Table of contents for August 2018 in Performance Bikes

‘The next-level performance of the Ducati V4 caught Rutter unawares’ IT’S NICE TO KNOW I’m not getting soft in my old age. From his first spin on the Panigale V4 at Jurby, just to get familiar before some flat-out laps of the TT course later, Michael Rutter was in awe and more than a little in fear of the beast from Bologna. All we got out of him for five minutes were various bemused utterances centering around the word ‘fuck’. Even fresh from first practice on his BMW racers, the standard Speciale edition’s next-level performance caught him unawares. Professional that he is, he got on with the job of answering a big question that had been swirling around our brains since we first rode the bike: can Ducati finally make…

MICHAEL DUNLOP and Dean Harrison got straight on lap record pace, MD becoming the fastest Lightweight competitor on his first practice outing on the Paton, and Harrison breezing past the previous Superbike lap record with a 133.4mph lap. Dan Kneen was tragically killed in Wednesday night’s practice, crashing just before Ramsey. Steve Mercer was also seriously injured when he was hit head-on by a course car attending Kneen’s crash. He remains in hospital. You can help his wife pay for the logistical costs of his care at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/stevemercerofficial. Ryan Kneen later rode a tribute practice lap in memory of his brother. Harrison then set a new lap record on lap one of the Superbike race (134.432mph), and led until lap four, when his clutch failed, leaving MD to take the…

Fitting tribute With it being one year since he left us, I’ve remembered Nicky Hayden by framing the poster you made last year in his honour. Cheers from France. Victor Voignier Laverda in ‘first’ shocker PB’s article in the March edition of the magazine stated that radial master cylinders first appeared on the Aprilia RSV1000 in 2002. But my 1998 Laverda Formula 650 has a Brembo radial master cylinder... Paul Millar CN – Well spotted. We weren’t aware of that, mainly because so few Laverda 650s got far enough up the road to actually require the use of their brakes. Thanks for the rubber, Johnny Just thought I’d drop you a line to thank you for a perfectly timed article! I bought a K6 GSX-R about a month ago (just…

YES, THERE’S lots of money and expertise involved. But the bodies and man-hours ploughed aren’t as extensive as you think. “Nobody here works on the Shinden full-time,” says Whittamore. “The rest of the year, these guys are working on car racing, Japanese Superbikes and our development programmes – they’re pulled in for periods to work on this. The chief designer, for example, is working on the electric motorcross bike. We only have 250 members of staff worldwide, so we can’t afford to dedicate them to this project only. It’s not quite an out-of-hours project, but it’s close.” None of the workers had relevant experience before, either. “Many of our staff have been here their whole working life – Nishida-san was Mugen’s first employee in 1973. We don’t just get new…

I LIKE THE winning, it’s just this crap I don’t like,” says Michael Dunlop pointing at the dictaphone of a journalist interviewing him for the Guardian. “I ride a motorbike to race. You write stories to sell newspapers. But the newspapers don’t sponsor me. I’m doing this for free when I could be working on my bikes. I don’t do much press now because I don’t like the bullshit.” It’s a frostiness that the motorcycle press have become all too familiar with over recent years as Dunlop became more and more reluctant to talk, to the point that now most don’t even bother to ask. He’s never impolite, it’s usually just a curt “no” before he turns away. TV, radio – he’s reluctant to do the lot, and what he…

2018 KTM RC 390 R CHRIS NEWBIGGING KTM DO RACING. Broadly speaking, they’re pretty bloody good at it, too: they’re the boss of most kinds of off-road competition. They turned up to Moto3 and won off the bat, and were right on the case in Moto2 as well. MotoGP has proven trickier, but they’re not disgracing themselves for a company with minimal big road race bike experience. So it’s unsurprising they’ve gone in with both feet to make their existing RC390 a winner in the World Supersport 300 championship it’s eligible for. While Kawasaki are making the best of their far-eastern-produced A2 licence sportsbikes for a few factory supported teams, KTM are making the expertise of their best racing minds available to anyone who can stump up some cash. By…

1 Teng Tools torque wrench “To be honest, this is about 75% of the quality of a Snap-on or Mac Tools item, but you get what you pay for and they are still a calibrated torque wrench that is considerably cheaper than a premium brand one. I’ve had this one for about eight years and it still works perfectly. I haven’t got it recalibrated, but as long as you don’t leave it under tension they seldom slip out of calibration.” 2 BMW cam timing tool “You can’t set up a BMW S1000RR engine without this tool, and it is brilliant. I bought it on eBay for about £80, which is half price. The BMW’s cams aren’t symmetrical, so the only way you can easily set them up is by locking…

