Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 66 Issue 12 i Australian Motorcycle News

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THESE PICTURES SHOW the test mule of Triumph’s ninth Bonneville-based model, the Speed Twin. And while it’s still some way from being production ready, the key elements can be seen. It’s based on the current range-topper, the Thruxton R, meaning there’s a mix of Showa BPF forks and remote-reservoir Öhlins shocks as well as the highest-powered 1200cc version of the new water-cooled Bonnie engine. What’s new here is that the Thruxton’s low, clip-on ’bars are ditched in favour of wide, flat ’bars. Doesn’t that just make it back into a Bonneville? Not quite. These ’bars are wider and straighter, like motocross ones. And you’ll notice that the prototype also uses a pair of round headlights, borrowed from the old-model Speed Triple. There’s also an alloy wheel on the front, strangely…

Childhood Dream The workshop door read “Keep this door closed at all times”, an affectation to authority that my father attempted in various guises without much luck, alas. I can only remember two particular events warranting his use of the area. The vice resided there, awaiting clamping duties for broken scooters, pushbikes, bits of pipe et al and seemed to be the only frequently used piece of equipment in the whole inventory. Dad kept his bike in there too. Hidden incongruently under an old grey cotton tarpaulin, its life on the road seemingly cut short with the onset of a young family and more responsible propositions. It was a motorcycle like no other at the time, some 26 or 27 years ago. The old man had owned his fair share…

The Maverick dares you to push it harder and harder THE SIDE-BY-SIDE buggy market is massive in the States and it’s set to burgeon here too. All the blokes who bought dirtbikes in the 90s and rooted their knees, shoulders, hips? They’re getting into buggies now, sometimes as pilots, sometimes as passengers. In the US, side-by-sides fitted with spine-boards are often used as casualty evacuation vehicles in areas where helicopter access is limited, like forests and canyons. Many emergency response departments and sheriffs in remote areas have vehicles to take paramedics to patients – and get patients out to road or air ambulances. Side-by-sides are all about suspension travel and in Can-Am’s top of the range Maverick X3 RS, that’s 610mm at the back and 559mm at the front, with…

Fear for your licence, but prepare to know life on a new high JUST A COUPLE of months ago (Vol 66 No 09) we pitted the standard model Tuono RR against some mightily strong competition in our big supernakeds group test. Although it was pipped at the post in that shootout, we wondered how the top spec Tuono RF (F for ‘Factory’ edition) would have stacked up. With the Achilles heel of the RR being its lower-spec and overly soft suspension, we knew the Öhlinsequipped Factory model simply had to be on our MOTY list. Getting hold of one of these exotic pieces of mechanical art isn't easy, as they tend to be sold well ahead of arriving on our shores. But get one we did, and suffice to say…

Own the untameable, and propel yourself into the realm of the extraordinary As far as hitting targets and meeting its design brief goes, Kawasaki’s 2016 Ninja ZX-10R scored a triple bullseye. Number one and two in the Superbike World Championship, plus the Superbike Manufacturers’ World Championship. Job done. Can’t argue with that. Of course, the real world isn’t a racetrack. But then again, the ZX-10R does a damn fine job of turning it into one if that’s what you want – and if you have the skills, speed of thought, and mettle to back it up. That’s the problem with road-going thoroughbred racebikes such as the ZX-10R, their relevance and performance is nigh on impossible for the average rider to comprehend, let alone explore or appreciate. But this is also…

Looking like a throwback never felt so good IT WAS DIFFICULT to decide which of Triumph’s new armoury of post-modern-classic metal would be nominated for MOTY 2016. They are all sensational examples of thoughtful design, intelligent engineering and quality finishing. Not to mention bang-on funky styling. In the end, we couldn’t look past the sell-out success of the top Trump, the Thruxton R. Although they aren’t actually sold out, there is an extremely long line of Bonnie lovers you’ll have to tuck into the slipstream of before you’ll get your own 21st-century Ton-Up fix. And we’re happy to tell you that it’ll be well worth the wait. Don’t listen to the crusty-old flat-cap wearing know-it-all who proclaims “they don’t make ‘em like they used to”. Because he’s absolutely right. They…

