Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 67 Issue 15 i Australian Motorcycle News

BACK IN 2016 Chinese firm Motrac revealed its first big bike in the form of the MG500, a good-looking adventure-style machine. Around the same time it showed a concept version of a sporty naked built around an identical 500cc parallel-twin engine and now that concept – the MT-X500 – has become reality. Like the MG500, both the MT-X500 (above) and its sibling are based around Loncin’s 471cc parallel twin engine. A close copy of Honda’s CB500 motor, it makes an identical 35kW peak power. However, while you’ll only find the CB500 engine in fairly low-spec Hondas, the Motrac bikes add kit like radial brakes and an upside-down fork into the mix. The engine is bolted to a part-aluminium, part-steel frame with a trellis front section and cast swingarm pivot area.…

THE DAY SUSPENSION gurus created a way for 250kg of bike and rider to survive a three-metre jump without catastrophe or castration, top riders created the double jump. The next day it was the triple jump, which in turn gave rise to Supercross. By the time Robbie Maddison finished Year 10 at Kiama High School, being airborne on a motorcycle was second nature. Across the Pacific, Jose Yanez had already backflipped his mini motocrosser after years of BMX practice. In 2000, Carey Hart attempted the first backflip on a full-sized motocross bike, crashing in a less-than-perfect return to earth. A few months later Hart failed again, freefalling 15 metres with a thump heard across the stadium. Across the USA, Freestyle Motocross (FMX) thrived and in what seems to be a…

NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE success – and Triumph’s savvy creation of the T120-based Bonneville Bobber a year ago as a factory-built answer to the cool garage-built Customs has been richly rewarded. But its guesstimate on demand was wide of the mark, leaving it struggling to keep up with supply. The British brand has sold two-and-a-half times more Bobbers than originally projected, which surely caused Triumph more than a few headaches – of the good kind. Those production headaches are set to worsen because Triumph has now extended its range with what amounts to an Evo version that’s sure to find even greater favour with customers. A modern British take on a Yankee-style hot rod that’s cool, capable and even more competent. The Black was launched at the EICMA Show in November…

Here’s a simple question. Name the Italian motorcycle manufacturer synonymous with transverse, overhead-valve V-twins since 1965? Yes, it’s Moto Guzzi. Now name the Italian company which revealed a similar V-twin at the International Milan Fair in 1951. Still thinking? Okay, let’s put you out of your misery. Lambretta quickly became a giant of post-World War II transportation in Italy with scooters inspired by the rugged US military Cushman runabout. It even built racing versions for Italy’s early national motorcycle championships. But a little-known part of Lambretta’s history was its early ambition to become a major player in Grand Prix racing. It is only due to the efforts of a passionate and far-sighted Italian two-wheel enthusiast that any trace of Lambretta’s GP adventure exists today. HOW IT ALL STARTED Lambretta founder…

LAMBRETTA’S GP EFFORT is considered to be the result of a commercial stand-off between it and compatriot Moto Guzzi. Lambretta intended to expand into motorcycle production but Moto Guzzi opposed it. Defiantly, Lambretta built and developed its 250cc GP racer over three years, perhaps as a show of its design strength. At the time Lambretta was on a roll, even running a small supercharged 125cc streamliner to three world records. Then, almost 60 years later, a reborn Lambretta made a return to grand prix racing in 2010, in a bid to promote its first all-new range of scooters since the 1970s. Danny Kent, who in 2015 became the first British rider to win a world championship since the late Barry Sheene, raced five times for Lambretta. He was one of…

NAME RODNEY FAGGOTTER AGE 41 EVENT DAKAR RALLY CLASS MOTORCYCLE SUPER PRODUCTION Queenslander Rod Faggotter has emerged from a gruelling 2018 Dakar as the highest-placed Yamaha rider, finishing 16th in the overall standings. To add extra credit to his achievement, Faggotter was the Yamaha support rider, which meant his main role was to help the other Yamaha factory riders whenever they struck trouble. Despite this, he was regularly in the top 20 and eventually finished 3h58m16s behind KTM’s victorious Matthias Walkner. Faggotter, a Yamaha dealer, has now completed the rally four times – twice racing for the offi cial Yamaha factory team.…

