Table of contents for November 2015 in Performance Bikes

THIS IS HOW Monsters should be. The lesser 1200 models don’t sit right with me – a Monster should be agile and sporty with a bucket of L-twin shove, but easy to potter around on. The 821 does the agile bit, but it’s geared at more novice audience and lacks a bit of spunk for more experienced Ducatisti. The 1200R has fixed that for me, and added enough ability to make it a very credible track tool. It’s a good example of a manufacturer taking customer feedback on board, rather than just stubbornly standing by the marketing guff and ignoring genuine concerns. Of course, the base model and 1200S still exist in the older form – but the containers making their way from Bologna to the UK will be half-filled…

KAWASAKI ZX-10R DAVE WALKER I THINK THE latest Kawasaki Z1000 should have been just like the bike that I’ve created. I’ve built it over a number of years, mainly using parts from my old racebikes, and other bits that I’ve acquired. “It started life as a 2005, first-generation ZX-10R and has since been treated to BST carbon wheels, and an ex-BSB Vivaldi Racing swingarm and Brembo calipers with bigger discs. It also has K-Tech forks, an Öhlins rear shock, a flashed ECU, different bellmouths and a quickshifter fitted. “There’s also a Nova close-ratio gearbox, plus Renthal bars, and I’ve gone down one tooth on the front sprocket. “I use it for touring, hillclimbs and trackdays, I’m even thinking of getting an old-school Eddie Lawson paintjob to finish the bioke off,…

SUSPENSION K-Tech’s latest forks and rear shock feature in both bikes. Springing differs according to rider weight and preference, but the damping is generally plusher on the road machines and stiffer on the BSB bikes. The TT bikes also have a different rear shock linkage for a longer, more progressive rear suspension stroke. GEOMETRY Both use Tyco’s own yokes, with variable offset, rake and trail, plus the RR’s variable swingarm pivot. The BSB bike changes from track to track, but the road bikes tend to stick with one setting. Trail is key, for agility/stability compromise. ELECTRONICS The TT bike runs BMW’s own wiring loom (at present) with S1000RR clocks and the additional control of BMW’s HP race calibration kit. This isn’t a funny-money item, but readily available over the counter.…

Simon Saunders founded Ariel Motors in the mid-1990s after a career in car design. Having worked for Aston Martin, Saunders taught automotive design until a student reminded him of the old saying ‘those that can do, those that can’t teach’. A red rag to a bull, this encouraged him to take the plunge and start designing his own cars. However to the man who has been riding bikes since he was 15 years old and didn’t actually pass his driving test until he was 26-years old, motorcycles were never out of his long-term plans. We started talking about the bike eight years ago People expected us to do the lightest, fastest thing ever made but a lot of standard production bikes are so mightily fast now, they are so far…

THE 2000 YAMAHA YZF-R1 encapsulates all the spirit of the first model, but with a subtle refinement that was lacking on the 1998 machine, making it more accomplished on the road. Best of all, because of the fuss about the 1998 bike, it’s cheaper than its older brother. The second-generation YZF-R1’s 250 changes were designed to iron out the original model’s rough edges. But you would be hard pushed to identify many at a glance. A new titanium exhaust can sitting in the place of the old carbon one is the most telling feature, the taller and wider upper fairing and sharpened tail unit less easy to spot. And even a gentle ride makes noticing any discernable difference equally hard. According to Yamaha, the gearbox shift shaft has an extra…

THE H2 IS is a genuinely no holds barred, one of a kind bike. The world needs more bikes like this. It is beautifully made, looks and goes like nothing else I’ve ever ridden, and that is a big part of the appeal for me. It has more power than I’d ever need, but mostly I love the way I have no reference for it, and that every time I rode it I found out new things about it. Each ride feels like the first; I’d never get bored of it. I’d love to get my hands on one to see what it’s like on the road, but as far as riding it on track goes, its time gap up to bikes like the R1 and S1000RR would be much…

STORY SO FAR Crash repair project, much tweaked, re-crashed and cobbled together 2001 DUCATI 900SS RUPERT PAUL SURVEYING MY SS after my mate Jonny’s recent low-speed spill was a dispiriting business. As with every crunch, the more you look the more you find. Silencer scratched and bent, and in danger of catching the swingarm. Dented tank (and that tank has so much work in it, to remove the useless original rubber pads and smooth over the resulting rough patches). Snapped indicator. Bent fairing bracket and brake lever. Clip-on twisted round. Throttle drum and grip scuffed. Two fairing panels. It’s all custom paintwork, too. And to my amazement, side panels, which originally only featured on the 750SSie, are hard to find on eBay or Ducati breaker Durham Ducs. But then I…

