Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2023 i BIKE

5 BIKES THAT REALLY MATTER THIS MONTH [NEW BIKES] FRAME Main frame is described by BMW as a ‘sheet metal shell' – a combination of forged and bent pieces welded together. Rear frame is now an aluminium casting. Both claim to be lighter, stiffer and improve packaging compared with their tubular steel predecessors. Engine is a load‑bearing part of the chassis. PRICE The R1300GS online configurator begins at £15,990 – and precisely none will be sold like this. Start with the TE model instead (£18,465), then begin bolting on your choice of BMW's optional packs, extras and accessories. Wondering how silly things can get? In two minutes we've pushed our build over £25,000 with little effort ENGINE New 1300cc boxer with bigger bore, shorter stroke, larger valves and raised compression ratio…

[NEW BIKES] Five bikes… Triumph has responded to the Scrambler 1200XC's lacklustre sales by replacing it with this – the new 1200X, which has a revamped engine, and is both cheaper and lower. It makes getting on to a Scrambler powered by Triumph's brilliant 1200cc twin-cylinder motor a lot easier – particularly if you don't possess the legs of a giraffe. The XC was a fine bike, but very similar to the top-end 1200XE, – so if you wanted to upgrade from the popular Scrambler 900 there was nowhere to go if you didn't have the necessary inside leg. ‘The XC is certainly the worst seller in the modern classic range for us,' says Craig Piper, sales manager of Total Triumph in Taunton. ‘We sell loads of the 1200XE and Scrambler…

[STAR LETTER] Thumbs-up to anyone who commutes by bike. After years of big bikes, race weekends and touring holidays, life catches up with you in this busy world. Parked next to the Italian red is a 14-plate AJS 125 just to commute. Summer or winter, we do the 30-minute run. The AJS and Matchless Owners Club offers 12 months' membership for free to modern AJS owners. I like something for nothing, so became a member. On seeing they had a club meeting about 70 miles away, I took the little commuter off on an adventure. There was everything from a Vincent to all the classic AJS and Matchless bikes, and I was made to feel welcome. Being in the middle of 50 bikes riding through the beautiful north Pennines was…

Group test Flexible is not a word I'd normally associate with a 75bhp two-stroke 250. But this bespoke, British-built V-twin is full of surprises. A race-tuned Suzuki RGV250 would struggle to make this much power, and even then its powerband would be Rizla-thin. Yet the Langen starts getting into its groove at around 8000rpm, drives crisp and hard between 9500-11,700rpm, and will keep on charging to its 12,700rpm redline if required. It's quick, too. Geared for acceleration rather than outright speed (110mph is its claimed max), the Langen scorches through its ratios like a motocrosser on steroids – and that's fitting given its barrels are Yamaha YZ125 in origin. There's even a sharp, tearing quality to the exhaust note, like a brace of motocross bikes side by side. But how,…

The Oxley interview The xley interview Mat is a TT winner, endurance racer, author and MotoGP paddock insider Halfway through this season it seemed like Johann Zarco's MotoGP career was over. The paddock rumour machine had VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi gaining promotion to Pramac Ducati for 2024, so he could have a latest-spec Desmosedici GP24 to ride alongside Jorge Martin. Thus, no room for the Frenchman who has ridden Ducatis for the past four years, scoring many podiums but no wins. Rumour had it that Ducati would most likely demote him to World Superbikes. But life moves fast in the MotoGP paddock. Honda's RC213V project is in meltdown, with Marc Marquez recently escaping his 2024 contract and Alex Rins escaping his during August, quitting LCR Honda to ride a factory Yamaha…

Is it bird? Is it a plane? Erm, no. It's Belgian-French duo Marvin Vanluchene (rider, or ‘driver' to use the correct term) and passenger Nicolas Musset launching over the tabletop at Cusses Gorse motocross track in Wiltshire during the 11th round of the FIM World Sidecarcross Championship. Most of the bikes start as 450cc singles but are now 700s, either with four-stroke engines from AMS (Action Motorsport) in the Netherlands or two‑strokes from Zabel in Germany. Eating dirt Exhausted and coated in mud, Dutch rider Justin Keuben takes a breather after a gruelling 30 minutes of racing from the first of the weekend's two races. Hefty machines This is the outfit of British crew Michael Hodges and Jack Wilkinson. Their 700cc two-stroke Zabel engine sits in a steel tubular frame…

