Table of contents for February 2016 in Performance Bikes

EXHAUST As standard, the bike uses four steel expansion chambers developed on Suter’s engine dyno and tipped with carbon/titanium Akrapovic-made silencers. The Slovenian firm are making a full titanium exhaust system for the bike. CHASSIS AND SWINGARM Machined and welded in-house, just like Suter’s Moto2 offerings, the chassis is a combination of billet headstock and swingarm pieces joined by frame spars that are also machined from solid. Suter say this allows for more accurate construction and allows you to tune chassis stiffness better. The chassis is adjustable for wheelbase, and steering head angle. The swingarm again uses experience gained from recent MotoGP and Moto2 chassis, and takes up as high a proportion of the 1450mm wheelbase as possible for maximum traction. Suter offer a range of linkages, according to application.…

SUZUKI IS BEING coy about the official details of the GSX-R1000 – so naturally, Suzuki employees are excitedly whispering about the as-yet unreleased spec sheet as soon as senior staff turn their backs... We already know the GSX-R1000 L7 will be a tech-fest when it arrives around September this year, as an early 2017 model in effect, rather than a late 2016 release. The ‘concept’ revealed now is merely a measure to show that they’re no longer standing still, and to secure a few deposits. It addresses the criticisms of the current model, which still has roots that reach back to the K5. Finger-follower valves, variable inlet cam timing and a full electronics package looked promising when the bike was unveiled at the end of 2015. Although development is still…

CLEVER | HI-TECH INFO-PACKED TRANSLOGIC MD4 MICRO DASH The MD4 is the latest dash from Translogic and blows the firm’s older units out of the water when it comes to spec. As well as featuring a colour LCD display, the MD4 has a bar-style rev counter with six sequential LED shift lights and a variety of displays. A lap timer with 100-lap memory is integrated into the unit alongside a fuel gauge and even a throttle percentage indicator and gear indicator. The dash itself is located in a billet aluminium housing and measures 126mm x 72mm x 22mm. A universal mounting bracket (£40), speed sensor (£70) and waterproof lap timer button (£59.99) can be bought separately, but due to different wiring you can’t simply plug the MD4 dash into an…

MV AGUSTA F3 800SP IAN CARSON “THIS BIKE HAS been a while in the planning, but in the end we put it together in about five days for the Speedycom stand at the NEC Show. “It’s not actually an MV SP model, but I’ve called it SP because Speedycom starts with SP and I own the company as well as an MV dealership. The bike is a rolling showcase of the parts the WSS and BSS MVs run, such as the Bonamici brake guard, handlebars and engine protectors and MWR air filter with racing intakes. Not everything swaps from race to road, though – the Maxton shock the MV team ran at the 2014 TT had to be redesigned for this bike as the team’s shock used the space where…

FUELLING New injection system has two sets of injectors, one each side of the throttle butterfly. The lower injector works at engine speeds below 9000, before the upper comes into life. Throttle bodies are ride-by-wire SUSPENSION 43mm Showa BPF forks are retained, as is a Sachs rear shock. The rear spring is stiffer to cope with the 7kg increase in weight and also 2mm longer, primarily to counteract the lower swingarm pivot point BRAKES 959 Panigale gets Brembo M4.32 monoblocks with Bosch ABS. Although powerful enough, they lack the initial bite of the 1299’s M50s EXHAUST Diameter is up from 55 to 60mm, just like a Ducati 1299. The silencers are now in two separate tail pipes, the cat is larger and under the sump, so the swingarm had to…

‘The new Testastretta’s narrow valve angles contributed to a more powerful motor’ DUCATI TOOK A bravery pill in 2003. The 916 and all its derivations were nearly a decade old. Despite its timeless beauty and maintaining competitiveness, it was on the verge of becoming stale. Massimo Tamburini had stayed with the Cagiva group when Ducati was sold in 1998, so there was no chance of reprising the same sort of stylistic genius again. They opted to be groundbreaking and daring in a whole new way. Designer Pierre Terblanche had a long history at Ducati – notable achievements included the foxy Supermono racebike and the futuristic-historic MH900e, plus the injected Super Sport range that took after the racing single to a degree. The 999 was the result – and by the…

