Table of contents for April 2016 in Cycle World

You have to hand it to Triumph for staying true to its soul with the Speed Triple. Triumph has always had a certain sense of atti tude and allure surrounding it. Bonnevilles and Tridents ruled back in the day, but neoclassics like the Speed Triple carry on its personality in the John Bloor era. Since ’94, the Speed Triple’s core design principles have remained intact: a brutish up-bar, café-style motorcycle. The new 2016 Speed Triple S and R models might seem similar to their predecessors, but they have evolved quite a bit. A redesigned 1,050cc three-cylinder powerplant incorporates 104 changes. The result is an increase in torque and power across the entire rev range, with torque peaking at a claimed 83 poundfeet at 7,850 rpm and horsepower up to 140…

A fundamental for safe and fun motorcycling is having a clear view of the road ahead. Even if you’re not an open-face helmet wearer, the right pair of prescription shades can make a big difference in how well you see the line threading a fast curve. SportRx is a San Diego, California-based company specializing in sports eyewear with hundreds of popular frame and goggle options. Its in-house opticians offer exper tise in helping customers select the best lens suited to our favorite outdoor activities. Although I visited the Sport Rx storefront, it’s primarily an online retailer. I’ve worn corrective lenses during my entire professional riding/racing career and have developed a few preferences in suitable riding glasses. As a sportbike rider, my foremost concern is selecting a frame style that allows…

While almost every American motorcyclist knows about Harley-Davidson’s history, reaching back to 1903, most are likely less familiar with the corporate background of Polaris Industries, America’s other large motorcycle company, represented by the Indian and Victory brands. Company-founding myths and traditions often tell a lot about their culture, and Polaris has a good one. It began as the Hetteen Hoist and Derrick Shop in Roseau, Minnesota, in the mid-1950s. Working after hours, several employees of the shop, led by David Johnson, built the prototype of what is considered the first practical light snowmobile. They were interested in the machine as a tool to get to hunting locations more easily. When shop owner Edgar Hetteen came back from a trip and was shown the prototype, he was both skeptical and disappointed…

WHEN THE ORIGINAL DIAVEL ROLLED OUT AT the 2010 Milan motorcycle show, it was considered by some to be a broken promise from this brand known for exotic and beautiful superbikes and other sporting creatures with athletic DNA. After one ride, we were not among the doubters. Ducati put a very sporting Italian stamp on the cruiser class and smoked off the line to take Best Cruiser two years running (sprinting?) in our annual Ten Best voting. It was light for a cruiser, wicked-quick, and turned pretty well for a machine with a 240mm rear Pirelli, even if it was designed for the bike. And it was really fun. Now in 2016, the “Ducati cruiser” idea has been significantly rethought and redone to become the XDiavel, which joins the “standard”…

It’s almost shocking that head-up displays (HUD) in motorcycle helmets aren’t common by now. The technology to project vital data up into the pilot or driver’s field of view has existed for decades in both the aviation and automotive industries. Applying the technology to motorcycling could prove to be even more beneficial by keeping a rider’s eyes up and focused on the road. BMW has offered optional HUD systems in its cars since 2003 and is now keen to apply the technology to motorcycling, showing its first concept at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. BMW Motorrad’s interpretation of the HUD helmet features a “mini-computer” and integrated speakers in addition to the display screen that sits in front of the rider’s right eye. BMW’s biggest interest…

“She’s mighty-mighty just lettin’ it all hang out.” Funny, but for years I thought that 1977 Commodores song was about a brick house. Well, think again because the curb weight of a Gold Wing has swelled from 626 pounds in 1977 to 904 for ’16, while the latest Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra weighs in at a hefty 916 pounds. Add 300 to 500 pounds for yourself, your lady, and your luggage, and the whole, cheesy enchilada crushes the scale at well over a half ton. Mighty indeed! Physics says that when mass is doubled (a big touring bike is about twice the weight of the average streetbike), the kinetic energy also doubles. It’s easy to guess this won’t help a touring sled match either a Honda CBR650F (461 pounds) or…

For those of you who haven’t noticed, Polaris, the parent company of Victory and Indian motorcycles, has been on fire. Having pushed past tough competitors such as Honda and Yamaha, it dominates the North American market for off-road four-wheelers (from ATVs to UTVs and side-by-sides), contends for the top of the snowmobile market with Bombardier, and has seen its earnings and stock rise in reward. However, its road in the motorcycle market has been a bit more arduous. After introducing its first motorcycle— the oil-cooled V92C—back in 1998, Polaris saw its Victory motorcycle business launch, stagger, and walk in circles for much of the next decade, as the company addressed both built-in technical issues (the V92’s oil-cooled engine didn’t really cool well at the power levels desired, so it had…

