Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2022 i BIKE

SUSPENSION Suzuki say spring rates and damping settings have been tuned for ‘comfort when riding on loose surfaces’. We’re not sure if this means it’s harder or softer. COMFORT The DE has a new, firmer seat that’s non-adjustable and a smaller screen, neither of which sound particularly high-mile friendly. The standard bike could be the road rider’s choice. WHEELS The DE gets spoked wheels, with a 21in front and 17in rear. Wheel travel is up by 10mm at the front and 9mm at the back. ENGINE The 1037cc, 105bhp V-twin gets higher first and sixth gears, plus sodium-filled exhaust valves for increased reliability.…

‘The ADV will be far better off-road than pricer big adventure bikes’ This is the adventurous version of CFMoto’s remarkably good 700CL-X Heritage – the machine that convinced hardened Bike sceptics that a Chinese motorcycle could compete with the best without a bargain price being an excuse. The 700CL-X ADV has the same underpinnings as the base model so there’s no reason to expect any less from this one – it’s powered by a version of Kawasaki’s ER-6 motor with 74bhp and 50 lb.ft (identical figures to MT-07). Suspension is the same adjustable KYB kit used by the Heritage, and the forks don’t appear to be longer despite the ADV’s off-road pretensions. The chassis is unchanged too. The main differences are the 18in front wheel (now spoked), beaky front mudguard,…

From the wonderful to the weird, Bike’s pick of this month’s stories from the motorcycling world… In 2017, 26-year-old Sebastian Inglis-Jones and his mate Will Stirrup went on a fact-finding trip to China that changed their lives. They’d intended to find a manufacturer to build electric bikes for them, but instead they saw the future. ‘After that trip everything changed,’ Seb tells Bike. ‘Eighty percent of riders over there were on electric bikes. That year 297 electric bikes and scooters were sold in the UK, while 22 million were sold in China.’ It wasn’t the only revelation. ‘We also discovered removable battery technology. Will and I travelled around China on electric scooters and quickly got used to taking the batteries with us and charging them up, like you get in…

» This is the new Ducati Streetfighter V4 Lamborghini, a special edition inspired by a supercar called the Huracan. The bike is essentially a £21,495 Streetfighter V4S that’s fallen through the trinket tree and bounced off every carbon and titanium branch. The trip elevates its price to £55,995 which sounds salty until you notice the price of the Huracan: £260,000. 630 of the bikes will be made, plus another 63 for Lambo owners who can specify them to match their underpants (or something). More info: ducati.com…

» We love an optimistic motorcycle name – I own a Triumph Sprint, for example, which definitely doesn’t – but Tachyon? OK, so Lightning’s new electric bike aims to break 200mph, but naming it after a hypothetical particle that travels faster than the speed of light seems ambitious. Also, the blurb bangs on about it being fabricated from niobium, like it’s made from unicorn bollocks. Niobium is an element, used in the Tachyon to create a strong alloy. Steel, basically.…

In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.’ History fails to record whether Oscar Wilde ever bought a second-hand MV Agusta, but four months ago I did. An impulse purchase nearly 25 years in the making, could the reality of MV ownership possibly live up to my fantasy? I’ve lusted after an MV (red and silver, of course) since I was a spotty teen pawing impotently at images of the first F4 750 in the November 1997 issue of Bike. But when I fluked into riding an F4 1000 at the back end of 2004, the bike’s stiff, stubborn, belligerent behaviour quickly left me absolutely heartbroken. Seems Wilde was on to something. Time, thankfully, heals all wounds…

I’ve just handed over a wad of banknotes to a man that I met half an hour ago. This cash investment buys me a 25-year-old, nine-owner, motorcycle that’s done 80 miles since a DIY overhaul conducted in a single car garage. It’s 7.30pm, we’re 350 miles from home, and the plan is to ride this bike home, tomorrow. What could possibly go wrong? Let’s be positive. The weather forecast is good, and while the A30, A303, A34, A43 route from vendor Kevin’s garage in Cornwall all the way to Bike magazine HQ in the East Midlands isn’t exactly sinuous, it’s mainly along big, old routes that by-pass big towns, scrolling across the English landscape. This could be a great ride. Or not. Fortunately I have an AA card. The lower…

