Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2022 i BIKE

‘It’s not unreasonable to expect 250bhp. The core tech is now available to anyone with enough money’ When Ducati MotoGP test rider Michele Pirro said that if he wound the company’s new MotoE prototype up to full power it would feel like his Desmosedici race bike, there was much scoffing. Given that the Desmosedici has close to 300bhp and the current Energica MotoE bikes have 160bhp, it seemed unlikely. But electric race experts have told Bike that Pirro might not be exaggerating as much as suspected: Ducati’s MotoE racer due to hit grids in 2023 could easily have 250bhp. ‘There are lots of high performance motor manufacturers out there,’ says Ian Goodman, a technical expert for the Electric Road Racing Association who built his first electric bike 20 years ago,…

Pierre Terblanche is taking no prisoners. The designer who created Ducati’s Supermono, 999 and Sport Classic (among others) is explaining the thinking behind his new Supermono concept and isn’t bothered about treading on toes. ‘Just look at an electrical harness on any modern bike – it’s a mess. I wanted to do mess-centralisation and get rid of all the rubbish. Take the Tupperware [fairing] off a V4 Ducati and it’s like a horror film – mechanics faint and cry for their mums when they see it.’ The bike he’s created bristles with innovative ideas. To improve packaging, the single-cylinder engine is horizontal, with a supercharger tucked under the cylinder head and the exhaust poking out the top. Almost everything is adjustable, from the riding position to the centre of gravity…

A little more than 20 years ago there was a series of high-level meetings at Harley-Davidson headquarters in Milwaukee. During these get-togethers there were two opposing factions. First, the old-school Harley executives who were convinced that the Route 66 cult – around which most of its models were built – would last for eternity, forever attracting generations of bikers keen to ride chugging cruisers and tourers that evoked the good-ol’-days. Then there was the second faction who were concerned Harley’s customer base was ageing and that the Route 66 dream would eventually die. They were convinced sports bikes and superbikes were the future. Truth is Harley had already taken steps down this road, running their VR1000 V-twin in the US superbike championship during the 1990s, with riders Scott Russell, Miguel…

Moto Morini’s new X-Cape 650 costs a not-much £6995. This is £2500 cheaper than the bestselling middleweight adventure bike, Yamaha’s Ténéré 700, and £1500 under Triumph’s also-new Tiger Sport 660. Which is properly enticing. And the reason for this affordability? Moto Morini are owned by scooter maker Zhongneng. So, although designed and developed in Morini’s Italian residence, the X-Cape is built in China. Powered by a 649cc, 59bhp parallel-twin engine made by Chinese neighbours CFMOTO (Kawasaki ER-6 derived) the motor operates as a stressed member in a robust-looking tubular steel frame. Marzocchi 50mm forks are fully adjustable, have 160mm of wheel travel and are set at a 25.5° rake, with a hefty 123mm of trail. There’s 135mm of movement at the rear with the X-Cape’s aluminium swingarm working a direct-action…

Moto Guzzi were taken over by Piaggio in 2004 and there was an instant improvement in build quality and reliability. The Breva 1100 was one of the first new Guzzis from the revived brand. It introduced Compact Reactive Shaft Drive (CARC) and had controls so light that old Guzzi fans wept with joy. Result? The factory doubled its output in 12 months. Lighter and sweeter handling than a BMW R1200R, more comfortable and practical than a Ducati Monster, today the Breva is a handsome, dependable, charismatic naked all-rounder that’ll stand out at any bike meet. They start at £3k, with the later 8v 1200 from £4k.…

Riding a motorcycle at times, for me at least, is an escape from the stresses and constraints of everyday life. Whatever that is these days… Escape is something we’ve all needed of late but that freedom is getting ever harder to find on our crowded and camera controlled roads. So much so that a clear, beautiful, stretch of road is fast becoming a novelty item. The Peaks, the Lake District, the Dales – even the North Yorkshire moors are getting pretty crowded nowadays, especially if you can only get out and stretch your throttle cable at weekends. In this case a ride out can easily turn into a day of doing not much more than overtaking traffic. But there are still a few places you can ride to, in the…

In one of the most exciting motocross world championships in decades, Jeffrey Herlings and his Red Bull KTM 450 went into the final race of the 2021 MXGP season tied on points with arch rival Romain Febvre (Kawasaki). The entire season came down to the last 45 minute moto, which Herlings eventually won, taking his sixth world championship. Part of the reason the season ended up so close was down to the holeshot technology used in elite motocross. This was developed years before MotoGP took it up, and it’s become increasingly aggressive over the years. Now the forks are compressed at the start to such a degree that it’s becoming difficult to release them because of the huge forces required, and this led to a serious accident at the Dutch…

