Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i BIKE

Bike Issue 597 December 2022 Contactus bike@bikemagazine.co.uk or 01733 468099 facebook.com/bikemaqazineUK twitter.com/BikeMagazing Just over 32 years ago the September 1990 serving of Performance Bikes plopped through my letterbox. On the cover was a new three-cylinder engine and the line ‘Triumph: Adversity Over?’ During my formative years the words British bike had come to mean escaping oil, white finger and implosion. But here was a fresh factory with shiny floors, posh machine tools and motorcycles which, if not cutting edge, looked remarkably contemporary. An actual, proper, modern British manufacturer. I double-checked it wasn't the April issue. Here in late 2022, not only have Triumph blossomed into a biking superpower but the UK is chock full of confident brands making world-class bikes. Delve into our look at the country's finest on page 37.…

Ducati's press shots for the new Multistrada V4 Rally are all dusty vistas and dangerous wildlife but don't let that put you off: the new bike looks set to be a superb European tourer. Yes, there are fancy enduro modes and zebra-proof engine guards, but the key changes are greatly improved pillion accommodation, a 30-litre tank for an easy 280-mile range, and suspension electronics that do everything from keeping the bike level to lowering it on arrival. ^ All the fundamentals are the same as the normal Multi – same 170bhp V4, same chassis – but Ducati have evidently looked at the big-selling BMW R1250GS Adventure and decided they want a bit of that. Here are the highlights… 1 Better for pillions Ducati identified that two-up comfort is a weakness…

After decades of inaction, UK authorities have recently started clamping down on fake and uncertified motorcycle gear, and that's partly down to one man: Paul Varnsverry. He's been lobbying Trading Standards, government departments and manufacturers since the 1990s and says at long last serious progress is being made. The good news is the situation is getting better,’ says Paul, a lifelong motorcyclist and the technical director of PVA-PPE Group, a global protective equipment consultancy. This year we've finally started getting some market surveillance and enforcement from Trading Standards, and officers are now able to quantify the scale of the issue and they're putting resources into it. Some of them are talking about having two year projects – so for the next two years they'll be looking at domestic manufacturers, importers,…

Official American registration documents suggest Ducati will launch a new model powered by an all-new single-cylinder engine. No, really. Cunning US journalist Dennis Chung spotted that among the list of 2023 engines Ducati registered with the US National Highways Traffic Safety Administration was: ‘659cc (1 cylinder, 4 valves, liquid-cooled, secondary air)’. Could this be the return of the Supermono, the innovative racing single built between 1993 and 1995? Or will it power a small Hyperstrada to rival KTM's SMC-R (and identical Husky 701 and GasGas SM700)? Answers on a vibrating postcard to the usual address please. See one man's take on the Supermono on p10.…

What'll it do, Mister? New bikes versus our dyno, scales and datalogger ON THE DYNO Shame that small dipat 4500rpm prevents a textbook torque curve, but you don't feel it at all when riding. Peak figures aren't all that but the DesertX is lively, usable and plenty fast. Turn the electronics off and it'll do proper wheelies… AT THE PROVING GROUND…

Mike Armitage Acting editor Getting frothy about the sometimes maligned F4750. Andrew Dalton Bike lawyer Getting rear ended is never good, and then you end upin court…. Paul Lang Art guru Loves a rucksack and those useful bits loitering at the bottom. Simon Weir Contributor This month Simon heads to the Dales, and Naked Old Men. John Westlake Contributor Can't decide whether to go to Skegness or Valencia. Edward Armitage Contributor Edward reduces Bike's average age by many. We are grateful.…

Metzeler's Sportec M9 RR is one of the best sports tyres – it deals with all-weather sporty road riding and can breeze a trackday. And there's now a 120/70 × 19 version for 19-inch front wheels which means the M9 RR can transform your large-capacity adventure bike. Hugely grippy, they give agility and a light-steering character you'll never get on dual purpose or sports-touring tyres. With more grip than you'll know what do to with, they inject a feeling of weightlessness that makes the whole bike feel less bulky, while keeping all the stability a 19-inch front wheel brings. As with the 17-inch versions, the M9 RRs warm fast and like all Metzelers have a neutral feel and a plush ride. They make a BMW R1250GS behave more like an…

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It might look like just another sharply-dressed naked, but this is a new Hornet. Launched 25 years ago the original was a massive hit that achieved semi-cult status, and the spec sheets suggest the revived model has the potential to stomp over rivals like a rampaging cave troll. There are three reasons: 1) Power: Honda claim the all-new engine produces a class-leading 90.6bhp – a serious amount from 755CC parallel twin. By comparison, Yamaha's 689CC MT-07 makes 74bhp. The Hornet also stamps on Triumph's 75bhp Trident 660 and Kawasaki's 67bhp Ninja 650. 2) Tech: whereas Yamaha's market-dominating MT-07 has always been shorn of fancy baubles that bump up costs, the new Hornet plays a different game. Standard features include three riding modes – Rain, Standard and Sport – plus three-stage…

