Cycle Worldの June 2015 の目次

→ Modern motorcycle electronics change everything. They make the timid rider conf dent. And the slowish rider kind of fast. What’s more, they increase safety so much that you can dial in your lines on an unfamiliar track in a hurry. I’ve been to the Circuit of The Americas near Austin, Texas, twice. First, it was to ride the Ducati 1199 Panigale R at the bike’s press launch. Most recently, I got to lap the amazing 20-turn COTA circuit on the 2015 BMW S1000RR. With the COTA layout burned into my gray matter, I couldn’t turn down this chance to ref ne my lines there on the S1000RR. It’s a dream opportunity that would give me the chance to see if BMW’s sophisticated electronics would aid my conf dence and…

How does one prepare for a full-throttle ride aboard a 326-hp sportbike? You first blow the cobwebs off aboard a 210-hp example of the same basic machine! I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the thinking behind Kawasaki’s supercharged Ninja H2 and H2R dynamic duo, but I certainly appreciated the three 20-minute track sessions on the street-legal H2 before slipping into the saddle of the most powerful production motorcycle on the planet. Kawasaki has a proud performance heritage and is not one to shy from pushing boundaries. For many seasoned enthusiasts, Team Green’s legacy began with the H1 Mach III and H2 two-stroke triples of the 1970s, a pair of no-holdsbarred rides in their own time, and the bikes these new machines honor in name. While there have been challengers throughout the…

HARD TO BELIEVE THE BUILDER OF A $10,000 DUAL-SPORT BIKE and high-end adventure machines is also responsible for the $4,999 naked bike you see here. But KTM is able to translate its Ready to Race slogan into fun (and fast) streetbikes even at the entry level. There isn’t much to give away the little Duke’s low price or Indian manufacture either. The inverted WP fork and single shock deliver good ride quality and keep the chassis well under control, even at trackdays. Pirelli Diablo Rosso II tires help in all respects. Sure, the steering head nut’s sort of shiny/scratchy polished finish is indicative of lots of India-sourced parts I’ve seen before, but the frame welds and very cool aluminum swingarm look great and are nicely finished. Paint and graphics are…

TO ME, THIS SERIES OF Ducati sportbikes (to include the Superlight and SP versions) is among the best looking of postbevel-drive Ducatis, surpassed, perhaps, only by the 996 series. The latter, of course, are wickedly beautiful but pretty uncomfortable for anything but a trackday. The 900SS, on the other hand, has a riding position that’s more sporttouring than sportbike, with higher bars and reasonable leg room. I’ve owned two of these bikes, a white-framed ’91 and a 1996 SP, both with full fairings (my aesthetic favorite), and I took them on long road trips without a moment of regret. Okay, there were a few moments. The rear suspension is pretty stiff and can beat you up on a rough road, but otherwise the travel experience is serene and relaxed—especially with…

YOU COULD PICK ANY BIKE among the long line of VFRs, from the 1990 750 version onward, and hardly go wrong, but I chose the 1998–2001 fuel-injected iteration of this classic Honda V-4 because (1) I owned one, (2) I just happen to like the styling, and (3) I wasn’t quite as enamored of the nonlinear power delivery on the later VTEC engine. Regardless, these bikes have won so many Best Bike accolades and other awards that they hardly need any introduction. Why so? Well, hardly anything on earth feels as precise, complete, comfortable, and competent as a VFR. It has a level of refinement that makes you wonder if it was made by a manufacturer of micrometers or fine dental instruments (but without the implied threat of novocaine shots…

I have been around the sport of flat tracking my whole life, and I never remember seeing as much hype around the release of a new motorcycle as there was when Yamaha released its new FZ-07 twin Stateside this past June. When I turned professional in 2008, almost every single rider who qualified for AMA Pro Flat Track main events was Harley-Davidson mounted. At the time, it was an amazing accomplishment for any other bike besides an XR750 to qualify for a main event. The tables have since turned. At the season opening AMA All-Star race in Savannah, Georgia, on March 6, only five American twins were present in the 18-rider main event, which was won by a Kawasaki. Kawasaki’s Ninja 650R motor has pushed its way to the front…

HONDA CBR300R vs. KAWASAKI NINJA 300 vs. KTM RC390 vs. YAMAHA YZF-R3 Back in the early 1980s, I had sights on purchasing my first streetbike. Sport motorcycles were most interesting to me, but the smallerdisplacement machines offered back then just weren’t technically or visually inspiring. Ultimately, I put common sense aside and an entire life savings down on a spanking-new $3,500 Honda V45 Interceptor. And, as so often is the case in such situations, it didn’t end well! That Interceptor’s purchase price would amount to a mere down payment for an equivalent modern sportbike, but today’s selection of enticing entry-level sport offerings for novice or advanced riders on a budget has never been so rich. We’re even more fortunate that “mission creep” has set in, boosting the displacement of bikes…

AT THE END OF THE 2014 MOTOGP season, I had the chance to sample a trio of KTMs that included the RC250R Production Racer and the Red Bull RC250RBR Rookies Cup machine. But the clear highlights for me were the two five-lap sessions I had aboard the KTM RC250GP Moto3 bike that young Australian Jack Miller had just ridden to victory on the very same Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain. The first thing I notice is the bike’s much firmer chassis settings. The RC250GP is equipped with a 40mm WP fork and dual twin-piston Brembo calipers. Braking stability is improved, but I do feel a hint of patter in corners. The GP gets lightweight magnesium wheels in place of forged aluminum hoops. The top triple clamp is also magnesium…