THE CHASSIS DARREN WNUKOSKI MCT Suspension Darren lives and breaths suspension. He is one of the UK’s most respected experts in this field. If you want an ill-handling road bike transformed into a sweet chariot, Darren is your man. He also helped Dave Wood (right) to win races on his KTM... www.mctsuspension.co.uk THE ENGINE DAVE WOOD Dave Wood Racing Dave runs Dave Wood Racing and is mainly known for his KTM tuning work. However, his reputation as a dyno and ECU re-flash expert is growing rapidly and he knows a huge amount about how to discover – and unleash – any bike’s hidden power. davewoodracing.com THE BOLT-ONS GARRY MCKAY Former manager of Pure Triumph During his four years as manager of Pure Triumph in Woburn, Garry saw hundreds of Street…

WARM UP Percentage of final operating temperature after one lap Front: 30% Rear: 36% PRICE PER PAIR £244 www.fwr.co.uk VERDICT Both riders marked the Dunlops down for low rear grip, were split on mid-corner control, and both rated the Sportsmarts’ feel, turn-in and stability. OVERALL SCORE OUT OF 100…

‘The incident at Barregarrow probably wouldn’t have been so terrifying if Rutter’s steering damper was fully functional...’ ALEC TAGUE BATHAMS RACING BRITISH SUPERSTOCK/ROAD RACING THIS HAS BEEN the hardest TT I’ve ever worked, for a number of reasons. Me and the Bathams mechanics worked 12-hour days for the 20 days we were on the Isle of Man. We took three bikes – a full-blown Superbike, a Superstock bike, and one which was a hybrid of the two, which I built between the North West 200 and the TT. We had engines and swingarms in and out all the time, trying to find the right combination for Michael with what we had. And because the weather was so good this year, we were out every night of practice, prepping bikes afresh…

IF YOU’VE ever listened to someone harping on about how comfortable their Supertechs are you could be forgiven for wondering if they’re simply trying to justify being mugged for over £300 for a motorcycle boot. Let me assure you, they really are the most luxurious place to stick your feet and the protection isn’t too shabby either. Thanks, no doubt, to the way the protective, separate inner boot combines with the outer section that provides the majority of the stiffness and protection. The detailing on a pair of Supertechs is top-drawer. The zips are sturdy and easy to use, a tug on the inner boot drawstring allows a cosy fit and the nubuck construction on the inner side prevents marking your bike. Sure, it’s a bit of a ritual to…

‘There are a few things to improve, but for now I’m feeling liberated’ 2018 TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE RS AUSTIN SMITH IN 25 YEARS of riding I have never owned a naked bike, with the barely-relevant exception of an AR50. I’ve always been a sportsbike rider through and through, with a particular taste for 400s and 600s, a desire heavily influenced by trips to the TT in the mid-90s, and my childlike physique. I wanted Joey’s V4 Hondas, the V&M FZRs... But only Yamaha still sell a 600, and Kar Lee bagged PB’s test bike... These days, the other big sportsbikes category is the supernaked niche. I live on the edge of a town at the start of a great biking road, and the weekend soundtrack that used to be inline…

THERE’S A lot to be said for heading abroad to get your trackday kicks. More chance of sunshine, relaxed holiday-like atmosphere, and the social side of it really adds an extra dimension. The tracks have less noise restrictions, if any, and there isn’t the bunfight you get on a typical UK day when the klaxon sounds. Yes, there are downsides: Seemingly more expensive initial outlay, extras like car hire (this can be as low as €5 a day, though), flights and repatriation cover to consider. You’ll be without your bike for almost three weeks and you definitely don’t want to lob it on the first day or end up in a Spanish hospital for any length of time. Bear in mind there’ll be two trips to the transport depot, too,…

CHRIS NEWBIGGING EDITOR chris@pbmag.co.uk Complete head-to-toe coverage. Other beachgoers still in therapy AUSTIN SMITH ART EDITOR austin@pbmag.co.uk Chris doesn’t let me out of his basement for long enough to see the sun... MICHAEL RUTTER TRACK TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk Scarlet all over, Bathams logo on chest, thanks to Alec Tague’s stencilling skills MARK WHITE TECHNICIAN editorial@pbmag.co.uk Perfect butternut squash cross-section on lower abdomen JOHN McAVOY ROAD TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk White mankini silhouette left over from recent Magaluf weekender JEREMY McWILLIAMS COLUMNIST editorial@pbmag.co.uk Celtic blood doesn’t mix well with sun. I’m not allowed out without a brolly... JOHN BENNETT VLOGGER www.youtube.com/lambchoprides Third-degree burns to the body; vivid white outline of gimp mask on face KAR LEE FORUM EDITOR editorial@pbmag.co.uk Lengthy Cartagena pitlane snooze leads to scorched forehead CAROLINE BARRETT EDITORIAL ASSISTANT caz@pbmag.co.uk Polka dot…

