Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i BIKE

BIKE The base bike is a 1953 Jawa 18, complete with original frame, friction dampers and drum brakes -Czech laws meant Marek couldn't mess with those and stay road legal. ENGINE The design on CAD took seven months, with the next two years spent on the build. Marek blew the motor five times until he got the assembly cock on. PAINT As if Marek didn’t exhibit enough talent with the engine, he did all the paintwork too. BISTELLA The name translates as ‘twin star’ in Latin – a reference to the two layers of radial engine. Marek was inspired by an Indonesian fivecylinder radial custom called Naga Lima. In the last 32 years, we have featured all manner of fascinating and bonkers engines, but this one is surely the most…

The whole thing started with the tank,’ Roland Groteclaes tells Bike. ‘It was the heat exchanger oil tank from a Formula One car that I got from an English friend (Roland is Belgian). Once I had that, I just had to work out how to make the bike.’ And so how exactly did he build it? And isn’t that a Bimota Tesi frame…? » Bike: Why is a sculptor making a motorcycle? Roland: Before this I’d made sculptures based on motorcycles, and exhibited them all around the world. But I suspected that maybe some people thought that I could only make fantasies that never work. This bike is to show them that I can. » Is that really a Tesi frame? Yes it is. I had a few Bimota parts…

» It's better than I thought it'd be. I was confident straight off the bat because the riding position is so nice. It's more relaxed and comfortable than my Honda, and makes the bike feel less heavy at the front - so it feels easier to steer, especially with the leverage of the higher, wider handlebar. Good seat as well, with plenty of space. Although it's higher and more comfortable, it doesn't feel too upright. You're still engaged, and ride comfort is about perfect. The Guzzi doesn't feel firm, even on bumpy lanes. It's smaller and less powerful, but the engine's performance is the same as my VFR - or it is how you ride on the road. The V-twin isn't any lumpier than my V4, and the midrange feel…

KAWASAKI Z650 Price: £7499 Power: 68bhp Weight: 188kg Launched: 2017 HONDA CB750 HORNET Price: £6999 Power: 90.6bhp Weight: 190kg Launched: 2023 TRIUMPH TRIDENT Price: £7895 Power: 80bhp Weight: 189kg Launched: 2021 YAMAHA MT-07 Price: £7500 Power: 72.4bhp Weight: 184kg Launched: 2014…

FIRST RIDES SPECIAL Before I even throw a leg over Suzuki’s new V-Strom I dislike it. My reason being? It’s a parallel twin. This engine format is the middleweight equivalent of the grey squirrel; first there were a few, but before we knew it they’d multiplied and driven all other engine formats to near extinction. However, this feeling lasts for but three corners. Because, despite Suzuki’s best efforts to build a trail-conquering adventure bike, the new 800DE is a superb on-road motorcycle. And one which, for me, has the edge over Yamaha’s class-leading Ténéré 700. Though it has a 21-inch front wheel and tubed Dunlop Mixtour tyres, the on-road riding experience is a great one. Haring along the Sardinian coast on billiard table-smooth tarmac strewn with technical corners and heart-stopping…

Folklore: 25 years of the R1 ‘I hated the look of all the numbers in the name and originally it was just going to be the Yamaha R’ In 1991 and 1992 I was working on the YZF750R and YZF1000R Thunder Ace. At that time Yamaha’s sportsbikes were tested in Germany and that meant they were designed to be very speed orientated. Behind the scenes there was talk about a new machine, a 1000cc inline four that would be the ultimate sportsbike. With this new project the philosophy was different - we spoke to customers, and they said they took their bikes places to enjoy them, to ride around corners and experience the fun of motorcycling. We needed to reinvent Yamaha’s large capacity motorcycle, to allow riders to explore the…

Triumph have been powering the Moto2 grid with modified 765cc three-cylinder road engines for four years. And so it was simply a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if ’ they deployed some of their Grand Prix knowhow into a road bike. And here it is, the new £11,295 Street Triple 765 RS. The previous RS was already a shining beacon of sports naked excellence. Now with more horses and a bunch of chassis, braking and electronics upgrades (and ‘765’ added to its name), it feels like a pukka race bike with straight ’bars. Put simply, it’s the best sportsbike they’ve ever made. An actual Moto2 engine is blueprinted and crammed with prohibitively expensive parts, but Triumph have carefully selected some of the best bits for the new RS and R (see…

