Table of contents for November 28th 2018 in MCN

A quick lap of the NEC as soon as the doors opened allowed me to get a feel of the layout. A second lap saw me try to pinpoint the hotspots. The biggest crowds this time around showed that the CCM stand was creating a buzz. Although it was the Spitfire plane that was causing the queues and not really the bikes on the British firm’s stand. As I tried to work out what people really wanted to see or sit on, I was struck by how evenly spread the crowds were. The Norton stand was pretty busy all day long with a steady stream looking at the new Atlas models and the Superlight 650. Beyond that every stand seemed busy, but without any particular mass gatherings. That reflects the…

Norton peeled the covers off yet another all-new bike at Motorcycle Live last week. Hot on the heels of the first deliveries of their V4 SS superbike, and the unveiling of two new Atlas 650 models (the Nomad and Ranger) comes this gorgeous new 650cc Superlight. Built to do battle in the wildly competitive lightweight class at the Isle of Man TT, the new Superlight is a thoroughbred race bike aimed at taking on the best in the world. This isn’t a budget 600cc supersport replica, it’s the real deal – and that doesn’t come cheap. The Superlight will cost £19,950 and for that you’ll get a road-legal version of the bike you’ll see carving over the Mountain Course next summer with John McGuinness on board. Don’t be fooled by…

Brilliant article in MCN about the legendary Stan Stephens (MCN, November 21). The article made me all misty-eyed and rolled the clock back to those classic two-stroke days. I say 'legend' as that word is often banded around too much but the likes of Stan, Leon Moss of Ledar and John Robinson (ex-PB technical guru) truly were legends (there are plenty more to list) of motorcycle knowledge and mechanics. Without them I’d never have become interested in and hooked on motorbikes in the first place. Stan et al, I doff my cap! Andy Williams, Cumbria…

It’s been a tough year for road racing, but it will bounce back. It always does. It’s been in this situation before. I can remember back in the 1980s when some people were calling road racing too dangerous, saying the bikes were getting too fast. Phil Read criticised it, Agostini criticised it and the TT stopped being a world championship race, but it’s still going. When David Jefferies got killed in 2003 the TT was getting a kicking, but people on the outside just don’t understand road racing. ‘WE ALL KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING AND THE CONSEQUENCES’ At the minute road racing can’t get much bigger than it is, it’s huge. The lap times, the racing, the coverage; everybody still wants to go. The actual racing this year was…

A 250 mile-plus trip is a lot for an electric bike and your eyes are glued to the Zero’s dash, keeping check of battery life and range indicators. Horizontal ‘output’ bars ascend as the load on the motor increases, so the trick is to ride as frugally as possible, with only one or two bars showing, but ride it with a heavy right hand and both drop like a stone. Over on the Honda you get more basic info and not even a gear position indicator, but you do get a fuel gauge. Don’t worry when it flashes, we got 81 miles on reserve. FUNCTIONALITY…

RT Quaife Engineering Ltd are one of those companies that most riders probably haven’t heard of. However, if you move in the spheres of four-wheeled motorsports or classic bike racing, Quaife are a company at the very top of their game. They are industry leaders in their field who can even boast F1 success, and it all started with bikes. “Our father Rod was a subcontractor who specialised in design engineering,” explains technical director Michael Quaife. “In the early 1960s he was invited by Norton-Villiers to make a five-speed gearbox for the factory race bikes as they only had a four-speed box at the time. He managed to create this gearbox, which fitted within the existing bike’s cases, and after it was put into John Cooper’s bike he instantly won…

A few weeks ago we rode BMW’s new R1250GS with its grunt-packed ShiftCam flat-twin. It was nothing short of spectacular, but now we’re even more excited to discover what that identical engine will be like in the 2019 RT tourer. That day is here. The outgoing R1200RT has been an MCN Award winner since time immemorial. Will its clever new engine put the new R1250RT even further ahead of the game? 1 Perfect timing Like the new GS and 2019 R1250GS Adventure and R the new R1250RT gets an 84cc capacity hike and variable valve timing ShiftCam. There’s 14ftlb more torque, 250rpm lower down in the revs, and power is up from 123bhp to 134bhp. Each cylinder’s inlet cam features partial and high lift cam lobes and slides across the…

