Table of contents for 11 November 2020 in MCN

‘Get yourself a project bike and learn how it works’ ENGINEERING GURU ALLEN MILLYARD FIXES SPECIAL Workshop your way to happiness We’ve all spent more time indoors than normal this year – but that doesn’t mean that time can’t be spent immersed in bikes. With Winter looming too, what better time than to create your ultimate workshop space at home and start tinkering? Whether you’re doing essential servicing, fixes something broken, or building a project bike, our guide can help you. SPECIAL 32-PAGE PULLOUT ON TEST Horizon hunters Once upon time, in a land far, far away there was a rider with a sore butt having ridden all the way there in spite of their bike not having been designed with adventure in mind. How things have changed. Triumph’s Tiger 900…

The National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham is facing a fight for survival and is calling on bikers to save the day after a funding denial kick in the teeth from the Government. The museum, which houses over 1000 motorcycles, had applied for a grant from the Recovery fund which was set up to help organisations hit by the Covid-19 restrictions - but was turned down. More than 1300 grants were given to help the arts and while the National Motorcycle Museum received nothing, the Postal Museum got £860,000, the Stained Glass Museum £71k and the 2Funky Music Café in London £92,000. Even the Toulouse Lautrec Jazz Club were tapping their feet to the tune of a £246k bailout. Museum Director James Hewing was left fuming. He said: “I spent two…

Evotech Z H2 Tail Tidy £100 Evotech have revealed new UK-made products for the Kawasaki Z H2 models. A sporty tail tidy is easy to install and there’s a video fitting guide on the Evotech website. There’s also a radiator guard (£79). crash protection (£2 front wheel spindle bobbins (£35.99), paddock stand bobbins (£25.99), exhaust hanger (£59.99), exhaust hanger (£74.99), footrest blanking plate kit (£29.99), mirror extension (£41.99). www.evotech-performance.com Furygan heated gloves £249.99 Wave goodbye to cold hands this winter with these new Furygan Heat Blizzard D30 37.5 gloves which can be programmed and controlled using the Furygan Heat System app. The app can show battery status and heat settings can be pre-set. The gloves can even be set to turn on an hour before you leave home, so that…

We’ve got together with Shoei to give away an NXR Zork TC-7 helmet worth £469. Shoei’s NXR is a helmet that answers the exacting demands of sports riding in an aerodynamic compact design which boasts a range of state-of-the-art safety and comfort features. The Shoei NXR has a compact shell, designed to reduce wind noise and improve ventilation. There’s a Pinlock fog-free lens with a completely new base plate system. While Shoei’s world-renowned design for hassle-free fitting and removing of the visor is maintained, the base plate can be adjusted front and rear via rotating a dial. A comfortable and lightweight fit is essential to modern sports riding. The NXR achieves this with a completely new interior featuring advanced high moisture absorption fabric and quick-drying properties throughout. How to enter…

Need a laugh right now? Buy a sidecar! Winter is coming and the British motorcyclist celebrates by buying the most unpredictable road vehicle you can imagine: a sidecar outfit. If outfits hadn’t been part of motorcycling since the Edwardian era, and were invented today, the government would ban them. An asymmetric vehicle (which an outfit is) behaves in a totally different manner depending on whether you are turning right or left and accelerating or decelerating. However, sidecar outfits have a good safety record. This I can’t understand as everyone I know who’s owned one, including myself, has crashed it. But when (not if) you prang one, you’re not going very fast and the crash makes you laugh so much you don’t feel pain. Still, here’s a thing: outfits are depreciationproof.…

● Reader Stuart Bailey● The ride Northern England: Yorkshire, Cumbria and Northumberland● When to go We went midOctober but any time when the weather isn’t bad will work● Miles 500● Best bit? Tackling the passes in the Lake District with steep, tight hairpins and fantastic views across the valleys and fells it was an organised tour which meant I could just enjoy the ride without worrying about directions HARDKNOTT PASS RIBBLEHEAD KIELDER WATER NEW MATES…

John McCombe Age 73 Height 5ft 10in Current bike Triumph Tiger 800 XRT Been riding for 57 years First bike 1955 Panther Model 65 Dream bike Moto Guzzi Le Mans 850 I had an 800 XCA on PCP and the dealer made me a good offer on the XRT when it was time to change. It came with panniers and I’ve added a topbox. I’ve done some UK trips on it with my wife as pillion and a Human Donor Milk Run to Canterbury (I live in Herts) to run it in when it arrived. Previously, we’ve toured Italy, the Pyrenees and central Europe on hired Tiger 800s. I’ve had this one for just over a year and only done 3000 miles thanks to Covid and being very busy with…

