Table of contents for November 2017 in Performance Bikes

IF THERE IS one thing that irritates me (apart from salad bars and calls for last orders? – CN) it’s when a manufacturer releases a special edition consisting of a ‘special’ paintjob and an obligatory plaque on the top yoke. A faux carbon tart’s handbag does not deserve an SP, R or RR badge in my opinion. But the 2006 YZF R1-SP gets a thumbs-up from me. It doesn’t have a shouty fluorescent paintjob, it doesn’t have a single strand of meaningless carbon anywhere on it, fake or otherwise and it doesn’t even have a loud exhaust. The SP consists only of meaningful changes to the 2004-2006 R1 that it is based on, adding ability and desirability as a by-product. Limited to 500 units in the UK and 500 in…

‘THE FIRST THING I KNEW WAS LOOKING AT THE TARMAC. NEXT THING I REMEMBER WAS BEING IN HOSPITAL’ THE FIRST THING you notice about Guy Martin is life. It shines out of his eyes. It spills out of his brain, in the form of curiosity and energy and words. It powers the extraordinary things he’s done since he was a kid: racing, crashing, record breaking, endurance mountain biking, engineering – not to mention exploits all over the world which no other TV presenter could attempt. The second thing is speed. Guy’s famously rapid speech – unintelligible to Americans – is the evidence of a mind as quick as anybody’s in the world of business or politics. It’s just that he also possesses the reflexes and determination to do everything really…

WHEN MIDDLEWEIGHTS were the poor relation to supersport bikes, a series could easily have been arranged, as the naked bikes were all 600cc. But as the supersport class’s popularity dipped and the middleweights flourished, it led to a greater diversity within the naked bikes. How do you regulate a class that includes triples, parallel twins, inline fours and V-twins that are all of varying capacities? It can’t happen. So what’s the answer? You could impose a horsepower cap and minimum weight limit, but no manufacturer would get behind this with factory-supported teams as all the performance emphasis would be on the bike’s chassis – and that’s exactly what caused the spiralling costs, track focus and eventual decline of the supersport class. The only viable solution would be a one-make naked…

PAUL’S WORDS OF WORKSHOP WISDOM Buy new old stock If you have any disposable income, buy new old stock from a dealer – things like fairing panels, OE exhausts, tanks, they are all for sale and once they are gone they are gone forever. Take my word for it – it’s money in the bank! eBay is dead When it comes to used parts, eBay is done. It is full of rip-off merchants and so many of the parts are over-priced and sold by idiots. Speak to owners clubs or forums if you want a part, you will get far better results. Use ACF50 ACF50 is magic. I’m not afraid to get my bikes wet and you should never avoid riding a bike just because you are worried about it…

‘We could go out with a bang if we win at Brands, or even run the Superbike there before we take it to Macau’ 2016 BMW S1000RR ALEC TAGUE IT’S NOW mathematically impossible for Michael to be beaten for third place in the British Superstock championship. Consistency has been the key – he’s not thrown the bike up the road all year, and I think he’s had eight podiums. I’ve said it before, but for a man of his age, it’s one hell of an achievement – especially when you consider the average age of riders in the championship is 24! We went into the Silverstone round with a healthy points lead over Chrissy Rouse, but his team had the points that were docked at Cadwell reinstated. Basically, they were…

‘If your bike’s steering is already pin-sharp, you’ll enjoy the great edge grip and ability to hold a line’ HOW LONG 1000 MILES ROAD USE/TWO TRACKDAYS COST £305 PER PAIR CONTACT WWW.DUNLOP.EU WE’VE USED Dunlop’s new fast road/trackday tyre on our 2008/2017 Fireblades. Common to both is great side grip and surprisingly predictable cold performance: both bikes on the GP Racers were out in the damp at the PB trackday without any grief, despite Rockingham’s sub-par wet weather grip. Low running pressures mean they’re squidgy and wobbly if you use them without warmers, but the NTEC carcasses soon warm up and get on with it. On our 2008 Fireblade, which isn’t naturally fast steering, it made it a little harder to tip in or lever from side to side: they’re…

