Índex per January 2018 a RiDE

Gavia Pass, Italy View from my new BMW XR1000 at the top of a very narrow mountain pass at Ponte di Legno, Italy. Just one great ride among many, on a two-week tour to Croatia, then ferry across to Italy and back. Brian Barrett Col de la Machine, France My BMW R1200GS on Combe Laval in the Vercors Massif in France, returning from Corsica to Northern Ireland. Brendan Dowling Austria This was on the Austrian side of the Bavaria/Austria border, on a tour including Germany, Austria and Slovenia. There was a lot of interest from a large bull and I was glad of the fence! Mike Lyons Dunnet Head, Scotland We visited not only John o’Groats but also Dunnet Head, the most northerly point in the UK. Bikes were a…

“The traditional RiDE route may be well-worn but it’s always entertaining” Start/finish: Peterborough Time: 2 days Distance: 355 miles The traditional RiDE route from the office up through the Lincolnshire Wolds to the Humber Bridge may be well-worn, but it’s always deeply entertaining — ride north from Boston heading for Revesby, then Horncastle, take the A158 then fork right at Baumber. From there, it’s the B1225 to Caistor, then on to the Humber. North of Hull, our route takes us towards another familiar name, the market town of Pickering on the southern edge of the moors. From there, strike north past Fylingdales radar tower on the A169, then dive off to visit Goathland (Heartbeat and Harry Potter) for a pot of tea and cake before resuming the run towards Whitby,…

IT’S EASY TO get the wrong idea about Bishop’s Stortford, if all you know of it is what you see from the M11 as you peel off to Stansted Airport. So don’t sit on the M11 — spend time instead on the brilliant biking roads that run through this corner of East Anglia. STAGE ONE Bishop’s Stortford to Sandy 45 miles Leave Bishop’s Stortford on the A120 to Hertford. At the A10 roundabout, turn right towards Cambridge. At the next roundabout turn right on the B1368 to Puckeridge and follow the road for four miles. Take the left turn in Hare Street for the B1038 to Buntingford. Turn right on the high street to the A10 roundabout. Go straight over on the A507 to Baldock (don’t miss a left turn…

“It tasted great but it looked terrifying” I WAS HALFWAY THROUGH the morning’s ride when the phone rang. I had to stop to answer it. “Are you alright?” Steve asked. I’m fine, why? “Because you just fell off.” That’s when I remembered he was my emergency contact, so must have been alerted by the TrakKing unit fitted to the bike. If he sounded anxious, that’s because he was back in England, while here I was in the middle of Spain, riding off-road on my own, on trails I didn’t know. I’ve been to the MotoGP race at Aragon before. The circuit’s in the middle of nowhere but the ride down is great — about 1200 miles each way with the whole Spanish section packed with fabulous roads sweeping through mountains…

1 MONTH AHEAD THE BIG EVENT MOTORCYCLE LIVE Motorcycle Live November 18-26, NEC, Birmingham The biggest show of the year. All the major manufacturers will be showing off 2018’s new models, so amongst many others you can expect to see Ducati’s new V4 and Triumph’s latest retros, the Bonneville Bobber Black and Speedmaster. There’ll be specials, classics, dirt bikes, custom bikes, race bikes — the lot. And you don’t have to stop at just looking: you can learn advanced off-road techniques on a BMW GS, KTM Adventure, Honda Africa Twin or Triumph Street Scrambler; take a test ride on one of a fantastic range of key road bikes from Honda, KTM, Suzuki and Yamaha; or even try your hand at indoor trials riding. Not got your licence yet? Then try…

ELECTRONICS Got the lot: ride-by-wire, multi-mode traction control, torque control, engine braking, cornering ABS, quickshifter/autoblipper and semi-active suspension STYLING The Blade’s weight loss includes shrink-wrapping the bodywork. Wind protection is minimal BRAKES Brembo monoblock radial 4-pot calipers and 320mm discs, with Bosch’s cornering ABS saving front-end slides SUSPENSION The first semi-active Honda uses hi-tech Öhlins 43mm NIX forks and TTX36 shock ENGINE Based on 2008-onwards unit, up 11bhp to 189bhp and down 2kg with new cam timing and lighter internals BRITAIN’S TOUGHEST ROAD TEST B-ROADS Four hours between the trees on the bumpiest backlanes MOTORWAYS Head down for four more hours of straight-line speed IN TOWN Dodging traffic lights, traffic jams and traffic wardens ECONOMY Extracting the max mpg and tank range WHEN HONDA’S 2017 Fireblade looks back over the…

