Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2021 i Fast Bikes

We used to own this computer game. I don’t know where it came from, I can’t even remember its proper name, but I spent my early teens playing it on the family PC, hammering the direction arrows until they stopped working. It was from that golden era of World Superbikes, the very early Noughties, meaning it was full of Ducatis, Aprilias and those super-saucy R7s that seemed to have the edge over the equivalently iconic ZX-7Rs. Back then it was little more than a tool to pass the time and get me out of doing my homework; in reality it would embed an indelible love for that moment when superbikes were special and racers actually had characters. It’s mad to think two decades have passed since those heady days when…

Usually when you’re offered the chance to take a hybrid for a spin, visions of brown corduroy trousers and roll-neck jumpers spring to mind, among a depressing plethora of eco statistics that are guaranteed to send you to sleep faster than a chloroform soaked rag. However, in race bike terms, a hybrid is actually quite the opposite of such a dreary proposition. In race bike terms, a hybrid is the equivalent of finding out your missus has a twin sister who fancies joining in. To give some context, a standard Superstock machine consists of an untouched motor, an aftermarket exhaust, upgraded race suspension, aftermarket bodywork, rearsets, clip-ons, crash protection, and the ability to adjust the fuel and traction maps, as a general rule. At the other end of the spectrum…

How do you improve upon what is already pretty damn close to perfection? That was the dilemma Suzuki’s engineers faced back in the mid-2000s when they were tasked with moving the excellent, class-leading GSX-R1000 K5 up another level. But here was the issue: rather than just be told ‘give it your best shot’, they had their hands tied from the start due to the fact the updated bike had to meet new emissions regulations. And we all know what that means – big, heavy, exhausts that are full of stuff to stop nasty pollutants getting out that also love to strangle a bike’s performance. Not exactly the dream ticket, was it? TECH DATA 2007-2008 Suzuki GSX-R1000 K7/K8 PRICE GUIDE: £4500 – £5995 Cheapest private: £4589 22,000 miles, black 2007 model…

In 2008, Dark Dog energy drinks replaced Corona beer as the title sponsor for Suzuki’s factory effort in world superbikes, and this was the bike that Yukio Kagayama raced that year. It has a full factory chassis, a full factory engine and full factory Showa suspension, and thus is the same as the XR-09, in so much as it’s the best that Suzuki could produce within the rule book. However, it’s nowhere near as trick as the Frankie bike, and ultimately no more trick than the Guy Martin bike. The “Dark Dog” bike underlines the point that full factory superbikes today are just pumped up road bikes, whereas yesterday’s superbikes were different animals all together.…

We love a cheap, low powered track-hack. From your CB500s to your retro YZs, it’s a momentous feeling, getting the very most out of a motor and chassis not having to worry about monstrous repair bills should the worst happen – especially if you can overtake the latest sports bikes in the process, too. But they don’t always pack enough punch, and if you want that little extra oomph without splashing the cash, the best avenue to go down has to be the minitwm one. That is exactly what Clive has done with his beloved SV650, and he’s never looked back... “I love minitwins, it’s a great class because of the cheapness, alongside only having 70 horses – it’s back to the old days of race craft rather than relying…

STAR LETTER LIKE FATHER LIKE SON Hi Fast Bikes…please find attached a photo and wording below which I hope is worthy of a feature on you and yours pages (and a chance at winning the hoodie). Finally got my dream bike in Jan 2020 after seeing it five years ago at the NEC’s bike show. Not wanting to be left behind, my 74-year-old father bought the H2 SX! Its like nothing else to ride and the whoosh noise is addictive. Picture taken in Bridgnorth after a ride out to Ludlow. Thanks. Simon Ford FB: Wow! That’s not just worthy of a hoodie, that’s worth of abit more! Especially to see a 74-year-old on a H2 SX… that’s exactly our kind of style. Enjoy! You can win a pair of Weise…

February is one of my favourite months because it’s officially pancake month! It’s been trickier this year as I’ve been on a diet…so I made it ‘starvation time’ in the day and then gorged on pancakes in the evening. Since then, I’ve been made an ambassador for Motul, which is really cool. I am excited at this prospect, as it’s a big iconic brand with lots of interesting ideas. I can’t wait to get cracking with them, and to see what we can do together. Especially as the world will start to open up. Talking of which, we have had a massive announcement, as FIM announced the new Mini GP World Series, which is dedicated to the Ohvale GP0 160 machines we import. These are the 160cc bikes, proper race…

