Tabla de contenidos para January 2019 en RiDE

Versys 1000 Kawasaki’s best two-up tourer gets even better at knocking the miles out for 2019. The biggest change is its new ride-by-wire throttle — not especially interesting on its own, but this has let Kawasaki add cruise control as standard. Fingers crossed, it’ll only be a matter of time before the Z1000SX follows suit… Other changes include a new fanged fairing and LED lights, a screen that can now be adjusted from the saddle, radial front brake calipers and an IMU-informed cornering ABS system. There’s also a posher, more gadget-tastic Versys SE (pictured). This has semi-active suspension based on the ZX-10R SE’s kit, which should improve ride quality, plus three preload settings (rider / luggage / pillion). The SE also has a healthy list of extras including a two-way…

The R nineT Racer shares the same oil/ air-cooled 1170cc flat twin, as used between 2004 and 2012 in the R1200GS and RT, with the other R nineTs in the range — the Pure, Urban G/S, Scrambler and R nineT itself. They also share a near-identical steel-tube frame. All have slight variations in steering geometry according to different suspension and ride heights. The R nineT Racer has two variants, the base and the S. The S adds wire wheels, heated grips, a chrome exhaust and LED indicators over the base model, and costs £11,730 against £11,050. As with all R nineTs, the extensive range of BMW’s Option 719 customising kits is available, with a huge list of milled and machined cosmetic extras. SPEC  Price £11,730 Engine 1170cc flat twin, 4v…

The 1200cc parallel twin was introduced in the Bonneville and Thruxton in 2016. The Thruxton version of the engine features a lighter crank and larger airbox for a more free-revving response and is tuned to make 96bhp (17bhp up on the Bonnie) and 83lb·ft (6 lb·ft) up on the Bonnie. The Thruxton R comes with a Who’s Who of chassis spec: Showa forks, Brembo monobloc calipers, Öhlins shocks, Pirelli Rosso Corsa tyres, plus traction control and the riding modes of Sport, Rain and Road. Default setting is Road at ignition on. This Track Racer version includes a cockpit fairing, leather tank strap, LED indicators and Vance & Hines end cans, bumping the price from £12,400 to £14,350. SPEC Price £14,350 Engine 1200cc parallel twin, 4v per cyl, l/c Power 96bhp…

FOR MANY RIDERS, Dunfirmline is just a small city to skirt on the way to Knockhill, Scotland’s premier racing circuit. But there’s more to this historic town on the north shore of the Firth of Forth. There are some fabulous historic buildings in the centre (the City Chambers is fantastic), the Abbey was set up by a saint and is the last resting place of Robert the Bruce and… nobody’s really interested in that kind of stuff, though, are they? What you really want to know is what the riding’s like. That’s the really good news. While the M90 rushes most of the speeding traffic past the Kelpies, there are great roads all around Dunfirmline. Head east into Fife for relaxed riding or north-west for hillier, twistier thrills – but…

Q MY MOTORCYCLE WAS stolen recently. It is valued at around £7000 but I gave the registration incorrectly to the insurers. I reported the bike stolen and the police told me that I was not insured according to their database. However, when I showed them the certificate (everything matched with the exception of one letter) they accepted I was insured and gave me my crime number. I also reported the theft to my insurers and they have been very funny with me. They said; “We will have to refer the false registration to underwriters.” Mistaken perhaps but surely not false. They also require; “Proof that the bike had a Sold Secure gold-level lock and chain fitted”. Funnily enough, the thieves did not leave that much evidence. I had an Abus…

Passport Must be valid for at least six months beyond your date of entry. No visas are needed. UK Driving Licence and International Driving Permit Take your UK driving licence and obtain an International Driving Permit from the RAC. V5C Vehicle Registration For your own motorcycle, you’ll need the original registration document to temporarily import your bike. Travel / Medical Insurance Strongly recommended. Check it covers you for medical treatment and repatriation (if necessary) in case of any injury incurred while riding a large-capacity or hire motorcycle. Bike Insurance Try www.segurogringo.usfor third-party insurance.…