YAMAHA TY80 “This was my first real bike, with gears and clutch. It was old even when I got it, but it taught me the basics – the essentials – of throttle and clutch control. I wish I still had it, I have so many fond memories of riding it.” GAS GAS 125 TXT “I was about 11. It was my first full-size bike – a big jump for me, since then they’ve all been effectively the same size. I rode the 125 in club trials and moved up to the 250 version when I rode British and European championships.” OSSA TRI “With fuel injection and a unique engine layout the Ossa was revolutionary. That meant it suffered from some issues – but it made me a better mechanic. I…

The V85 TT is a favourite of MCN, but this Travel version doesn’t really better it. Stripped down to plain English, it’s the standard bike with one-off paint and some official accessories. Superficially, the sums add up – the Travel boasts over £1600 of extras, but costs just £900 more than the V85 TT Premium, or £1100 more than the standard V85 TT. On PCP it’s about £30 a month more. But not all the bolt-ons hit the target. The screen is excellent and Bluetooth connectivity is clever. But the left-hand pannier is tiny, while the heated grips aren’t very heated. With dealers advertising new V85s for £9500, you can’t help think the £2500 saving could buy a bigger pile of extras. THE FACTS £11,999 Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel…

GUSTI & PAUL WILLIAMS “We have both ridden modern bikes for many years. Following a visit to the National Motorcycle Museum we wondered what proper old British bikes were like to ride. So we became ‘Friends’ of the NMM with the opportunity to have a go during their ‘Try a Classic’ Days. “We’ve sampled many models from every decade, from 1910 right through to the 1970s. Bikes have included a 500cc New Comet, which is basically a pushbike with a motor but no clutch or gears, to a Triumph Bonneville from 1976. We’ve also ridden a 1928 Sunbeam 500cc Model 90, a 500cc Triumph Tiger and Royal Enfield 1140cc V-twin from the 30s, a WW2 Army Triumph, plus Norton, Velocette, AJS, Matchless and BSA models. “It is truly amazing and…

1 Halvarssons Beast, £99.99 I’ve worn these for 18 months. They are well made with a longish gauntlet and the Outlast lining combines really well with heated grips. William Symington, Twickenham 2 Klim Badlands Gore-Tex, £270 Eye-wateringly expensive but now I’ve worn them, I do think they are worth it. Morgan Denton, Bury St Edmunds 3 Held Air ‘N’ Dry Gore-Tex, £175.99 After 40,000 miles I need to replace them but will get the same again. Lukasz Galuszka, Aylesbury 4 Rev’It Dominator GTX, £199.99 I’ve had these for four years. They always keep hands dry, perfect for temps down to 6°C. Bob Arnett, Yarm 5 Richa Arctic Textile Waterproof, £89.99 Warm, waterproof and have a reinforced knuckle. I’ve ridden 30,000 miles in them and they’re still in good nick. Ian…

After three consecutive wins Sam Lowes was brought back down to earth in Valencia, but it’s far from doom and gloom for the Brit. After a slow start from the front row, Lowes found himself battling hard with Xavi Vierge and Remy Gardner. The mixed track conditions weren’t making things easy, but he eventually came out on top and set his sights on race leader Marco Bezzecchi. The 30-year-old was closing in on the Italian but lost the front at turn six and crashed out. It was the same corner which had caught him out during warm-up. Fortunately for Lowes his main title rival Enea Bastianini was unable to take maximum advantage and the Italian ended the race in fourth, opening up a slender six-point advantage over the Brit in…

BT Sport pundit It would seem Yamaha’s new supplier used a titanium alloy with a lower fatigue limit to their previous supplier and the extreme heat of a July Jerez MotoGP race exposed the valves to temperatures that damaged their strength, leading to the engine failures. I don’t believe Yamaha were attempting to gain a performance advantage with valves that fell outside of MotoGP’s protocols, if they were looking for a performance advantage from the new valve supplier they would be designed to withstand even more. I found Yamaha’s explanation of a supplier problem sound but the politics involved in the decision not to penalise the rider points tally sets a dangerous precedent.…

REVEALED The provisional 2021 MotoGP calendar features 20 races with the final schedule subject to Covid-19 travel protocols. Finland rejoins for the first time since 1981 with the midseason race likely to be Brno. Reserves: Portugal (Algarve), Russia (Igora Drive), Indonesia (Mandalika) Binder shows pace Brad Binder (KTM) made light work of a long-lap penalty to recover from 15th to finish seventh at Valencia, edging out Andrea Dovizioso and Johann Zarco with a late charge. “A few laps after the penalty Cal fell and I had to avoid his bike and lost another couple seconds, but I was really happy with my pace,” he said.…