“Barber Vintage Motorsports museum is the only place like it in the whole world,” says Communications Manager Kelly Stewart. “Period. There are over 1600 bikes in our collection and they date back from the very beginning to the current day. Over 900 of them are on display and the remainder are either in storage or waiting to be restored. We’re always adding more exhibits; there’s no ceiling to our capacity. “The museum started in a really small location in Southside Birmingham in 1995, but it came to Barber Motorsports Park in 2003. Even in the past five years the amount of growth and capital improvements taking place here is immense. A new 84,650 square foot expansion was added to the museum’s original 144,000 square feet last year. “In 2014 the…

There used to be a time when speed-junkies had to give up their adrenaline-thirsty ways when age made knees and wrists too stiff for sportsters. Not any more – Austrian manufacturer KTM have been at the forefront of putting mental motors inside comfy chassis for the past few years and their 2017 1290 Super Adventure S was enough to satisfy performance-loving Stuart Pickup from Lancashire. “I really loved my ZZR1400 but I was getting increasingly more uncomfortable on it so thought it was time for something more upright. I saw that the KTM 1290 Super Adventure was due out around about the same time as I was looking to get a new bike so I made the 100-mile trip to my nearest dealership, Colwyn Bay Motorcycles, to take a test…

There are some great naked machines to be had for two-and-a-half grand (or less). And while weather protection might be a little lacking, there are sound reasons for picking a machine with minimal bodywork. For starters, they are easier to work on than fully-faired bikes because there are no plastics to remove. Plus they boast handsome looks and the windblast means you are less likely to get nicked for speeding. £2450 TRIUMPH STREET TRIPLE R 675cc | 97bhp | 800mm | seat height Dealer £2750-£3500 Private £2500-£3000 This one 2011, 18,000 miles, Cat N repaired with genuine Triumph parts Fiendishly and deservedly popular: one of the greatest (and most stolen) bikes of the 2000s. The stripped-down and retuned Daytona is light, fast, nimble, torquey and an absolute blast to ride:…

‘I didn’t want to be remembered for running around mid-pack’ This year was supposed to be his British Superbike swansong, but after a disappointing season James Ellison will return to the series next year in one last effort to clinch the coveted crown. The Cumbrian will join forces with Peter Hickman in the Smiths Racing effort to race the all-new BMW S1000RR as he looks to return to the sharp end after a challenging season with TAG Yamaha. “When I said that 2018 would be my last year, I was expecting a proper title challenge,” Ellison told MCN. “That’s what I expected and that’s what the TAG Yamaha team expected too, but things didn’t seem to click for us after round one and we couldn’t get any grip out of…

World Superbike star Xavi Forés will make the move to the Bennetts British Superbike championship in 2019 after signing a deal to join Andrew Irwin in the official Honda Racing team. Forés was left without a WSB ride despite leading numerous races and securing five podiums in 2018. Not willing to settle for substandard machinery on the world stage, the former IDM Superbike Champion turned his attention to securing a competitive seat in BSB. “This year I finished in the top six 15 times, I had five podiums, so I felt it was time to jump onto a factory bike in World Superbikes,” Forés told MCN in his first interview since announcing the switch. “I want to fight for wins, but in WSB there are only two, maybe three bikes…

New Aprilia rider Andrea Iannone said it’s ‘normal’ to crash not just once but twice on his debut as he looks to find the RS-GP’s limits after two years at Suzuki. Joining Aleix Espargaro for 2019, the Italian finished in 19th, despite Espargaro impressing inside the top ten. “We crashed twice but that’s normal because I don’t know what the limit is. I push to find it and when I got too close I lost the front. But the feeling isn’t bad. The bike has good potential. I expected worse. There are good points and bad points, but the negatives are clear not only to me but to the engineers as well.”…