Unless you’ve been collecting Social Security longer than you care to admit, you have no personal recollection of the late 1940s. That, obviously, is because you either weren’t around back then or were way too young to remember. But images of that nostalgic era are precisely what the three American-made cruisers seen here are intended to project. They’re all dressed up—well, down, actually—in classic minimalist attire, a bare-bones style that quietly originated in the 1930s but grew more popular after World War II. They came to be called bob-jobs or bobbers, so named because their owners had cut them down to a minimum, often to emulate the flat-track racebikes of the era. Due to current safety and emissions regulations, these modern-day production-line simulations—Harley-Davidson’s Softail Slim S, Indian’s Chief Dark Horse,…

THE RIDE STARTS HERE GREEN GRID: Kawasaki has posted $2 million in contingency rewards and will provide Team Green trackside support at many Stateside roadrace events in 2016. BY THE NUMBERS 2,000 DOLLARS: Manufacturer rebate offered to licensed roadracer purchasing 2016 ZX-10R for competition use. 210 HORSEPOWER: Claimed peak output at 13,000 rpm with ram air. Figure 10 hp less without ram air and around 180 plus at the rear wheel. Kawasaki has earned the right to milk a championship hangover with two WSBK titles to its credit in the past three seasons. But Team Green isn’t falling into any such slumber, as the Ninja ZX-10R has undergone a major generational update for 2016. At stake is more than simply providing reigning team rider Jonathan Rea the best possible platform…

1 THROTTLE LOCK Give your right wrist a rest with the Kaoko Throttle Stabilizer ($99.99–$229.99) designed as a bar-end weight replacement with a variable-friction throttle lock. Its intuitive twist on/off operation serves as a damper for reducing throttle sensitivity, slop, or as cruise control. There are more than 160 models to match OEM barend weight and styles. → (855) 255-5550 twistedthrottle.com 2 PHONE STAY Smartphones off er many uses, such as GPS navigation and music playback, that the modern motorcyclist may find beneficial mid-ride. The Ram Mount Tough Claw with X-Grip ($51.99) secures your device to the bars and off ers convenient ballpivot adjustment. Optional mounts abound, including a suction-cup and GoPro attachment. → (206) 763-8361 rammount.com 3 MOTO MOTION SECURITY The ABUS Granit Detecto X-Plus 8077 ($179.99) is made…

As I rolled out of bed lethargically, it was clear a bit of a pick-me-up was in order. This trio of hip café-inspired cruisers percolating in the Cycle World garage suggested we turn up the heat and hit k the road in search of a good cup of joe. Cruising has always been about style, so it's no surprise that a resurgent café racer culture should influence motorcycles in this otherwise distinctly American space. The Star Bolt C-Spec put an entertaining twist on the standard Bolt, while the Kawasaki Vulcan S Café took a similar path this year with hopes of capturing the minds of young riders. And while the Harley-Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight isn't strictly café style, the bobber cues and sporty stance fit the stylistic mash-up perfectly. To make…

Not your ordinary inline-four crankshaft: The “crossplane” Yamaha YZF-R1 crank “ungroups” pistons to smooth the effects of its inertia on the rear tire. CRANKS AND TRACTION Q:I noticed that the crank in a recent article comparing flatplane to crossplane designs showed a crossplane crank where the two pistons on the left would be on the way up, while the other two were on the way down, hinting that they may fire an even 360 degrees apart (half the 720-degree cycle). How does this affect traction compared to the “big-bang” crank where all four pistons fired within a short 180 degrees of one another, breaking the tire loose yet allowing it to hook up again with 540 degrees of coasting? CURT TRICARICO CYCLEWORLD.COM A:I’ll do my best to channel Kevin Cameron:…

VIEW FROM INSIDE THE PADDOCK “I high-sided the TZ750 more than any other bike I’ve ridden.” Dead silence from me. I was four days away from racing Russ Bigley’s Yamaha TZ750. Kenny Roberts continued: “The thing was just so much better than the tires we could get. I’d get it in there and want to pick up the throttle and get going… It would just come around on me.” I gulped nervously. “I know the TZ700 [predecessor of the 750] brought on the retirement of a lot of racers,” the three-time Grand Prix World Champion continued. “Back then, those guys would run a bike into the corner at 80 miles per hour and exit at 75 miles per hour. The TZ wanted to get in at 80 and exit at…