“People are absolutely gobsmacked when they visit my place. Standing in my garage they’ll ask ‘where’s your workshop?’ and I’ll say you’re in it! Every single visitor is in disbelief that I make my bikes in a single garage built into my house, especially bikes as large as my 8-litre V10 Viper - which is 10ft long and weighs half a tonne! And my garage is not just all devoted to workshop space either, I store bikes in there too! “The workshop end is only 10ft x 12ft but this is big enough to fit my Colchester Bantam lathe, Elliot mill, 30T press, cylinder boring machine, pillar drill, TIG welder, workbench and blacksmith’s vice. I have a shadow board on the wall above my bench where I store all my…

The idea of ‘protection’ has long been an anathema of the average shed-dwelling bloke. I never used to think about safety, the condition of my skin, or the detrimental effects of chemicals – but 30 years of injuring myself and suffering for my naivety have taught me a few lessons that might benefit you, too. My first major brush with idiot-induced near-disaster (bloodied knuckles and bashed bonces aside) happened nearly 20 years ago when drilling out a seized bolt. While furiously concentrating on drilling straight and true, I’d left myself no brain space to consider the consequences of not wearing safety glasses. Halfway through the job a tiny sliver of swarf spiralled off the drill bit and speared my left eyeball. I just about had the presence of mind not…

Pretty much any workshop job you can invent will have already been thought of, attempted, or cocked-up by some other human before you – and that means someone’s invented a tool to do it. But that doesn’t mean those tools don’t have other uses. One of the tools I misuse the most is a exhaust spring puller that came as part of a Yoshimura exhaust system fitting kit. In fact, I’ve got two of them. They’re even (crudely) stamped with little Yoshi logos. Of course, I do actually use them as exhaust spring pullers, I’m not a madman, but on a dramatically more regular basis I use them for a raft of other little jobs. The most common uses are when doing wiring jobs or tidying up the aftermath with…

For me, one of life’s rare pleasures is going into the garage to work on one of my race bikes without any time constraints or a looming deadline. This has always been a bit of a luxury for me, the free time has always been hard to achieve with the demands of work and home life. So when the Government announced the lockdown in March I immediately knew what I’d be doing with all that extra spare time. ‘I rebuilt the engine with the time and care an expert would have given it’ Just a couple of months earlier I’d purchased a 1995 Honda RS250 with the intention of racing it in the coming season. It was one of the things I could turn my attention to during lockdown and…

During lockdown restoring an old bike could be problematic, being unable to travel meant taking on certain tasks myself - like wheel building. How hard could it be to build a wheel from scratch? My mate Tom has built his own wheels for years, sitting in front of the fire, with the hub set up in an old cast iron jig, making it look so easy. I was building a 1955 Triumph Tiger 110 at the time and took the opportunity to build up my first wheel under the watchful eye of Tom. I was more than impressed with the fruits of my labour. ‘There’s nothing else for it - I have to strip it down and start again’ Now for the rear wheel, Tom had warned me that these…

Back in the day, I used to annoy the hell out of my mother by rebuilding bikes in the kitchen. Fast-forward 40 years and the kitchen - or rather an appliance within it - still has the same appeal. Don’t have a parts washer? Never fear, the good old dishwasher will make components gleam like new. Obviously, you need a dishwasher but also more importantly, you need your significant other or whoever else you share a kitchen with to be in agreement (or just keep quiet and do it while they’re out...). ‘I typically wash my crankcases, after I’ve split them to rebuild the crank, in our dishwasher’ I typically wash my crankcases after I’ve split them to rebuild the crank. First I give them a light manual degreasing and…

Amy Cosford Triumph employee Amy spends her days helping to develop the chassis of new Hinckley models, but her evenings and weekends are spent fettling her Honda VFR400. “When I first moved here, I didn’t have anywhere to work on my bike or any tools, so when this place opened it was a saviour. I’ve always been quite hands-on, but thanks to this place I can do so much more. I’ve blasted, cleaned and coated my subframe, rearsets and calipers myself - something I never could’ve done at home. And saved loads of time and money too.” John Hall John rides his Suzuki V-Strom 1000 over 12,000 miles a year and relies on the Machine Shop to help keep his bike tip top. “My V-Strom is a great bike, but…