SPECIFICATION £9599 134BHP | 192KG MILEAGE THIS MONTH 972 TOTAL MILES COSTS THIS MONTH £147 £46.76 Talon sprockets £99.99 Speedo Healer 2015 SUZUKI GSX-R750 SIMON RUSSELL SNETTERTON WAS MY third trackday of the year, and at each one I’ve tried to use a more inline four-friendly riding technique of carrying a low gear and plenty of revs through the corners so the motor’s in its sweetspot at the exit. Despite this, the GSX-R never seems to be in that sweetspot. And the effect is worse on the road. A visit to one of Matt’s favourite and less suspect websites www.gearingcommander.com illustrates why – the GSX-R is overgeared. First gear will do 81mph while top is geared for 186mph, a cheque the Suzuki’s 134bhp lump can’t cash. To make the bike…

ARMCHAIR RIDE The GTS seat is as comfortable as the Jim’ll Fix It armchair. Just without the sinister undertones CALMED DOWN Perfectly willing and eminently driveable EXUP unit, but detuned to lop off 25bhp. Shame IT’S A PORKER There’s no getting round the fact it weights a quarter of a ton. Stable as they come, though FUNNY FRONT END You don’t notice any weirdness from the hub-steered front in use. It gives the GTS a magical ride quality CHRIS NEWBIGGING FEATURES EDITOR THE YAMAHA GTS1000 was years ahead of its time. Not in terms of hub-centre steering – Bimota and Elf did it first, and it wasn’t the great white hope of motorcycling then. But as an overall concept. It was just the wrong thing to pitch to the riding…

RACE BRAKES Sports-kitted bike uses Brembo race pads. Stock pads work well from cold, but tire on track CARBON EVERYTHING Carbon-fibre fairings and tail unit are standard on the RCV and flawless in every way LIMITED EDITION Honda only plan to make 250 RCVs, but they haven’t sold out just yet. Number 93 off the line is going to Marquez PAINTJOB Inspired by HRC bikes of the mid-80s, expect to see replica Chinese bodywork for your Fireblade soon ROAD RUBBER RCV uses Bridgestone RS10 road/trackday rubber in standard form OF COURSE IT is. It is a huge amount of money, but that’s because of what it is: a MotoGP bike for the road, not a production bike with MotoGP heritage. Honda’s RC213V-S really is a MotoGP bike with lights and…

TWEAKED STYLING The Monster’s design template can’t be meddled with, so Gianandrea Fabbro introduced subtle differences. A new seat is half-covered by a standard-fit cowl, a small headlight fairing and screen is added and the front mudguard is carbon fibre. The twin-silencers are smaller, higher and have a pentagonal cross section instead of the S’s tubular job. FOOTREST SAGA OVER A persistent criticism of both the 821 and 1200 Monsters is the combined rider/pillion footrest hangers – the way they prevent you tucking your feet up out of the way in corners is downright irritating. It’s now been fixed. A new subframe has mounts carrying separate pillion hangers, and the rider gets neater rearsets and machined aluminium footpegs. MORE POWER This is the most powerful version of the Testastretta 11°…

HAVING SECURED TWO WSB and two BSB titles since its launch in 2011, Kawasaki have resisted the urge to update their leading sportsbike. This is set to change for 2016. Kawasaki have announced there will be a revised ZX-10R next year and will officially pull the covers off it on October 8 (that’s tomorrow, if you’ve been queuing outside the newsagent waiting for this issue of PB to go on sale). We’ll be attending the unveiling so check our Facebook page for full details. The most significant improvement is to the bike’s electronics, with the addition of an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), following the lead of the Yamaha YZF-R1 and Ducati Panigale. Where the previous ZX-10R relied on wheel-speed sensors to feed data into its S-KTRC traction control system, the…

KAWASAKI ZX-10R DARREN EDWARDS “THIS IS MY 2006 ZX-10R. It’s been a great project for me and I have changed it quite a bit, with a cut and re-welded 2010 swingarm and a re-made exhaust using a 2010 collector box and end-can from a BMW S1000RR. “I did all the fabrication work myself. It also has a set of carbon wheels, a WP rear shock, PFM calipers and discs, an ISR master cylinder and clutch perch and lots of other bits. I love it.”…

