Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 65 Issue 17 i Australian Motorcycle News

A RESTYLE IS in the pipeline for KTM’s 1190 Adventure and our snapper has managed to grab shots of the prototype under test in Spain. Ignore the duct tape and you’ll see the test bike here has a revised nose shape that will eventually include a reshaped headlight. These plastic parts are obviously still in the prototype stage – the screen will be clear on the final version – and are being used to check that the new shape doesn’t cause aerodynamic issues like buffeting for the rider. They’re also testing a new screen adjustment mechanism that looks like it will be electrically operated. What’s not clear is whether the facelift will be limited to a new nose and screen or if other panels on the bike will be changed…

THE THREE-WHEELED Yamaha MWT-9 concept bike was one of last year’s most unusual machines and the firm’s apparent intention to put it into production virtually unchanged makes it all the more intriguing. Detailed inspection of last year’s show bike proved it was a far cry from the run-of-the-mill concept. Usually at close quarters the mocked-up components and one-off machined parts become apparent, but the closer you looked at the MWT-9 the more production-ready it seemed. In reality, the bike’s conceptish look came largely from its unusual colour scheme, with purplish paint, grey-blue anodised suspension parts and perspex panels bolted to the forks. Strip them away and it looks less outlandish and more like the production bike that it’s destined to become. Yamaha has already trademarked the ‘MWT’ name for use…

Known the world over for his stunning victory over Giacomo Agostini at Oran Park in December 1971, Bryan Hindle was a popular rider who was something of an outlier in the matey world of motorcycle racing. An industrial chemist specialising in printing inks and a devout Christian, Hindle would spend hours at NSW distributor McCulloch Yamaha going through every head and barrel in the spares department to find the ones with the smoothest ports and best matching surfaces for his Yamaha 350. Len Atlee rode to victory in the augural 1970 Castrol 1000 Six Hour race with Hindle, and spent years dicing with him. “Bryan was very religious, I think he had a special relationship with his saviour. He used to do things in front of me and I’d think,…

EVER SINCE SERVICEMEN returning from World War II decided they could improve on the motorcycles they had ridden in Europe, customs have been all about modifying factory bikes. We’ve created bobbers, cafés, brats, rats and a whole lot more. But have you ever considered what could exist at the other end of the spectrum? What if, instead of adding or removing parts on a factory motorcycle, you started from scratch? Not ‘scratch’ as in a restoration project or even a parts catalogue. What if you started with nothing but raw steel, a few old parts and a whole load of talent? What if you actually built the whole bike and most of the engine yourself? For Jeremy Cupp of Virginia’s LC Fabrications, a blank piece of paper was as good…

Tell us about the tie-up between RSD and Ducati. I think we did our first project with Ducati in 2008, and I’ve worked on and off with them for some time doing different things. We did a Hypermotard project with them, we built the Diavel concept bike, and for a while we’ve been building the full XDiavel custom bike, which we will be launching at the Austin MotoGP. We’ve made a range of parts for Ducatis before, but the difference this time is our XDiavel products are co-branded with Ducati. What do you think about Ducati entering the cruiser market? For them (Ducati) it’s new territory, but its just a change of foot position really. I mean the bike itself is no less sporty than the old Diavel. And I…

Triple treat The pistons are completely new, and the cam profiles and timings have been revised. The intake and exhaust are all new, to comply with Euro 4. Power is down from 93kW to 86.5kW, but peak torque is up by 25 per cent from a lower rpm and across a broader spread of the rev range. Helping hands There are four rider modes as standard: Rain (60kW), Normal, Sport and a Custom mode. The rider modes only change the fuelling, while traction control stays on your saved setting. TC ranges from 0-8, including off, and can be changed on the move even with the throttle open. ABS can be de-activated. Geometry tweaks Wheelbase is now 20mm longer at 1400mm, trail has increased from 95mm to 103.5mm and rake is…

In the run-up to the start of 2016 season the factory MotoGP teams were given just nine days of testing to get their bikes ready for the first race at Qatar on 20 March. Following tests at Sepang and Phillip Island each factory team appears to be in a slightly different situation, and it's not easy to work out yet who the losers are or who the winners might be. The main changes for 2016 are the software and the tyres, and it's actually quite difficult to think of two things more troublesome to change on a GP bike. All the bikes in MotoGP have been developed with one purpose: to get the best out of their tyres. And the factory and rider combination that can get the best out…