MOTY Shakedown You’d think that given a list of straightforward judging criteria we wouldn’t have too much trouble coming up with a clear MOTY winner, especially after three days of spirited riding and even more spirited post-prandial conversations. Right? Wrong. Over the test trip there were as many arguments about what constituted a Motorcycle of the Year as there were about the quantifiable details. Was it about finding the bike that best met its design brief? If so, the Africa Twin, KTM and ZX-10R – though they weren’t always flattered by our test route – would surely come out on top. Or was it about choosing the bike of the year? The model that people would look back on in a decade and say, “Ah yes, 2016, the year of…

The six-lap heat race is a fistfight in a phone booth WHILE THE SCOUT FTR750 shares little except a fuel pump with the roadbike, Indian has been marketing the hell out of its Scouts with a mini-fleet of ‘hooligan’ racers built by Roland Sands Designs using the Scout Sixty. Tonight I get to race one on a tiny dirt track that would easily fit inside a school gymnasium. Eighteen bikes line up in three straight rows. To enter this Hooligan class, your bike needs to be over 750cc and have a stock frame. My Scout has 19-inch wheels, Dunlop dirt track tyres, a 2-1 pipe, dirt-track style carbon fibre seat, motocross-style ’bars and a ding in the tank the size of a Yorkshire Terrier. While it is fitted with a…

It has been 25 years since the dawn of a project that, in only slightly different circumstances, might have led to a very different type of motorcycle being in common use today. Back in the early 1990s, Swedish suspension firm Öhlins was convinced that two-wheel-drive promised a motorcycling revolution away from the rear-wheel drive paradigm and began work on a system that came closer than you might have thought to reaching mass production. Its 2WD technology eventually saw off-road racing success and even reached production in the short-lived Yamaha WR450F 2-Trac, but below that visible surface was a much larger project that envisioned bikes of all types, from scooters to superbikes, driven by both wheels. The Öhlins 2WD research project was green-lit for a feasibility study in 1992 and became…

WHILE A NUMBER of manufacturers have toyed with the 2WD concept, most of the drivelines have been based on the design of a standard rear-wheel-drive motorcycle with a front-wheel-drive system adapted to it. Most – but not all. The Drysdale Dryvtech 2x2x2 was the brainchild of Aussie engineer Ian Drysdale. It was back in 1990 when AMCN first encountered the machine (and according to Ian, we crashed it). The name refers to the bike’s 2WD system, two-wheel-steering and two-stroke 250cc engine. Incredibly, the engine does not directly drive either of the wheels – it acts as a hydraulic pump that generates pressure to drive the front and rear wheels, and control the steering. There is no direct connection between wheels and engine or between handlebar and wheels. Hydraulic pressure is…

The term ‘teammate’ is the greatest misnomer in motorcycle racing. The first person you must beat is your teammate because they’re on the same machinery as you, right? And they receive the same support as well. Ergo, whoever wins is the best rider? Maybe. Back in the day, the number one rider in a factory team would invariably have the best engine, suspension, chassis, brakes and tyres. They’d get the latest updates first, and the second rider would have to wait to receive the latest stuff, sometimes until the following season. And then there’s the issue of team orders. In some cases, second-string riders wilt under this regime and leave for greener (or, more often than not, less green) pastures. Others overcome real or perceived disadvantages to usurp the numero…

Miller and Crutchlow are MotoGP’s paddock pranksters – always taking the mick, always larking about. Getting them together for a joint interview was a bit like herding cats, but we got there in the end. The Aussie and the Brit share a similar view on life: race hard, play hard. The main thing to remember when trying to understand the pair is never (or very nearly never) take anything they say seriously, because it’s all couched in sarcasm, irony and a general sense of farce. Better to let their results do the talking – this season they’ve both won a MotoGP race, becoming the first independent-team riders in a decade to do that. Perhaps most importantly, Cal and wife Lucy are Jack’s new MotoGP family. The young Aussie, cast adrift…

DID YOU THINK Benelli just made motorcycles? Think again. Aussie Benelli distributor Urban Moto Imports are now also importing the legendary marque’s range of e-bikes. I’m a motorcyclist and a mountain biker, and I know I’m one of many who enjoys both pastimes. I also know that e-bikes draw a lot of scorn from both groups. But being the open-minded type, I jumped at the chance to play on this battery-assisted 29-inch-wheel, hard-tail mountain bike. And it is a proper mountain bike, not a flimsy pseudo off-roader. The Achle 29’s electric motor is neatly mounted inside the rear hub, and because it only provides drive when the rider is pedalling – delivered in five adjustable levels via a handlebar-mounted switch – it still requires enough rider input to be classed…

