Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2021 i BIKE

[ MOTOE ] ‘The guys now know what's safe’ Running a top-level race series with a potentially lethal new power source is not easy. But after two MotoE has risen from ashes. Literally. MotoE had the worst possible baptism of fire when it started in 2019 - a short circuit in a charger caused a blaze that destroyed every bike prepped for the series. Since then it’s established itself as one of the most entertaining classes, with identical bikes, 15-minute sprint races and ex-MotoGP stars. But the fire highlighted that eco-friendly doesn’t mean safe. ‘With petrol, if you see it dripping or smell it, you know you have to be careful. But with electricity you don’t get that,’ says Giampiero Testoni, the chief technical officer of Energica, the Italian company…

New bikes versus our dyno, scales and datalogger ON THE DYNO Peak figures 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 quicker too. AT THE PROVING GROUND 0-60MPH 3.21s New electronics allow small wheelies in first and second gear for optimum drive. This is a superbike-matching 0-60 time. 1/4 MILE 11.07s This is about the same as the previous bike. Nowt wrong with that, as hitting 126.5mph in 11s dead is respectable. 70-0 MPH 55.9m The brakes have feel and power, but the ABS is too eager. It jumps in way too much, extending the stopping distance. 40-80…

They’re the golden hours in every sense. That summer window of evening opportunity where commuters and delivery drivers have all buggered off to plug themselves into Netflix, tarmac glows with the day’s warmth and, assuming Helen Willetts’ predictions ring true, there’s rich evening light from clear skies. In other words, perfect conditions to ride out for a chip supper. Especially as there’s a BMW SioooRR in blingy M Package form poised purposefully outside my kitchen window. The idea that sportsbikes are dead is greatly overplayed. Sure, last year BMW’s chunky R1250GS was their best-selling model and headed the UK sales chart (500CC+). But their runner-up in popularity behind the GS and GS Adventure was the SioooRR – we bought more lairy superbikes than any other Beemer, with 30% more examples…

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…

It 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…

Giving 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…

BIG MOTOR, SMALL ISSUES Harley’s hydraulic valve lifters automatically adjust to maintain correct clearances, so need bugger-all attention (well, very rarely). They do sound tappety for a short while on starting, but should hush up – if the racket continues it can mean low engine oil or a lifter fault. You might also detect what appears to be an oil leak from the air filter cover – many bikes have an aftermarket filter which will have been supplied ‘oiled’, and gloop can run down and sneak out through the cover. Not a concern. BUY WITH CONFIDENCE Preloved models in dealers are sometimes only a few hundred quid less than a spanker, so if you don’t bond with your US iron you’ll probably be able to flog it without loss. You…

PRACTICALITY Because it’s meant to be a sensible sportsbike, there are a few nods to practicality. Below the one-piece saddle are hooks for luggage and a USB port, plus space for a minimal tool kit. The pillion saddle is comfortable enough, but there’s no strap or grab handle. NARROW The Supersport steers beautifully and is a joy to throw about down a twisty road. I suspect much of the credit for this should go to the 180-section rear tyre, which helps the 950 feel nimble despite the geometry’s inherent stability. It also helps the 950 look waif-thin. SPORTINESS This S model has Ӧhlins forks and shock, which are fully adjustable. I haven’t touched them though – the standard settings are well-nigh perfect for brisk riding down atrocious roads. The riding…

Forget about Harley taking on Indian, Schwantz battling Rainey, and Garner versus the pension ombudsman. The greatest rivalry in motorcycling took place on dinky rims to a buzzing chainsaw soundtrack, between two equally famous brands: Vespa and Lambretta. The skirmish goes back to their foundation. Ferdinando Innocenti’s steel tube factory was bombed during WW2 so he invested in cheap, easy to use, rugged scooters with better weather protection and lower pricing than omnipresent bikes. He employed an aircraft engineer to design a device with a twistgrip gear change, shields to keep filth off and a step-through layout for frock wearers. It also used a pressed frame, but Innocenti was so intent on steel tube he fell out with the engineer... who took his design to Piaggio. Piaggio released it as…

Numbers: R7 v RS660 Aprilia’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… » 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…

Since 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 get the emissions right, but also to get more performance. There’s more power, a wider spread of torque, an extra 500rpm…

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

It’s very good » 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. So why an adventure bike? » H-D have invested massively in the new bike because they reckon the American adventure bike…

