Table of contents for September 2018 in Performance Bikes

INDIAN TO FLOG A STREET TRACKER Indian are bossing the American flat track world, so they’re going to offer a 1200cc V-twin replica for the road. This is a concept version: it’ll look about the same, but with more reflectors and other road gubbins. PRIME SEATING FOR MOTOGP Want to watch MotoGP from the best seats at Silverstone, with posh nosh and primo parking included? You’ll want the ‘Winner’s Club’ hospitality box package, at £199 plus VAT (£219 if you’re not swindling the tax on your business account). Details: 0344 372 8230.…

Burn rubber, not cash Right lads, first things first – thanks for a quality mag with realistic goals and stories. I liked the tyre test in the July/ August editions; both of which were informative and a bit eye-opening... You wouldn’t have thought that the Avons (cheapest of the bunch) would’ve performed that admirably. With that in mind, I was wondering how a set of Mitas Sport Force would measure up. I have a pair myself. They are not the best tyres in the world but they’re not so bad and the price is really good. So could you guys maybe arrange a test to compare them to the data you already have for the tested tyres? Anyway, just a thought; keep up the good work lads and, you never…

YOU CAN HAVE too much of a good thing. It’s human nature to want more, more, more of everything: food, money, bikes... One man who knows about excess is Dominik Klein – not necessarily consumption, but creation. The German Yamaha dealer doesn’t just PDI and roll out stock Yamahas; he’s a long-time tweaker, improver and builder of fast Yamahas. All of them considered mechanically, and finished neatly aesthetically. One of his best creations, maybe even his very best, was the MT-10RR: an Öhlins-suspended, light-wheeled, 192bhp missile. He took the MT-10’s deft, accessible but ultimately limited performance, and squeezed in a lot of the R1’s cutting-edge magic to create something easy to ride but with incredibly high limits, if difficult to keep on the floor... The result surprised even him: built…

Power 73.7bhp @ 8200rpm Torque 52lb.ft @ 6750rpm Weight 164kg (measured) Price £8899 THE DETAIL ENGINE Type Liquid-cooled, dohc, 4V single Capacity 693cc Bore x stroke 105mm x 80mm Fuelling Ride-by-wire electronic fuel injection Power 73.7bhp @ 8200rpm (claimed) Torque 52lb.ft @ 6750rpm (claimed) CHASSIS Frame Chro-moly tubular steel trellis Front suspension 43mm WP USD fork, compression and rebound damping adjustment Rear suspension WP monoshock, preload and rebound adjustment Front brake 320mm disc, radial four-piston Brembo caliper Rear brake 240mm disc, sliding single-piston caliper DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1435mm Rake/trail 25°/109.2mm Weight 164kg (measured) Seat height 830mm Fuel capacity 12 litres TECHNOLOGY Rider aids ABS, traction control, fashion advice app (probably) BUYING Price £8899 Contact www.husqvarna.com/uk…

ENGINE: KTM 690cc dohc, 4v single. Options of high-comp (13.2:1) or big-bore (733cc), Ti valves, SST Racing exhaust with 105 or 98Db silencer options CHASSIS: Krämer tubular steel frame, XPE self-supporting tank/seat unit, fully adjustable WP forks/shock. Adjustable fork offset and rear ride height. Brembo M50 calipers, 290mm Motomaster discs with single/twin disc options. KTM cast alloy wheels or Dymag UP7X forged aluminium. ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Slipper clutch, oil cooler, crash bungs, adjustable mapping included/optional depending on spec. Talent not included.…

Plan ahead Make a very clear plan of attack. Then leave it for a day, and then think it over again. And keep thinking about it, because once you get to the point where you start sawing things up, you are committed and there is no turning back. Mock it up I often use cardboard to mock up fuel tanks as they’re a complex shape. It’s the best, old-school way to get a shape correct as you can easily trim bits off and create the actual shape using tape to hold it together to test-fit the item. Research Some materials respond better than others for a certain purpose, so research the grade and quality of metal you need to use. We have found that some grades of metal dislike vibration,…