Nailed-on residuals Harley Forty-Eight Mince into a big Hariey-Davidson shop and look at crazy used values. And then buy a Forty-Eight. With H-D discontinuing ‘old’ Sportsters in the UK the 1200cc V-twin is in demand, meaning a five-year-oid bike is more than when it was new. But it's never going to lose cash. It's the waiting game Honda CRF300L List price for Honda's green-laner is £5599. Looks pricey for a 286cc, 27bhp single. But demand out-strips supply, so mucky used examples of the friendly high-quality CRF are only a few hundred quid less than spankers. Buy one, spend next year on trails, barely lose any money. It'll make money Norton Commando 961 Given all the issues with Garnerera Nortons it's amazing what they fetch. 10-year-old bikes are £10k, limited editions…

Telephone 01733 468099 Email: bike@bikemagazine.co.uk facebook.com/bikemagazineUK twitter.com/BikeMagazine ‘Such a character. Great racer no mistake’ I bought my T-shirt in 1993, I think at Donington. I had a tweaked GSX-R1100L at the time (I have nine bikes now including a very special GSX-R1000L3). It was definitely nearly 30 years ago – I used to go to all the UK races: Transatlantic, everything! Schwantz's determination and skill overcame the more powerful Yamaha of Rainey. It would have been more exciting had Rainey not had his crash but Schwantz was ahead on points anyway. I was supposed to meet Schwantz and was going to ask him to sign my shirt. But alas, it didn't happen in the end. Kevin always did his best and had to override the bike to do what he…

Group test Stride along to your nearest BMW dealer, ask a branded polo shirt to show you a K1600GTL, and gawp in awe at its enormousness. Standing well over five-feet tall to the lid of its throne-like top box, the 1600 houses an engine that wedges six pistons next to each other across the frame. And there's a multiplex-scale TFT dash that's near-as-dammit just as wide. The model's full-blown touring status means pulled-back 'bars, a lofty electric screen, heated grips and sumptuous seating that bring grandeur and the promise of country-hopping touring comfort. The GTL positively bristles with easy-life tech as well: there's lean-aware traction control and ABS, hill hold control, cruise, tyre monitoring, adaptive headlights, connectivity and navigation. And, of course, an electric reverse gear. Oh, and if it's…

£1499 Honda CB400A » Want to stand out at the Dog & Duck? Buy this 1978 Honda CB400A Hawk Hondamatic. And yes, this fine name means it's an auto. Well, sort of. Based on the Super Dream, the 395cc twin still has a gear lever, but there's a fluid flywheel joining the motor and two-speed 'box and no clutch lever. You just toe-up into first then pull away, like on a Cub, then just poke the lever up and down as required. This CB has come from the USA (hence the Hawk tag) and is in running original condition, only needing a couple of small jobs. Price shown is an auction site start price, and there's no reserve. £2999 Honda CB900C » You'll probably be familiar with the Honda CB900F…

Sublime to ridiculous Remember the Aprilia Moto 6.5? A single-cylinder device intended as a funky urban tool launched in 1995, it featured radical styling by a French industrial designer and was a complete flop. Seemed nobody fancied a bike that looked like an electric kettle. To resolve the situation Aprilia had another chat with their shapes and colours bloke, and came up with this revised bike. It obviously never made production. We think it's a shame. Freddie's lean machine This is Freddie Spencer on his Flonda CB750F Superbike in the early 1980s, which was actually 1021 cc and made 140bhp. Sickeningly skilled Spencer carried so much lean angle that the bike's generator kept on grounding out, so Flonda US removed it and fitted a snowmobile genny tucked in behind the…

Oxford Magnum Duo U-Lock Used for: six months Price: £59.99 Info: oxfordproducts.com » Obviously huge locks give the most peace of mind but aren't much fun in your rucksack. Disc locks are quick and easy, but not the height of security. Which is why I'm taken with the Magnum Duo. It comes with a 1.2-metre steel cable that I can loop through something immovable in the garage and attach it to my bike with the U-lock part. When I'm heading into town, I just take the U-lock to act as a chunky disc/wheel lock and can usually get it around a handy lamppost too. It's got reassuring Sold Secure Gold approval, and it's easy to carry as it comes with a bracket to clamp on your bike – it's designed…