Usually there is emotion when a long-term test bike goes back to its rightful owner. It’s usually positive because the bike’s custodian will have bonded with it, in the right way. Unless it’s Westlake and the bike’s a Harley. Or me, if the bike’s the MV Agusta Superveloce. Bear with me on this… To be sure, after a JCB and a steam train my next purchase, should my numbers come up, would be an MV Agusta. I love them. Yet the last five months as keeper of this Superveloce have been a love/hate relationship. Spiritually I would describe the experience as Yin and Lang. First the Yin: the Superveloce is stunning. So much so that garage door opening is always followed by an, ‘ooooh,’ from me, and anyone else in…

Used for: one month Price: £84.99 Info: sportsbikeshop.co.uk » No, I wasn't aware of them either. Dexter is a French brand, available in the UK through Sportsbike Shop for what appears to be extremely attractive pricing. This adventure hat has a Pinlock-ready visor, 'EasyFit' system for spectacle wearers, removable peak, washable interior, plus a built-in drop-down sun visor, all for eighty-five quid. Cheap and value aren't the same thing, of course, so I made sure that I managed my expectations. But didn't need to worry. Sure, a few bits of trim give the price away, and the Pinlock doesn't follow the lower profile of the visor and so looks a bit… well, odd. But I like the snugness around my neck, reducing wind noise and making it feel safe, like…

Five bikes… [ NEW BIKE ] TUEL TANK Designed and made by RSD. They did the rear mudguard too, along with the yokes, risers and exhaust. ENGINE A straight lift from Buell's 1190SX superbike, so it's a 1190cc, liquid-cooled V-twin making 180bhp. All the electronics are from the superbike too. The radiator is by RSD. CHASSIS The steel frame was made by Roland Sands Design (RSD) but everything else is 1190SX: wheels, swingarm, forks, brakes, the lot. The forks are extended and the Penske rear shock rebuilt. Buell’s new Super Cruiser is a 180bhp supernaked with a laid back riding position and chilled geometry. Bike asks Buell boss Bill Melvin what on earth he was thinking… » Bike: Hang on, haven’t Buell always specialised in sporty bikes? Bill: Buell is really…

» KTM have built a limited edition run of 1290 Super Duke R Evos in partnership with luxury car maker Brabus. Just 290 Brabus 1300R Edition 23s have been produced and they've all sold. Curiously the 'Brabus' uses the Super Duke Evo's 1301cc V-twin engine, trellis chassis, single-sided swingarm and subframe. No modifications. In fact, the only differences are aesthetic - black or black/ silver finish and semi-retro stance. The asking price for all this not-muchdifference is £36,999, which is £18,500 more than a Super Duke R Evo. The Brabus went on sale in February and stocks of the all-black version ran dry in less than 12 minutes. Mind you, it was to be expected: last year all 154 examples of the 2022 Brabus sold in just one minute and…

If the arrival of Triumph’s Trident 660 was an unpleasant slap in the face for Yamaha’s MT-07, Honda’s CB750 Hornet must surely be a knock-out blow to the previously dominant parallel twin. Toppling a class king is never easy but Honda have challenged their rivals with a cunning double-pronged lunge of a far better bike for considerably less coin. Even if the Hornet were the same price as its two closest rivals, the MT-07 and Trident (£500 and £896 more expensive respectively than the £6999 CB750) Honda would still have the competition seriously tossing and turning at night. ‘I’m blown away by the Honda,’ says fellow tester Bruce Dunn after an hour aboard the new Hornet. ‘Before riding it, I couldn’t see it being as good as it is, especially…

