Australian Motorcycle News Vol 68 Issue 14

I FELT IT THE first time at the launch party of the original Deus Ex Machina store in Sydney’s Camperdown some 12 years ago. There was a Hunwick Hallam Superbike sitting inside by the door and it was the first time – that I’m aware of anyway – that I found myself in the presence of an Australian-made motorcycle. Best described as the feeling you get when you find out you’re related to someone, I felt it again about six months later when I watched former editor Mick Matheson drop off the gutter outside Gassit HQ in Sydney’s CBD and use a good handful of the 5.7L Bavarian V8’s 542Nm of torque to tear off up the road. And who could ever forget Paul Maloney’s exquisite 334hp PGM 2.0L V8 which took…

TOUGH NEW EURO5 emissions limits are galvanising the world’s leading motorcycle engineers into action. The Euro5 standard comes into effect in 2020 for new models and 2021 for existing models sold in the world’s biggest market. The challenge is to provide peak performance at high revs with an engine that is compliantly fuel-efficient and aims to be largely nonpolluting in normal road use. A lot of the secrets lie in camshaft and valve technology. New patents filed by Honda and Suzuki show the way forward using variable valve timing, which our European news correspondent Ben Purvis explains is a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde process. But what’s so tough about Euro5? Apart from vastly decreased levels of noise and atmosphere pollution, Euro5 involves a test cycle that represents typical driving conditions, rather than…

HONDA FIRST INTRODUCED its VTEC system to cars in the late 1980s. Now it’s planning to introduce a similar Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde system to its road-going motorcycles. New patent applications reveal it is hard at work on a new Fireblade most likely to incorporate variable valve timing and lift. BMW already has a similar system on its 2019 BMW S1000RR and R 1250 twin-cylinder models, which swaps between cam lobes at different revs. In fact, Honda’s new patents show a design that bears a remarkable similarity to the BMW system. The VTEC system used in cars swaps between cam profiles by engaging or disengaging rockers between the cam lobes and the valves, using the engine’s oil pressure to force locating pins into or out of position. In contrast, BMW’s ShiftCam design…

NEW PATENT APPLICATIONS from Suzuki suggest an improved variable valve timing on its next-generation GSX-R1000 superbike. While the existing GSX-R1000 broke new ground for the superbike class by including variable valve timing, the system is limited by the fact it operates using an unusual, purely mechanical design that works only on the intake camshaft. The new patent applications show electronic control of both the intake and exhaust camshafts. Suzuki’s current system is based on its GSX-RR MotoGP racer. To sneak around MotoGP restrictions on electronic and hydraulically operated variable valve timing, Suzuki developed an all-mechanical system relying on centrifugal force to alter the cam timing. Its new patents reveal a much more conventional system using oil pressure-operated cam-phasers to rotate the camshafts a few degrees in relation to their sprockets. It’s the same…

APRILIA LOOKS LIKE it’s rushing the lightweight RS660 sportbike concept into production. We’ve sourced spy shots of two test bikes at the Vallelunga circuit near Rome. At least one appears to be in near-production form, with a licence plate bracket, full lighting, mirrors and even a legally-required rear reflector in place. The market for traditional, 600cc-class sportsbikes has been in a downward spiral for years, but a lusty, middleweight twin-cylinder engine could refocus this segment. The RS660 is based around a parallel-twin engine that’s effectively the front two cylinders from Aprilia’s own 1078cc V4 superbike and it should be good for at least 75kW (100hp). It’s likely to weigh around 160kg, giving it an impressive power-to-weight ratio.…

INDIAN’S FTR1200 IS just the start of a family of performance motorcycles from an American company once obsessed with cruisers. Just like Harley’s new all-roads strategy aimed at having the ability to cast a wider net, a closer look at what first appears as a patent for a single bike reveals Indian may very well be taking a similar approach. Our first glimpse of the FTR1200 in production form came via a patent application last September, followed by leaked photos. But a closer look at that original patent reveals that it contains designs for no fewer than four separate bikes, each with distinct differences in frames and even engines. It’s likely Indian is planning several derivatives of the FTR’s engine, possibly as small as 750cc to give a direct connection to its…