EVERYONE’S FRIENDLY I think people know me better here than they do in the UK. They are always very warm and welcoming. The paddock is open and everyone gets their picture taken and talks to you. They really appreciate you coming all this way. I have been coming a little longer than John McGuinness but we have had a lot of fun here over the years. There used to only be a few bars the riders would all go to together but now everyone is all spread out amongst the nightlife. It used to feel like a village back then but it is so big now. I still have the odd flutter in the casinos but I am too tight to bet much. I’ve really enjoyed racing here and have…

I got a good start – maybe too good – and I think that because the bike’s front wheel was in the air, and going at a different speed to the rear wheel, the electronics over-ride kicked in and a big yellow light came on on the dash. That fried my head a bit on the opening laps because you want to be sure of how the bike is going to react around here. The only way to sort it is to stop for a couple of seconds, switch the bike off and switch it back on again, but that wasn’t really an option was it? It took me a few laps to settle in and by the time I had sorted myself out I was in a different race…

SPECIFICATION £20,750 182BHP | 194KG TOTAL MILES MOMENT OF THE YEAR Rolling it out of the garage, or feeling that crazy drive through the top of the rev-range. Mentally fast... 2015 DUCATI 1299 PANIGALE S MATT WILDEE IT’S POWERED BY THE GREATEST V-TWIN EVER Ridiculously over-square, with a bore/ stroke ratio of 1.91:1, the Panigale still delivers huge grunt at low rpm. This gives it roll-on grunt that shames an S1000RR. At 5000rpm, which relates to about 80mph in top, it’s delivering 48% more torque than a 1000cc four. There really is no replacement for displacement. But there’s more to the motor than that; Ducati have never made a boring V-twin and this one booms and coughs like like an internal-combustion version of Keith Richards. And the top-end power is…

SPECIFICATION £9599 134BHP | 192KG TOTAL MILES MOMENT OF THE YEAR The most beautiful summer’s day trackday at Cadwell Park – perhaps the only moment when the GSX-R750 really made sense to me. 2015 SUZUKI GSX-R750 SIMON RUSSELL 10 MONTHS AGO I THOUGHT IT WAS BRITAIN’S BEST VALUE SPORTSBIKE That still holds true. At the time of getting my 2015 model, dealers were knocking out virtually identical 2014 models for £7995. That was £1600 under Suzuki’s RRP. That’s a hell of a lot of performance bike for the money. When we tested the GSX-R in 2014 round Mallory Park with Michael Rutter it was only two seconds a lap slower than an 1199 Panigale S and also one of the lightest bikes we had ever tested. At 192kg wet it’s…

DUCATI 1098S ADE STEEL ÒMY 1098S WAS plenty powerful but I didn’t like the throttle response, so I took it to Mark Brewin at BSD. He re-mapped it and focused on the bottom 5% of the throttle, matching it to the open Zard cans and free-flowing air filter with the exhaust servo disabled. It makes 156bhp, but it is at the low-end where the improvements are biggest, and as I take my wife on the back quite a lot that’s where I wanted them. “After a seal leaked I refreshed the forks with more robust Öhlins R1 seals. The Öhlins shock was too hard as standard and terrible with a pillion, so I swapped it for a Nitron unit with a remote preload adjuster, which is excellent. “The front end…

‘V-twin punch is still in evidence, but the 899 revs like no Ducati before’ THE PANIGALE WAS the sort of clean break Ducati hoped for with the 749: a successful one. It was an even more radical departure – the 749 was technically an evolution, even if the styling was a big upheaval. The Panigale threw just about every Ducati tradition in the bin, leaving just the 90-degree Vee angle and Desmodromic valve operation as links to the past. It was risky: especially as the core of the bike took after the Desmosedici GP bike, with a frameless chassis. Just as the one-time title winner’s fortunes took a downturn, and the D16 became a notorious ill-handler that launched the bodies and reputations of some big names into the gravel. The…

