Table of contents for December 2018 in Performance Bikes

‘Midweights ably demonstrate the merits of slightly less power yet more agility’ IS IT JUST ME, OR ARE manufacturers missing a trick with middleweights? We’re tired of beating the drum about a Daytona 765; but the Ducati 959/MV 800 ably demonstrate the merits of slightly less powerful, more agile bikes, in an exclusive, pricey Italian sort of way. But witness KTM’s Pikes Peak-winning 790 Duke. It’s essentially a pipe and suspension kit, yet it elevates a bike from feeling a bit ‘new rider’ to ‘weapons-grade hoon tool’. It would make a brilliant production bike. Same goes for Yamaha’s 700 platform. Dirt cheap, with a great engine and intrinsically good geometry, but held back by poor suspension. PB’s German friend Dominik Klein turned an XSR700 in to handy little grin tool…

IS THERE A MORE memorable cover bike in the 33-year history of PB? If Nick Daniels’ 7UP 350LC isn’t at the top, it’s definitely on the podium. And it’s now returned from obscurity: PB reader Tom Macintosh has bought its remains, and is looking to rebuild it. “The original engine was destroyed years ago so it’s getting a new one to a similar spec, and GIA Engineering have remade the original Spondon swingarm. And I’ll be refitting the nitrous... The bodywork was sold on eBay, but I’ve not managed to trace the current owner; I’d really like to get the originals on the bike.” Have you got the kit, or know who does? Contact us at editorial@pbmag.co.uk, and we’ll pass your details on. It’s the right thing to do. ‘I’d…

I’VE JUST HAD the pleasure of attending and judging the MotoStudent finals in Motorland, Aragon. Our Customer Racing department at KTM supplied the RC250 (250cc lumps from an Indian-market RC model with similar tech to the 390 sold here – CN) motors for this unique university project and we wanted to see how the teams used them. Teams have to build race bikes from the ground up and complete a serious of dynamic testing, detailed presentations and finally race each other on track with a full grid of homemade motorcycles. It is an engineering challenge – this year they had 47 internal-combustion-powered teams and 27 electric-driven projects from around the globe. I wasn’t expecting teams to have industry-leading technology, and I couldn’t imagine that they would have the means or…

“BY FAR, THE 959 PANIGALE was the one bike that I’ve applied the least amount of adjustment to for any of these tests. The sag measurements were near-perfect straight out of the crate, at 14mm for the rear shock, and 28mm for the forks. I didn’t adjust the preload at either end of the Ducati; there was simply no need. “I only added four clicks of compression damping to the rear shock, to end up at 20 clicks from fully in, and added four clicks to the rebound damping to end up at 10 clicks from fully in. “The forks were treated to similarly incremental adjustments. I added just five clicks to the compression damping at the front end, to end up at 20 clicks from fully in, and four…

THE WEATHER WAS screaming hot on the day we we attended Donington for the No Limits trackday. Air temperature was between 30 and 33°C all day long, and the tarmac was hot to touch, but in good condition everywhere, with no signs of wear due to the summer-long high temperatures. The UK heatwave (remember that?) was at its peak. Despite being a very busy day, the standard of riding was very high with no red flags all day. Rutter was able to put in as many laps as he wanted. Provider of motorcycle trackdays at circuits in the UK and Europe. nolimitstrackdays.com…

WE FOUND THE 790 Duke a touch disappointing. It might be light, powerful and agile as middleweight nakeds go, but in order to sell it to price-conscious, possibly inexperienced customers they didn’t built the sort of bike we’ve come to expect from KTM: a company almost exclusively staffed by rabidly enthusiastic riders, who we’ve come to find are often ultra-talented and/or lunatics. They build incredibly good bikes to meet their own expectations, never mind anyone else’s. But the 790 isn’t built for their kind, or ours. Mushy suspension, soft-biting brakes and crummy tyres are the sacrifices needed in order to make it cheaper and friendlier to new customers beyond the usual KTM fans. And it’s sold loads: they obviously judged that market right, but that doesn’t stop us wishing for…