There may finally be light at the end of the tunnel for the Yamaha MotoGP duo of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales, after the end of season test at Valencia last week finally brought the pair some of the improvements they’ve been hunting for two years. Working with not one but two new specs of engine at Valencia, both riders were upbeat. Struggling to find rear grip and acceleration from the M1 for the best past of two seasons, ever since Michelin changed the construction of their rear tyres at Mugello in 2017, Yamaha have been working to address the problem with electronics and chassis mods. But, with the 2018-spec engine sealed at the start of the year a step in the wrong direction as engineers also chased top end…

Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali has revealed the firm are planning a tide of new models buoyed by the success of their new Panigale V4. ‘29 new bikes over the next five years’ ‘R is our most advanced bike’ ‘Electrics? Only if there is a regulation...’ “We will release 29 new bikes over the next five years,” Domenicali told MCN. “We will continue to develop new versions of existing products but will also be entering segments that we are not currently in. As part of that, we will exploit the V4 engine in different platforms.” While Domenicali wouldn’t reveal the next home for their compact 1103cc V4 Stradale engine, which develops 211bhp in Panigale tune, insiders suggest the firm are looking at naked, touring and adventure roles. Domenicali also admitted the…

After years of teasing, Yamaha have finally released their new Ténéré 700 as an accessible but capable mid-range adventure bike. It’s based on the hugely-popular MT-07 parallel twin which came out in 2014 and has sold well ever since. But if you want to explore more than a bumpy side road, in the style of its Ténéré forebears stretching back 35 years, there are plenty of other bargain bikes to choose from. 2019 TÉNÉRÉ 700 £TBA What is it? The new Yamaha Ténéré 700 takes the MT-07’s engine and packages it into an adventure bike for the masses. MCN says “The Ténéré 700 could be the most important new adventure bike of 2019” Want to buy one? Price to be released on January 1. 2014 MT-07 £4500 What is it?…

They attack members of the public with hammers, machetes and crowbars, mount pavements to steal phones, watches and bags, use mopeds as battering rams to break into shops and they throw acid in riders’ faces to steal mopeds. These are not motorcyclists, moped riders or biker gangs; they’re criminals using bikes to enable their criminal activities. They are also the scourge of London’s streets but the Met Police are now fighting back hard against those who steal and use moped... and it’s getting results. Latest year-on-year figures for moped crime show that from January to October 2017 there were 19,455 offences across London, compared to January to October 2018 when there were 12,419 offences (7036 fewer); a fall of 36 per cent. The same trend is apparent when you look…

BMW F800GS My husband Chris looking really proud on his BMW F800GS. He passed his test last year. Janice Gibson APRILIA PEGASO This is me, age three, on my dad’s Aprilia. I’m now 19 and we are off to Motorcycle Live to get some new bike ideas! Alex Parkin PANTHER My brother and me on my dad’s Panther. Olwen Jones EASTERN BLOC BIKE With my dad 40 years ago. The bike was a Jawa or similar. I now have a Ducati. Brenda Ritchie MOTO GUZZI ZIGOLO My first bike when I was 16 (I’m now 67). It was a 110cc rotary valve two-stroke making 4.8 bhp! David Everett BSA BANTAM With my dad Jack on my first bike back in September 1963. Martin Thornton TRIUMPH TR6 TROPHY My dad Brian…

Electric vehicle firms go to great lengths to convince us batteries are fast and exciting, as well as good for the planet. Mugen’s multi-million dollar Shinden proudly laps the TT faster than a 250cc two-stroke GP bike, Tesla cars silently assassinate Porsches at traffic lights and from next year a bunch of the world’s best racers will line up on the grid on Energicas in the MotoE championship. It’s not high voltage marketing spin, either: electric cars and bikes can be rapid. Take the £21,085 Zero DSR Black Forest you see in the pictures. It makes a claimed 108ftlb of torque (3.5ftlb more than a supercharged Kawasaki H2), so it accelerates swiftly and so smoothly that mirrors stay blur-free. And it’s not even that heavy at 190kg. Things look even…