FIM WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP • Öhlins Superbike FGR300 forks, Öhlins TTX36 shock• BMW electronics (HP calibration kit Pro)• Full engine tuning permitted• 169kg• Brembo EVO SBK calipers Light, immense power, sweet-steering and arse-covering electronics, the WSB BMW run by the Motorrad Italia SBK Team with rider Ayrton Badovini, really is the tits. With explosive power and supernatural accuracy, it’s a proper goes-where-I-point-it experience. The suspension is soft and plush, and the way the back end lights up at every opportunity suggests Badovini eats a lot less than I do. BRITISH SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP • K-Tech KTR-3 DDS closed cartridge fork, K-Tech DDS Pro shock• Pre-programmed cylinder cut and ignition control via MoTeC spec ECU• Cylinder head tuning permitted• 169kg• Brembo EVO SBK calipers Feels lighter and more agile than the IDM bike (right), but without the instability. Suspension is plusher. Despite…

DAVE RAYBOULD Took a week off work when Simoncelli was killed; commissioned Padgett’s to build him a money-no-object tribute bike SUSPENSION The massive 58mm WP forks are from Leon Haslam’s 2014 Ten Kate Pata Honda WSB practice bike and arrived with Ten Kate titanium yokes, headstock and clip-ons. The modified TTX36 shock is from Bruce Anstey’s 2012 TT bike BRAKES Brembo M4 monoblock calipers with Brembo SC pads grip Brembo fully-floating iron discs. The master cylinder is a Brembo unit while the rear brake’s master cylinder is standard Fireblade with a Wave disc FUELLING A full HRC ECU meets a PC-V, ignition module and Autotune system. Translogic quickshifter makes upshifts super-slick. The airbox contains HRC variable length velocity stacks and a Sprint air filter ENGINE The Ray Stringer-tuned engine has…

RACETECH KITBAG ‘Everything I need fits in this – including my leathers. My Arai RX7 GP lives in there, too.’ HYDRAULIC BIKE BENCH ‘I’ve had this for seven years and I wouldn’t be without it. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought. It’s a Clarke bench bought from Machine Mart for £450.’ RECHARGEABLE DRILLS ‘I’ve got several of these – Draper, Ryobi and DeWalt. They’re so handy for whipping off fairing panels and brackets. I’ve also got a set of socket adaptors for them.’ SMALL DRAWERS ‘Everthing from rubber grommets to split-pins, clips and banjo washers are ‘filed’ away in here. All the drawers are labelled with size and description.’ STANDS ‘There’s a stand for everything here. The Abba stand lifts the race bike by the swingarm spindle,…

GEARS Built from M121 F1-spec steel from Bohler, the Nova gears are considerably stronger than OE items and are super-finished to perfection DOGS Nova undercut the dogs for a quicker engagement and more positive gear retention. Like the gears, they are CNC machined from M121 steel STORY SO FAR Project TL1000R got faster, then ate its gearbox. JHS is improving it instead of just repairing it LOVE & THANKS JHS Racing, Nova Racing, Tim Davies at Suzuki CONTACTS www.jhsracing.co.uk www.novaracing.co.uk 1999 SUZUKI TL1000R TEAM PB SORRY FOR THE DELAY for those of you wanting an update on our sickly TL1000R. Circumstances beyond our control meant James at JHS hasn’t able to work on the bike, so progress stalled for a little while. But the extended period of inactivity has meant…

THESE REARSETS ARE things of utter beauty. CNC-machined from alloy, the footrest is finished with a deep knurled surface that bites the sole of your boot much more than the OE footpegs’ pattern. The pegs themselves are fixed to the hanger in one of six available positions. The most extreme position is 4.5cm higher than standard and 3.5cm further back. The heel guards complete the picture and, in-keeping with the rest of the set-up, are made from a pornographic standard of carbon-fibre. They’ve given my KTM Super Duke much-needed ground clearance, and a more aggressive attitude. Fitting them was a doddle, even for a buffoon like me, once I had sussed out which bushes went where. There is a set of fitting instructions, which I obviously ignored, but even so…

SPECIFICATION £20,750 182BHP | 194KG MILEAGE THIS MONTH 896 TOTAL MILES MPG THIS MONTH 11.1mpg Around Snetterton BEST MOMENT Seeing 60 degrees of lean on Pani’s lean angle indictor. Felt easy 2015 DUCATI 1299 PANIGALE S MATT WILDEE IT’S BEEN A varied, interesting and revealing month with the Panigale and, after the best part of 1000 miles, a long-distance run and the most hedonistic trackday of the year, I’ve bonded with my demanding and, frankly, horny as hell Italian mistress. I might even leave my wife for her. The Panigale was my means of transport when I popped down to Somerset to ride the sports version of Ariel’s Honda VFR1200-engined Ace (p60). 412 miles in a day is hardly crossing a continent, but up until now the Panigale had been…