‘Our bodykit didn’t have a mudguard. We went for bare carbon’ 2008 HONDA FIREBLADE CHRIS NEWBIGGING PROJECT FIREBLADE is at full steam again after a month of near-neglect – with holidays, a whacking tyre test and PB’s monster TT feature all going on, the Honda didn’t get much love. But the guilt was too much to bear as it stands idle, missing out on some glorious riding weather. Fingers out. Some last details to button up – a front mudguard for a start. Our used bodykit didn’t come with one, and the bare carbon-Kevlar is pretty horrible in our opinion: the fairing will be getting a cosmetic treatment once all the spanner work is done, but we wanted a regular carbon mudguard to leave uncovered, teasing at the lightweight construction…

ALEC TAGUE BATHAMS RACING BRITISH SUPERSTOCK/ROAD RACING AFTER THE LAST few months of road racing, I’m feeling refreshed and ready for the second half of the season. I even found the time to take Mrs Tague for a nice break away, and blew a stack of money on a nice meal or two. I’ve also been getting my head around so many people coming up and asking me for my autograph while we were at the North West 200 and the like... One of them was a Canadian guy who told me he looks forward to this feature every month, so it’s good to know someone’s reading what I’ve got to say! Getting back in action at Snetterton came as a bit of a jolt, though. It was a tough…

HOW LONG TWO YEARS COST £29.99 CONTACT WWW.EXTREMERACING.CO.UK BARE SKIN or a T-shirt under a one-piece is a grim experience. Being damp with sweat, plus hot and smelly, is the invitable result of a hot day or hard ride. Use an undersuit like a civilized human being: when you can pick this one up for £30, there’s no excuse not to. It makes getting in and out of leather suits easier, controls sweat (and odours), and makes life as comfortable as swaddling yourself in the hide of an animal will ever be. In two years, loads of miles and countless days of getting in/out of leathers, it hasn’t worn through or torn. It fits well, doesn’t bunch up, and has a lower zip that opens up to make a pre-race…

‘Now, hard second and third-gear accelerations don’t make me feel like I’m being blown off the back of the bike’ 2018 TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE RS AUSTIN SMITH YOU DON’T NEED to spend thousands on a bike to improve its performance, or to make it feel like it was made for you. So, this month, I’ve added a few practical touches that, while not increasing the power, I think will make me a quicker rider. Here’s how... The windblast on the Speed Triple is, like any naked, directed straight into my chest. Being only 64kg (without my kit; sorry, you didn’t want that mental image, did you?) that windblast has quite an effect. But small improvements can make life that little bit easier, so I’ve fitted Triumph’s flyscreen visor kit (£52).…

‘Caliper internals, disc material and thickness are all changed for this year’ 2017 SUZUKI GSX-R1000R JOHN BENNETT ONE MONTH IN and already the GSX-R has started worming its way into my affections. I had previously convinced myself sportbikes were a waste of time on the road: far too fast and just frustrating to ride due to their weak midrange and licensing-losing potential when unleashed. I’m pretty sure that still rings true. However, my little blue bundle of joy is slowly converting me. Opening the garage door, the choice between Super Duke and Gixer is getting harder to make. This month, I was invited by Suzuki to an event at Leicestershire’s Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground. It’s a five-hour round trip from Chops HQ but the prospect of taking my lightly fettled GSX-R…

‘While St George flags were hung from pubs, we flew our own for motorcycling’ 2017 YAMAHA MT-09 MARK WHITE IT’S COMING HOME! It’s coming home! Well, it didn’t, did it? But before you start writing in about how I’m negative about it all, I’m honestly not. Far from it. Our run in the World Cup has given you and I the chance to score plenty of our own goals with the empty roads it’s created. Isn’t football great for motorcycling? So, it was while we were being knocked out by Croatia that the PB MT-09 and I had my best ride of the year. Photographer Simon came up with a plan to take on a local route that’s never free of traffic while the sun is up. And while all…

XTRA RAPTOR Very rare: carbon mudguard, silencers, seat cowl and fairing horns distinguish it visually, but fully-adjustable shock and forks (plus reduced fork offset) improved handling, too. RADIATOR The lightweight aluminium is prone to cracking: there was a recall part but they still don’t like taking big stone hits. If you break one, recoring and repairing will result in a stronger part. SUSPENSION Preload adjustment only as standard, and it’ll be tired. Go for a Nitron NTR R2 shock, it’ll be everything the bike needs. Forks are relatively easily swapped for early R1 parts (you need a spindle, mudguard and brakes for easiest fitment). WHAT TO PAY MINT: £4000 ROUGH: £1500 BEST MODIFICATION Call us predictable, but we’re saying suspension, again... Fine when new, an 18-year old unadjustable fork and…