With a big shiny number 1 plate on his all-new KRT Ninja ZX-10R Jonathan Rea showed everybody just why he is the reigning WSBK champion. He put in two top performances, to record two wins on a historic race weekend. For the first time, a race was planned for Saturday and Sunday, and Phillip Island did not disappoint in its ability to put on breathtakingly close racing. Twice Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) tried to topple Rea from the top step. In Race 1 Davies ran on to recover second place, but the second time he toppled himself, asking too much of the Ducati's front end on the last lap at Honda hairpin. After Race 1 Rea said, “I have been lucky that Kawasaki has worked so hard in the…

Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) secured his first ever WSS race win in his first WSS race, after a late fall by Kenan Sofuoglu. The Kawasaki teammates managed to get away from a long train of leading riders nearer the end of the 18 laps, but as rain began to spit down, Sofuoglu felt his rear tyre go and he fell mid corner, in the lead with three laps to go. Krummenacher, who has just joined WSS from Moto2, pushed on to win, leading a remarkable podium in more ways than one. Said Krummenacher: “It was really a special race because the conditions were different to anything before, any practice and any testing. I did not expect that Kenan would crash, so I am very sorry for him. It feels…

TWO JUNIOR MOTOCROSS racing classes will be introduced to support selected rounds of the 2016 MX Nationals series. The 85cc Cup, (85cc two-stroke, 12 – under 16 years) and the Rising Star Rookies Cup (125cc two stroke, 13 – under 16 years) have been designed to meet the existing FIM rules and regulations of junior MX racing in an effort to prepare young Aussies for competition overseas. The Jr MX Nats series will be supported by Williams Event Management (WEM) with $20 from each entry donated to the riders who will be competing at the FIM Junior Motocross World Championships in Russia this year. “Motorcycling Australia, the FIM, and WEM have all worked together to ensure that what we are doing here in Australia is recognised at a world level,…

A LARGE CONTINGENT of Australian speedway riders will again head overseas to be among the line-ups for teams in league competitions in the UK for the 2016 season. Most teams in the eight-team Elite League and the 13-team Premier League have finalised their line-ups and there will be 26 Aussies involved when the season opens. There will be a familiar look to this year’s contingent as they include Speedway Grand Prix riders Chris Holder and Jason Doyle, as well as those who are aspiring to get to that level, plus the ‘journeymen’, and a few others who are trying to establish themselves in what will be their first season abroad. The journeymen are those who continue to do their job by making sufficient contributions to their teams to hold their…

THE HARTWELL MOTORCYCLE Club Championship, returned to the Broadford State Motorcycle Complex on 13-14 February for the first round of the five round series. An impressive entry list saw more than 160 motorcycles take to the track over the weekend, boasting maximum grid numbers for several classes, and plenty of new faces for 2016. The feature event for the weekend was the Greg Bailey Memorial race, a 22-lap journey around the 2.16km circuit, open to Expert and Non-Expert riders. It was taken out in a commanding fashion by Ben Gotch (Total Welding, Honda CBR1000RR). Gotch led from start to finish over the 48km race, building up an impressive 23-second lead over YRD rider, Kenny Redding (Yamalube, Yamaha R1). While Redding fought off seasoned campaigner Chris Ognenis (Suzuki GSX-R1000) by more…

WE FIRST CAUGHT a glimpse of Triumph’s 2017 Bonneville-based Bobber back in June last year, but apart from a single set of spy pictures the project wasn’t seen again. Now it has raised its head above the ramparts a second time and AMCN’s snapper was right there. The Bobber hasn’t outwardly changed a great deal over the last eight months, but details mark it out as being closer to production than before. Compared to the original pictures, the bike has gained a more finished-looking taillight and a much neater front brake master cylinder, losing the ungainly plastic fluid reservoir of the earlier prototype. As you’d expect, the engine is a derivative of the new, water-cooled twin that’s appeared in the 2016 Bonneville T120, Thruxton and Speed Twin models. It’s not…

