Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i BIKE

» Welcome to the Broadway theatre in Peterborough for Bike’s 2018 Bike of the Year awards. You get free admission with your copy of Bike, but please buy a bag of popcorn from Grace at the box office to enjoy during the performance. This year the show features some amazing turns. Bike’s founding editor, the noted performer Mark Williams, is doing a surprising routine with the new £4199, 410cc, Royal Enfield Himalayan (p36). Next up, Rupert Paul on stage with the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports, the updated and big-tanked version of the 2016 Bike Of The Year winner. How have things moved on in two years? In the same category is a new BMW F850GS and a reworked Triumph Tiger 800 (p42). Our old favourite the Triumph Speed Triple…

Save £1492 Kawasaki Versys 1000 » Woefully under-rated adventure tourer with a storming engine and sumptuous comfort to go with it. Great value at list price, but at £8950 with just five miles on the clock, this one’s a steal. From Laguna, 01233 238846. Save £1500 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade » Overshadowed by the SP version with its fancy semi-active suspension, but for most mortals the standard model is brilliant enough. This 2017 bike with zero miles is £14,269. Norton Way Honda, 01462 754325. Save £3000 Triumph Tiger Explorer 1200 » You can find a few 2017 Explorers still about with good discounts, but this 2013 bike with one mile is a bit special. Priced at £8499, that’s £3000 off its new price, or half the price of the latest Tiger…

15-16 September Bol d’Or, Circuit Paul Ricard, France A new Endurance World Championship starts in the south of France – yes, they run it over winter and there will be a Malaysian round in December 2019. But for us it feels like that last chance to ride to the sun before winter. Still one of the greatest races in the world. fimewc.com 15-16 September World Superbike Championship, Portimao, Spain You haven’t missed anything. There has been the usual massive gap in the middle of the WSBK calendar. If you don’t want to ride to the sun then a package trip to the Algarve might be a nice idea. You can mention the motorcycle race when you get there. worldsbk.com 29-30 September BSB, Assen, Netherlands The British Superbike Championship goes on…

YAMAHA’S TY-E TRIALS bike sits on a paddock stand in a small Belgian quarry looking every bit the show concept. Make no mistake though this is a thoroughbred fresh from the race of its life competing in the Trial-E World Championship. 15 Yamaha technicians and staff attend rider Kenichi Kuroyama and his title chase. They finished second, the win going to Loris Gubian and Gas Gas. Mr Kouichi Tsuji, Senior General Manager of Yamaha Motorsport Development Division, is in this Comblain-au-Pont quarry explaining the TY-E’s role: ‘MotoGP is important to us and it takes investment to win the championship. The TY-E has the same goal – we developed it to improve technology and win the world championship not to build a production model.’ So the TY-E is no potential production…

Thank you for the Kawasaki Z900RS review (Bike, September). But 29-year-old test rider Ben Lindley got me thinking.‘It’s based on a bike that’s before my time,’ he said. ‘The Z1? Who’s interested?’ I remember the first time I saw one. It was parked on Sloane Square during the Chelsea Cruise, June 1975. I remember the first time I rode one. I got a puncture and had to push the thing half-a-mile home. I did my first ton on one (effortlessly) and had a drag race on one along a suburban street in Pinner, against my mate on his Suzuki GS750. Whenever I go down that street, although it was 40 years ago, I remember that race with a mischievous smile. Any biker over 60 knows the significance the Z1 had…

Triumph Street Triple R Pros: more power than the Duke, fully-adjustable suspension, and a near-flawless finish. Better at wheelies. Cons: less punch than the 790, and the 2017 revamp is so clinical that the result feels ‘safe’. Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 Pros: ace single from 690 Duke with ultramodern styling and a quickshifter similar to the 790’s. Softer, adjustable WP fork. Cons: hard-edged seat hurts thighs. Simplistic ABS spoils fast rides. £500 dearer than a 790. Yamaha MT-09 Pros: awesome triple engine with more torque and less vibes than the 790’s twin Third-gen MT-09 now with silky throttle. Cons: questionable looks and simplistic LCD display. No longer brilliant value.…