HOW DO YOU update the bike that has everything? By giving it more things. Until now the ‘TE’ version of an R1200GS or GS Adventure has come with all of BMW’s hi-tech options, like electronic suspension, tyre pressure monitors, quickshifter, heated grips and so on. TE doesn’t stand for ‘Ticked Everything’, though it should. But for 2018 there are two new pieces of technology that remain optional extras even on the range-topping TE: a full-colour TFT (thin-film transistor) digital dash (£595); and an ‘SOS’ emergency button (£295). You can have either the dash, or the dash and the SOS button, but not the button on its own — it needs the dash to function. And neither can be retrofitted to older GSs. Today’s ride through Wales on a 2018 R1200GS…

“Bikes get dirty when used - that is their natural state” IT’S NOT THAT I hate washing bikes, it’s just that there are so many more pleasurable, exciting, rewarding ways I can spend the finite number of seconds I have left on this planet. Bikes get dirty when they get used; that is their natural state. Fighting it is as futile as drying a beach while the tide is coming in. It upsets me, of course. I don’t enjoy looking at a filth-streaked machine. And I do appreciate the sparkling, resplendent glow of a bike that’s been perfectly valeted. But it makes me quiver to think of the time, effort and money some folk put into obtaining a fleeting moment of aesthetic glory. Because (spoiler alert) it’s going to get…

“It’s a chore to be undertaken infrequently” DO WE WASH our bikes to wash our bikes, or do we wash our bikes to make them clean? It might sound like a subtle distinction, but it illustrates two states of mind: being in the now, with an awareness only of the moment; or living to serve a future condition. Focusing on the present — washing our bike just to be washing our bike, rather than washing it to achieve a goal — is a central pillar of mindfulness; a therapeutic state of meditative calm. Ommmm. Sounds hippy, but it’s a coping strategy for the soapy, sponge-and-bucket drudgery of cleaning; loving the process rather than the result. But it can go too far. Some folk derive a perverse satisfaction from a cleaning…

“Where have we seen that before?” AS KTM REVEALED its wild new 790 Duke this month, a tingling sense of déjà vu sparked in the back of RiDE’s collective brain. A supermoto-styled roadster, parallel-twin engine with funny firing intervals, sharp angular bodywork. Where have we seen that before? Brushing a thin layer of dusty cobwebs off our memory banks revealed the short-lived Husqvarna Nuda — a bike we first rode exactly six years ago this month. The January 2012 issue of RiDE saw Simon Weir packing his trusty yellow Shark crash helmet and flying to Sardinia to try this promising but peculiar machine. He also took a BMW-branded jacket — normally a faux pas on a non-BMW launch, but not a problem this time. BMW had bought Husqvarna from MV…

One thing is more likely to lower our performance as riders than any other factor: the cold. Numb fingers that can’t feel the brakes aren’t the worst of it, as reaction time slows as we get cold. Even more worrying, our judgment gets worse the colder we get and we may take risks we normally wouldn’t. The thing is, modern motorcycling kit mean there’s no need to suffer from the cold. With decent textiles, proper layers and the miracle of electricity, it’s perfectly possible to ride through the winter in comfort. Better still, advances in material technology have produced insulating layers that aren’t bulky so we can add warm garments for comfort without restricting movement. Base layers The foundation of any system of warm clothing is the base layer. These…

 Dave and Rupert rate the bikes in the same order: Yamaha MT-09 first, Kawasaki Z900 in the middle and Triumph’s Street Triple R last. For Dave, “The Yamaha is the most fun and the most versatile. Easy.” Rupert agrees: “It’s not for everyone but that sense of fun is bigger than the fun of the slightly more austere brilliance of the Kawasaki.” “The faster you go, the more composed it gets” And the Triumph last? “It’s my least favourite on the moors,” says Dave. “And after the A1, it still is. It’s not horrible or offensive, and when we hit roundabouts you can feel its sportiness because it stops, turns and grips. That’s when it comes into its own. But it has the least wind protection, which limits it. As…

Givi Dolomite DLM46 top case £279 www.givi.co.uk The latest addition to Givi’s Monokey luggage range are a pair of aluminium top cases. At an enormous 46 litres, the big one should swallow a pair of open-face helmets with ease and the luggage-strap-loops allow you to tie an extra bag on top, or just to temporarily stash unwanted layers in hot weather. Available accessories include an inner bag, specific rollbag to go on top, and mounts for thermal flasks or drinks bottles. A smaller 30 litre version has the same features, and can double as a side case on bikes like the Ducati Scrambler and Yamaha XSR range. Hevik stowable waterproofs £89.90 www.hevik.co.uk It’s always worth stashing a set of waterproofs somewhere on the bike, just in case — even the…