TEAM AUSTRALIA DELIVERED another blow to the opposition at the AMCN Island Classic, defeating Team New Zealand to retain the FIM Oceania Historic Road Race Cup. The Kiwis, led by team captain Duncan Coutts, were soundly beaten 685 points to 319. The Oceania Cup is made up of all team points accumulated by Australia and New Zealand in the four-race International Challenge. The Kiwis endured a torrid International Challenge with Damien Kavney recording the teams best result in race four, finishing in 17th place. Team Captain Duncan Coutts was still full of praise for his team. “It’s very difficult for us Kiwis. We’re all clubbies. We own our bikes, we build our bikes and we race our bikes. But we deal with it okay, we might try and stash some…

JAIMON LIDSEY AND Keynan Rew were the standouts as Australia’s younger brigade of speedway riders fought it out for Australian Championship honours over four days in extremely hot conditions at the Olympic Park track, Mildura over 18-21 January. It was a new wave of talent in the Under 21 Championship after a number of recent graduations out of age events. Jaimon Lidsey (Vic) went through the Under 21 event unbeaten to become the first rider ever to have won the Australian Championship in Under 16 125cc, Under 16 250cc and Under 21 racing. Kye Thomson (Qld) surprised many to finish second in the final after needing to progress from the Qualifying Meeting the previous night and then win the B Final ahead of Cooper Riordan (Vic), Dakota Ballantyne (SA) and…

THE MOTORCYCLE Sportsmen of Queensland club is gearing up for another big year of competition and joining it again in 2018 is one of its oldest members, Phil Casey. Phil is a part of a growing group of riders who are taking up racing later in life, and loving it. “It all started with a guy named Trevor Cox,” Casey said. “I’d always wanted to have a go at racing so I started at this little track in Proserpine. Trevor gave me Dave Fuller’s number [from Advanced Rider Training] and I shouted him an airfare to come up here for the weekend – which he did. Then he did a coaching weekend and I thought, ‘Oh, I like this!’ So I went down to Warwick for a school and after…

“The biggest change for 2018 is there will be no under- or over-300 class” The ASBK series has come a long way in recent years? We all know where the championship was. We used 2016 to build a stable championship with solid rules, good infrastructure and an easy-to-follow program. Last year we started to work heavily towards creating entertainment and a bit of a show. We were trying to reach out to a broader audience, hence the investment in free-to-air TV. It has been successful in that way, and we are competing against many other sports and activities. We want to engage with fans, and as the championship grows in that sense, it’s better for the competitors and more valuable for the sponsors. In 2015 we had 250k viewers on…

KTM’S 690 LC4 single-cylinder engine has been one of the firm’s cornerstone components for years but for the 2018 range it looks like it’s going to be limited to just one model, the 690 Duke. These spy shots show it’s not on its way out, though – instead the latest version of the engine is spreading to revitalised supermoto and enduro versions into 2019. Back in 2016, the 690 Duke gained a massively redesigned version of the engine to help it comply with the latest European emissions limits. Its bore stretched from 102mm to 105mm while the stroke shrank from 84.5mm to 80mm. Its capacity remained the same, but as well as the new piston and crankshaft there was a new cylinder head. An extra balancer shaft, unconventionally positioned inside…

FOR THE LAST couple of years, Euro 4 emissions rules have been a hot topic around the new bike market. Officially introduced throughout Europe a year ago, there’s one more deadline which will have a big effect on the bikes to be replaced, updated or ditched from manufacturers’ ranges over the next few months. Officially, the deadline for manufacturers to ensure all their bikes comply with the rules was the start of this year. European regulation 168/2013 includes the Euro 4 emissions standards, but also makes mandatory ABS on bikes over 125cc and a standardised on-board diagnostics system. There was plenty of warning, but as the date approached there were dozens of bikes on sale that didn’t comply. Fortunately, there’s an end of series provision in the rules which added…