IT SHOULD TAKE MORE than an Instagram account, a beard and a plaid shirt to establish your bike building credentials, but often it doesn’t. PB has stood for individuality and improvement of bikes since day one, but some of the garbage knocked out for the sake of making a ‘statement’ in the current custom bike resurgence is a rolling shambles. We’ve known a high-profile build for the very same ‘Wheels and Waves’ event that this XSR was built for to yank its own brake line off on the move thanks to design completely eclipsing function. Didn’t mention that on your Instastory, did you? Thankfully, Yamaha Germany didn’t commission just any beard-stroker to represent them at the event with an XSR700. In fact, Dominik Klein’s head is follicallybarren, but crammed full…

‘The concept of dazzle-camo is similar to the markings found on zebra, giraffes and mackerel...’ 2008 HONDA FIREBLADE CHRIS NEWBIGGING IF YOU THINK we’ve gone quite mad with our final finish for the Fireblade... you may be right. However, we really like it, and it’s more satisfying than copying any existing paintjob – surely the point of a special? Anyhow, I’ll explain some of our twisted, brightly-coloured logic. One Sunday morning I was watching a WW1 documentary. This particular educational use of archive footage spoke of the concept of dazzle camouflage: the art of not aiming to conceal naval vessels, but instead to use a series of contrasting, converging geometric shapes to make the job of judging their size, speed and range harder and less accurate. The idea is similar…

1992 SUZUKI RGV250-N JOHN McAVOY MY PROJECT RGV250 and I have copped a lot of flack from my so-called colleagues on PB (no, just you, the bike’s cool – CN), for progressing at glacial pace. For this, I make no apology. It is true that the first instalment I wrote for this project was back in 2014, but it is also true that, whilst blind drunk, I agreed to buy a ‘project bike’ which, several days later when I collected it, turned out to be a car load of knackered, mismatched shit. It turns out that once you reach a certain age, beer goggles stop making women look more attractive, and instead make project vehicles look more achievable than they actually are. But, no good story ever started with a…

2016 BMW S1000RR ALEC TAGUE WHEN TAYLOR MACKENZIE first tested with us, and for the first couple of race meetings, we’ve been working with quite a soft set-up on his bike compared to Michael’s. However, gradually, Taylor has been making his bike stiffer, and by the time we’d finished at Oulton Park, his set up was very close to Michael’s. But the bike now feels like his own, and he is riding it like it is his; that’s always a great thing to see happen as a crew chief. It’s a sign of trust, and good communication between us in the garage, and our rider. At Brands he was really bossing the bike around. Taylor finished FP1 in P3 with no issues at all, so when he said he wanted…

HOW LONG 1500 MILES COST £261 (120/70 17 & 190/55 17) CONTACT WWW.CONTI-BIKE.CO.UK THESE TYRES DID really well in our tyre test this year, so I was keen to try them out on my BMW S1000RR. The front in particular pepped up the steering a little bit. Not so much that it becomes nervous, or unstable, just enough to make my S1000RR feel agile and easier to chuck around. The rear was just beginning to show signs of wear in the middle at about 1200 miles, including some sustained, very high speed ’bahn-storming. On the road, I was getting 54 degrees of lean, with luggage, in complete confidence. I had all the grip I could wish for on the road, and only the mildest feathering at the edges. The heatwave…

I CAME ACROSS this chap today at a packaging exhibition at the NEC. He has built this land speed record bike in his shed! Its an amazing bit of kit and is powered by a steam rocket. It works by heating the water in the pressure vessel to 250°C then discharges the steam out of the two funnels at 1.5 mach. This propels the bike to 200mph in six seconds (the time it takes to empty the tank)! I work in engineering and the quality of his work is excellent, with some really clever touches. (I am reminded of John Britten from New Zealand) He has even made the carbon body work; the more you look, the better it is. He’s doesn’t promote himself so I thought I would drop…

WE LOVE MVS HERE on PB, we really do. Editor Chris has even spent his own actual money on one. Being a big fan of the plucky Italian underdogs, it really does pain me to say it, but there is usually some sort of minor issue with them whenever I ride one. The new Brutale that I rode in our middleweight nakeds test earlier this year ran out of fuel because the fuel warning light didn’t work, and the 2010 F4 that I rode in April 2017 developed a nasty misfire. The F3 is the third MV Agusta that we’ve had in PB this year, and my heart sinks as Rutter rolls down pit lane on it with steam pouring out from inside the fairing. The F3 becomes the third…