SPECS Engine: 1043cc inline-four Power: 140bhp @ 10,000rpm Torque: 82lb.ft @ 8000rpm Price: £30,000 (est) Weight: 189kg ‘It looks like it was designed by committee’ Stratospheric quality, power from Kawasaki’s Ninja 1000SX and top-end suspension should have assured Bimota’s new KB4 wild acclaim. Yet its design has ruffled feathers. ‘It’s a shame,’ says boss of Untitled Motorcycles, Adam Kay, one of Britain’s most respected custom bike designers. ‘No doubt Bimota’s designers and engineers have put a lot of effort into it to make it look the way it does, and maybe there’s a reason. But the original sketches looked amazing so I do wonder how they ended up with this.’ The bike’s shape is partly dictated by Bimota placing the radiator in the tail unit, as Benelli did with 2002’s…

Because motorcycle engineering is beautiful Years ago when fuel cells were the supposed NEXT BIG THING there was a quip in the automotive world that went along the lines of, ‘hydrogen is the fuel of the future – and it always will be’. The thing is, now that governments are faced with having to put a hydrogen infrastructure in place to decarbonize heating and industrial production, this makes it is much more likely for vehicles, because just doing it for transport alone would be prohibitively expensive... It’s a good thing. Right? Why hydrogen then? Well, it contains no carbon, so produces no CO2. Even politicians have the wit to understand that one. Plus, it can be obtained by many means, including using renewable electricity to electrolyse water (splitting the hydrogen…

Yamaha R7 Cheery MT-07 in a sharp frock or a proper bike in its own right? Yam’s affordable new twin manages to be both... and that’s a good thing Yamaha create motorbikes that handle. So says the Great Big Book of Motorcycle Folklore, right after the bit about Kawasakis being fast, Suzuki making slick gearboxes and Italian electrics being as dependable as a cardboard bucket. And in this case presumptions are right. Yes, the new R7 enjoys a corner. Its chassis feels light, responsive and fabulously throwable, with pleasingly neutral steering. Sportily firm suspension helps it to tip in and track through corners with accuracy, and it’s more than happy spending time on its side. The long seat allows lots of sliding around to find a suitable position, too. For…

In 2002 I made a big decision: no more boring bikes. I’d been working with a photographer who rode a Ducati 900 Darmah while I owned a used Suzuki GSX-R600 SRAD. How had it come to this? I like GSX-Rs, but that is my least favourite of them all. All I’d done was settle for it, and perhaps convincing myself it’s what I could afford at the time I bought it. On returning home I sold the Suzuki and bought a Bimota SB6, still a stock bike, but far from boring. From the time of my first job in journalism, in the mid-90s, I’d written about specials. I’d lightly modified bikes before, but around 2006 I bought a one-off, steel tube frame and Martek swingarm dirt cheap, and set off…

Royal Enfield entered their first ever American Flat Track race during the middle of the constricted and delayed 2020 season. Their Twin FT racer is powered by the popular, but let’s be honest, humble air-cooled, parallel twin from the Interceptor/Continental 650s. As Adrian Sellers, Royal Enfield’s Group Manager of Industrial Design, and de facto father of the FT project, bluntly explained at the time: ‘We’re starting with a platform that was never meant to do this, and we’re doing it anyway.’ That race debut took place at the Williams Grove half-mile dirt oval, Pennsylvania, and was filmed for ESPN’s regular coverage, and live streamed around the world. Viewers watched as the MotoAnatomy X Royal Enfield team’s sole rider, Johnny Lewis, finished sixth out of 15 riders in the final of…

PRIORITISING USEFULNESS No traction control? No bother. Modern tyres mean I’m never going to need TC in the dry, and I dawdle in the wet because crashing hurts. Instead the CL-X has electronics I actually use, with modes that give a real difference (Eco has softer response in town) and cruise control. BETTER THAN IT LOOKS Stumpy seat, swingarm-mounted numberplate, small comedy hugger Looks like a recipe for filthy bike and rider, but the small bits of plastic keep most crap away. And as the shock’s almost horizontal it escapes the crud – this was after a wet 50-mile blast on dirty autumn back lanes. CONTROLABILITY The clutch is light, and both hand controls have natty span adjusters. Brakes are by J. Juan and the single front disc set-up is…

Buying a tatty old motorcycle because a mate of a mate wants rid of it doesn’t crop up in many buyer’s guides as the ideal route to a trouble-free purchase. I know that. But this one is cheap, the basics look okay, the bloke is a decent sort and I have a space in the shed... And so I now own a road legal 1999 Husqvarna 410 with 20,770km on its wobbly clocks. After an exciting ride home in the wet on flat knobblies, I unleash the spanners and set about discerning whether it’s a £1750 green-laning bargain or a portal to over-priced project bike hell. Initial discoveries are mixed. After stripping off the panels and removing the tank and airbox I discover the rusty exhaust actually isn’t – what…

[ BROUGH SUPERIOR NEFUD SCRAMBLER ] Covid, what Covid? High-end luxury motorcycles are immune from virus woes, as the boss of Brough Superior explains Rich people are getting richer during Covid, that’s just the way it is,’ says the boss of Brough Superior, Albert Castaigne. ‘That means demand is still very strong, and we are still making bikes to order rather than having them in stock and then trying to sell them. At the moment we’re dispatching two AMB 001s [price: £93,000] per week and are nearly sold out [production of the Aston Martin-designed track-only bike is limited to 100].’ In fact, such is demand in the biking stratosphere that Brough have just taken on ten more staff and launched a new model, the Nefud Scrambler. This is a rufty…