SORRY TO BE the bearer of bad news, but winter’s just around the corner. Now, it’s all to easy to let that put you off riding but it would be a terrible shame to mothball the bike ‘till spring — anyway there’s no greater need for that ‘motorcycle therapy’ than during the long, grey, miserable winter months, surely? Putting the therapeutics to one side, there’s also the simple fact that if you’re off the bike half the year, your road skills won’t be anywhere near as sharp come spring. Tackling the tricky conditions winter can throw at you really hones your riding. During our travels, we’ve battled horrendous gales, slithered through snow storms and almost drowned in torrential rain. Each experience has left us with a vivid memory of feeling…

Padstow? Where’s that then? Kernow - it’s Cornish for Cornwall. Padstow is one of the many old fishing villages on the north coast of the peninsula, about halfway between crusty surfer’s paradise Newquay and King Arthur’s alleged stomping ground at Tintagel. The village is all narrow, twisty streets around a small natural harbour on the west side of the Camel estuary. It has plenty of history — in 1086 it was mentioned in the Domesday book as consisting of half a dozen scrofulous serfs with a few ploughs, and valued at ten shillings. Fair to say that with the tourist trade, it’s worth a bit more now. Somewhere between the peasants and the pleasure-boats, Padstow packed in 1000 years of piracy, transatlantic trade and maritime shenanigans. Sounds a bit fishy…

Honda CBR900RR-N/P & R/S 1992-1995 > £1000-£8000 > 122bhp > 185kg (dry) > 893cc inline four THE 1992 CBR900RR FireBlade (note the uppercase B) was a revolution and a revelation. Its blend of elemental simplicity, quality finish, skeletal weight and explosive performance was a shock not just to the public but also rival manufacturers, who took the best part of a decade to catch up. And, in hindsight, possibly to Honda itself as well. The bike’s origin story featured the obsession, passion and drive of its project leader, Tadao Baba, creating a brand within a brand. Riding a well-maintained (or well-restored) first-generation FireBlade is still a beautifully thrilling experience because the fundamental, astonishing quality and excellence of the original design is inescapable; it hasn’t faded with time and technology. Modern…

1 ENGINE/GEARBOX Smooth as Barry White and tougher than Chuck Norris, the power plant is so under-stressed that it hardly ever gives trouble — 50,000 miles is a walk in the park. Regular oil changes are all it needs, along with careful carb or throttle-body balancing to avoid vibration. Valve clearances rarely need major attention, but do still need checking on time. There’s evidence that leaving the bike on the sidestand for long periods might cause extra valvetrain wear on cold starts as the oil drains away from the right hand end of the cams, so use the centrestand. The carbs on earlier models are beginning to cause problems, possibly related to ethanol in modern fuel. Leaking float needles can allow the carbs to flood and overflow into the engine.…

YOU COULD ARGUE that, after your crash helmet, the most important part of your riding kit is your boots. Especially when it comes to riding in the rain. Leaking jackets or trousers can easily be remedied with a waterproof oversuit. Wet gloves are a bit harder to fix, though with decent hand guards and a set of heated grips (or even a set of diesel gloves from a garage) you can keep most of the cold and wet off. But unless you want to put a plastic bag on your foot or invest in waterproof socks, leaky boots mean you’re in for a cold, squelchy, uncomfortable journey. And nothing takes longer to dry than a sodden boot. If you’re prepared to pay a hefty sum for a waterproof boot, then…

Q Your test of waterproof suits (December) was useful but you don’t talk about leg length. I’m 6ft 4in and — unlike motorcycle-gear makers — don’t think 34in is a long inside leg. Can you tell me which set will actually be long enough for me? A It’s not a measurement any of the manufacturers give for their waterproofs. However, the Rev’It Sphinx trousers (£70, www.revitsport.com) were one of the longer sets, with good adjusters at the ankle to secure them in place. Q In his review of the Dane Lyngby trousers (East to West, November), Simon Weir talked about ‘wet-out’ at the crotch. What exactly is that? A ‘Wet-out’ is what happens when you start to think you’ve got wet… but you actually haven’t. You’re just cold in a particular…