Are you organising a bike event? Tell us about it ride@ride.co.uk 1 MONTH AHEAD Motorcycle Live November 17-25, NEC, Birmingham The biggest bike show of the year in Blighty. All the big manufacturers - and smaller ones - will be showcasing their 2019 models. So this will be your first chance to get up close to the new BMW R1250GS and RT, Suzuki’s retro Katana and the latest Ducati Scramblers, among others. It’s not just static displays either - you can test-ride Yamahas on the road, BMWs on an indoor off-road course and Harleys on a rolling road. There are taster session for kids and novice adults, try your hand at trials or adventure bikes, indoor and off-road. Sprawling over several halls at the NEC, the show also features the…

AT THE START OF 2018, the Ducati Multistrada got a new engine. Capacity was increased to 1262cc in pursuit of more torque and now the Italian manufacturer has adopted that engine in its 2019 Enduro. Ducati says its aim was to make a more user-friendly package by producing a smoother engine and pairing it with a lower centre of gravity and seat height. This has been achieved by physically shortening the suspension by 10mm and reducing the swingarm length to keep the overall geometry similar to the outgoing 1200 Enduro. The bike also gets a host of incremental improvements such as a new wheel design, increased payload and a vastly improved dash interface. “The Enduro is better at every type of riding” On the road, this adds up to a…

MOST OF THE owners we spoke to were in their 40s or early 50s, with plenty of experience — quite a few IAM and RoSPA graduates and a couple of examiners too, including Tony Green. Like a lot of owners, he has a history of VFR ownership but didn’t much like the previous VTEC version. “I’ve had around 30 bikes, including a 1996 VFR750 and 1999 VFR800, but when the first VTEC came out I didn’t like the styling or the switch-like VTEC system. When the 2014 model was first shown, I loved the look straight away — and a test ride confirmed it as a great road bike. “This is several bikes in one. Want sports? Then head down, knee down and take off with power and great fun…

Kawasaki Z1000SX 2011-current £4500–£9000 • 1043cc inline four • 136bhp • 150mph • 50mpg • 228kg It’s the 2010 incarnation of the long-running Z1000 naked roadster, with a new angular full fairing, a different seat unit, a larger fuel tank and loads of other changes to turn it into a sports tourer — with the emphasis on the sporty end of the spectrum. Very strong engine and very, very reliable, but vibes can be an issue. Comfort and handling are excellent — once you’ve ditched the original tyres in favour of something that works. No cruise control though. BMW R1200RS 2015-2018 £8500–£13,500 • 1170cc flat twin • 123bhp • 150mph • 48mpg • 236kg After the elegant simplicity of the VFR, the R1200RS is all edges and gadgets. Usually fully loaded with electronic extras, including excellent cruise control,…

“It’s just a competent, capable everyday ride with a bit of style” IN A WORLD of identikit adventure bikes, it’s ironic that it takes an old-fashioned sports tourer to stand out from the crowd. The VFR does just that, especially in its trademark bright red paint. But that’s just part of the appeal. Owners tend to love their VFRs and it’s easy to see why. The only real hassle in ownership is the occasional chain adjustment, but fit an oiler and you’ll only need to do that once in a blue moon. Otherwise it really is a do-it-all bike — it’s not pretending to be a racetrack refugee or a round-the-world lifestyle-support system, just a competent, capable everyday ride with a bit of style, outstanding reliability and enough power and…

Q Since passing my DAS in March I’ve been riding my Honda CBF600. I’ve loved it but think I should be moving onto something bigger for next summer, to start touring. What would you suggest? A If you like the CBF600, why not move within the family to the CBF1000? Similar ergonomics but improved handling and much greater performance from the retuned Fireblade engine. It’s a great all-rounder and a logical progression. If you want to look at something slightly different, perhaps consider the Honda Crossrunner — more upright and built around the V4 from the VFR800 (see p78). Or outside the Honda family, we’d think about the Yamaha Tracer 900/MT-09 Tracer. Q I’ve picked up a slow puncture in a new tyre. A friend suggested just putting one of…

