Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2024 i BIKE

Bike Issue 615 June 2024 Contact us: bike@bikemagazine.co.uk or 01733 468000 facebook.com/bikemagazineUK twitter.com/BikeMagazine Why buy something that'll merely do when you can build something bespoke? This is the Honda MB-5 built by my good friend Nathan Simpkin when we were teenagers. That's the engine from a H100 bolted to the teeny moped (it shared crankcases with the feeble 49CC original unit). Nathan flowed the inlet and exhaust ports, opened up the reed block, and had exhaust cones rolled by Harry Barlow at Pro Porting in Leicester which we brazed into shape on the bike (with a cut-down Micron can). The clip-ons ’bars and rearsets were home-made, the shocks repurposed (possibly also H100), and the rear light raised into the body. A filed-down seat and Azure blue paint finished the job,…

Manufacturers aren't averse to the occasional cock-up, but there's usually no way to cover it up – the bike is out there being rubbish. However, in 1989 Suzuki pulled off this trick with the GSX-R750RR – by far the rarest GSX-R ever built. The problem Suzuki faced was that after building the all-conquering first GSX-R750 in 1985, they made a complete dog's breakfast of 1988’s second-generation machine. Flushed with success after winning dozens of major championships (including two world endurance titles), Suzuki's engineers came up with an all-new chassis and a shorter-stroke engine for more power. Bore and stroke went from 70 × 48.7mm to 73 × 44.7mm. So far, so promising. But racers hated the new engine because the gains at the top end couldn't make up for a…

Thanks so bloody much, Bike! I've had to wait until retirement until I could realistically afford a Ducati 916 SPS. I've been searching for a few weeks now. Thanks to your article I expect prices to rise higher… Great article, though. Keep up the good work. Mal Smith EACH MONTH WE GIVE AWAY A CABERG DUKE II HELMET AND A YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION TO BIKE FOR THE MONTH'S STAR LETTER. ON YOUR MARKS Corsaro amore Loved the Italian Issue (May). I never really saw the attraction of Italian motorcycles when I passed my test, probably because they were always out of my price range. I had a go on my mate's Ducati 1098 and it was nice but I wasn't blown away by the ride. Then a few years ago we…

Group test Pay for your Super Duke Ktm.com » CASH PRICE £19,599 on the road PCP Deposit £4175,36 monthly payments £241.51, £10,545 optional final payment (4000 miles, 9.9% APR) HP Deposit £4175,36 months £513.73, total £22,669.28 (12.9% APR) This year's Super Duke R Evo has dozens of changes from 2023’s bike – the engine gets an extra 49CC and variable valve timing, the electronics have a multitude of new functions including a wheelie-height setting, and power is claimed to increase by iobhp to igobhp. Yes, igobhp. Because big power loosens buyers’ wallets, KTM understandably bang on about that aspect of the improvements, but ricochetting around Derbyshire none of us notice the difference. Partly that's because if you deploy igobhp in the Peak District you'll most likely embed yourself in a…

The Oxley interview Mat is a TT winner, endurance racer, author and MotoGP paddock insider Top motorcycle racers are not normal human beings, however much they may try to tell you otherwise. ‘Mate, I just race motorbikes, it's no big deal,’ they say, their wild eyes staring into yours. And here is reigning British Superbike champion Tommy Bridewell at the gym… ‘When I'm on a running machine I say stuff to myself, if I'm not performing like I expect to. I'll say “you're an absolute embarrassment, you're a disgrace, you're unworthy”, because it pushes me harder. ‘I had a running machine at home, and I put up a sign that said: “Don't disgrace yourself, don't embarrass yourself, you don't deserve to be in your position.” All this horrible stuff It's…

FLYING MILLYARD Engine: 5000cc V-twin. Tick over: 200rpm » Wow: a 5000cc V-twin with two Pratt & Whitney aero engine cylinders from a WW2 bomber on home-made cases. Turn the twin over twice to prime its cylinders, all your weight on the kick-start, and it bangs into life. Allen's home-made carbs create a glorious induction hubbub as each stroke draws massive amounts of air, the motor barely awake at just 200rpm. The throttle, brakes and clutch are all conventional but the gear lever is a four-speed hand change on the right (with reverse). To its left are two levers; one advances ignition, the other alters mixture, and they need constant fine-tuning to suit throttle, revs and load. Away, through the gears, and I feel like a runaway locomotive as revs…

