Innehållsförteckning för #354 18-13 från Just Bikes

Yamaha Motor Australia (YMA) has added an all-new model to their competition motocross range, with the ‘YZ65’ reaching local dealerships in June. The YZ65 arrives as the new entry-level model in Yamaha’s MX lineup. Before the YZ65, there was something of a gap in the brand’s off-road range: the PW50 has been the traditional kids’ starter bike, but the smallest MX model after that is the YZ85 (see separate News item for more on the new MY19 YZ85). The YZ65, which is designed to suit riders aged seven to twelve, aims to make that step from first-timer to future champion a little easier. Launch events around the country in June saw more than 200 kids try out the new mini-motocrosser, with YMA even conducting a ‘YZ65 Cup’ at the Raymond…

The Victorian State Motorcycle Sports Complex at Broadford will soon get an upgrade, following the State Labor Government’s granting of almost half a million dollars for resurfacing work on the road race track. The State Government Member for Northern Victoria, Jaclyn Symes, announced the funding at the circuit’s Women’s Only Ride Day on 23 June. The funding comprises a direct package of $143,000 from the Andrews Government with an additional $330,000 provided through the State Government’s ‘Strategic Sporting Infrastructure Program’. Unrelated to the track works, a further $50,000 was provided by the State Government to Motorcycling Victoria’s ‘Female Participation Program’, to ensure continuing operation of the Women’s Only Ride Days that are regularly held at the circuit. With the road race track at Broadford hosting numerous state-level and historic motorsport…

Toby Price made history at this year’s Tatts Finke Desert Race, claiming a sixth motorcycle category win to make him the most successful rider in the event’s 43-year history. As in 2016, Price was also attempting to do the ‘Iron Man’ double of winning both the bike and car categories: racing a KTM 500 EXC-F in the former and Chevy V8-powered Trophy Truck in the latter - a feat of logistics as much as it is of speed and endurance. While Price was clearly the man to beat in the field of more than 600 bike and quad entrants, he wasn’t the only star, with the likes of Beau Ralston, Jack Simpson, Andy Wilksch and Brodie Waters all lining up for the start at Alice Springs, as well as experienced…

When you hear that legendary names like Corser, Chili, Parrish, Magee, Vermeulen, Bayliss and McWilliams are all going to be in the one place at the one time, you just have to be in that place, too, right? That’s exactly what thousands of enthusiasts did this past March 22 to 25, when the QBE Insurance International Festival of Speed (QBEIFoS) made its return to Sydney Motorsport Park. Now something of a ‘must-do’ fixture on the Australian motorcycling events calendar, QBEIFoS has also become a hotly-contested race event, with the Sydney Motorsport Park (aka Eastern Creek) circuit seeing serious speed and historic race lap records that seem to be bettered each year. The keenness of competition has its downsides, though, and was evidenced this year when multiple crashes on 24 March…

What was previously Yamaha’s entry-level motocross machine – a position now occupied by the YZ65 – the MY19 YZ85 is almost entirely new. In a spec sheet comparison against the current version, the 2019 YZ85 may not seem different, but it features a completely redesigned engine, modified transmission, new suspension and new brakes, to name a few of the changes. The tubular steel cradle frame is the same, but virtually everything attached to it is new, starting with the engine that now features the Yamaha Power Valve System (YPVS) applied to larger Yamaha two-strokes. ENGINE MAKEOVER Adding YPVS to the 85cc 2-stroke single delivers more power across the rev range, but especially at higher revs. The engine crankcase is new, adding a spacer-style reed valve intake for better fuel flow…

Honda are calling the 2019-spec CB300R “all-new” and thanks to the application of the ‘neo sports café’ styling seen on the litre-class version, it certainly looks new. The new CB300R features the same distinctive headlight treatment, bare-metal radiator trim, highly-sculpted fuel tank, blackout engine and black mudguards of the bigger bike, but adds its own touches, like a belly fairing and all-black exhaust header and silencer. The LAMS-legal naked misses out on the swingarm-mounted numberplate holder of the CB1000R, instead making do with a conventional tail-mounted bracket that somewhat compromises the styling. Under that styling, there’s a conventional trellis-type frame that combines tubular and pressed steel sections, with pressed steel also used for the swingarm. Honda says this delivers rigidity without excess weight: listed wet weight is 143kg – almost…

