BIKE

hello

Given the distractions of ebay, mcnbikesforsale and subito.it (my current digital addiction) it’s a wonder that we manage to produce a magazine every month. Let me share the plum items from today’s diversion into used bike temptation; a choice of over 20 snub nosed 2008-09 Honda Fireblades between £4000-£5000, a top spec Yamaha Super Ténéré for £5000, a 1956 Moto Guzzi Airone 250 for €4500 (but I’d have to go to Rome) and a Yamaha QT50 for £240. Severe bike storage congestion (the actual number shall remain a secret in order to avoid self-incrimination) is already causing some domestic friction, so these kind of deals are a worry. Oooh look, here’s a Triumph T595 Daytona at £1695, and nine Ducati Multistrada 1000s for between £1900-£3500. A deeper investigation, maybe conducted with refreshment…

bike uk

EDITORIAL Phone 01733 468000 Editor Hugo Wilson Deputy Editor Mike Armitage Art Director Paul Lang Managing Editor Nigel Grimshaw Contributing Editor John Westlake Road Tester James Haydon Sensible Adult Colleen Moore Carpenter Paul Wigginton Head of publishing, motorcycling Steve Herbert-Mattick MARKETING Marketing manager Sarah Norman Newstrade marketing manager Mark Webb BAUER CONSUMER MEDIA Managing Director – Motorcycling Rob Aherne Editorial Director June Smith-Sheppard Chief Financial Officer Bauer Magazine Media Lisa Hayden CEO Bauer Publishing UK Rob Munro-Hall…

mt-10 joins 200bhp club?

‘That’s certainly a big outlet pipe and it would make you think it’s a turbo’ Last year Yamaha registered several patents showing a turbo bolted to what looked like an MT-09. And now we get this spyshot of a Yamaha MT-10 prototype sporting a serious amount of pipework, heat shielding and whopping air intake on the left hand side. Is it a turbo? Bike’s experts think so. ‘That’s certainly a big outlet pipe and it would make you think it’s a turbo,’ says Jack Frost of Holeshot Tuning, who have built several of the world’s fastest turbo-charged bikes. ‘Most of our bikes have 2.5in outlet pipes, though some of our really big stuff is 3.5in. I’d say that the one on the MT-10 looks approximately 2.5in.’ The huge intake on the left side…

ducati aim for tt glory

MASSIVE AERO EFFECT ‘The wings had a massive effect on the bike at the NW200 – there’s over 35kg of down-force at 170mph so at a lot of places the front end ploughs over the road. You need to take a bit of weight off the front to give the rider a better feel.’ DON’T CHANGE TOO MUCH ‘Ten years ago there would be big alterations from a short circuit bike to a road racing machine. But nowadays the bike in the BSB championship is virtually the bike that heads off down Bray Hill. ’ FLYING STONES ‘We’ll add protection to the forks, bodywork and radiator to stop stones causing damage.’ SCREEN ‘ A standard Ducati Corse item, which will probably be OK. Chaz Davies, Scott Redding and Leon Camier are all tall and they’re using it…

new daddy tiger?

SCREEN The front-end styling, lights, mudguard and screen are pure 900. WHEELS This bike has a 21in front and 18in rear, so we guess it’ll be the Rally version. That’s Rally as in BMF rather than Dakar. REAR Subframe and saddle looks similar to 900. Saddle is, as per the current model, a veritable sofa. SHAFT Rest assured, it’s still there. Now completely redesigned and no longer a singlesided swingarm. ENGINE It’s tilted forward and looks more compact than the current model’s. All the cases are different. At first glance this looks like the new Tiger 900 with a curiously large rear shock reservoir, but then you notice the shaft drive and different engine cases and plastics. So what is it? We reckon it’s a prototype of Triumph’s new 1200 Tiger. Comparing it with the current 1200, the engine looks more…

brand new trident!

‘We got our restoration team to start it up… It ran perfectly’ It’s not often you come across a brand new 43-year-old motorcycle and rarer still to find it for sale. Yet this 1977 Triumph T160 Trident is just such a beast. It was bought by National Motorcycle Museum (NMM) founder Roy Richardson from a dealer back in the 1980s. The bike was new and unregistered and Roy couldn’t have found a more original example of Triumph’s second generation triple. It came with its owner’s manual and keys and became part of the museum’s display for a number of years before, amazingly, another brand new T160 was donated to the museum from the USA. With two brand new T160s available for display, the decision was made to offer this one as a…