‘We reckon lots of people could trade “down” to a 790 and end up enjoying their biking even more ’ Awarding the Bike Of The Year accolade always provokes a response, and we’re hoping for one this year too. There have certainly been more innovative bikes (and three-wheelers) launched in 2018, and more expensive bikes, and better equipped bikes. The genius of KTM’s 790 Duke is that it reminds us what makes motorcycling brilliant. It’s all about the riding experience. This is a simple motorcycle (albeit one with excellent electronics and a great engine) that’s light, sweet handling and intuitive. And it’s versatile. You can ride it to work, do a trackday, ride it to the South Of France. It’s not perfect. After 3000 miles we’re not 100% convinced by…

» Bering C-Protect airbag vest £370 The C-Protect covers the chest, abdomen and the full length of the back, from collarbone to coccyx. It’s a mechanical airbag that inflates when its cord is detached (see connector on the vest’s belly). It inflates in 100 milliseconds and after deflation you can change the CO2 cartridge ready to use again. » Spidi Neck DPS Airbag Tex Vest £360 This neck protector is designed to be worn over your normal motorcycle gear. It’s light at 1.3kg and is designed to inflate around the neck area only. This should drastically reduce the amount of force transferred to the neck in the event of an accident. It inflates using a chord attached to the bike. » Dainese D-Air Racing Misano suit £1740 Top-spec race suit…

»2006 MV Agusta F4 1000 R Ad says: 24,005 miles. Three owners from new, age-related chips, mechanically solid. We say: lacking services till 10,000 miles, so MV won’t help with problems. Recent service history impeccable. Price: £5995 »2007 MV Agusta F4 1078RR CC Ad says: 230 miles. Claudio Castiglioni special edition, number 5 of 100 produced. 1078cc engine produces 200bhp. We say: one of only two in the UK, sold with watch and leathers. Price: £55,950…

If you hear words like this from your fully comprehensive insurers: ‘it sounds to us like it was a non-fault accident. Do not use your fully comprehensive insurance, it is much better for you to use our approved repairers, do not claim on your insurance and save yourself the policy excess and having an accident on your records,’ alarm bells should ring. Because, while it all sounds lovely and entirely sensible it is, in reality, an absolute minefield… Your fully comp insurance is a matter of contract. So long as the risk is insured, your insurers have to fix your bike’s collision damage and you do not need to prove anything. All you need to do is pay your excess. If you use your fully comp insurance your insurers will…

Hugo Wilson This month: extols the virtues of the new KTM 790 Duke: light, nimble, fast, and frugal beyond belief. Way more than a retro relic, the parallel-twin is now the go-to engine of the current age. Who’d have thunk it? 3000-mile 790 Duke test, page 70 Ben Lindley This month: agony and ecstasy in equal measure. The kid rides a Panigale V4 to Rimini and back; loving the sense of confidence it instills, not so keen on the raging discomfort (and he’s ONLY 29, so it must be an issue). Ducati Panigale V4 ride, page 60 Gary Inman This month: tests further contenders for the Bike Of The Year title: to wit, the Triumph Speed Triple and Honda CB1000R. He loves a naked, and relishes the relative charms of…

Price £3699 Engine 125cc, air-cooled SOHC 4-stroke 2-valve Power 9.2bhp Torque 8.11 lb.ft Top speed 65mph (est) Rake/trail 25°/82mm Wheelbase 1155mm Wet weight 107kg Seat height 776mm Tank size 5.6 litres Economy 189mpg (claimed) Colours banana yellow, pearl nebula red and pearl shining black Availability now Bike verdict Looks cute, ace around town and with some lovely touches but compromised by only having a single seat. Buy a Honda MSX125 instead, £310 cheaper and you can take the kids on the back. Bike rating 7/10…