Sorry, who? Fair question. Brabus has a 46-year history of attending to those whose taste and bank balance outweigh their practical sensibilities. They're best known for building rapid German cars, which started when founder Bodo Buschmann couldn't find anyone to soup up his Mercedes saloon quite the way he wanted. They now offer expensive trinkets from watches to yachts – and somewhere in the middle sit their motorcycles. The Brabus 1300R Masterpiece Edition is a final full-bling hurrah for the KTM 1290 Super Duke R-based machine, with the donor bike being replaced for 2024. KTM is the only brand Brabus put their Westphalian hands on, but unlike the four-wheel division they don't get their fingers oily: changing anything mechanically significant would demand new (expensive) homologation certificates, so the bones and…

AFFORDABLE, NOT CHEAP Being a model with an emphasis on affordability means the Honda CB650F/R's cycle parts have also never been the poshest – but they're far more than just adequate, and the compliant real road-focused ride perfectly suits this high-value bike. No reported problems, either. The front forks have been repeatedly upgraded over the model run – most recently in 2019 with a change to Showa ‘Big Piston' upside-downs. Earlier F models had two-pot sliding calipers – check they're not sticking, especially if the bike's been through winter (or neglected). The later R's radially-mounted Nissin four-pot calipers are stronger and survive better. WATER AND ELECTRIC? HMM… The twin LCD instruments used on early models are adequate but now look old-fashioned. The later (2019-on) single ‘reversed' LCD oblong dash (similar…

Group test Got the money? Want something glamorous, exciting and suitably exotic? You're spoilt for choice… Coming out from the homologation special corner and swinging hard is the new M1000RR – the fat-winged, carbon-clad, full-bling version of BMW's superbike. Next up we have the collector's piece in the shimmering form of Norton's V4SV, the reworked, revised and reintroduced version of the British firm's superbike – a bike built for the sheer wow and hell of it, rather than to satisfy race requirements. And zinging between these big four-stroke animals comes the Langen Two Stroke, an exquisitely-engineered lightweight roadster for those who get giddy at a whiff of fully synthetic and wailing expansion chamber. All three are hugely appealing in their own right. But how do they stack up ridden wheel-to-wheel…

Norton are not mucking about. The V4SV is, they say, the most luxurious British superbike ever built. Quite a claim, and one Vincent Black Shadow and Brough Superior owners may well take to task. Hyperbole aside, one thing's for sure: with a reputed 185bhp on tap, this V4 Norton is the most powerful British production bike ever built. And now the much‑loved marque is under new management, we can take the V4SV very seriously indeed. And so we should. It's an exotic, high-end sportsbike, built right here in Blighty. The damage and turmoil inflicted on the marque before its recent takeover would be enough to sink other brands without trace. But Norton's different. There's a romance to the name, built from decades of Grand Prix racing success, that's simply unshakeable.…

Imagine a hairy World Superbike racer stripped of its bodywork and with an upright-ish riding position. With its stealthy ‘winter test' paint, bare aluminium tank and carbon wheels, that's what Ducati's range-topping new Streetfighter V4 SP2 looks like – and it's pretty much what it's like to ride. Ducati reworked the Streetfighter V4 S for this year, and the SP2 is a blinged-up version; like the SP they sold last year, but even more exotic. Obviously, this means speed-obsessed upgrades and track-ready trinkets rather than heated seats and integral bungee points. The ‘normal' Streetfighter (can you use that term for a 205bhp, 178kg, electronics-smothered supernaked?) is already perhaps the most hardcore bike in its class, but the SP2 has an even more track-focused chassis. The semi-active Öhlins suspension features the…

Ride with… We stride across Wales with the Isle of Man legend on his 100th TT Start Fireblade special edition and the most exotic Honda of all: the RC213V-S I had enough money, one would be delivered to my door. For what it is, what it represents,how it's made – and the fact it's a thing of beauty. You never get bored of looking at it. I can stand here now and look at it for 20 minutes, even though I stood and looked at it for 20 minutes before.' We're outside the Ponderosa Café alongside the Horseshoe Pass in north-east Wales and John McGuinness is clearly rather taken with the Honda RC213V-S. It's eight years since Honda's £138,000 road-legal MotoGP bike was released but the 999cc V4 has lost…

» Longitudinal vee at 90°, since 1965 when ace engineer Giulio Carcano drew the first. Good things work well from the go and last long after obsolescence should prevail – Guzzi's V-twin is one. Although it bears the Bobber tag it's got twin shocks, not a faux hardtail rear, and a fine riding position. It's redolent of the wonderful 850 T3 – nothing fancy, all purpose. £9600 new, used ones start at £5k – and build quality and riding experience are at an all-time high. Yes, it's still a Moto Guzzi, and raise high your glass to that, but also a smart buy and a long-term proposition. Do not steer clear of the Mandello del Lario product.…