CHRIS NEWBIGGING EDITOR chris@pbmag.co.uk Forges MCN editor’s signature on the bar bill. AUSTIN SMITH ART EDITOR austin@pbmag.co.uk Peaks on white wine early. Responds to each winner with, ‘That twat?!’ MICHAEL RUTTER TRACK TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk Nicking all the silverware. MARK WHITE TECHNICIAN editorial@pbmag.co.uk Drunken lecture on animal welfare to MD. Wonders why next invoice isn’t paid. JOHN McAVOY ROAD TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk Successfully minesweeps the room for unattended winners’ bubbly. JEREMY McWILLIAMS COLUMNIST editorial@pbmag.co.uk Sneaks on stage with the staff of Mother & Baby magazine. JOHN BENNETT VLOGGER www.youtube.com/lambchoprides Regrettable YouTube live appearance at 1am... KAR LEE FORUM EDITOR editorial@pbmag.co.uk Brings home an award. Whose, we’re not sure... CAROLINE BARRETT EDITORIAL ASSISTANT caz@pbmag.co.uk Hides in toilets with four plates of carpaccio starters. DANKE SCHÖN: Team PS magazine for bikes/beer/wurst, Markus Krämer, Eddie…

ARIETY AND CHOICE in motorcycling have never been greater. Sportsbike Britain is no longer a thing, but that’s not to say the spirit of it isn’t. In 1998, if you wanted proper brakes, suspension and top-end components, you bought a sportsbike. And it’d probably still have enough comfort and usability to do most things you’d ask of it. Now, a superbike is a piece of extreme engineering: built to go fast, with any other niceties absent or minimal at best. But the word ‘sportsbike’ encompasses other machinery, too. The most popular beneficiary of superbike heritage and development is the supernaked class: from the relatively inexpensive and simplistic (Z1000) to techno-fest, sit-up-and-beg race bikes (Tuono), with options bridging the extremes of road-oriented performance bikes. Honda, in their megacorp wisdom, haven’t slotted…

Brake discs ‘These are AP discs but car ones, not motorcycle. We use the offside disc so the vents are correct. The disc is 278mm diameter and is the same size on the bike’s wheels with a smaller one on the chair. We have three-wheel braking through a single pedal with two master cylinders so I can alter the bias. And it’s all on the left foot, just to confuse matters. The braking is incredible; we can hit 3g in deceleration on the sidecar and I can fire Tom over the top from 80mph easily...’ Keetona treadle guillotine ‘We use a lot of sheet metal and this gives a perfect cut. We saved up for ages to buy this as we were sick of using a jigsaw or tin snips.…

‘The first session was rubbish. I was rusty, aching and struggling to get it to change direction’ 2005 YAMAHA YZF-R1 CARL NEWBIGGING ONE OF THE FIRST rides on my R1 last year was PB’s Rockingham trackday. Apart from a set of part-worn Racetecs to replace some rock-hard touring tyres the bike was just as I bought it: 20,000 miles old and a bit unloved. It didn’t stop, hold a line or fuel correctly, and wheelied everywhere because the shock had way too much rebound, and stayed compressed. You could condense that all into one word: crap. But it’s essentially good underneath, and I’ve been chipping away at the issues over winter. The last change was a set of Michelin Pilot Power RS tyres: a strong scorer in PB’s tyre test,…

2017 YAMAHA YZF-R3 HARRIS BEECH BRITISH SUPERSPORT 300 I’M WRITING THIS while we’re on a family holiday in Greece. We flew out here, but given the amount of driving we’ve done to the last two races, I guess dad could have easily got behind the wheel and driven us... Snetterton was a 10-hour round trip in mid-June, and although it was worth it for the experience, it was memorable for the wrong reasons. Basically, I did a test day there earlier in the year and had made up my mind that I wasn’t a fan of the track – wide, open and with a layout that rewards top-end, I knew we’d be up against it with the Kawasakis we’re competing against. I qualified 21st, but a 17th place in race…

