Table of contents for October 2018 in Performance Bikes

Power 128.73bhp @ 8500rpm Torque 84.37lb.ft @ 6750rpmm Weight 217.2kg (measured) Price £17,900 THE DETAIL ENGINE Type Liquid-cooled, dohc, 8v 87° V-twin Capacity 1187cc Bore x stroke 107mm x 66mm Fuelling Electronic fuel injection Power 128.73bhp @ 8500rpm (measured) Torque 84.37lb.ft @ 6750rpm (measured) CHASSIS Frame Steel trellis Front suspension Mupo 46mm forks, preload, compression and rebound damping adjustment Rear suspension Mupo monoshock, preload, compression and rebound damping adjustment Front brakes 2 x 320mm discs, Brembo radial four-piston calipers Rear brakes 220mm disc, twin-piston Nissin caliper DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1450mm Rake/trail 24.8°/103mm Weight 217.2kg (wet, measured) Seat height 860mm Fuel capacity 17 litres TECHNOLOGY Rider aids ABS, quickshifter (optional) BUYING Price £17,900 Contact www.motomorini.eu…

ENGINE Type Liquid-cooled, 16v, dohc, V4 Capacity 999cc Bore x stroke 81.0mm x 48.5mm Fuelling Electronic fuel injection, 48mm throttle bodies Claimed power 157bhp @ 11,000rpm (212bhp @ 13,000rpm with Sports Kit) Claimed torque 75.2lb.ft @ 10,500rpm (87lb.ft @ 10,500rpm with Sports Kit) CHASSIS Frame Aluminum diamond Front suspension Fully-adjustable 43mm gas-charged Öhlins TTX25 forks Rear suspension Fully-adjustable Öhlins TTX36 shock Front brakes 2 x 320mm discs with four-piston radial Brembo calipers Rear brakes 220mm disc with twin-piston caliper DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1465mm Rake/trail 24°/105mm Weight 188kg (wet, measured) Seat height 830mm Fuel capacity 16.3 litres TECHNOLOGY Traction control, wheelie control, quickshifter, nine-stage power control, engine braking control, datalogger…

Power 143bhp @ 10,150rpm Torque 83.67lb.ft @ 7400rpm Weight 212.8kg (measured) Price £11,350 THE DETAIL ENGINE Type Liquid-cooled, dohc, 12v inline triple Capacity 1050cc Bore x stroke 79mm x 41mm Fuelling Electronic fuel injection Power 143bhp @ 10,150rpm (measured) Torque 83.67lb.ft @ 7400rpm (measured) CHASSIS Frame Tubular alloy twin-spar Front suspension Showa 43mm forks, preload, compression and rebound damping adjustment Rear suspension Showa monoshock, preload, compression and rebound damping adjustment Front brakes 2 x 320mm discs, Brembo M4 radial four-piston calipers Rear brakes 225mm disc, twin-piston Nissin caliper DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1445mm Rake/trail 22.9°/91.3mm Weight 212.8kg (wet, measured) Seat height 825mm Fuel capacity 15.5 litres TECHNOLOGY Rider aids Four ride modes, ABS, traction control, cruise control BUYING Price £11,350 Contact www.triumphmotorcycles.co.uk…

RICK’S PEARLS OF NC30 WISDOM 1 NC30 OR NC35? NC35s are worth more money as they are rarer, but the NC30 makes more power and parts are more readily available. Personally I’d go for an NC30 as they are a purer bike, where the NC35 has some pointless styling additions. 2 WHAT’S THE PLAN? If you are a decent mechanic you can easily restore a dog of an NC30, but if you aren’t confident, buy a good one and save yourself the time and effort. NCs aren’t hard to work on and restoring one is very satisfying. 3 WATCH OUT FOR… Original fairings are hard to locate and the charging system is weak, so check the reg/rec and alternator (there is a quick check I email people). Inspect the front…

2008 HONDA FIREBLADE CHRIS NEWBIGGING SPARKS WERE THE last part of the equation missing with the Fireblade: we’d made it roll, stop and support bodywork, but we handed the wiring duties over to the talented John Ewles at Track Electronics last month to trim and modify the loom – partly to lose a few redundant items and connections, partly to suit new or relocated components. It’s very similar to the sort of work he does for race looms, but with a few twists and more aggro because the lighting circuits are still present. The manipulation of the wires and connectors went hand-in-hand with the reflash work on the ECU – John’s favoured Woolich ECU programming software lets you turn off the most of the redundant stuff and eliminate it from…