‘SINCE 2017, THE NEW BLADE HAS TAKEN BSB WINS,ENDURANCE PODIUMS, AND IMPROVED IN WORLD SUPERBIKES’ HONDA RACING were once the undisputed kings of the Isle of Man TT. Powering to victories with names such as Joey Dunlop and John McGuinness, the full factory Honda effort was so often the team to beat around the 37.73-mile mountain course. However, it’s been three long years since a Honda rider last hoisted a glistening statue of Mercury aloft on the TT podium, after John McGuinness defied the odds to win the 2015 Senior TT. Riding an outdated bike in 2016, McGuinness and team-mate Connor Cummins couldn’t get near the likes of Michael Dunlop and Ian Hutchinson as they raised the bar with their 133mph laps. But, safe in the knowledge a new Fireblade…

CONFESSION: I’VE ALWAYS treated sidecars with indifference at best, and contempt at worst. The three-wheeled brigade are often seen as the bad lads of a club racing paddocks, as amateur outfits aren’t always prepared properly: one particular effort managed to spew a three-foot wide oil slick on the racing line over half of Brands Hatch Indy course at a meet I was racing in. The ‘repair’ then failed in the next session, covering the other half of the course in a seamless join. Impressive, in a bad way. That incident a decade back definitely coloured my judgement. But I’m a lot more liberal and open-minded these days, and when Avon Tyres invited us along on their pre-TT test at Castle Combe with TT winners/lap record holders, and current F1 world…

Buy new If possible, and if your budget allows, start with a brand new bike as you know exactly what its history is and everything will come apart nicely. It may cost more, but you can recoup some money by selling the road parts. Make your life easier Where possible, use the same size fasteners on everything so you can easily take the bike apart without needing a huge variety of spanners and sockets. On my bikes, a 4mm Allen key will remove all their bodywork. Don’t strip for the sake of stripping You don’t need to take a bike completely apart to race-prepare it. The engine has never been out of my BMW; it just doesn’t need to come out, so save yourself some time and effort where you…

2014 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R JOHN BENNETT BEFORE STARTING all the mods to the Duke I made a promise to myself – the bike had to remain practical. I had fallen foul of the modding bug before and completely ruined a perfectly practical Fireblade by turning it in to an uncomfortable daytime MoT garage ornament. So, with 90% of the Duke’s mods now complete, I considered how I could test if indeed she’s still practical... Road trip! I’ve wanted to do the Pyrenees for some time now. I’ve also heard amazing stories about the B500 in Germany. So with that in mind we boarded the Brittany Ferries Pont-Aven from Portsmouth to Santander and embarked on an 1800-mile, three-day thrash to put the bike and my backside through their paces.…

THIS IS THE priciest suit I’ve ever had, and I’ve had some good ones over the years. So I expected a great deal from the Full-Speed at twice the price of most I’ve tested on the road, on track and on my arse... So far, I’ve escaped any unintentional abrasion tests of the kangaroo hide constuction: despite the choice of lighter animal (compared to cowhide), it’s still a weighty piece of gear, so it’s reassuring in that respect. The stitching has held up everywhere – the structural parts are all hidden away as you’d want, and the external trimming has all held up properly, too: the road tester routine of lots of use, cramming it kit bags, vans and more can accelerate wear in these areas, especially where stretch panels…

HOW LONG TWO YEARS COST £10 CONTACT WWW.DRAPERTOOLS.COM This is the most used tool in the PB trackday kit, and Chris has one of his own at home, too. For a tenner, it’s cock-on: accurate, reliable and robust. It has an air bleed button whick makes setting pressures easy: whack a load of air in and let it down, controlling the pressure accurately, rather than pressing the valve in, re-checking and then discovering that you’ve let too much out... The small, white-faced dial is clear and easy to read in either psi or bar, depending on your unitary preference. The only issue we’ve had is the brass fitting holding the hose to the gauge working loose, which allows air to bleed out, or for the hose to come off: luckily…

CORROSION Mid-1990s Yamaha build quality sucks. An XJR shown salt and not enough wash sponges will look crap. But plenty are cherished, so there’s no need to sign up for hours of reviving crusty cooling fins. MODELS The difference between a regular XJR and an SP is minimal – the crummiest set of Öhlins shocks and speedblock paint. Keep standard bikes in mind: ’07-on are injected, have a 4-1 exhaust and ride similarly. WEBIKE Want a trick XJR1300? Trawl japan.webike.net for Japanese performance gear, and you can easily replace everything bar the frame and engine cases. Light swingarms, Öhlins suspension, titanium exhausts, the list goes on. As will your credit card statement... WHAT TO PAY MINT: £4000 ROUGH: £1000 BEST MODIFICATION Suspension. The XJR’s unadjustable, mushy original parts need binning…