FUELLING Holeshot’s chargecooler/plenum sits atop standard throttle bodies with uprated secondary injectors. A Bosch 044 fuel pump gives greater flow, and is regulated with a Turbosmart billet regulator. TURBO Borg Warner EFR 71-63V, mounted via a V-Band and fitted with billet wheels. A Turbosmart 45mm dual port wastegate regulates maximum boost pressure. It’s on a stainless manifold built by Holeshot. INTERNALS Forged turbo pistons are stronger, lower compression, and atop Carillo rods. Extra heavy-duty 12mm cylinder studs require head/barrels/cases machined to suit the stronger fasteners. ELECTRONICS Syvecs S6 ECU. Lambda, knock and oil pressure/temperature sensors feed vital info. 4-bar Manifold Absolute Pressure sensor gives fine boost control. High-current ignition amplifer gives fat sparks. HEAD WORK Stainless steel valves (titanium are stock) and heavy duty springs are a precautionary measure to…

The Penz13.com team is run by German ex-racer, Rico Penskofer, who has finished on the Macau podium himself. The squad has factory backing for the World Endurance series and their roads campaign. My S1000RR was based on the Endurance machine, with a special factory-built engine. It is built to the very latest 2015 WSB spec and BMW say it makes 224bhp. As a tribute to former PB road tester Gus Scott my bike had the multi-coloured livery of his helmet design. Gus raced in Macau before he lost his life in a TT crash 10 years ago. The quick change wheel and split brake line systems the team run in WEC were removed. We also had a smaller fuel tank and the fork internals were changed. We ran Öhlins FGR…

FLY PRESS ‘A basic tool, but great for pressing out bearings or bending metal. I got this from an old machine shop that was closing down for next to nothing. Plus it’s a useful sandpaper holder.’ COLANDERS AND SIEVES ‘When you have a load of nuts and bolts that need degreasing, using a colander or sieve stops them getting lost in the de-greaser.’ RACKING ‘I keep all the small items neatly tucked away in this racking. It’s all organised and each section matches, so all the titanium parts are together, all the stainless ones, anodised, etc. A garage needs to be properly organized.’ REMOTE BRAKE SPAN ADJUSTERS ‘Brembo units cost £200 but I make these for £46. They are simple to make and I do them in a variety of…

SPECIFICATION £13,999 158BHP | 214KG TOTAL MILES MOMENT OF THE YEAR Using it at the PB trackday for instructing duties was an eye-opener. It was thrilling for the whole 15-session day. 2015 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R JOHN McAVOY NICKNAMING IT ‘THE BEAST’ WASN’T THE WISEST THING There is no doubt the 1301cc of V-twin capacity is ferocious in its delivery of 160bhp and 100lb.ft of torque and makes each ride an occasion. It squirms and wheelies in places even the most powerful sportsbikes just flatten. And therein lies the first problem. It is a brilliant bike, make no mistake, and the star of the show is that engine, but as it rolls off the production line in Austria, the whole package is more pussycat than ‘Beast’. Its standard suspension…

SPECIFICATION £9499 116BHP | 192KG TOTAL MILES MOMENT OF THE YEAR Smoking a Fireblade, GSX-R1000 and RC8 R around the PB Mallory Park test track. 2015 TRIUMPH DAYTONA 675 MATT WILDEE IT HAS UNIVERSAL APPEAL The Daytona has had the highest-mileage, toughest year of any test bike on the fleet. It started off in my care, before being passed onto editorial assistant Caroline for 2000 miles of road use and a couple of foreign trips, plus a trackday. She then handed the keys to Chris, who used the bike for a stupendously-fast trackday at Silverstone and some seriously-quick road riding. Michael Rutter then tested it at Mallory Park, where it set a laptime faster than its flashier 675R brother. Then, every member of staff took turns on it at PB’s…

SPECIFICATION £5479 74BHP | 182KG TOTAL MILES MOMENT OF THE YEAR The first fifth gear wheelie. The first of more than one... 2015 YAMAHA MT-07 MARK WHITE BUDGET BIKE, BIG LAUGHS In the grand scheme of things, the MT is a cheap bike. At a shade under five and a half thousand pounds in a world where it’s the norm to spunk three times that on a new sportsbike, it’s always going to raise two standout questions before commiting: Is it any good for that money and will I have as much fun? For the money, there’s always going to be something ‘wrong’ with a bike like this but it doesn’t really matter. because this bike is fun. It’s also very practical as a bloody good road bike. THIS BIT’S…