ALEC TAGUE BATHAMS RACING BRITISH SUPERSTOCK/ROAD RACING MICHAEL DECIDED he wanted to race at Thruxton at fairly late notice after taking some time out to attend to family matters. Which was great, except we needed to build him a bike. Taylor Mackenzie has been riding the team’s only dedicated Superstock bike – the rest of our bikes have morphed from roads Superbike, to BSB Superbike and Superstock over the years as needed. The beauty of the BMW is we use the standard frame, wiring and electronics most of the time – we bolt different engines and chassis parts in as required, which is relatively easy. The basis is so good we don’t change as much as you’d expect across the specifications. So to get Michael out in British Superstock, a…

EXHAUST SYSTEMS There are plenty to choose from, but consider this: full systems can rob the R1 of midrange, and simply fitting a slip-on will allow you to retain the EXUP valve. Originality sells... SUSPENSION Freshen up the springy bits, as well as adding ride height adjustment, with a Nitron NTR3 rear shock (which also adds high and low-speed comp). Or a company like MCT can re-valve and re-spring the original for a fraction of the cost of a new shock. WEIGHT-SHEDDING WHEELS Yes, they’ll cost in the region of £1600, but saving several kilos of unsprung weight with the fitment of forged alloy – of carbon – wheels is the way to go. If you’ve the cash. WHAT TO PAY MINT: £4200 ROUGH: £1500 BEST MODIFICATION Not a modification…

CHRIS NEWBIGGING EDITOR chris@pbmag.co.uk Cash-in-hand electrician, arms dealer to war-torn former Yugoslavia MICHAEL RUTTER TRACK TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk Refurbishing second-hand mountain bikes snapped up on Gumtree MARK WHITE TECHNICIAN editorial@pbmag.co.uk I was just testing my dremel on the cubicle wall. You can’t prove anything JOHN McAVOY ROAD TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk Johnny ‘Massive Hands’ McMack, Rutland’s favourite kids’ party clown AUSTIN SMITH CONTRIBUTOR austin@pbmag.co.uk Webcam shows, hourly from 10pm... JEREMY McWILLIAMS COLUMNIST editorial@pbmag.co.uk Selling strands of Scarlett Johansson’s hair on eBay JOHN BENNETT VLOGGER www.youtube.com/lambchoprides Part-time BDSM dungeon interior design consultant KAR LEE FORUM EDITOR editorial@pbmag.co.uk Part-worn tyre dealer CAROLINE BARRETT EDITORIAL ASSISTANT caz@pbmag.co.uk Chief turkey drumstick quality control for Bernard Matthews THANKS TO: O’Shea Jackson, Brad Woodroffe, Tracy Lauren Marrow, Senen Reyes, Calvin Cordozar Boradus Jr, and Austin Smith for all the…

PB received a distressing appeal from the young ladies and gentleman forced, at gunpoint, to market MCN’s reborn ‘Ally Pally Show and Supersprint.’ The young mites are working in the most desperate conditions, forced to collaborate with the paper’s staff under threat of violence and persecution should their attractions fail to bring in enough visitor cash to satisfy motorcycling publishing’s heartless fat-cats. “Please can you help us draw visitors to the show?” said one. “The editor said he’d feed me his unused kneesliders if the crowd isn’t 10-deep.” “I’ll to be dragged behind a Harley by Matt Wildee, while he talks about his R1 on a four-minute loop if every bike at the Bonhams auction doesn’t meet reserve,” cried another. Harrowing stuff. To end this senseless cruelty to marketing juniors,…

Moon on a selfie stick A thought occurred to me when watching BSB at Brands earlier this year. I was watching the live timing on my phone, for a more interactive experience, and started thinking how this could be expanded. Imagine if we could bring up the onboard view from the racing live. Or if we could choose the rider who was maybe catching the leaders. There must be loads of other areas that could help immerse you in the action and draw people in. Gavin Hogg A little help? I’m 47, have been riding sportsbikes since I was 14, and been an avid reader all this time. But I’ve recently had to sell my beloved R1 5VY. I am waiting on a double transplant of a kidney and pancreas…