‘Tony’s response to his racing misfortune, and to the loss in 2003 of son David, himself a TT legend, was inspirational’ » Three-time TT winner and former Triumph factory racer, Tony Jefferies died in December at the age of 73. Those TT wins are the biggest trophies of a racing career cut short by a life changing accident in 1973 but his success guiding the family motorcycle dealership for 30 years is arguably an equally powerful achievement. A Triumph dealer from 1933, when company founder Allan Jefferies – Tony’s dad, was signed to the factory trials team, it was Tony who was inspirational in them becoming a BMW dealer in 1971. Soley BMW dealers since 1997 the family business continues, run by daughter Louise who became MD in 2000. Tony…

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how you do an affordable, exciting, friendly and superbly built all-rounder. Triumph’s £8450 Tiger Sport 660 is a bit special. That said, on paper, it’s nothing remarkable. In fact on paper it is just a Trident 660 with a fairing and a bigger fuel tank. But it’s one of those bikes that does everything it’s supposed to and nothing it isn’t. Which, these days, is a rarity. Its main rivals will be the Yamaha Tracer 7 and Kawasaki Versys 650 when it hits showrooms in February. You could also, at a stretch, include Honda’s NC750X, but it isn’t sporty enough, or Suzuki’s evergreen V-Strom 650, but that’s too off-roady with its 19in front wheel. They’re all fine machines but there are chinks in the armour…

Walkner on the all new KTM 450 RR After KTM’s legendary 18 year Dakar winning streak was broken by Honda, who then repeated their win in 2021, the Austrians had some catching up to do. So, they started Dakar 2022 with an all-new bike. A big change in frame design and a new engine were aimed at making the bike stiffer and faster. The changes have brought the KTM, Husqvarna and Gas Gas bikes back on par with the mighty Honda. Danilo Petrucci is here to stay After retiring from MotoGP, Italian racer Danilo set his sights on Dakar. His race so far will be a week he never forgets. A mechanical on Stage 2 forced retirement (after losing his phone). He restarted in the ‘experience’ class (can ride but…

Royal Enfield’s Twin FT didn’t only compete in American Flat Track, the company entered a two-rider team in the UK’s DTRA 2021 National championship. The team were so formidable they scared off most of the competition from the Twins class they raced in, but also brought a glow of factory glamour to the amateur race series, the biggest dirt track championship outside the USA. After the season ended I rode Paul Young’s championship-winning bike, which is the original, but now much modified, EICMA show bike. The engine is bored out, adding cubes to the original 650cc, but Royal Enfield are tight-lipped about the specific dimensions. Swinging a leg over the bike it feels as tall and narrow as a modern 450 motocrosser that has been set up for dirt track.…

GRUMPY ENGINE The inline-three engine (a long-stroke version of the 675 unit) is very reliable, but not so good at keeping hold of its paint, especially on the front. Dodgy tickover is a common fault on examples that have not been looked after as they should have been – the stepper motor (it lives under the fuel tank) will seize if the bike’s not been serviced correctly or kept in a mucky state, causing stalling at low speed and/or a dicky idle. It’s actually simple to clean, adjust and apply grease, but neglect will cause you problems. IT’S BEEN BACK, RIGHT? There were a few recalls on earlier models. Tiger 800s and XC models from 2011 and early 2012 that were fitted with the optional centrestand were pulled back in…

It’s Sunday morning and I’m lost. I’m meant to be meeting Bike staffers Langy and Mike somewhere near Rutland Water but the Ducati’s sat nav keeps dropping out and after a few fruitless stops to sort it out I give up and just ride about, hoping I’ll randomly come across ‘an airfield near Oakham’. The chances are slim, but I’m not overly stressed. The Multistrada is such good company on these freezing B-roads that I’m happy ricocheting about the countryside like a lanky red ping-pong ball. It’s on days like this that the Multistrada’s towering versatility shines through – who’d have thought that a massive 170bhp adventure bike could be such a laugh picking its way down fiddly ice-strewn B-roads? Part of the reason is the semi-active suspension, which in…

Abba Skylift £473 abbastands.co.uk » £473 is a lot for a bike lift. But if you enjoy working on bikes, it’s the best £473 you’ll spend – I’ve had mine four years and the way it lifts the bike still brings me joy. Everything from brake bleeding to valve adjustment can be done without backache. It lifts from the swingarm pivot and you can choose whether the front or rear of the bike is elevated most, or keep it level. I had to replace a leaky hydraulic seal (which Abba sent for free) but that aside, perfect. JW Draper scissor stand £111.27 drapertools.com » This is a meaty item, with a 450kg load capacity and a lifting height of 356mm. The (rubber covered) deck is flat, so you need to…