NEARLY TWO YEARS after AMCN first scooped Victory’s water-cooled cruiser in April 2014, Victory Motorcycles has at last taken the official wraps off the highly anticipated 1173cc Octane. The final production machine looks near identical to the design drawings that we featured back then – only the addition of a small front cowling and screen sets it aside from the original designs. Victory itself has been performing a drawn-out pre-publicity campaign around the bike. It started with the Project 156 racebike that competed at last year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and was followed by the Ignition and Combustion concept bikes, which each came a little closer to representing the final Octane design. However, given the high performance tag that Victory has been using to promote the Octane, the final…

Happily not mainstream I couldn’t agree more with Sam Mac’s comments in your last issue regarding Toby Price’s Dakar motorcycle victory and the mainstream media. There was a notable lack of coverage until, of course, the final victory, and even that token seemed to me to be somewhat begrudging and brief. All the more time for coverage of the appalling fan behaviour of a certain red and black soccer team eh? Plenty of urinating going on there... Better that we fly under the radar, as Sam points out, than mix it with that strange lot. And his point regarding the drive to ride a motorcycle coming from deep inside rings profoundly true as well. Many a rider has taken up the sport, but only those with an abiding passion seem…

This techno-cruiser offers effortless long-range pleasure with a healthy selection of biking mod cons HONDA HAS TREAD a fine line with the CTX, opting to wrap its whisper quiet V4 engine in space-age bagger styling, but when it comes to eating up the miles there are few bikes out there that can compete. This techno-cruiser offers effortless long-range pleasure with a healthy selection of biking mod cons such as combined ABS, traction control, heated grips and a cranking sound system. Due to its sheer size it doesn’t come to a halt like a sportsbike, and you can forget about lane filtering, but the CTX quickly reveals its qualities when you hit the open road. With speed the bike becomes planted and any challenges experienced when piloting this cruiser through the…

Life is theatre. That’s why marketing works – because we see ourselves as players. The opening page of Ducati’s XDiavel internet microsite seeks to flirt with this very human affliction. Which side of the X are you on? Are you the gentleman? Or the bastard? Or both? And what does that even mean? With the risk of losing the third best job I’ve ever had, what the hell is Ducati getting at? Can I not be a lady, or even a bitch, and still appreciate the throbbing soul-stimulus emanating from such a creation? Theatre … it’s an escape, an image, a dream. Okay, so it’s not that dissimilar to motorcycling then. The XDiavel is a completely new bike, a new motorcycling experience, and it doesn’t need all the theatrics for…

There’s no arguing the new Brutale 800 is stunning. It’s still the jaw-dropping poster bike the original model was 15 years ago. This is the first machine to come from MV Agusta to meet the tight new Euro 4 legislation, but while there’s been a fair bit of mechanical jiggery-pokery, thankfully there haven’t been many cosmetic sacrifices. The attention to detail is lovely, from tasty touches like the stitching on the seat right down to the beautifully sculpted single-sided swingarm. The all-new trellis frame stands out as bold but simultaneously delicate and intricate. The triple-exit exhausts sound as good as they look, and help the new Brutale deliver the wow factor – you’re going to smile every time you open the garage door and gaze upon this beast lurking within.…

Price came off the rest day like a cut snake, slicing his way to the point For the past decade the Dakar Rally has been fought between Cyril Despres and Marc Coma or, if you’re a Catalan, Marc Coma and Cyril Despres. Predictions about any other contenders were always preceded by an if a but or a maybe, and there was never any serious money wagered on anyone other than the KTM Red Bull teammates (though there was never any certainty about the ‘mate’ bit). Then Despres decided to follow in Stéphane Peterhansel’s car tracks while Coma took on the responsibility of Dakar Route Director. Price’s historic third place at the 2015 Dakar signaled a changing of the guard. When Coma retired, KTM quickly confirmed its line-up: Jordi Viladoms, Matthias…

Cool is something that can’t be taught, created, or faked. Neither is cool an inherent attribute of any material object. Cool needs context to exist, and can vanish in an instant. Roland Sands makes his living flirting with these rules of cool, and does a damn good job of it. The Ronin leather jacket is his top-shelf offering, and defies the rules by being exceptionally good, and deftly understated. It’s become an instant favourite, even to the point that I’ve found myself choosing test bikes which suit the jacket’s ‘look’. But then that’s the best thing about the Ronin’s laid back style – it suits just about any bike, and makes whatever you’re riding look better and, dare I say it, cooler. We liked In a word, quality. The Ronin…