BOING Fully adjustable forks aren’t bad, and there’s potential to get them just-so. Shock is a bit crude and bouncy BURP The K5 was silky smooth. GSX-S has snatchy pick-up and needs a reflash BEAK Suzuki think it draws on GSX-R heritage. It doesn’t - it looks like metallic blue Lovebird. Needs more attitude for us YOU DON’T HEAR too many people saying complimentary things about Suzuki’s GSX-S1000F. Although it has to be said that, generally, those detractors haven’t ridden one. They’ve been influenced by the melted-by-the-fireplace styling, and wondered why the K5-derived engine wasn’t just fitted wholesale and with full power. It must be shit, it doesn’t have 160bhp... But the GSX-S1000F’s only real problem is confusion. If it’s a sports tourer, it’s not cuddly and practical enough. If…

‘It’s powered by a 576cc, fuel-injected, twin-crank V4 of Suter’s own design’ THIS IS QUITE simply the fastest, most advanced two-stroke motorcycle that’s ever been produced – a vision of what could have happened if factory teams had continued to develop 500s. The chassis, engine, fuel injection and aerodynamics have all been designed, perfected and built in-house by Swiss engineering gurus Suter Racing Technology. It’s oil-burning, ring-a-ding pornography. Let’s talk figures. The MMX500 is powered by a fuel-injected 576cc, twin-crank, 80-degree V4 of Suter’s own design. It produces 195bhp on SRT’s own dyno cell and is fitted in a bespoke chassis that drips in Suter’s recent race-winning heritage (they were Moto2 world champions with Marc Marquez) and weighs 130kg. That’s bang-on the old 500GP weight limit. Each bike is hand-built…

HEADS-UP Yes, that’s Eskil Suter casually lifting the front of the MMX in an industrial estate access road. It’s just how he rolls... I’M STANDING BY the pavement on the access road of an Alpine industrial estate as Eskil Suter is pulling helmetless wheelies on his 500GP bike past an ever-growing group of people. Workers are appearing from office blocks and warehouses to watch the show, drawn to the vicious two-stroke snarl, the scent, the fine mist of burnt Swiss-made Panolin two-stroke oil pumping from those carbon stingers. Even for people who don’t love bikes, the attraction is irresistible. The last five minutes have been a complete surprise. It all started when Eskil offered to start the bike up for us and we pushed the MMX into the car park.…

THE 690 DUKE R adds a sportier edge thanks to fully-adjustable WP suspension, a Brembo M50 monoblock caliper, rearsets, an Akrapovic can and top-spec electronics. The WP suspension gives it a firmer ride, and raises its stance by about 15mm, improving ground clearance. Combined with the higher pegs and firmer seat it gives the bike a far sportier attitude. When the ABS was activated on track, it did so smoothly and gave confidence to brake hard into bends. On the road the seating position and firmer ride make it less relaxed than the standard Duke so while it’s no comfy commuter it’s far more capable than the stocker for back road blasts. The sticking point is again the price; £8999 is a lot of money compared to the competition.…

TRIUMPH DAYTONA 675 RICHARD OSELAND “AFTER SEEING DEAN’S Daytona special in last month’s PB I thought I’d better drop you a line. This is my 2010 Daytona 675 special that has taken me five years to build on a very limited budget. I’ve trawled eBay and owners’ forums and done as much work on it myself as possible to keep the costs down and the kids in shoes. “The rear has a single seat cowl with a Jardine RT-1 carbon dual outlet exhaust (baffles from eBay) while a Triumph quickshifter, Renthal sprocket set (up two on the back, down one on the front), Sigma slipper clutch, custom ECU map and MWR air filter help its performance. I’ve also fitted an Öhlins shock, Pirelli Supercorsa SC2 tyres, SBS pads and Oxford…

GSX-R FOREVER Having found myself with some free weekends recently I thought I’d put my time to good use and get out with my camera, to photograph a friend and his Suzuki GSX-R600. Being his first bike and loving every moment he rides it, they seemed a good choice. Plus, with the new launch of the GSX-R1000 I thought it was brilliant how, whatever your experience, or however old your machine, the GSX-R has been, and seems destined to carry on being, a bringer of joy to all those lucky enough to own one. Chris Mather LIMP WRIST I’m 45 years old; my right wrist is strong but the left is goosed (wonder how that happened...) Well, during a day’s thrashing of an EXUP, back in 2000 – something justpinged,…