‘The two-layer gauntlet cuff makes a weather-tight seal possible’ HOW LONG FOUR YEARS COST £59.99 CONTACT WWW.THEKEYCOLLECTION.CO.UK THESE GLOVES were found in the office years ago as an emergency set for a photoshoot promising wet and misery in the failed winter pair I had before. Since then, they’ve given me sterling service: no leaks, robust build and warmth in all but longer rides in biting cold. The two-layer gauntlet cuff makes a good weather-tight seal possible, if fiddly thanks to a drawstring to tighten them on your forearm. They’re not too restrictive, so you don’t feel like a liability riding a sharp sportsbike in them. They’re well used now: I don’t know how long they’d been used before, but the insulation has compressed and isn’t as effective as it was,…

‘If Chris finds out I’ve fitted panniers to the Super Duke, he’ll have my P45 waiting on my desk’ 2017 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE GT AUSTIN SMITH BY THE TIME you read this, I’m hoping I’ll still have a job. If Chris finds out I fitted panniers to the Super Duke, he’ll have my P45 on my desk quicker than you can say “tribunal.” Whitey had pre-warned me about the repercussions of such actions, from the days when he ran the BMW S1000XR with a topbox. But my justification is sound. Although I happily gave it some stick around Rockingham last month, the perfect opportunity to test its ‘Grand Tourer’ capabilities came when I foolishly entered a mountain bike marathon in the Peak District. After bribing my mates to take…

CHRIS NEWBIGGING EDITOR chris@pbmag.co.uk High-value items only AUSTIN SMITH ART EDITOR austin@pbmag.co.uk Fretting over the fat content JOHN McAVOY ROAD TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk Back for thirds MICHAEL RUTTER TRACK TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk Filling a bag for later MARK WHITE TECHNICIAN editorial@pbmag.co.uk Brought vegan packed lunch JEREMY McWILLIAMS COLUMNIST editorial@pbmag.co.uk Starting a food fight KAR LEE FORUM EDITOR editorial@pbmag.co.uk Straight to the dessert table CAROLINE BARRETT EDITORIAL ASSISTANT caz@pbmag.co.uk Coveting pork pies THANKS TO Marc Abbott, Rob Elliott, Calum Satterthwaite, Garry Teece, Alan Rowcliffe, Jeff Turner, Luke Brackenbury NO THANKS TO Whitey, for the fishless fingers...…

DREAM BIKE manufacturer Bimota is now just a memory as the skeleton workforce and output is wound up, the factory stripped of its branding and stock moved on. It’s hardly surprising: a limited and slightly odd range of bikes dependent on other engine suppliers (some of which are no longer available), plus fairly poor customer support from the factory itself, isn’t a recipe for a prosperous business... It has been suggested they were even buying complete Ducatis to provide engines for final bikes, and flogging the remains online. In any case, PB is sad to see them go – although the sparks of brilliance were few and far between, the world is still a marginally poorer place without the shamelessly single-minded, beautifully engineered and occasionally properly executed slices of Italian…

YOU COULD ARGUE until you’re blue in the face and sweating in your anorak about the first superbike. CB750? GPZ900R? FireBlade? All worthy contributors to the development of fast motorcycles, but if you own a bike designed since the R1 made us say ‘what the actual fuck?’ 20 years ago, it’s really Yamaha’s litre-class loon that defines the sportsbikes of today. Short-stacked, power-packed big-bore motor: a fat, rigid beam frame wasted away to be narrow in the middle and link steering/swingarm pivots as effectively as possible. It’s all there – even with another 60bhp and electronics to separate the best of today’s fast metal from the first YZF-R1, the direct link is obvious. Hell, the ZX-10R and S1000RR even look like the foxy Yam, barring some green paint and a…

‘WITH THE ENGINE IN THE 14B, YAMAHA GAVE US THE FIRING ORDER OF THEIR M1 MOTOGP BIKE’ YOU GOT TO hand it to Yamaha, they’re not afraid to try different things and go against the flow. Litre bikes in 2009 were largely unexceptional: a development of early noughties tech. Bit more of this, less of that, move that closer to the centre. Except for Yamaha, who gave us some true MotoGP technology: the crossplane crank. Plenty of bikes make ‘MotoGP-developed’ claims, but there was no ambiguity in Yamaha’s boasts: from the moment it fires, the rough and grumbly note is unquestionably a direct rip-off. With the engine in the 14B, Yamaha gave us the firing order of their M1 MotoGP bike, with the exact same crank phasing (cylinders 1-3-2-4 at…