The fierce acceleration will humiliate run-of-the-mill Porsches and Ferraris BMW’s ‘airhead’ models established the brand’s reputation as handy touring bikes long before the factory launched its ‘full-dress’ tourer, the R100RT, in 1978. Numerous RT and LT (luxury tourer) models followed, powered by a range of ‘airhead’ twins, ‘brick’ fours and ‘oilhead’ twins. But the K1200GT, launched in 2006, was the real game-changer with truly sizzling performance added to the traditional mix of touring ability and creature comforts. When the K1300GT arrived in 2009 it represented the polishing of a gem, a refinement of the impressive K1200GT. The K1300GT’s heart is a mighty 1293cc, DOHC, fuel-injected, liquid-cooled, in-line, four-cylinder engine. Producing a stonking 118kW, it is also remarkable for its tractability and broad spread of torque – 85 per cent of…

Phillip Island, the Special One In the days of purpose-built racetracks, Phillip Island stands out as a naturally flowing and relatively fast place to race motorcycles. The high average lap speed is remarkable considering it has just one real straight, and that is not that long compared to some. Racebikes spend more time on one side of the tyre here than anywhere else – the left in this case – and crucially a lot of that is while the riders are applying an open or transitory throttle. As a result, potentially damaging heat builds up and gets into the tyre by natural cornering forces (side grip) and the application of power (drive grip). With lots of these forces being transmitted through the rear tyre on all those long left corners,…

QUEENSLANDER TROY GUENTHER showed the large Phillip Island crowd that he is a potential star of the future taking out the round on his Graffiti Alley Racing/Link International Yamaha YZF-R6, winning Races 1 and Race 3, and placing fourth in a two-lap, rain-shortened, Race 2. In Race 1, rivals Mark Chiodo and Kyle Buckley crashed out, allowing Guenther to win comfortably from Callum Spriggs on the Cube Racing Kawasaki ZX6-R, over five seconds behind. West Australian Sam Clarke piloted his Banhams WA Racing Kawasaki ZX6R to third place. Guenther, who has only recently turned 17, rode with remarkable maturity in Race 2, immediately backing off the throttle when rain came in order to ensure a finish, while others around him were pushing hard and falling. The race was red flagged…

AUSSIE CHAD REED (Factory Yamaha) has bounced back to put himself in contention for the AMA Supercross 450cc title. At round 7 in Arlington, Factory Suzuki rider Ken Roczen won a nail biting battle of wills against championship leader Ryan Dungey (Red Bull KTM), taking the lead on the first lap and trading blows with Dungey before emerging victorious at the end of the 20-lap main. Husqvarna mounted Jason Anderson rounded out the podium in third. Reed, meanwhile, had an off round and finished in 12th. Fellow Aussie Jarrad Hockley (Kawasaki) from Kalgoorlie also lined up on the grid alongside 51 others for the premier class, but unfortunately failed to qualify. Compatriot Lawson Bopping returned home after Round 6 to prepare for the MX Nationals after a successful pre-season campaign…

THE STATE MOTORCYCLE Sports Complex at Broadford, Victoria, is currently running Junior Development Days. These are aimed at kickstarting young riders’ careers and improving their motorcycling skills. One aspiring racer who has been part of the program is Benjamin Bramich (pictured). He says that the JDDs have made him a better rider: “They’re awesome. You get heaps of track time and coaches follow juniors out on the track and tell them how they can improve.” Riders aged from seven to 16-years-old can take part in the initiative which also includes classroom lessons. “JDDs are not always about those wanting to go racing,” said Broadford’s Administration Manager Ann-marie Upton. “Some juniors come along because they want to develop skills that will make them more aware of the road when they become…

ROUND TWO OF the 400 Thunder Pro Bike Championships saw the series stay out west and make its first appearance at the Perth Motorplex. After qualifying it was Maurice Allen on top with a 7.23 ET at 291.84km/h. Second place was Glenn Wooster with a PB of 7.26 seconds, followed by points leader Scott White with 7.39 seconds. The remaining spots went to local riders Ryan Learmonth (7.50) and Tony Hinkley (9.47) on his Muzzy Kawasaki. The first pairing of elimination featured Wooster and Hinkley. On the green light the Kawasaki was out first, but at the stripe Wooster took the win with a 7.51 to an 8.44. Hinkley had some drama in the deep-end when he came off his bike, but thankfully damage was minimal to man and machine.…