THERE ARE TEXTILE suits… and then there are Gore-Tex Pro suits. The Scottish waterproofing firm’s flagship material is used by only a limited number of manufacturers, appearing in range-topping suits — usually with stratospheric price-tags. So how do they justify it? We followed development of German kit giant Held’s 2019 range-topping Atacama suit to find out. Building a brand-new top-end suit is not a quick process. From start to finish, from the first sketch to the first finished sample arriving in Europe, took 18 months. Head of R&D Stefan Held explains: “We already have a Gore-Tex Pro suit in our range, but technology moves on. We felt it was possible to introduce a new suit with some innovative features and increase comfort in very warm conditions.” “Building a top-end suit…

MY SCRAMBLER IS completely standard and the semi-knobblie OE tyres have over 2000 miles on them. So it raised some eyebrows when I announced I was taking it on a circuit not exactly renowned for its grip levels (and it continued to raise them all day in the pits). It turns out that ground clearance was the issue for the Ducati. Decking out way before the tyres ran out of lateral grip, it only lost traction accelerating out of a couple of corners onto the painted kerbs. The amount of grip was flattered by the measly 84hp of the 1100cc V-twin though. Where all the superbikes around me needed a restrained approach, I could just wrench the Scrambler’s throttle wide open and let it drag me to the next corner.…

SPEC YAMAHA TRACER 900GT £10,792 • 847cc inline triple • 113bhp • 227kg • 18-litre tank • 850/865mm seat • 50mpg • 4189 miles A WEEK BEFORE the clocks go back and it finally hits me: summer’s over. Call me slow; perhaps I’ve just been in denial for weeks. But here we are, end of October, the sands of 2018’s riding season slipping through my fingers. The Tracer 900GT still doesn’t have a Grand Tour to its name. Never made that pilgrimage to Applecross I’d been promising. Never got round to chasing the Isle of Man’s Mountain road into a setting sun. Never unpacked the panniers in a Parador. Woe is me, tune up your tiny violin and so on, but the guilty regret of missed opportunity is real. If…

Multistrada 950 No sign of the 950 Enduro some were hoping for, though Ducati’s junior adventurer does get a number of easily overlooked updates. It gains a hydraulic clutch, an IMU (for cornering ABS and hill-hold control), a lighter aluminium swingarm and lighter wheels. There’s also a new S model, which gets Ducati’s Skyhook semi-active suspension, keyless ignition and cruise control. The delightful 111bhp, 937cc V-twin remains unchanged on both versions, which is fine by us. Price starts at £11,898, going up to £13,498 for the S. You can add spoked wheels, if you prefer, for a further £550. Panigale V4R Let’s put common sense and real-world practicality concerns aside for a minute. Instead, let’s revel in the fact that, whatever else is going on in the world, it’s still…

YOUR NEXT GREAT RIDE PORTUGAL 40.369996, -7.638098 THERE IS A land where the roads seem completely empty. And they’re great roads — sinuous and usually fantastic tarmac. The people are friendly, the food is good and it’s not particularly expensive. The weather normally ranges from the superb to the awesome, with lots of long, hot, sunny days. In other words, it’s biking heaven — especially if you head into the mountains. What is this biking nirvana, you ask? Why, Portugal, of course. It’s actually more of a land of two halves than the introduction makes it sound. There are busy, built-up areas around the big west-coast cities of Porto and Lisbon, yet plenty of rough roads in parts that have yet to be refreshed by money from the European Union.…

The Z900RS Cafe uses the same 948cc water-cooled inline four as the Z900RS, itself based on the Z900 from 2017 but detuned to 110bhp instead of the Z900’s 123bhp and with some obvious cosmetic differences (such as fake air-cooling fins, for example). The Z900RS Cafe shares the same chassis as the Z900RS with upside-down forks, radial brake calipers, a horizontal rear shock and slipper clutch. Two-mode traction control offers a basic safety aid. In contrast to the range of customizing accessories available to the BMW and Triumph, Kawasaki’s list is limited to practicalities such as heated grips, a centrestand, engine and frame protectors and an Akrapovic slip-on end can. SPEC  Price £10,792 Engine 948cc inline four, 4v per cyl, l/c Power 110bhp @ 8500rpm Torque 73lb·ft @ 6500rpm Transmission 6-speed,…