Buy a used Kawa ER-6n Before it was a Zed it was an ER-6, and the final version (2012-2016) is a ruddy good buy. Yours from £3000. » Early ERs could suffer frame cracks. Later bikes don't, but like all ERs the exhaust can fracture where pipes meet the collector. » Check the front end - yokes easily twist in a minor prang, sliding two-pot calipers stop sliding, fork seals like to leak. » The engine's a perky peach and there shouldn't be any issues. Why? That’s the question bouncing around my head from the moment I swing a leg over the Z650. Why would anyone buy this Kawasaki over the Honda? Even if it matched the Hornet for performance and tech. But it doesn’t - it’s 22bhp down and…

The day was grey and lifeless, roads slimy underfoot, and I liked being in the office. Mid-morning and with the tea trolly due, the office van swept into the car park. Des the driver waved, all thumbs-up and silent chuckles, clearly even more excited than usual. Doors opened, out came the ramp, then a pause as ratchet straps were released. ‘Phwoar! It’s the red-and-white one.’ And the usual saunter out to inspect a new bike degenerated into a stampede. Yamaha’s new R1 punched colour into the gloom. All its mass seemed squashed into the front of the bike. A canted engine block, that piggyback gearbox… There was potency, elegance, and saucy detail. ‘Look, the gear linkage goes through the frame!’ As we took turns to jump on and remark on…

SPRUCED TWIN Being based on the 790cc Bonneville, the Thruxton's air-cooled four-valve parallel twin was 'hotted up' in true cafe racer tradition. Fatter high-comp pistons took capacity up to 865cc, there were new cams, exhausts and re-jetted carbs, and the result was a 13% power boost from 62 to 69bhp, with the extra ponies slightly higher up the range. In 2008 (when it became Thai-built) it also gained fuel injection. There are no major problems, although some owners raise the gearing to compensate for the lack of a sixth gear. If it's a later EFI bike, check to see if it's been remapped to improve revs and performance. CHASSIS SAVVY Tubular steel, twin loop frame is straight from the Bonneville but has longer rear shocks which, with clip-ons and rearsets,…

[ Events ] SCAN ME TO BOOK 'Europe's largest motorcycle test ride fleet, racing, stunt shows, kit to buy…' Kempton Auto Jumble Kempton, Middlesex 25 March » If you're a subscriber, or buy your copy of Bike as it goes into the shops, then you're still in time for this one. And it's a big one: thousands of kindred spirits on the look out for their next excuse to head to the shed, or just a bacon butty, cuppa and a chat. kemptonautojumble.co.uk British Superbikes Silverstone, Northants 07-09 April » If you've been fired up by Stuart Higgs (the force behind BSB's success) back on page 40 then the return of British Superbikes can't come soon enough. There's a new format this year, said to reward season-long performance and keep…

I’m fortunate, where I live, to be surrounded by great roads. Not just hard-topped ones. There are several byways open to all traffic, unsealed roads and other confusing types of trail, and whenever we test an adventure bike I’m tempted to explore. Sometimes I do give in to their lure and blunder through greenery. It’s always fun, but I’m sweaty, tense and aching when I plop back onto tarmac. And relieved that a passing John Deere hasn’t had to extract a hefty motorcycle (and imbecile rider) from a hedge. Clearly I’m doing something, or lots of things, wrong. Which is why I’m stood in some trees with my 17-year-old son Edward and wondering how long until I’m flailing under a bike getting my Oxford Rockland suit all mucky. We’re at…

PRACTICALITY Height adjustable heated seat, tall screen, handguards, 9500-mile service intervals, and a 19-litre tank that hangs down either side of the engine to keep the centre of gravity low. ELECTRONICS The full electronic monty: cornering ABS, off-road ABS, cornering traction control, four rider modes, up and down quickshifter, cruise control. CHASSIS Steel tube frame with the engine as a stressed member. 48mm WP Xplor forks (standard bike has 43mm WP Apex units). Rear shock gets high and low-speed compression damping. Front wheel is 21in, rear is 18in. ENGINE Identical to the KTM 890 Adventure, so an 889cc, 8-valve parallel twin with all the modern trimmings -ride-by-wire throttle, forged pistons, slipper clutch, high compression ratio (13.5:1) and two balance shafts (one up in the cylinder head). 'It's not a Norden…