» This announcement is a shock and begs the question – why now? Some would argue the company had to do something to reassure investors after four straight years of sales declines. And was the announcement rushed out to calm nerves after Trump-tariff shenanigans? There is a whiff of shelved design dept. ideas brought back to life to buy time – the date on the plate of one of the prototypes in Harley’s promo video, for example, reads ‘Apr 14’. And in the same video, the action footage supposedly illustrating the Pan American is of some air-cooled Harley off-road customs made by Spanish builders El Solitario. But ultimately, this announcement has to be a good thing. This road map of the future seems a commendable attempt to stop the rot.…

ON THE FACE of it 2018 has been a diabolic year for UK drag racing. Avon Park (first drag race 1973) finally succumbed to the clutches of house builders, while Epping Forest District Council banned drag racing at North Weald, after 25 years. However, all is not lost. Santa Pod have invested heavily in a new 1320 and the Bedfordshire track’s future seems to be rock solid, with one event particularly standing out – Dragstalgia. Dragstalgia is an unashamed celebration of the good old bad old days of drag racing when little ran straight and the entertainment was all the better for it. The pits bulge with gassers, altereds, front engined rails and of course there is a stout entry of bikes… Stormin’ Dennis Norman’s Conquest 1 and 2 are…

» 14-16 September, 2018 Horizons Unlimited Travellers’ Meeting, Tuscany, Italy Get going and you can make it to the first ever HU Travellers’ Meeting in swanky Tuscany. It takes place in a restored abbey by a river with camping and cabins, and no doubt plenty of vino rosso. Adventure meets la dolce vita. horizonsunlimited.com/events » 17-25 November, 2018 Motorcycle Live 2018, NEC, Birmingham The great British gathering of all things motorsickle includes some of our favourite adventure riders appearing in person, including Austin Vince on the Honda stand and Sam Manicom on the Adventure Bike Shop stand. Stop by and say hello, or even better, buy something. motorcyclelive.co.uk » 9-11 November, 2018 Overland Expo East – Asheville, North Carolina, United States of America Held on a ranch in the heart…

8 September MX Vets des Nations, Farleigh Castle, Hungerford The annual festival of golden era motocross brings out legends from around the globe and a fantastic array of still-going-strong bikes from the ’90s back to the twin-shocks of the ’70s. Farleigh is a classic venue too, like scrambling used to be. vetsmxdn.co.uk 22-23 September World Enduro Super Series, Hawkstone Park, Shropshire The new WESS championship includes the world’s biggest enduro events (Erzberg, Romaniacs) and is coming to Britain for a Fast Eddy race in September. The infamous Hawkstone Park will host Pro riders and amateurs in a mix of sprint races on Saturday and a Sunday enduro. iridewess.com…

Anthony Charles Phillips » From: Epsom, Surrey » Age: 49 » Riding for: 10 years I WANT TO EVOLVE with Ducati. I don’t care about depreciation because I want to be right at the front with them. I’ve had an 848, 1198, 1199, 1299... and I bought this V4 as soon as possible. The new engine is very different to the old V-twin, but because the engine’s 1103cc, you still have all that torque. I’d say the gearbox is far superior, the heat is still a real issue, and the sidestand’s very awkward to use. It’s had a few recalls, too: an extra reservoir bottle, an issue with the O-ring on the petrol tank, the clutch master cylinder. But it’s roomier than the 1299 and it feels light to flick…

PERFORMANCE TESTING » TC off, because otherwise it cuts in as the bike tries to wheelie, half throttle for launch, full power when the clutch is home. Then through the gears with the quickshifter. It’s in top, on the limiter, indicating 154mph, within a mile. FACTS AND FIGURES » Running the bike in Sport mode, in mixed use, but pressing on, resulted in an impressive 65mpg average. Running in Track mode made it thirstier. TYRES » OE Maxxis Supermaxx ST worked really well. These are nominally sports touring tyres but were delightfully grippy and soft, so we suspect that those fitted may be specials produced for KTM. They were significantly worn at 3000 miles and we swapped them for Metzeler M7RR on which the 790 steers beautifully and has loads…

