Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Fast Bikes

There was a slightly obscure story that Crept out between Christmas and new year about an investment in a firm called Stark Future by another firm called Eicher Motors. That gets a bit more interesting when you remember that Eicher is the parent firm of Royal Enfield and Stark Future is the firm behind the Varg electric motocross racebike, launched last year to some acclaim. Stark has some pretty impressive electric powertrain technology, and Royal Enfield is one of many big bike makers that needs to get moving on a change from petrol power by 2030 to 2035. So, with a €50 million investment into Stark by Eicher, and an Eicher staffer added to the Stark board, it looks like a concrete partnership is on the way, harnessing some of…

HEPCO & BECKER ROYSTER NEO LUGGAGE These semi-hard (!) cases from German firm Hepco & Becker are designed to fit most sports, adventure and naked bikes, using the firm's C-Bow quick-release carrier brackets. They're light, tough and lockable onto the bike, with zipper combination locks and an internal removable waterproof bag. Recommended weight is up to 5kg, and they'll easily carry enough kit for a massive lads’ and/or lasses’ trip away. Available in black and grey, or with fluorescent yellow highlights. £308,57/pair (bike-specific fitting brackets required, from £185) www.hepco-becker.uk TUCANO URBANO SEPPIAWARM GLOVES It's 2023, folks – there's absolutely no need to be riding about with frozen pinkies. These Tucano Urbano Seppiawarm heated gloves come with rechargeable batteries that fit neatly in cuff pockets, giving about four hours of warmth…

FEATURE In many ways, the challenge of producing a bike which is dynamic and engaging at an affordable price is just as difficult as producing a weapons-grade, all-out superbike. By having a target price that the final product must not exceed, engineers and designers have an added element that impacts on every single aspect of their tasks. Taking on this challenge is worthwhile, though. The reality is that the sheer scale of the market for affordable bikes is significantly bigger than that of £20,000-plus superbikes, so if you can get even a small percentage of it, the financial rewards are huge. Hence why in recent times manufacturers have been increasingly coming out with sub-£10k bikes and, even more recently, sub-£9k bikes… and sub-£8k bikes are more often than not the…

In many ways, the 2004-2006 Yamaha YZF-R1 is a bit of a contradiction. Why? When it was unveiled in 2004, this generation of R1 was claimed to be the first motorcycle to boast a 1:1 power-to-weight ratio, with Yamaha boldly stating that it weighed 172kg and produced 172bhp. Obviously, both figures were more than a little optimistic with the dry weight measured (presumably…) with all fluids, battery, tyres and so on removed to minimise it as much as possible and the power tested at the sparkplug, not the rear wheel, to maximise its figure – but that's what Yamaha said. However, in the next breath it also claimed that the R1 was designed to be user-friendly and compliant, allowing riders to harness its power rather than be intimidated by it,…

Up front PLANET FAST BIKES – NEW METAL, NEWS & REVIEWS Fair play to Ducati – the Bologna firm utterly smashed it last year in both the MotoGP and WSBK. Team Red took not only the rider's title in both championships thanks to Pecco Bagnaia and Álvaro Bautista, but it also snapped up the constructor and team trophies in each class as well. Winning MotoGP and WSBK in the same year puts you into a pretty special league. Yamaha did it in 2021, of course, with Fabio Quartararo and Toprak Razgatlıoğlu. But you have to go back to 2009 for the last time it happened before that, again for Yamaha, when Valentino Rossi and Ben Spies won MotoGP and WSBK respectively. Rossi and Colin Edwards did it for Honda in…

Upfront PLANET FAST BIKES – NEW METAL, NEWS & REVIEWS BMW Motorrad is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. The firm's first motorbike, the R32, was launched at the Paris motor show in September 1923, just five years after the end of the First World war. The R32 was an air-cooled 494cc shaft-drive Boxer, and the Munich firm has released a pair of modern shaft-drive Boxers to celebrate (presumably the first of many specials this year). There's an R18 100 Years and an R nineT 100 Years, both limited to 1923 units each and on sale now. They are mostly cosmetic upgrades – posh paint and extra chrome parts on the R18, plus paint and a single seat unit on the R nineT. Both have sweet pipes, though: a chrome…

LAUNCH BMW S 1000 RR What do you give that special person in your life who already has it all? I imagine those were the thoughts of BMW's engineers as they sat down to plan out this latest iteration of the S 1000 RR. It was already a fire-breathing, tech-loving class leader, and despite being four years long in the tooth, it wasn't exactly on the ropes or questionable when compared to its peers. But complacency is a fool's game, as the likes of BMW know better than most, so something had to be done to the RR – and done it most certainly was. Bucking the trend of most manufacturers this season, BMW's actually gone to town on the new RR for 2023, but you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise…

FEATURE YAMAHA R7 I've wanted to ride the new R7 since its launch, and I'm sure I'm not the only person to say that. I mean, what's not to like about the look of this racy little number… its styling heavily mirrors that of the older sister R6 and, at certain angles, the R1 – and that's the draw for me. Yamaha has always nailed the look of its sportsbikes and it's no different for the all-new R7, which fits right in that category. Yes, I know it's a twincylinder 689cc sewing machine making 71bhp at the rear wheel, but it's a middleweight sportsbike nonetheless, and with that sector of the road-riding market growing faster than ever, it's the perfect addition to Yamaha's line-up. When I consider middleweight twins like Suzuki's…