YES, THIS IS A STREETlegal dirt bike with a headlight, so it’s probably only of interest to riders who run enduros or—in my much less frenetic case— occasionally do some cowtrailing in the hinterlands. And cow-trailing was, literally, what I used my last one for. My friend Randy Babcock used to host trail rides for his buddies on his ranch in South Dakota, along the Cheyenne River. The place had sweeping pastures, real Western buttes, and challengingly steep hills (cliffs, almost) running down to the river, and nothing worked better for me in this varied terrain than my 525. It was light and nimble in the tight spots and yet had bigbore, rock-flinging torque on some of our seemingly endless near-vertical climbs out of the valley floor. Friends warned me…

Luddites beware, the 2015 Multistrada 1200 and, in particular, the 1200 S are as technologically advanced as a motorcycle can be. You will rejoice in what the new Multistrada offers only if you are willing to trust the mechanical technology at work, and all the sensors, computers, and a nearly fictional point in the sky (for the S version). The biggest news for the Multistrada is the Testastretta engine with Desmodromic Variable Timing, providing what may be the smoothest power delivery yet known to motorcycling. No surges, no leaps, no glitches, no steep change in the power curve as revs build; just smooooth power when you want it regardless of throttle position or twisting. DVT provides more power throughout the 1,198cc engine’s rev range and 10 more horsepower at peak,…

I’ve owned and raced several Suzuki GSX-R models over the years (dating back to the original 750 introduced to the US in 1986), so I know all about the proper track-attack riding posture. But the older I get, the more I’ve come to appreciate sporting practicality where it exists. And with the new 2015 Suzuki GSX-S750, the added practicality extends beyond sit-up ergonomics and into the state of tune of this liquid-cooled 749cc inline-four. Suzuki is quick to point out that the GSX-S engine is not a de-tuned GSX-R. Although it’s based on 2005 GSX-R750 engine architecture, the GSX-S powerplant employs unique valve timing and lift, plus reshaped intake and exhaust ports. This, along with eight-hole finemist fuel injectors set at a different angle in the dual-valve throttle bodies, results…

SPAWNED FROM BIG RED’S FAMILY OF 500S THAT ALSO INCLUDES the sportier CBR500R and crossover CB500X, the CB500F is the sleeper of the lot. In black, it’s almost so plain that you might miss it altogether if you walked past it parked on the street. Although it might not tug at our heartstrings, the CB works quite well. During commutes, the good torque of the 471cc parallel twin provides easy low-rev getaways and decent roll-on performance. The F is no rocket ship, but its engine, which is ideal in the urban theater, has enough performance to keep you entertained on a twisty weekend ride. Clutch pull is light, but the shifts are a bit notchy. The transmission even jumped out of gear under hard acceleration a few times. Chassis performance…

WHEN MY FELLOW CLUB MEMBER GREG ORR BROKE a second main shaft in the gearbox of his Norton 850 Commando, he bought a beautiful slate-gray BMW R1150RT. He plans to repair the Norton sometime but hasn’t quite gotten around to it. As a former RT owner myself, I can understand his procrastination. The RT is a great all-rounder. If you live in a northerly climate, an RT with heated grips and that excellent fairing can extend your riding season by about two months. And it can do so while providing one of the most flickable and stable platforms you can hustle down a winding road, twoup or solo. The wide bars give you nice leverage to tilt the horizon, and the electrically adjustable windshield provides either plenty of cooling airflow…

Fancy yourself a proper motorbike rider? Good on ya, mate. That’s why your trackday screamer has electronic suspension dialed in by Flamenco B. Crouch. Carbon bodywork. A quickshifter. Traction control, wheelie control, and 10 power modes. Tire warmers. And datalogging that streams to Facebook via smartphone from Brass Balls Raceway. Well, this New Zealand-built 1962 Norton Manx replica can’t boast any of that. It has one archaic air-cooled cylinder. Granddad’s drum brakes instead of six-piston monoblocks. A handmade steel frame and something called a Roadholder fork. Replacing multifunction instrumentation is a mechan ical rev counter. And oh, there are only two wires: one in the magneto and another for the spark plug. Silly old thing. However, this motorcycle is more than appearances suggest, and given the chance, it might just…

Disclaimer. In harsh reality, any 20-year-old ZX-6R will surpass most of the Manx’s dynamic capabilities. But that isn’t really the point. The point is that in 1950, when Irishman Rex McCandless designed the works Manx’s Featherbed frame, copied faithfully here, he bloody well got it right. The point is that this IoM winner is arguably the highest expression of the quintessential English racebike, as well as a fully functional objet d’art. And the point is that even compared to today’s products, it is really exciting to ride. You can’t buy Anstey’s winning bike, but McIntosh can build an exact copy that he calls the “Schwantz Spec” Manx. The cost is about $66,000 give or take. Take one ride and I can absolutely promise you, as Eric Burdon once sang, “It…