Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i Fast Bikes

FRAME: The sleek aluminium bridge frame is all-new and lighter, saving a whopping 1.3kg over its predecessor. The geometry is also sharper (the steering head angle is 0.4° steeper and the castor reduced to 93.9mm), and the swingarm unit is now under braced (like you’ll find on most factory racing swinging-arms) and longer for added stability. The tubular subframe saves another 300grams from the mix and bolsters support at the rear, while the front-end weight bias of the bike has seen a move from 52.3% to 53.8%. ENGINE: As well as a substantial gain of 8bhp (204bhp), the RR’s all-new engine is also 4kg lighter than the unit that came before. Following suit with BMW’s car technology, this is the first time the brand’s ShiftCam system has been introduced into…

HONDA CBR500R As much as we love blasting little bikes about, it’s still fair to say that Honda’s CBR500R has had a fairly tough time in the past. Between us, it’s always been at a bit of a stalemate in terms of its ranking in the A2 sports bike category; especially since the resurgence of these mini weapons, and in our A2 shootout, it didn’t particularly shine pace-wise. Why? Well yeah, it’s always been the most powerful, but it’s also been by far the lardiest and lethargic with the least sporty DNA, and at the end of the day, there’s no real prizes for being a fat body builder. Thankfully though, Honda have listened to our cries for something a little more extreme and have gone back to the drawing…

There was a time when slicks were the exclusive plaything of motorcycling’s racing elite, but nowadays they’re more common than herpes, littering club racing paddocks and trackdays as plentifully as their tread-rife counterparts. And why the hell not? Slicks have got a lot going for them, boasting superior grip levels, increased stability and multiplied bragging rights to your friends on social media… even if you’re lacking the minerals to back up their potential on track.Yes, slicks are a brilliant asset, but when it comes to choosing the right pair for you and your bike, what are the best options to run? Which hoops are set to give you the most grip; the best level of feel; the durability to last longer than a pint down the boozer? We were curious,…

When you study the MT-10’s DNA, it is hard to see Yamaha failing with its naked litre bike. Take a chassis very closely linked to the firm’s track-weapon sportsbike, stick in a CP4 motor that is also pretty damn close to that used on the R1, add in quality suspension and brakes and, finally, ensure it has the latest in terms of electronic assists. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, yes, the look… We might as well get it over and done with now – the MT-10 isn’t to everyone’s tastes. Part transformer, part Johnny 5, the look can be described as progressive if you are being kind, plain old challenging if you aren’t. At least it has a visual impact and let’s be honest, you don’t look at the…

When it comes to replacing the engine oil in your bike, choosing the right product is really important, but it can be a bit of a minefield. Do you go for a semi-synthetic or a fully synthetic, and what weight do you go for? Your best bet is to stick to the manufacturer’s guidelines, particularly when it comes down to getting the correct weight oil. Most modern bikes will take a 10w40, but always check. Semi-synthetic oils are fine for most road bikes, but for higher performance engines and racing bikes, a fully synthetic engine oil would normally be more appropriate. If you are going on the track and you’re dead keen on squeezing every last bhp out of your engine, then there are competition lubricants available that tend to…

WE HAVE BIKES ON TRACK. I REPEAT, WE HAVE BIKES ON TRACK. Finally, after what seems like the longest winter since the Ice Age, we’ve had the testing ban lifted and BSB have been out on track. So, with three days at Monteblanco, followed by two days at Portimao, what’s been going on, and what do you lot need to know? SHOCK: Redding can ride Will Scott be able to ride on Pirellis? Will he be able to adapt to a Superbike? Will he be a front runner? Of course he will. Like our WSBK man said, it’s almost as if that V4R is easier to ride coming from a (V4) MotoGP background rather than a Superbike one, and Redding has proven that theory a touch further. Not only that,…

A few years ago, I was compiling my own MotoGP bucket list. At that time, I was still yet to see an Italian MotoGP at Mugello. A seasoned veteran of the MotoGP Press box kindly advised me that top of that list, for any MotoGP nut for that matter, should be that trip, crucially, before Valentino Rossi retires from racing. Why? Well, simple. In his words “Once he’s gone, we’ll most likely never see scenes like it ever again. Think Beatlemania turned up to eleven.” I’m a firm believer that no man or woman is bigger than the sport. There are a few, however, that transcend their sport and come pretty damn close. Fewer still come as close Valentino Rossi. Talk to your average moto-muggle (non-motorbike folk) about MotoGP and…

I spent the day with the tarmacking lads today and got absolutely soaked through to the skin by lunch time, but we still had a good laugh. I’ve been doing it a few months now, but I’m still enjoying getting about with the tarmac lot. And we have been all over, too. We were at Robin Hood Airport this morning tarmacking a bit of the runway, and last week we were at Rampton Secure Hospital. We have to go through x-ray machines and all sorts to get in there, but they reckon there are some really dangerous patients inside. Beverley Allitt is in there. I think they call her the ‘angel of death’ because she killed a load of kids in the early 90s. I’ve heard there is even a…

