Índex per April 2017 a Performance Bikes

2017 SUZUKI GSX-R1000 CHRIS NEWBIGGING ‘OWN THE RACETRACK’ is a long-standing, if slightly shite, marketing claim for GSX-Rs of all sizes. But frankly, the only part of a racetrack they might have been able to ‘own’ recently is the paddock burger van. Since the brilliant K5, the big GSX-R has lost its way a little and lagged further behind as rivals moved with the times. The last update of any real consequence was 2009; since then, Hamamatsu have done little more than add some new forks, and tweak what they had. Only a snazzy MotoGP-rep paintjob and a significant price advantage has tempted riders on to the Suzook in the last couple of years – if they’d had to fight toe to toe, they’d have come away holding their teeth…

‘I have to change my riding style to suit the bike more than I thought’ SELF-CONFIDENCE HAS NEVER been something Jorge Lorenzo has lacked throughout his GP career. He’s also never been one for making rash predictions. So, when he boasts about being capable of winning races right from the start of his new Ducati adventure, you’d be wise to take notice. But first glance at the timesheets at the conclusion of the first winter showdown in Malaysia hardly suggests Lorenzo and Ducati are poised to release Honda and Yamaha’s iron grip on the MotoGP title. However, don’t be fooled by his 10th place ranking. Lorenzo was less than 0.4s off the fastest pace, and buoyant after taking giant strides in understanding what he needs from himself and the Desmosedici…

‘It’s about managing the torque for the wheelie under acceleration’ PRISING THE MOTOGP crown away from the grasp of Marc Marquez in 2017 might prove to be as easy as nailing jelly to a ceiling. No higher than ninth in the first two days at Sepang, Marquez ended an impressive third overall after an exhaustive examination of two new-spec big-bang RC213V engines. Marquez might have cruised to a third MotoGP crown last season, but he did so while desperately trying to tame a wild and aggressive RC213V screamer motor. Honda’s response to his repeated demands for a friendlier package has been to unveil a tamer Big-Bang version. But the new strategy got nothing more than a lukewarm reception from Marquez, with the bike’s aggressive power delivery still the main source…

‘Being within 2s of the lead at Sepang shows we’re improving PATIENCE IS NOT a word that features highly in the vocabulary of an elite level motorcycle racer. When you earn a living at over 200mph, you want everything yesterday. But patience could be the buzzword of 2017 for Briton Bradley Smith, who is spearheading KTM’s first full factory assault in MotoGP this year. Having finished 22nd on the timesheets in Sepang with the deficit to Yamaha top gun Maverick Vinales just shy of two seconds, it’s obvious the size of the task facing KTM is as big as the mountains surrounding its Austrian HQ. But Smith is determined to remain patient while KTM tries to transform the RC16 from novice to winner. Speaking exclusively to PB, he said: “We…

‘A remap made it less spiky, more useable, and easier to ride’ IF YOU’VE ever stumped up for paddock passes at a round of WSB and had the chance to ogle a true factory Ducati you’ll probably understand PB reader Luke Aldicott’s obsession with Bologna’s production-based missiles. But most people make do with a look, a camera phone snap, maybe a Tamiya model kit. Not Luke. Even before he swapped his 1098 for the Panigale, Giandrea Fabbro’s radical, frameless, cambelt-free replacement for the old Desmoquattro/Testastretta lineage had him smitten. “I’d fallen in love with the Panigale the first time I saw one,” Luke explains. Not an unusual admission, but the follow up is telling: “Especially the racebikes...” He already had a trick 1098 at the time (“I’d got it to…

1 BRITOOL TORQUE WRENCH ‘Unlike most torque wrenches, on this one you can actually see the breaker mechanism, which means you can predict when it is going to break as it approaches the set torque figure. This means you can get it really accurate and not over-torque the part. It’s used on footpegs mainly as they are crucial to get securely fixed in place.’ 2 MITUTOYO MEASURING EQUIPMENT ‘Accuracy is everything in an engineering company and while we have used other measuring tools, the Mitutoyo ones are the best and just keep on going. We have micrometers, Vernier gauges, slip gauges, every measuring device you can imagine, and the Mitutoyo units are our default tool. The gear lever’s bores are accurate to 0.01mm; the bearings we use are very thin…