Spending time working on bikes is definitely good for my soul - I need regular contact with motorcycles or else I start feeling really bad! I struggle going on holiday when I know I’m going to be away from bikes, which is why I now always manage a way to take something away with me to work on while I’m there. That’s how bad it is! All my tools are important to me I don’t have things that I don’t use but of them all I’d have to say my 1975 Colchester Bantam lathe is the one I use the most. Without it I couldn’t do anything at all. I bought it back in 2011 for £1200 when I was making the Flying Millyard because I needed something to handle…

Breaking plastics is a relatively common occurrence for bike owners. Now, if you’ve got a nearly-new machine the chances are you will want to replace a badly damaged part with a new one, but if you run an older bike on a tighter budget, then a £10- £15 outlay on a plastic repair kit could put you happily back on the road. Some plastics are no longer available from the manufacturers, and if they are, the price is often prohibitive. If you’re running a £1500 bike as a daily rider, why spend £600 on a new fairing panel - especially if you can repair it effectively for peanuts. Nonetheless, you don’t want to make the damage worse, so give yourself a chance to practise using the kit before you tackle…

At first glance, it may seem like the most difficult part of this task is stripping down the fork itself, refilling the oil level and then rebuilding the stanchion. With that in mind, it’s natural that you focus your brain power on this part of the task. However, it’s the parts of the process either side of stripping and rebuilding each leg that will trip you up if you let it. When removing the fork from the bike, be sure you make a note of the fork protrusion in the top yoke, and the position of the handlebars if you have adjustable clip-ons. You also need to pay attention to how brake lines and the wiring are routed. There is a very specific route that everything has to take and…

I ’ve had my fair share of workshop disasters, from stripping threads to snapping crucial plastic lugs, and they all have one thing in common - I was rushing. Panic is the enemy of any home mechanic and it all starts off so innocently. A prime example is when I was working on my Yamaha RD350LC. I had a tight deadline, dinner was ready in 30 minutes and so I popped to the garage to ‘quickly fit’ the righthand mirror. The thread was a bit knackered so in my haste I decided to fit an insert rather than spend the time to clean up the existing thread. No problem, I thought, a quick job and easy to do in the allotted time. Out came the thread insert kit and all…

Fitting a rear shock can be a relatively easy task and the end result will often yield significant increases in performance and comfort, particularly on bikes that are ‘built to a price’ or perhaps showing their age. But remember the rear shock is only responsible for the back end, and you may well discover that an upgraded rear shock will expose inadequacies in the front suspension. If this is the case, there is a world of fork tweaks that will complete the package – such as upgraded internals, springs and valve emulators – and often these can be easily done at home. Even something simple like uprating the springs and changing the fork air gap can yield results. The best thing to do is seek advice from one of the…

‘I took Roberts’ winning RGV to McDonalds’ Whether you’re a Suzuki fan or not, the fact Joan Mir currently sits atop the rider championship tree in MotoGP can’t help but raise a smile of affection and reverence. Suzuki have long been the underdog, fighting with tight R&D budgets and developing rider talent rather than simply wafting a fat chequebook under the nose of the best. I was privileged enough to tour the team’s test facility at Ryuyo back in 2014 with Nobuatsu Aoki and Ken Kawauchi (two nicer guys you couldn’t hope to meet), and they even got special permission to start the prototype GP bike on the dyno for my aural pleasure. We then headed across town for an interview sat next to Schwantz’s Pepsi RGV500. I didn’t tell…

NEWS EDITOR ‘Cruise control adds to the SP’s capabilities’ Yamaha have taken the next step in a total refresh of their best-selling MT range with an all-new MT-09SP - a high-spec version of one of the market’s leading middleweight nakeds. Before we move onto the hot new stuff, let’s cover off what’s changed about the stock machine. For 2021 the MT-09 gets a longer stroke version of its CP3 triple boosting it to 889cc. That brings with it a small power and torque boost but more importantly the torque arrives 1500rpm earlier in the revs. The engine sits in a new frame and subframe, dropping 3.8kg between them, while there’s also new wheels, swingarm and a totally new look. The electronics have moved on too with an autoblipper and six-axis…

Richa Nimbus textile jacket £174.99 ‘Great price and performance’ We put this affordable jacket through its paces in a year-long test, riding over 6000 miles in all conditions. For the price, you wouldn’t expect to get a laminated jacket, so it’s great value for money and the thermal lining was toasty warm when the weather got frosty. The reflective panels work well on night rides and are subtle, so don’t look weird on daytime jaunts. Zips are chunky, strong and easy to operate with cold hands. The only drawback was in really bad weather there was slight leakage on the arms and around the zip. It comes with CE approved armour at the elbows, shoulders and back. There are adjusters on the sleeves and at the waist, to ensure a…