1 START/FINISH LINE 959: 117.04mph F3: 114.55mph Without huge quantities of power on tap, electronics aren’t really in play with these bikes, so it’s a simple drag race from the exit of Goddards to the Start/Finish line, so little wonder that the 959 just edges it. With no power figure for the F3 (it emptied itself of coolant so couldn’t be dynoed), its lower speed is consistent with Rutter’s estimation that it’s about 10bhp down. 2 CRANER CURVES 959: 16.58s F3: 16.62s We take the measurement from the apex of Redgate to the apex of the Old Hairpin, which means a big acceleration zone from Redgate to Hollywood. It’s impressive that the 959 takes the exact same time as a Panigale V4S. The F3 and 959 are actually faster from…

‘Marquez was stunned when he learned of Lorenzo’s Repsol deal, but so far he’s proved psychologically impregnable’ HONDA HAVE BEEN HERE before. Not in 1989 when Eddie Lawson stunned the paddock by joining bitter rival Wayne Gardner at Rothmans Honda, because they worked out of different garages, but the previous year, when Ayrton Senna joined Alain Prost in the McLaren Honda Formula 1 team. Jorge Lorenzo joins Marc Marquez at Repsol Honda next season, just the same as Senna entered the McLaren Honda garage in 1988. Marquez is the established Honda star, just as Prost was three decades ago. Prost and Senna spent two years together, Senna taking the 1988 F1 title ahead of Prost, who got his revenge the following summer. The Frenchman and the Brazilian were the greatest…

2018 BMW R1200RS SPORT SE JOHN McAVOY IF YOU LOOK in the ‘Sport’ section of the BMW Motorrad website, you will find three bikes. The £70,000 HP4 Race, which is of course the weapons grade, ultra-trick, carbon-framed version of one of the other bikes listed: the all-conquering standard by which all others are measured, the S1000RR. Then there is the R1200RS, which as someone once put it, is only for people who want a R1200GS, but can’t grow a beard or don’t like flip-up crash helmets. Harsh, and definitely not fair... Or is it ? On the surface, it may seem like a mistake for BMW to have the RS listed alongside such illustrious, cutting-edge examples of motorcycle engineering and design, especially when they start referring to its touring capabilities…

AS PB ARRIVES at the garage shared by Dean and Conrad Harrison there is already a collection of bikes outside, ranging from Dean’s brand new BMW R1200GS Adventure to a Kawasaki Z900, Honda CBX1000 and a Suzuki GT750 that were all rebuilt by Conrad. Alongside these sit a race transporter that Conrad is underneath trying to fix, as well as a transit van containing Dean’s F2 sidecar, and an old VW Golf that has lapped most of the road race circuits on the calendar! To say this is a bike-mad family is something of an understatement, especially when you look through the house’s windows and spot TT trophies, winners’ laurels and more bikes parked inside! “This is dad’s garage,” explains Dean. “Mine is about a mile away but this is…

KAWASAKI’S ZX-6R HAS been up and down in capacity more times than a yo-yo-dieting Instagram fitness influencer. Its fluctuations between 599cc and 636cc (owing largely to Kawasaki’s differing approaches to meeting supersport race regs) are enough to make anyone’s head spin. The result is a baffling array of mini-Ninja models. However in this month’s Mod Squad we are sticking with just one – the 2009 ZX-6R. Although you can safely include the updated 2013 model with its 636cc engine as they are very similar. More track-focused than the previous model, this generation of ZX-6R was the first Ninja to come with Showa’s Big Piston Front forks, the first to have an Öhlins steering damper and, in its 2013 update, the first supersport bike to come with traction control. But despite…

2003 MV BRUTALE 750 CHRIS NEWBIGGING THE NEWBIGGINGS ARE a motorcycling family, so conversations often revolve around the fleet we’ve amassed among us. My father has a decent collection, satisfying his tastes from big-bore Mobylette to a Ducati 996. He doesn’t sell many, so it was a surprise when he mentioned the Duke was going to go. It made more sense when he said an 1198 would replace it in short order... Then he said a friend had expressed an interest, and he’d cut them a deal for what it owes him, not the steadily-appreciating market value. Wait, what? When I bought the MV, I actually wanted a 916/996, but they’d appreciated beyond my pocket at the time, so I looked at Super Duke 990s, and bought the Brutale on…