For the first time since 2016 there's a CBR600RR in Honda's UK range. The focused four-cylinder sportsbike was never retired – they stopped shipping the RR to Blighty, but it remained on sale in Australia, Japan and other countries, and was continually refined with the last major refresh in 2021. And now Honda have given it an extra buff, slipped it through Euro5+ emission regs, and ushered it into your local dealer. There's nothing like cornering with gusto on a true supersport 600, knowing you're barely scratching the surface of what it's capable of. The RR's handling sparkles. It's so well balanced, nimble, precise, and has plush, controlled, fully-adjustable suspension and powerful brakes. Compared to the previous model we got here, the MotoGP-inspired aluminium swingarm weighs 150g less, the wheelbase…

Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 » £14,400 » 1077cc V4 » 173bhp » £3600 deposit » APR: 5.9% » Final payment: £7501.25 A machine to render Factory versions almost redundant. Sure, if you must have big name componentry, go the F route. It is, after all, an epic motorcycle. Yet to all intents and purposes, this regular Tuono is all you could wish for. Crisp handling, same urgent V4, but more comfort, larger screen… hugely overlooked. ‘Crisp handling, urgent V4 – all you could wish for’ BMW S1000R » £13,360 » 999cc inline four » 163bhp » £3004.44 deposit » APR: 3.9% » Final payment: £6460 One of the more convincing arguments for going with a supernaked. Power aplenty, a chassis as happy dawdling as carving sharply, and it looks so…

[Events] ‘Polish your brogues, slip into some tweed, and raise funds for prostate cancer and mental health’ Mach24 Machynlleth, Wales 22-26 May » This is the eighth running of the Mach Festival, run by Bike's long-time adventuring buddy Nick Sanders at his Expedition Centre in Wales. It's a small-scale (400 people) bash with bikes, riding, good food and music - provided this year by none other than Rick Wakeman-and that unique dash of Sandersness. machfestival.co.uk North West 200 Northern Ireland 6-11 May » This year's first big real-roads race, the NW200 sees the world's greatest between-the-kerbs riders on the 'triangle' between Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush. With mass starts (not solo like the TT) and top speeds well over 200mph, 100,000 visitors will cheer the likes of Glenn Irwin, Davey Todd…

You know you're in all sorts of trouble when the big sell for your product is: ‘Tomorrow's Design - Today!’ People tend to want today's designs today. They did in 1958, and they still do in 2024. Honda's NC750X is on the current best-seller list simply because it meets many riders’ requirements - today. Ariel Leader and Honda NC750X? Well, yes, they're connected by a sense of ambition, similar central features, and by the NC being the right bike at the right time… and the poor, old Leader being a repeat gamble at the wrong time. Let's take nothing away from the Leader's designer Valentine Page (1891-1978). He worked on JAP's racing singles, the Ariel Square Four, BSA M20, and the brave Leader. It had no frame. Chassis was a…

Deep within the bowels of BMW's R&D centre in Munich, you can bet your trousers that engineers are putting the finishing touches to the M1300GS, rumoured to go on sale later this year. But if you don't want to wait, how about this custom made by Swiss racer and BMW dealer Daniel Weidmann? ‘We have some good friends in BMW in Munich who work in the customising department,’ Daniel tells Bike, ‘and they sent messages of congratulations when they saw this bike, but unfortunately they did not tell me if it looked like the real M1300GS. This is purely our interpretation of how one could look.’ Most of Daniel's efforts went on the tail, which is much slimmer than the standard bike's, which has to hold all the pannier supports…

Group test For those of us whose pivotal motorcycling moments were on Blades and GSX-Rs in the 1990s, these four bikes are tantalising prospects; all the power and handling of the world's finest sportsbikes, with riding positions suited to middle-aged decrepitude. Plus, the absence of fairings means we're less likely to accidentally do four million mph on the local on the local bypass. Bikes such as BMW's S1000R and Yamaha's MT-10 offer similar promise, but they're soft-edged cheapies compared to the candidates here. For ultimate thrills without increasing your physiotherapy bills, these are the four to consider. The new 1390 Super Duke R Evo is hot favourite. If the 1290 wasn't outstanding enough, KTM have added 49cc and numerous engine and electronic upgrades to their generously proportioned V-twin nutcase. But…