CHASSIS Darren Wnukoski, MCT Suspension Darren set up MCT in 2003; he lives and breathes suspension. He is also one of the UK’s most respected suspension experts and over 700 bikes pass through his workshop every year. www.mctsuspension.co.uk ENGINE Alan Cook, Road and Race Performance After leaving Crescent Suzuki, Alan set up Road and Race Performance alongside Mark Hanna in 2011. They are well regarded for their race engines and chassis development and helped run McGuinness’s EMC Superstock TT bike. www.rrperformance.co.uk BOLT-ONS Giles Harwood, HPS Giles established HPS in 1999. Since then, it has grown to become one of the UK and Europe’s most respected technical mail order companies, sending boxes of goodies to excited bikes from all over the world.www.bikehps.com…

PERFECT PREP Last year’s unused spare bike, which Rutter will race this year. Alec says it’s identical to a 2017 model, once the new bike’s Euro 4 gubbins is ripped out. ONE CAREFUL OWNER Rutter’s well-used S1000RR racebike from last year will become the team’s spare. 2016 BMW S1000RR ALEC TAGUE LAST SEASON was absolutely unbelievable for Bathams SMT Racing and when we look back on our results it’s amazing. Michael was fourth in the British Superstock championship, won a race and set fastest laps as well as pole positions. On the roads he stood on the North West Superbike podium, lapped the TT at 131.8mph, got fourth in the Superstock TT, and we won Macau with Hicky, while Michael was second. So, from a team point of view, we…

IT SEEMS EVERY second task on the Fireblade has uncovered something that wasn’t quite as it should be if you want to make strong power: from the stiff chain fighting the sprockets, to tight valves giving poor cylinder sealing. Loose intake fittings, disgusting air filters, spark plugs long overdue replacement... the list of small issues soon adds up to a potential big loss. So it’s back to BSD’s dyno for a fair comparison with the curve we achieved before the work. Or so we hoped: when the bike was ready, we were in the middle of a frosty snap in the Fens. So Mark Brewin’s dyno weather station was recording some seriously high barometric pressure readings – a guarantee of wild dyno results thanks to the cool, dense and oxygen-rich…

CHRIS NEWBIGGING EDITOR   chris@pbmag.co.uk Iannone, I hope. He’ll be out to prove something, and to humilate Ducati. AUSTIN SMITH ART EDITOR   austin@pbmag.co.uk Maverick Vinales – his race simulation times on worn tyres look ominous. JOHN McAVOY ROAD TESTER   editorial@pbmag.co.uk Lorenzo – he’s got a point to prove, and the Ducati is coming good. MICHAEL RUTTER TRACK TESTER   editorial@pbmag.co.uk Either of the Ducatis: they’ve got big power for Qatar’s 1km-long straight. MARK WHITE TECHNICIAN   editorial@pbmag.co.uk Racer thrive on carrots, so Lorenzo. He has a carrot, and I don’t mean his nose. JOHN McGUINNESS COLUMNIST   editorial@pbmag.co.uk I’d have to say Rossi – he looks like the most consistent package just now. KAR LEE FORUM EDITOR   editorial@pbmag.co.uk Bradley on the KTM. Look, fellow ginge Trump won…

THE BOSS Hawk’s Steve Hicken is used to winning. He’s pinning all his hopes on Suzuki coming up with the goods at the first time of asking. WHEELS Lightweight Dymags save rotational mass, turning a quick-steering litre bike into a super-quick-steering litre bike. SUSPENSION Hawk are the UK agent for Italy’s Bitubo suspension. No surprise to find it hanging off their GSX-R1000, then. 2017 HAWK SUZUKI GSX-R1000R IF YOU WANTED to win in Superstock or road racing in 2016, you probably needed an S1000RR. Taylor Mackenzie won British Superstock, with Ian Hutchinson and PB’s Michael Rutter haranguing him to make it a trio of Beemers at the sharp end. Hutchy and Michael Dunlop spent a season sparring on the road leaving the rest to watch the forked tail of their…