After last year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado, USA, saw new records set in all classes, this year’s 96th ‘Race to the Clouds’ was somewhat anti-climactic, with no new records set in either the heavyweight (750cc and over), middleweight (501cc-750cc) or lightweight (up to 500cc) classes. Ducati still emerged victorious, though, with Carlin Dunne posting this year’s fastest overall time of 9 minutes 59.102 seconds, which was also the best heavyweight class time. Dunne was aboard the new Ducati Multistrada ‘1260 Pikes Peak’; a larger version of the regular Multistrada 1200 with a 1262cc Testastretta DVT engine and redesigned chassis. “The Multistrada 1260 Pikes Peak proved as amazing as we all hoped. It performed flawlessly, giving me everything I needed to get up the mountain,” Dunne said. Second-fastest…

This year’s third-annual KTM Australia Adventure Rallye – dubbed the ‘Outback Run’ - marked a true first for the KTM Adventure family. Held from 1 to 8 June, the Outback Run was the biggest event in the short history of these Adventure Rallyes and one that’s unlikely to be repeated for some time. ORANGE ARMY ON THE MOVE This true adventure saw 244 KTM mounted participants travel 2700 kilometres in seven days, camping under the stars each night and enjoying experiences like the magnificent Maryfield Station and the start of the iconic Finke Desert Race, where Toby Price, David Walsh and Jack Simpson delivered a KTM clean sweep of the outright podium. In between, the orange riders traversed all kinds of awe-inspiring locations, from Heytesbury Cattle Co’s Humbert River Station…

Entries for this year’s 38th Bay to Birdwood (B2B) run opened on 4 June, but potential starters need to be aware of a change to the event. To be held on Sunday, 30 September, the 2018 B2B still welcomes all vintage, veteran and early-classic motorcycles, cars and other vehicles built before 1960 (31 December, 1959, to be precise), but there is now an optional assembly and start point specifically for veteran and military vehicles. The second start point has been added at Civic Park, Modbury, exclusively for pre-1919 Veteran vehicles (including motorcycles) and military bikes and vehicles built before December, 1959. Event organisers clarified that this second start is not compulsory and veteran and military vehicle entrants can still commence the run from the usual start point at Barratt Reserve,…

Following past collaborations between MV Agusta and four-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton that have produced the Dragster 800 RR LH44 and F4 LH44, the latest joint venture brings Hamilton style to the Brutale 800 RR naked. The MV Agusta ‘Brutale 800 RR LH44’ takes the Brutale base and adds unique colours and a number of bespoke cosmetic features, which were designed and created by MV Agusta’s in-house design and technology arm, the Castiglioni Research Centre (CRC), with input from Hamilton. The higher-powered (104kW / 87Nm) 798cc triple from the RR version of the Brutale remains unaltered for this special edition, along with the updated chassis and improved electronics that were introduced in 2016. A standard mechanical spec would mean features like MV’s EAS 2.0 quick shifter for the…

Based on auction results and enthusiast reverence, Vincent is one of the two pillars of collectable classic motorcycles today. The other is Brough Superior. Both are British and both are brilliant, but while Broughs have an aura of exclusivity and are rarely seen, let alone seen in action, Vincents seem more attainable and somewhat more “usable” despite their elite status. That may not be the reality, but it was certainly the impression gained after time spent at this year’s Shannons Insurance Broadford Bike Bonanza (SIBBB), where Vincents of all types, ages and conditions turned out in force, providing a ‘Stevenage Spectacle’ for attendees that’s unlikely to be repeated. Now an Easter institution, this year’s tenth annual Bonanza (held from 30 March to 1 April) was big, and the appearance of…

The Kawasaki Ninja 250R was launched as an MY08 machine in late 2007 and while it sported all-new bodywork it could trace its lineage all the way back to the GPX250 that first saw the light of day some 22 years earlier in 1986. The original GPX250 (codenamed EX250) was a fully faired bike with a diamond-type tubular steel frame that sported a 249cc liquid-cooled DOHC parallel-twin engine mated to a six-speed gearbox. The GPX was an easy bike to ride at low revs and offered reasonable poke up top, revving to an impressive 14,000rpm. It was light (just 138kg dry), with a low seat height, and was quite narrow too, making it ideally suited to around-town riding. But this bike was no one-trick pony; well-sorted (albeit basic non-adjustable 36mm…