It was a Sunday morning in 1969, Jamshedpur, India. I was sipping tea with friends when the idea of riding round the world on a motorcycle came up. At the time motorcycle travel was so unheard of we might as well have been talking about riding to the moon. Making plans for adventure Miraculously three friends stepped forward to say they were in (the team was made up of me Subhash Sharma, Sampuran Singh, Manmohan Singh and Ashok Kher). Our plan on leaving India was to ride into Pakistan, then Afghanistan and Iran. From there we would then be able to ride onto 60 more countries… However, the more we researched the more we realised simply getting out of India was going to be a big challenge. Back then even…

Last summer’s group excursion to Wales was, unexpectedly, a calamity-free success. We found great roads, didn’t misplace anybody in the mountains and there were no breakdowns, either mechanical or emotional. So, buoyed by our evident genius at road-trip planning, the Sons of Atrophy Motorcycle Club is heading on a two-day exploration of Yorkshire. We knocked around together on bikes in our younger years, but as life tugged everyone in different directions – work, families, garden centres – we inadvertently stopped. The trips are a way to reconnect, share ace roads, take the piss and scrub off 20 years. In our heads. As self-nominated Squadron Leader, I’m guiding us up the A1 on our Indian FTR R Carbon test-fleet bike. It’s the blingy one with Öhlins and, er, carbon. Trundling behind…

Potion options » Dr Downpipe (£16.99, Halfords) etches away the oxidised coating on mild steel exhausts that take hours to sort with wire wool. Far safer than using Harpic 10x too. My T-Cut (£10.99, Screwfix) is meant for buffing light scratches but is great for any dull paintwork. STP’s heavy duty brake cleaner (£6.99, Ebay) has halved the time it takes me to clean brakes – it’s fierce stuff. The Comma carb cleaner (£7.75, Amazon) is gentler, so you can use it around seals and gaskets without drying them out. The green thing is a mitt (£4.79, Halfords), with soft material on one side and rougher on the other. I use it all the time and it’s lasted a three years so far. White spirit and a rag £4.99 local…

Spidi NX6 gloves Used for: 1 year Price: £139.99 Info: spidiuk.com » Spidi call these a three-season glove but for me they’re too hot for summer and not warm enough for winter. Still, for spring and autumn they’re just the job – very comfortable, warm and waterproof. The build quality is typical Spidi and as it should be at this price, with solid-feeling seams and EN13594:2015 level 1 knuckle protection. My main gripe is with the elasticated cuff fasteners, which are potentially great, but have issues. Firstly, the cuff is too small so it’s fiddly stuffing your jacket cuff in, secondly they’re not long enough to cope if your jacket sleeves are a bit short, and thirdly they can’t stop water seeping down your wrists in a downpour. So although…

Keep ‘em clean » Sounds obvious, but clean lenses are really important when you’re riding with glasses. We don’t really want smudges or specks of dust on our specs spoiling the view on a nice sunny day, but as temperatures drop those tiny particles can give condensation something to grip, making any fogging-up issues much worse. Buying the right specs » It makes sense to spec your specs for riding. The more pronounced the bend in the arm, the more of a pain wiggling the glasses into a helmet will be. Switching to a set of frames that use a straight-arm design will make life much easier. Also, look for hinges that work both ways – they’re more robust than arms that lock solid at 90° Choose the right helmet…

Look closely at this new Moto Morini 6½ Street and see if you can find anything that screams ‘cheap’. Difficult isn’t it? Brembo brakes, fully adjustable Kayaba forks, five-inch TFT dash, Pirelli tyres and tidy frame welds mean it seems as sorted as any middleweight from Triumph, Yamaha or the rest. Morini are now owned by Chinese motorcycle colossus Zongshen and the bikes are built in China but designed in Italy. The Street follows the X-Cape adventure bike that appeared earlier this year and it uses most of the same running gear. Power comes from a lightly modified version of Kawasaki’s old ER-6 motor, which puts out 61bhp at 8250rpm and passes Euro5 thanks to the latest fuel injection from Bosch and tinkering by Zongshen (who also build motors for…

Surrey County Council’s new 20mph speed limit trial on some rural roads has got lots of us in a froth. But the proposal, though based on zero evidence, is not as hideous as has been portrayed in the wider media. For a start, the council have confirmed they’re not plastering 20mph limits everywhere. Road safety manager Duncan Knox said the council will ‘set the limits at the speeds most drivers are currently driving at.’ He also said there will be no extra police enforcement. In other words, the new limits will be what most drivers do anyway, and should you choose to go faster than the new limit the chances are you won’t get caught. Knox said he expected the new limits will encourage some of the faster drivers to…