No, this isn’t a fix. Dainese, who have just launched their ‘Dainese Experience’ are genuinely allowing you the opportunity to ride with some proper Italian heroes, taking place at Misano on April 17th. From those with little experience to full on budding racers, the riding masterclasses come in a variety of different options with the flagship being the Dainese VR46 Class – led by the man himself. By the time you’re reading this it will have already been auctioned off (for charity may we add), but it’s a proper on and off track experience with the GOAT coaching you through. You get a couple of track sessions, a couple of classroom sessions and all on their own prepped R1s and in some snazzy AGV and Dainese gear to wear as…

More powerful, more agile and packing more tech than a Curry’s PC warehouse, it was inevitable our love for BMW’s revolutionised flagship Bahnstormer was only going to get stronger... the question was how much stronger? For the past six months, we’ve been transfixed by the new RRs (RR, RR Sport, M-Sport), taking in their every curve, teases of tech and lavish performance figures. With a claimed 204bhp on tap (8bhp gain), and a broader spread of torque (113Nm) compliments of a box-fresh, smaller, lighter and smarter motor that’s seen the integration of BMW’s ShiftCam technology (pioneered in their cars), the fourth iteration RR promised to be something of a bruiser, and a featherweight one at that. Increasing horsepower is one thing, but binning off over 10kg in the process (M-Sport)…

FB: What was the brief for the original RR? EH: Those were very interesting times for us. This was probably about 2005 or 2006, but I can’t remember for sure. We wanted to get into the superbike sector, which was then ruled by Japanese superbikes. They were all very similar in performance and design, but we wanted to do something different… and to change people’s perceptions of BMW as a brand. To produce a package that looked unique and toppled the then existing standards of the industry. On reflection, it was a very ambitious project, but we threw everything we had into the mix and we managed to produce a very capable, individual looking motorcycle that paved the way for BMW’s sportsbike DNA. The original brief was very simple: the…

“SLICKS ARE AWESOME AND YOU’D BE HARD PUSHED TO PICK YOURSELF SOME DUFFERS” This test taught me a lot. Firstly, that there are so many great tyres on the market. Secondly, just how different each of those tyres are to ride. If you were asked to describe a slick, ‘black and round’ would accurately label the face values of each of these hoops, but when it comes to determining their make-ups, their qualities and even their foibles, you’d have no chance of guessing what you’re dealing with… unless you got out there and pushed them to their limits, back-to-back in a controlled environment (which is why we did exactly that). Of course, this test has identified a winner, a loser and a hierarchy of rubber in between, but it goes…

Sometimes I watch MotoGP on the telly and I ask myself why on earth them lads need to go so quickly. What is the point of being so balistically fast, really? Ok, there is the playboy lifestyle associated with racing bikes on the world stage, and the generous financial remuneration and travel that go with it. Then, of course, there is the fact that you get the chance to ride some of the very best motorcycles round some of the very best race circuits in the world, but that goes without saying. Other than that (and the hordes of fans screaming your name, beautiful women throwing their unmentionables at you and cosmetic companies approaching you with offers of lucrative endorsement opportunities), what is the point? Well, that is exactly what…

We live in a world that’s governed by tech… as everyone’s smartphones would validate. But despite the anti-social tendencies of electronic gadgetry, there’s a lot to be said for the brilliance behind the bytes. As recent as the year 2000 most bikes were fuelled by carbs with jets, meaning any alterations to your fuelling meant stripping your bike farther than a Page 3 model, just to get to the guts of the package… and then you still had to change the finicky little buggers. Ok, I’m being melodramatic – it wasn’t often that much of a big deal, but it was exceptionally harder, slower and involved a fair amount of guesswork to get a bike fuelled the way you thought it should be – before rebuilding it all, running it…

If you want to get the best out of your bike, there’s loads that you can do with the electronics, but which way do you go? You can go down the cheapest, and probably easiest route, and a fuelling module fitted to your bike that’ll allow you to alter the air/fuel ratio of your injectors. If you want to go a bit deeper into the brains of your bike’s electronics, you’ll either need to get your ECU flashed or splash the cash and fit what’s called a Kit ECU. As you’d expect, there are pros and cons to all of these options. Most modern bike’s standard ECUs have the potential to alter tons of stuff, from the fuelling, to the ignition timing, traction control and even quickshifter settings. The problem…

