Australian Road Rider Issue 154

I hate the heat. I think I’d have preferred global cooling to global warming, given a choice. When I was kid, air conditioning in cars was rare, a very welcome experience when I got to travel without sticking to the vinyl seats of Dad’s Holden Special. In my late teens I was a motorcycle courier, delivering packages for a living under the blazing West Australian Sun, and at one stage I decided it was better to ride without a jacket and avoid heat stress than risk a crash because my body was overheating. These days I do things differently. I’ll still ride a bike in the summer, but ventilated gear provides air flow and protection in a spill. A flip-top helmet gives me an open face or full-face while on the move. Shorty…

Nothing draws a crowd like Kawasaki’s Supercharged H2 roadburner, but with a price in the stratosphere they aren’t seen on the streets very often – but with the new Z H2, that might be about to change. The new naked 998cc supercharged four should be priced at around $25,000… we hope. Pricing, as we go to press, hasn’t been announced, so jump onto roadrider.com.au and check for an update, although insider information is pointing to more affordable pricing as Kawasaki endeavours to make its supercharged bikes more affordable. Whatever the price, the Z H2 looks like becoming an instant classic. It’s got a trellis frame, just like the H2, aggressive good looks, modern electronics to keep the power under control and good levels of equipment. Kawasaki has spent a lot of time developing…

Honda’s 2020 CBR1000RR-R SP will be released soon, with advanced aerodynamics, electronics, friction-reducing material coatings and new technologies all aimed at producing the best road-legal track bike it’s ever made. No, we don’t know how much it will cost yet, but be assured it won’t be cheap. The new bike shares the bore and stroke of its MotoGP-winning RC213V V-four, although the Fireblade remains an inline four. Producing a claimed 217hp in standard trim, it’s definitely going to be popular with the Superbike crowd, both racers and track day riders. The technology is eye-watering: A semi-cam gear train, finger-follower rocker arms, titanium con-rods, RC213V-S internal friction reduction technologies, piston jets with check ball system and a built-in bottom bypass passage for the cylinder water jacket. The bore and stroke match the MotoGP…

PANIGALE STREETFIGHTER For the hoon inside every Ducatista, Ducati has built what some might consider ridiculous: a 208hp naked. It’s a Panigale V4 with its clothes off, although Ducati has tastefully added back in some stylish bodywork, inspired by the comic book character and movie The Joker. Practical streetfighter features include higher handlebars, lower footpegs and a more thickly-padded seat. Pillion passengers are better accommodated too, with a new steel subframe and more space for the rider. The bike is very compact thanks to using the engine as a structural chassis part, with a front frame bolted to the upper crankcase and the rear suspension, swingarm and subframe bolting the engine at the rear. The engine itself is the 90-degree 1103cc V4 from the Panigale V4. It’s close to unchanged from the unit in the…

BMW F 900 XR The BMW S 1000 XR is a popular bike among the Australian Road Rider crew, its mix of sportsbike performance, sensible ergonomics and excellent long-travel real-world suspension make it a great bike… so much so it’s being joined by a twin cylinder version, the new F 900 XR. Designed for sporty long distance riding, BMW has equipped the new bike with an effective fairing with two-level screen, adjustable seat heights and good pillion accommodation. The parallel twin motor produces 105 horsepower (77kW) and 92Nm of torque from a powerplant developed from the earlier twins. The motor is pushing 219kg of motorcycle ready to ride. Suspension travel is generous, 170mm at the front and 172mm at the rear - so it should handle Aussie roads really well, and even cope when the…

Indian has announced a new touring Bagger, the Challenger – and it’s the first bike to feature the new PowerPlus engine. The Challenger is a high performance Bagger with an excellent level of standard equipment, and a price to go with it. There are two models - the Limited ($39,995 Ride Away) and the Dark Horse (39,595 Ride Away). Standard equipment includes the new PowerPlus 122hp motor, USD forks and a hydraulically adjustable Fox shock. The chassis is aluminium, the brakes are from Brembo and features include electronic cruise control, full LED lighting, a long-haul seat, ABS, keyless ignition, and weatherproof saddlebags with over 68 litres of storage space. The fairing features an adjustable screen with three inches of travel and air vents. The Challenger features Indian’s Smart Lean Technology, which uses a Bosch IMU to…