Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2025 i Fast Bikes

I’m often quick to hop on a bike and head to the Continent, but just the other day I was reminded of the cracking roads and breathtaking views that litter this stunning island of our own. Those who know me know how much I love living in the Lincolnshire Wolds, especially during spring and summer when everything’s in bloom and the roads aren’t cooler than icebergs… it’s a biker’s paradise. That being the case, with a bit of gentle persuasion from a couple of mates,I found myself up at Glencoe, in Scotland, which is arguably one of the most dramatic and breathtaking vistas you’ll find anywhere in the world. To get there we’d travelled up through the Dales, Moors, Borders and Trossachs, clocking about 1000 miles in total. The highlights…

A few years ago I was on the launch of the then new Ducati Streetfighter V2 at Monteblanco race circuit, which is notoriously fast, and getting round it quickly requires power, lots of it. So, with its 155bhp engine and trick chassis, the Streetfighter V2 was great fun in that environment… less so when we got one on the road for our middleweight naked bikes test. On the road, and alongside bikes which had less power and less weight, the Ducati felt a bit lazy and too dependent on its powerful engine to deliver kicks. That engine and its big price tag kind of made the Streetfighter V2 fall between two stools. It had a load more power that the other bikes that it actually didn’t need to deliver on…

Since 1989, SHARK has been known to consistently push the boundaries of innovation and helmet performance, with the support of top-level riders influencing its developments. For example, the SHARK Evoline, brought to the market in 2011, was unarguably ahead of its time. This was the one where you could change your look from open to closed-face on the same ride, as it was the first flip-style helmet to be homologated in both positions. SHARK was also the first helmet brand to introduce integrated LED lights with the SKWAL back in 2015, and remember when it took that to the next level with those flashing brake lights on the i3 model? Most recently, SHARK created the first helmet in the world with an Adaptive Aero System that uses mobile flaps on…

MONSTER 1200 The stock Monster model lacks the S version’s fully adjustable Öhlins suspension, instead running KYB forks and a Sachs shock. While the forks are fully adjustable, the shock only has variable preload and rebound damping. The stock Monster also has alloy wheels rather than lightweight machined items, lower-spec Brembo brakes, and produces less power, making a claimed 135bhp (10bhp less) with 117.7Nm (7Nm less) of torque. UPDATE Ducati updated both Monster 1200 models in 2017 with more power (they now both make the same claimed 150bhp), cornering ABS and traction control, chassis upgrades, a beefier swingarm and a new spec of dash. Prices start at £7500 for the stock model and £9000 for the S. MONSTER 1200R The Monster 1200 R landed in 2016 and features a revised…

Three years after its launch, people were still coming to terms with the new order established by the BMW S1000RR, which reset all previously held understanding of what a modern superbike was. Then the HP4 was introduced. It was effectively introduced as a homologation special of the S1000RR, which lasted until the third-generation Euro4 spec S1000RR came along in 2015, making it obsolete. The term ‘homologation special’ is probably a bit strong to use to describe the HP4, certainly in comparison to other homologation specials like the Yamaha R7. The main purpose of the HP4 – HP for ‘high performance’ and the number for four-cylinder – was to homologate a very trick full lightweight titanium exhaust system, and some lightweight forged alloy wheels that saved 2.4kg, which is all very…

I’m sure I am not alone with having such a random playlist of music I listen to. I am totally unashamed of this and wouldn’t be offended in the slightest if anyone who cast their eye over it laughed in my face or even ask a few questions. Nowadays, at the touch of a button we can switch music to match our current mood or even to something else to help generate a different feeling. Similarly, getting to ride the SX has given me so many varied experiences already with the same minimal effort as simply selecting another track from my playlist. From commuting in the early cold spring mornings in relative comfort and clocking up miles on some necessary motorway trips, it could be easy to forget the SX…