A 110-mile battery range isn’t the end of the world, but finding somewhere to recharge the Zero on our 250 route takes planning. You’ve probably noticed the odd charging station here and there, but when you actually look they’re dotted quite liberally around the UK in motorway services, town centre and hotel car parks and managed by companies such as Polar, Ultracharge and Ecotricity. They’re all supported by apps, so it’s easy to find the nearest to you, but many are only the more powerful charging points for cars. There are far fewer of the variety that we need to plug the Zero into, so when you finally find the correct one (normally 3kw or 7kw stations) and it works (some we found were out of order), it’s quite a…

1 “An original GSX-R750 Slingshot, exactly as it would have left the crate, right down to the fresh-from-the-mould Michelin A59/M59X rubber. Over on the left is the opaque screened Ducati Paso, a Suzuki GSX-R1000K3 and hard top BMW C1 scooter. Over on the other side there’s a Ducati Desmosedici RR, Bimota DB5, Kawasaki KR-1S, Suzuki RGV250K Honda NC30, Yamaha R1M and Honda VFR750 Interceptor...” 2 “Turn left after the entrance turnstile and this is the sight that greets you. An ultra-rare NCR ‘New Blue’ sits alongside a Ducati 888 Corse and a Bimota Tesi 1D superbike with its bodywork hung like an exploded diagram. Next is Hailwood’s 1979 TT NCR, a Ducati Supermono and a smorgasbord of racing MV Agustas...” 3 “Just a small part of Barber’s racing display. A…

‘Bikes like this make more sense than sportsbikes’ Six thousand miles on Yamaha’s MT-09 through the best biking summer for a generation has, understandably, been a joy. With the kind of brawny, off-beat power delivery that somehow works in every situation, the SP has despatched everything from the daily commute to 900 miles of Land’s End to John O’Groats in a day, to trackdays. In fact, it’s been so impressive that during this time I’ve only done 600 miles on my own R1. In my opinion, for everything aside from very fast track riding, bikes like the SP make more sense to own than a sportsbike. But while my classic R1 goes up in value by a larger amount than I pay for insurance and servicing each year, a new…

‘I’m confident we will have a package we can win with’ Eugene Laverty has secured a last-minute deal to race in World Superbikes for 2019 after signing a deal with the Go Eleven team to run Ducati’s new V4 R. The Irishman was left without a ride when Shaun Muir opted to bring in Tom Sykes and Markus Reiterberger to his new factory-supported BMW team, and it had looked as though he’d have to make the move to either BSB or World Supersport but the Go Eleven squad switching to Ducati handed him a lifeline. “It’s been stressful so it’s great to secure a competitive seat,” Laverty said. “The support from Ducati is reassuring and I’m confident we will have a package to fight for victory next season.”…

Moto2’s new Triumph engine received almost universal approval first time out in testing at Jerez, with riders raving about the new 765cc unit that replaced Honda’s CBR600-based engine after a decade of service. During the three-day test lap times fell with many teams under the lap record. The three-cylinder engine was chosen in a bid to reinvigorate the class by changing riding styles. With more capacity but one less cylinder, the Triumph not only makes around 15bhp more than the Honda, but gives a significant increase in torque, too. That means riding styles should be closer to MotoGP’s heavy braking and accelerating, and so be a better stepping stone to the premier class. At Jerez, mid-corner speed was down almost 10mph over the Honda, yet lap times were faster. Leading…