WE ARE NOT WORTHY The 848 has a seemingly limitless amount of grip and corner speed. You’ll love it, but always feel ever so slightly inadequate because you don’t quite touch the sides BEGINNING OF THE END The 848 was the first sports Ducati to ditch the dry clutch. The Panigale (and every other Ducati) later followed suit TOO TALL Gearing is classic Ducati: a 165mph bike geared for 230mph. Probably. Sixth is too tall to hold 70mph smoothly. Lower the final drive ratio and make life better LIKE NEW This one was beautiful: borrowed from Chris Walker Kawasaki, it’s a one-owner, 1200-mile bike. Call 0333 4444 409 STAND UP STRAIGHT Invest in a Ducati stand, or another pricey alternative like an FG Gubbellini. Cheap efforts hold the bike wonky…

‘One year I got jailed at the TT for feet-up donuts. The next, they paid me to ride’ MANY CAREERS START with someone being in the right place, at the right time. Gary Rothwell made the step from road rider to professional stunt rider and world record-setter by being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. “I used to have stuff like Z650s, Z1-Rs and GS1000s, and I could do wheelies on them. I think I had the GS1000 into fourth. I knew Nick Culton at West Coast Motorcycles a bit, and I used to do feet-up donuts outside his shop. We were outside Bushy’s beer tent at the TT one year, when I’d ridden there on my Z1300. There were people doing burnouts, and Nick was egging me…

People say Macau is tougher now than it was then, but if you had to race against guys like Phillip McCallen in the 90s you knew you were in a race. There is more depth to the field nowadays, though, and probably seven or eight really fast guys who could win. Back then it was never more than two or three and if you had a good bike you could clear off. The bikes are so similar now. I first raced in Macau in 1994, on the McCulloch Ducati and I only got to Mandarin on the first lap when it blew up. I was only 22 and that first Macau was very intimidating. I’d travelled halfway round the world and it was a real shock to the system, seeing…

MOTOGP BIKE ‘This is an FTR MotoGP chassis and swingarm which was run by the Gresini team in 2012 in the CRT class and in 2013 in Go & Fun colours. It was no longer eligible in 2014 so I bought the chassis, airbox, swingarm, fairing and self-supporting seat unit from FTR. It has a Blade superstock engine and ex-HRC Öhlins forks. The bike is being auctioned off in a ‘spot the ball’ kind of contest. One bolt has been signed by Marc Marquez and you can guess which one at www.motogpbike.com for £10 a go. The bike has an MoT and lights – it’s mental on the road!’ MYFORD SUPER 7 LATHE ‘This is probably 70 years old but is an industry standard bit of kit and a fabulous…

SPECIFICATION £14,760 193BHP | 204KG TOTAL MILES MOMENT OF THE YEAR Every ride on the RR is better than the last, so I guess it would be the final ride. To the shops. 2015 BMW S1000RR SIMON HARGREAVES THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS DOES NOT APPLY... Ride it as often as you like, go anywhere on it; do a trackday every other weekend and tour Europe in between. Even ride seven racing S1000RRs, from a South African Superstocker right up to Badovini’s World Superbike, round Valencia... And still, every morning without fail, get aroused by that guttural, hollow rasp from the airbox and feel that delicious, oiled slickness as the BMW pulls away, punting through the gearbox in a series of short, sharp spats. It’s like Groundhog Day, except you…

SPECIFICATION £9899 137BHP | 220KG TOTAL MILES MOMENT OF THE YEAR Handing it back to Kawasaki with my licence intact. This bike has lived on its rear wheel. KAWASAKI Z1000 CHRIS NEWBIGGING IT’S NOT A SUPERNAKED It would be quite easy to dismiss the Z1000 off-hand after comparing the spec sheet with the likes of the S1000R, Tuono, Super Duke... Less power, more weight, less gadgets could be construed as long-hand for ‘shit’. It isn’t. It just means different. And it also means much cheaper, which is a compelling argument for many. I can say this, because I have ridden all of the above, and while they’re all fantastic in their own way, getting back on the Zed afterwards hasn’t felt like a downgrade. In many ways, it fits the…