The annual race pilgrimage to warmer climates, in search of track temperatures at least half compatible with a set of Pirelli SBK tyres, hasn’t occurred this year for obvious reasons, and oh man am I missing it. Even in 2020, the foreign test season managed to just sneak itself in, so this is the first time in as long as Ican remember (in my professional racing career, anyway) that it hasn’t happened. It’s kind of odd because those initial trips abroad to start my physical preparations (usually about a month before testing) always act as the lighting of the touch paper in respect of my race season getting underway. Instead, I feel like I have just been burning my own wick almost constantly – without the flame ever lighting. Hours…

TRIUMPH UNVEIL LIMITED EDITION ROCKET 3 R BLACK AND ROCKET 3 GT TRIPLE BLACK Triumph’s Rocket range has been a pretty impressive beast over the past couple of years, with the standard bike housing a whopping 2500cc triple engine, which produces 167ps power, and an utterly insane 221Nm of torque – a world-leading figure for any production bike on this planet. And now Triumph have just released two limited edition versions, with the first being the Rocket 3 R Black. Although the performance remains the same for both iterations, unlike the standard model, it comes with a matte and gloss all-black colour scheme, where even the exhaust headers, heat shields and end caps on the bars are black. It also comes equipped with anodised levers, footrests, forks lowers, yokes and…

Without wanting or needing to be all misty eyed and nostalgic about the era, there’s no getting away from the fact the early Noughties was a chapter of superbike racing that was never seen before, or has since. In order for manufacturers to take full advantage of the 1000cc V-Twin rule, they produced pumped-up “homologation special” bikes – and they didn’t hold back. An “R” or “SP” badge in the late Nineties and early Noughties meant so much more than it does today. Then, such was the motivation to have the best possible bike from which to build a race bike from, it often meant that the engine didn’t even have the same capacity as the standard bike it was based on, never mind all the trick titanium and magnesium…

Most of the talk between us at the end of the day’s riding seemed to focus around how easy all three bikes were to ride fast. As Carl pointed out, they all make roughly the same amount of power as a modern 600, so they aren’t overwhelming and in need of maximum attention like a modern superbike – which is true if you’re just looking at peak power but that’s only half the story. The Mille SP makes the same amount of torque as a 2020 Honda Fireblade and the SP-1, and 996R make more torque than a Triumph Speed Triple 1050, and they make the bulk of their power and torque low in their revs, which means whatever it is they have to give, it’s available early on, and…

Twenty-five years ago in 1996, Suzuki replaced their beloved and much revered cradle framed GSX-R 750 that had been around since forever with the “SRAD”, and in a stroke Suzuki went from being comfortably the least desirable sportsbike manufacturer on the market at the time to the selling as many SRADs as they could make. Not only was it significantly better than the model it replaced (not difficult), but its spec sheet even managed to make the Kawasaki ZX-7R, Yamaha YZF-750 and third generation Fireblade look average. They were all significantly heavier and less powerful than the SRAD, had much less racy geometry and thanks in part to Suzuki’s, shall we diplomatically say, “mediocre” quality of finish to the SRAD, they were also much more expensive. The SRAD absolutely cleaned…

This is not a figment of your imagination; I have actually pulled my finger out for the second month running, making more solid progress on the Mille. Being honest, I’ve got my sights firmly set on the project’s finish line and, assuming we don’t get wiped out by a meteorite, or the bubonic plague makes a cameo, I might just bloody make it. To recap, we finished last month with the swingarm fitted and the yokes in place…well, kind of. It turned out the stem was 6mm too short, with the original design incorporating a special spacer to screw down from the top and give the upper bearing race the full complement of stem needed to make it fit. I didn’t like that spec one bit, so after sweet-talking my…

PART TWO LEARN FROM THE BEST. For the ultimate one-to-one instruction which includes everything from initial bike checks to video playback and on/off track tuition tailored to suit all abilities from a former WSBK racer, check out Dean Ellison Rider Coaching at www.Ellison42.co.uk Pressure Sensors As mentioned in last month’s issue, pressure in the engine and tyres jump out as the most important thing to be monitored when it comes to safety and performance, as pro racers know when their tyres are 1psi out. If the coolant water starts getting hot and pressurising, you’re going to be pretty confident that the head gasket has gone. But here’s some other pressure sensors to consider. ■ Brake pressure is really important for engineers to monitor. They can see how the rider is…