Spaniard impresses on MotoGP debut 2nd fastest rookie in test Crew chief full of praise MotoGP rookie Joan Mir was the buzz of the paddock in his first official outing on the Suzuki GSX-RR at Valencia after ending the two-day test just one second off fastest man Maverick Viñales despite not going all out to set a fast lap at the end of the test like the majority of riders. Although not the fastest of the MotoGP newcomers, that honour went to new Moto2 world champion Pecco Bagnaia on the Pramac Ducati who was 0.3 seconds quicker, it was nonetheless Mir everyone was talking about due to his approach and steep learning curve. But while Mir may not have topped Valencia’s timesheets he certainly impressed his team technicians who reported…

Jorge Lorenzo seems to be making a swift transition from Ducati to Honda after his first outing on the RC213V at Valencia. Still unable to speak to the media and riding an unliveried plain black machine at the test until he is officially out of contract, he finished in 11th, less than a second off the pace set by Maverick Viñales and 0.673 behind Marc Marquez despite still riding with the aftereffects of a broken wrist. Looking more comfortable from the outset than he did on the Ducati when he made the switch from Yamaha two years ago, the Spaniard was able to make steady progress over the two days of the test despite continuing to recover from the injury he sustained when his Ducati suffered a mechanical problem during…

Kawasaki’s W800 retro roadster is back and it made its European debut at Motorcycle Live last Thursday ahead of its expected arrival in UK dealers in late March. While often overlooked in favour of more overtly modern and powerful retro offerings, the old W800, last in the range in 2016, was actually one of the more authentic and endearing roadsters in the retro market. Its pleasingly soft power delivery and minimalist styling gave a real feel of the 1960s, but without the dripping oil, kickstarter-sprained ankles and unreliability issues. Its simplicity also made it a favourite with custom builders and that looks likely to continue with the 2019 model that Kawasaki claim is “90% new.” Beyond some slightly dubious paintjobs and the addition of a distinctly separate café racer version,…

With the longest, hottest and perhaps greatest of summers now tucked away in the memory banks, R5k members have been recalling their magic moments from a year of incredible riding highs. And because membership is open to absolutely anyone with a bike and an appetite for the ride, the highlights reel is as diverse and wide-ranging as it is inspirational. Mike Britt, for example, kept his ambitions for the year clear and succinct: “I’m old and generally slow, so it’s been a lot of work but I’ve finally moved into the inters trackday group.” Colin Batchelor will remember 2018 for being the year he got back on a bike after another heart operation. “I only rode locally but it’s a start,” he says and is already looking forward to riding…

The celebrity-packed, all-action Thunderdrome makes its comeback at the Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show from February 15-17. The Michelin Thunderdrome is a blur of sliding bikes and star riders battling it out over three days of exciting elbow-to-elbow race action. Inspired by the spectacular all-wooden boardtrack race circuits of the early 1900s, the Michelin Thunderdrome features a steep wooden berm enabling riders to slingshot high around the turn and take the bend at breathtaking speed. The opposite end of the course is kept flat, letting the riders back their machines into the turn and then power-slide out, locking their handlebars as they go. The result should be incident-packed racing action. The 1987 500cc world champion Wayne Gardner heads the star line-up and is joined by 2003 World Superbike champion…

If you plan your journey with military precision, never stray too far from a public charger and are gentle with the throttle, the Zero makes some kind of sense. It’s smooth, accelerates swiftly and is cheap to run (once you’ve spent the equivalent of a Panigale V4 buying it in the first place). Electric bikes may have improved, but for distance and leisure riding they’re still not there. Your range is dictated by the location of chargers and when you do find one it takes too long for it to do its thing. We spent more time off the Zero waiting for it to charge than on it. It would make a great commuter, but for the same money you could buy a new Sinnis scooter every four weeks for…

1 The drawing board The first question Quaife’s designers ask is ‘what’s the problem we are trying to solve?’ A standard part is then dissected and designers create a better solution using their 50-plus years of experience. 2 Authentic but better! If the gears don’t fit in the OE cases, Quaife design ones that appear identical to the originals. 3 Creating blanks Quaife hold stock of ten-foot steel bars in every 5mm diameter between 25mm and 150mm. 4 Gaining some teeth Various specialist machines cut the gear teeth, while a broach pulls the spline in the bore or a mill adds dogs depending on the design of gear and any oil slots etc are milled in. 5 Selector forks After casting, the blank selector fork castings are machined to ensure…