CAKE ISN’T A familiar name in motorcycling but the Swedish firm has just revealed a cross between a mountain bike and an electric motocrosser, called the KALK. Designed purely as a leisure machine, with no competition focus, it’s a fully electric bike that weighs only 70kg, manages 80km/h flat out and can run for 80km on a full battery charge. Perfect for hurtling down trails while avoiding the noise of a petrol-powered enduro. The aerospace-quality aluminium frame, the swingarm, the 51.8V battery made of 18650 lithium cells, the control unit and the unusual 24-inch wheels have been developed specifically for it. Even the tyres needed to be specially made, and Öhlins developed the suspension to suit its part-bicycle, part-motocrosser characteristics. It’s all high-end stuff. The suspension offers high- and low-speed…

IF THE ORIGINAL design team at BMW knew their sandals-with-socks tourers would get turned into bikes like this, they’d have choked on their strudel. Despite their uninspiring origins, over the last 10 years we’ve seen old Boxers shift to the forefront of the custom scene. And just when you think you’ve seen it all, the Nozem custom house in Amsterdam comes out with this 1984 BMW R 80 that punches well above its weight. Nozem’s bike builds are fantastic – heavy on fabrication work, incredible attention to detail and with some of the best colour palette selection we’ve seen. But over the last few months the shop’s been a bit quiet. The sad reason is that Nozem co-founder Lorenzo’s father passed away at the end of 2017. As a result,…

The 250 was nice, but I wanted to move up to what I perceived to be the big time Cher said it best: If I could Turn Back Time. My two-stroke whipper snipper was strumming away and I was dreaming about things I’d rather be doing. I got to thinking about the good old days; days when I was young and life was simple. My first bike was a two-stroke and all throughout my youth I was surrounded by the ring-a-ding-ding associated with such machines. Some of the (unlucky) kids had Honda XR75 four-strokes, but in those days the four-bangers were pretty much a bit of a laugh to the two-stroke YZ clan. I thought about days you could turn up to Adelaide International Raceway (AIR), pay your 25 bucks…

LAMBRETTA HAD BIG plans for its new-for-1949 B Series, not just for the hungry home market but for export markets like the US, Argentina – and Australia. A race-prepped Lambretta scooter found its way here, imported by Bendigo motel owner Jack Walters and was raced initially in Victoria by Fane Iles until Bert Flood took over the reins, and in October 1951 scored a win at the South Australian Jubilee TT at Woodside. In Sydney, ‘Big Sam’ Jamieson, through his company Australian National Motors, began importing Lambretta and, to publicise the brand, he imported two pukka C-Model racers, for the princely sum of £500 each! This would have bought a new Manx Norton at the time, but the two machines came with many spares, including four different diff ratios, spare…

Dust Hustle. It’s Australia’s answer to the now-global DirtQuake where hipsters, celebrities and folk who just love their roadbikes get all senseless and sideways on dirt flat-track ovals. Now into its fourth year, Ellaspede’s inappropriate day on the dirt returned to its traditional home at Mick Doohan Raceway in Brisbane’s north for Dust Hustle 5, after the fourth instalment was held at the Queensland Vintage Motocross Club’s compound at Biddadaba back in April. Since 2014 the Dust Hustle has stood in defiance of an ever-encroaching Nanny State hell bent on legislating the fun out of anything motorised. Go as hard or as easy as you want. You can putt around the pole line or let it all hang out in the loose stuff; it’s your prerogative. It’s the Dust Hustle…

Many bikes still have inner tubes inside the tyres; if you get a flat on a spoked-wheel adventure bike or off-roader, chances are the tube will be damaged. If you’re lucky, you might get away with products like Tyre Slime or True Blue Goo, or a tyre repair spray that can be used on both tubed and tubeless tyres, but sooner or later you’ll need to change that damaged tube. This is where real rage can set in – there are few things worse than pinching a fresh tube, but with a little preparation, the correct tools, the right technique and a little practice, you’ll be back on the road in no time. Start here 1 What tools do I need? When I stopped at my local bike shop for…

Stretching west from Mittagong in the Southern Highlands to Taralga, the Wombeyan Caves Road is primarily an access road to the Wollondilly recreation area. As a through road, it’s fairly slow going, with a number of natural obstacles along the unsealed route, including corrugations, frequent rock falls from erosion, sharp bends and loose stones. It is easily navigable, though, and any dual sport motorcycle with a small amount of off-road ability will be suitable for this route. It is a worthwhile ride from end to end with great views and some interesting terrain. From Mittagong the road heads out through High Range towards the Nattai National Park. Before the road descends the first ridge into the valley, you pass through the hand-formed Bullio rock tunnel. From this point the road…

