Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i Cycle World

Honda’s commitment to bringing new riders into the motorcycle fold has never been more evident. From its lovable Grom to the commuter-centric NC700X, Big Red’s range of novicefriendly models cover the gamut. Now, Honda aims to stoke the fire of the young and restless with its all-new 2017 Rebel 300 and Rebel 500, a pair of bobber-style models with a cool minimalistic look and attractive price. Both Rebel models share identical styling and chassis components. A low 27.2-inch seat height, mid-mount pegs, and low-rise bar—all providing a balance of style and control. Backing out of a parking stall is light duty, as is low-speed maneuvering. Handling is light and neutral with easy turn-in feel and a very good sense of stability. Cornering clearance is adequate for a bit of spirited…

Isat in the 120-degree right-hand corner and watched track riders continually run wide on the exit, missing the apex (closest the rider comes to the inside of the corner) lap after lap. My brain couldn’t ignore the street implications, imagining a center line and oncoming traffic. Their entrance speed was not the issue; in fact, they were entering the corner with bikes in shape and at a good speed. “At a good speed” means their entry mph wasn’t excessive; it wasn’t going to make them run wide. One guaranteed way to crash a motorcycle is to continually miss apexes yet insist on an aggressive cor ner exit. A missed apex forces you to hold lean angle longer, and the aggressive corner exit has you adding acceleration to a rear tire…

ASTORIA, OREGON, 12 : 54 P.M. 194.7 Miles ,03 : 07 Elapsed Time It was as warm as it would be for another 20 hours, and I was cold. Not freezing. That would come at night, when the sky filled with snow. When we couldn’t stop shaking. But right then, the day was a wonder. The low clouds broke to show blue sky, the spits of rain abating. And then I nearly dumped us both into the Columbia River. It was Smith’s turn to tangle with the fuel transfer pump, this tiny, 12-volt thing we’d strapped to the sidecar’s fender. He was in the tub, facing backward, body in the breeze, wrestling with long plastic fuel lines full of gas. A line torn or caught in an axle and pressurized fuel…

I fully expected to wake up in pain. Less than 24 hours ago, the KTM crew, a small group of colleagues, and I rolled out of KTM North America’s headquarters in Murrieta, California, and on to the trail. Eight hours later, we rolled in to camp, and some time after that, I dipped off to my tent to curl up on a mat that was about 5 percent plusher than terra firma. It was a good day but also a very long day. I should’ve woken up sore—a full day of wrestling big-bore ADV bikes would have done that. And yet I felt fresh. Standing there by the fire, coffee in hand, it hit me: Maybe less is more after all. Maybe KTM is on to something with its 1090…

1 ZEXTENDED REACH Taller riders may find even a sport standard’s ergos a bit cramped. Kawasaki offers the Ergo Fit Extended Reach Seat ($179.95) for its new Z900. An inch taller than stock, the more deeply padded saddle utilizes factory base and components for a perfect fit and has carbon-fiber pattern trim and an embroidered Kawasaki logo. • (949) 770-0400 kawasaki.com 2 OIL CHANGE MADE EASY DIY oil change service can not only save money but gets owners more intimate with their motorcycle. The Yamalube Sport II Motorcycle AP Oil Change Kit ($35.99) includes Yamalube 10w-40 Performance All Purpose Oil (4 quarts), Genuine Yamaha oil filter, and the necessary drain gasket all in one convenient package. • (800) 521-5958 shopyamaha.com 3 SMART-LOOKING PHONE Displaying brand loyalty is an easy call with the Ducati…

There was no doubt that our pair of sidecar-ists needed help to pull off our dubious nonstop record run from Seattle to LA. Since none of us is a psychiatrist, we elected to simply ride along in a few support vehicles and keep a suicide-prevention hotline on tap. What to drive? We needed to be faster than the Ural, which was easy. That left our divergent needs for brute force and agility. A 2017 Mercedes Sprinter High-Roof Crew Van took care of brute force. On the agility front, we needed speed, yes, but also a proper photo rig in which video shooters could have a mostly unobstructed view. We instantly thought of the 2017 Buick Cascada… We are not sure of the demographic Buick is targeting with the Cascada (starting…