TEACHING A ROAD dog dirt tricks ain’t easy. For the student it requires a degree of faith that you can lock both wheels, get air, or adopt a counterintuitive body position and not end up on your backside. This kind of tomfoolery takes time to get your head around, but thankfully there are plenty of tips, tricks and drills to stack the deck in your favour. The Academy of Off-Road Riding was just what I needed to develop more hard-core antics for our tough little WR250R. With the newly-fitted knobby Dunlop Enduro tyres, long-travel suspension and lightweight chassis I knew that our Yamaha long-termer was capable of conquering highly technical terrain. So I thought, why not give the Academy’s two-day Enduro/Trail riding course a go? I arrived in the sleepy…

AFTER A PROMISING comeback from the brink in 2015, the MA-organised Australian Superbike Championship gathered momentum in 2016 with the return of the Red and the Blue of Honda and Yamaha to the premier class. Honda lined up on the grid again after a brief foray away from the series it has staunchly supported for decades. Conversely, Yamaha's presence was the return of the prodigal child that spectators and organisers had desperately longed to see for so many years. The series announced itself with a sonic boom at Phillip Island in February with spectacularly tight racing across the classes. The premier category was dominated by Yamaha’s boys in blue with Glenn Allerton winning all three races and Wayne Maxwell taking third place in all three. But they didn't get everything…

AORC DANIEL ‘CHUCKY’ SANDERS showed consistency and determination to take outright victory in the 12-Round Australian Off-Road Championship and also the big-bore E3 class win. Chucky was the only front runner to use a two-stroke, his KTM300EXC, and finished well clear of Lachlan Stanford and Lyndon Snodgrass who were both on thumping Husqvarna 501s. It was a clean sweep for KTM, which also sealed the top honours in the E2 and E1 classes with Tye Simmonds on a 450, and AORC rookie Jack Simpson on a 250. In the overall final standings Simmons finished second with Chris Hollis on his Yamaha WR450F in tow. Yamaha rider Jemma Wilson took out the Women’s Championship, while Wil Ruprecht (Pirelli Sherco Factory Racing Team) claimed the title in the Transmoto ‘19 and under’…

Daniel Falzon and Liam Wilkinson totally dominated Australia’s richest road race, winning the Adelaide 3-Hour at Mallala by three laps in the relay-format event. On a day of extremely hot conditions, with a stereotypical willy-willy sweeping the circuit, the pair led from start to finish on their R1 Yamahas to pocket $4000 after completing 151 laps. They had earlier purloined $500 for setting pole. It was a complete turnaround from last year, when mechanical issues hampered their charge to finish second. This year it was the turn of second-placed Will Strugnell and John Hunt (both Kawasaki ZX-10Rs) to contend with overheating motorcycles to take home $2000. A long nine laps back in third was the newly-formed Peter Stevens Adelaide Yamaha R1 team of Gary Smith, Ben North and Sean Kordic.…

THE 2016 STAGING of the Australian Long Track Masters at the Bathurst Showground on 12 November saw some very familiar names in the winners’ circle after a big program of exciting racing. Queensland teenager Jarred Brook repeated his three class wins of last year – the Pro 250, Pro 450 and Pro Open classes – none more exciting than a thrilling two-bike war to edge out Luke Richards in the final of the Pro 450. Damien Koppe, Ben Cook and Mackenzie Childs, the latter in his first meeting as a senior, were others to stand out. The Grabham clan were prominent as ever, with Ben Grabham showing his versatility by placing third in the Pro Open final and going unbeaten in the heats before winning the final of both the…

IGNORE THE POLICE regalia – these pictures show the designs for a new large-capacity tourer from Benelli’s parent firm Qianjiang. As with many high-end Chinese bikes, the first examples will be made to police spec and offered to the country’s authorities – a policy which ensures the cops always have access to better kit than the general public. Qianjiang has previously confirmed that it intends to make a range of 1200cc three-cylinder Benellis using an engine that takes its inspiration from the existing 1130cc triple. This looks like it will be the first of those bikes. Although it’s impossible to see much of the engine in these pictures, it’s clearly an in-line design. Meanwhile, the machine’s codename – QJ1200GS – confirms it’s a 1200cc. Despite initially appearing to have an…