KTM’S DUKE RANGE might stretch all the way from 125cc to 1301cc, but it’s got a yawning chasm in the middle between the 690 Duke and the 1290 Super Duke R. This is the bike that will plug that hole. Believed to be called the 890 Duke, it will use the firm’s all-new parallel twin engine, which has a capacity somewhere between 800cc and 900cc. It’s intended to rival bikes like Triumph’s Street Triple, and as such needs to be able to make something in the region of 80 to 90kW. First seen in prototype form last August, the bike hasn’t changed a lot since then, but the new pictures give a much clearer view. It’s still in the early stages of development, so don’t pay much attention to the…

ESKIL SUTER’S STUNNING MMX 500 V4 two-stroke is set to go head-to-head with the cutting-edge of four-stroke superbike technology at this year’s Isle of Man TT in the hands of TT legend Ian Lougher. Revealed last year (see AMCN Vol 65 No 08), the MMX 500 is a modern take on the classic V4 two-stroke GP bike. A fuel-injected, 576cc, twin-crank V4 engine making a claimed 145kW is mounted in an aluminium beam frame similar to the ones Suter designed for the likes of Kawasaki and Ilmor’s MotoGP machines. Equipped with the latest GP-spec suspension and brakes, it offers an insight into what top-line racebikes might have been like if two-stroke 500s hadn’t been superseded by four-stroke 990s back in 2002. While it will be a novelty to see a…

AUSTRALIA’S MOTO GUZZI importer has announced there will be just 10 examples of the V7 II Stornello Limited Edition arriving on Aussie shores. Unveiled at the 2015 EICMA motorcycle expo in Milan last November, the bike pays homage to the firm’s original Stornello model which debuted in 1960 and remained in production for 15 years. Differentiating the Stornello from the four-bike V7 II range is the white and red paint scheme, an Arrow exhaust and polished alloy wheels. There is also a laser inscription of the bike’s production number in the top clamp. The limited edition model is available to order now and is priced at $16,500 plus on-road costs.…

Why these two? The 250cc class erupted back in the 1990s thanks to these two incredibly light yet powerful two-stroke pocket rockets — Suzuki’s RGV250 and Kawasaki’s KR-1S were the GP replicas that captivated the masses! Did you know? Aprilia used a modified Suzuki RGV250 VJ22 engine to power its RS250 models, with the only differences being a redesigned head and different expansion chambers, barrels and ECU. Got something you’d like us to compare? Let us know by emailing paul.mccann@amcn.com.au and we’ll do the rest! 1990 Kawasaki KR-1S The KR-1 was launched in 1988 and based around Kawasaki’s KR250 racing bike. It evolved into the KR-1S in 1989, which was THEN superseded by the KR-1R - only available in Japan. The KR-1S had a reputation for a superior power to…

The sledging begins Ah yes, Mr G Bennett (Access, AMCN Vol 65 No 16), the GP expert, where do we start with you? Let’s try some facts. Fact 1, There is more riding talent in one of Márquez’s farts than in your whole body. Fact 2, you would give him black eyes? Further evidence of your lack of intelligence. Also, back when you used to race blah blah, yeah sure, I bet you were really fast sitting on your pushy making motorbike noises! Snap out of it dream boy and leave the GP commentary to those qualified to do it. Robbo Taylor Townsville, Queensland Selective bagging Mr G Bennett shouldn’t be so selective when aggressively lecturing us all on doing the right thing when it comes to motorbike racing by…

It’s bikes like these which remind you why you fell in love with motorcycles in the first place ROYAL ENFIELDS ARE the bikes which tootle down your street thumbing their chrome-visored headlight noses at modern-day two-wheel technology. And they do it with an air of grace and esteem. Mind you, they never used to – once it was with an air of electrical shortages and weeping cast-iron engine cases. But a few material and componentry upgrades have made today’s Enfield far more reliable. The world slows down on a Royal Enfield. Hold someone up on the freeway and they’ll smile kindly as they pass you, giving you plenty of room as they do. Quite a contrast to the reception I received on the Brutale Dragster the same morning, where a…