WEDNESDAY November 11 9pm, ITV4, New: The Motorbike Show FRIDAY November 13 3pm BTS2, MotoGP Films: Racing Together SUNDAY November 15 7.30am, BTS2, Live MotoGP from Valencia, Spain: Warm-ups. Moto3 at 9.15am, Moto2 at 11am, MotoGP at 12.30pm. Chequered Flag at 2pm MONDAY November 16 6am, EUR2, Scarborough Gold Cup 7am, EUR2, Bennetts British Superbikes Extra from Donington Park GP 6pm, QUEST, MotoGP 2020 Highlights from Valencia, Spain. KEYTO CHANNELS: DRT - DISCOVERY REAL TIME DSC - DISCOVERY CHANNEL DHD - DISCOVERY CHANNEL HD EXS - EXTREME SPORTS CHANNEL EUR1 (2, HD) - EUROSPORT 1 (2, HD) MOT - MOTORSPORT.TV CH4 - CHANNEL 4 CH5 - CHANNEL FIVE BBC BBCI-BBC INTERACTIVE ESPN- ESPN CLASSIC CHANNEL ITVDST- DISCOVERY TURBO SHED - DISCOVERY SHED INST- INSIGHT SS1 (2, 3 OR X) - SKY SPORTS…

Every week we give a different rider a wodge of fictional cash and ask them to ‘buy’ the bike that sets their soul on fire. This is Mario’s pick… If you are considering a bit of trail riding but don’t want to risk taking tothe ruts on a big, heavy, adventure bike like a BMW GS or Honda Africa Twin, what do you buy? According to Trail Riders Fellowship (TRF) Chair Mario Costa-Sa, armed with £2500 there is only one answer: Honda’s CRF250L. “The CRF is just a fabulous bike for so many reasons,” enthuses Mario. “If you are going to ride green lanes your bike must be road legal, which the CRF is. And for those new to trail riding the Honda is light, easy to manhandle or pick…

MCN CHIEF ROADTESTER £12,800 Triumph Tiger 900 GT Pro • 888cc 12v inline triple• 94bhp/64lb.ft• £136.38 per month PCP £13,795 Ducati Multistrada 950 S • 937cc 8v V-twin• 111bhp/71lb.ft• £138.70 per month PCP What you’re looking at here are two of the most desirable adventure-shaped sports tourers. One’s a V-twin, the other a triple and both are designed, in theory at least, to handle a spot of light off-roading. On the face of it they’re very much alike. Triumph’s new Tiger 900 GT Pro and the Ducati Multistrada 950 S are both generously equipped, power and torque are similar (the Ducati edges it slightly), they have 20-litre tanks with 220-mile-plus fuel ranges and they’re both designed to waft their occupants big distances in comfort and skip serenely through backroads. It’s…

CHIEF ROAD TESTER Despite their plaudits neither blow you away at first. They’re relatively heavy for their modest power and that leaves you thinking: ‘Is that it?’ But after spending time with the Ducati and Triumph on B-roads and busy motorways they soon get under your skin. They’re supremely versatile, well-equipped and can be calm and relaxed one minute and dish out big thrills the next. They’re not cheap but if you’re after a really capable, comfortable and desirable sports tourer with some off-road potential, they’re worth the stretch. The new Tiger 900 GT Pro is fast, refined, sporty and can ably handle anything your throw at it, but it’s easy to find the limit of its skinny off-road tyres on tarmac, especially in the wet and its motorway weather…

STAFF WRITER The F.B Mondial Pagani 1948 is a breath of fresh air in the broadly utilitarian 125 sector. It looks even better in the metal than it does in the pictures and brings stylish swagger and grown-up looks to the learner-legal sportsbike market. The only question mark remaining is who the bike is for. Older riders looking for a runabout or a touch of nostalgia would likely go for the Pagani’s 300cc bigger brother or the more comfortable, naked HPS. And younger riders might be less enticed by the retro appeal and disappointed by the lack of gadgetry. Great price though and it seems sturdy enough for day-to-day riding. THE FACTS £3674 Mondial Pagani 1948…