‘Gripping the bars so tightly, there's no way I can roll off the throttle…’ VIPER V10 Engine: 7997cc V10. Top speed: are you strong enough to find out? » I've been datalogging bikes for over 25 years and ridden all manner of crazy machinery, but the Viper's numbers are still hard to get your head round: 500 lb.ft of grunt, around 500bhp, and more than 600kg. And no gears - the pushrod V10 car engine is direct drive. You start it with the clutch pulled in (and bystanders helping hold it up so the huge torque reaction when it fires doesn't throw you on your side) and then slip the clutch all the way to 55mph, at which point the motor is at its tickover speed. Clutch faff out the…

DIY bikes I got the idea in 1978. I wasn't even 16 years old and working at a boatyard motor shop. There was an old English bike sitting there and an electric motor nearby, and it was a chocolate-mixed-with-peanut-butter Reese's pieces moment. I knew putting the two together was what I wanted to do, but the technology wasn't there. I drag-raced a big-bore Kawasaki H2 750, a Harley FXR that did 10-second quarter miles with nitro and wheelie bars, then a Pro-Street Harley Sportster that did nine seconds. I accidentally put it down at ioomph in a parking lot, got hurt pretty good and my wife talked me out of racing. After a couple of years being miserable, I ran into a bunch of guys I knew who said you…

First Ride ‘Its 660cc triple is one of the finest engines in the entire sub-100bhp motorcycling world’ For those who want a comfortable bike that still has an essence of sportiness, you're going to love this. For the ‘real’ world (whatever that is), Triumph's new £8595 Daytona 660 is a machine with a huge window of usability and an incredible engine, encased in a soft and easy chassis that is wonderfully friendly. This, of course, is a far softer and more sports tourer-esque take on the Daytona name than the previous 675 razor – think something more like the iconic T595 from the mid-1990s. And like its grandfather it houses a glorious motor. In fact, the 660cc triple is one of the finest engines not just of the new middleweight…

Next Winter Olympics? Julien Escande, known as ‘The American’, rides his snowboard towed by his own Honda XR400, ridden by former cycling champion Loic Chetout. The Swank Rally consists of daytime trials and a night race, but between there is much high jinks. Despite numerous falls and the towing strap catching the spiked wheels, the duo master snow that is unexpectedly slushy (hello, global warming). Attention to detail From the heat of the Paris-Dakar to chilled digits in the Alps. Belgian buddies Wannes Elias (left) and Koen Dedeurwaerdertake a rest from caning their classic Dakar-replica gianttrailies: a 1992 Honda Africa Twin (an RD04 for model aficionados) and 1989 Yamaha XT600Z Ténéré. Full marks for their meticulously selected period-correct clobber-that one-piece Honda romper suit is particularly fabulous. Anything goes… There is…

» This final version of Hinckley's big touring machine is among the best tour buses around. It has one of the best fairings and adjustable screens in the game – a big win on an all-day, all-weather ride. The 1215cc three-banger engine is a delight. With 130bhp at just under 9000rpm and 90 Ib.ft of torque at a most accessible 6450rpm, you can row this thing along. The spec is sky-high, especially on the SE, which is the one to plump for – it has electronically adjustable rear preload and damping, and front damping adjustment. Final drive is by shaft, service intervals are 10,000 miles apart. And good SEs start at just £4000-ish; a good £2k under an equivalent and far more common BMW R1200RT. Overlooked, and fine value. Mark…

When I pulled someone over on the motorway, it was usually for objective stuff like speeding or being on the phone. Some things are more subjective though, like filtering and undertaking – then it's about perception. You have to think how it looks to a copper. If you're weaving between lanes at speed, you'll get pulled – possibly for dangerous driving. So, what's the right balance? Is undertaking OK? Say a car is mindlessly hogging lane three [ie, the ‘fast lane’ – Ed]. The rule book states that you shouldn't undertake. But if you waft past just a bit quicker with no big swoops, the chances are no one will even notice. You're under the radar. But don't be greedy. If there are lines of dawdling traffic in lanes two…

5 BIKES THAT REALLY MASTER THIS MONTH [NEW BIKES] ‘This is a completely new platform for MV’ FRONT END Fully-adjustable conventional Sachs forks with Brembo Stylema calipers. There's a Sachs shock at the back. It's taken a while, but MV Agusta have finally launched their big adventurer – the Enduro Veloce. The new 931CC triple makes 124bhp and combines some seriously sporty specifications with a 21in front wheel and optional knobbly tyres. MV claim they've created a new segment with the bike, which is stretching it a bit, but you can see what they're aiming at – more power and road talent than big dirt bikes such as the KTM 890 Adventure, yet greater off-road capability than big roadsters such as Ducati's Multistrada V4 and BMW's R1300GS. A three-cylinder Ducati…