Don't dawdle » Cold tyres and wet roads is not a relaxing combo so you need to warm tyres as fast as possible. This won't happen if you potter. Concentrate on accelerating and braking as hard as you can – safely of course – during the first five minutes of the ride. This will bring good sports touring tyres up to temperature. Be confident » The coefficient of friction of a dry road is around 0.7, and for a wet one it's around 0.5. Sure, that's a 30% drop, but most of us slow down a lot more than that. If you get your tyres warm, the grip is there and once you believe that, you'll be looser, look further ahead, ride faster, be safer and have a far better…

1 Phil West This month we welcome ex-Bike editor Phil West back into the fold. Phil's mission, and he chose to accept it, was to get to grips with the resurgent Brit bike industry. Made in Britain, page 37 2 Mike Armitage It's been depressing for all to watch the Norton name being dragged through the slime. But things are on the up and Mike is among the first to ride the new Commando. Norton Commando 961, page 42 3 Michael Neeves British manufacturer Arc have, like many other start-ups, had an interesting journey. But their first bike – the Vector – is now in production. And Michael's ridden it. First ride: Arc Vector, page 50 4 Paul Lang We could think of no one better than Bike's art guru…

Braking News [GOODBYE PHIL] From the wonderful to the weird, Bike's pick of this month's stories from the motorcycling world… P hil Read, who died this month aged 83, was one of the most fascinating characters in racing. A wildly gifted rider, he was Britain's most successful ever GP racer, taking seven world championships, 52 wins and 121 podiums. In fact even those extraordinary statistics don't do his abilities justice – he won Yamaha's first ever world championship, took eight TT victories, won a world championship as a privateer, and was the first rider to win 125CC, 250CC and 500CC titles. Plus, he did all that in the era of Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini, arguably the two greatest riders of all time. But Read often had an uncompromising attitude to,…

[WORRYING] In July this year two motorcyclists were killed in America in separate crashes after being rear-ended by Teslas using the self-driving Autopilot function. Both cases were at night and the system apparently registered the bike's lights as a distant car rather than a nearby motorcycle. The Federation of European Motorcyclists Association (FEMA) has now stepped into the fray and said safety ratings organisation NCAP should downgrade Tesla's safety scores. The complaint was triggered by NCAP giving the Tesla Model Y a ‘safety assist’ rating of 98 percent – ie, almost perfect – despite the recent deaths. ‘Euro NCAP stars do not protect motorcyclists,’ says FEMA in a letter to NCAP, pointing out that Teslas do not use radar or lidar like other car manufacturers, and so are particularly susceptible…

£706 saving Yamaha XSR700 Old-fashioned styling cues glued onto thoroughly modern motorcycles shouldn't really work, but it does for Yamaha's XSRs – the most compelling of their huge-selling MT-07and MT-09 dynasty. The XSR models’ blend of dynamism, value and slightly quirky looks has real appeal. With the latest XSR900 influenced by the ‘80s, the clock is surely now ticking on the smaller version which is probably why Fowlers, Bristol (0117 977 0466) have one white/red example of the 700 available for enjoyment for just £7294. £1000 saving Suzuki Katana Suzuki's much-trumped retro arrived a little late, struggled to hide the fact it's a GSX-S in'80s fancy dress and at over £12k looked pricey next to an XSR900 or Kwak Z900RS. Thing is, the GSX-S base bike is a top all-round…

Just returned from an excellent trip to the Bol d'Or 24-hour race at Circuit Paul Ricard. I've been attending rounds of the Endurance World Championship since 1975 when, as a student, I hitch-hiked to my first race at Le Mans. What made this trip so enjoyable was that I was able to sponsor the only UK team in the 2022 series, known as ADSS97 and who run a Kawasaki 1000 in the production class. My contribution was relatively minor and was just enough cash to cover a couple of race tyres. But I got my name on the tank and fairing, even though in small letters! Together with a couple of good mates, Simon Lunn and Jeff Beck, we rode down to the Le Castellet circuit via Le Shuttle, Dijon…

‘We took the existing bike and did extensive testing to industry standards,’ says David Hall, who's the Team Lead, Current Engineering at the new Norton factory and previously spent 27 years at Triumph. ‘We've done pavé tests [cobbles for testing chassis, suspension and component durability], mileage, shock endurance, rig endurance. ‘The camshaft used to wear prematurely so we've improved materials and quality. Cam chain guides saw excessive wear too. The crankcase breather system is drastically improved and gearchange rods have been strengthened – in harsh gear changes they bent on the old bikes. Material quality, hardness and finishes are all improved. When we started the engine lasted about two hours on the rig, we've now got that exceeding 80 hours. ‘The fuel tank has changed and the frame's changed. During pavé…