Sports 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? Yamaha Tracer 9 GT Its forebear has been a top-three bestseller across Europe and won pretty much every road test…

Suzuki’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,…

» The idea of a CBR900RR motor in the Hornet 600 chassis got speed-obsessed journos into a froth in 2001. They grumbled when the result was calmer and softer than expected; the Hornet 900 arrived as supernakeds became a thing, and negative press caused trickling sales. But the 900 isn’t trying to be musclepants and aggro. Instead, it mixes ease-of-use with a forgiving chassis that soaks up bumpy roads at speed, pushed by a robust 110bhp four. We tested it with Speed Triple, Duke and Tuono on tangled Yorkshire Bs and the confidence-giving Honda was ace, especially on wet bits. Owners love ’em. Prices start at £2500.…

ROAD TEST BACK ISSUES BLUE = Available just on iPad RED = Available on iPad and Android ORANGE = Available in print only The most of each drop » We were delighted when our Aprilia RS660 gave 70mpg (see page 88), but it’s a drop in the ocean. The world fuel economy record is by a hybrid trike thing built for the Shell Eco Marathon that did 14,573mpg in 2018. Yes, really. We prefer this from the Shell challenge’s early years, complete with left-hand throttle and strapped-on cushion. Good for 845mpg. Not for the limp wristed » This is toothy MotoGP freak Marc Marquez trying not to get flipped over the front of his Honda at Le Mans. Brake firm Brembo reckon their datalogging gubbins shows riders hit 2g under…

‘You can’t help but ride some fabulous roads to get there’ Dragstalgia Northamptonshire 9 – 11 July » Blimey, is it the tenth anniversary of Dragstalgia already? Pop over to Santa Pod Raceway for classic bikes and hot rods running on alcohol and nitro. Drag bikes conform to historic ACU pro stock rules, which means pre-1980s, 7-inch tyres and carbs. santapodtickets.com Malle Mile Lincolnshire 23 – 25 July » New grounds for this year’s weekend of run-what-ya-brung race madness. Moving location from London to Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire means the Mile is now a more pleasurable target, and you can’t help but ride some fabulous roads to get there. mallelondon.com British Historic Racing South Wales 24 – 25 July » Fancy classic racing of a more serious kind? Then pop…

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

Is 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 -…

Bike, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA Assen,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 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 Stoner respect I was saddened and moved…

Ian Hutchinson ‘Surely no other racer has been through so much without giving in.’ Never a truer word… » 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…

Aprilia’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…

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

Feeling stressed or just fed up, then this might appeal, though please don’t go near the cliff edge… Dorset is the perfect summer weekend destination for those dawdling about on two wheels kind of days. You won’t find many fast, sweeping bends – it’s much more a lazy, low-speed cruiser riding type of trip, where you’ll spend as much time pottering around off the bike as you will pop-pop-popping around on it. And besides, Dorset has too many caravans and motorhomes on its coastal roads to get into a rhythm. This is good riding of a different kind… Our route takes us from the labyrinthine streets of Lyme Regis in the far west of the county – art shops and a stroll along the pebbled Cob (curved seafront break water)…

The plan was that at the finish of this test session we had to be ready for the first race. I’d say we’re 99%, which is close enough. We’d already tested at Oulton Park and Silverstone, and done trackdays at Oulton and Mallory too, so Franco’s now had a decent amount of time on the bike. This test was about making a few small changes to the bike, learning a bit about how it goes at Donington and coaching Franco a bit too. We had the full team there and it’s an early start on practice days, so we were all in the paddock the night before. Franco came down from County Durham with his grandma and grandpa, Avril and Steven, who’d got a caravan. Our crew chief Ryan Higgins…

Sidi Adventure 2 Gore Used for: 4 months Price: £334.99 Info: sidiselect.co.uk » I like these. They are robust, waterproof, have a grippy sole and there’s a relatively simple two strap plus Velcro flap securing system, a hard plastic guard around the ankle and a flexible joint that makes walking a possibility. Oh, and a useful hoop on the back of the boot to help when you are pulling them on; it’s the little things… The fitting is narrow enough that my feet aren’t floating around inside the boot. I wore them on a soaking wet Pan America launch and an equally soaking ride to and from Wales, and came home with dry feet. As usual with adventure boots they’re cumbersome for riding a ‘normal’ road bike, wiggling your toe…