THIS MONTH’S PRIZE The prize for submitting this month’s prize route is one of the fully featured Oxford Oslo jackets, worth £199.99. This three-layer jacket adapts to all conditions and comes in a choice of three great colour schemes. For more information, see www.oxfordproducts.com THE GRAND PRIZE Don’t forget, at the end of the year, the most popular GBRO route will win its creator a RiDE Recommended HJC Rpha 90 flip-front helmet, worth £449.99. THIS MONTH’S WINNING ROUTE Horsing around Start/Finish Taunton Distance 205 miles Riding time 5.5 hours Checkpoints 3 (Haynes Motor Museum, Stonehenge, Avebury) We love a route with a plan and GBRO regular Dave Gill’s tour of Wiltshire certainly has one of those — his example takes in all eight white horses in the county. He admits…

DEADLINES ARE MY least-favourite thing in the world right now. As soon as I have a deadline or a plan, things go wrong and my stress levels go through the roof. I’ve come to learn that this trip is much like riding a bucking bronco and I just have to let it run its course, clinging on if I can. When I had a deadline to enter Iran, my clutch broke. When I needed to enter Myanmar, my bearings broke. When I needed to get to Thailand, Myanmar delayed my entry permit. Most recently I have had to meet deadlines for my arrival in Australia. I had no idea that flying a bike into a different country could be such a big issue! Pretty much every company I contacted either…

FILTERING THROUGH THE traffic on the Granada ring road, I can tell Weeble’s wondering what on earth I’m playing at. When I look in my mirrors, he’s hanging back, body language practically one huge question mark: why on Earth are we here? Spain is, after all, packed with amazing riding and it’s perfectly possible to spend your time exploring the country without going near any big cities after leaving Málaga, Bilbao or Santander if you’ve flown in to pick up a hire bike or sailed across from Blighty. Yet here we are, picking our way past commuters on the busy four-lane gyratory in rush hour. I spot the exit we need, put my indicator on and then wave my hand regally toward the horizon. Rising above the city and visible…

Doesn’t sound very French? No, it’s definitely in France but safer to say it’s in Brittany – they’re very touchy about their Celtic heritage here. What’s Celtic about sausages? The local ones are bloody good, and they serve them wrapped in Gallettes (buckwheat pancakes), traditional Breton peasant food. As for the beer, Brittany’s one of the few areas of France with a long tradition of brewing, not least because it’s rubbish for growing grapes. As well as various brewers in the surrounding countryside, there’s an excellent microbrewery in the city centre. Called RZN (an abbreviation of Roazhan, the Breton word for Rennes), it brews several versions, including Le Vieux Canal (The Old Canal), said to be perfect with Galette Saucisse. That’s lunch sorted then. Now, what about these wooden houses?…

The F750GS (£8225) has a comprehensive range of options: the F750GS Sport (£9300) comes with the quickshifter, heated grips, enhanced riding modes and LED indicators. Then there are several packs of extras you can add to the Sport model. The £560 Comfort Package adds keyless ignition, tyre pressure control and a centrestand. The £840 Premium Package adds Dynamic ESA, cruise control and pannier racks. On top of all this you can add the TFT display (£595) and the SOS button (£295), which puts you in touch with a BMW call centre when the bike detects a collision.…

APRILIA’S 2018 TUONO V4 1100 Factory may well be a hugely stimulating bike but its virtues need to be very persuasive to win over 2003 Tuono Racing owner, Pete Moore. He’s had his since 2004, doing over 36,000 miles on it. The 57-year-old archaeologist from Gloucestershire loves his bike, not wanting to see the Italian street-fighter leave his garage. “I’d had a Kawasaki ZZ-R1100 and a Suzuki Hayabusa and had really enjoyed both of them. But I’d grown tired of their uncomfortable riding positions. I wanted a more sit-up-and-beg naked bike but a proper one, not a weedy Japanese model with a retuned engine. The Tuono Racing seemed perfect and I wanted one as soon as it came out. Affording it was going to be a bit of an issue…