“That soaking-wet engine is now a dirt magnet” MY MINDSET WHEN it comes to cleaning is; “I just want this to be over as quickly as possible.” So this is my typical lazy man’s approach to washing the bike. About a three-minute ride from my house is a Morrisons jetwash. A fantastic pay-per-minute contraption with a variety of modes and apparatus. The cheapest 7.5-minute option (£4) sounds like plenty of time. But it’s not. Buying the 15-minute option (a meagre £6) gives me plenty of time for running around the bike, changing between the brush and hose, and working through all the different modes on the machine. It leaves the bike looking beautiful again with time to spare at the end. This 15 minutes of ‘hard work’ is all well…

“I have a dislike of neglected motorcycles” I DON’T HAVE any kind of compulsive disorder. Just a dislike of neglected motorcycles — what’s more sad than a perfectly good machine left to rot when a couple of minutes here and there could make a huge difference to it? So I am keen on cleaning. I wash the bike most weekends (definitely if I’ve done more than 500 miles) and in winter I do sluice the salt and muck off after every ride. I have, it must be said, variable standards when it comes to the actual cleaning bit. Sometimes I set out to get the bike clean… sometimes just getting it cleaner is good enough. Especially if it’s raining. I hate washing bikes when it’s raining. Look, it’s not OCD……

Finding decent boots and gloves should be easy: we all know what feels good. But riding bikes makes things trickier as we need a balance of protection and comfort – not to mention waterproofing and warmth as well, for winter riding. Good winter gloves need to have enough insulation to save fingers from freezing but without becoming so thick they have no feel. The cuffs need to work with the jacket cuff to form an efficient draught-and-rainproof seal. A visor wipe can be a real plus. Boots need a decent, grippy sole that won’t slip on damp footpegs. Zips need a liner behind them so water thrown up from the road doesn’t get forced into the boot. Insulation Winter gloves are thicker than summer ones, but thickness is not necessarily…

PRICE RANGE £300 When it was launched in 2002 the Honda CB900F Hornet was considered a full-fat, big-capacity naked. But fast-forward to today’s world of inflated engines and its FireBlade-derived, 919cc, 109bhp, 68lb·ft motor is a close match to today’s super-middleweight class. It drives forward with a rich, smooth and flexible character. It’s never scary or lairy but still huge fun and, importantly, incredible value too. There are bikes sitting in dealers being advertised for less than £2000, while £3000 should buy a virtually flawless, low-mileage minter. If the Honda’s rounded, inoffensive styling doesn’t do it for you, perhaps the sharp, pointed Kawasaki Z750 will. First-generation examples (2004-2006) are plentiful and affordable, changing hands privately for less than £2000 — it’s also lighter and more powerful than the later 2007-on…

Loss of insurance benefits QI WAS INVOLVED in a pretty nasty crash a little over a year ago. I needed a full year off work and have returned to work part-time. The insurers for the other driver have been perfectly decent. Liability was admitted swiftly, I have had rehabilitation, some adaptations to my rented house (and a promise to remove them and make the property good once I move out), specialist spinal physiotherapy and my lost wages have all been paid along with all of my kit being replaced. They even provided me with a taxi account so I can get about. Then the person dealing with the claim at the insurance company changed and I was told that despite the fact I am on part-time wages, there would be…

WHAT DID YOU do in the past 40 minutes? If you were Ducati, you’d have sold yet another Monster. That’s the staggering rate at which its naked bikes have left showrooms since the Monster 900 was revealed 25 years ago. Let that soak in: somewhere around the world, a dealer has handed over the keys to a new Monster, every 40 minutes, non-stop, day and night, for a quarter of a century. Of all the Monsters in Ducati’s current range, the biggest seller in Britain is not the fast and flashy 1200 S, not the track-ready 1200 R and not the affable, air-cooled 797. It’s the midrange Monster 821, the best compromise — substantial, serious and speedy enough to offer big-bike thrills, but still manageable, polite and accessible. It’s a…

“Knowing I’ll stay dry is a big bonus” 1 Helmet: Shark Explore-R £369.99 www.nevis.uk.com I go for this lid most often as it’s light, comfortable, well-vented and quiet with earplugs and can quickly convert from road to off-road spec. The peak can be added and removed in a jiffy, and the main visor replaced by the included goggles just as swiftly. The sun visor is excellent, even if it’s not anti-fog. The rachet quick-release strap is a boon and can be used with gloved hands. 2 Jacket: Furygan Shield 3 in 1 £329.95 www.nevis.uk.com Three layers, with D3O CE Level 1 armour, the super-versatile adventure jacket is a real favourite. Robust and comfortable, with eight pockets - including a large back one - and numerous vents and adjusters. I like…