The first thing I learned about Timbersled snowbike is that it is nothing riding a dirt may look like sort of) and sound like a dirt you may be able to ride winter that normally bike, but a st l t riding a T owbike i ing like r t bike. It m e a dirt bike ( irt bike, and y b e it places in wi you’d n rmally ride a dirt bi dirt bike it is not. of a better place to learn this than riding for two days near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. If carving powder on a 50hp, 370pound trackedandskied offroad bike isn’t on your bucket list, it should be. These were some of the best riding days of my life. It’s hard to think o…

Let’s make an “elephant” V-twin engine by bandsawing two cylinders off a 454 Chevy Big-Block. That’s 113.5 cubes. Puny! The S&S Cycle Pro Stock drag-race engine measures 5-1/8-inch bore by 3-7/8-inch stroke. B-I-G. That’s 159.9ci. To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee, “That’s an engine!” Stare in wonder at its gaping injection throttle bodies. This hugeness, remarkably, revs past 10,000 rpm. Three engines compete in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock Motorcycle (PSM): the Vance & Hines “Harley-Davidsons,” the S&S V-twins (once billed as Buells, now as Victorys), and the higher-revving GS-based Suzukis, which get “only” 107 cubes. A quick Pro Stock run in the quarter-mile is 6.750 seconds, reaching 195 to 199 mph through the lights. Engines are unsupercharged, burn gasoline fuel, and produce roughly 350 hp. Bikes in the class…

R6 GEN 4 → REBEL ROUSER → LIGHT ADV LID → THROTTLE CONTROL → CATALOG MOTORCYCLES Ignition TC AND MORE: Yamaha treats the bike that introduced Y-CCT to ride modes, TC, ABS along with significant suspension and brake updates. BY THE NUMBERS 153 Thousand R6 models have been sold in the United States since its 1999 introduction 97 Winning percentage in MotoAmerica competition over past two seasons Not so long ago sportbike enthusiasts used to ink their calendar with an expectation of springtime bearing the fruit of an allnew middleweight supersport platform from one or more of the Japanese Big Four. Although the annual bumper crop of 600 class sportbikes has all but dried up, for 2017 the sky is Yamaha blue. Just as the droughtending, water shed winter has…

Motorcycling is becoming quite the mashup these days. Custom bikes are going crazy with wonder fully weird style combinations, and you can pretty much wear whatever gear you want no matter what you ride. So I don’t feel eccentric at all wearing the Klim Krios ADV lid on a Street Bob or FZ-09. In fact, easily removable two-position-adjustable visor means you can strip it and make it look more like a “street” helmet if you’d like. But it’s really made to be the lightest adventure helmet you can buy. It’s definitely light. Our XL (S–3XL available) weighed 3.25 pounds. A same-size Shoei Hornet X2 (DOT/Snell) tips the scales at 4.1 pounds, and an Arai XD4 (also DOT/ Snell) is 3.9. The Snell standard requires a thicker shell, which generally results…

Of all the latest sportbikes, the new-generation Yamaha YZF-R1 released in 2015 was the one I was most curious about. While the Japanese manufacturers continued to clean up in MotoGP racing, proving they had the technology, they were seemingly lollygagging behind the highertech production offerings from BMW, Ducati, et al. Then came this R1—and the even racier R1M—which promised to right that wrong. Unfortunately my chance to spend time with the R1 came at the expense of Blake Conner. Just as I had inherited Blake’s long-term Triumph Tiger when he broke his leg, I took over his long-term R1 when he left the magazine to return to his native Colorado. The contrast between the R1 and the Tiger couldn’t seem greater, but the two bikes actually have a couple of…

IDLE SIDE EFFECT Q: I ride a 2008 Suzuki 1250 Bandit. A great, solid standard. Only issue I’ve had is its tendency to be abrupt coming off full dead throttle, especially in second gear when doing some spirited riding. I know it’s a characteristic of big-bore bikes. I’ve modified the cam of the throttle tube and used a Power Commander module. Still, the issue remains. Last thing I tried was raising the idle stop screw to increase idle from 1,100 rpm to 1,400 rpm. Great results—much smoother coming on throttle. Question is, now shifting into first at idle is pretty jarring (lots of revolving mass). Am I causing undue damage to the dogs? Would a change to lighter oil be recommended? MARTIN WILLIAMS PORT ANGELES, WA A: Lower the idle…

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