Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i Fast Bikes

This month has largely been spent embracing nakedness. Don’t worry, there’s not been a nudist beach in sight, but there have been plenty of supernakeds, of course, having just clocked hundreds of miles over numerous days and endless hours behind the bars of our seven contenders battling it out for our Naked Sportsbike of the Year title. It’s been an awesome time, and a great reminder of how different and varied the sector is. Chances are if you and your mates sat down and drew a picture of the same object, they’d all look different… and that’s representative of the supernaked sector. The concept is the same: big power, big presence, big fun – but how manufacturers go about chasing those goals is mind-blowingly different. Some people place more focus…

You could be forgiven for thinking ‘Here we go again, another group test of the same bikes we had last year’ – and you wouldn’t be too far from the truth. While it is a fact that four of the bikes in this test are the same as last year’s, we feel there has been sufficient enough upgrades to three of them to warrant a revisit to the group, especially as two were placed first and second last year, and the third wasn’t even included in the test by virtue of not really having enough firepower and/or tech to make the cut. That there has been sufficient changes and upgrades to nearly half of the bikes in the supernaked class since last year speaks volumes for just how important the…

The big Zed remains unchanged for 2022, which means the same tubular steel frame, the same electronic semi-active Showa suspension, the same 1000cc inline four engine and, yes, the same supercharger. Of course, it’s impossible to speak of the Z-H2 at all without referring to its supercharger, and for good reason. The dinky little coke can-sized unit that’s mounted above the gearbox is what Kawasaki has been investing a lot of time and resources into for probably about a decade now. The first H2 was officially launched to the public in 2015, and back then Kawasaki stated that the use of a supercharger was much more than achieving the big numbers, which the brand did with the 300BHP H2-R. For Kawasaki, the supercharger was part of its solution to the…

We didn’t choose Dunlop’s awesome GP Racer D212 rubber for our NSBOTY test… that was down to someone much wiser than us, and we’re so glad that they did. This year’s control rubber is a really trick product, designed fundamentally as a road-legal track tyre, meaning it features Dunlop’s high-end technology like the coveted NTEC carcass that allows for pressures to be altered and grip levels to maximise according to whether you’re using it on Her Majesty’s highways, or some flat-out race track. It’s also got a multi-tread compound so the rubber lasts for longer and offers you the highest level of adhesion according to your lean angle. Add in a Jointless Belt construction and Jointless Tread and you’ll begin to realise this product’s not too dissimilar in spec to…

When you go into a big test like this it’s impossible to guess a winner. Sure enough, you have a bike or two that you think will do well, but it’s not until you’ve clocked the miles, logged the hours, and truly had a proper chance to grasp what’s on offer that you can see the cream of the crop. None of these bikes are new to us, but this is the first time we’ve had a chance to pitch them against one another and compare them with their rivals. It’s only when you do just that that you come to realise how annoying certain idiosyncrasies are, or how comparably flat certain motors feel. Likewise, it highlights just how brilliantly some bikes handle, or how intuitively you can navigate the…

Racing at Thruxton looked almost unachievable 10 weeks ago but finallyyy I have a race weekend to talk about. It really was touch and go whether I’d be fit enough to ride at Thruxton following my pelvic injuries, but here’s how things panned out… I headed over to Manchester just two weeks before the Thruxton race weekend to have an X-ray and meet with my surgeon to see if the fixation bar could be removed, and whether getting on a bike anytime soon would be realistic or just a fantasy. It was obvious that the ‘right’ thing to do would be to leave the bar in for as long as possible to aid the healing process but even still, it came as a hit when the doc said another four…

TRIUMPH UNVEILS MOTO2 UPGRADES AND NEW DAYTONA MUSEUM SHOW It’s the calm before the storm in terms of new bikes for 2023 – but there are some hints out there on what we might be seeing at Cologne and Milan. And this might be a tasty one from Triumph, in the form of some engine upgrades for the 765 Street Triple motor that powers the Moto2 series machines. The Hinckley massive has given the control engine an extra 5PS and raised the rev limit by 400rpm thanks to a series of internal engine upgrades. The top end gets a full overhaul, with a new cylinder head design that increases compression, and includes longer valves which have more lift, together with extra cam lift and revised valve springs. Meanwhile, the bottom…

The BMW formula is unchanged for 2022, which means the S1000 R gets the S1000 RR frame, swingarm and engine minus the shift cam parts to clip power to 165bhp. You then have to go through the BMW extras list to add most of the things you see on the test bike we have, so stuff like the semi-active suspension, snazzy paint job, extra rider modes, forged wheels and so on and so on… all of which adds more than £5000 to the price of the base bike, but which also does load the BMW up with all the tech and hardware to – on paper, at least – make it a viable option for anyone looking for a pukka supernaked bike. BMW says it removed the ShiftCam technology from…