ELECTRONICS Traction control settings are integrated with the rider modes to keep things simple. Want to go fast? Mode 1 = Most power and least traction control. Conditions a bit dodgy? Mode 3 = Softer throttle, lower power and Most traction control. Want to tit about doing wheelies? Switch it off. Electronics settings can be changed whilst on the move. Nice. ENGINE The GSX-S has 2005 GSX-R750 cases, which have 34.5mm cylinder vent holes to reduce pumpinglosses. The new injectors with 10 holes instead of eight,a new airbox with larger inlet and two extra sub-inlets, plus a new exhaust that uses balance pipes between cylinders one and four, and two and three, to eliminate the need for an exhaust control valve, thus reducing weight. 2017 SUZUKI GSX-S750 JOHN McAVOY ONCE…

CAL CRUTCHLOW FEARS it will be tough to emulate the record-breaking exploits of his memorable 2016 campaign. Last year, Crutchlow ended Britain’s 35-year quest for a first premier class win since Barry Sheene, with two victories securing him a place in British racing folklore. But after an exhaustive test of Honda’s new big-bang and old screamer RC213V engine configurations in Sepang, the 31-year-old admits replicating his Brno and Phillip Island victories will be incredibly difficult. But talk of a Honda crisis may be somewhat premature when you look at the timesheets and see Crutchlow, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa inside the top eight in Malaysia. However, there’s no doubt that HRC’s technical boffins only made minimal progress in taming the unruly RC213V’s aggressive power delivery during the winter sojourn. Crutchlow…

‘I hope that I can win from the first race. That is certainly my goal’ YOU NEED TO go back 17 years for the last time Suzuki seriously challenged for the premier class title. Yet new recruit Andrea Iannone showed why he could be a dark horse contender for MotoGP glory in 2017 with an eye-catching start to pre-season testing. The self-styled ‘Maniac’ was at his brilliantly unpredictable best in Sepang, with three crashes on his way to setting the second-quickest time. Iannone was less than 0.1s behind Maverick Vinales, who he replaced on the GSX-RR for 2017. And he was instantly convinced that he can continue Suzuki’s renaissance, which saw the Hamamatsu factory return to winning ways in the premier class last year for the first time since 2007.…

‘You get tired because the bike needs to be ridden wild’ POL ESPARGARO is once more teaching himself to take a ride on the wild side, in tackling KTM’s all-new RC16 MotoGP contender. The Spaniard spent the last three years trying to tame his famed rough and ragged style to suit the finesse required to master Yamaha’s sweet-handling YZR-M1. The RC16 is a 250bhp beast that doesn’t mind being manhandled, though. The 2013 Moto2 world champion said: “The KTM needs to be ridden wild. The more you push it, the more the laptime comes.” But pushing like crazy comes at a sizeable cost to mind and body. Riding the KTM like you stole it might not be an issue for short runs, but it becomes a mentally and physically taxing…

MARK’S REARSET TIPS RESEARCH THE PART Before you buy, make sure the rearsets can run a brake switch if you want to use them on a roadbike (some are sold with inline pressure switches) and also see if the manufacturer offers spares back-up. USE A BARRIER When you use titanium fasteners in aluminium you need a barrier such as copper slip or a Loctite grease as the titanium reacts with the aluminium and they seize together. If this happens, the titanium will strip the aluminium as it is a harder metal. TORQUE THEM UP! You should always use the manufacturer’s stated torque setting when fitting the rearsets to the bike’s frame, but very few riders bother looking this up. They are stated for a reason as over-tightening them can do…

‘I’ve doubled the mileage with a mixture of touring, commuting and trackdays’ FORGOTTEN HERO Kar’s flexible friend has been neglected in recent months. The plan is to rack up some serious miles this year. 2006 SUZUKI GSX-R1000 K6 KAR LEE THE SEVEN YEAR itch. I can honestly say that after seven years of K6 ownership I don’t have the urge to scratch that itch, even with the new model about to come out. It was late in 2010 when I made the 265-mile trek from my house to KC Superbike’s Carlisle showroom near the border of Scotland to pick up the GSX-R1000. Handing over £4300 for a 15,000-mile motorcycle might’ve sounded a little salty, but with just one previous owner (and a careful, steady rider at that, judging by the…

