Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2023 i Fast Bikes

WELCOME Growing up, I remember my mates would often hop on their bikes, hit the Tunnel, and head to some exotic part of Europe for a week's worth of scratching. In the Noughties, it was a practice as common as Covid and I regret missing out on a few chances to have joined them, often wild camping, eating Pot Noodles to save a few quid, and returning home with a partially destroyed motorcycle in the process. They also came back with the most awesome of tales, having dodged police, crashed their brains out, and shared in what is best described as an adventure. It was their seasonal highlight, their summer holiday, and their chance to act out the antics they saw in their favourite mags of that time…Fast Bikes, Performance…

Tried Out THE VERY BEST KIT - USED, ABUSED AND REVIEWED DUNLOP SPORTSMART MK3 In just a few pages, you'll see the start of one of the most audacious naked group tests we've ever undertaken, heading to the Nürburgring on three of the spiciest supernakeds known to man, woman, and everything else out there. It turned out to be an absolute belter of a shoot-out – and a lot of that was down to the rubber we fitted to the bikes. As with all our big tests, we look to use a control tyre to keep us shiny side up and to help extract the true potential from our contenders. The question before this gig was: which tyre would suit a 1200-mile road trip with a smattering of track action…

NAKED SPORTSBIKE OF THE YEAR Our love for the KTM is well documented; indeed, I’m on record for saying that the SuperDuke R is one of my all-time favourite bikes, mainly for being so much fun and so easy to ride o n the road and track. However, I’ve never done a long road trip on one, so maybe, just maybe, I’d find a chink in the KTM’s armour during the long, boring slog across Belgium. Would I find anything that would start to irritate? The truth is, I didn’t really get to find out until the ride home because Bruce and Rich –conveniently – were always in the right place at the right time to get dibs on the KTM’s keys at fuel stops, which tells you all you…

NAKED SPORTSBIKE OF THE YEAR Just what is Ducati's recent obsession with limited edition Lamborghini models? This Streetfighter ‘Lamborghini’ isn't Ducati's first one; it also released a Diavel 1260 a few years ago with an equally short list of upgrades over the base model, but an impressive ticket price. Time for a very quick, potted history lesson that begin s in 2012 when the well-publicised purchase of Ducati by Audi, which is part of the VW group, came as something of a surprise to industry commentators. The thing is that the VW group already owns, among others, VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley and Porsche, so realistically, what could little old Ducati bring to the party? In terms of technology, not much, if anything at all – looking at the list…

NAKED SPORTSBIKE OF THE YEAR If ever there was a naked bike born for the track, this is it. But I already knew that. Strip away the fancy carbon, retina-burning paint job and polarising rear wheel, and what you're dealing with is a Streetfighter V4S. That's a bike I've ridden a lot in recent years, including the latest iteration that forms the basis of this bike. If I were blindfolded, I'd probably crash, but I'd also be unable to tell the difference between this and the V4S, because pretty much everything is identical… and that's not a bad thing. The Streetfighter is an absolute animal on a racetrack, where its monstrous V4 motor can be brought into play, delivering reams of torque, loads of top-end buzz and a soundtrack to…

LONGTERMERS For the last month I've mostly been separated from my S 1000RR due to it being located at the Batham's Racing workshop, 100 miles from home, and my own diary commitments. We became separated because it had to come back from the ManxGP – where I'd ridden it to – in the race truck due to an emergency at home, which I had to fly back to urgently. Then, with all the focus on the main Naked Sportsbike test elsewhere in this issue, the first opportunity I had to go to Dudley and collect it came about a week ago. Before riding it back, I decided to take the opportunity of using one of the ramps in the workshop and the plentiful supply of tools and cleaning products to…

WINNER 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 letters@fastbikes.co.uk Closing date: November 20 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 us and we'll look after the rest, and if you haven't won…

SPONSORED BY DUNLOP Every day, we are tasked with making big decisions… whether to put your left sock on before your right, or should you pop to the pub, even though you know it's going to land you in the doghouse. And then there's the even bigger question of whether you should treat yourself to a new supernaked –with the added twist of not knowing which one to gun for? Let's face it, the sector is massive right now, absolutely brimming with super-fast, super-smart and super-sexy examples to pick from. Last year was particularly fruitful for this flourishing segment; we had seven different bikes in our annual Naked Sportsbike of the Year test, putting the eclectic mix of bikes through their paces on road and on track. The end result…

NAKED SPORTSBIKE OF THE YEAR Out of all the bikes on the test, the Ducati has by far the highest spec in terms of its componentry, engine tech and pedigree, and I'll get straight to the point that it feels like it does too. Everything about it is so highly refined and so thoroughly sorted that it really does feel special. It's not just how the bike feels underneath you that just oozes quality, there's also a theatre and drama that comes with riding the Streetfighter that you simply don't get with the others – which adds to the overall effect of making every ride on it, no matter how mundane, feel like an occasion. The Streetfighter's DNA is pure Panigale, which in turn exists to win Superbike Championships, be…