‘The world’s largest motorcycle collection...’ When it comes to biking bucket lists there are a handful of undisputable destinations that’ll take your breath away. A visit to the TT will fry your mind and the barely-controlled chaos of the Nürburgring has to be seen to be believed. But if you want to pore over just about every bike you’ve ever dreamed of, lusted over, or seen in magazines, and all lovingly presented like two-wheeled pieces of art, you have to see the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Alabama, USA, at least once. One of biking’s best kept secrets is set in the immaculately-manicured grounds of the 930-acre Barber Motorsports Park and sits on the edge of a dramatic 16 -corner, 2.38-mile racetrack (which is home to MotoAmerica, IndyCar and vintage…

‘To understand Ducatis you need to ride the roads that inspired them’ You don’t have to own a Ducati to appreciate how they put their bikes together, and a tour around the factory in Bologna in northern Italy is very special; an experience dripping with racing and engineering history. But even better is a ride on the surrounding roads where these wonderful machines have for decades been put through their paces by the factory’s test pilots. This is why a factory visit combined with a tour of the area is a bucket list must. To understand Ducati you need to stick your head in the museum and all that but also to taste the roads that inspired the 900SS, the 916 and the Multistrada. Ideally you also need to build…

Taking a bike out of its comfort zone is one of the best ways to really expose its weaknesses. At least, that’s what I told myself while I sat planning a trip that’d see me ride the Scrambler 2400 miles to the Austrian Grand Prix and back. The Scrambler is an impressively capable machine, built for Sunday B-road blasts. You only have to look at the thing to know it’s not designed for touring. There’s no wind or weather protection and absolutely no provision for luggage, meaning I simply strapped a 40-litre Oxford roll bag to the seat and headed off into the unknown. At least it does have a USB-port under the seat, so I was able to run a cable through and around the tank covers and into…

1 A toasty treat Heated grips are a revelation, not just for mid-winter but for those summertime early morning or chilly spring rides too. When choosing heated grips, take advice from your dealer to see if they can recommend a kit for your specific bike. One you’ve made your decision and purchased a kit, open it up and check the contents and read the instructions thoroughly. 2 Whip off weights Remove the bar end weights, these are usually fastened with an Allen key or screw. With the weights removed, check the length of the new grips against the standard ones. They should be the same, if they differ check the instructions to see if they can be trimmed. It’s the throttle side that is most important because you don’t want…

KTM came crashing down to earth after the glory of their final race podium with newcomer Johann Zarco slamming the RC16 after crashing twice in the Valencia test and struggling to finish a distant 21st. The Frenchman’s comments offer a stark warning of the distance the Austrian manufacturer still has to go. Despite the KTM seemingly working well in both wet and dry at the Valencia race where Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith raced to third and eighth respectively, Zarco was less than impressed with his first test as a factory KTM rider. ‘It’s worse than I expected. I’m disappointed with the result’ “It’s worse than I expected. We’re improving the feeling and I have better control of the bike than I did at the start but the speed still…

‘We’re trying something that’s not easy to understand’ Andrea Dovizioso says he’s quietly optimistic about the Ducati GP19 after his first test on the bike at Valencia hinting that they have made progress on the Desmo’s speed-sapping mid-corner turning issues. He said: “We found something interesting, but I’m saying ‘interesting’ because we have to try it at a different track with different conditions first. We’re trying something very difficult that’s not easy to understand, so we have to take our decisions carefully. “ However, while Dovi was cautious, Aussie Jack Miller was on cloud nine after finishing fourth and getting the chance to jump from a 2017 machine to a new 2019 bike as he takes over the factory-supported slot at Pramac from Petrucci.…