Five bikes… [NEW BIKES] This new Husqvarna 801 is essentially KTM's 790 Duke stripped of its lairy orange paddock jacket and wearing a beautifully-tailored trench coat instead. It's the latest in a line of converted KTMs (the two brands are owned by the same company), though in this case the underpinnings are not exactly the same as the donor bike's. The main difference is the 799CC parallel twin engine, which makes iojbhp rather than the Duke's 95bhp. This isn't down to any special tuning, but rather a lack of detuning – KTM wound the 790 down a bit so it wasn't too close to the 115bhp 890 Duke. Obviously they didn't have to bother with the Husqvarna. Both bikes share the same 63 lb.ft torque figure (and every engine dimension). The…

We're scorching down the A623 between Sparrowpit and Stoney Middleton, and yet again the Tuono Factory is oozing class and making life easy. Up ahead, road tester Carl Stevens is tucked in on the Streetfighter looking like Pecco Bagnaia with a tatty rucksack, closely followed by James Toprak’ Doherty on the howling M1000R. They're both faster riders than me and by rights should be pulling away, but thanks to Tuono magic, they're not. The road surface is pretty good, but you can never be sure the local council won't have left a little present halfway round the next third-gear sweeper - maybe a poorly filled pothole or perhaps a few stutter bumps diey couldn't be bothered to iron out. Either way, the firmly-suspended Ducati and BMW can't be doing with…

Group test Pay for your M1000R bmwmotorradfinancialservices.co.uk CASH PRICE: £19,480 on the road PCP Deposit £4175,36 monthly payments £244.33, optional final payment £10,022.50 (4000annual miles, 8.9% APR) HP Deposit £4175,36 months £483.54, total £21,582.84 (8.9% APR) After a hard day making a nuisance of ourselves in the Peaks, we head to our accommodation in Matlock and discover we've all made the same error. Guessing none of the bikes would have rear ends suitable for tail bags (actually the KTM can manage one), we all bring rucksacks and consequentiy decide not to pack heavy-duty locks. Which means four very expensive motorcycles are in the hotel car park waiting to get nicked. We push them under the CCTV camera outside reception, then rearrange them so the M1000R is hardest to get at.…

DIY bikes My first bike I modified was an old BSA Bantam. I was 15 at the time and managed to fit an old Austin 850 Mini car engine into it, by cutting the frame in half and then fabricating it all back together. I rode it to school to show my metalwork teacher. He was really impressed. When I left school I started work as an apprentice mechanical engineer. I was 17 and did my first engine modification, adding an extra cylinder to a Honda C90 so that it ended up being a C180 V-twin. I still have the engine at my house today. Ridden every day In 1996, I was given a Kawasaki KH250 - a three-cylinder two-stroke from the late 1970s - as part-payment for a job.…

PRACTICALITY There's plenty of this with the GX. The rack is a beast, with loads of mounting points (unlike the R1300GS's), and the saddle is big and comfy, though the pillion seat could do with being bigger. It's annoying that heated grips aren't standard on a near-£15k bike. REAR SHOCK This can of Tennent's Extra is actually the remote reservoir for the rear shock, stuck up under the left-side pillion grab handles to cop a bit more breeze and dissipate heat. You can adjust preload easily with a few clicks of the switchgear. Handy for substantial pillions. COLLECTOR So named for its ability to collect rust. Despite being tucked away it still manages to offend me, sitting there like a tatty mild steel turkey. It's a shame because the build…

Know How [Racing] Shuffling into the Rapid Honda pit at Donington Park, there aren't the glowing tans you expect on a group of people fresh from a week or two in Spain. The team saw some sun, but going from Superstock to British Superbike on an ex-factory Honda Fireblade is a big step - and means work, not poolside cocktails. ‘Spain was testing, in every sense,’ says crew chief Dave Hewson. ‘Because we're a new team we got dispensation to test the Superbike for three days at Andalusia. We had feedback from Franco from riding the bike last year [he stood in for Andy Irwin] - it wasn't as stable as he wanted and there were details they never got quite how he wanted. So, we had a list of geometry,…