SPECIFICATION £9899 126BHP | 220KG MILEAGE THIS MONTH 468 TOTAL MILES BEST MOMENT You’re looking at it. It does this everywhere ladles & gentlespoons 2015 KAWASAKI Z1000 CHRIS NEWBIGGING THE Z1000 SPENT a month wobbling and weaving. Hard throttle openings at speed had the front wandering around, anything approaching three figures felt loose. It wasn’t any fun to chuck along the sort of B-roads an unfaired sporty naked should be lapping up. I wondered if it was something to do with my suspension fettling. I’ve taken compression and rebound damping off the front, and all the rebound damping out of the back to give it the ability to deal with bumps. It worked, and as a bonus it has helped steering, as the shock can now return to its original…

Barely-legal pipes Honda say they can only produce the RCV until the end of next year, because of forthcoming noise and emissions regs. The aim of this bike was to win MotoGP races, not awards from Greenpeace. Factory-style swingarm Hand-welded by a Moriwaki-badged artisan, it may actually fit on Marquez’s racebike. The bike shares 80% of the MotoGP racer’s parts. Reverse-engineered MotoGP engine Honda started off with an HRC 999cc V4 race engine and then detuned it for reliability and durability. In track-ready spec it makes a claimed 212bhp. Headlight assembly Hides in the gaping chasm of the race RCV’s ram-air intake. Bolt-on bar-mirrors also point to race refugee status. It’s a MotoGP migrant. Öhlins TTX25 forks Gas-charged forks are as good as it gets on a production bike. The…

It’s been a trophy-filled month for PB’s track tester Michael Rutter. Kicking off at the Classic TT, he took his Ripley Land Honda to victory in the shortened three-lap 350cc Classic TT. Despite a misfire, Rutter still posted a 102.356mph average on his final lap to comfortably win the race. Proving the old magic is still alive, he took a replica of his father Tony’s 1984 F1 Ducati to 10th in the F1/F2 Classic TT race. Well we say replica, it is actually a 1000SS engine bored out to 1200cc with billet heads, bespoke frame, Paso Marzocchi forks with CBR internals and a few extra trick bits. His average race speed was an impressive 118.259mph over the four-lap race, with a fastest lap of 120.474mph. The race was won by…

SUZUKI TL1000S JIM MORSE “I’VE BEEN FOLLOWING PB’s Project TL1000R with great interest as I’m going through a similar project with my own Suzuki TL1000S. “The plan for the bike, like PB’s, is for better handling, lighter weight and more performance. I’ve already fitted GSX-R K5 forks, which also allow radial brakes. I’ve got a Maxton damper with a Hyperpro progressive spring and I’m currently debating the best way to go with wheels. I’m not sure whether to go ultra-lightweight with magnesium or carbon or do what PB did and fit GSX-R1000 L0 items. I’m favouring the L0 option at the moment, though. “Over the winter the bike is going to get a lot more power. I’ve got a 1080cc TL1000R motor with gas-flowed heads that’ll bolt straight in. “I’ve…

BUYING AN H2 is a big decision – complicated by the fact that the sublime Ducati Panigale 1299S costs the same. The H2 looks, sounds and goes special, but so does the Ducati, and it’s fairly obvious it’ll out-handle it. But how do they compare off-paper and on-road? It didn’t take a long ride with Matt on his long-term Pani to determine the Duke is much easier to ride fast, rather than just go fast in a straight line. Where the Kawasaki needs setting up early to power through a bend, the Ducati rarely needs to slow down, and can usually do it late and hard before carrying more corner and exit speed. It’s much lighter and shorter – no surprise really. But the H2’s extra stomp means you’re not…

SWEATING, BOILING, UNDER a relentless sun, beating down from a cloudless sky like God’s own sunlamp. You could fry an egg on the heat-hazy tarmac; too hot to touch, unless via the medium of race rubber. Gotta love Spanish race tracks in the summer. The blue and white BMW tap-dances through the gears down Valencia’s 800-metre straight, not quite reaching top but just sneaking under the gantry before popping up, making use of the S1000RR’s autoblipper and slipper clutch to hook back two on the reversed race shift pattern. The furnace in the exhaust ignites excess fuel on a closed throttle, crackling and banging like a miniature firework display. Pull on the brick-wall Brembos and the Beemer’s back end levitates, swaying from side to side like a palm leaf, while…