Flattering. Whether you’re sat up, playing at racers, heading off on holiday or filtering on a busy commute, the VFR does everything you ask of it, competently, capably and smoothly. The ergonomics will be familiar to anyone who’s ridden any Honda in the past 30 years or so — everything’s where you expect it to be. The handling’s good and there’s plenty of ground clearance for general riding, though if you’re planning a trackday you might want to add a bit of rear preload and tweak the forks to improve behaviour on the brakes. Speaking of which, the new radial caliper setup has a really nice blend of power and feel, though some riders don’t like the relatively long lever travel and soft feel. Best of all, it’s good riddance…

1 ENGINE/GEARBOX The VFR’s V-four is very similar to the previous model’s, and the only thing they’ve ever been prone to is a bit of top-end rattle at high mileages. With the oldest new-style VFRs still only five years old and few having covered huge miles, we weren’t expecting many complaints and in fact, we didn’t get a single hint of any mechanical woes. 2 CLUTCH The clutch itself is pretty reliable (though occasionally noisy) and unless you’re mainly in town or fond of clutch-based wheelies, should last 35-50,000 miles no problem. The pushrod between the slave cylinder and clutch mechanism can rust and stick in its bushing though — clean and grease occasionally. Also, keep an eye on the state of master and slave cylinders — a build-up of…

IT’S A SAD fact of life that, if you continue riding in winter, the chances are you spend more time in the saddle during the hours of darkness than daylight, particularly if you commute. And in these dark times, your bike’s headlight becomes even more important. It lights your way and illuminates upcoming hazards as well as alerting other traffic to your presence. LED headlights, as used on modern bikes, tend to be super-bright and draw tiny amounts of energy. In fact, car technology has reached the point where headlights can be made up of multiple LEDs units that are switched on or off individually. That technology hasn’t reached motorbikes yet and by far the most common form of lighting is the good old halogen bulb. However, the beauty of…

Held’s master pattern-maker Melina Harquardsen explains the process and shows us how patterns are made — initially by hand, in the traditional manner. Paper is laid out on a table, cut and measured and rolled by hand, with hand tools that mark where the stitches would go. However, this being the modern age, these manually crafted patterns are placed on a huge digital board that allows the pattern-makers to recreate them on computer. This then allows garments to be modeled electronically, to assess the impact of adjustments, before the next prototype is produced. At every step of the development process, careful checks are made by getting people to wear the prototypes. Measurements are taken to check where and how garments fit, with volunteers sitting on a dummy bike to see…

Alpinestars SMX-6 v2 boots Gore-Tex £239.99 DryStar £219.99 www.alpinestars.com THE ALPINESTARS SMX-6 v2 road and track boots are available in two variants — with a Gore-Tex or Alpinestars’ own DryStar membrane — so we tested both to see if the £20 price difference could affect your choice. All tests were carried out wearing one of each boot. Other than the toe-slider on the DryStar and slight differences in the shin armour, the two versions are identical. Microfibre uppers with a rubber sole, there is a side zip for entry, an internal gusset for waterproofing and Velcro flaps for adjustability. The SMX-6 v2 is CE-certified and protection comes from Alpinestars’ TPU armour on the shin, toe, heel and ankle with extra bracing to the ankle. In use, both versions perform superbly,…

ONCE YOU HAVE experienced the joy of riding with warm fingers whatever the weather, thanks to a set of heated grips, you will never look back. In fact, heated grips are so good, many manufacturers are fitting them from the factory on a variety of bikes, from sports machines to adventurers and tourers. The great thing about heated grips is that their warmth allows you to ride in thinner gloves when the weather is cold, giving more control and feel from the bike, as feedback isn’t insulated by a thick and bulky winter glove. And fitting them is a remarkably simple process. There is a huge variety of heated grips available on the market: removable items that fit around your original grips; official manufacturer accessory items that link directly into…