The National Motorcycle Museum has a ‘Friends’ scheme. It’s £29.95 a year and its benefits include unlimited museum entry, discounts, giveaways - plus access to ‘Try a Classic Bike’ days. For a nominal insurance cost you can ride the exhibits, with everything from tank-shift veterans to Vincents, with guidance from the museum’s experts. Covid forced the NMM to close, but once it’s reopened there’ll be an expanded programme of riding events next year. Visit www.nationalmotorcyclemuseum.co.uk to learn more.…

DAVID BAKER “I love mine. I’ve done 6500 miles since picking it up in June. It’s a great bike and really does it all. It’s comfortable, well equipped, well built, handles superbly and has a great engine that’s smooth when cruising but has a lovely growl when revved harder. I’ve had a few different adventure bikes and I like the V-Strom because it’s not overly complicated. I don’t want all the silly gadgets they seem to put on these expensive new models. I want a big tourer really that can handle the narrow lanes but am not worried about off road. It’s certainly handled all that so far!”…

‘Make sure it covers all the nice bits’ Cornering ABS, traction and cruise, hill start control, light-up switchgear, electric screen... bikes are loaded with extras and fripperies these days, with ride-by-wire and sensors and little black boxes all over the place. They bring peace of mind and ease of use - but can also be a source of concern on a secondhand bike. Many independent dealers offer extended warranties on used bikes, but it’s important to ask whether the warranty includes purely mechanical parts, or standard-fit ‘extras’, and also factory-fitted options. You may discover the warranty only covers the engine, gearbox, frame and suspension. Not much use if the electronics die. Do some research. You’ll find price comparison websites specialising in warranties for preloved bikes so shop around, find the…

Honda’s SH125 is pretty bulletproof, but this 2013 model with 41,000 miles on the clock had come under serious attack from its heavy-handed owner. Jason McGhie, Senior Technician at Ecosse Motorcycles in Dundee, had quoted the rider £70 an oil change a few weeks earlier. He said: “I booked him in, but I wasn’t too surprised when he failed to turn up as he’d been muttering to himself ‘oh no, no, no’ as he left. But then he came in a couple of weeks later looking sheepish with an ‘oil leak’. He’d just reused the crush washer, so it was never going to seal, but I quickly realised he’d also stripped the sump plug thread.” Jason started work, but the crankcases were covered in the leaking oil. He added: “Never…

VALENTINO ROSSI “The engine is our first problem because the performance is not fantastic, the reliability is critical and also they made this mistake with the valves, that is not fantastic. When I used that engine it broke.” DAVIDE BRIVIO Suzuki Team Manager “If Yamaha win the championship this situation puts a shadow on their championship. And it is dangerous in the future if someone thinks that doing something illegal means the rider will not be penalised.” PAOLO CIABATTI Ducati Sporting Director “A precedent has been set that could be risky in the future with mistakes made in good faith. The principle is the motorcycle does not correspond to what is homologated. So it’s illegal then the manufacturer and the riders lose points.”…

We have all sat on our garage floors swearing and sweating trying to balance a wheel on a toe to lift it to the right height to allow the spindle to slip through. At which point all the spacers inevitably fall out and roll across the garage floor, leading to even more frustration. After one such incident I hit the internet and the answer to my prayers arrived via eBay for just £12 in the shape of a pneumatic wedge. ‘After one such incident I hit the internet and the answer to my prayers arrived for just £12’ I’m not actually sure what these are used for, the advert says something about hanging doors, but what it is effectively is an inflatable bladder. Slip this under the rear wheel, squeeze…

A Polish motorcycle custom house have transformed a 1982 BMW R100RT into a modern café racer. Warsaw-based Eighty Six Gear Motorcycles spent a year-and-a- half turning the 49,700-mile classic into the bike you see here; after the customer they were building it for, gave them free rein over the design. With the engine and carbs stripped for inspection, the bike received new pistons and rings, plus a new clutch and cam chain. Other internal tweaks helped boost power by around 5bhp - taking the overall output to just shy of 70bhp. Aftermarket exhaust mufflers also help unlock a little extra bark. Away from straight-line punch, the tired shocks were swapped out for YSS units, with progressive springs added in the forks, too. New brake discs aid stopping power, with the…

mcn.letters@motorcyclenews.com www.facebook.com/motorcyclenews www.instagram/motorcyclenews www.twitter.com/MCNnews Ron’s school is too good to allow to end We can’t let all the excellence that the Ron Haslam School has cultivated over the years fizzle out (MCN, November 11). It would be a crime against motorcycling to have all that knowledge and experience going to waste. The British motorcycle industry must not let it happen. Come on Triumph, get Ron on board with your products - especially now that you are involved in MotoGP - by providing the engines for the Moto2 bikes. A Triumph Ron Haslam Race School would be the best advert you will ever have. Start beating the drum NOW. Robert Bentham, Cheshire MCN STAR LETTER Write something that spikes our interest, and you could get selected for the Star Letter slot.…