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A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE events led to Michael Rutter’s ride on the Shinden Nana: first, Bruce Anstey withdrew from the TT to battle his cancer. Get well soon, fast man. Then Mugen’s multiple TT Zero-winning John McGuinness suffered an injury setback. Suddenly, the three-rider team was down to just Lee Johnston. There are plenty of fast riders on the petrol-powered grids who could race it, but our boy Rutter got the call-up. A near-on 132mph best lap is an obvious credential, as well as more than 20 years of TT experience and knowledge. But prior to Mugen’s domination, you might recall Dudley’s finest road racer winning three TT Zeros on the bounce from 2011-2013, on Mark Czysz’s outlandish Motoczysz machine, beating Mugen’s first entry with McPint and taking the first…

1: Precisely shaped for Tom Birchall to curl up in for an hour, with occasional lunges left or right at the few landmarks he can see... 2: Dinky AP caliper is operated by a Hope mountain bike master cylinder to satisfy the rule for a seperate brake circuit. "It wouldn't help anyway, so we fitted the lightest thing the scrutineers are happy with," says Ben 3: Right foot gearshift. Could sidecars be any more weird? 4: TT regs force the use of compromised leading link forks (a bit like a C90). The world champs bike is an F1-inspired hub-centre arm 5: Building their own airbox gives better power, handling and aerodynamics. Clever buggers…

The test Both riders were once again kept in the dark about which tyre they were riding. Johnny would go first, complete an out lap and return to the pits for us to monitor temperature and pressure increase during warm-up, then complete five laps at fast group pace. He then handed over to Ben for another five laps. This replicates roughly the total time of a typical trackday session, with Johnny recording the warm-up rate and Ben noting the drop off-in grip (if any). Our notes on changes in temperature and pressure indicate the tyres’ ability to warm up. Cold tyre pressures were set to 31psi front, and 27psi rear, which is a safe, middle of the road pressure you would use for track riding. Final pressures were taken at…

WARM UP Percentage of final operating temperature after one lap Front: 33% Rear: 40% PRICE PER PAIR £258 www.fwr.co.uk VERDICT A thoroughly decent set of tyres, only really marked down for lack of rear grip under braking. They gave curiously decent rear grip under acceleration. OVERALL SCORE OUT OF 100…

2005 YAMAHA YZF-R1 CARL NEWBIGGING THERE’S LOTS TO like about pre-digital sportsbikes like my R1 – the grunt, the connection a proper throttle cable gives, not to mention me being actually being able to afford it... But there are a few things from modern bikes that I covet. Last month it was a quickshifter, satisfied by a Cordona unit. This month, a quick go on Chris’s Super Duke got me thinking about the rest of the transmission, specifically the clutch. The stock slipper on the KTM is noticeable on that big twin when you kick it back a few, gently easing the connection between wheel and engine. The R1 doesn’t lock and snake, but if you’re a bit sharp on the down-changes it does judder and skip. In typical Yamaha…

HOW LONG FIVE YEARS COST £149.99 CONTACT WWW.FORCEFIELDBODYARMOUR.COM I should point out that this particular vest isn’t five years old: but it’s the latest version of the one I’ve had for five years, trusting for off-road use, mountain biking, flat-track days and moped racing. I’ve crashed the shit out of the old one, especially on my downhill bike, getting friendly with trees, roots and rocks: somehow getting away with get-offs where I was waiting for a burning pain erupting from a limb... This latest version mostly improves on fit and comfort: a little less sweaty, though surrounding your torso in rubbery armour inevitably gets a bit warm, it does an acceptable job of managing heat and perspiration. It softens a little once warm and is forget-it’s-there comfy, and this new…

2017 SUZUKI GSX-R1000R JOHN BENNETT THE QUESTION went something like this: “John, as Austin has a new Speed Triple, the GSX-R doesn’t have an owner. Do you fancy looking after it until December?” Looking back, I’m not sure how long I took to respond. Perhaps there was a period of stunned silence while I retrieved my jaw from the floor; I really can’t remember. What I do remember, however, is fist-bumping the air when Chris hung up, like I’d become an over-excited teenager, before running to tell the wife her pushbike was being evicted from the garage to make room for a gorgeous blue Suzuki. There are moments in your life you just don’t forget, and a man’s first long-term test bike has to be up there with the birth…

‘I’m astonished at the pace of the R6, the flexibility of the motor and chassis’ 2017 YAMAHA YZF-R6 KAR LEE JUNE HAS BEEN predictable the last seven years: Load up the GSX-R1000 or V4 Tuono on an artic, fly down to the Med and enjoy three or four days occasionally bothering apexes at a Spanish circuit. Get sunburn on the back of my neck and go home with frazzled sliders, tyres and brain. Except this year the weapon of choice is different. It’s a revvy R6 that’s waiting for me around the back of the dawn sun-kissed Cartagena pit garages one summer’s morning. That hour of anticipation unloading the stillage and filling out the garage with bikes and kit is deliciously the same, though. Walking out to pitlane to be…