Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022 i BIKE

Twenty-one years after the first Vyrus appeared, Italian builder Giorgio Cerrato has taken its futuristic looks to the next level and managed to reduce the weight to 130kg fully fuelled. Powered by a 110bhp version of Ducati’s air-cooled Monster 1100 motor, that means the bike’s power-to-weight ratio isn’t far off a 200bhp superbike. ‘It’s so light that it feels slightly weird at first, ’ says 30-year-old Giorgio, who raced when he was younger and was a trackday instructor for years. ‘During cornering it steers almost before you realise you want it to turn - you have to reset the way you corner and if you shift your weight just a little, the bike starts to do stuff. It is super responsive, but because of the front end it’s incredibly stable…

[RACING] Still got it at 57 ‘I shouldn’t really be racing at my age, ’ says Jeremy McWilliams. But he is and he’s just won a King of the Baggers race at Daytona. But how does he stay so fast? I’ve done some great things on two wheels,’ Jeremy McWilliams tells Bike, ‘but the Grand Prix and North West 200 wins all seem to have faded into insignificance compared with the attention I’m getting for winning a King of the Baggers race.’ McWilliams won the final race at Daytona, pipping his factory Indian team-mate by 0.025sec in a scrap that overshadowed the AMA Superbikes that the bagger series was meant to be supporting. The sight of world class riders wrestling 288kg tourers around Daytona at a pace just 3 seconds…

The Isle of Man 27-30 May Pre-TT Classic Road Races Billown circuit, south of The Island. Peter Boast’s advice; ‘If you are canny you can get over and watch the Pre-TT races, which are mega, and then catch the start of TT practice on the Mountain Course while The Island is still quiet.’ southern100.com 28 May-11 June Isle of Man TT If you are determined you can probably still make it to the TT, but the rest of us will be watching on telly (see separate box, right) and making plans for 2023. iomttraces.com 11-13 July Southern 100 Billown circuit, south of The Island. The Southern 100 course is fast and exciting, and The Island (and the ferries) are much quieter in July. This is a good one to go…

‘If Joey jumped off his bike during TT pitstops, shouted for a spanner and started working on the factory machine so be it’ As his new team manager I tried hard to make Joey more professional, ’ says Neil Tuxworth, chuckling at the futility of such a mission. ‘But Joey wasn’t into doing interviews, wearing the right clothes, saying the right thing or turning up at the right place at the right time. He just loved racing and wasn’t bothered about the rest of it. ‘I remember one year we’d had these lovely new jackets done in red and white Honda colours and I asked Joey to wear one. An hour later I went down to the paddock and Joey was fixing his 125, kneeling on the jacket in the…

KNOW YOUR A2 FROM YOUR B6 Launched in 2000, the original model is known as the ZX-12R A1. The 2001-model A2 is identical. Bikes from 2002-03 are all the same despite officially the B1 and B2, B3 and B4 variants and had 140-odd claimed changes, the key ones being revised fuelling for better low-speed manners, a heavier flywheel and improved suspension. The air intake sticks out the nose more too. The final version is the B6 from 2004-06 and is the best of the lot thanks to new forks, engine alterations and styling mods. DEPENDABLE PERFORMANCE Kawasaki had ruled the top-speed roost with their ZZ-R1100 but had been shafted first by the Honda Blackbird and then the Suzuki Hayabusa. So there was an all-new 1199cc inline four engine for the…

£4250-£5900 est Gilera Saturno 500 There was much to entice in July 1991’s Performance Bikes, including the grey import Yamaha SDR200 and a group test of hot 750s. But it was the bike in the corner of the cover with the ‘whump every lamp post’ line that got me. Using a 492cc, 45bhp version of Gilera’s ‘bialbero’ (twin-cam) single, the 1991 Nuovo Saturno was a modern-day café racer with a top-drawer chassis, 136kg dry weight, old-school knee-up handling – and it looked ace. Still does, as this all-original bike proves. It’s got Italian registration and has only been owned by pedantic collectors. £20k-£24k est Bimota YB4 Yamaha’s FZR750R OW-01 was invented to nail Honda’s RC30 and Ducati’s 851. But Yam also wanted to beat a tiny cash-strapped Italian firm who…