Cadwell’s August Bank Holiday weekend BSB is always a highlight of the season, but this year’s was special even by Cadwell standards – the sun shone, the racing was manic and WSB champ Toprak Razgatlioglu got some massive air over the Mountain. “It’s definitely the best BSB round,” says Bike contributor Dan Sutherland. “I go every year – it’s a nice ride there, a great mix of families and die-hard fans, and lots of the riders themselves are from Lincolnshire so you get all their families and friends there which adds to the atmosphere. “This year I sat on the bank at the Mountain and looking across to the bank by the start finish it was just a wall of people – you couldn’t see the grass. And the jump…

Self-crashing cars The first self-driving cars could be introduced by next year says the government. Will they be fitted with a recorded message, and megaphone for motorcyclists that says: ‘Sorry mate, I didn’t detect you’? Mark Brindley We understand the current plan is to pretend motorcycle don’t exist at all. Fellow ‘pedder I hope your moped extravaganza was completed with a minimal casualty rate. This is the SS50 I mentioned when I saw you – it’s an original 4-speed from 1974. In the past it served as daily transport, including spells for my wife and daughter, and still runs fine but needs some attention this winter. Paul Glossop, email Thanks Paul. Yes, we all got home, though the editor required van-based assistance (twice, with two bikes). You can read the…

Ducati 749 (2003-2006) » 748cc 90° V-twin » 103bhp Time has done wonders for the 999, the ugly duckling of Ducati’s otherwise universally adored superbike family. Sadly, it’s also caused used prices to skyrocket as wiser eyes have, eventually, en masse, come round to what Pierre Terblanche was thinking 20 years ago. Instead, get the same lines for a fraction of the cost with the 749. Sadly it comes from a time before Ducati gave much thought to running costs, so keep eyes peeled for bikes where the fearsomely expensive Desmo service is looming. Honda CB1300S (2005-2009) » 1284cc inline four » 100bhp Old school before old was cool, for some reason the half-faired version of the big, brawny CB1300 hasn’t seen the same kind of insane price rises as…

Kawasaki 1100 Spectre (1982) » Plymouth » Classified This shaft -drive device would surely be the ideal vehicle for a cruise along the south coast. Triumph Sprint RS (2001) » Elgin, Scotland » Auction* Pick this up north of Aberdeen, do a brisk lap of the North Coast 500 then turn for home. Aprilia RSV Mille (2000) » Lockerbie, Scotland » Auction* Buy this in Lockerbie, it’d be a great tool on which to explore the amazing Scottish Borders roads. Triumph Speed Triple (1997) » Carmarthen » Classified Bond with a newly acquired bike by meandering round South Wales and the Brecon Beacons. *AUCTION HIGH BIDS AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRESS…

Yamaha XSR900 Yamaha’s well-loved three-cylinder tornado finds itself going all 1980s. And as a fair few of us grew up back then it’s about time… You’ve got to hand it to Yamaha. With Triumph busy building a complete supply chain of ‘60s-era throwbacks and Kawasaki going all in on Z1 iconography from the ‘70s, Yamaha have leapfrogged both of them to deliver an ‘80s-inspired blow-out nobody except Suzuki (and their Katana) saw coming. I’m not the only one who loves the XSR’s new look. Mike is middle-aged enough to remember the era fondly: ‘As a rider shaped by the bikes of the 1980s – and who owns a Yamaha from the decade – the XSR’s visual appeal is enormous. I can see hints of FZ750 and TZR250, and love details…

Italian electric bike enthusiasts Energica are not afraid to try new things. And staying true to the cause the new Experia is their most radical offering so far. The Experia is a ‘green tourer’. Which means it is an adventure-styled bike packed full of Energica’s latest battery and electric motor know-how. But, and you don’t need a pair of binoculars to spot this elephant in the room, has electric bike technology come far enough to be considered tourer appropriate? Energica claim the Experia has a ‘city’ range of 261 miles a ‘combined’ of 160 miles and an ‘extra-urban’ (worst case) of 130 miles. In reality this isn’t the case; when ridden briskly the range drops to 110-120 miles while 55mph pottering delivers close to 150 miles – and that’s on…

OIL AND WATER DON’T MIX All GSX-Rs made between 2005 and 2013 were recalled because the front brake master cylinder could have issues. Moisture could get into the system, get absorbed by the brake fluid and make the lever action feel spongy, and there was concern that it might damage the return spring inside the cylinder. Owners of all bikes that were affected should have been contacted by the DVLA and had the problem sorted by a Suzuki dealer for nowt. But it’s worth checking any bike you’re looking at didn’t slip through any cracks, especially if you suspect it’s got a track-based history. FRONT END FUNNY BUSINESS Early GSX-Rs had a gold titanium-nitride coating on the forks. This fades with use but is purely a cosmetic issue. Bikes from…