As things stand, road racing in Northern Ireland will not happen this year due to the rising cost of public liability insurance. In practise this means no North West 200 and no Ulster Superbike Championship. And no trials activity either. The NW200 is Northern Ireland’s biggest outdoor sporting event and there is hope it will still run, but this hinges on the support of the public. Financial support… The rescue initiative has come from the Motorcycle Union of Ireland (Ulster Centre) who have set up an on online crowdfunding website. As this issue of Bike went to press they had raised over £87,000. The target for the fundraiser is £300,000 and funds are being managed by an accountancy firm based in Belfast. The reason so much money is needed is…

[ RACING ] » Four-time British Superbike championship runner-up and one-time World Superbike race winner Chris Walker is set to make his racing comeback in the 2023 World Endurance championship. Last seen in the endurance paddock in 1999, when he won the Le Mans 24 Hour alongside Steve Hislop, Walker will race in the superstock class for the ADSS97 Kawasaki team on a ZX-10R. Teammates will be Australian Levi Day and experienced Chris Platt. Speaking to Bike after five days of testing in Spain, Chris jokes: 'Andalucía was pretty much to blow the cobwebs away and try and remember how to get my knee down. Which I managed by the end of day three, on both sides, without getting cramp.’ The last time Chris competed on short circuits was the…

FIRST RIDERS SPECIAL Admit it. Deep down you’ve got a Moto Guzzi-shaped soft spot. Every dream garage surely has one of the Italian V-twins propped in a corner, supplying the character and style. Thing is, it would probably also be finicky and quirky. Maybe a bit obstinate. Fifty years back a Guzzi was light, crisp and on the leading edge, a great bike. But over the years they became increasingly outdated and eccentric - yes, they had personality and engagement, but not always enough to gloss over dynamic shortcomings and… well, oddness. Second bike or sunny Sunday toy? Definitely. Only bike? Not so much. This bike changes that. The new £13,500 V100 Mandello takes the proven qualities of the V7 retro and V85 adventurer, and mixes in whacking dollops of…

The xley Interview Mat is a TT winner, endurance racer, author and MotoGP paddock insider Picture this: a pile-up at Paddock Bend, Brands Hatch, in the summer of 1984. A 13-year-old boy sprinting this way and that, picking up a couple of bent motorcycles and helping a limping rider escape the carnage. Of course the kid shouldn’t be there at all, he’s far too young for such a grown-up job, but back then people didn’t care so much about little details like that. Thirty-nine years later that lad is the boss man of the world’s biggest national superbike series. Looking after racers and running races runs deep in Stuart Higgs’ blood. ‘My dad was a bit ahead of his time,’ says Higgs, supping a pint in his local in Paddington,…

Group test More than 160,000 owners can’t be wrong. That’s how many people have bought MT-07S since this zesty twin first appeared back in 2014. Enough to fill Old Trafford twice over and still have a 10,000-strong queue backing up from the turnstiles. Add to that the even greater number of delighted used MT owners and you’re looking - literally - at hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers. And rightly so. The MT-07’s mischievous blend of punchy performance, agile handling and pocket-friendly price tag have kept it at the top of its class for almost a decade. Only Triumph’s brawny Trident has come close to knocking the Yamaha from its perch. But change is inevitable and Honda’s new Hornet has finally tipped the balance. That doesn’t mean the MT becomes…

Group test I can’t say that the Z650 is a bad bike, because it isn’t. Both Bruce and I found it to be a perfectly capable machine and even a hoot to ride at times. The problems begin when you jump off the Kawasaki onto any of the others. No amount of styling tweaks, new tech or marketing spin can disguise the fact the 650 is six years old, seriously down on power and no longer in the slipstream of its competitors. Worse than that, it’s £500 more expensive than its newest, 22bhp more powerful rival. That, by any measure, is commercial suicide. Yamaha have a similar problem. The MT is also showing its age and it too is 500 quid more than the Honda. In isolation the 07 is…