SPEC BMW F850GS SPORT £13,365 • 853cc parallel twin • 94bhp • 242kg • 15-litre tank • 860mm seat • 53mpg • 2750 miles I’VE BEEN LIVING with this fully loaded F850GS Sport for almost 3000 miles, so it’s about time I took a closer look at its buttons and bolt-ons. And there’s a lot. Almost all new BMWs are bought with some sort of accessory or upgrade ‘pack’. They can be expensive but the trade-off is they add to the bike’s future value and often only increase a monthly PCP payment by a few quid. Beyond the extras listed here, our bike has many other available upgrades — a two-way quickshifter, centrestand, tyre pressure monitors, flashy paint and so on (and on). Some come bundled as part of one…

I have been a RiDE reader for a few years now and the letters published are my favourite reading. Recently on a Sunday ride to Newcastle, Northern Ireland with my son pillion on my Suzuki GSX-R600, all I saw were middle-aged men on sports tourers with luggage. I told my son they are wannabe bikers riding oversized scooters, taking up valuable road space and I ended up swearing at them inside my helmet. Then, last week on a visit to my local dealer, I spotted this beautiful Kawasaki Z1000SX tourer fitted with full luggage. I was smitten. And I became the new owner. I took my son to Bishops Court for the end-of-season Sunflower Trophy on it and we loved it. I don’t know what brought the sudden change on…

Scrambler 1200 Triumph’s Bonneville range just got seriously dirty. The new Scrambler 1200 promises far more than just knobbly nostalgia — Triumph claims it delivers proper off-road ability, with cutting-edge technology never before seen on a bike. At its heart is the Bonnie’s now-familiar 1200cc parallel twin, given a Scrambler-specific 89bhp retune. The frame is specific too, combining tubular steel and aluminium sections — presumably reinforced for off-road action. High-spec components include Brembo M50 front brakes, adjustable Showa forks and twin Öhlins shocks, while a 21in front wheel should keep things rolling nicely off-road. There are two models: the standard XC; and the even more dirt-ready XE. The XE has taller suspension (250mm travel, up from the XC’s 200mm), a longer swingarm and an Off-Road Pro riding mode. It also…

CB650R Honda’s ‘Neo Sports Café’ family gets a middleweight member. Sitting perfectly alongside the CB1000R, CB300R and CB125R launched earlier this year, is the new CB650R. It’s 6kg lighter and 4bhp more powerful than the CB650F it replaces and gets a new set of upside-down forks and radially mounted front brake calipers. Power is now up to 94bhp (which is what the Hornet 600 had 20 years ago, for those keeping score). Surprisingly, it now also has traction control too. A price of around £7000 is likely. CB500X The affordable all-rounder gets an adventure redesign. Longer-travel suspension and a new 19in (rather than 17in) front wheel give a taller stance, raising seat height by 20mm to 830mm. The 471cc parallel twin gets a smidge more shove in the low and…

Applecross, Scotland Enjoying the incredible roads of Scotland at the top of the amazing Bealach na Ba Pass on our Highlands and NC500 adventure. Robin Phillips Vosges, France At the Col du Wettstein national cemetery, where lie the remains of 3535 French mountain infantry, who died here in 1914/15. Phil Lowndes Windsor, Berks This is my Triumph Speed Triple and a Hurricane on a recent ride into Windsor. Darren Carey Alps, France Top of Col du Galibier with mates and random French and Italian bikers and my son’s four-wheel bike, which bikers love. Epic 4000-mile trip to Mallorca to marry off my daughter, where I was MC. John Reeves That place, Wales From left to right is me (Dan, VFR800), my father Rob (CB1300) and my father-in-law Pete (VN900 custom).…

IT’S EARLY-DOORS ON a glorious autumn morning and the sun is painting Buxton’s stonemasonry a deep, glowing orange. RiDE’s test team mills about outside the ivy-clad Old Hall Hotel in the centre of the spa town, fully breakfasted and ready to take three modern café racers – Kawasaki’s Z900RS Cafe, Triumph’s Thruxton R and BMW’s R nineT Racer – around the Peak District’s finest stone-wall chicanery and look damn good doing it. But the scene is so idyllic, with chrome metalwork and candy paint glinting in the sparkly sunlight, it almost seems a shame to spoil it by riding the bikes. Almost… Buxton to Bakewell What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, Sunday, the usually delightful hoon up to Buxton along the winding A515 from Ashbourne, through Fenny Bentley and…

