcycles in Iceland it’s an occupational hazard. Melting glaciers and recent heavy rain make for big rivers, and bridges are in short supply. My TCX Drifter boots are waterproof but that won’t help much if I’ve got to put a foot down into water that’s deep enough to splash over the front wheel of the Husqvarna 701 Enduro I’m riding. Still, better cold toes than a total bike and body immersion which is also a possible outcome. It’s about balancing risk. Two days into a three-day trail riding excursion into the Icelandic highlands and repeated practice suggests there are three approaches to this water crossing business, each with varying degrees of jeopardy… One : feet-up and standing: this is how the pros…

INSIDE STORY Much of this truck is as it came from the MAN factory, including most of the interior. However, it has done service on the African Dakar which explains the rollbar and three-point harnesses attached to rally car-style seats – roads were a bit thin on the ground on the African Dakars. Three seats accommodate the driver and two very busy, parts guys. ‘The two Red Bull KTM Factory trucks don’t only supply the six factory bikes, they also provide spare parts for 40+ privateer riders’ NOT JUST FACTORY BIKES The two Red Bull KTM Factory trucks don’t only supply the six factory bikes, they also provide spare parts for 40+ privateer riders. These privateer bikes are pretty close to the factory machines and run the same engines and…

PERFORMANCE TESTING » Good clutch feel and a progressive throttle make for an easy launch, with shorter ratios and more power making it significantly quicker off the line than the old model. PERFORMANCE 0-60mph: 3.50s 1/4 mile: 11.12s@ 129.1mph Top speed: 144.8mph (indicating 153mph) 40-120mph top gear: 11s Braking 70-0mph: 55.79 m SPEEDO ACCURACY 30mph: 28.5 60mph: 56 90mph: 83 FACTS AND FIGURES » Compared with Triumph Speed Triple, the CB has lazy geometry (9mm less trail) but it doesn’t feel slow and the upside is it’s utterly stable under all road conditions and rider provocation. FUEL FIGURES 46 MPG AV ER AGE Tank size: 16.2 litres Distance to fuel light: 120 miles Range: 160 miles TYRES » Original fitment Dunlop 214s were good in the dry and ok in…

Dreamer: Hugo Wilson Time: six weeks Budget: £3000 (wild guess – £500 for fuel, £1000 deposit on the bike, £1500 living costs = £35 per day. Hmm, maybe that’s not enough) Bike: Royal Enfield Himalayan You’ve got to get out of Europe for it to seem like a proper adventure, but I’d want my journey of escape and discovery to start and finish at my front door, with a cross-channel ferry crossing to mark the take-off point. Somehow the Caspian Sea seems like somewhere that I’d like to see. It feels like an exotic and exciting destination, so I’d aim for Baku, Azerbaijan, on the shores of the Caspian. Google maps say 56 hours riding, and almost 3000 miles from my front door, but I’d deviate via Greece, pausing to…

Tough customer TCX RT-Race Pro Air boots Used for: one year Price: £249.99 Info: tcxboots.com A hard life, these boots have had. In one year of use they’ve been sweated into over a 2500-mile return trip to Italy, crashed in spectacularly at the now-defunct Rockingham Motor Speedway, and scraped long and hard on tarmac all over Europe. Despite all this, they’re lightly scuffed only, and I’m confident enough in the boot to continue wearing it. Nowhere is the leather ripped. Instead, damage has been seen off by the plastic and magnesium sliders: two on the heel and a long toe scratcher. All three are replaceable, but the screw on the toe sliders is so badly damaged I can’t insert the required 4mm Allen into the head. There are two ways…

2013 Moto Guzzi Griso 1200 Ad says: rides perfectly, looks superb, excellent condition, fsh, new MoT, 14,700 miles. We say: strong money but this is a Guzzi that looks like it’s had a cosseted life. Fsh is a boon. Price: £6999 2008 Moto Guzzi Griso 1200 Ad says: Moto Guzzi panniers, rear rack, heated grips, Beowulf can, just had tyres. 24,845 miles. We say: check service history, as it’ll be due 24,000-mile valve clearance inspection. Price: £4499…