Know How [ Weird & Wonderful ] The 1991 Tokyo Motorcycle Show is in full swing. The Ugly Duck is one of three 2WD prototypes on show by Suzuki; the others being a utilitarian XF4 ‘Lander' and the XF5 enduro. Suzuki had also revealed a much-admired Nuda 2WD concept in 1986. The XF425 Ugly Duck's wilfully comedic styling is less farcical and more commercial than might at first appear. Every manufacturer was forever trying to tap the huge US leisure market – and friendly-looking machinery with big, cuddly tyres was deemed the way to go (despite ‘friendly' trikes proving fairly lethal in inexperienced hands). The Ugly Duck, with leading link forks to better accommodate the convoluted drive to the front wheel, was, despite its throwaway moniker, a serious proposition. The long…

Five bikes… [RACING] WHEELS As with a full Superbike, Pathway regulations will allow lighter wheels, reducing unsprung weight and gyroscopic inertia compared to a Superstock bike. SWINGARM Standard, as with Superstock, and so not as stiff as a full-on Superbike part. The swinger can be modified to allow quick-release wheels, however. ENGINE Basically the same as a Superstock bike – so effectively standard – but possibly with a new head gasket. There's a Superbike-spec Motec ECU and no electronic aids. BRAKES Vented pistons in the front calipers prevent overheating and brake fade. Master cylinders can be uprated to full Superbike spec. Next year there'll be some different machines on British Superbike grids. New regulations will allow Pathway' bikes that are sort-of halfway between a Superbike and a full-on Superbike – and…

GEARBOX It's DCT only now on the Adventure Sports model – most buyers choose it (because it's ace). If you want a standard gearbox, you'll now have to go for the base model. ELECTRONICS There are six riding modes – Tour, Urban, Gravel and Off-Road, plus two custom ones – that alter the engine response, Showa semi-active suspension and DCT, plus all the usual cornering traction control, wheelie control etc. SUSPENSION Showa's semi-active EERA (Electronically Equipped Ride Adjustment) suspension now comes as standard and is very clever: it can tell when you're jumping and firms up both ends in preparation for your landing. You got the feeling with previous Africa Twins that, excellent though they are, Honda expended so much effort making them competent in mud that they almost forgot…

Adventure You could pay Elon Musk or Richard Branson a large deposit to fly to Mars one faraway day, or you could go to Japan for way less money and just as much of an interplanetary experience. Japan is like nowhere else on earth. For a start people are almost without exception friendly and engaging. The culture of kawaii (making mundane objects appear as cute as they could possibly be) is wonderfully out of control. There is virtually no traffic on Hokkaido (Japan's northernmost island). There are a few small cracks in some roads but no potholes. Everything that's supposed to work properly… works properly. No one obeys any speed limits. At all. Example: I'm in a local shop, a Lawson Station, much like a Spar or Mace in Britain.…

» Modern tyres have a fabulous operating range. Twenty years ago we'd never have thought sports-touring tyres could work in poor conditions yet also cope with a modest trackday. Best not to assume your semi-slick sports rubber will be dandy in January, mind. Tyres have a ‘glass transition' temperature and take on a plastic state in cold weather. Rubber becomes hard and brittle – not great for grip – and can crack under modest load. Tyres for year-round use have a very low glass transition temperature so work when it's dismal, but summer and sporty tyres transition at a higher temp and so ‘go off' sooner. Bridgestone warn that race tyres can be so prone to cracking in really cold weather that you must handle new ones with care –…

STANDING ROOM ONLY Not really – there's space to sit. But there's only accommodation for one, and nowhere to put a tailpack or cheeky fish supper unless you're happy strapping onto the substantial metal mudguard (sorry, fender – it's American). But the seat's comfier than expected. PRACTICAL OR NAUGHTY? Mounted on the swingarm, the numberplate is on a sort of ratchet that lets you pivot it out the way. Seems a bit odd, but makes tucking the Indian into my crappy garage a bit easier. I can't help wondering if it stops camera identification on late-night runs down the bypass… MAKE SURE IT'S SUNNY Sure, most people who buy a bike like the Chief will use it on glorious days. That's fair enough. But that's still not really an excuse…

[ Events ] 'Valleys Xtreme - two days of hard enduro in the woods of South Wales' Motorcycle Live NEC, Birmingham 18-26 November » It's a great big shed with some motorbikes in it. But the NEC show (does anyone call it Motorcycle Live?) is obviously way more than that. It's your chance to see 2024 metal, take test rides, poke hero riders, buy kit, gawp at classics, try a rolling road… It's not the end of the 2023 season, it's the start of 2024. motorcyclelive.co.uk Plum Pudding Mallory Park, Leics 26 December » This year is the 48th running of Boxing Day's Plum Pudding meet at The Friendly Circuit. Expect all manner of bikes and a bit of fancy dress, plus some cars as well (unfortunately not in the…