Table of contents for Issue 332 in Motorcycle Trader

BMW wouldn’t ruin its reputation by branding an inferior product,” Spannerman wrote of the BMW G 310 R last year. As Kaz reported in the same issue (MT #324), the affordable, small-capacity naked bike built in India by TVS marked a new chapter in the German giant’s history. Sound like Harley-Davidson’s Street 500? As the subcontinent’s third-largest motorcycle manufacturer, TVS has a production capacity of around 2.5 million bikes a year. That’s 6000 bikes an hour or 100 a minute! But build quality has been an issue, with the G 310 R’s debut delayed due to quality concerns. An unspecified number of suspect bikes went to Germany for analysis and crushing. That drastic move turned out to be the right one, with Kaz describing the resultant G 310 R as…

SPANNER: I can’t work it out exactly but I reckon we’ve done around 4500km in the past fortnight. What I really can’t believe is that you did it all on Ruby. ROOTHY: Yep, 1200km round trip to the University of New England Motorcycle Club reunion in Bendemeer, two-up with Karen and a couple of hundred on a day ride, then 3400 on the way to CHUMPS in Delegate and back thanks to Bill McKinnon, who’ll take any back road to avoid a motorway. It was a big fortnight for the old girl. Err, that’s Ruby, not Kaz... SPANNER: I had a listen to Ruby while you were warming her up and it’s one of the quietest H-D engines I’ve ever heard. What did you rebuild it with? Kryptonite? ROOTHY: Haha,…

Wander into Mid Life Cycles in Cremorne, inner Melbourne, and there’s no question someone has put a lot of thought into the design and feel of the place. Sure, it’s a retail outlet, but with the touch of a designer who has set out to ensure there are plenty of little nooks and ‘Easter eggs’ to discover as you wander around the place. It feels like a pretty good place to settle down with a coffee. Owner and ringmaster Michael Catchpole is, depending on the day, a little ambivalent about the relatively quick expansion: “I do sometimes wonder why I turned a hobby into a business. It’s been quite a steep learning trajectory for me, and a growth curve. We started out in about 2008-2009 –just a mate [Mike Darling]…

It’s easy to laugh at scooters, but live with one for a while and you’ll soon realise you’re having the last laugh. Of all the exotic machines that come and go here at MT HQ, it’s the little Suzuki Address 110 that everybody (except Sean) goes for. Why? Because it’s practical. Here are five reasons you should consider becoming a 110%er. 1). Check out the odometer It lives at work, it’s done more than 3600km in less than two years and most of those trips have been less than 15km. 2). Check out the width I’ve split – and laughed – through the tightest of gaps that would make even a kamikaze motorcycle courier on a motard feel like he’s riding a Goldwing. It’s actually easier to ride it through…

1951 VINCENT 998CC SOLD: $US929,000 ($1,170,725) The Black Lightning was a special production racer that came ready for action – stripped and lightened. The bike sported a tachometer, magnesium alloy brake backing plates, racing tyres on alloy rims, rearsets, a solo seat and aluminium mudguards. This Spartan approach cut 36kg from the Black Shadow’s 208kg dry weight. These special racing bikes were expensive and only 33 or so were built. This lot has many Australian connections. A talented young engineer by the name of Phil Irving left Melbourne in the early 1930s and landed in the UK. He worked for Velocette and AJS before joining Vincent HRD and while there designed the bike’s OHV 998cc 50-degree V-twin. Of the Lightning’s limited production run, six complete bikes and one engine were…

Suzuki has answered dealer pleas for a full-powered SV650, with the release of its café racer-inspired SV650X Rally from $9490 (plus on-road costs) and an upgraded version of the standard SV650 from $8990. If you think that’s a reasonable price, you’re right. The standard bike’s price is the same as the original SV650 when it was launched 18 years ago. The Rally is the same price as the SV650 in 2009, before it was replaced with the less-popular Gladius SFV650. Why so low? Simple. Suzuki is expecting the SV650s to sell in high volumes, with projections that the full-powered versions will account for up to 85 per cent of sales, leaving precious little volume for the LAMS-compliant ones. “When we relaunched the SV in 2016, we only had it as…

Harley-Davidson has raised the bar with two new high’bar sportsters. Available from April, the Iron 1200 (right) and Forty-Eight Special (left) will have rideaway prices of $16,495 and $18,995 respectively, and will feature H-D’s 1202cc Evolution V-twin. That means the Iron nameplate will now be available with 36 per cent more torque, at 96Nm, than the current Iron 883 engine. The Forty-Eight Special, meanwhile, takes Sportster styling to the next level, with a 7.5-inch handlebar, 130mm front tyre and a 49mm fork in an aluminium triple clamp. Both are fitted with Harey-Davidson’s Smart Security System and ABS. See full review in a future edition of MT.…

“It glides in way that makes you think you’re on a Sportster, not a Softail” The Sport Glide could be the best all-rounder in Harley-Davidson’s new Softail line-up. But if you don’t ride it, there’s a good chance you’ll shrug your shoulders and walk away. It’s unfortunate, but because H-D’s new Softails are so sensational, the Sport Glide could be easily mistaken for boring. It’s moderately priced for a Harley, from $27,750 (rideaway), its ride position is almost gentlemanly and there’s no raked-out front, bad-boy fat rear or ligament-loathing apehangers. Instead, you get modest plastic panniers and a small Batwing fairing that can be detached when you want half a per cent more street cred. But don’t be put off: as Denzel Washington says in American Gangster, “The loudest one…

