Innehållsförteckning för February 2017 från Fast Bikes

Yup, 2017 is upon us, and with it we’ll all be presented with a raft of delicious new metal to salivate over, there will be all manner of used bargains to tempt us, products will be begging to be bought, a hundred races will want to be watched and a world’s worth of experiences are out there waiting to be sampled. The first salvos of 2017’s battles have already been fired, with KTM, Kawasaki and Yamaha already presenting a selection of their finest before 2016 was even over. Trips to Qatar and Spain have given us a sneak preview of the year ahead – and it’s all looking sensational! Brilliant revisions, ace electronics, sublime roads and unique experiences have combined to offer us the insight that we need to make…

We remember a time when there wasn’t a great deal of armour in motorcycle gear. Leathers may have cursory nods to protection, some jackets and trousers had attempts too, yet most wore jeans and derri boots, leathers were for special occasions and racing! It’s incredible that this used to be the case. Finally the rise of armour began, where manufacturers slowly got their shizzle together and items such as back protectors gained prominence. It was the attitude of riders that took the longest time to overcome, some thought a back protector was bit lame. Man up, many would say, and to be honest if that’s your thing then fair enough, wear a mankini and flip-flops for all we care – we’ll always advise, but never preach. The reality of things…

When the technician wheeled the ’Busa out of its bay up at Suzuki HQ I was surprised at how sharp it still looked. The snout and first foot of fairing still looks current. Decent looking suspension and a set of Brembo brakes also made the next two weeks promising, and whatever out-dated notion I had of the almost extinct bike happily evaporated into the ether. It soon condensed again with the appearance of the second half of the bike, whose rounded form and clumsy styling sit at odds with the front of the bike – this despite the Yoshi’ cans of the Z model. I’ve lived with this bike for a year, and though fond of it, never grew to love its looks. I know that’s anathema to ’Busa fans,…

It seemed like an odd notion to travel north on the A34 to head to the Alps. This was really twisting my melon, man. Being based 'darn sarf' I've always shuffled across the busiest part of the country to the Channel Tunnel or wizzed down to Portsmouth to catch a ferry to wend my way to the biggest lumps in Europe. But here I was, heading due north, now along the A43 to get to Towcester, and then a few miles up the A5 on my longterm KTM 1290 Super Duke 1290 (not forgetting the SE suffix) to rendez-vous with my transport to Geneva. Bikeshuttle is in its second year of operation, and its premise is simple. You drop your machine off at its depot, it gets safely loaded onto…

I came into possession of the bike relatively late in the build. I've known the original builder, Anthony Hewett (aka Hewie), for a few years and he is an absolute R1 nut. My contribution amounts to the icing on the cake. It had never been ridden, not once, since the rebuild. Hewie wanted to create a homage, to the R7. Basically, what if Yamaha had also made a limited edition, absolutely no-holds-barred, SBK spec R1 at the same time as they introduced the R7? The donor bike was a repairable write-off 2000 model and the original frame, swingarm and engine remain. The Attack Racing triple clamp houses the front end of a 2006 model to accommodate the radial mount Brembo stoppers. There are no stock nuts or bolts left in…

FAILURE TO START Like Suzukis, Triumphs have the annoying clutch fail-safe switch, which means the clutch lever needs to be pulled in for the bike to start. Over time this switch can work loose in its mounting, sometimes leading to it not properly disengaging and the bike failing to start. ENGINE MANAGEMENT LIGHT If the bike has been left standing for a long period of time, the engine management light can become stuck on. To turn it off the bike needs to be run through three complete heat cycles. Start the bike up and leave it ticking over until the fan kicks in. Repeat this twice more and the light should go out, no more faffing required. FINISH Triumph’s finish isn’t great on the Daytona and as well as a…

HELLO MOTO! Hello folks. I have a question. Why no coverage for the revised Moto Morini Corsaro that was launched at Milan? Morini continue to battle the commercial odds and produce all Italian made 1200cc bikes, fitted with the most awesome engines. I know, I own one of them! Check them out on www.motomorinimotorcycles.eu. I hope Fast Bikes will find room for a feature on Morini’s past and present sometime? Lambertini’s designs are every bit as special as anything else that’s come out of Italy. Gary Dexter We are massive fans of Moto Morini machines, and rejoiced to hear that Moto Corsa will be bringing them into the UK. Go and gawp over them now!…

It’s not often we get to be hilariously cruel to a motorcycle racing champion, but 2016’s British superstock champion, Taylor Mackenzie, recently felt the full force of some infamous journo wit. He was on a launch with us,his first, and the poor fella fell hook line and sinker for every jape in the book. Think sending someone out for tartan paint, or a long weight, and you get the idea! Yet the lad sucked it all up and was a bloody good laugh, one of the boys in an instant, but then he’s had a brilliant year on track and was still in a smashing mood. It was, however, a great time to catch up with him about his year, and life in general. So then, young Taylor, how did…