WHAT CAN YOU (or can’t you) say if you’re contracted to a factory team? We’ve all been known to go off on one when things aren’t going our way, but Scott Redding had a go at his team after the Austrian MotoGP for what he felt was a lack of performance from his factory Aprilia. He hinted that something on the bike had changed as tyre wear had become excessive from Sachsenring and Brno, and that every weekend there is another problem. He reckoned the team messed up on suspension settings so he wasn’t able to stop the bike, and not being able to make the soft tyre work when it counted in qualifying had him totally confused. Rather than keep this to himself, and try to work through the…

I’M A HUGE fan of the R1M. I love it to bits, I really do. It’s only a shame that it’s here with the Panigale V4 S, otherwise, the odds are I would always go for the Yamaha. The R1M is the epitome of cool and quality. It’s properly trick, and finished off with a long list of neat touches. Then there is the crossplane engine. It’s taken a while, but I’ve eventually got my head round it and really appreciate it. However, the Panigale V4 scares the shit out of me, and whatever about the technology, innovation, image, lap times or dyno curves, that’s the thing that matters most to me. I will never be good enough for that bike. It is amazing, and sits alongside bikes like the…

2018 MOTORRAD CENTER ALTENDIEZ PANIGALE V4 CHRIS NEWBIGGING SPORTSBIKES HAVE been too much for about 30 years, apparently. But we seem to have stepped up to handling the responsibility. The 1992 FireBlade terrified the world with 110bhp or so, yet we’re breezing around with 190bhp and that’s OK. A 110bhp MT-09 is bought by novices these days... But there’s something about the Panigale V4 that feels different. Over 200bhp at the tyre, delivered in a torquey, super-fast-revving package, and without the weight of a ZZ-R or Hayabusa to dampen its firepower. Everybody who’s ridden it, and wound it to the stop, has smashed into the rev limiter as it demands gears faster than you can think. It roasts tyres in a handful of laps and spins them on the rim.…

USING NEW PARTS on old bikes is nothing new – it more or less dates back to the point when enough development had happened to consider technology new or old. Ever since, motorcyclists have been retro-fitting new parts and ideas to older models to help them along as they age. Very few new-on-old conversions take it as far as this R1. Outwardly, it’s a 1998 model, in the preferred red and white. Then you notice the radial brakes. And the 10-spoke wheels. Oh look, KYB AOS forks – and that’s not the original swingarm. Those engine cases look different, too... It’s a bike that takes a second look to appreciate fully, but that second glance will be a long one: just about the only bits you can consider to be…

2003 MV AGUSTA BRUTALE 750 CHRIS NEWBIGGING I CAN HEAR the bores right now. “Italian bike with electrical problems? What did you expect?” The nasally, sneering tones of individuals for whom superlative reliability is the only indicator of a bike’s worth and appeal are familiar to anyone who dares own a bike rich in emotive appeal – two-strokes, classics or niche Euro exotica. I’ve had them all, and gladly lived with minor (or major) grief for the performance and sheer joy of owning bikes where compromising a bit of dependability is a small price to pay for the satisfaction of ownership. The MV is having one of those testing moments. Naturally, it came just after it had been going better than ever. The Newbigging tribe had sloped off to the…

2017 YAMAHA YZF-R3 HARRIS BEECH BRITISH SUPERSPORT 300 THE LAST MONTH has been a big one. We got back off our family holiday and didn’t have any time for the post-holiday blues to set in before I was at Brands Hatch for the Thundersport round that we’d added to the race schedule. Maybe being out on the Med helped me acclimatise to heatwave Britain, because I rocked up on Saturday morning to race at the Indy Circuit, and qualified 11th on the grid out of 22 riders, without any practice. Race one on the Saturday morning might have actually been wet because it rained earlier in the day. But it turned out to be dry, and I was really happy to bring the bike home in seventh place. Race two,…