Ice and what happens if you fall Is it ever worth going out on the road if there is a real risk of ice? I am an all-year rider, heated grips, jacket and even heated seat on my bike, but I will not go out if there is a real risk of ice, and certainly not on my road bike. The ice treatment of roads in England and Wales (Scotland has entirely different rules) is not confidence inspiring and if you come off on ice you have very weak comeback against the Highways Authority. ‘If you come off on ice you have weak comeback against the Highways Authority’ The test is superficially in your favour. If you look at the relevant law which is contained within Section 41(1)(a) of the…

I’VE GOT A THING for folding mopeds so when I heard there was something called a Moto Graziella Cheeky Boy, complete with Sachs 50cc two-stroke motor, handlebars that fold down with internal wiring, a bell, colour coded squidgy grips, sumptuous saddle, over complicated front suspension and pedals to aid progress on steep inclines I was intrigued. Best part for me though is the ingenuity. It can be stored upright and need never get nicked because you can take it in the pub with you. Made from the early sixties to the mid-seventies by Italian firm Carnielli, it was editor Wilson who spun me tales of this mystical ped, but we’d never actually seen one for sale until one Monday morning when, like a fly-fisherman casting a particularly juicy fly, he…

Save £2270 Honda Fireblade This is the standard Blade so comes without semi-active suspension or quickshifter. That’s the bad news. The good news i it’s still a deliriously fast road bike with outstanding build quality. It’s pre-registered and costs £13,499 from P&H Motorcycles, 01293 226225. Save £2200 KTM 1090 Adventure R The wily buyer’s adventure bike – fast and comfortable with plush off-road spec suspension that works brilliantly on road, yet it’s £4000 less than a similarly-spec’d GS or its big brother the 1290. £10,299 from Fowlers, 0117 4400727. Save £869 Suzuki DL650 V-Strom A healthy saving on one of Suzuki’s most popular bikes. The smaller V-Strom offers big bike comfort with less bulk and a feisty SV650-derived engine. This is an ex-demo with six miles on the clock. £6490…

After 40-plus years in business North Leicester Motorcycles, an Aladdin’s cave of a bike shop, is to close because proprietor Stuart Mayhew is retiring. NLM started as a local bike shop but evolved into an Italian specialist and global supplier of spares for Moto Morinis. They sold a wide range of classics and could supply from stock almost everything to keep old air-cooled Morini V-twins on the road. Spares were stored, old fashioned style, in the stores up some wooden stairs. Yet all is not lost. Stuart’s son Chris, trading as Lusso Veloce, will offer sales and service for Italian and unusual bikes from premises across the road from the old shop, and Ducati online spares specialist Mdina Italia is taking over the running of the spare parts operation. lussoveloce.com…

19-20 January, 2019 Motorcycle Travel Seminars, London Come and learn the insider secrets of a great motorcycle adventure with me and Austin Vince at the Adventure Travel Show, Olympia, London. Each session is two hours and caters for beginners and those who want to expand their horizons beyond Europe. Get a 15% entry discount by using the code: ATSBIKE before 19 January. adventureshow.com/adventure-by-motorcycle-seminars/ 22-24 February 2019 Winter Warmer, Northants, UK From the guys who bring you the Overland Event in September comes a chance to test your overlanding hardiness with a chilly camping weekend featuring moto adventure films and talks from famed hardcore riders including Aaron Mitchell, Nathan Millward and Sam Manicom. overlandevent.com 23-26 May 2019 Horizons Unlimited Travellers’ Meeting, Ontario, Canada Start a trans-Canada ride with inspiration from fellow…

‘The R9X proved itself extremely capable at the Red Bull Romaniacs’ TOURATECH’S LIMITED EDITION R9X – there will be just five built – is being billed as ‘Ultimate Off-road Boxer’. Produced in-house by Touratech technicians with a list of ingredients to match the purposeful look, this is no show pony for the Touratech parts catalogue. If you’re doubting its credentials then consider the prototype already proved itself extremely capable at the Red Bull Romaniacs, competing the Iron class in 2017. Think of it like the race bike version of a GS with all the touring parts and comfort removed: tuned to enduro with slimmer dimensions, less weight (actual figures not yet released) and with vastly improved suspension, tyres and brake performance. Each of the five hand-built RX9s come with a…