TAKE A DEEP BREATH Guy Martin slices through one of the world’s most famous ‘bottle’ corners, the absurdly fast Eau Rouge. He’s on a Suzuki GSX-R750M he shared with Bike’s own Pete Boast. They ended up on the podium. RACE NERD HEAVEN On Sunday there was the mother of all race bike parade laps, but the highlight occurred before it started. With the bikes stretched almost the entire length of the Spa pitlane, you had time to dawdle down the line gawping at everything from Scott Redding’s 2014 MotoGP bike to Terry Rymer’s Loctite Yamaha OW-01 (behind the #11 RC30). WE HAVE LIFT OFF Besides the packed classic race program, there was a round of the Sultans of Sprint series, held on an access road by…

with Jon Urry Serial bike buyer whose knowledge of the used bike market is only matched by his ability to hide his newest purchases from his long suffering wife. Best investment 2006 Triumph Daytona 675 – £4500 Beautifully balanced, beautifully focused, and just beautiful, the Daytona 675 is a brilliant sports bike that consistently beat all-comers in period group tests. There are three reasons to buy now; first it’s a genuinely great bike. Second, they’re now discontinued so you can’t buy new. And third, Triumph will be powering the Moto2 grid in 2019 which is sure to remind people what a great thing a mid-weight Triumph sportsbike is – you need to get in there first. With the launch of the Daytona in 2006 Triumph stopped copying the Japanese. Instead…

If it’s good enough for Marquez Shoei X-Spirit III Used for: eight months Price: £699 Info: shoei-helmets.com » It’s been decades since I’ve used a race-orientated crash helmet as my main lid and in some ways progress has been dramatic. Weighing just 1400g, the X-Spirit feels wonderfully light and the fit is all-day comfortable. The visor aperture is huge so you get almost perfect periphery vision and the vents are plentiful – they were perfect for Bike’s last steaming hot trackday (see you at the next one: Sept 13). High speed stability is the best I’ve ever experienced and Shoei’s visor release system is as good as any. But there are problems . Most of the vents are impossible to adjust with gloves on – they’re clearly designed to be…

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. ✱ 25-YEAR FILTER… Semi-active suspension, where the bike monitors movement and adjusts settings for the best ride/handling, is clever stuff. But it’s nowt new – Aprilia were using WP semi-active on their 250cc GP bikes back in 1992, with constantly-adjusted damping. Only taken over two decades to reach us… ✱ USING BRAKES TO GO FASTER Ducati’s MotoGP fortunes have improved recently,…

IN THE EARLY 1990S my cares were none, my hair was long and I zinged about on a Yamaha TDR250. These days I fret more than I should and have an increasingly expansive sunroof up top, but there’s a TDR in the shed again. I bought it last year, to rediscover the joys of the light, perky, usable two-stroke twin and relive the times when I needed a hairdryer. My original 250 had cast TZR250 wheels and gloopy Avons with ‘not for highway use’ on the side. Part of the current bike’s appeal was TZR rims, however the vendor threw in the original spoke jobs, with tyres, and I decided they look far better. They’re heavier than the TZR parts and at 18 inches the front is taller, but there…

COURTESY OF HMRC I find myself with a rebate of nearly two grand. I rang them up… and… no, this wasn’t a mistake. Naturally this money has to be frittered on another motorbike. Now what might that bike be…? XL250 Motosport £900-£4000 Honda made thousands of these trailies from 1972 to 1977. One of the first modern production four-valve singles and with exotic magnesium alloy engine covers (though not crankcases), these early XLs look great, and at just under 300lb fully fuelled-up and ready to crash these are still pretty handy off-road for people with modest dirt ambitions; i.e. most of us. And that standard, black heat-shielded exhaust bears the legend Motosport – and who else has that? Aprilia Tuono £1750-£3000 Yes the V-4 version would be preferable, but there’s…