» Hello Danny, what are you up to this season? I’m riding a Superstock Yamaha R1 for Wojcik Racing in the Endurance World Championship, but there’s only four rounds so I’ve got other projects, like the GP Camps for young racers. (Danny Webb GP camp on social media.) » Do you enjoy endurance racing? Honestly, when it’s 3am you ask yourself why you are doing it, but the feeling at the finish is amazing. You’re completely wiped out, but really satisfied. It’s incredible. » Are any of the endurance events particular favourites? Le Mans and the Bol d’Or have an incredible atmosphere. Some of the fans don’t watch much of the racing, they just drink, so it’s like a 24 hour party. And it’ll be great to be back at…

Ruroc Atlas 4.0 Used for: two months Price: £375 Info: ruroc.com » I’m not sure about the Simpson Bandit-ish looks, but there’s no doubt this latest Ruroc is brilliant. The first road lid with a Rheon liner to stop rotational forces reaching your brain and surpassing the new ECE 22.06 standard, the Atlas 4.0’s carbon construction, snug lining and thick Pinlock-ready visor give an astounding sense of protection. I don’t think I’ve used another helmet that feels so safe. All the other important stuff is cock-on too: visibility is ace, the slim vents are effective, it’s quiet and comfy, and the Fidlock strap system is slick. I’ve done about 1000 miles in it so far and the only niggle is the matt finish is hard to keep looking tip-top -…

For decades Harley struggled to take commercial advantage of their dominance in American flat-track, eventually coming out with the XR1000 road bike in 1983. No such bother for Indian - the FTR1200 was already a plausible road-going version of the all-conquering FTR750 racer and now there’s this: the £15,995 Championship Edition. Built to celebrate Indian’s fifth consecutive victory in America’s flat-track championship, the new FTR has the race bike’s paint scheme, a badge on the tank listing the five championships, plus loads of carbon, high end Sachs forks and shock, and the obligatory titanium Akrapovic exhaust. Also, despite the standard FTR1200 changing to 17in wheels and sticky rubber this year to try and help convince buyers it’s a sporty naked rather than a street tracker-styled cruiser, the special edition goes…

The new Honda Hawk 11 has provoked bemusement from some Honda dealers who can’t understand why it’s not coming to the UK. The new bike - based on the engine and frame of the NT1100 tourer and Africa Twin - is not scheduled to be brought into Europe. ‘I think there would be a market for something like this and I’m surprised it’s not coming, ’ says Honda dealer John Hunt, owner of Hunts Motorcycles in Manchester. ‘I could imagine selling 300 of them a year. It’s very strange. The engine is Euro5 compliant because it’s from the Africa Twin so that can’t be the reason.’ The bike’s retro-classic nose fairing is clearly based on the 2017 CB4 Interceptor concept, and looks similar to the single-headlight design of Triumph’s Speed…

Triumph Speed Triple RR Take one potent supernaked, apply superbike ergonomics, wrap in neo-classic styling, and hold on extremely bloody tight Don’t be fooled by its Thruxton-esque fairing. Triumph’s new and £17,950 RR is as retro as wi-fi controlled central heating and drive-through estate agents (yes, they’re a thing). It boasts endlessly adjustable rider aids, light-up switchgear and cruise control. Cunning electronics constantly tweak the suspension. There’s a slick TFT dash too, with connectivity so that you can receive phone calls, listen to music, view navigation or control a GoPro camera. Oh, and the Speed Triple RR is also fast. By which I mean properly, staggeringly, shape-shiftingly ballistic. Fire from the lights and the RR sprints to 60mph in just 2.9 seconds, which beats the more powerful Aprilia Tuono and…