KAWASAKI’S TIE-IN WITH Taiwanese firm Kymco has just become deeper with the launch of Kymco’s new K-Rider. Revealed in China, the K-Rider is a 400cc parallel twin using the engine from the Kawasaki ER-4 and reveals how Kawasaki is helping Kymco compete against its rival, CFMoto, by offering a 400cc parallel-twin nakedbike of its own. At the moment, Kawasaki and Kymco have a loose partnership. Kawasaki’s J300 and J125 scooters are restyled, rebranded versions of existing Kymco models, made for Kawasaki by the Taiwanese firm. CFMoto, also offers a range of parallel-twin machines using its own, heavily Kawasaki ER6-influenced, engine. And it recently revealed the much more attractively styled 400cc and 650cc NK naked models, which are the machines that Kymco will be fighting against. The K-Rider is a sleeved-down…

MV AGUSTA BOSS Giovanni Castiglioni has revealed there’s no money to put towards the development of a new superbike – instead he will opt to spend his reduced R&D budget on a 1200cc nakedbike. “We know that a Brutale 1200 will sell very strongly, so we have to concentrate on that,” he said. The revelation came in an exclusive interview with AMCN’s Alan Cathcart, his first and only interview since selling between 30 and 40 per cent of MV parent firm, MV Agusta Holdings, to Anglo-Russian investment group Black Ocean. Castiglioni said the restructure means the company will take a different focus of “producing low-volume, high-end models in reduced numbers, but to a very high level of quality and performance for the super premium motorcycle market,” he said. “To sell…

2004 Ducati ST4S Ducati’s Sports-Tourismo range, also known as Bologna’s ‘Gentlemen’s Express’, was produced with high-end sports touring in mind. The numeric suffix of 2, 3 or 4 following the ST refers to the number of valves per cylinder. From 1997-2002 the ST2 ran with a 944cc engine that was derived from the marque’s first fuel-injected street bike, the highly-regarded 907ie. In 1999 Ducati released the ST4 with a 916cc powerplant but it was the S model that stole the show with its 996cc engine. Suspension components were lifted straight off the sportsbikes, albeit with more relaxed chassis geometry and a longer wheelbase for touring. The ST3 came into production in 2006. What it’s got The Ducati ST4S is powered by a liquid-cooled, 996cc, DOHC, 90° V-twin, fuel-injected four-stroke engine…

THE RULE OF threes, or “omne trium perfectum” in Latin, supposes that everything that comes in threes is perfect. You’ll have to be your own judge as to whether it’s an old wives tale or a rule to bank on. But when it comes to this devilishly delicious, race-inspired MV Agusta Brutale RR – also known as the ‘AgoTT’ – the threes just keep piling up. Built at The Deus Emporium of Postmodern Activities in Venice, California by design director Michael “Woolie” Woolaway, the build was commissioned by MV Agusta as a homage to the marque’s rich racing heritage to really capture the spirit of Tourist Trophy racing of the 60s and 70s. Considered one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time, Giacomo Agostini won 13 world grand prix…

The XDiavel punches well above its lithesome, very un-cruiser-like weight DUCATI DESERVES extra praise for its efforts in 2016. Arguably the most deserving new model to miss the cut for MOTY 2016 is the Multistrada Enduro, a highly impressive debut for Ducati in the adventure market. The Panigale 959 is also worthy of special mention, as a highly accessible real world supersports bike. But topping the list of Bologna’s finest for 2016 is the genre-splitting badass black brilliance of the XDiavel. If you think you know what cruisers are all about, be ready to be blown away – just like any sportsbike rider who underestimates this devilishly deceptive force of engineering. Feet-forward riding no longer means you can’t carve it up with the boyracer brigade, because this cruiser was built…

Listen to your deft conscience rather than your daft cojones THE GT VERSION of KTM’s mighty 1290 Super Duke is a whole lot of motorcycle, with a whole lot of muscle nestled under its massive touring-friendly tank. And it has the potential to be an impressively qualified master of many trades. Add the accessory pannier set to cross continents at warp speed, two-up in comfort. Sling on some stickier rubber and embarrass the Sunday scratchers up the local racerboy rat run, or even squeeze in a cheeky trackday while on your ‘Grand Tour’. Ditch the panniers and just run the topbox to make it a catch-me-if-you-can super commuter. Or simply ride it anywhere, and try if you can to wipe the cheesy orange grin off your face. There’s no doubt…