‘The whole clutch rocked on the input shaft, even when the nut was tightened’ 1989 SUZUKI RGV250K CHRIS NEWBIGGING I THOUGHT I was such a clever clogs when I fitted my precision-made, lightweight The Tuning Works clutch basket to the RGV. The complete new basket, hub, pressure plate and friction/drive plate kit (they’re not steels, they’re hard-coated aluminium) needs to sacrifice an original basket for the primary gear. As the TTW clutch was a new, unproven product I thought rather than irreversibly destroy the perfectly useable clutch in the bike, I’d butcher a spare basket for its gear instead. Clutch actuation is now that bit more slick as well as taking some rotating mass out of the motor. If you recall, I made the seemingly trivial mistake of fitting…

HJC R-PHA 11 helmet STRIP CLUB It’s a bit gimmicky, but any added visibility that these reflective sections add can’t be bad. FIDDLY FINGERS Visor closure is a bit of a pig when you’re wearing winter gloves and in a hurry. HOW LONG 14 MONTHS/4000 MILES COST £349.99 (RIBERTE COLOURS) CONTACT WWW.HJC-HELMETS.UK.COM I LIKED THE R-PHA 10 I had before this – it’s light, comfortable and generally good for the money. So I hoped the new version would be an improvement. Little details like the new brow vent and rubberised coating on the top vent roller are good, and for riding in the dark the reflective strips on the base are a nice bit of added visibility. The lock on the visor is a bit annoying – although it’s secure…

GUY MARTIN ON THE MUGEN Guy’s TT return on Honda Racing Fireblades will be supported by a ride in the TT Zero race on the Mugen Shinden. He’ll be partnering our man John McGunness on the 120mph-lapping ’leccy sportsbikes. MCN FESTIVAL TEST RIDES Most of the major manufacturers will have a demo fleet available at the MCN Festival on May 13/14. If you fancy back-to-back test rides, it’s your best opportunity. Details: www.mcnfestival.com UK WINS PI CLASSIC Jeremy McWilliams and Co won the annual Phillip Island Classic International Challenge for the third time in a row this month, with Jezza topping the individual rider table at the Oz circuit.…

PB’s own John McAvoy is organising the Longest Day Up charidee ride on June 21, 2017 – a sunrise-sunset ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats on £300 bikes. You’ll be raising cash for Cancer Research UK, by convincing friends and family that the toil of riding 916 miles on a bottom-of-the barrel motorcycle (without the luxury of motorway miles!) is worth stumping a few Queen’s-heads for. Previous events have raised more than £60k for the fight against cancer. Want to know more, register or sponsor? See www.thelongestdaydown challenge.co.uk.…

WE’RE NOT ALL THE SAME I’m a massive fan of PB and have been since the ’80s. But, I felt your criticism of main dealer technicians in your recent Project Blade article was unfair. In our small main dealer we fight a constant battle to convince customers that maintenance and service schedules are there for a reason. Jobs aren’t missed because technicians are lazy but because customers are ill-informed and/or tight and refuse to pay for them. Our technicians are constantly exasperated by failures due to lack of scheduled or day-to-day preventative maintenance. Tell anyone picking up a 125 that they need to adjust and lube their chain. Wait 1000 miles and they are back complaining the bike makes a funny noise when you throttle off. That’ll be the bone-dry…

WELL THAT WAS a bit of a surprise, wasn’t it? I’m sure you have all heard by now that my team-mate at Honda next year is Guy Martin. The news came as a bit of a shock to me as well! I wrote my last column on a Friday and the next Monday I was all booked to go to Louth for the unveiling of the 2017 Honda Racing squad, and I genuinely didn’t have a clue who my team-mate was going to be. I thought it could be Josh Brookes or even Michael Dunlop, but I was completely in the dark. I was driving my van to Louth in the pissing rain when Neil Tuxworth rang me. I was only about 10 minutes from HQ and he just said,…

ELECTRONICS Ducati’s excellent standard issue eight-level traction control, three engine modes (Sport, Touring and Urban) and three-way ABS, all programmable to taste. Ride-by wire throttle control. The S model adds a quickshifter and auto-blipper, which can also be specified on the standard bike. Heated grips are also an extra. ENGINE Ex-Monster 821 four-valve 90° V-twin bored out to 937cc, and sharing all but throttle bodies, airbox, exhaust routing and crankcase/frame mounts with the 950 Multistrada and Hypermotard. The transmission is beefed up to cope with the S model’s quickshifter. Power is a claimed 113bhp @ 9000rpm, torque is 71lb.ft at 6500rpm. Fuel consumption is 38mpg; the 16-litre tank shows a 225-mile range when almost brimmed, dropping to 100 miles halfway on the gauge. CHASSIS Steel tube trellis frame based on…