The Peak District’s sweeping range of scenery and network of hidden tarmac gems makes it one of the UK’s most popular biking destinations. Trouble is, it’s also popular with all other forms of traffic, especially in holiday season and at weekends. But our weekday route of 80 miles is a short scoot linking some of the best bits into a circle; the A53 out of Buxton, then the ride across to Bakewell is a fast and fun slice through typical English fields. From there to Ladybower reservoir is slower and more built-up, often passing under a canopy of broad-leaved trees — then the run up across the Snake Pass to Glossop is classic Peak District, all tall hills and big skies. My favourite part is the drop down into Buxton…

The original one Triumph Thruxton 900 > £5000-£7500 > 2005-2015 > 856cc parallel twin > 69bhp > 205kg If you want that authentic café-racer vibe, you can’t go wrong with a Triumph: after all, British parallel twins powered the original café-racer craze. While the 900 Thruxton has less urgency than the 1200 that replaced it, if anything it has even more character. It is, after all, a more authentic air-cooled engine, styled to look like a pre-unit lump. But behind the achingly accurate retro lines is an effective modern roadster. The standard exhausts are disappointingly muted so don’t be surprised to find aftermarket cans adding a touch more character to any used bike. The riding position is a proper compact sporting crouch — tough on taller riders — but the…

Kriega OS side pack system From £59 www.kriega.com Kriega’s Overlander-S luggage system for off-road and adventure bikes has been a big hit. There are two fitting systems. For off-road bikes, the base harness (£79) fits to detachable rack loops with adjustable straps, while for most road-based adventure bikes there’s a backplate (£59) to fit either SW-Motech or most hoop-type pannier frames. Then you simply add the side packs of your choice, from the six-litre OS-6 at £65 up to the whopping 32-litre OS-32 at £239 each. You can mix and match, and the new-for-2019 OS-22 pack (£219) is designed to be paired with an OS-32 where a bulky exhaust restricts space on one side. Water and fuel cans are also available to fit straight on. Klim Latitude suit £1264 www.adventure-spec.com…

Culture shock Hardly — all the home comforts are here. French is the first language in some provinces, so a bit of the lingo can be useful if they’re on your route. Road conditions Generally very good with the majority of routes blacktop and well maintained. Minor routes are usually hard-packed gravel. Harsh winters can leave potholes and other damage behind though, with lots of subsequent repair work. Experience level You’ll need good road-riding skills and some European touring experience. Even if you’re not planning to hit the trails, some basic off-road training will also help when tackling roadworks or gravel tracks to hotels and campsites. What’s it like to ride there? The scenery, the wildlife and just the sheer scale of the place will take your breath away. From…

NEW FOR 2018, the F750GS is perhaps the most easily overlooked of BMW’s adventure bikes. The latest revisions have seen the parallel-twin’s capacity increased and the styling refreshed to match the looks of the rest of the GS range. Though the F750 is smaller than its more famous boxer-twin big brothers, it does suit the more average-sized rider better than the gargantuan 1200s. It’s worth pointing out from the start that the F750GS is not a 750cc version of the F850GS. Confusingly, the engine in the 750 is the same 853cc unit fitted to the bigger bike, just detuned. It’s a 750 in name alone – much like BMW did with the previous F700 and F800 models, which shared the same 798cc engine. So where the F850GS has 94bhp and…

Heated grips as standard! Now that may not be as sexy as some of the plethora of electronic gizmos available from BMW (to name but one competitor) but when they’re five-stage grips like these, and when they work this well, they’re worth shouting about. Two-channel ABS is reasonably smooth in action — no big lurches unless you’re deliberately provoking it by grabbing a huge handful on wet roads — and the traction-control system is similarly unobtrusive. Honda made a big thing at launch of the optional quickshifter system, but very few owners even mentioned it, so we’d guess most original buyers didn’t bother stumping up the extra. That’s about it for gadgets, except for Honda’s fancy self-cancelling indicators. These work on front/rear wheel-speed difference rather than a timer but annoyingly,…

