Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 3 - 18 i Cycle World

The Scout FTR750 flat-track racebike triggered a lot of dreams when it was unveiled in 2016. I am sure more than a few pro flat-track racers immediately envisioned podium finishes, but for the rest of us, this light and lithe racebike triggered a speculation about a road-legal tracker. Indian quashed that with its “race-only” declaration for the 750cc V-twin. Booooo! Then at the EICMA show in Milan in 2017, the FTR1200 Custom appeared. We were so impressed, particularly after riding it, that we put it on the cover of Issue 2 and said, in no uncertain terms: Stop screwing around with the “Custom” BS and build it. At the neo-custom cultural gathering Wheels and Waves in Biarritz, France, this past June, Indian announced the FTR 1200 (the name gained a…

Aluminum is everywhere that either lightweight structure or high thermal and electrical conductivity are required. The typical sportbike has an aluminum cylinder block, head, and crankcases, plus a welded aluminum chassis and swingarm. Within the engine, the crucial aluminum application is its pistons, which by conducting heat so well are able to survive exposure to combustion temperatures far above their melting point. The wheels, coolant and oil radiators, hand levers and their brackets, top and (often) bottom fork crowns, upper fork tubes (in USD forks), brake calipers, and master cylinders are likewise aluminum. We have all stared in admiration at an aluminum chassis whose welds resemble the fabled fallen stack of poker chips. Some of these chassis and swingarms, such as those of Aprilia’s two-stroke 250 racers, are graceful works…

The Niken does a lot of things, but perhaps what it does best is defy expectations. Contrary to what you might be thinking, the Niken is not for beginners. It doesn’t balance on its own. It is surprisingly conventional, natural-feeling, and fun to ride. And rather than being the answer to a question that nobody asked, it’s the product of a decade-long quest to build a motorcycle with “unprecedented front-end grip.” Yamaha didn’t necessarily expect to end up with a three-wheeler. “It was never Yamaha’s plan to come out with this design,” remarked Yamaha Europe’s motorcycle product manager Leon Oosterhof at the Niken press launch in Kitzbuhel, Austria. “We were simply pursuing the goal of increasing cornering performance by increasing front grip, to improve the riding experience when conditions are…

It’s easy to focus on the hard parts when they come together so effortlessly like on this sweet and tidy Ducati. But it’s that very effortlessness that almost always comes from one thing: effort. Dubbed “Moto3” because of the frame’s origin, the bike melds a modern roadracing chassis with 1968 Ducati 250cc “narrow-case” single and cribs a 1980s Ducati Pantah color palette. Builder Tony Prust of Analog Motorcycles has been methodically upping his game since we featured his much-modified Bimota (“Analog Life,” April 2014). The origin of the bike lies in his relationship with Framecrafters, which had worked with Prust on previous projects. Framecrafters built some bimetal steel-and-aluminum Moto3 chassis about five years ago with the idea of getting just-right flexibility and stiffness. They went on to produce some of…

Bikes such as the Harley-Davidson Street Glide Special and Indian Chieftain Dark Horse account for most of the motorcycles purchased in this country every year. Yet, to me, they hardly make sense. They’re heavy, low, and are meant to mosey along at a stately pace befitting their almost museumlike quality of being from another time. I know I’m in the minority, and in an effort to understand why, I decided to perform an experiment. What if I were dropped halfway between the muddy banks of the Mississippi River and the shimmering shores of the Pacific Ocean, and told to make my way home? Would I understand those big bikes then? That became the mission: a roadracer, obsessed with horsepower and handling, astride baggers pointed across the heartland, in a mission…

Being handed a pair of earplugs by Bosch PR people at a demonstration of what’s new in electronic rider aids was unexpected. But not nearly as unexpected as the rocket blast that came from the side of a motorcycle using the company’s prototype Slip Mitigation system, which is allegedly superior to Marc Márquez’s elbows in saving seemingly hopeless front-wheel slides. Bosch invited me to Renningen, Germany (just outside German motor city Stuttgart), to see not only this noisy new technology, but also quite a bit of new stuff that will be seen on motorcycles likely to be announced as soon as this fall. Bosch explained that we’d be riding motorcycles with fully prototype systems, and that such machines were in too-short supply to extend wider invitations than the 12 journalists…

Few elements have as large an impact on a motorcycle’s design as the exhaust system. From header to exit, the gently curving shapes help define some of our favorite bikes, but the shapes are far from purely aesthetic. Exhaust gas contains useful energy in the form of velocity, and smooth shapes minimize the loss of that energy. A piston’s full-throttle power stroke begins with combustion gas at roughly 1,000 psi a few degrees after top dead center. That pressure falls rapidly as it pushes down the piston, transmitting power to it. At the moment the exhaust valves or ports begin to open, roughly 100 psi is all that’s left of combustion pressure. Can’t we go on expanding that gas with the piston to get all its energy? We could, but…

Roger DeCoster doesn’t think he’s very smart. The Belgian expatriate marvels at how his youngest son—who is studying to be a doctor—absorbs knowledge quickly, or the way an engineer at KTM can create a part. “I just have a lot of experience,” DeCoster says. “I’m a slow learner, but I’ve learned for a long time.” Now 74, he has, without question, experienced more professional dirt-bike racing than anyone on Earth. He’s a five-time FIM World Motocross champion. He’s been a sport ambassador and an adviser, has shaken President Ronald Reagan’s hand, and has been a team manager since 1995. He’s an accomplished fabricator and machinist, and speaks Flemish, English, and French fluently. In Italian and German, he holds his own. DeCoster’s ultimate job is to win championships for KTM North…