Show time 3 FEBRUARY Thunder West 2018, FSB Pearlbrook, Scotts Creek Rd, Murrurundi, NSW. Steel horse muster, bike show ’n’ shine, tattoo competition and live music. Camping from 1 February (no fees) and wheelchair access. No BYO. Entry $25; under 18s free; gates open 10am. For information phone Fozzy on 0404 467 171. 25 FEBRUARY South Coast Show & Shine Gear Head Sunday, Toora Recreational Reserve, Jetty Rd, Toora, Vic. Gates open 8am. Bikes, cars, trucks, helicopter rides, live music and more. Fully licenced and catered. Show entry $10; general admission $5; under 15s free. For more information phone Joe on 0431 020 881. 25 FEBRUARY Choppers for Charity Bike Show, Finkernagel Oval, Sandpiper Way, Sussex Inlet, NSW. Meet from 10am for street parade that kicks off 11am, followed by…

“It’s hot, it’s hard and its fun,” is how Red Bull KTM rider Matthias Walkner described the 2018 Dakar Rally at the conclusion of the second day of the epic two-week event. He’d finished the 267km timed special stage third quickest and was sitting third overall in the general standings. And although the two-time world champion would go on to celebrate his maiden Dakar victory ahead of Argentina’s Kevin Benavides (Monster Energy Honda Team) and Aussie teammate Toby Price, it was perhaps what he didn’t do more so than what he did, which would earn him a place in the long and illustrious list of winners of what is the toughest off-road race in the world. At the start of Stage 10, with just five days of racing left to…

MATTHIAS WALKNER celebrated a well-deserved victory in the 40th edition of the Dakar Rally, it was his fourth attempt. He began racing motorcycles three weeks after his father (also named Matthias) bought him his first motorcycle as a youngster, and for a sign of things to come, he finished second. In 2015 during Walkner’s first ever Dakar, he played assistant role to KTM’s then golden boy Marc Coma and showed enormous potential when he claimed victory in just his third ever stage. But the likeable Austrian was forced out with illness and didn’t see the finish. The next year he lined up again, this time getting as far as the seventh stage before suffering a snapped femur in a heavy crash. His determination to see the Dakar Rally’s finish line…

AUSTRALIA’S 2017 SUPERBIKE champion Josh Waters has described his maiden test on a Suzuki MotoGP machine as “a dream come true”. The 31-year-old was given the opportunity on Thursday 25 January ahead of the official three-day test in Sepang, alongside fellow Suzuki riders MotoAmerica championship winner Toni Elias and Isle of Man TT’s Senior TT race winner Michael Dunlop. Waters said he received the call-up before Christmas: “I was like, ‘you’re kidding me!’ I couldn’t believe it,” the Suzuki rider told crash.net. “And then the other two riders – Toni has been world champion and Michael Dunlop is the fastest ever rider at the Isle of Man!” He was given two 30-minute stints on the bike and while he said he’d love to do a couple more days on it,…

RALPH HANNAN’S FIRST love was surfing, until big brother Ross sparked an interest in motorcycles by taking him to Oran Park Raceway. Eighteen months out of his mechanic’s apprenticeship at a Newtown service station, Ralph was over in Europe with his mate Terry Dennehy. They were both 22 and defied convention by heading for Italy not England and building a 500cc racer around a Honda CB450 twin engine. German-Swiss Othmar ‘Marly’ Drixl made the frame, Dennehy tuned the engine and the likely lads sourced many components in Milan. Drixl’s distractions – coffee, fags, pinball and jaw-boning – delayed work, but in May 1969, Dennehy finished top 10 in an Italian championship round at San Remo. The Drixl-Honda went on to place fifth in the East German 500 GP, seventh in…