The growling, grip-seeking marvel that is Yamaha’s cross-plane four Motors matter, on so many levels. And no manufacturer seems more attuned to this fact in their recent product planning than Yamaha. The new-school Masters of Torque range has been marching out of the blue corner to battle for street supremacy in a steady stream of brilliant and near-peerless models since the death of the original master of torque sport, the MT-01 in 2012. Its long-awaited replacement, the MT-10, was the most anticipated release in Yamaha’s confident and ambitious revitalisation of its streetbike line-up, and is even more bold and unapologetic than its big-bore predecessor, or its current smaller two- and three-cylinder siblings. The motor that matters most is the growling, grip-seeking marvel that is Yamaha’s 1000cc cross-plane in-line four. This…

The world of long-haul motorcycling is an ever-expanding genre that now covers adventure, adventure touring, sports touring… And then there’s the granddaddy of them all – touring. Proper touring, the sort that needs a mail redirection at your local post office and motorcycling’s equivalent of the Big Mac. When it comes to one with the lot, few are as well equipped as the big boy of Harley-Davidson’s touring range, the Ultra Limited. This is one big-ass machine designed to get you from point A, straight past points B and C and onto point D in style and comfort, and with a sense of elitism only experienced on a Harley. For 2017 the Ultra Limited has received the new much-touted twin-cooled 107ci Milwaukee-Eight engine as well as a host of suspension…

BOTH THE HYDRAULIC pump and motor in the Öhlins system were essentially identical, based on existing fixed-displacement, bent-axis hydraulic pump technology. Drive was taken from the front sprocket by bolting a short jackshaft to it. Another sprocket on the other end of this shaft drove a short chain to a second, smaller sprocket attached to the pump – gearing it up in relation to the front sprocket’s speed. The pump itself was an A2FO5, built by Bosch subsidiary Rexroth. It used seven tiny pistons with ball-joints at the bottom ends of the piston shafts. These were mounted on a circular drive flange, and the pistons slid into a barrel like the cylinder of a revolver. The barrel, with the pistons inside individual cylinders machined into it, rotated along with the…

Comparing 2006 to 2016, the total number of crashes has risen an astonishing 194 per cent That famous old racing saying “If you ain’t crashing you ain’t going fast enough” is half truth and half nonsense. Yes, you do need to find the limit, but you won’t get very far if you keeping stepping over it. Every racer needs to find the limit, especially MotoGP riders. In the fastest, most technically challenging championship of all, the difference between winning and losing is tighter than ever, which is why there are now more crashes than ever. Over the past decade there has been a general increase in the rate that MotoGP riders throw themselves at the scenery – from 98 tumbles in 2006, to 117 in 2007, 154 in 2008, 104…

The Australian Tourist Trophy was once this country’s premier motorcycling event, with close links to the more famous TT in the Irish Sea. It was similarly run on public road circuits, the bigger and faster the better. But the Australian TT – also the official national championship, allocated to a different state each year on a rotational basis – endured a troubled existence after the halcyon days when most racers here had but one ambition: to get to the Isle of Man for either the TT or the Manx GP. As the fast and challenging closed-roads circuits that exemplified the TT spirit disappeared, the once prestigious event suffered the ignominy of having to be held at pocket-handkerchief venues like Calder Park. The Australian TT reached its nadir one blistering hot…

AS A TRICOMPOSITE race-oriented helmet that uses Kevlar, fibreglass and carbon, the LS2 Arrow R has a surprisingly low price point. The clear visor supplied standard is pin-lock ready, easy to fit, and flush, which cuts down on noise at high speed. It also has pull-tabs on the cheek pads to remove the helmet in an emergency. I did have a few issues with the visor’s unique central locking mechanism after I fitted an anti-fog liner during the cold winter months, but this was easily removed in summer and fixed the problem. We liked The colour scheme is great. I had a few people eyeballing this lid at trackdays and asking what it was and where I got it. The vents are effective and easy to operate with gloved fingers.…

THERE ARE STORMS, and then there are cataclysmic weather events. This was the one the Bureau of Meteorology dubbed the Superstorm, the intense low pressure system that battered South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania at the end of September. And it just happened to coincide with a 2300km trip I had planned through two of those states over four days. I’d originally planned it to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Chris Dobie taking the reins of this beaut little rag, and to celebrate 12 months of my new beginnings, but thought I’d be clever. “Let’s push it out four weeks to the end of September,” I said to Chris when we were trying to get our calendars to synch. “I reckon I’ll have a better chance of…