TRIUMPH’S EXPANSIVE RANGE of ‘Modern Classics’ grows ever larger. By our maths they’re now up to 15 of the retro style 900 and 1200cc parallel twins, but we could easily have missed one between the various Streets, Bobbers, Blacks, Bonnevilles and Scramblers. This winter they’ve already released impressive reworkings of the 900cc Street Twin and Street Scrambler (tested on p44) and the 1200 Scrambler that we get to ride next month. “FAST BUT EASY TO RIDE” FELIPE LOPEZ Now it’s time to show off the new Speed Twin. We were summonsed to Hinckley for a preview, ahead of its general release in Paris. Chief product officer Steve Sargent and Head of engineering Stuart Wood pulled back the covers. Test rider Filipe Lopez was on speaker phone from Spain. Concept ‘The…

IN 1991 MY WIFE PHILIPPA and I decided we needed to have an adventure before embarking on parenthood. We chose to undertake that mythic baby boomer journey, crossing the USA on a motorcycle. We spent two and a half months travelling a giant U-shaped route starting in New York, down the eastern side, across the south and up the west as far as Yellowstone, Wyoming. In the UK I rode a Heritage Soft tail at the time and a Harley would have been the obvious choice for the trip but Philippa was putting up the money and she wanted comfort so we did it on a Honda Gold Wing. The journey was everything we hoped, we rode through deserts of every colour, weirdly sculpted canyons and forests of giant trees.…

» These tours aren’t cheap, but they are amazing and the cost includes almost everything you need while on the trip. Bike hire and insurance, fuel, food (including that fantastic barbecued lamb), accommodation (which is basic), and a pick-up from Reykjavik. Flights booked in advance aren’t expensive though if you extend your trip, prices for food, drink and accommodation are similar to London prices. Mrs W. came with me to Reykjavik for three days before the ride, and Bob’s wife did a horseback tour while he rode motorbikes. Three-day adventure. 5-8 June in 2019. €2500. There are also longer tours. ridewithlocals.is…

R&G paddock stand » Lubing the chain is of course possible without this, but it’s a pain. The R&G stand costs £117.99, then you have to buy a special spigot that’s another £20.99. Tail pack » This fits the sculpted pillion seat of the standard CB and costs £98 with fitting kit. For the ‘+’ you have to buy the seat too – an Alcantara one costs £340. Akrapovic end can » The standard exhaust isn’t too muted, but cries out for a tad more volume. Mr Akrapovic’s answer costs £700, or it’s £750 for an Arrow full system. Quickshifter » This is standard on the ‘+’ model, but if you have bought the standard bike, it’s well worth splashing out on – it’s very good and costs £605.…

AIR FILTER When changing the air filter it is easy to displace the small foam strips in the air intake rubbers which can then end up stuck in the throttle body. If this happens, power will be restricted and the idle will be out. BATTERY TERMINALS The terminal cable ends used by Guzzi on Grisos are prone to corrosion, resulting in the bike not firing up. That said, you can still hear an audible click. It’s important that you keep them clean and greased (in the old fashion way) to prevent connection issues. Always remove the negative terminal first. CAM FOLLOWERS Early bikes built before engine number 112153 (pre-2013) should have had cam followers and camshafts replaced under recall. Check this has been done (the original cast iron followers are…

HAVING TRASHED my previous chain through shoddy maintenance and spent £90 on a new chain and sprockets, I decide to get an automatic chain oiler. Horse, stable, bolted etc. Whatever. There are loads of different types available, powered by everything from motion to wind. I choose an electric Scott Oiler – despite being a salty £199, it looks the easiest to fit. Here’s the process: 1 Work out where the reservoir/pump jobbie can fit. I have to move the stupid alarm that was on the bike when I got it. One day I’ll extract the cretinous object from the wiring loom, but not today. A bit of shuffling and there’s room under the pillion seat. 2 Wire the pump into the battery. It claims to know when the bike has…