The insider’s view by Stephen Davison There are ten between the hedges events scheduled for 2022, five in Northern Ireland and five south of the border. The Ulster Grand Prix was supposed to celebrate its centenary in August, but the club is broke so it won’t happen. The biggest event is the North West 200 which attracts all the top names in the sport including Peter Hickman, Michael Dunlop, Dean Harrison and John McGuinness. The grid also includes riders such as Alastair Seeley who don’t race on the roads anywhere else. At 8.9 miles long the course is a lot easier to learn than the TT. The other big difference between Irish events and the TT are the mass starts. This makes spectating much more exciting - it’s like a…

we drove to the Fish River Falls where the sky looked like it was on fire and I enjoyed one of the most beautiful sunsets since my ride in Antarctica. The next day, well early morning, I took to the road that would deliver me to the second largest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon, USA: the Fish River Canyon. 80km from Tses is Keetmanshoop and about 35km further I left the highway for 170+km of gravel roads. Which is a lot when you are on street tyres... I can’t say using street tyres was fun, because is wasn’t, but I looked at it this way - I had about 4000km of gravel on the entire adventure and while I knew the tyres would definitely slow me down,…

Advice, guidance and things to do with bikes Enduro gurus can change dirt bike tyres in minutes using only twigs and their fingernails but for the rest of us it’s rather more troublesome. Or it certainly is for me. After one particularly sweary evening in the shed putting new tyres onto my Husky 410 I decided to bite the bullet and buy a bead breaker. Despite being cheap (£39.99) and benefitting from some laughably poor design features, this is still a joy to use. Just put the tyre on, push the lever down as you rotate the wheel and bingo – the bead is off the rim. If you remember to let the tyres warm up overnight in the house before changing them, swearing can be reduced even further.…

Derbi got it right with their first big bike. Based around Yam’s proven XT660 engine, the Mulhacen had posh running gear, great details, fine build quality (mostly) and was fun to ride, with punchy power, agile handling from its light, stiff chassis, plus ace control from its wide ’bars. Unfortunately, Derbi launched it about ten years too soon. If it was available now it’d be desirable and on-trend, but it bombed in 2016 – dealers ended up letting them go for a little over three grand. It’s great news now, of course, as it means back-lane hooligans and city-centre carvers can buy a low-mile 659 for £1500 or so. The only problem is actually finding one……

Make the most of the Black Mountains » Ride this road as part of the BMW GS Challenge, taking place on 9-10 September this year. £199 gets you three nights camping, plus the two great road rides and the use of a GS for an off-road loop. It’s a good weekend. More at offroadskills.com ‘A giddying and very, very guilty head down thrash, both ways, on a Honda Blackbird’ I’d last ridden South Wales’ Black Mountain road years ago. That ride was so good, a giddying and very, very guilty head down thrash, both ways, on a Honda Blackbird, back in 1999, that I’d not really dared to go back. Not because I thought the Heddlu would be waiting for me, though they’d have good reason, but because it might…

Few companies were as gloriously and entertainingly diverse as the Turner Manufacturing Company. Originally formed in 1859 as Thomas Turner and Sons in Wolverhampton, they produced cars between 1902 and 1928, made lathes and grinding machines from 1914 into the 1930s, and also built tractors, truck gearboxes, two-stroke diesel engines, winches and aircraft landing gear. But far and away the most wonderful invention was the By-Van delivery bike of the late ’40s. There was a shortage of affordable vans in post-war Blighty due to the government’s export drive, but small two or three-wheeled devices were exempt. Spotting yet another diversification opportunity, Turner set up a separate firm called Light Delivery Vehicles Ltd (LDV) and launched the By-Van. Designed for small businesses and flogged using the catchy ‘It carries so much…

1 Mike Armitage Which other tester can relate a motorcycle to a teenage experience in a Loughborough nightclub? Armitage is the best writer about bikes in the universe. Don’t tell him though. Go fast giant test on page 38 2 Mat Oxley It’s been a while since Mat raced, and won, at the Isle of Man, but that experience means that he gets more out of John McGuinness than any other journalist. McGuiness interview on page 52 3 Hugo Wilson How has it come to this? 25 years since he started on Bike magazine, still excited about a new Triumph Tiger, even more excited about watching road racing this summer. Tiger 1200 test on page 60 4 John Westlake Read his story about riding a Yamaha R7 at a track…

‘Enfield have made what looks like a proper scrambler’ Enfield s Himalayan is a high-value utilitarian device but styling was never its strongest suit. Enter the new Scram – a stripped-back Himalayan built for younger riders (and more experienced ones who want a decent second bike for local jaunts). By changing the front wheel from a 21in to a 19in, reducing front wheel travel by 10mm - lowering the front end some more - and removing the screen and crash bars, Enfield have managed to make what looks like a proper scrambler. The 24bhp, 411cc single-cylinder engine and steel tube frame are the same as the Himalayan’s so the performance won’t set your trousers on fire, but that’s not an issue if you’re nipping down some B-roads to the pub.…