An invite to a bike launch at the Bikeshed almost always involves the covers being pulled off some sort of café racer thing, with the assembled ranks of tattooed hipsters stroking their beards in admiration, before heading back to the bar for another gluten free pale ale. But something stirred our loins when we saw the word ‘sportsbike’ on the invitation. Held tightly under wraps, literally ( they were draped in silk), the covers came off to lay bare the firm’s new GP Sport and GP Street. The former is the fully faired race version, the latter the naughty street naked. The headline numbers are staggering; 180bhp and 140kg for the R versions, 156bhp, and 150kg for the more civilized road variants. But before you go reaching for your wallet…

Back in 2013, I remember exactly where I was when I phoned BJ up to see how phenomenal the new KTM 1290 Super Duke R was at the launch. Standing on a platform on Luton’s train station, I was holding the phone away from my ear so as to protect it from the bombardment of shouted superlatives conjoined with swear words that would soon to emitted by my phone’s speaker about the Beast. None was forthcoming. “It’s good,” BJ said in an uncharacteristic quiet voice that screamed non-commitment, “but it’s not the Beast we were promised.” Expecting to be maimed every time he touched the throttle, the image dreamed up by KTM’s marketers of this slick-shod, open-piped, rabid weapon just didn’t resonate on the road now that the Beast had…

The days of whizzing round the massive Nardo test ring at thirty billion miles an hour and circulating Anglesey just a couple of seconds off a ‘proper’ sportbike seem a long way away now. I was in a cosy bed not ten minutes ago, but now the onboard temperature gauge on the new-for-2016 dash is showing just four degrees, the tyres have yet to be scrubbed in and the top heavy feeling of the bike means that my first few miles on the effectively H2-equalling machine feel cold, awkward and downright miserable. But, like Bagpuss, as the ZZR starts to wake up, so do I. With town safely negotiated, albeit a little awkwardly given its girth, the revs finally begin to creep northward. It’s imperceptible given the progression of the…

As soon as we turned up it was obvious life wasn’t going to be luxurious. We four Brits might have felt fit to drop after our few days of excess en route, but any chance of rest and recovery looked slim. We pitched our tents in Friday evening’s darkness on ground so hard we’d had to hammer the pegs in. Along with the lack of any cushioning, the surround sound effect of bike motors being bounced off their limiters was hardly the stuff of lullabies. It didn’t take long to find a solution, though, and once a couple of beakers of supermarket-sourced pink wine were downed, everything looked rosé... We were at the Bol D’or at Paul Ricard onthe eve of the renowned 24-hour race. Everything was set for a…

Following our big sportsbike touring trip to Portimao in 2015, many of you guys pulled me up on something I’d mentioned – that I was glad we were touring on sportsbikes rather than naked machines. And, yes, that’s what I said then – and I’ll happily stick by it. That’s because I truly believe that if you’ve an ounce of spirit in your biking soul, anything but a sportsbike is ultimately compromised, especially in the modern age where these bikes can do everything almost as good as anything else – and are far better at the really fun stuff. So, to give some credence to this claim we decided to turn a traditional test into something else entirely. The test in question appeared in issue 318, a naked bust-up between…

CRASH PROTECTION OK, nothing could have helped a 120mph get off at Silverstone, but this stuff really is priceless in protecting your pride and joy. For the sake of a couple of hundred quid, you could save your fairings, frame, forks or even an engine – meaning it’s worth its weight in gold. KIT ECU AND RACE LOOM Easily the snazziest piece of equipment on this race bike, the ECU and race loom are a pivotal part in the performance of the engine. Although the software and lead to connect it all up is hard to get a hold of (Brod got his from Ray Stringer), it’s definitely a worthy investment. SUSPENSION Like the tyres, it really is shit or bust when it comes to suspension, and it isn’t something…

The change to 2017's grid formation for WSB, implemented by Dorna, has been generally well received within the series it seems – but not so much by race fans. To the unaware, the grid for Sunday's second race will comprise of those who finished fourth to sixth starting on the front row, seventh to ninth starting on the second row, and the podium finishers on row three. It's perceived by fans that this is some form of handicap for winning, because there's nothing wrong with the racing currently.The fans are right, pretty much, at least in terms of the racing being bang up there. OK, 2016 wasn't a classic when it came to universal race action, although there were some belters along the way. But in 2015 WSB had more…

Brothers winning titles the same year is rare, right? Yeah, the Marquez brothers did it in GP, but Larry Carter said it’s a first in the UK – and he should know. He was pressurising me on the grid about it for a bit for fun, but it’s also 20 years since dad won his first BSB title, too. The season went pretty well in the end, is much of that down to your side-kick, Diddy Daryll Young of IDP Moto? Yes, he has been a major part of it. The mechanic I was meant to have came to the first test we had, but then didn’t turn up again –or even communicate – so I guess he didn’t want to work with me! We texted Daryll to ask if…

THE BLADE IS BACK   NOW SHARPER THAN EVER... AND Triumph’s new Street Triple is finally unveiled – bigger, smarter and cleverer? Yes, please! THE MARCH OF PROGRESS Three Decades Of Evolution: From The Original GSX-R750 To The Best Electric Sportsbike You Can Buy – Energica’s Ego PLUS: ■ Bradley Smith: Life As A Factory Man ■ A Spring In Their Step: Inside Maxton Suspension ■ Super Duke Special: Testing A Tricked Up KTM 1290 R ■ And Stacks More! On Sale 7th February, 2017 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…