HOW LONG FIVE YEARS COST PILFERED FROM GRANDAD: £20 TO YOU... CONTACT WWW.SYKES-PICKAVANT.COM LIKE VULTURES, Chris and I circled around our grandad’s tool collection when he retired from working on heavy plant and machinery. Among the riches I swiped was this thread file: a simple device that’s invaluable for prevention of thread issues. It generally makes life easier. It’ll clean corrosion and old locking fluid away with ease. Lightly damaged threads on bolts – particularly those that are not easy or cheap to replace, like engine mounts – can usually be resuscitated and refitted without causing further damage to the parts they thread into. As an aside, it’s also a useful tool for thread identification. It’s not needed very often, but for the price and minimal space it takes up,…

Obituaries: William Dunlop, James Cowton WILLIAM DUNLOP and James Cowton lost their lives to road racing accidents last month, at Skerries and the Southern 100 respectively. Dunlop was practicing for Skerries on his return to the roads after pulling out of the TT early in practice week to be with his pregnant wife. Witness reports suggest he damaged his sump or drain plug, and crashed on his own oil, though investigations continue and an official report is yet to be released. He suffered fatal head injuries and was pronounced dead shortly after. He was 32. Just weeks later a four-bike crash involved James Cowton, Ivan Lintin, Jamie Coward and Mickey Evans. Coward and Evans escaped with minor injuries, but rising roads star Cowton died in an ambulance shortly after. He…

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NEITHER OF Kawasaki’s premium ZX-10Rs excited me to begin with. Both look dull: matt black, and even the SE’s posh suspension doesn’t look special. But there is nothing dull about the performance delivered by both. The RR feels that bit more playful and responsive on track; the SE is more refined and composed. Both have ballistic engines, more than enough to keep me entertained. I’m going to counter Michael’s opinion here, though: I can see why the RR appeals more to him than the SE, but the SE has greater versatility away from the track, and is close enough on it that it’s of no consequence to me. Having said that, the standard ZX-10R costs just over £14,000, is barely any heavier, and has the same suspension as the RR…

2018 HUSQVARNA VITPILEN 701 CHRIS NEWBIGGING NOSTALGIA IS BOOMING. Whether you’re going to buy a bike or a wardrobe, you’re more often than not presented with an option harking back to a bygone era. Go to your local dealer, and instead of bikes crammed bar-to-bar, there’s probably a stylised display with bikes on shipping pallets and other ‘lifestyle’ guff to try and sell you an image as well as the metal. Husqvarna – the Sweden-based, KTM-owned dirt bike mob – have played things a little differently. Shamelessly recreating a classic model for the road isn’t an option, because their only road racers are so obscure (and generic in appearance), it’s not really worth trading on. Although the name, which means White Arrow, is a subtle tribute to the Golden Arrow:…

SUPERBIKE BRITAIN is struggling to make the leap to prototype chassis racing: while Spain and Italy smoothly transition kids through minibike/Moto3/Moto2 at national or international level, the UK stops at Moto3: the race paddock is yet to shift away from 600s and invest in British GP2, which competes on the same grid but for its own set of championship points. Just a handful of ex-Moto2 Honda-powered bikes, plus Spirit Motorcycles’ Daytona 675-powered project, circulate in barely-noticed obscurity. BSB’s own website barely even acknowledges its existence. Hand-built prototypes are seemingly a cost too far. Well, here’s another potential solution to introducing young racers to a taut, sensitive race chassis. Markus Krämer, a former KTM R&D bod, took the bold step of leaving a safe job in a growing company to pursue…

1 Clamps “I love clamps and have so many for securing bits of metal before welding them. You can never have too many. I have G-clamps, F-clamps, little Swiss clamps, the works! When you are fabricating a chassis you need four hands sometimes and clamps are essential in a workshop. In the old days I used to hold the metal in place, but I did squeal when it got hot, and complain about burning my fingerprints off and the smell of singed skin...” 2 Sidecar lifting tool “In some ways I hate this tool, but in others it is essential for our work. It is just a bit of metal bar with a 30mm socket grafted on the end, but it works. It slots over a wheel nut and allows…