Brit twins: the past & present THE BRIT PACK In the Royal Enfield Interceptor and the Triumph Street Twin we have a non-identical pair of modern parallel twins conceived within miles of their ancestors’ birthplaces. The shift from Coventry to Hinckley, or Redditch to Bruntingthorpe is just a nudge from West to East Midlands. These softly rolling unfilled landscapes are lightly scattered with warehousing and industry based around the motorways that run through them and remain the home for both brands with design and development still based here. The manufacturing bases have shifted significantly further East and many times greater in scale these days. Looking on a map suggests we probably won't be able to take in Chennai or Chonburi during a day's exploration of motorcycling's key locations, so a…

Paul Lang 1972 Carnielli Motograziella Bought for: £1200 The verdict: It folds and you can store it upright, Its nickname is Cheeky Boy. John Westlake 1970 Puch Maxi N Bought for:£750 The verdict: Fast, loud and uncomfortable. The Panigale V4R of our group. Hugo Wilson 1965 Mobylette AV42 Bought for: £free The verdict: Maintenance issues result in failure on this trip, but the Moby will rise again. Mark Silcox 1985 Honda NV50 Stream Bought for: £530 The verdict: I loved making my presence felt in a white plume of smoke. Ben Lindley 1988Yamaha QT50 Bought for: £273 The verdict: Fast enough to cop for accusations of 65cc big bore cheating. The cheek! Adam Smallman 1981 Honda Express NC50 Bought for: £1100 The verdict: Suspension overwhelmed by my density, but mercifully…

Oxford mini tool kit £21.95 oxfordproducts.com Muc-Off visor cleaning kit £10 muc-off.com Puncture repair kit £15 your local bike shop My Oxford tool kit is 20 years old but they still sell the same thing now, because it's perfect. Well, almost – depending on your bike you might need to add torx bits. I've stuffed a Leatherman and a pressure gauge in too. There are loads of visor cleaning kits around but I like the Muc-Off one because it's got a proper cloth, separate water and is the size of a fag packet – ie, big enough for me not to lose all the time. And the puncture repair kit? Just buy one, stash it, and save yourself hours of hassle. Stand puck £3.49 oxfordproducts.com Cargo net £8.99 oxfordproducts.com Earplugs…

Britain for Bikers This is one of the 100 new routes in Simon Weir's book Britain for Bikers. With ultra-clear A-Z mapping and roadbook-style directions (or GPX files at simonweir.co.uk) this spiral-bound A5 book is designed to slip into a tankbag and has rides in every corner of the UK, including Northern Ireland. Britain for Bikers is available now, wherever you buy your books. Back in the early 2000s, when I was fortunate enough to be a Bike staffer our monthly main test was known as the The Bike 440. The Bike 440 was a punishing day-long ride starting in the environs of the magazine's Peterborough base and running up to the much more acceptable Yorkshire Dales. This compact, classic route doesn't repeat that, but uses a couple of the key…

These days we're spoilt with on-board race footage. We can tuck in and plummet down Bray Hill with Peter Hickman, or even ride on the shoulder of Maverick Vinales in MotoGP. But despite the closeness and clarity of modern stuff, it has to be special to be as compelling as this footage from the late Phil Read's 500cc MV Agusta. Filmed in 1974 the noise, colour and light in this window to another era make it oh-so watchable – and the sense of speed from the camera looking back at Read is glorious. The clip is an extract from the opening sequences of Le Cheval de Fer, a feature film following the 74 Grand Prix season. It's all in French, but an easy way to lose the best bit of…

It's never good when the timing screen in your endurance racing pit suddenly declares your bike is ‘CRASHED’. If the race carries on, that usually means the rider's ok, but ‘CRASHED’ is often the only information you have until the bike or rider (or hopefully both) turn up at the pits. For Ian Martin and the Team Bike crew, that state of limbo continued for 20 minutes during the second two-hour race of the Bol d'Or Classic. ‘Then a message came for me to go to race control, and when I got there a guy said “your bike is in two pieces”. I was like “what?!” He offered to take it to our pit box, but that wasn't much good – we could hardly wheel it back to the paddock.…

Know How [Weird & Wonderful] BSA had been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer in the '50s and one-in-four bikes sold globally was a Beeza. They owned Triumph too. But with competition from imports and a moped boom they needed to react to changing times, so in 1970 released a revolutionary bike to secure a bright future for the British bikes. The Ariel 3: a three-wheeled 'ped that bent in the middle. A bloke called George Wallis came up with the wild design in 1967. Wanting to improve bicycle safety, his designs obviously evolved into a three-wheeled moped, the front half of which leaned like a normal bike. Thinking it not only ingenious but a fabulous way to stand out, BSA bought the rights for a brave new venture. Powered by a…