‘Everyone is close and fast. It’s going to be a very tough fight’ SPARE A THOUGHT for Valentino Rossi. Finally rid of long-term nemesis Jorge Lorenzo in Yamaha’s official factory team, the Italian icon may have been hoping for an easier time of it moving into the twilight of his career. Then along comes another young, gifted Spaniard – Maverick Vinales – to make it look like Rossi’s 21st year in world championship racing could be his sternest test yet. In two official winter tests at Valencia and Sepang, Vinales has finished top of the standings, and comfortably outpaced Rossi at a private Yamaha test last November. Having returned Suzuki to winning ways in 2016 for the first time in nearly a decade, Vinales has made a seamless transition to…

IT’S RARE THAT you will find a rider calm and unflustered about being 23rd on the leaderboard and close to 2s off the pace at the conclusion of a MotoGP test session. But headline grabbing-laptimes were not at the forefront of the Sam Lowes’ mind while he attempted to flatten the steep learning curve having come out of Moto2 on to Aprilia’s factory MotoGP machine. The former World Supersport champ told PB: “I wasn’t smashing any lap records but I was 3.6s off on the first day and ended under 2s off on a very long track, so I’d have taken that. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be further up, but I’m concentrating more on the gap to the front than the position. I’m trying to have a…

HAAS MINIMILL ‘We have two smaller Minimills and one slightly bigger one. This was the first CNC machine I bought and it has been faultless. I often stay in the workshop in the evening as you can set it up and leave it churning away for five hours or so to do its thing while I have a nap before feeding it with a new batch. It costs around £40,000 but is worth every penny. It’s a three-axis machine with 10 tool heads and can tap a thread at a speed of 2000rpm, which is incredible. It has a ‘look ahead’ function so it knows what it is about to do and automatically prepares so there is hardly any pause in its operation.’ EGG TRAY OF PARTS ‘We lay out…

MIDRANGE GRUNT IT’S OE FITMENT on the K6, along with a wild top-end rush. Hence, the only engine mods here are an MWR foam air filter, a Bazzaz fuel module and a GPR end can – my favourite after trying out six different cans including a Yoshi, Akra and Chinese-made Danmoto. It comes with two removable baffles which is mega useful for racetrack noise tests. Contact: racing airfilters.eu EASY UPGRADE ROUTE THERE’S LOADS OF stuff you can fling on to improve it. My favourites are a Brembo RCS master cylinder, 320mm discs, M4 calipers, Öhlins front and rear, Bonamici rearsets, Bazzaz quickshifter, plated up swingarm (that and the Chinese bodywork were my only styling mods), Renthal clip-ons, GB Racing covers and BST wheels. Contatct: gpr-motor cycle-exhausts.co.uk, bikehps.com ALL-ROUND USABILITY IF…

2008 HONDA FIREBLADE MARK WHITE NO SOONER DID Chris plonk his arse in the editor’s chair than he called up to delegate this month’s work on the Fireblade entirely to me. Bloody managers, they’re all the same... In fairness, this stage of the project is mostly about sitting down, concentrating and focusing on the details – something I like to do alone anyway. Especially in the case of our Blade – as well as being filthy, it’s also an arse to work on, and needs close attention to put it all together. I don’t need Newbigging taking the piss out of my dietary choices as I connect the injectors... This model Blade displays classic Honda design – everything is designed to work brilliantly, but at the expense of the sanity…

‘There’s more grip here than anyone needs in February’ 2016 KAWASAKI ZX-10R AUSTIN SMITH IF I WAS on my first week of a job in a workshop, by now someone would have sent me down to Halfords for a left-handed spanner. Pretty wise to wind-up, I assumed when Chris naffed off to Australia for the launch of the new GSX-R1000 (page 20), and threw me the keys to Matt’s old ZX-10R he was pulling my plonker. My riding life has seen its fair share of sportsbikes, but in recent years I’ve been performing my commute on a 20-year-old VFR750. Upright, plodding, getting the job done. My NC30 is currently in pieces in the shed (OK, it’s been that way for years now – but I will get round to sorting…