Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Fast Bikes

FEATURE Wings aside, you’d be forgiven for thinking much of the new M 1000 R mimics the foundations of BWM’s S 1000 R. The frame is the same. The swingarm is the same. The wheels are the same… and so the list goes on. But this was never about reinventing the wheel; this was all about taking something that was already decent and making it a whole lot more exceptional. Or, to use BMW parlance, to give it the kind of treatment that would make it worthy of the ‘M’ people. Of course, I’m talking about the Bavarian brand’s esteemed performance arm, not the 1990s pop group, which, unlike the latter, entered the motorcycling scene only last year with the launch of the M 1000 RR. For the brand, the…

Retro or classic thumpster? Whatever you want to call it, riding the BMW R nineT was another box ticked for me, and although I don’t have a big old beard or my right arm tattooed, I don’t think my lack of hipster style took anything away from the experience. The BMW’s unruly character and potent performance is one I’ll not be forgetting anytime soon. Although low in the saddle, this machine is by no means a boy’s bike, and just cracking the BMW into life makes that quite clear. At first, I thought it was going to topple itself over as the horizontal cylinders of the reputable boxer engine got to work and sent lateral torque forces through the bike, but that soon settled down when everything balanced and a…

YAMAHA XSR900 FEATURE It’s true that life is full of surprises… but this wasn’t one of them. Long before we’d left our lock-up for a day of frolicking, I knew the XSR was assured to be the pick of this crop, despite having never sat on one before. The reason? Well, it’s basically an MT09 with a hint of 1980s styling. It’s got the same CP3 motor that makes 117bhp. The same Deltabox frame that’s strategically tuned in thickness. And the same Rlinfluenced electronics suite that includes everything from rider modes to wheelie control. Pretty much most things about the XSR are twinned with the MT-09, including the TFT colour dash, which sets this bike apart from its peers, which have largely gone I down the route of half-digital/ half-analogue displays.…

And now, the end is near. And so I face the final curtain… As 2022 drew to a close, Suzuki announced it was indeed shutting the book on a family of bikes that dominated the 2000s and changed the face of the litre bike class - the GSX-R1000. Yes, 21 years after the original K1 kicked sand in the faces of the R1 and FireBlade, the M2 would be the last of Suzuki’s litre sportsbikes. Well, to arrive into Europe anyway - technically they are still being made, but they will only be sold in markets with less stringent emissions regulations or be limited to track use only, much like Yamaha has done with the R6. Is it worth dipping into the used market and buying the final generation? You…

Ducati rolled out its Streetfighter V4 SP at the start of 2022, bringing the next level of supernaked tech and performance into the hands of consumers. In case you’re enough to own one, consider yourself Ducati rolled out its Streetfighter V4 SP at the start of 2022, bringing the next level of supernaked tech and performance into wondering, it is one hell of a beast on the track and road alike. If you’re lucky part of a special club, a club that Scott Lawrence joined a few months back. He’d previously owned a KTM 1290 Super Duke R before trying out a Tuono V4 1100 Factory for size. Both bikes he really enjoyed riding, but after jumping on a Streetfighter V4 S, he realised he’d found something really quite special.…

Q I have seen so much around this topic that I don't know where to start. I need some absolutely firm advice on hiring a bike. The background is I got knocked off by an old boy pulling out of a junction. It was his fault and he accepted blame. My 'Big Bang' R1 took a bit of a battering and is off the road being repaired; I was given a crappy CB500 as a replacement. I signed a form when the CB500 was dropped off and now I have been sent a hire bill for £12,000.1 am bricking it, as I have been told I am liable for this sum. This cannot be right as the bike hire place told me verbally that I don't have to pay a…

Upfront PLANET FAST BIKES - NEW METAL, NEWS & REVIEWS Normally, when someone turns up with a retro ‘sports’ bike, we don’t answer the door, and they take it along the hallway to a more appropriate editorial hovel. But if this bugger was to roll out of the back of a courier’s transit van, we’d be all over it, quite frankly. It’s the new concept from those crazy kids at MV Agusta - a l000cc version of the lush Superveloce, which is itself a retro variant of the F3 supersports bike. So - a proper full-fat Agusta lOOOcc motor, complete with the latest 208bhp tune on the inline four superbike lump, in the classic hybrid Agusta frame: steel tube trellis and cast aluminium pivot plate sections. Running gear is the…

It’s safe to say that when the idea of this test was first proposed, the reaction among us wasn’t quite the same as a litre bike test somewhere abroad, probably likely due to the genre of bikes mostly being associated with trendy bearded hipster types who spend time being seen in equally trendy overpriced cafés… not a demographic that applies to any of us on Fast Bikes. However, while a ride out to Skegness for fish and chips on some retro bikes might not sound the most exciting thing, it does serve as a reminder of this old cliché - ‘it’s not what you ride, it’s how you ride it that matters’. Take the less-used backroads to the beach, throw in a trip to a go-kart track on the way…

FEATURE GS TROPHY I wasn’t meant to be on this trip. Up until just a few weeks before, I knew very little about it, but then the call came, and the torment set in. Could I just up and vanish from work, from home, my kids and wife for 12 days straight? Well, it turns out I could… just a few weeks later, my plane touched down at Tirana Airport, the capital of Albania, the host nation of the event’s 1300km endeavour. The next question was if I’d be able to go the distance and not look a proverbial nob in the process. It was a tall order, made more unlikely by the fact I’d not so much as sat on a GS for more than a year, with my last…