£1500 est 1965 BSA Bantam » One of the most copied engines ever is DKW’s RT125. The design was used by Harley-Davidson, MZ and for the first Yamaha, the YA-1. But the most popular copy was the BSA Bantam. Launched in 1948 and costing sixty quid, around a quarter of a million examples of the dinky two-stroke were built. Simple, reliable and a doddle to spanner, it’s been the starter classic for yonks and is still the safe and easy way in. This bike is a D7, meaning 175cc, just over seven horses and 60mph down a steep hill. It’s not been MoT’d since 2010 but appears to be in restored nick. £3000 est Raleigh Model 15 » Riding a vintage bike is hilarious, and nothing is as engaging: you…

‘Portugal is a great place to ride bikes. And eat custard tarts’ Portugal World Superbikes Estoril 7-9 October » The final European round of the World Superbike Championship happens at Estoril, in southern Portugal in early October, when the temperature should still climb to the low twenties celsius. It’s 1250 miles from Calais (or take the ferry to northern Spain and save a load of autoroute tedium) and Portugal is a great place to ride bikes. And to eat custard tarts. worldsbk.com British Superbikes Brands Hatch 14-16 October » The British Superbike season re-starts for the final showdown of the season. So no matter what the state of the championship coming into Brands, it’s all up in the air again. Which must tickle Jason O’Halloran, who’s been leading the title…

I wasn’t at Thruxton for the BSB meeting. I was at home, preparing bikes for the Manx Grand Prix on the Isle of Man, so I watched Franco’s Junior Superstock race on telly. At the previous round at Brand Hatch he’d finished a measured third and we all thought he’d get a decent result at Thruxton; it’s a fast track that should suit him and the Kawasaki. He qualified 5th, was 6th at the end of the first lap, then he got his head down, broke the lap record and was up to second behind Max Cook. Then he crashed. From where I was, watching on telly, it looked like a nothing of a crash. He was in the first chicane and the front tucked under him on the left…

1 Martin Fitz-Gibbons ‘A used MV Agusta? Are you sure about that?’ MFG was, and apparently still is. This is his beautifully written story of what it’s like to buy your dream bike. I bought an MV Agusta, p38 2 Hugo Wilson The editor rides off into the sunset aboard a 25-year-old, nine owner, ex-trackday bike. What could possibly go wrong? Surprisingly little actually. Good buy, and good bye. Used buy date, p48 3 Mat Oxley Dovi never actually won a MotoGP World Championship, but he came second three times. Mat talks with the man who made Ducatis competitive again. Dovizioso interview, p58 4 Ben Lindley Triumph Speed Triple owner and ex-Bike staffer Lindley is too young to remember the bikes that inspired these retros, but he still got very…

The best custom builders often go to lengths that seem dotty to the rest of us, and so it is with Massimo Rinchiuso. When he couldn’t find wheels to suit his Guzzi 1000 SP build, he decided to make his own. Bike calls his workshop in Ravenna, Italy to double-check we’ve got that right… » Bike: You actually made your own wheels?! Massimo: ‘Yes, there were no light wheels which could be mounted without heavy and ugly modifications. So I built some. They are made of Anticorodal 6082 [an aluminium-magnesium-silicon alloy] and as you can see, they integrate perfectly with the rear hub and are fully compatible even for a production bike. The front weighs just 2.4kg and the rear 3.6kg.’ » How hard is it to make your own…

Having a wing the size of a scaffold board attached to your nose fairing is no longer enough to stand out at an upmarket trackday. What you need is this new Aprilia RSV4 XTrenta which is the first production bike to wear rear wings and an underwing – a foil contraption under the rear suspension. We’re not sure exactly what it does, but it’s something to do with downforce and every MotoGP bike has one. The XTrenta is a track-only machine. 100 are being built to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Aprilia’s first world title, when Alex Gramigni won the 125 GP championship (Trenta is 30 in Italian). Aprilia started with the loopy RSV4 Factory as the base bike, then increased the compression ratio, changed the air filter and added…

» A sharp-eyed Instagram-ist has noticed that Indian giant Bajaj has bought the Vincent name. Bizarrely, Bajaj acquired the rights to the classic English brand in 2017 but didn’t tell anyone, and no-one has noticed until now. Bajaj hasn’t commented since the discovery, but speculation is rife – the company owns a 48% share of KTM, so there’s the alluring prospect of a new Vincent powered by a 180bhp 1301cc Austrian V-twin. » Thanks to: @speed_is_expensive…