£100 saving Honda CMX1100 » The hundred-quid reduction that Kestrel Motorcycles (02476 703900) have on their CMX1100 Rebel might not seem the most impressive saving. But, if you fancy Honda’s fun, friendly, feet-forward twin then you should immediately hot-foot to Coventry with the £8999 asking in your hand. Why? Despite the list price being £9099 for the big Rebel, the misalignment of supply and demand mean some dealers are selling them at £400 to £500 more than list. So this saving’s actually a fair bit bigger. £3500 saving Harley Road Glide Ltd » If a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing well. Or summat. Whatever, it sounds like as good a reason for going big on the real deal: a full-dress Harley-Davidson. As well as huge grunt from the 114ci…

The Slimey Crud Motorcycle Run has its roots with the Slimey Crud Motorcycle Gang back in the 1970s. It is a run-whatcha-brung informal gathering of motorcyclists, whatever they ride. The Run starts in the tiny town of Pine Bluff, Dane County, Wisc, USA and meanders, by any route a rider may choose, to equally tiny Leland, Sauk county. About 30 to 40 miles away. In Leland the Sprecher Tap is the go to place, Junior (RIP) the proprietor was born and raised in the building that used to be a general store and gas station that still sells guns and ammo along with beverages. Bought this T-shirt at Junior’s in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Kurt Messner, email IF YOU’VE GOT AN OLD T-SHIRT LIKE KURT’S AND FANCY SEEING…

Ride your dream bike in 2022, from Honda ORF 300 Rally (£57.77 per month) to Honda Gold Wing DCT (£358.99) All quotes published here are correct at time of going to press. For the very latest figures contact your local dealer and haggle hard. There is nothing like a new bike to get you frothed up into a summertime riding frenzy. Fish and chip supper? On the Northumbrian coast. Evening bike meet? In Poole. Day out to British Superbikes? They’re running at Knockhill this weekend. Paddling at the seaside? Blackpool’s nice. Any excuse for a ride. Which is, of course, a good thing. Of course finding the funds to finance the bike is harder than daydreams of riding it. It’s been a while now since the PCP entered our lives,…

The male brain is a curious device at the best of times but on trackdays it behaves even more erratically than usual. And at the first evening trackday of the year it seems to have vacated some people’s skulls altogether. I’m at Cadwell Park, two days after the clocks sprung forward, and am struggling to find any semblance of rhythm because every time I clamber into the swing of things, someone crashes and the session is red flagged. Lap three of the first session: crash. Four laps later: crash. Two laps after that: crash. End of session. For an old boy struggling to persuade my creaky brain and body to adopt the shapes necessary to get round the wondrous Cadwell above dawdling speed it’s all very troublesome. Chatting to some…

It feels like it’s been a really long winter. I’m always revved up at the start of the season but there’s been that much uncertainty over the last two years, that this year I’m more eager than I’ve ever been to get out there and race. The Isle of Man has always been the big one for me. I first went with my dad in 1973 when I was nine years old. It was the family holiday and we’d never go anywhere else, well, apart from Scarborough and that was for the racing too. I first raced there in 1982. It’s a drug really. I’ve done lots of other stuff, but the Isle of Man is still the ultimate. I’ve had a couple of wobbles. When you lose someone it…

‘Talented flat track racers … test rides, kit sales and other show attractions’ North West 200 Northern Ireland 12-14 May » More information about visiting the North West elsewhere in this issue. It’s one of the events that I’ve never seen, but that I’d love to witness. I’m guessing that the accommodation in Portrush is booked up, but making a last minute dash, with a flight to Belfast, an overnight stop, and then train to Portrush next day is very tempting. Is this the year? Finger’s crossed. northwest200.org MCN Festival Peterborough Showground 14-15 May » After attending the Royal Enfield Slide School last year I got very excited, and said I’d love to actually take part in a flat-track race. So it might actually happen at Peterborough in May during…