STAR LETTER ALL FOR ONE Hi Fast Bikes, I am writing in to encourage anyone who has a disability affecting their confidence, because the biking community is just so supportive. I have a rare condition called Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. My legs are very weak but I can support my bike at traffic lights and shuffle it about. Currently, I am able to change gear and use the rear brake on my Ducati M696 and Suzuki GS550, but I've had occasions when I have dropped them or struggled moving them after parking up. There s never been any judgement or ill will from anyone in the biking community who hasn't leapt to my rescue. I like to do my own maintenance and mods, and sometimes it's hard to get the bikes…

YOUR LIFE ON BIKES IN ASSOCIATION WITH NO LIMITS TRACKDAYS FastBikesMag.com/FastBikes-Forum WANT TO WIN? To be in with a chance of winning a No Limits trackday, either send us a pic on our Facebook page or email one to fastbikes letters@fastbikes.co.uk k Closing date: January 27 WINNER Here at Fast Bikes magazine, we love trackdays. So much so, we wanted to give something back to you, the reader! We've teamed up with the lovely lot over at No Limits Trackdays to offer a free trackday every month! All you have to do is send us a picture of yourself at your last trackday for a chance to win. If you're the lucky person highlighted on these pages, you've won a trackday of your choice! If it's you, get in touch with…

THE TIM AND TOM SHOW NEAVE TWIN RACING The off-season is in full swing, and I am really enjoying myself! Racing motorbikes is undoubtedly the best job in the world, but you don’t realise how much pressure you put yourself under until you have time to step back and take a look at things from a slightly different perspective… you have time to breathe! During the season, my mindset is very much ‘tunnel vision’, and when things aren’t going quite how you’d like, it’s hard to break the cycle and get out of the rut, so to speak. The off-season, or winter period, is the perfect forced break and I’ve been able to reflect on many things that have been important for me this time round. It was a bonus…

There’s been no shortage of news from Norton in the past few years - much of it bad. But the distressed Brit bike brand looks to have turned the corner of late, after Indian giant TVS (the fourth biggest bike maker in the world) took over from the disgraced former regime under Stuart Garner. There’s a new £40 million Norton factory in Birmingham, bikes are starting to be built properly, and there’s a new management team in place. We spoke to one of them, chief operating officer Christian Gladwell, on the plush Norton stand at the NEC show. Gladwell isn’t your typical bike firm boss. He was an officer in the Scots Guards and came to Norton from Saatchi, where he’d worked on developing luxury brands like Chanel, Gucci, Burberry…

JP BRAKES TITANIUM CALIPER PISTONS A cool new product that makes you faster on circuit, saves money, and is made in the UK by a small start-up business owned by a massive trackday fan… what more could you want? These new JP Brakes upgrade pistons are made from titanium and have extensive venting and careful design to minimise heat transfer into your brake fluid and calipers. There's internal ribbing inside the piston to increase heat dissipation and they even save a bit of weight over stock stainless steel pistons. According to the maker, Jason Pitchford, the result is less brake fade, reduced drag and binding, and they can even cut brake pad wear. They look proper 'factory' too. Available for most sportsbikes, as well as aftermarket Brembo and HEL calipers.…

'Retro’ - what a god-awful term often used diplomatically to describe anything that by any other measure is just old-fashioned or worse, an imitation. Yet somehow, in recent times the term has crept into our motorcycling sphere and adopted by manufacturers, the media and riders alike. But I don’t get it. If you take the Kawasaki Z900RS SE and Triumph Thruxton RS, they are basically straight copies of the original bikes they’re based on but with modern tech, which makes them tributes, not ‘retro’. Then there’s the Yamaha XSR900 and BMW R nineT, which aren’t even nods to anything from the past yet are labelled as ‘heritage’ by their makers - odd, given that behind their quirky looks, they are pure modern bikes from the ground up. Given that ‘heritage'…

Triumph first used the name Thruxton in the mid-1960s, applying it to the tile T120 model. It was a bike that racer Malcolm Uphill placed firmly in the Isle of Man records when he set the first l00mph average production lap. The reason for that nugget of information is to hammer home the significance of a name that has stood the test of time like few of its rivals. Sixty-odd years later, it’s still very much alive and kicking, albeit much bigger and more powerful than the model of old. That said, the modern incarnation of the classic has got to be one of the most authentic-looking retro racers in its sector. From 20 yards away, this bike looks like a clean and well looked-after classic. However, with each step…

LONGTERMERS TIME ON TEST: 23 WEEKS 01120 ODOMETER MILES BHP:150 GAIN:0 NEXT AIM: RETURN TO SUZUKI Price from new:£11,199 Modifications: Michelin Power 5 tyres_£300 RUNNING JOT AL £300 Inevitably, the time has come to return my termer to Suzuki. It seems a while ago now since I first collected the grey version that I must admit I found hard to really love, purely due to my colour preference. Even still, I had so many plans to make the most of my time with the bike over the past year unfortunately, getting wiped out by a car just a few weeks into our relationship meant that I was without the GSX-S for a couple of months. In fact, it meant I never got to see that bike again, being gifted a…

This is me on my Gen 2 BMW S 1000 RR, enjoying the Cumbrian countryside. This is my first lOOOcc… coming from a GSX-R600, this thing is very different. I can't keep off it and love racking up the miles at the weekends, exploring the Northumberland and Cumbrian countryside. Dale Barron FB: Great choice of bike, Dale. BMW made something special with that model, for sure. Pleased to see you are enjoying it. Make sure to tell us where it takes you in the year ahead. By the way, we are more than a bit jealous of where you live and ride. The roads and views are awesome.…

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