» If you want to increase the value of your bike, put it in a crate. This 1995 BMW R100GS has just sold for an astonishing $47,250 (£40,000) at auction – a record for the 100GS and four times what you’d pay for a low mileage minter. Of course, this one isn’t just low mileage – in fact it’s actually negative. The clock reads 99,985km, apparently because it hasn’t done the 15km test distance allowed for the PDI process, at which point it clicks over to zero.…

If your two priorities for a motorcycle are: a) shits, and b) giggles, then the new GasGas SM 700 should be at the top of your shopping list (along with a moped and an excavator). It’s a modern day TDR250 – Yamaha’s ground-breaking supermoto that first introduced the world to sitty-up tomfoolery back in 1988. Of course, with an extraordinary 74bhp available from the 693cc single-cylinder motor, the SM is in another performance universe to the old Yam, which brings us to an admission: the GasGas gets its high-tech engine and virtually everything else from KTM’s 690 SMC-R. All that separates the two – and Husqvarna’s 701SM come to that – are paintjobs and the GasGas’s lighter wheels. KTM, Husky and GasGas – originally a Spanish trials bike specialist –…

Royal Enfield’s recent success is based on simple mid-capacity machines, and this strategy is predicated on great-value motorcycles such as their Interceptor 650, Himalayan and Meteor 350. Globally these bikes sell serious numbers and the new 350 Hunter looks set to tempt more retro, back to the basics devotees to part with their money. Enfield’s frugal and easy-to-ride new commuter is light, tough, agile, has faultless fuelling and a turning circle tighter than a Liz Truss U-turn. It is clearly designed to revel in the chaos of urban centres. Although the Hunter is propelled by the same 349cc air-cooled single found in the Classic and Meteor, there’s an all new sporty frame and relatively light 17in wheels (an Enfield first). The wheelbase is shorter, the head angle steeper and, at…

»I’ve just spent lunchtime on that well-known auction website nosing at late ‘90s/early 2000s big sportsbikes. Rising prices tell us their direct stomp and analogue charms are in demand: it’s £4000 for a really good late-’90s FireBlade or early GSX-R1000, while gleaming ‘98 Yamaha R1s are seven or eight grand. And yet Kawasaki’s ZX-9R is still peanuts. It’s the 1998-on C-model you want – a 125bhp, 170mph missile more than capable of trackday silliness, but that’s also flexible, friendly and has proportions that suit ample UK riders. Super-sexy blue ones from 1998 are £2500 or so, but it’s the evolved F models from 2001-02 that are seriously overlooked and wonderful value at under two grand.…

We didn’t have any plans to race the Manx GP Classic Superbike race, but when the stars align you’ve got to make the most of it. French rider Lancelot Unissart did the Bol d’Or Classic race with us in 2021, then Spa this year where we came second. He was already going to the Manx with a French team to race a 250 and 600, so when we were at Spa I asked if he’d like to ride our Honda RC30 in the Superbike race too; he nearly bit my hand off. It’s a one off – endurance racing is our thing – but I thought it’d be lovely to see and hear the RC30 on the Island. We took two bikes but were planning to switch their usual roles.…

This route started simply enough: meeting a friend in Eastbourne for a quick ride to a café, but it rapidly developed into a cracking ride. It starts by setting off along the coast on the A259 to Pevensey (where William the Conqueror landed). When the A259 meets the A27 go straight over the roundabout where you’ll pick up the minor road to Wartling. This is an absolute cracker of a road – quiet, smooth and open. Carry on past the Observatory Science Centre, which is well worth a look if you like a bit of Professor Brian Cox (or Patrick Moore) and you have the time to spare. They recommend that you pre-book your visit, to make the most of your time there (the-observatory.org). At the A271 swing right to…

Fair to say that 1998 was quite a year for Honda. As well as it being the 50th birthday of the Honda Motor Company and them winning every race but one in the 500cc GP championship, they released the Hornet 600 and VFR800 – two distinct models that would not only be hugely popular but that captured the essence of this defined, standalone brand. Oh, and they launched the VTR250, a bike so clearly influenced by the Ducati Monster the owner’s manual should have been in Italian. Honda previously showed they had an eye on Bologna. In 1988 they’d wheeled out the VT250, a naked sportsbike with a four-stroke 90˚ V-twin in a beam frame. Finished in red paint with gold wheels and with ‘Spada’ emblazoned on its fuel tank,…