Q Is it an offence to ride along one-handed? A couple of mates got pulled over by the police on a recent ride. Apparently, the officer saw two of us riding with one hand on the bars and gave us a warning that we could be prosecuted if we were caught doing it again. I was not aware that it is against the law. Craig, York A There is no law that says you can’t ride one-handed. However, if a police officer believes there are other factors that do constitute the offence of ‘not being in proper control’, you could find yourself being prosecuted. Mobile phone use is covered by the same legislation. Therefore riding one-handed is fine so long as you remain in proper control. If you are not…

Racing has been taking place on closed public road circuits in Ireland since the 1920s. The first Ulster Grand Prix was held in 1922. The UGP and the North West 200 are Ireland’s largest meetings, attracting the world’s top road racers and Peter Hickman reclaimed the ‘world’s fastest road race’ tag for the 7.4-mile Dundrod circuit from the TT last August. Alongside these events, which take place in Northern Ireland, there are a nine National events held on either side of the border at Cookstown, Tandragee, Kells, Cork, Skerries, Walderstown, Faugheen, East Coast Festival and Armoy. Unlike in the Isle of Man, where the TT is run by a government department and paid for with taxpayers’ money, Irish road races are largely organised by groups of volunteers from motorcycle clubs.…

Metzeler Sportec M9 RR tyres, from £240 per pair ‘The perfect marriage of a sports and touring tyre’ Tested by Richard Newland for six months, 850 miles These new M9 RRs have made a huge impact on the manners of my 1998 VFR800F (120/70 R17 and 180/55 R17). The sporty profile has sharpened the steering and the outright grip, confidence and feedback is superb. I use my VFR primarily as a workhorse, but I’ve taken it for a few more spirited rides, too – and it feels so much more direct and planted than it did on the previous Bridgestone T30s (themselves a very good tyre). In all instances the M9 RRs have really impressed. Warm-up feels near-instant with total confidence even in the wet from cold, and once they…

For the kind of riding I do and the amount of miles I put on it, I couldn’t find a more perfect machine. I’m using it for everything: shopping, commuting, touring and just having fun. It has genuine day- long comfort and the economy is amazing, I’ve done almost 250 miles in one hit with no issues at all. I’m definitely going to hang on to it and if I had to buy a bike tomorrow, I wouldn’t think twice about buying the same model. HOW GOOD IS THE RUBBER? OE Dunlop Trailmax I didn’t like the OE tyres at all, they didn’t inspire any confidence in the wet and I ended up changing them at 3000 miles. The rear was pretty much worn out by then anyway. Also consider…

Saving you money on essential bike maintenance BRUCE DUNN MCN’S experttechnician 1 Choose it then check it Be careful when selecting a kit and try to choose one that is recommended for your particular bike. These days you don’t have to make do with a one-size-fits-all kit, so take advice from your dealer for their opinion on which is best for you. One you’ve made your decision and purchased a kit, open it up to check the contents and thoroughly read the instructions. BRUCE’S TIPS Most grips are 22mmwhile 24.5mm ismore commonon cruisers 2 Lose weight Remove the bar end weights, usually these are fastened with an Allen key or screw. With the weights removed, check the length of the new grips side by side. They should be the same,…

February Yamaha’s usual valve supplier stop producing their valves July Yamaha supply sample engine to technical control with 2019 valves Pre-Spanish GP Yamaha seal first batch of engines with 2020 valves Spanish GP Rossi and Viñales break engines Post-Spanish GP Yamaha ask to replace faulty valves. Permission is denied Pre-Andalusian GP Yamaha build next batch of engines with 2019 valves Andalusian GP Quartararo wins again – he’s now title favourite Post-Andalusian GP Yamaha commission independent analysis of the valves Pre-Valencia GP Yamaha receive results of independent analysis Pre-Valencia GP FIM stewards deduct points from Yamaha Valencia GP Yamaha score worst MotoGP race result since 2007…