ALEC TAGUE BATHAMS RACING HONDA RC213V-S JEFF AT HILLTOP Motorcycles has completed his work on the RCV’s fuel mapping to make it as smooth as possible, and to give Michael the best possible throttle connection to use at Macau. As well as that, he was getting some serious numbers on the dyno that I’m not at liberty to reveal, but let’s just say Michael is happy. We booked a place on a No Limits trackday for us to give the bike its first run so we could start to learn our way around it, and start exploring the settings. The only problem was, I hadn’t got as far as fitting the race bodywork and fuel tank, so the standard tank and seat unit, which is a properly trick self-supporting thing…

HOW LONG 1500 MILES COST £206 CONTACT WWW.BMW-MOTORRAD.CO.UK A COUPLE of hundred quid is a chunk of change for a waterproof 13-litre tankbag. But let’s be honest; when you’ve spent £18,000 on your S1000RR, two hundred quid on the difference between being able to go on a three-day road trip or a seven-day one isn’t going to keep you awake at night. As you would hope with anything bearing the BMW logo, it is made from the highest quality material, and put together in such a way that you just know it’ll still be going strong many years later, if not decades. It fits reassuringly to the bike via a bracket and strap that are fixed to the chassis, and it’s tailored to fit the bike’s fuel tank perfectly. Soft…

2018 BMW S1000RR SPORT JOHN McAVOY I’VE BEEN ENTERTAINING myself by buzzing photographer Simon, who’s piloting the R1200RS Sport at 145mph, when a bright blue BMW i8 flashes past it in the fast lane. The i8 is a £113,000 hybrid supercar with a 130bhp electric motor driving the front wheels, and a 220bhp twin turbo petrol engine driving the rear. It’s made mostly of carbon-fibre and alloy, and has the craziest aero package I’ve ever seen on a car. It’s also bloody fast. I tail it up to an indicated 175mph on my clocks, which I assume is all he has, or is willing to give as he indicates and moves into the middle lane. The fact that I’m carrying a tank bag, rucksack and tail pack on the S1000RR…

SUPERMONO MASTER MARKUS KRAMER has upscaled his hand-built race bike design to grip KTM’s 790 Duke engine, creating the ‘Evo2’ to compete in domestic Moto2-inspired race classes. PB rode Markus’s 690-powered HKR2 this summer, and we loved it: light, sharp and precise as a good supermono racer should be, but it also exhibited considered design that made it comfortable for all sizes of riders, simplicity of maintenance and respectable resilience to crashing... But an 80bhp single isn’t the most exciting thing in the world; fine for club championships, but not quite the stepping stone to MotoGP classes it ought to be. ‘Once the chassis is proven, it’ll get a beefier motor That’s where the 790 comes in. It looks very similar to the HKR2, because it is: the overall design…

‘I’m never letting it go’ KAWASAKI ZRX1100 IAN GALWAY I BOUGHT THIS bike as a bog standard ZRX1100 more than 17 years ago, with the intention of bringing it with me on my move to Spain. I set to it and have been modifying it over here ever since. From front to back, I’ve updated the brakes with Nissin four-piston calipers taken from an early Suzuki Bandit 1200, and boosted their performance a little further with the addition of braided lines. The forks now have progressive springs fitted. The clocks are a recent fitment, and taken straight from a ZRX1200S. It also has a fresh set of Renthal handlebars. There are some changes inside the engine, too. The motor uses ZZ-R1100 camshafts, and a 4° ignition advancer. Also, the carbs…

‘There’s something about this bike that I really like... probably the fact that it’s so easy to ride’ “THIS IS GONNA SOUND really cheesy, but I’ve got to confess that riding round Donington on the 959 made me reminisce about the WSB days when Foggy was doing all his winning, and Donington was his fortress. It sort of does that to you. I was imagining what it must have been like for him riding his Ducatis here with a sell-out crowd all here for him. For a modern bike, the 959 is sort of old-school in the way it actually has quite slow steering and is mega stable. The sound it makes from the airbox when I’m tucked in is mega, and that’s probably what was the trigger that sent…