The Ducati qualifies as a new bike for this year’s test, even though it was the Streetfighter V4S that won last year. The full review of the SP is in the July issue of Fast Bikes, but for the purpose of this test, the headlines are that Ducati has gone all hardcore on the SP and come out with a version of the Streetfighter that is singularly focussed on the track and delivering lap times. The SP gets carbon wheels to reduce unspring weight, Brembo Stylema R brake calipers straight out of Brembo’s drawer labelled ‘The Good Stuff’, which are in turn actuated by a trick MCS master cylinder. There is also a very trick STM-EVO dry slipper clutch for those super-aggressive backshifts you sometimes need to do when on…

At the moment there is an ever-increasing wave of nostalgia-fuelled buying happening in the motorcycle world, which is often the case when the outside world has gone to worms and we need reminding of better times. While this is all very well and good, this kind of purchasing inevitably sends the prices of the most sought-after bikes stratospheric. Fancy a Yamaha RD350LC? You are looking at the thick end of £12,000 for a matching-numbers minter. Yes, £12k for a bike that cost £1k brand new! However, not every fondly-remembered bike’s price tag has gone crazy, and if you are a fan of the glory days of World Superbikes, then you are in luck… if you like green Japanese bikes or you hanker after red Italian ones, that boat has well…

Not too long ago, it was common to see older ZX-6Rs dominating the field in national 600 classes, with the likes of Ben Currie and James Westmoreland each claiming British Supersport titles on their distinctive green and orange Gearlink Kawasakis. Now, such grids are crowded with the newer 636 Kawasakis, with a more aggressive style and a little more punch, though the old-style bikes are still going strong, with a big presence in the club racing scene… bikes like this 2010-spec machine. It’s owned by Tom Morris, who filled me in on his bike. At the time of catching him, he’d only just got the engine fully refreshed, as well as the suspension, by Dave Hewson at Obsession Engineering. To m had previously spent a full season in a pre-national…

RUBBERY JUBBLY Hi folks, I’m a big fan of the mag. Johnny is the best journo in the business and Christian Iddon is always a favourite read. Here is a pic of me riding on track. I absolutely fell in love with the Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV Corsas! After two fab days at Silverstone, they’re good for at least one more. I was lucky to get two days out of Supercorsa V2s. Take care, David FB: Hey David, glad to hear that you are enjoying the mag and the content from our various different columnists. Looking good on track and it’s great to see other riders testing out different tyres. As much as we journos can explain what a new tyre is like, there’s nothing better than giving it a…

The MT-10 has had a fairly hefty rework for 2022, mostly with emissions in mind. Passing the Euro5 standards so Yamaha can keep selling them was an absolute priority given just how many of them are sold. While they were at it, the Yamaha team also took the opportunity to fit the MT-10 with the R1’s brilliant suite of rider aids, complete with a six-axis IMU – the key upgrade that got our attention for 2022. Doing so brings the MT-10 more in line with the rest of the supernakeds in terms of spec thanks to absolutely first-class electronics that include traction control, slide control, and anti-wheelie, which can all be adjusted or switched off individually, thus making it possible to disable anti-wheelie – very important on a supernaked bike…

The Speed Triple is another unchanged bike for 2022 apart from a new orange paintjob that really suits it. These bikes should be a bit quirky and stand out, and the Triumph is a good example of how a simple colour change can make a big difference. Previously the 1200RS was only available in a very low-key, sensible, and instantly forgettable grey – Matt Baja Orange is much more like it. The rest of the bike is the same, which means a 177bhp 1200cc three-cylinder engine in an alloy frame with posh analogue Öhlins suspension, Brembo brakes, and a singlesided swingarm, all weighing in at a very reasonable 198kg. It’s also worth reminding ourselves that the Triumph is one of only two bikes on the test that has been conceived,…

“I get so nervous before a session or a race, just thinking to myself, right, I can’t afford to crash.” Wait, what? I’ve spoken to a good number of racers in my time, but this conversation with Josh Owens is blowing my mind a little. The 22-year-old is a British 125 and GP2 champion, has raced CEV, and entered the 2018 British Grand Prix as a Moto2 wildcard (where, by the way, he finished morning warm-up in 13th place before the race was rained off). “Yeah,” he responds casually to my outburst. “I hate it, it’s the worst part and it’s always in the back of your mind. It’s not nice. You go out in qualifying and think right, I need to put it all on the line here and…

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 us and we’ll look after the rest, and if you haven’t won this time, there’s always next month. There are no cash alternatives available. The winning image is drawn at random. Terms and conditions apply. To view the privacy policy of MMG Ltd (publisher of…