“It’s a treat to stand back and admire it” I DO FEEL very responsible for the Ducati Monster’s cleanliness, not just because the bike is on loan to me and not only as all bikes benefit from a bit of TLC every now and then. I feel responsible because I know how fastidious and thorough Darren at Ducati HQ is about getting the bikes showroom-ready and I don’t want to disappoint him! Every time I ride on a dry, dusty day or through a Great British Downpour, I cringe at the thought of how grubby the Ducati’s going to be. I try not to let it spoil my ride but to say I’m not a fan of washing bikes is a bit of an understatement and it’s always on my…

“I have been careful with what I use on my bike” I STILL HAVE flashbacks to the streaked frame I created by cleaning an early Honda Fireblade with un-diluted truck wash. Unsurprisingly, I have been extremely careful with what I use on my bikes ever since. This is one of the reasons I’m drawn to the SDoc100 range of products. They really do work brilliantly, but are extremely gentle on the motorcycle at the same time. My fortnightly washing regime for the V-Strom starts with putting the bike on a rear paddock stand (no centrestand) and spraying the chain with SDoc chain cleaner, using a stiff brush while turning the rear wheel. I also use a bit of the chain cleaner to get chain lube off the rear wheel, something…

“I hadn’t done as good a job as I thought” MUCH LIKE MY personal beauty regime, I believe simple is best. I’m not one for loading creams on top of lotions, so I kept this in mind when it came to choosing products to clean the Yamaha Tracer 700. I’ve opted for the one-step Turtle Wax Zipwax to take care of the paintwork, plastic and wheels. As the chain needs a bit more love to be kept in tip-top condition, I bought a pair of WD-40 products to get the job done properly — Specialist Motorbike Chain Cleaner and Specialist Motorbike Chain Lube. However, as the Tracer doesn’t have a centrestand, I always need help to move the bike allowing me to spray on the chain cleaner and scrub with…

Letters special “I realised I didn’t know a chiropractor” I’D TOYED WITH the idea of switching to a bike for ages — this was not a mid-life crisis. This was a need to change the monotony of a 255-mile commute from County Durham to Maidenhead twice a month. But would I really use a bike? Would it end up just sitting in the garage? With these and other questions I could have dithered for months but last year, work prompted some uncharacteristic rash action: our half-year meeting was two months away… in Vilamoura in the Algarve region of Portugal. “I’m going by motorcycle,” I exclaimed, almost expecting applause. I set myself a target of doing it all for £4000 (my last biking ‘financial’ memory was stuck in a time warp…

THE HELMET IS the most important piece of riding kit any of us will buy. Wearing a crash helmet is compulsory in the UK because it’s been proven that they save lives. First and foremost, they are items of safety apparel – but they don’t last forever. The exterior shell eventually becomes brittle with exposure to the sun’s UV rays, while the expanded polystyrene (EPS) liner gradually dries out and degrades, mostly because of the heat from the wearer’s head. The lifespan of a helmet is seven years, or about 40,000 miles. Helmet care Clean it regularly with warm, clean water (if you use washing-up liquid, rinse it well). Take the visor off to wash it with clean water – no soaps. When the helmet’s clean, polishing it with bike…

“The female figure comes in a wider range of shapes” THE PROBLEM... Female riders have long complained of lack of choice and sizes when it comes to buying riding gear. Manufacturers make far less for women – but if local dealers stock only one or two items of ladies gear from one or two brands, finding anything to fit is a huge headache. It doesn’t help that the female figure comes in a far wider range of shapes than the male. Men’s kit is cut on a range from short to tall, with width expanding as height increases – which works pretty well for all but the very tall or very short. But women can hit extremes of slim or large-framed at any height and will have differing sizes of…

1 Phone apps With devices that use a phone app to access, control or refine features, check that your phone is compatible. If the device will stay connected to the phone when riding, consider whether you’ll need to have a way to connect the phone to a charger while you ride. 2 Updates Technology evolves. It’s important to check that any device you’re looking at can be updated easily when newer software becomes available. 3 Memory cards Cameras generate large amounts of data, so make sure you have a suitable MicroSD card to store it on – or factor the price of the card into the total cost. You’ll also need some video-editing software for your computer: no matter how much video you shoot, you’ll want to save the highlights…