‘THERE CAN NEVER BE ANOTHER RIDER LIKE JOEY.IT WAS A DIFFERENT ERA, HE JUST FITTED INTO THAT...’ HONDA RACE BOSS Neil Tuxworth is calling it a day after almost 30 years at the helm of Honda UK and Europe’s racing division. At 65 years old, he bowed out at the end of August after 28 years of overseeing some of Honda’s most successful race teams across World Superbikes, British Superbikes, road racing and motocross. Tuxworth’s replacement, Jonny Twelvetrees, has joined the team from Honda’s Power Equipment division (lawnmowers and stuff) last year and has steadily been taking over more and more responsibility in the last 18 months. Like Tuxworth or loathe him, Twelvetrees has big shoes to fill. The Marmite character was behind the WSB titles of John Kocinski and…

HOW LONG FIVE YEARS COST VARIES ACCORDING TO JOB CONTACT WWW.TI64.CO.UK IF YOUR bike’s on a diet and you’ve been through the common fasteners, you need to get creative with clever engineering. Pete at Ti64 has spent years honing his craft with a passion for top-grade titanium and alloys. He helped me recreate many steel parts in my 2003 R1 engine. Not only are they significantly lighter but they’re also stronger, corrosion resistant and of the sort of quality it’s a shame to hide. A master craftsman, he’s the man to trim your figures down. Wheel spindles, engine mounts and any other hardware are his low-calorie bread and butter: mine still all look like new and are better made than your typical off-the-shelf Ti parts.…

‘IT’S THAT COMBINATION OF BRILLIANT ENGINE, PREDICTABLE HANDLING AND GORGEOUSLY SLIM YET AGGRESSIVE LOOKS THAT MADE ME FALL FOR THE R1 5PW’ AHHHHH, THIS FEELS like home. Not in the ‘comfy sofa I got for a steal just after Christmas’ kind of way (although maybe a little, but I’ll get to that). Rather that I’m very familiar with and right away I feel er, at home on a 2002/2003 5PW model R1. Of all the bikes I’ve owned and ridden, nothing feels as tailored, as suited to my fussy needs (and I’m admittedly fussy to the point of being unbearable; ask either of my friends) as this bike I’m riding. It’s even the same colours as my own was many years ago and that same tank pad was also present…

STYLE AND QUALITY is a hallmark of the R1. The 1998 bike started that: no stray cables, ugly bolts or cheap finishes. Distinctive bodywork finished in simple colours and a minimum of graphics (with one or two exceptions) is no small part of the appeal of any model. But the R1M is something else. At £19,399, it’s the most expensive version they’ve ever made, but it justifies it. The limited production, premium option has carbon-fibre bodywork. Öhlins were heavily involved in the development, and it has their familiar, gold-hued semi-active-controlled forks and shock (first developed on and for Haga/Corser’s 2007 R1 WSB bike, before it was banned in the series). It also has an onboard datalogger as standard. It’s the sort of approach that has stood Ducati in good stead…

SHOCK TACTICS Purpose-developed front and rear shocks each deliver 95mm of travel, and are horizontally-mounted thanks to the compact nature of the four-cylinder motor. OPTIMISED MASS Rodorigo wanted the crankshaft as far forward as possible, to maximise corner speed. But it was exaggerated, so he lengthened the front swingarm to compensate. FORGING AHEAD The Vyrus rolls on the company’s own forged aluminium wheels – 6in at the rear, 3.75in at the front. VYRUS 986 M2 STRADA ALAN CATHCART THEY DON’T RUSH the finer things in Italy. Vyrus virtuoso Ascanio Rodorigo promised a road-legal variant of the hub-steered Moto2 racer he unveiled in 2011 – and now, at long last, it’s arrived. The 986 M2 is the first Vyrus with an inline four (and a non-Ducati engine for that matter). That’s…

‘I WONDER IF YAMAHA SHOULD CHANGE THE MT NAME TO ‘TDR’ INSTEAD’ LIVING IN A household with three supersport bikes is a lot of fun: a decade-old CBR with the right mods, a Daytona 675R with trick parts as standard. And my 2017 R6 is a very capable machine even before getting the personal touch. But, in a few years time, what will replace them? I’ll tell you what won’t: the Suzuki. It has a cheap-looking frame, awful Transformer-style looks and a motor milking a tenuous K5 connection to create the most forgettable use of a GSX badge. It’s the cheapest on test by £300 but is still too expensive for what you get. A clear loser. The other three are amazing in their own little ways. The Z900 was…