TAKE THESE CHAINS »Ben Lindley likes to travel so light he ditched Panigale security in Amiens with the tunnel and home looming. ROCKIN’ GOOD TIME » Bike’s Rockingham Raceway trackdays are addictive. If they’re on we’re in, and you’d be mad not to join the fun. p125 EYES ONLY FOR YOU »Honda Monkey’s impressive simian recognition system winks at you in start-up (well it winks longingly at Langy). THANKS CURTAIN - UP »To The Broadway Theatre in P’town. broadwaypeterborough.co.uk or 01733 306071 Ally Pally Show Indoor sprint, loads of old bikes, new ones to » Only £17 (pre-book) To book please go to mcnallypallyshow.co.uk Subscribe And get this free Airpro emergency tyre repair kit »Worth £33 Call 0185843 8884 or go to greatmagazines.co.uk/bike Free issue Get a free issue…

Price £22,150 otr Engine 1649cc, liquid-cooled 24v inline six Power 156bhp @ 7750rpm (clmd) Torque 129 lb.ft @ 5250rpm (clmd) Top speed 154mph Rake/trail 27.8°/106.4mm Wheelbase 1618mm Wet weight 364kg (clmd) Seat height 750/780mm Tank size 26.5 litres Economy 41mpg (clmd) Colours black, yellow (blue in 2019) Availability now Bike verdict BMW’s bunga-bunga party on wheels. We love the K1600 but the ’Wing’s does touring glitz better, and base K1600 is better value. Bike rating 8/10…

‘This road map of the future seems a commendable attempt to stop the rot’ Over the last five years Harley-Davidson seemed like a hibernating grizzly, oblivious to the world moving on outside its cave. Repeated sales falls and warnings that younger riders were abandoning the brand were met with the sound of snoring and a new colour option on the FXSB Softail Breakout (or whatever). But all was not what it seemed. Rather than snoozing, Harley were busy building prototypes. Lots of prototypes. The recent batch of Softails was just the start. A shock announcement by Harley this month revealed that… The Pan America, a 1250cc V-twin adventure bike, will be launched in 2020. This is one of 16 new ‘middleweight’ models (ie not the 1600cc+ Big Twins) using two…

REA’S PACE » Jonny Rea is the best Superbike racer in the world, but he isn’t an experienced endurance rider. He tore the field a new one in qualifying, but couldn’t get away in the race. The picture shows how close he and the Yamaha were in first and second places until Jonny ran out of fuel coming into the pits. Then a crash behind the pace car consigned the factory Kawasaki to the bottom step of the podium. THREE PEAT Alex Lowes braces himself ready to take the factory Yamaha to the chequered flag for the third year running. Alex rode the session after the rival Kawasaki had run dry coming into the pits and he seized the chance to open a ten second lead, the race’s turning point.…

» 7-23 September The Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance, USA From Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon the Motorcycle Cannonball is billed as, ‘the most difficult antique endurance run in the world’. 100-ish pre-1929 bikes will tackle 3750 miles through the northern states in weather ranging from freezing to tropical storms. motorcyclecannonball.com » 22-23 September Ally Pally Show & Supersprint, Alexandra Palace, London The newest show on the calendar arrives in the Capital in a flurry of big names – Carl Fogarty, John McGuinness, Dougie Lampkin – and innovative features including the world’s only indoor Supersprint. Best of all Bonham’s will be auctioning 74 classics on the Sunday (viewing Saturday) including a 1969 Honda CB750, 1975 Laverda SFC Electronica and a 1972 Kawasaki Z1. Tickets £17. mcnallypallyshow.co.uk » 7-9 September Ace Cafe Reunion,…