SO THERE I was, less than six hours after arriving in Malaga, Spain (after a 33-hour trip from Australia), tagged on to the back of the lead MV test rider. We had left the other journos behind and were really putting the Brutale through its paces. I was thinking that perhaps full race leathers might have been a good idea as I tried to keep my Draggin Jeans from getting holed on contact with the tarmac. This bike gives you an uncanny confidence that only a few machines offer – it’s just so rider friendly. I’ve always thought it’s hard to make a nakedbike look good, but when I first laid eyes on the new Brutale my heart fluttered a little. It was easy to see that Adrian Morton (the…

LET’S PLAY A mind game: I’ll say Scala Rider Packtalk Bluetooth rider-to-rider intercoms, and I bet your reply will be “the whole reason I ride a motorcycle is to have a bit of alone time, why would I want to let someone talk to me?” I thought the same way, until I started wearing quality helmet-mounted intercom systems for two-up rides with the wife – then I was converted. We recently updated to the new Scala Rider Packtalk model, and quickly discovered the system is up there with the best we have tested. We liked First of all, it’s simple. The wheel and pushbutton control system is easy to understand and manipulate, even when you’ve got your helmet on. It’s more than an intercom – it also has Bluetooth connectivity…

1 V-Twin Lubes Steve Cramer Prods. From $14.25 (03) 9587 1466 stevecramerproducts.com Maxima has updated its line of V-twin motorcycle engine, transmission, primary and fork oil lubricants. New products include five engine oils, four transmission/ gear oils and three fork oils. These complement the aerosol range and other products which also have new labels designed specifically for V-twins. 2 Rain, Rain, Go Away Ficeda Accessories $89.95 (02) 9827 7561 ficeda.com.au Ixon’s new R8.1 Rain Suit is made from a combination of waterproof polyester and vinyl. It features an offset zip that’s designed to stop water pooling, and it has elasticised cuffs and waist, shoe connection straps, Velcro seals on the ankles and an external pocket. Available in sizes XS-3XL. 3 Tailored Output Serco Motorsport $648.20 (07) 3362 6600 serco.com.au The…

WHICH AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE racer won his 33rd state speedway title meeting last month? The Oakburn Park Speedway at Tamworth was the venue where sidecar rider Darrin Treloar won his 18th New South Wales Championship, to go with six victories in South Australia, five in Queensland, three in Victoria and one in Tasmania. For much of the Tamworth showdown, however, another victory for Treloar seemed unlikely. But in the end he again showed why he is the best there has ever been. Treloar and passenger Blake Cox had to come through the B Final, where they had to fight hard to lead home Andrew Buchanan / Denny Cox, Brodie Cohen / Josh Sinnott and Shane Hudson / Eli Wright. For once, Treloar was not favourite in the decider, but that mattered…

IN A CAREER spanning two decades, this versatile young sidecar swinger won no less than nine major titles including both National Speedway and Long Track Championships. “I started racing in 1985 with my friend Russell Mitchell at Claremont when he built his first outfit around a Kawasaki 900. It seemed only natural I’d be the passenger even though I’d never been to the speedway and had no idea what I was getting into. I wasn’t the only female racing in sidecars but, at 50kg and a little over 157cm, was probably the smallest. There were a few sceptics but the successes starting coming, and, 18 months later, we were representing Western Australia in our first Aussie titles at Archerfield in Brisbane.” The partnership came to an end in 1988 and,…

“I think the sport is only getting bigger here in Australia” HAILING FROM PEABODY, Massachusetts, Decotis has travelled the world racing on dirtbikes, including a stint in Europe on the MXGP series with Factory Kawasaki. The pint-sized rider shot to international fame throwing down enormous whips on his two-stroke before getting a part in Moto 6: The Movie. The role explored his talent on a dirtbike and made him a fan favourite in the pits. Always being a top 10 guy may not sound impressive, but against the best riders in the world it’s a feat many racers could only dream of. I caught up with Jimmy ahead of the SX2 final round in 2015, where he clinched the title, to have a chat about his career so far. How…