HOW LONG EIGHT MONTHS COST £189.99 CONTACT WWW.TRANAM.CO.UK These were my favourite gloves, until a few weeks ago. The fit, feel and comfort are superb, and they felt secure and well made enough to reassure me they’d stand up to a tumble down the road. The wrist and cuff closure Velcro has remained secure after 3000-odd miles, and they’re long enough to overlap my leathers. Not always the case if you’ve long arms. Then I found one of the finger tips had lost its stitching and opened up. I haven’t crashed in them, or done anything out of the ordinary to compromise the external seams, so I can only assume they’ve simply worn through or failed. It’s possibly a one-off, but it’s too big an issue for me to have…

HOW LONG NINE YEARS COST £15 CONTACT THE INTERNET There’s a comfort in having certain items tucked away ready for moments that require a very specific something: this beaten-up tube of crankcase sealant is a favourite. Bought initially to stick the gasket in place around the boost port on my TZR250 (the narrow sections occasionally blow out), I used a good amount assembling my RGV, and it’s since been invaluable for emergency fixes (enforced re-use of gaskets) and belt and braces sealed assembly (stopping oily spooge leaking from manifolds on expansion chambers). Plenty of similar products are available, but this is the only one that consistently resists heat, fuel or oil. I’ve kept it in the box as instructed, and it’s still perfect to use – even a perforation in…

2018 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R CHRIS NEWBIGGING IT’S THE PERENNIAL question for a bike journalist: “What’s the best bike you’ve ridden? What would you buy with your own money?” It’s a weird one, because the job demands riding such a huge variety of bikes for different purposes. I loved the Suter 500, but it’d be a shit commuter. I had great fun on a GPX250 in central London once, but I’d get my hat nailed on in the fast group... But my KTM Super Duke long-termer is the closest I’ve got to a firm answer. Why? Because it absolutely suits me. I dearly loved my 2016 R1, but it was a bit small and focused to span the breadth of my riding – it loved the trackdays but not…

PLAYING AT WSB If you prefer digital roleplay to social interaction, you’ll be pleased to know you’ll be able to pretend you’ve made something of your life in a new ‘WSBK Manager’ mobile game. The licenced game will be on Android and iOS, and you’ll take charge of a team, bikes, riders and set-up in a quest to win the championship, without ever controlling the digitised bikes. Sounds utterly tedious to us. It’ll be out in autumn: don’t all rush to download it at once... IVAN LINTIN ON THE MEND Some good news to come out of the darkness hanging over the 2018 road racing season: Ivan Lintin is on the mend and being moved from Liverpool hospital to Lincoln, closer to his home and family. He was seriously injured…

ADVERTISING Phone 01733 468000 Group commercial director Gareth Ashman Group commercial manager Rhonda Janes Key accounts Shaun Collin Account Manager Phil Martin Senior Telesales Sarah Frisby Telesales Exec Jessie Hutchings MARKETING Phone 01733 468845 Marketing manager Sarah Norman Marketing executive Angela Humphrey Head of newstrade marketing Leon Benoiton Newstrade marketing Joe Deboo PRODUCTION Phone 01733 468341 Production controller Carl Lawrence Advertising production Kerry Beasley Printed by Wyndeham Peterborough Distributed by Frontline THE BOSSES Managing director motorcycling Rob Aherne Group managing director Rob Munro-Hall Editorial director June Smith-Sheppard Finance director Lisa Hayden Group finance & strategy director Sarah Vickery CEO Paul Keenan…

THE DUCATI MIGHT have covered itself in glory, but the Yamaha disgraced itself, to begin with at least. To start with, it threw up a fault code on the dyno (owing to the front wheel being stationary with a moving rear). And, unlike the Euro 3 version, it doesn’t clear a few miles later when it starts getting correct readings, as Euro 4 regulations specifically forbid vehicles from clearing fault codes unchecked. The upshot is that all the electronic settings were frozen: traction, slide and wheelie control, plus the ERS menus. So it couldn’t be set up before a dealer reset. We thought we’d try it anyway: two laps later, it returned spraying oil on Rutter’s swanky bespoke-liveried boots. That’ll serve him, the flash git... In fairness, neither instances are…

AT THIS POINT, it’s worth reminding ourselves that the Ducati has an extra 10.5% capacity over the R1M, so it’s not comparing like for like. Nonetheless, try not to let your eye be drawn to the Ducati’s curve first. Take a look at the R1M’s curve and note that, at 186bhp, it is a seriously powerful motorcycle. Then remember that there are only two tenths of a second between the two bikes’ lap times. There is nothing dull or puny about the R1M, until you put the Panigale’s power and torque curves on to the same chart. Apart from a very brief moment at 8500rpm when the lines threaten to converge, there’s fresh air between the two curves. Unsurprisingly, they also provide a very handy visual representation of what these…