FLYING BRICK MADASS By Chris Whitton » With every other bike here professionally-built, it’s refreshing if not surprising that our Custom Of The Year is a home-built effort. Perversely inspired by the Sachs Madass a wooden template (!) spawned a triangulated spine from two 3½-inch steel pipes cut’n’shut into an ovaloid section which houses fuel and some electrics, thus necessitating an external fuel pump. He chose KTM Duke 640 yokes and USD forks, making up the geometry as he went along, reducing overall wheelbase by 25mm but adding a spacer twixt bevel box and swingarm and fitting a Suzuki GS alternator, Honda CBR600RR muffler, R1100 front discs and numerous other items, many courtesy of BMW spares specialists. Moto-Works, many fabricated by Chris himself from raw metal. DUCATI 350 DESMO By…

Heated grips » Why wouldn’t you? Lightweight gloves right into the depths of winter. Combine with hardguards for best results. The control unit clamps to the handlebars. £166.44. Akrapovic » Better made than the standard pipe, and lighter. But opinion is divided as to whether they sound any better – there’s no popping on the overrun. And it’s really expensive. £751.68. Connectivity » My Ride control unit allows your smartphone to be ‘tethered to the bike, giving control over incoming calls and music, with information on the bike’s dash panel. £82.80 Tankbag » Quick lock tank bag with map window that fits to mounting ring on the bike’s fuel cap fitting. £158. Accessory suppliers like Givi will supply something similar for less money. But without a KTM logo.…

HIGH SUMMER SUN is blazing down as Tony Campbell, the new head of Britain’s Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) romps along the empty lanes on his favourite Essex country biking route. Campbell’s loving the Kawa Z900RS that we’ve sourced for him. I’m doing my best to match his pace on a Yamaha Super Ténéré. We could be in a cinema advert for motorcycling bliss. For there isn’t a cloud in the sky. ‘Doomed we are, thanks to: plummeting bike sales; soaring thefts and a death rate like a two-wheeled Somme’ Except if we are talking metaphorically. In that case, we would be labouring under a massive dark cumulous. The sky would be blackened further by chickens coming home to roost. And we would be rapidly running out of tarmac. Doomed we…

with Martin Brown Martin Brown is director of Bike Stop, one of Britain’s most well-respected accessory stores. Based in Hertfordshire. bikestop.co.uk 01438 317038 HOW THEY WORK Mechanical airbags such as the Bering C-Protect Air, the Merlin Integrated Airbag and the Spidi Neck DPS Airbag deploy with a tethered cable anchored to the bike. The electronic ones such as Dainese’s D-Air and Alpinestars’ Tech-Air are a combination of gyroscopes, accelerometers and software algorithms that work precisely, effectively and quickly. They are stand-alone and can work without any connection to the bike, physical or wireless. They’re actually faster to detect and deploy than mechanical airbags, because they don’t have to wait for a cable to be pulled. SAFER THAN LEVEL 2 ARMOUR When measuring back impacts, the Dainese airbag is 90% more…

» 2005 MV Agusta F4 1000 S The first production F4, born from the 300-unit F4 Ago special. Litre engine hits 180mph. Sachs rear shock, massive 50mm USD Marzocchi fork, and four circular ‘organ pipes’ for an exhaust. 998cc – 192kg dry – 154.4bhp – £5000-£7000 » 2006 MV Agusta F4 1000 R The stiffer R chassis sees power up by 5.6bhp. Brembo monobloc calipers replace Nissin six-pots. Higher quality Sachs shock, carbon-nitride coating on 10mm longer travel Marzocchi fork. 998cc – 192kg dry – 160bhp – £6000-£9000 »2008 MV Agusta F4 1000 R 312 Similar in spec to F4 R, but with 30mm titanium intake valves and 48mm throttle bodies. Power is up 5bhp. The ‘312’ refers to a claimed top speed of 312kph, or 194mph. F4 312 RR…