TRIUMPH HAS A revamped Speed Triple ready to hit dealers. And while the styling is barely changed it’s got worthwhile changes under the skin. The firm has already started teasing the new bike, claiming it to be the ‘most powerful’ and ‘most agile’ as well as the ‘smartest’. So while visually familiar, there’ll be significant changes. Last October we got spy pictures of a mildly altered Speed Triple on test. It featured the same slightly changed exhaust that’s visible on the new model, plus the same five-spoke wheel design. Notably, it also sported a new cylinder head, suggesting there are big changes afoot in the engine department. There needs to be if Triumph is to compete with the latest generation of insanely fast nakedbikes, like Aprilia’s Tuono 1100, BMW’s S…

RIDER PROFILE Name Chris Dobie Age/weight 50yo/90kg Riding experience A few decades Dream Bike Bimota DB1 DESIGN MOB KISKA has done a brilliant job with the 2017 390 Duke. Its long, sharp lines with KTM’s signature split LED headlight create an optical illusion the bike is larger than it is. Also new for 2017 is a TFT dash, and our test bike has also been fitted with the KTM My Ride system, which allows easy Bluetooth connection of a smartphone. It took me less than two minutes to connect my phone and master the controls. No sooner had I headed off than the TFT dash alerted me of an incoming call and I had the choice of answering or rejecting it using the button on the left-hand switchblock. The other…

All good things must come to an end and, after 26 years of rebellion and 1300 outrageously uncompromising V-twin maxi-cruisers, Confederate Motors has created its final such bike. This marks the end of 24 years of innovation – Confederate was founded in 1992 by former lawyer Matt Chambers and the first Confederate Hellcat rolled out of the Louisiana factory in November 1994. But in January this year, Confederate changed its name and abandoned internal combustion engines. Now based in Birmingham, Alabama, after Hurricane Katrina destroyed its New Orleans home in 2005, the unconventional company is still headed by Chambers, but is now called Curtiss Motorcycle Company, after the legendary motorcycling and aviation pioneer Glenn H. Curtiss. Glenn Curtiss’ most notable two-wheel achievement was to set a Land Speed Record on…

In good company SMALL-BORE TWO-strokes have been the staple of motorcycling since the dawn of time: often smelly and usually wreathed in a cloud of smoke, the engines were cheap to produce, easy to maintain and delivered good power – but were environmentally ruinous. As a result, traditional two-stroke engines have been phased out, and most notably in motorcycle grand prix racing. Who can forget the fearsome wail of a TZ750? But as streetbikes, the last century was blessed with bikes like Yamaha’s sweet RD250, 350 and 400 twins, Kawasaki’s tidy KR-1, Suzuki’s RG250 Gamma and more recently, Cagiva’s Mito and Aprilia’s RS125 and RS250 racer for the road. Most of these were twins – the 125cc varients were single-cylinder affairs and only Yamaha with its RD500 (pictured, above) and…

LAMBRETTA WASN’T THE first company to design and build a transversely-mounted V-twin. That accolade is bestowed upon English manufacturer AJS and its short-lived S3 500cc transverse V-twin of 1931. A tourer with sporting pretensions, the S3 and its parent company were soon consumed by the Great Depression and a corporate takeover by fellow British marque Matchless. The model lasted just six months. German motorcycle manufacturer Victoria forged its reputation in the 1920s on a range of OHV singles and twins. After World War II, the Munich factory rebuilt its corporate image on two-stroke scooters and mopeds. Then, in 1953 it launched its first big new four-stroke, a 348cc transverse OHV V-twin called the Bergmeister. Its engine was unit construction with shaft rear drive. A telescopic front fork and plunger rear…

 THE LAUNCH OF Aprilia’s impressive new Shiver 900 – reviewed by Steve Martin in AMCN Vol 67 No 12 – has people talking again about the Italian bike with the funny model name. On a reasonably smooth road, a Shiver 750 will keep sportsbikes honest through the twisties The 900’s predecessor, the Shiver 750, is a much under-rated bike that deserved broader recognition than it achieved as a worthy competitor to the middleweight Ducati Monsters and Triumph’s Street Triple. The Shiver 750 arrived in 2007 at a golden moment after the huge Piaggio Group bought Aprilia. Using Piaggio’s resources, Aprilia developed its own liquid-cooled, fuel-injected V-twin engines, moving away from its reliance on supplies from Rotax. The Shiver’s all-new 749cc, DOHC, four-valve-per-cylinder engine was the first roadbike motor born of…