THE SUZUKA 8 HOURS is back in a big way with more manufacturer involvement than we’ve seen for years. In the distant past, the cream of the GP paddock were contracted to a one-off ride on the endurance superbikes to uphold factory honour. But four-stroke GP racing, diary clashes and the more focused approach needed for MotoGP got them out of it, and the race’s importance waned a litte. But it’s been building again in recent years: with full factory efforts from major Japanese manufacturers, WSB champion Jonathan Rea leading an all-star entry (and smashing the lap record in practice), 2018 marked a high-point in the race’s recent history. Suzuka is back. As if the riders and bikes weren’t exciting enough, the tail end of a typhoon meant the 2018…

‘To have Suzuki’s MotoGP boss happy with everything doesn’t do you any harm for the future’ 2018 COULD BE A career-defining season for British Superbike star Bradley Ray. Despite being a Red Bull Rookies race winner, he was exiled from the MotoGP paddock in 2014, and was in danger of becoming yet another British talent for whom the right breaks didn’t materialise. His career has come full circle in the last 12 months and the 21-year-old is in demand once again: a notable performance at Suzuka only amplified talk of Ray as being a Superbike star of the future. Ray partnered ex-WSB champ and Suzuki MotoGP test rider Sylvain Guintoli in the Yoshimura Suzuki effort, but Ray was given the honour of finishing the 8 Hours: the traditional reward of…

I’LL GET STRAIGHT to the point: the RC213V-S isn’t worth its £160,000 price tag. But it is the best and highest quality bike I’ve ever ridden. The attention to detail is off the chart. The front mudguard that shrouds the fork bottoms. The way all the cables and sensor leads are pre-shaped and attached. The fact that the footpegs are the nicest I’ve ever felt through my boots. The ‘RCV’ etched on the chain link, the carbon and titanium everywhere you look, and the quality of the paint... it’s all as you’d expect from HRC. And that’s just the stuff you can see. It’s the sheer quality of mechanical parts, specifically the engine and gearbox, that elevates the experience above any other. There’s dozens of bikes that are faster than…

2018 TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE S CHRIS NEWBIGGING THE SPEED TRIPLE got very serious when they introduced the R model in 2012: what was a good road-going supernaked stepped up its game to become a surprisingly effective track tool. Öhlins suspension, Brembo brakes and Supercorsas as standard (and later proper electronics) turned a grunty roadster into the bike coming around the outside on a trackday. The 2018 RS model is even more potent: with cornering ABS, over 140bhp at the rear wheel, and IMU-based electronics, it looks set to continue being second only on circuit to Aprilia’s Tuono: little more than an upright superbike. Not bad for a bike that’s visibly and technically a direct descendant of the 1997 T595 Daytona. The price you pay for this potency is £13,250. That’s…

1 Voche pop-nut gun “I make lightweight subframes for the NC30 and this Voche pop-nut gun with a threaded insert is absolutely fantastic. While you can buy a cheap unit from China, this German-built one is shorter-handled and requires far less effort to pop the rivet. Honda use pop-nuts with threaded inserts all over the NC30 frame as it is aluminium and they tend to come loose over time. You can reset them using this tool, which is brilliant.” 2 JIS screwdrivers “A lot of people have never heard of Japanese Industry Standard screw heads, but they are very different to Phillips and you need a set of JIS-specific screwdrivers or you will chew the heads on a Japanese bike’s screws. If you look at a screw and there is…

THE CHASSIS DARREN WNUKOSKI MCT Suspension Darren set up MCT in 2003 and lives and breathes suspension. He is one of the UK’s most respected suspension experts and more than 700 bikes pass through his workshop every year, including a fair few Monsters. www.mctsuspension.co.uk THE ENGINE JOHN HACKETT JHP Racing When it comes to tuning Ducati engines, John Hackett is your man. He has tuned, raced and squeezed every ounce of power from just about every type and configuration of Ducati engine ever made. A legend in the desmo world. www.ducaticoventry.com THE BOLT-ONS JOHN BURROWS Service Manager at Ducati Coventry John has been with Ducati Coventry, which also includes JHP Performance, for over 13 years. He has seen just about every kind of Ducati in existence and has dealt with…