1 DAB radio ‘Yes, we can get DAB in Wales! This DAB radio cost next to nothing in Argos, which was possibly something to do with its colour, but it is ace. I always have the radio on in the garage and Absolute is the way to go – the 1980s rock! If you run a crap radio into an amp it sounds really good and makes The Human League even better than they were the first time round...’ 2 Long Phillips screwdriver ‘If you own a V4, you need one of these! The carbs on a V4 are located right in the middle of the V and using this I can get the NC30’s carbs off, re-jetted and back on again in less than 30 minutes. Without this screwdriver…

‘We’ll reflash the standard ECU and kill off some redundant features’ 2008 HONDA FIREBLADE CHRIS NEWBIGGING THE DUCATI SUPERLEGGERA we’re aiming to match on spec and beat on power is a serious bit of kit, so we’re getting serious, too. So it’s over to the Veg-Cave, to take advantage of Whitey’s workshop gear, and blow it apart. The two objectives: first, remove everything from the bare chassis, and put back lighter components or at least pared-back originals. Everything that’s even vaguely sensible to attack will be seen to: at this stage, the frame, swingarm, yokes and forks will remain. Second, with the engine out, we’re going to crack it open and see if our 43k-mile lump is as healthy as the dyno says. As chunks came off, they were put…

‘The last owner opted for budget price and lifespan from the brakes and tyres, rather than performance’ 2005 YAMAHA YZF-R1 CARL NEWBIGGING ONE MONTH INTO ownership, the R1 has proved to be surprisingly well mannered in its basic character – it’s smooth with a feel of quality. But it does have the tendency to wheelie and slap a bit: one I like, the other not so much. My wrist still creaks on cold days after a Cadwell tankslap saw me break it going into a tyre wall, thanks to brake pistons pushing back in their bores when it got a wobble on... So I was mindful of these wobbles when I took it on track for the first time at PB’s Rockingham trackday last month: bending myself or the R1…

HOW LONG EIGHT YEARS COST £5 CONTACT HOMESTORES/TOOL STALLS THESE PACKS of mixed fittings and other workshop miscellanea are invaluable. Often, I’ve bought them for just one or two items, as they’re cheaper than OEM, so you’re already ahead. But they tend to be useful again and again – the rubber grommets were bought to mount parts on my VF400 project years ago, but more recently I’ve used them to plug holes where I removed alarm fittings on my MV. Depending on the cheapo homestore/bike show tool stall you buy them from, they cost £3-£5. I keep a stock of copper washers, R-pins, grommets, E-clips and shrink-wrap sections – but there’s plenty more available, too.…

‘The baffle I’d fitted to the Yoshi silencer had shed another bolt, allowing the steel insert to drop into the headers’ 2017 SUZUKI GSX-R1000R CHRIS NEWBIGGING A BAD DAY at the track is reputedly better than a good day at work. Is it fuck. My office is warm, has a machine dispensing cups of hot sugary slop and YouTube on tap. Meanwhile, what should have been a great day giving my slick-shod GSX-R merry hell around Silverstone’s GP layout turned to crap between inclement weather and my own inadvertent mechanical mistakes. Winding back a step, a change I desired for the Suzuki was a better riding position: wider, straighter clip-ons, and footpegs without an annoying point on their ends. They make the bike that bit more cramped on the road…

‘For Whitey to comment on how straightforward it is to fit is testament to the system’s tight tolerances’ 2017 HONDA FIREBLADE JOHN McAVOY THE RAPID RACING fuel module has been busy doing its thing and auto-tuning itself to a point where my Fireblade is no longer saving the planet. It’s now getting a Euro4-unfriendly quantity of fuel, especially at low and mid revs, so while I’m at it I might as well bin the catalytic converter. It is located in the exhaust, so that means a new system for the Fireblade. Some machines just need a link pipe between the headers and end can, but not the Fireblade. The catalytic converter is found lurking in the header pipe section. Akrapovic supplied their full stainless steel system for the Blade, and…

2017 YAMAHA YZF-R6 KAR LEE “I’LL BE ABOUT half an hour, just got to take a few snaps of the bike while I’m out.” It’s a Friday night, I’m tasked with the chippy run and I let ’er indoors know I’ve just got to grab a quick photo for this month’s update. In my head I’m going to the bridge/overpass on the A1 to get a shot that illustrates how good the road and motorway manners of the R6 are, as we all know it does the business on track. It’s turned out to be comfy, not too thirsty either, especially if the revs are kept low. Sure, that’s not where the power lives, but the R6 makes a decent road bike . I reach the roundabout over the motorway…