Australian Motorcycle News Vol 68 Issue 15

IT’S A GOOD time to be an Australian motorcycle racing fan. The Aussies defended a harder than ever charge from stronger than ever American and New Zealand teams to retain the coveted International Challenge trophy at this year’s Island Classic. Bursting with all the hallmarks that have popularised classic racing in recent years – big names, iconic machinery, classic scraps, heat, sunshine, drama and the world’s most picturesque racetrack – it’s easy to see how this terrific event has made it to 26 and shows little sign of easing up – Kenny would be proud. Awe doesn’t even come close Then there’s Toby Price, I think most people knew the tough and talented Aussie was capable of winning the gruelling Dakar Rally with a freshly snapped scaphoid bone in his throttle wrist.…

UNTIL WE RECENTLY nabbed pictures of Triumph testing its new Rocket III (AMCN Vol 68 No 13), the British power cruiser looked doomed. Discontinued in Europe thanks to emissions limits and little-changed since its 2004 introduction, the giant cruiser didn’t seem to fit the company’s new focus on parallel twins. But the Rocket is making a comeback as the Rocket 3 TFC. The switch from Roman to Arabic numerals (the new one is ‘3’, not ‘III’) and the addition of that ‘TCF’ tag underlines that this is a completely new design. ‘TFC’ stands for Triumph Factory Custom, a new initiative similar to Harley-Davidson’s CVO range. Triumph TFC models will be high-end, much-modified versions of its mainstream production bikes, made in strictly limited numbers. It says it won’t make more than 750 of…

A TFC VERSION OF the 1200cc Bonneville twin gets a 7kW boost to 79kW. This is achieved with a lighter crank and balancer shafts, higher compression pistons, revised ports and a new cam profile, plus a titanium Vance & Hines exhaust and revised engine mapping. A high-class Öhlins NIX30 fork replaces the Showas of the normal Thruxton R with matching Öhlins rear shocks, Brembo Monobloc calipers and a radial Brembo master cylinder. The all-carbon bodywork helps save 5kg in weight, so expect it to be 201kg dry. A long list of special cosmetic parts confirms this is a special model. A machined billet top yoke has a numbered plaque while there is a brushed alloy Monza filler cap and nickel-finished mirror centres and gold tank badges. Australian prices haven’t been announced but Triumph UK…

THE CENTREPIECE OF this model remains its enormous DOHC triple. The original Rocket boasted having the biggest mass-produced motorcycle engine in history, at 2294cc. Triumph says the new version will also be bigger than anything else in production, so we expect it could be 2600cc. With Ducati’s 120kW Diavel setting new performance standards for muscle-cruisers, Triumph has a benchmark to aim for. In terms of torque, the huge triple is unlikely to have many rivals. The original made 221Nm, and the new one should have even more. The old Rocket III’s weight problem is addressed with an aluminium frame replacing steel and with far sportier steering geometry. A single-sided, monoshock swingarm replaces the old twin-shock layout, matched by a massive USD front fork. Radial Brembo brakes and a titanium Arrow exhaust…

WE’VE UNCOVERED A treasure-trove of patent applications from Suzuki and one of the most interesting is a Moto3 design. The patent application, filed in Japan, clearly shows a racebike design rather than a road-going machine, since it’s specifically interested in the arrangement of a short, virtually unsilenced exhaust system. The patent drawings show the header pipe coiling around the lower front of the engine to terminate in a megaphone just ahead of the rider’s right foot. It’s part of an overall design based on mass-centralisation, packing the whole weight of the exhaust into the smallest possible space and keeping it as far forward and as low as possible. Although we can’t read too much into the drawings when it comes to the rest of the bike – they’re not obliged to be accurate…

IN THE REALM of truth being stranger than fiction comes news that BMW is developing a massage bike seat. And we have a copy of the design to prove it. It’s actually a simple design. An electric motor slowly turns a lobed shaft – looking much like a camshaft – that’s buried in the seat padding. The lobes are offset to give a massaging effect, and also rock you fractionally from side to side to help introduce some movement into your spine to help reduce the chances of backache. Still don’t believe us? ‘Active’ seats have been around in cars for decades and have been an option on BMW’s high-end four-wheelers since the late 1990s. We’ve all suffered numb bum from time to time, but are active seats a technology the motorcycle market…