ALEC TAGUE BATHAMS RACING MACAU GP BIKE WE MUST BE gluttons for punishment here – setting up as a standalone team this year, we banked on one rider, two bikes (Superstock plus a roads Superbike). That’s since expanded to three BMWs, a Paton for the TT, two riders and now an RCV provided by an exceedingly kind sponsor for Michael to race at the Macau Grand Prix. Life is never dull at Bathams Racing, that’s for sure... The bike landed with us this month, after Johnny had ‘done us a favour’, as he put it, by putting a few break-in miles on it. Michael collected it at Donington Park, where he did a few laps himself: even with only 7000rpm to play with, and road chassis parts, it was useful…

‘They’re looking a little second-hand after years rattling around a toolbox’ HOW LONG EIGHT YEARS COST £20 (LESS AT BIKE SHOWS) CONTACT WWW.PROMECHRACING.COM I BOUGHT THESE to give the old, tired bolts on a race bike an easier time – multi-point sockets just weren’t gripping worn edges. I suppose I should have replaced the bolts, but I was 18, and a cheap set of sockets was an easier answer... In the long run, they’ve paid off – I don’t think I paid as much as the £20 they’re for sale online for now, but even if I had they’ve lasted really well. They’ve not worn appreciably and still grip both fasteners and 3/8 drive ratchets properly. The colour-coded finish makes selecting the right one easy, though they’re looking a little…

HOW LONG 18 MONTHS COST £22 CONTACT EBAY Rutter Tests are a logistical challenge, getting four bikes and the necessary paraphernalia to a track, as well as conducting the test itself. PB’s fuel can deficit was a problem: all the big cans had been nicked, and we’d got to the point where we were dicking around filling multiple five-litre cans with missing spouts. So we bought three of these to try and make life easier. One attractive feature was the integrated spout: thread it in upside-down for storage, screw it on the other way to pour. Good idea, but the flimsy plastic is very susceptible to heat, so the fuel expands easily and pressurises the can. When you undo the cap, the air at the top can’t escape, so the…

2017 YAMAHA YZF-R6 KAR ‘PART-WORN’ LEE WITH SUMMER IN full flow it was time to get the R6 on track in the UK, so with some time off work I booked three days: a Rockingham International/ National day/evening, Snetterton, and a Cadwell evening. Surprisingly, the Bridgestone R11s which had performed brilliantly after three days at Cartagena were still good for the full day at Rockingham, so I left them on. They worked a treat around the long International layout, though the R6 was up against it on the banking section where the litre bikes would just storm past regardless of whatever drive I could muster. It was a different story on the infield National layout in the evening, though. With no real long, flat-out straights to speak of, the National…

2017 SUZUKI GSX-R1000R JOHN BENNETT I’M NOT WET behind the ears when it comes to sportsbikes. I’ve owned my fair share, and I’ve got the shredded sliders to prove it. However, I’ve never considered myself in possession of anything approaching godlike status when it comes to track riding. So, on arrival at Silverstone for Suzuki’s recent owners-only trackday, I was straight off to the paddock bogs when I realised someone had booked me on to the Advanced group (nothing to do with me, honest... CN), where I’d be mixing it with circuit-hardened, seasoned track hooligans and BSB riders. It was my first visit to the Northants circuit, and my initial impression was of just how wide and quick the track is. Me and my GSX-R1000R were sharing the hallowed tarmac…

‘I’ve given up trying to understand how BMW managed to make the S1000RR so versatile without making it boring’ 2018 BMW S1000RR SPORT JOHN McAVOY WITH THE UK gripped by a heatwave, and a long-standing invitation to visit an old mate I’ve not seen for over a decade, a gap in my diary opened up. No better time to strap some luggage to my Beemer and take up his offer of a piss-up in the brewery he owns in the Lake District. It’s 300 miles from my house to Windermere, and I could do 285 of them on motorways, and get there before lunch. S1000RR power-touring is something I have plenty of experience of, but this time I wanted to savour the two-day road trip, and do some actual riding.…