RICHARD ADAMS Maxton Suspension Richard is a familiar face in the BSB and TT paddock and is the go-to man when it comes to suspension. What he doesn’t know about damping and springs isn’t worth knowing and Maxton have seen lots of S1000RRs pass through their Cheshire workshop. www.maxtonsuspension.co.uk DAVE HEWSON Obsession Engineering Dave runs an S1000RR at the TT and spends a lot of time rebuilding and refreshing BMW engines under the guise of Obsession Engineering. He has worked on every generation and has stripped and rebuilt more than you can shake a bratwurst at. Contact him via Facebook. TJ SKROBOT Balderston BMW As sales manager at Balderston Motorcycles, TJ has sold more than his fair share of both new and used S1000RR models and most of them have…

2014 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R JOHN BENNETT AH, THE MEMORIES... My recent Spanish roadtrip was epic, but since returning to Blighty riding in the UK has somewhat lost its appeal. Poorly-surfaced roads, rammed full of cars and roadworks; you get a decent bit of quiet road and it’s over in just a few minutes before it’s back to tailing Dynorod vans or Argos trucks. But that’s the trouble with getting over to the continent; it makes you realise what you are missing. What with the 2000 miles we covered on that trip, two things were apparent when I returned. One was that the bike needed its 10,000-mile service. The other was that Europe’s twisty roads had revealed that the stock steering damper wasn’t really particularly good at keeping the…

HOW LONG 18 MONTHS COST £30 CONTACT WWW.OPTIMATE.CO.UK SCARED AND confused by electrics? Don’t worry, it’s the 21st century; no one judges you, and there are devices out there to help you... This widget from Optimate is useful for anyone who struggles with understanding their charging system, or for bikes where access to the battery and other key connectors for basic diagnosis is a total pain in the John Thomas. The display shows current battery condition in simple green (good) and red (knackered) terms, and when you start and run the bike, it tells you how the battery performed under starting load, and then the bike’s ability to charge, in terms of voltage, with simple colour coding for the uninitiated to recognise a problem. It comes with a set of…

HOW LONG TWO TRACKDAYS, 500 MILES COST AROUND £250 PAIR CONTACT WWW.MOTO.MICHELIN.CO.UK MICHELIN CLAIM the Power RS is the tyre you need for fast road and occasional trackday use, so I tried a pair on my R6. I haven’t ridden a Michelin-shod bike for any length of time for years – the last being my near-stock GSX-R1000 at Cartagena in 2011, with a set of Power Ones. Those tyres were OK, but a couple of unannounced slides had me questioning my own ability until I swapped them for some Dunlops. Confidence eroded, I’ve avoided Michelins since. I’m chuffed to say, though, that after a couple of trackdays at Rockingham and a few hundred road miles on the Power RSs, my faith in Michelins is restored. Using their Adaptive Casing Technology…

‘It grunts up the Mountain from low down, refusing to drop the front until you fully shut off’ 2018 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R CHRIS NEWBIGGING I LIKE HOW the Super Duke ploughs its own furrow. Different looks, a different engine and chassis to every other naked gives it unique appeal. Those two massive pistons hogging up and down, and an open riding position on a quality chassis makes it a brilliant, several-laughs-a-minute road bike. And it’s good on track – it holds a respectable position on the Rutter Test leaderboard, and the launch on Qatar’s Grand Prix track is a great memory for me. But Cadwell, my chosen first track jaunt on my 1290 R, is not Donington or Losail, where the KTM can stretch its legs and use…

‘BMW have acknowledged that, at some point, you might not want to break lap records, but instead ride on a motorway’ 2018 BMW S1000RR SPORT JOHN McAVOY AT £14,150, the BMW S1000RR is a bargain. It is more bike than you’ll ever need, and anyone who says they could use more than it has to offer is a liar, or deluded. Only the base-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000 is a cheaper litre bike, by a couple of hundred quid. However, human beings are weak, shallow and easily tempted. And BMW know this. The S1000RR Sport is only £1055 more, and you get semi-active suspension, an auto-blipper, and some other trinkets. No brainer, right? You better believe it. Then there is the ‘Motorsport’ colourscheme which, next to the dull standard paint, looks like…