FEATURE It's absolutely undeniable that each of these bikes are more than capable of delivering decent performance, offer decent build quality and are good fun to ride. You'll be hard-pressed to not enjoy yourself on any one of them – but don't mistake our enthusiasm for them because they are filling the void left by the now extinct supersport class… they aren't even close to doing that. First of all, there's the price point. These bikes are all roughly half the price of the cheapest superbike currently available, whereas a supersport bike's price tag was typically about 75% of a superbike. Then there's the spec – supersport bikes were hardcore, cutting-edge sportsbikes. For example, the 2006 Yamaha R6 was the first production bike to be fitted with ride-by-wire engine management,…

FEATURE GS TROPHY So there I was, all alone, perched on a particularly nasty mountain face, trying my utmost not to succumb to the rigours of gravity and the probability of certain death… or at least a broken toenail. I was as pissed off as I was panicked, cursing myself for taking a wrong turn and attacking a boulder-strewn trail so steep and treacherous not even the dumbest of goats would have fancied it. “Guys, we don't stop for single riders,” came the delightful comment of the day's marshal through the intercom. He meant it too. The final kick in the balls was the arrival of a camera crew that clocked how stricken I was and realised the scene had the makings of a momentously painful highlight for the end-of-day reel.…

track spec Like many of us, Michael was addicted to bikes at an early age, picking up his first machine at 17 years old. Michael was fascinated by bike racing from then on, always having a preference for sportsbikes and race bikes. After many years on the road, he ventured out on his first trackday in 2004… and became completely hooked. He mainly leant towards riding completely track-prepared Yamaha R1s, though this left him yearning for more, something a little more exotic. At the time, Aprilia had been given the ‘bike of the year award’ for a few years running, so with this in mind, Michael picked up a standard road spec 2014 RSV4 R APRC for £12k, knowing he would convert it straight into a fullyfledged track bike. A…

COLUMNIST EX-RACER & TEAM MANAGER RACE INSIDER Well, we've made it through the ‘festive’ period, and I'm pleased we are the other side of it now. I kept my head down and tried not to be too miserable to everyone, although I got that sick of all the crap on the television that I had no choice but to take the shotgun to it and fill it with lead… and while I was at it, I finished off the golf bag as well, because I'm about sick of that too! Karma was duly served when a piece of the lead shot ricocheted back and bounced off my head. I got lucky there – you could say I dodged a bullet, but that doesn't really work in this instance, does it! It…

People in Scotland were still clearing up after their Hogmanay parties when Honda UK announced its road racing line-up for 2023. And the big H has signed up the big JM once more – John McGuinness will be back at the TT and the NW200 on a factory Honda UK Racing Fireblade SP, alongside new teammate Nathan Harrison. McGuiness needs no introduction, of course. The 2022 TT was his 100th start, and he's won 23 TT races over the years. Harrison is perhaps less well-known but is a resident of the Isle of Man and finished his first Senior TT race last year in 10th. He's picked up a few wins and podiums at the Manx GP too, so definitely a name to watch for the future. In a HUK…

FEATURE STATE OF TUNE When the first edition of Fast Bikes went on sale in April 1991, the world was a very different place. A Tory prime minister had just been sacked, the UK was involved in a big shooting war overseas, a financial crisis had kicked off, and Britain was having ructions with the EU. Let's try that again. When the first edition of Fast Bikes went on sale in April 1991, the *bike tuning* world was a very different place. We still had a thriving 250cc twostroke race-replica class, with all the tuning options there. Superbikes were all 750s, making 100-110bhp – and if you wanted a full litre bike, you had to give up on handling, pretty much. The likes of a Kawasaki ZZ-R1100 had 125bhp+ but had…

FEATURE TRIUMPH TIGER SPORT 660 We live in exciting times, not just because of how we are seeing the supernaked class develop, and how superbikes are still moving forward as the pinnacle of technology and power, as well as other gems popping up, like ‘GT’ bikes for covering long distances really, really fast. However, until recently there hasn't been much on offer for the person who doesn't want all the bells and whistles, or a million horsepower, or who has the thick end of £20k to spend on a toy. Thankfully, for all our sakes, our beloved motorcycle industry has spotted this, and we've seen a number of affordable but still exciting bikes show up in recent years which are, arguably, much more important than any headlinegrabbing 200bhp superbike. Not all…

YOUR LIFE ON BIKES IN ASSOCIATION WITH NO LIMITS TRACKDAYS 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: February 15  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…

MASTERCLASS Legal Q I was watching 24 Hours in Police Custody and saw the case about Adam White. He is a fellow biker. He was about to be burgled and have his motorcycle stolen. He chased the criminals away on foot (and then later in his car) when there was an accident in which the two burglars were knocked off their getaway bike and injured. Apparently, they are suing Adam White and his insurer for compensation. Is this even legal? If so, it does not sound fair! A This is quite a famous case for all the wrong reasons. There was a public outcry as Adam White was jailed for causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He lost his job and actually went to prison; his sentence wasn't suspended. You…