2016 KAWASAKI Z1000 Private: £6,999 Dealer: £7,500 Never the most enduring of nakeds, the Z1000 is a bit long in the tooth and the look isn’t to everyone’s taste. A good electronics package and strong motor, but lacking zing. Engine: 1043cc, l/c, 16v, inline four Power: 122bhp @ 10,500rpm Torque: 99Nm @ 7,500rpm 2016 SUZUKI GSX-S1000 Private: £5,900 Dealer: £6,500 A bit of a bland offering from Suzuki with questionable suspension. Good in isolation, but quickly outclassed against its rivals. Price makes it tempting, performance doesn’t. Engine: 999cc, l/c, 16v inline four Power: 139bhp @ 11,500rpm Torque: 98.5Nm @ 9,500rpm 2016 TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLER Private: £7,400 Dealer: £8,000 Updated for 2016 and a great road bike, the R version adds a load of cool trinkets, but also a hefty wedge…

ALOHA I love FB magazine, and can’t be many a further place to read it than Hawaii. ‘Dado’ FB: Wow, that looks stunning! We know where we’d rather be right now… SHINY AND RUSTY Hi all, have not had a bike for 20 years so I thought I would treat myself to a brand new Kawasaki ZX-10r KRT Ninja. Done just over 550 miles and I love it. Can’t wait for the good weather. Mark Brotherhood FB: Jeez, not been on a bike for 20 years and straight on a ZX-10R? Props to you dude! SUZOOK Hi FastBikes! Just bought my first bike, it’s a 2010 GSXR-600 and I’m absolutely buzzing! However, based on the internet I could use a hoodie…I’ve been told by the masses as I’m in my…

It’s time for another update on my ZXR project and as you might have read last month I am coming to the end so have been running out of jobs to properly get my teeth stuck into. Now the weather is getting warmer and I can spend a bit more time in the garage without my fingers falling off, I couldn’t very well put off doing the wiring any longer. First though, my new 520 chain turned up. I ordered one that was a few links longer than stock to be safe, given the gearing and swingarm are different. I dropped it on to the sprocket and used a couple of tie-wraps to hold it on so I could suss out how many links I needed to loose. I took…

FB: What is a spark plug? RM: A spark plug is an integral part of any 2- or 4-stroke internal combustion petrol engine. Put simply, the fuel/air mix is drawn into and compressed by the engine. It is then ignited by a spark which occurs between the electrodes of the plug. FB: How does a spark plug work? RM: It is a conduit for high voltage. Most vehicles have either six- or 12-volt batteries, but their ignition systems produce around 11,000 to 24,000 volts. Some systems even exceed this. This high voltage must be contained and prevented from discharging anywhere other than between the spark plug electrodes. This means between the ignition coil, which supplies the voltage to the spark plugs via ignition HT leads (unless plug top coils are…

THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… Racing! It took a bit of practice, but I finally felt confident enough on the MX bike to enter a race on it. I had intended to try my hand at a proper motocross event, but when my mate’s Grant, Henry and Harvey called and said they were doing a two-hour enduro I thought I’d give that a bash instead – how hard could it be? It was an Edge Off-Road event at Westwood, near Barnsley, and I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d heard all sorts of horror stories about super gnarly enduro courses that are nigh-on impossible for a normal person to get round, but the terrible trio assured me it would be fine. Under instruction from Henry, I entered the…

The season has started and doesn’t it feel great? I always feel that the first three races of the season are a bit of a false start – for different reasons. Qatar is always a slightly strange affair with team personnel slotting into new roles with new machinery and new tech, riders are getting back to full fitness and it happens to be held under strange conditions – under floodlights in the middle of a desert. Argentina is great and a real favourite with the riders, with a track that is always incredibly green at the start of the weekend due to lack of use throughout the year. As for COTA, well, it might be an absolutely spectacular facility in an awesome city, but all that glitz and glam just…

With ’19 plates in stores and summer just around the corner, Yamaha are offering up another tasty incentive, with low-rate finance offers across their range. Rates start at just 0% APR over a three-year term with low monthly repayments and deposit, whether you want to go down the PCP route or crack on with Hire Purchase. From the MT range to the new R125 we spanked a few months ago, Yamaha have it all covered, and as an example it means you could ride away on a brand new R1 for less than £200 a month, which is mental. For more info, or to go and spank some cash go see your local dealer or check out www.yamaha-motor.eu/gb for more details.…

SP ENGINEERING HC-R CAN TESTED BY: Martin MILES: 1000 TIME: 3 Months RRP: £239.95 WEB: www.spengineering.co.uk When there’s more noise to be made but you don’t know what to get, who you gunna call? SP Engineering, of course. Being local to the lads at SP, they were our first port of call when I needed something meatier for the CB1000R long-termer exhaust, and it’s fair to say I was extremely pleased overall. It looks great and the sound is ever so slightly deeper over the OEM block that we had taken off, and it’s probably saved on some weight, too – although only a touch. We tested the performance of the HC-R can on the dyno at JHS, and while the BPH increase isn’t as high as we’re used to…