NAKED SPORTSBIKE OF THE YEAR It's hard to know if the M 1000 R is the result of BMW opting for an easy way of adding another bike to its ever-expanding range, or if it's caved in to peer pressure and the firm's ego can't bear to not be in the 200bhp naked bike club. Either way, it doesn't matter to us, because when all is said and done, it means there's a new bike in the class to potentially shake things up. In so many ways, the M 1000 R is an absolute no-brainer for BMW because it has everything its needs already to put it together thanks to the existence of the S 1000 R, which itself takes 95% of its chassis components from the mighty S 1000…

NAKED SPORTSBIKE OF THE YEAR “You're not going to like that front end, mate,” came Rich's words of wisdom, minutes before setting off on my lap with the Beemer. “It's just so soft. It's vague. It's horrible round here.” To be fair, there were times on the road ride when the sentiment of his words hit home, so I could appreciate what he was getting at. The question was, what could I do about it? Rich had ridden the bike in dynamic mode during his lap, which is okay for the roads, but I knew from experience that even the RR is a bit of a pig when underdamped round a track. I also knew that by switching the bike to race pro mode, I could go into the guts…

Creating a supernaked requires quite a precise balancing act and you are unlikely to please all of your potential customers. On one hand you have those who put performance above all else, demanding a balls-to-the-wall naked sportsbike that will more than match its faired sibling in most aspects, but does so with flat bars instead of clip-ons. However, a slightly less vocal – yet just as happy to part with their cash – section of the buying public want something a little more, shall we say, refined… In 2008, when Honda created its allnewsupernaked, you can imagine who it set out to please. To be fair to Honda, it did make much more of an effort with the CB1000R than its previous big-capacity naked bike, the CB900 Hornet. Where the…

NAKED SPORTSBIKE OF THE YEAR Unlike the other two bikes in this year's test, the KTM is unchanged, but we've brought it back because it won last year's test and therefore is the standard by which any newcomers or updated bikes must be compared against. On track last year, it wasn't far off the pace of the superbike-derived Ducati Streetfighter and Aprilia Tuono V4, and on the road it was just in another league when it came to how easy it is to ride and how much fun it is. The KTM also managed to perform that impossible-to-quantify trick of having so much more performance than you or I could ever fully exploit, yet doesn't leave you feeling inadequate. It is your friend at all times and makes everything from…

NAKED SPORTSBIKE OF THE YEAR They say you never forget your first, and that's true of the KTM in this instance. It was the first bike I took out for a lap of the Ring, being as nervous as I was excited about the prospect of bouncing it off the limiter, but not the Armco. You could say there was a lot going on inside my head, literally trying to grasp which way the track went, what gear to be in, and whether or not to wheelie past the blue Nova that had somehow snuck out on track. The point being, it took me the best part of the lap to get my breath, acclimatise to the madness and start giving the KTM some real thought. The problem was that…

NAKED SPORTSBIKE OF THE YEAR In the case of the BMW, rather than easing into 1000 words waxing lyrical about how amazing the M 1000 R was on the immaculate, breath-taking roads in the Eiffel region, I want to start just 10 miles from home, right at the end of the trip. The BMW has just switched itself into limp mode and the dashboard has lit up like a Christmas tree… I've now got an absolute maximum top speed of 60mph on a bike that just won't rev or pull. It's dark, I'm a bit emotional, and did I mention that I've just spent the last three-and-a-half hours riding in rain and spray, the likes of which I don't ever think I've ridden in during my 35 years of motorcycling?…

Clocking the miles on these bikes was the easy bit; deciding which was best was like being asked to choose between your missus and your mistress. The point being, it wasn't an easy call to make. How could it be? If you were to look at any of these models in isolation, you'd probably rank the one you rode last as the best thing ever. And that's the beauty of a test like this, riding tons of miles, across a spectrum of roads, at different paces and with a smattering of track action thrown in for good measure – you come out of the experience with a proper grasp of what you're dealing with. The good, the bad, the bits that are just plain confusing… such as heated grip buttons…

FEATURE RIDING THE RING… If I told you to put a pair of pants on your head, bark like a dog, and try to order a pint from the local Post Office, you'd rightly question whether I'd gone crazy. Well, let me tell you, that would be considered tame when pitched against the madness of the Nordschleife. There are some things that just can't be described, and the Nürburging is one of them. It is one of those instances in life where you have to do it to believe it, and even then, you won't fully compute what your brain is telling you. And if you did, and if you were sane, you'd be looking for the nearest exit quicker than a bull in a butchers. As a friend put it,…

LONGTERMERS It's mid-October, it's 22 degrees, and I've just got off track with the SP2. My brain is frazzled, my blood's pumping and my heart's gagging to get back out for just one more session… but that's my lot. And that's probably my lot for this season, truth be known. Weather this good feels like a lottery win at this time of the year, and I cashed in big-time on the opportunity, along with a load of other skivers who must've also skipped work to lap up the exotic climes of Costa del Cadwell. That track on this bike is a pairing as perfect as beer and cheesy chips (just me?)… it doesn't get any better. The last time I was here on the SP2 was at the height of…