‘How to cheat without even trying’ If Yamaha were to write a navel-gazing book about 2020, there’s the title. And the sub-head: “And without gaining anything either”. Valencia brought the latest blows of a long- lasting perfect storm. What have the racing stalwarts done to deserve it? Each racing factory has its own character: Honda proud and austere; Ducati noisy and temperamental; KTM earnest and efficient, Suzuki the blushing but wicked faux-virgins and so on. Yamaha have always been the fundamentally decent bloke. So it was radically out of character that they should fall foul of the MotoGP police for, of all things, cheating on engines. They were able to claim, fairly plausibly, that it was the result of a misunderstanding. After homologating their 2020 engine, they’d been forced to…

An oil and filter change is one of the few remaining tasks that can be done fairly easily at home as part of a servicing routine. Contrary to popular belief, this is true even with new bikes which are still in warranty. Although the handbook might state that servicing must be carried out by a franchised dealership, the law states that as long as the work’s been done by a competent mechanic using OEM parts and exactly to the intervals demanded by the manufacturer, then servicing can be completed anywhere with no risk to the warranty. Don’t come unstuck, though – if you’re a low mileage rider, servicing happens either at the prescribed mileage or time interval, whichever comes soonest. That said, as satisfying as it is to service your…

Extracting pistons from a caliper is the hardest part of this job. I’ve seen many ways of doing it - a fair few of which result in knackered chrome which in turn leads to damaged seals, leaking brake fluid and ultimately brakes that don’t work. Using an airline to blow the pistons out far enough so you can use the proper extraction tool is a certain way to limit damage to the pistons... as long as you’re careful. A resourceful but novice friend of mine once applied a high-pressure line to a caliper in order to get the pistons moving but didn’t think to place anything over the pots to prevent them flying right out. It resulted in one of the pistons ejecting with bulletlike velocity straight up into the…

A well-maintained chain on a 100bhp bike should last around 10,000 miles, but if it’s not regularly cleaned and adjusted that lifespan can be cut in half, leaving you to fork out £150 on a replacement. Chain care is one of those jobs that if you keep on top of it then it’s not so much hassle. It’s only when you’re riding your bike in all weathers and are a bit hit and miss with your cleaning regime that it can become a bit of a tall order. Most road bike chains will be joined together with a rivet link, however some smaller capacity bikes and racing machines will have chains with a split link, which can be prone to coming off. A bike dealer friend of mine once took…

Be clear in what you’re trying to achieve - and don’t just feel the need to invest in a new smaller or larger sprocket just because it’s what everyone’s doing on the owners’ club forum. Typically, revvy bikes like early 2000-onwards supersport 600s and naked middleweights like the Honda Hornet can be made to feel more exciting by fitting a larger rear sprocket, but perhaps altering your riding style in order to utilise more of the bike’s natural power band might be an easier and cheaper way of boosting excitement. Plus, as gearing changes are always a compromise, you would then be saddled with a bike that was fun to gas away but buzzy and annoying on motorway runs. If you are changing your gearing for the purpose of track…

Fitting new plates is the obvious answer to clutch slip, but if your machine is less than 20,000 miles old it could well be that the plates are fine and it’s the springs that need attention. Some manufacturers (I’m thinking of Yamaha and KTM primarily, but definitely others, too) offer stronger, uprated springs which are usually demarked with a painted coloured line down one side of the coils. Ask your dealer if your model has an uprated spring option - they’re usually relatively cheap to buy and will transform lever feel as well as allowing more life from your clutch plates. Also, before replacing your suspected worn plates, check that your current plates haven’t become dry (assuming your bike has a wet clutch) and if so, re-soak them in oil.…

Hand tools Every hand tool you could possibly require, plus access to bike lifts, paddock stands and engine stands, too. English wheel Used to form sheet metal into curved panels, it allows the Shop’s full-access members to create their own bodywork. Lathe The lathe can be used to make custom parts, like spacers, meaning that members don’t have to rely on an outside firm. Wheel builder As well as basic tyre changing facilities, The Shop also has everything you need for spoked wheel building, and usefully offers lessons on how to do it. Coating There’s no great mystery in powder or ceramic coating. Just spray it on, cure it and have parts that look factory finished, for a fraction of the normal cost.…

A word of warning: polishing parts on your bike can become addictive. For example, say you do the footrests and then bolt them back on to the bike with the old tarnished bolts, all of a sudden the magpie in you won’t like it and you’ll resent those nasty old bolts. So, before you know it, you’re sitting in front of your computer ordering new bolts online. Once they arrive, you bolt them in and congratulate yourself for a job well done, when all of a sudden the passenger footrests catch your eye and you realise that they now need the polishing treatment, too... When will it end... But a word of caution. If you’re going for non-original replacement bolts take advice from someone experienced with motorcycle fasteners. There are…