If you want to get a big reaction from bikers on a social media post, there are a few easy wins. Mentioning Valentino Rossi is a great start. Drop in a pic of a wild crash. Or, if you want to cause apoplexy all-round, post a positive story about an electric motorbike. The real gold standard, though, is to mention a bike with a two-stroke engine. Whether it’s a Honda MT-5 or a Yamaha RD500LC, the replies will go into meltdown quicker than a cheap cast piston in my old race-tuned Suzuki RG250 Gamma. Because everyone loves a stroker. It’s not hard to see the appeal: the engines are light, have great performance for the capacity, sound amazing, and have a whole extra dimension to their appeal – they actually…

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPS: BMW R1300 RANGE COMPLETE If you’re a fan of BMW’s Boxer range but don’t like the GS, then you’ve probably been quietly fuming the last 18 months or so. It’s nearly two years since the Munich massive unveiled the latest 1300 flat twin, in the R1300 GS, and they’ve only now got round to releasing the R, RS, and RT variants. It makes sense, of course: the GS and GS Adventure have been the top-selling big bikes from the firm’s Berlin factory for decades now (even without adding their sale totals together). Folk can’t get enough of ‘em, so obviously the Bavarian bean counters are going to prioritise the gangly adventure tourers in the production schedule. But now we have a full gamut of 1300 Boxers to choose…

Covered in dirt, breathing like an asthmatic shoplifter, and slowly roasting under a scorching sun, I needed no convincing that I was in my element. As sadistic as it might sound, miles from anyone or anything, staring at the endless mass of desert before me, my sense of adventure was bouncing off the limiter, and that was all thanks to Yamaha’s newly-launched Ténéré 700. In true keeping with the original spirit of this best-selling middleweight masterpiece, Yamaha didn’t beat around the bush when it came to ascertaining the kind of terrain and trails to launch its latest iteration adventure bike; it had to be hard, it had to be hairy, it had to be here… in the Agafay Desert. There aren’t many invites that come to us with a request…

The late, great indie DJ John Peel used to say that songs by The Fall were always the same – but always different. By which he meant that the output of the post-punk band led by Northern grimster Mark E Smith was consistent in its brilliance, but the actual music was very eclectic. I’m not sure that Honda UK Racing’s superbikes have ever been compared with The Fall’s discography until now, but you could very well say that the annual reveal of the mighty HRC-powered Fireblades shares that description. They’re always the same in many ways – red/white/ blue paint, top-end superbike construction, John McGuinness McPint stickers – but always a little bit different too. Which brings us to the throbbing stable of Japanese thoroughbreds revealed this month. Honda showed…

At the Almeria race track, deep in Europe’s only desert – classified as such due to how little rainfall it gets – the rain was lashing down outside the garage where the man from BMW was running through the changes to the 2025 BMW S1000RR. That there was no prospect of the rain stopping that day, combined with there being no wet tyres to fit to the bikes, and that the list of changes to the S1000RR for 2025 was extremely short, means I’m not ashamed to admit that my mind wandered… I may not have given the presentation my full attention once we moved onto the list of accessories available for the bike. Just as we were being told about luggage options, I had a lightbulb moment. I realised…

To this day, this is the first bike I will buy to put in my dream garage if I win the Lottery. For BMW, the HP4 Race was, and still is, its money-no-object ‘Halo’ bike… the brand’s statement to the world of its technical excellence and at the time, we thought, maybe a glimpse of future plans, but alas, we are still waiting for the centrepiece of the bike – its carbon fibre frame – to appear on a mass-produced S1000RR. The HP4 Race is much more than an S1000RR with a carbon frame, although that alone would be something quite special. It isn’t just a statement of technical expertise by BMW or, for the more cynical, a marketing exercise to draw attention to the road S1000RR, which is where…

The product cycle of the S1000RR tends to suggest that after about eight or nine years, or three generations of a particular format, a new one comes along. The 2025 bike IS the third generation of the current layout with variable valve timing and flexi-frame, so based on previous form, a new bike shouldn’t be far away. What that bike looks like in terms of spec and performance is hard to say as BMW is excellent at keeping secrets. However, having spent some time working on the Bathams AJN Racing BMW Superbike, and applying some of the lessons learned from, in particular, the WSB team with Toprak, I wouldn’t be surprised to see something potentially quite radical again, especially with the chassis getting even moreflex. It’s an area we have…