2020 was a difficult and strange year, especially at the track. What did the unique circumstances teach you and your team? “Basically, it was a difficult year because after Marc’s injury it was a strange situation; we had never been in MotoGP in that kind of situation with Marc and after that Stefan came to replace Marc. “In the beginning it was strange because he is the test rider, and we were thinking it was only for three races, but race by race we saw that Marc was not coming and then at the end, Stefan did all the season. “Of course, for him it was difficult because it’s not easy to combine being a test rider and a GP rider and at the beginning it was hard because he…

BRAKETECH VENTILATED CALIPER RACING PISTONS Have you ever thought about changing the caliper pistons in your brakes? No? Well, neither had we, until these bad boys came across our desk. Sure, OE calipers have come a long way in the last 20 years or so but they’re still one of the parts that let down modern bikes a fair bit, one of the reasons being because they use aluminium pistons, which, although lightweight, are highly conductive with heat. That’s why BrakeTech have designed these precision-engineered stainless steel pistons featuring 12 ventilation holes and a unique castellated reverse chamber for better fluid capacity. Overall, they give a whopping 94% thermal conductivity reduction, and are available in a whole range of fittings for your calipers. RRP (from) £366 www.bikehps.com OPTIMATE 5 SELECT…

If you’re into your trackdays, you won’t need me to tell you how easily you’ll muller aset of tyres, how expensive rubber is to buy or how annoying it is when you realise just moments before your session starts that you forgot to plug your tyre warmers in. If only there were hoops that were actually affordable, lasted a decent amount of time and didn’t depend on warmers to get the party started. Well, that’s exactly what Metzeler’s claiming from its new Racetec TD Slick, that actively targets the trackday and club racing markets with a whole host of saucy spec. While I’m reluctant to bang on about the rubber’s Compound Continuous Mixing process or the virtues of its Rayon carcass, what I am keen to do is talk through…

Tucked away in the corner of the Team Classic Suzuki workshop is Guy Martin’s 2012 superbike he raced at the TT that year. It’s the Tyco Suzuki he took to a credible 4th place in the Superbike TT, a race that was utterly dominated by Honda; five of the top six finishers were on Fireblades, and the next placed Suzuki was 11th, over a minute behind Guy. For1 hour and 47 minutes he averaged 126.54mph on this very GSX-R1000 which is outrageous, especially when you consider that it doesn’t have anything on it that can’t be bought by anyone. As a bit of trivia, the bike didn’t race in the Senior TT that year becasue it was cancelled due to poor weather -the first and only time that has ever…

I tell you what, when I first picked up the shiny new CRF250RX from Honda, I wasn’t too sure about a lot of things... and I’m not just talking about how to properly ride the bloody thing off-road. One of the main things I was worried about was the potential of getting bored, losing interest, or just not doing it service by riding it enough. Yet after four months in its presence, and a lockdown where I’ve annoyingly been a bit on the cautious side of how often I’ve been out, I can safely say I have no such problem. Oh no, going off-roading is insanely addictive. Not only is it great fun, but it gets the adrenaline flowing while getting in serious exercise. If you want to get fit…

YAMAHA MT-09SP Just when you thought Yamaha’s new MT-09 couldn’t get any more saucy, they throw an SP version into the mix… and invite us along for the ride. MILLE PROJECT: PART 6 It might have taken him an eternity so far, but Bruce’s Mille project is making some solid progress. SUZUKI HAYABUSA If you like your bikes big, bold and ballistic, make sure to check out what Johnny’s got to say about Suzuki’s PLUS LOADS MORE: HAWK RACING: THE STORY SO FAR SCHOOLED FOR SPEED TRACK SPEC On sale April 27, 2021 Buy it from WHSmiths, Sainsburys, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and all good newsagents. Failing that, try a bad one. Check out the eye-poppingly good digital edition at www.classicmagazines.co.uk…

It’s funny, actually. Last month I was saying that there’s loads of time until the race season starts, and with so much on, the clock just seems to be ticking quicker than ever. I think that’s the problem with racing – no matter what point you’re at, you always want more, or at least that’s how I feel anyways. Even if everything was as perfect as can be, I’d be finding away to make something better, or improving bits! First up, I’ve still got a bit of work that needs dong on the race truck. It’s great, don’t get me wrong, but it just needs that little more in terms of a living area – you know, a nice shower, kitchen, that sort of thing. With testing just around the…