Service schedule 8000-mile basic intervals include an oil and filter change, idle-speed check and a raft of visual inspections including steering-head bearing adjustment. The main 16k service adds an air filter change and a valve-clearance and spark-plug check. Spark plugs are changed at 32,000 miles. Clutch and brake fluid is changed every two years and coolant every three (though we wouldn’t leave it that long for either). We’d add suspension and head-bearing greasing to the 16k service for peace of mind. The VFR’s easy enough for the home mechanic, though you have to take off a lot of bodywork just to change the oil and filter. As with all Honda’s V-fours over the years, valve-clearance checks are fiddly and time-consuming due to limited access and you need special tools. New…

Where did it come from? In a roundabout way, from Africa. The original early 80s R80G/S was inspired by the Paris-Dakar Rally and was actually pretty good off-road. As the years went by it gradually morphed into an off-road-styled road bike, gaining weight and height with every incarnation, culminating in the 2003 R1150GS Adventure – a knobblie-tyred behemoth with a 900mm seat height, weighing in at over 275kg. Clearly, completely impractical off-road — though that didn’t stop Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman using them for their influential Long Way Round in 2004 (but only when their plan to use lighter KTMs fell through.) Even as they were setting off, though, the 1150’s days were numbered and its replacement was already on the street — the R1200GS. 30kg lighter than the…

I’ve done just over 2000 miles in the suit in the past few weeks. It is extremely good — as it should be. Like all Gore-Tex Pro suits, it has a substantial feel: reassuringly heavy, even without liners. The trousers have CE Level 2 armour in hips and knees, while the jacket has CE Level 2 armour in shoulders and elbows but I had to fit my own back protector. There is Superfabric reinforcement on the key abrasion areas. When it comes to dealing with heavy rain, the suit kept the warmth in and the water out. Even the pockets — each stuffed with a tissue — remained dry. I did however suffer what I call “Buff-wick”, where the low-ish collar left enough neck tube exposed for it to get…

Shoei X-Spirit III From £599.99 www.shoeiassured.co.uk I’VE BEEN USING Shoei’s flagship race helmet since its release in 2016 and I’ve covered thousands of miles on the road and hundreds on track. Occasionally I’ll test a different helmet yet each time I slip the X-Spirit III back on it’s a reminder of how good a helmet can feel. It’s really light, at 1400g, and fits my head almost perfectly, so it’s all-day comfy even at motorway speed. The lining is removable but it isn’t the plushest. It wicks sweat away like no other though and on top of that, it’s still in tip-top condition. The shell design is an obvious — and drastic — evolution of its predecessor, the X-Spirit II (which I also used extensively). The aero spoiler is exaggerated…

Photos Peter Wileman Photography, Jim Blackstock, Caroline Barrett SPEC HONDA CB1000R+ £12,299 • 998cc inline four • 143bhp • 212kg • 16-litre tank • 830mm seat • 41.4mpg • 1673 miles SPEC DUCATI SCRAMBLER 1100 £10,838 • 1079cc 90° V-twin • 84bhp • 206kg • 15-litre tank • 810mm seat • 38mpg • 2175 Miles SPEC SUZUKI SV650X £6342 • 645cc 90° V-twin • 75bhp • 198kg • 14.5-litre tank • 790mm seat • 60.4mpg • 3335 miles ROCKINGHAM MOTOR SPEEDWAY: sounds more like the venue for round 36 of the 2018 NASCAR series than a woefully under-used circuit on the edge of Corby. Built specifically for UK appearances of the 200+mph American Champ Cars single-seater racing series, ‘The Rock’ could seat 52,000 people. There was just one problem… no-one…

TRACKDAYS AREN’T REALLY my thing; I say that with good reason. I broke my finger on my last one, also at Rockingham, so taking the CB1000R+ along (more powerful than my own Yamaha R6 finger-breaker) sparked off more than the usual trackday nerves. I needn’t have worried though, as reminding myself that the Honda has all the safety aids I could need — traction control also serving anti-wheelie duties, ABS, adjustable engine braking and power modes, plus the predictable power delivery Honda does so well — meant I’d be in safe hands. Ready to rock (geddit?) The incredible wind made the sighting laps leading into the first session of the day more about working out how the wind was going to affect me on each corner. But it was only…