FIRST RIDES SPECIAL How good? Very bloody lots good. Honda’s new XL750 is a classy, affordable all-rounder with the easy manners and practicality that made the original Transalp so appealing, with added fire in its belly thanks to its wonderous new motor, plus pin-sharp handling and more than its quota of techy bling. It’s so good that I’d say the £9499 Transalp is more usable than its big brother, the pricier CRF1100L Africa Twin. The Transalp is one of those bikes that perhaps doesn’t appear special on paper, like Honda’s own CB500X or the Triumph Tiger Sport 660. But then you ride it and discover everything from the engine to the suspension, brakes, tyres and riding position all work beautifully together. This should all be expected really, given the Transalp…

I bought my 1998 YZF-R1 in 2012 on a nostalgic whim. I was after a cheap-ish modern bike that would start on the button, had a bit of character, and wouldn’t lose me too much money. I wanted the red and white paint because it’s the colour scheme I remember staring at in awe on the pages of magazines, and think I paid £3000 for it. Maybe even £2500, as it had a few small scuffs. I genuinely didn’t expect the R1 to prove as good as it is in a modern context. So often ‘modern classics’ are a disappointment to own. Aside from smelling good, an RD350LC is a bit crap and decidedly sketchy in bends (I know, I also own one), and when you up the pace a…

We’ll start with an imaginary checklist attached to my pretend clipboard as we circle the latest Ducati. Let’s see… Termignoni exhaust? Check. Adjustable Öhlins suspension and tweaked geometry? Double check. But we’re not done yet. We can deploy more imaginary ticks in the boxes next to fat Brembo calipers, steering damper and race-inspired paint, too. Yes, the updated Monster definitely does the SP thing. It isn’t quite as full factory as previous SP models. In the late 1980s and through the 1990s the SP-badged Ducatis were homologation specials, built in limited numbers in pursuit of World Superbike garlands and often featuring exclusive engines. The Monster SP isn’t quite that bling. It’s a regular production model - the existing base Monster - just with a few extra niceties bolted on. This…

1 What exactly do you take with you? ‘Just in case’ is the curse of packing. Be the master of travelling light. In the past I’ve taken 30 minutes to unpack and the same to repack - that’s a whole day’s riding time each week just rummaging inside your panniers. I took only the following on my recent world ride: documents, camera phone, a few tools, an inner tube (tyre plugs for tubeless), set of tyres, one set of light clothing, and a toothbrush. If you want your bike where you left it in the morning, also take the biggest-bastard Squire lock you can afford. 2 Which is the best bike for adventuring? You marry someone because you share something special. You choose your dog, probably, because it looks like you. And…

» With eleven examples registered in the UK (and four more on SORN), the adventure version of Morini’s bold Corsaro 1200 V-twin is about as rare as it gets. But it’s worth trying to sniff one out. Produced towards the end of the ‘Franco Motori’ era (2004-2010), it used a meaty 118bhp version of their belting 1187cc V-twin in a comfy upright chassis with a huge 27-litre tank, Excel wire wheels and an exotic cocktail of cycle parts including fully adjustable 50mm forks, Öhlins shock and Brembos. The result looks as mad as only a high-performance Italian adventure bike can, is ultra-exclusive, fast, has decent handling and is practical. Under appreciated too – I’ve seen them for as little as eight grand. And you'll probably never lose money.…

When it comes to the great American sportsbike dream there have been many spectacular casualties. Think Harley’s bizarre XLCR of 1977 and their abortive VR1000 World Superbike contender in 1994. Or any of the many Buells. But none create quite so many what-could-have-beens as the Fischer MRX650 which, when all was said and done, barely managed double-digit actual motorcycles between 2006 and 2010. In 2001, former Chicago AMA racer Daniel Fischer picked up the torch when he conceived an all-new, fully modern American superbike. Following discussions with Rotax he decided to base it around the Austrian engine specialist’s V990 60-degree V-twin, as already sold to Aprilia for their RSV Mille. Gemini Technology Systems in Wisconsin (who’d built the frame for H-D’s VR1000) came up with a twin-spar chassis, and Brit…