“THE F3’S STANDARD suspension set-up was a good bit out. Curiously, it needed preload adding to the shock and removing from the forks. Normally you would find a bike needs preload adding or removed at both ends, but it’s quite unusual to have to add some at one end and remove it from the other. It’s as though no-one has bothered to check the settings at the factory... “In the case of the damping settings, I was nearly at the end of the range available, which isn’t a problem because we did find a really nice set-up in the range available. I added one turn of preload to the shock to get to 13mm sag, and removed three turns of preload from the forks to get to 26mm sag. Then…

THE FIRST THING I have to say is that I genuinely enjoyed riding both bikes. They’re both fast, agile and have that ‘special’ feeling. When you ride the MV, you really do know you’re sitting on something different. So many bikes these days are basically the same. You could swap the stickers on the fairings, and not know the difference. However, with the F3 especially, you couldn’t be riding anything else. It’s unique and instantly recognisable. It’s quick, too. Once I got my head round the power delivery and the effect of the counter-rotating crankshaft, and set the suspension, it flew. It’s such a shame that it boiled over because I was just getting into the groove on it. The Ducati really is great. It looks the part, sounds the…

ON SPECIFICATION ALONE, neither of these bikes really has any rival. In fact, the Yamaha YZF-R6 is the only other sportsbike on the market that isn’t 1000cc or over... But it’s a considerable 40bhp down on both these bikes when it comes to power. On price, however, it’s a different picture. £14,000 to £16,000 gets you on to the bottom rung of the litre bike ladder, so the outlay on either of these bikes becomes comparable with their bigger-lunged stablemates...…

‘Suzuki will be getting a cheque in the post. To ensure it doesn’t bounce, the KTM has to go’ 2014 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R JOHN BENNETT I FELL IN LOVE with the Super Duke back in 2016 when I borrowed the GT version for a trip to France. The comfort, the power, the incredible V-twin soundtrack... I was hooked. As I don’t commute (home worker) or do huge tours, I thought the R version would suit me better than the GT. It had everything I loved about the GT but in a better looking package with a more aggressive feel. So why on earth am I selling it? One word: GSX-R. PB’s long-term Gixer is due to return to Suzuki in December. I’ve only had it for three months…

HOW LONG 2500 MONTHS COST £19.95 CONTACT WWW.AURITECH.CO.UK CUSTOM EARPLUGS are a waste of cash – they don’t expand and fully seal your ear, so whistling wind road still reaches your eardrums. Disposable plugs are variable from pack to pack, and in this climate of environmental awareness, there’s a lot of plastic and foam going in the bin, too. I like these as the compromise: £20 isn’t a lot in the grand scheme, and they’re washable, reusable and come with a keyring storage tube. The universal shape matches your ear and seals it up, though there’s a tiny pinhole that lets conversation get through (as well as stopping it creating suction in your ear). I’m a convert from disposables now: the only issue I’m having is the short stalk is…

2017 SUZUKI GSX-R1000R JOHN BENNETT WHEN I MENTIONED on Twitter that I wanted to fit cruise control to the Suzuki, I was subjected to a healthy dose of piss-taking. Yes, if the bike was a dedicated track machine I would agree, but the GSX-R is my workhorse for all things distance related as well as my Sunday morning speed fix. That’s the beauty of the blue beastie; it’s a superb all-rounder and, let’s be honest, if there is any type of bike which you’d need to rest your throttle hand on it’s a sportsbike, due to the extra weight on your wrists. BMW and Aprilia seem to agree as both the RSV4 RF and S1000RR come with cruise control as standard. OK that’s enough of the justification for my old…

THE PROBLEM FROM the start was that the MT-03 was not a head-banging supermoto, despite the wide bars and 660 single motor, nor was it an SV650 rival. Less power but more money... Rarely a winner. Does that make it a bad bike? No. It just didn’t hit the mark at the time. Ignore its place in the bike market of 2006, and examine its qualities: decent handling, respectable if not arm-ripping torque, and modern, individual styling that could be seen as an early adoption of the modern, more successful MT family. Now look at what they cost: from less than £2000 for one in good shape. That’s still the same money as an ER-6 or SV650 of roughly comparable condition, but the Yamaha always had a better chassis, and…