When he’s not clocking 130mph laps around the I.O.M TT, Phil’s usually balls deep within the innards of a BMW. We caught up with the guru at his Crowe Performance tuning centre to find out how much the first three generations of RR differ, and how much potential for ponies they’ve each got. FB: With the Gen One, what kind of bhp could you expect? PC: From a good, out the crate, road bike you would be looking at about 190 horsepower at the rear wheel, and then as a racer it would be quite realistic to achieve 200bhp, although the real gains are made in the mid-range of the motor where the original engine lacked a bit of grunt. They’re nearly a decade old now, but they’re still really…

It may not seem like it at first glance, but the CB500F really is a bit special. Don’t laugh, just listen: it’s now the only real streetfighter in Honda’s line-up that doesn’t come plastered in a hipster-style dressing gown. This means that it really has a lot to live up to in the sporty department – and thankfully, peeking at the spec sheet, it looks like Honda have delivered. Just like its faired sibling that we spanked in the previous pages, the CB500F has been bestowed much of the same loving treatment for 2019 and perhaps even more, I mean, every single piece of that bodywork is brand new. The engine has been shown the same internal affection for more of that glorious mid-range, while unlike the CBR, it has…

We love travelling in style, and we like doing it fast, too. In recent months, we have featured stuff like the BMW S1000 XR and the KTM 1290 Superduke GT in Fast Bikes, both pretty stylish and fast ways to get from A to B, ladened with your tent, sandwiches and your (or somebody else’s) wife. What these pages have been missing, is a proper test on Ducati’s new and improved (or so they say) Multistrada 1260 S, the Italian brand’s answer to the ‘super-touring’ segment. New and improved, on this occasion, doesn’t mean ‘all-new,’ oh no. In fact, to the untrained eye, you would be hard pushed to find any whopping differences at all between this, the newfor-2018 version and the outgoing model. To the trained eye (or to…

After making his racing debut in 1989, Gramigni went on to win the 125cc World Championship for Aprilia in 1992, the first ever world title in the Italian factory’s history. He worked his way up through the ranks of the World Championship before moving over to the AMA Superbike Championship in 1996, winning at Elkhart Lake on a Ducati. He had a few years as a test rider for the 500cc Aprilia Grand Prix team, and then a season on World Superbike Championship before moving back home, eventually becoming Italian Superbike Champion in 2004, riding a Yamaha YZF-R1 for the 391 Racing Team.…

Ok, we’ve got our Suzuki pretty sophisticated, but there’s always room for improvement… and the HM M3 Dash is the next step on the cards. The product’s still in development right now, but this ‘plug & play’ maestro is set to be a direct replacement for your stock bike’s item, offering you a whole load of track-focused technology that will help you stay safe and ride faster. The M3 comes in two forms, with a base model (£450) and Advanced option (£715) on the cards. As well as giving you all the functions of the stock dash, the benefits of both M3s include automatic fault clearing and a highly sophisticated, predictive lap timer, plus a secure HM Cloud function that means you can share your data with friends. The Advanced…

Andrew Potter-Cobbold Triumph Speed Triple Me and my mate went from Ipswich to the Carol Nash London bike show. I was on this little beast. I had only had it a few months. It was my first ride on it, as well. Darren Taylor Kawasaki Z1000 Blast out up the A303 past Stonehenge then Shaftesbury and Zig Zag hill! I know the Z thou didn’t do too well in the naked head-to-head, but I love my Z thou R, front Brembos and rear Ohlins extra!! You were given the wrong model!!! Barb Jesson Kawasaki Z650 1700km in five days. From Christchurch, New Zealand, to Bluff and back, for the Burt Munro event. On a Z650. Leo Wells Honda Fireblade Out yesterday scrubbing in new supercorsas! After remap and a few…

THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… Getting in some sun-drenched mileage. The CB1000R and I are hurtling towards the end of our relationship, with the big Honda now being well into its loan period, entering into its ninth month with us. As regular readers will know, my colleague Martin was the first ‘owner’, passing it on to me when he departed FB just before the cold set in pre-Christmas. With squared-off tyres and ice-like roads, it was not until I fitted a set of Michelin Road Pilot 5s that I got a proper run at the CB1000R. Even then it was not with that much confidence, due to bedding in the tyres and pretty treacherous road conditions that made any kind of road riding relatively uninspiring. The experience was enough…

Q My son was pulled over for an alleged 65 in a 30mph zone. The police officer arranged to see him at home. My son was very nervous as he is just about to start his Army recruit training. A single police officer parked outside my house in a marked vehicle, which was embarrassing. My son asked for his dad, my ex-husband to sit with him. The police officer was a massive, threatening man and very military in his style. He was curt but polite with me, and sat down at my kitchen table with my son and my ex. The officer told me that he would be using “blunt and coarse language” with my son. My son asked me to leave, but I recorded the conversation on my phone,…