1 Enduro Jacket Cassons $399.95 (02) 8882 1900 cassons.com.au The Leatt GPX 5.5 Enduro jacket has a 600D shell with a coating that resists dirt and water. Features include pre-curved zip-off arms, zip-adjusted ventilation, internal hydration pocket, neck brace compatible collar, tailored cut for riding with or without armour, and loads of pockets. Sizes M-XL. 2 High Performer McLeod Accessories $299.95 (07) 3621 9000 mcleodaccess.com.au The Sidi Performer is a high-tech boot made from a Technomicro base material with mesh panels for airflow. It has replaceable nylon toe scuff pad, nylon inner sole with removable arch support, nylon shin deflector plate, dual compound sole, and polymer toe shift pad. Black or black/ red in sizes 42-47. Adventure Panniers Andy Strapz $495 (+ post) (03) 9786 3445 andystrapz.com To celebrate its…

He won two of the first three stages and had three minutes on the chasing pack 1 WHEN SUNDERLAND LOST FEELING IN HIS LEGS TWELVE MONTHS AGO, Briton Sam Sunderland was celebrating becoming the first British rider to win the Dakar Rally, beating his Red Bull KTM teammate Matthias Walkner to the line by 32 minutes. With confidence soaring and an injury-free preseason, Sunderland was favourite to repeat his performance in 2018 and came out of the blocks hard and fast. He won two out of the first three stages and started the fourth with over three minutes on the chasing pack. Mid way through the stage, the 28-year old bottomed out after misjudging a landing which sent a heavy impact through the seat and into his body. “I didn’t…

MONSTER TECH3 Yamaha star Johann Zarco was the first man on track at MotoGP’s official three-day test in Malaysia, the Frenchman braving the tropical downpour which sidelined the majority of the field for the first few hours. As AMCN went to print, 2018’s confirmed 23 riders had completed the opening day of the event with Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa the quickest man at day’s end. It wasn’t all the Spaniard’s way, however, Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi ended his day at the top of the timesheets, though was quickly relegated down to sixth fastest in following minutes as a last-lap time attack saw Pedrosa snatch the lead, ahead of both Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo, as well as the Alma Pramac Racing duo of Danilo Petrucci and Aussie Jack…

THE 2017 FINKE Desert Race winner Daymon Stokie has been tragically killed in a crash during the Deep Well Enduro event in the Northern Territory, on Saturday 27 January. The 28-year-old earned a reputation for being as tough as he was talented after he won the gruelling 452km off-road race while racing with a broken hand. In doing so, he became the first local Alice Springs rider to win the Finke Desert Race’s two-wheeled category in 11 years. Stokie was riding a wave of success at the time of his death, having celebrated a win at the 2016 Baja 1000, he stood on the top step of the podium at the 2017 San Felipe 250 and went on to take the outright win at the 2017 Gasgoyne Dash before claiming…

ROCKSTAR ENERGY HUSQVARNA’S Jason Anderson stays in control of the AMA Supercross series at the conclusion of the fourth round at Glendale held on 27 January. Scoring a third overall at Anaheim, his fourth-round fourth overall was enough to keep Yamaha’s Justin Barcia nine points adrift in second with Honda’s Ken Roczen just three points further back in third. I qualified first in practice and was able to get another heat race win,” Anderson said. “I started out great in the Main but got shuffl ed back to around seventh, but then worked my way back to fourth. Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac took the spoils in both the third and fourth rounds and currently sits 10th in the standings. Round three’s second-place getter Cole Seely moves up to fifth overall after…

THE VICTORIAN ROAD Race Championship has made some changes to its classes and format ahead of the 2018 season, which kicks off at Winton over the 3-4 February. Club President Bruce Hill announced a new Formula 400 support class for pre-2000 bikes. “It’s essentially a production class, a lot of the 400s tend to ride the Hartwell series, so we’re not sure of what turn out we’ll get but we hope it will be well supported,” he said. Also on the grid will be a Supermono class which is open to any single-cylinder engine that is not GP spec. The main championship classes will have two sessions of qualifying and three longer races, while the support classes will have four shorter races. If have a 400 or a single and…