One thing that always garners sympathy from us here at FB is when a biker has just bought his pride and joy, and then mere months later a manufacturer releases an even better version. We understand a rider’s pain, and hear the groans often enough, but at the same time that is just the way of things in this ever fluid world – things always move forwards. And so it is with the latest incarnation of Yamaha’s nutty MT-09. This time round there’s a few more updates than just the addition of traction control, and it would appear that the factory listened to feedback from punters on where to take the bike next. This is because the biggest changes are on the chassis side of things; specifically a refresh to…

There was once a time when the ZZR and Hayabusa marques commanded the utmost respect from riders. The arrival of the ’Busa blaster in 1999 heralded a stepping up of the arms race between Japanese manufacturers – particularly the intense rivalry between Suzuki and Kawasaki. This was real Cold War stuff, played out on two wheels; biking superpowers battling each other with super power. Massive motors, huge speed and the abilities to chew up and spit out a rear tyre in half an afternoon ensured that these machines sat comfortably at the top of the tree. Yes, the new Yamaha YZF-R1 was fast, but it was nothing on the ’99 Hayabusa. Journos the world over took the new bike to runways near and far (but all of them necessarily long)…

“THE HAYABUSA NEEDS THE MOTHER OF ALL REVAMPS TO MAKE IT RELEVANT AND READY FOR THE YEARS AHEAD...” The fact that there are no competitors to these two dinosaurs is telling. Long gone are the days of the Honda Blackbird. Triumph canned its plans to make a ’Busa rival over a decade ago. BMW quietly stopped making the K 1300 S a year or two ago. And it’s not as if we’re expecting a fresh raft of rivals in the next few years. Big bikes belching out massive power while offering sporting aspirations have found themselves out of favour, and if it wasn’t for the fact that urban America has turned to this pair to tune, slam and ruin in a multitude of other ways there’s a chance that you…

It may be a bit late for some but we still receive countless questions regarding winter storage. A lot of people harp on about putting the bike on paddock stands and keeping the tyres off the ground, which I don’t buy into. If you’ve got air in your tyre, air will contract and expand depending on temperature, but if your bike is in storage that long, where a lack of pressure will have an effect on the rubber, I’d say yes, whack it on some paddock stands – but we’re talking years rather than months here. If we’re considering putting your bike away for winter and getting it out in early spring, then don’t start to panic, captain. If the tyre goes flat and you’re putting unwanted weight onto that…

GREAT LAUNCH ROADS: MONTE CARLO, DUCATI MONSTER 1200S The roads above Nice and Monaco are well travelled when it comes to manufacturers launching new metal. Hot on the heals of Kawasaki debuting the Z1000SX in the area came Ducati choosing to dynamically demonstrate the abilities of the new Monster 1200 S in the winding thoroughfares above Monaco. This was a launch held in the middle of November, and it was cold. Because you quickly gather height as you ride away from the coast, the temperature falls, meaning that it was only until lunchtime that things became more pleasant. Come March, we reckon you’ve got a great chance to get a glorious day, with it only getting better from then onwards. We headed to Sospel on the D2566, and found lots…

‘We’re not doing the usual race news this issue’ said the email from the FB boys. When I read the reply as to why, my first thought was ‘why has nobody else thought of this?’. Perhaps in the catacombs of Dorna where they thrash out their ideas to keep WSB where it belongs – awfully sorry, I mean to push WSB forward, of course – they have already considered it. But somehow I doubt it, yet really they should give it some serious thought. As I’ve said many a time, over here in the GP paddock WSB is often looked down upon. Not so much by the riders, funny enough, but the establishment of organisation, press, commentators and so on. But I’ve found over the decades it’s mostly worry that…

There’s something comforting about dirt. Ironically, I spent most of 2016 rolling around in the stuff, but that’s a different story. At this time of year, when the weather’s minging, I’m always out on a ’crosser – and I don’t mean one of the transgender variety. I cut my teeth in motocross and it’s almost impossible for me to pass off the opportunity to get out and razz around the local tracks with my mates every weekend. It’s knackering, you get battered and never make it home without a few additional bruises, but that’s all part of the fun. I’ve been racing off-road since I was 12 years old, I’ve bagged a few championships and had my fair share of wins over the years. It’s the discipline that comes most…

Hola amigos, cómo estás? Yep, I’m back in Spain (well, Andorra) writing this before Christmas. I’ll be heading home soon for a festive knees-up with my folks. It’s been a busy off-season thus far, including a pair of tests at Aragon and Jerez respectively. They went pretty well to be fair, nothing was exceptional and nothing terrible, though we did gather a huge amount of data for when it all kicks off again in January. I’m not sure if that gives the boys the time to sort stuff out, but it’s a start to get working on the new parts we tried, which ended up being about 50-50 good vs bad. I really enjoy testing; we can run as many bikes as we like but it’s usually two. We always…