WHEELS The standard bike has stock VFR wheels, but this runs exquisite BST carbon wheels with ally hubs. Saving about 4kg of rotational inertia they help the long-wheelbase bike feel sharp. ENGINE The 1237cc (81 x 60mm) V4 motor makes 173bhp @ 10,000rpm, and uses throttle bodies, ECU and traction control, plus downpipes, from the Honda VFR1200 donor bike. FRAME Ally frame takes 70 man-hours to produce and costs more to produce than the huge tubular steel frame of Ariel’s sportscars. Machined from billet, it uses sections welded together. SUSPENSION Stock bike runs Showa forks; 43mm Öhlins R&T forks and shock are an upgrade. Nissin six-pots are from the VFR, but performed so well during testing that Ariel kept them. OPTIONS Push-button auto box, wheels, brakes, exhaust, tank size, seat…

WITH DAVE’S WARNING of, “Don’t bend my forks” ringing in my ears, and the slight worry about the fact he has a large digger and access to big holes and plenty of concrete should I do so, I nervously take to the road. I needn’t have worried as despite being a bloody fast bike, this is one of the most perfectly set up Blades I have ever ridden. With highly tuned engines the first thing that generally goes is user-friendliness. But this isn’t the case with Dave’s Blade. The combination of the PC-V and Autotune, not to mention a lot of dyno work by Padgett’s, has given this Blade one of the most beautiful throttle responses of any bike I’ve ridden. It’s absolutely faultless; perfectly smooth and fluid from the…

WITH NO NATURAL rival already on the PB laptime leaderboard (or in the showrooms for that matter), which bike do you compare the Kawasaki H2’s best lap to ? We could compare it to the GSX-R1000 or the KTM RC-8R, or even the 899 Panigale. After all, the H2 lapped within a second of all three of those bikes, and all of them set their times in similar weather conditions. The fact that the H2’s laptime can be mentioned in the same sentence as those three is pretty impressive when even Kawasaki themselves are at pains to tell you the H2 is not a sportsbike. But there’s no avoiding the fact the H2 is the most powerful bike on the leaderboard, so rightly or wrongly it seems natural to compare…

SPINE-SAVER Kar’s starting to creak, so an upright naked was already on his list of things to buy when he won the lottery STORY SO FAR Bought new for road and track SPENT THIS MONTH £14,635 Initial purchase price MILEAGE THIS MONTH 185 2015 APRILIA TUONO V4 FACTORY KAR LEE “Can you help me put the CBR on the paddock stand so I can polish it?” she asked. It was an unusual request from the wife this Sunday afternoon, as I knew she was more than capable of doing it herself. She probably just wanted my ass off the sofa as I’d just sat down for a cuppa. As I lifted the garage door, the CBR was already on its paddock stand. What was she playing at? Then I clocked…

I’VE NEVER BEEN a fan of thin, dainty leather and external seams. I prefer a reassuring, robust glove, and it’s for this reason I’ve worn Held gloves for the last five years. These are their second-tier sports gloves – £50 cheaper than the Titan race gloves, and a little more supple and comfortable for big miles. They take a while to bed in, but perfectly form to your hands and don’t go baggy with further miles. An occasional clean has kept them looking good, and they’re still fully intact – no saggy or split seams. The leather on the finger tips is thinned and hardened, but boots and gloves work harder than any other piece of kit, so it’s to be expected. There’s still life in them as daily gloves,…

SPECIFICATION £14,760 193BHP | 204KG MILEAGE THIS MONTH 478 TOTAL MILES BEST MOMENT Realising a BMW kit bag will (just) fit on a Ventura bike rack 2015 BMW S1000RR SIMON HARGREAVES YOUR AVERAGE ADULT wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) weighs about 0.4kg and flies at around 35mph. The BMW S1000RR, with an adult Hargreaves (Homo neanderthalensis) on board weighs around 300kg and yesterday, was travelling at 110mph (er, theoretically). I’m no mathematician, but Pythagoras says our collision velocity would’ve been around 115mph. And bumping into half a kilo of flying, feathered rat – even one on a perpendicular trajectory, homing in on the BMW from a field to the right – is best avoided. In years of hooning across the Fens for a living, I’ve near-missed a veritable Fearnley-Whittingstall of potential…

SPECIFICATION £13,999 158BHP | 214KG CAR ALARMS SET OFF 4 TOTAL ASBOS 2015 KTM SUPER DUKE R JOHN McAVOY SMUGNESS IS NOT an emotion that sits comfortably with me. We all know one person who is always there to say “told you so”, and whenever I am on the receiving end of those words I have a overwhelming urge to smash whoever said them in the face, really hard. However, much as I don’t like it, I can’t help feeling smug right now. After Michael Rutter’s previous attempt to set a hot lap on my Super Duke R at Mallory effectively came to nothing due to his total lack of self discipline, and despite his laptime actually being faster than the stock bike’s, it was obvious on the data trace…