It’s difficult to imagine now, but when Triumph announced it was re-entering the market in 1990 with a new range of motorcycles, to be shown at the Cologne Show towards the end of that year, a lot of people muttered “not again”. I was one of them. Triumph’s name, though much loved and with a huge history, was deeply tarnished. People remembered the reliability issues, which became worse in the old Meriden factory’s dying days, and shuddered. First, parent company NVT (Norton Villiers Triumph) went belly up in 1977. Then, in 1983, the workers’ co-operative – which battled on despite what seemed to involve remarkably little co-operation – fell over as well. Businessman John Bloor bought the rights to the Triumph name and leased it to Les Harris of Racing…

Here’s the problem with project bikes: what seemed like a bloody fantastic idea some months ago tends to grow hair on its palms, big teeth and a bad attitude when you get around to actually tackling the work. You may recall I had this fantastic idea for which I can entirely blame Brian Browne at TT Motorcycles. He started it. The rot set in when he advertised a 1995 (the final-gen) Honda VFR750 on Faceplant for a mere $1100. Okay, it was far from perfect – Brian warned that pretty much every body panel needed repair. But he reckoned it was a runner and, really, at that price it was difficult to see how I could go wrong. The half-formed plan in my head was to turn it into something…

Royal Enfield has launched a surprise attack on Australia’s small cruiser market, with its Rumbler 350 priced from just $5790 (plus on-road costs). The Indian-made Rumbler, known as the Thunderbird abroad, is an unexpected addition to its 350 line-up in that it’s a pint-sized American-style cruiser designed for long-distance fun. Curious? Think a 20-litre fuel tank with an estimated range of about 400km, a carburetted 350cc single, ergonomic swept-back cruiser ’bars, mid-mount ’pegs, a short wheelbase, a wet weight of about 186kg, a low seat, and a sissy bar. Who wants one? Fun-loving young riders, according to Royal Enfield. “It’s all about motivating people outside of this closed pool [of motorcycle buyers] that we have and getting them on two wheels,” distributor Urban Moto Imports marketing manager Josh Pilley says.…

The Kawasaki Z900RS Café has finally landed and is available from $16,799 (plus on-road costs). Kawasaki says the Vintage Lime Green 948cc naked, inspired by the original Z1, differs from the standard Candytone Brown/Candytone Orange Z900RS ($16,499 plus ORC), with features such as a bikini fairing, dropped ’bars, a café seat, and a satin finish on the frame and exhaust. However, it has the same 948cc inline four producing 82kW (110hp) at 8500rpm and 99Nm at 6500rpm; LED lights; spoke-style cast wheels; LCD instrumentation; traction control; and a slip-assist clutch. See full review in a future edition of MT.…

I’m gobsmacked at how sweet the Grey Flash was to ride. I was sceptical of the Girdraulic front-end but, surprisingly, the bike’s steering was actually one of its strongest points. With both engine and suspension heavily influenced by the late, great Australian Phil Irving, the Vincent Grey Flash is a bike that’s quite special to me. After retirement, Phil moved to Warrandyte, the same town I call home. Although I never got to meet him, friends and family have told me stories about the engineering legend since I was a lad. With no official records, the number of Grey Flash models built is a contentious issue. Conflicting reports from Vincent aficionados say it was between 24 and 31. Either way, an original is rare and their prices reflect that, with…

Fast, fun, affordable and convenient. Supermoto could just be the perfect two-wheeled drug. What other form of motorcycling covers those bases so comprehensively? Road racing? Nup. Trail riding? Only if you live in the bush. Trials scores three out of four, but it misses the ‘fast’. Known as motards or supermotards (and mini-motards), and the sport as supermoto, these ultra-light, ultraflickable dirt bikes fitted with road-going 17-inch wheels and tyres seem to naturally attract the hooligans and certified nut jobs among us. Guido describes the frenetic, frankenstein bikes (and their riders) as being as “stable as a rat on acid”, but there must be more to it than that. Professional hooligan and stunt rider ‘Lukey Luke’ Follaccio says supermoto is a great motorcycling discipline to get into for many reasons.…

A war like never before has broken in Europe and it’s heading our way. Motorcycling has seen many great battles between the American makes, the Brits, the Japanese and Europeans in just about every segment, but not quite like this. This war isn’t just about power, performance, sales dominance or even motorcycling purity and enjoyment. It’s all that, of course, but the difference is it’s happening at ground-zero: the burgeoning 125cc class. Big deal, right? Yes, they’re 125s, but we’re talking about entry-level bikes that ride and feel like real motorcycles, not cheap toys or basic commuters for South-East Asia. The fledgling segment is fiercely competitive across Europe thanks to a graduated licensing scheme, which sees riders under the age of 19 capped at 125cc and 11kW. Known as the…

The four-cylinder MV Agusta reigned supreme in 500cc grand prix racing from 1955 until 1965. This was a golden era for MV, with its 500cc four winning the world championship eight times, in the hands of John Surtees, Mike Hailwood and Gary Hocking. Hailwood moved to Honda in 1966 and MV’s racing four was pensioned off in favour of a new triple. But the racing four lived on in the production 600. With double-overhead camshafts driven by straight-cut gears from a roller bearing crankshaft, it was the most sophisticated motorcycle engine in production. And unlike other four-cylinder motorcycle engines that hung the alternator and ignition from the end of the crankshaft, the widest part of the racing MV design was the air-cooled cylinders. “It was not only the most expensive…

On to a much simpler task – losing the pitting off the front of the recently acquired 1984 Kawasaki GPz900R. You may recall I bought this thing in Alice Springs and rode it back to Melbourne – a great trip. The only catch was I ended up with a lot of gravel rash on the leading edges of the lower fairing, particularly the middle, grey section. It was lucky that most of the damage was confined to one panel. I wouldn’t worry too much about a few chips, but this looked like I’d ridden it through a rock shower, plus there were signs of paint lifting. Of course, repairs have been made over time, which complicates anything you tackle further down the road, like a respray. I looked at sourcing…