If you’ve been a naughty biker, you need some decent legal advice, get it from mail@whitedalton.co.uk Q I was at a Ducati track day and signed up to ride one of its new V4Ss. I had to sign a disclaimer which basically said if I bin the bike, I must pay for the repairs. This got me thinking. If someone else wiped me out on track (and it wasn’t my fault), who would be liable for the damage to the bike? Me or them? It seems unfair to bill me for their mistake! A I have some direct experience of this as I have read and signed the same disclaimer for a Ducati loaned bike on track. You are talking about two separate issues. The first issue is the contract…

"NO MATTER HOW MUCH BADGERING, BEGGING, OR BLEATING, THERE WAS MORE CHANCE OF CRACKING A WALNUT SHELL WITH TWEEZERS THAN HAVING ANYONE SPILL THE BEANS." I’d just about had time to wash my pants, remind my kids what their dad looks like, and make my excuses, before I jet off again, finding myself back at the exact same place I’d been six days earlier. The difference this time was I had absolutely no idea what I was set to test at Portimao racetrack. In 20 years of doing this job, never before have I experienced such a scenario. The secrecy was up there with the Stasi, and the speculation was on another level. I’d made three predictions of what it was most likely to be that we were testing: a…

BETTER AT BOUNCING For those who like to tackle pukka trails, the longer-travel, higher-spec KYB units on the Rally will prove a godsend. Much more refined, with lighter internals and an additional 20mm of travel at either end, the package offers much improved energy absorption and controllability over the stock bike’s KYB units. Grip’s also improved, and the suspension characteristics are more progressive and planted. SORTED SEAT The Rally seat is 20mm thicker than its siblings, with three grip ribs spaced throughout to aid support when riding hard. It’s also important to note that the seat height of the bike gets cranked up to 910mm. FANCY FOOTWORK The pegs on the Rally are sized up, as per the Standard bikes, but a big difference is their use of lighter, tougher…

Ducati’s Monster was (arguably…) the first truly sporty naked bike when it broke free and escaped out of the doors of the Bologna factory in 1993. Powered by a peppy air-cooled twin, it boasted a trellis chassis that was based around the unit used on the firm’s sportsbike (the 888) and came with inverted forks and a minimalistic, weight-saving, ethos to give it light handling and a cool stripped-back look. An instant sales hit, the Monster family formed the bedrock for Ducati’s growth throughout the 1990s and drew its own ‘Monsteristi’ following. But times change, and despite a capacity increase, by the 2010s Ducati’s air-cooled motor didn’t cut the mustard in the sporty naked class (the water-cooled S4 and S4RS models were up for the challenge but quickly became outgunned),…

You can’t have a list of S1000RR highlights without the original S1000RR on it. It’s easy to forget that this was BMW’s very first attempt at building a sportsbike, providing the biggest reset in the sector since the original Fireblade back in 1992. In absolutely every single measurable way, the first-generation S1000RR was not just better, but superior on a whole different level to anything else that existed at the time. There was not a single motorcycle in production that could holdacandle to the BMW in any department. The big game-changing elements of the first S1000RR were its engine and electronics. Of course, there were other things that made it stand apart. However, at 190bhp, the engine is by today’s standards STILL a huge amount of power–way more than we’d…

STAR LETTER SHOCK TREATMENT Hi Fast Bikes, I recently bought a Suzuki GSX-R1000. It’s an awesome bike and I’m really enjoying riding it, but there’s something not right with the way that it handles. It turns slow and feels really heavy and I don’t think that’s right. A few friends of mine have owned one of these models and they’ve raved about how good they are in the bends, so I’m wondering what’s wrong with mine. What would you suggest I do to get mine handling like it should? Lee Stringer Hi Lee, You’ve bought a corker of a bike, so rest assured that there’s an easy fix to your problem. The truth is that it only takes one person with a minimal grasp of suspension to absolutely upset the…