Plus BURT MUNRO CHALLENGE We're on the road to Invercargill, NZ for six race meetings in four days HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAMP We chat with Australia's 1969 250cc world champion Kel Carruthers and look back on his remarkable career HONDA'S MAIN MAN Troy Herfoss reveals how he came out on top in an exciting 2016 ASBK championship, and his plans for 2017 WORLD LAUNCH WE RIDE! THE DUKE OF SPEED KTM invented the supernaked class in 2014 when it released its 1290 Super Duke R. The 2017 version is smarter, faster and angrier.…

IT IS AN understatement to say that the 2015 season was a bit easier for Jonathan Rea than his epic of a double-up proved to be this year. Last year the lad from Northern Ireland seemed to have everything in his favour, even though he'd just moved from Honda to Kawasaki and everything was new to him except the Pirelli tyres. This year it should have been easier, but it sure wasn’t. Nonetheless, all the challenges and looming pitfalls that came along could not disguise the fact that there was one class act all across 2016 and it was a JR production. Serial race winners Chaz Davies and Tom Sykes, nearly did derail Rea's double championship charge on occasions, but their overall challenges literally fell apart at other times. Despite…

SO MANY WERE worthy of consideration, but after much reflection it has to go to a young man who almost made it, but failed at the last corner of the last race of the year. He failed going for an 'All or Nothing' move that could have won the title - but didn’t. This guy travelled incredible distances to race against the best and show he is worthy to be considered one of them. He did it without factory support as a privateer. Sam Clarke, you are our rider of the year. Keep going for those moves, mate, because one day you will pull it off and it will be one of those ‘once in a lifetime moments’ that people will reminisce about for years.…

THE MOTORCYCLING WORLD saw something special in 2014 when a then 44-year old Greg Hancock was crowned the oldest-ever World Speedway champion. Two years later the American has raised the bar with a fourth title, amazingly at the age of 46 years young. Hancock sealed his latest victory at the season-ending round at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium, a meeting that for many weeks loomed as a likely crowning glory of a magnificent season for Australia’s Jason Doyle. Doyle won four of the 11 rounds – when no other rider won more than one – but that was not enough to guarantee a points victory after he was wiped out in his opening ride of the penultimate round. Take nothing away from Hancock – for Doyle still had some work to do…

NEIL KELLY GREW up across the road from the Doomben racecourse in Brisbane, but it was a horse power of a different kind that caught the eye of the young teenager and his older brother Trevor, better known to race fans as Terry. “I can remember seeing a Honda CB750K1 for the very first time in the heart of Brisbane,” remembers Neil, who was 13 at the time. “It had those four chrome mufflers, the front disc brake, and cars were literally slowing down to have a look at it.” Hotting up bikes and cars became a passion for the Kelly brothers and it was only a matter of time before Neil took his passion to the track aboard a Yamaha RD350 in 1974, against legend Tom Gibson and Queensland…

3D PRINTING IS without a doubt one of the innovations that will change our lives in the future. Everything from food to firearms has been created using the technology and it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a familiar source of motorcycle components. US firm Divergent 3D is already working on a supercar using the technology and has now shown a Kawasaki Ninja H2-powered supercharged bike that illustrates the potential of the idea. Apart from the Kawasaki engine, all the major parts of the bike, dubbed the Dagger, have been 3D-printed. The frame, swingarm and tank are all created using the tech, which is more accurately described as ‘additive manufacturing’. Carbon fibre and metal parts are built up using the 3D printers, a system that creates far less…

HONDA HAS UNVEILED two new low-capacity cruisers for 2017 in a bid to cut itself a slice of the lucrative and on-trend bobber pie. Repurposing the powerplants of its CBR500R and CBR300R, Honda has bolted the engines into a tubular steel cruiser-style chassis, suspended on a dual shock rear end and a conventional 41mm fork. Rolling on 16-inch wheels, the seat height measures a very accessible 690mm and the Rebel 500 (the only model destined for the Aussie marketplace) tips the scales at 188kg (kerb). No word on price at this stage, but it’ll be available in silver, red and black.…

WE’RE FAST APPROACHING 2017. Driverless vehicles are already being trialled in some countries, and Yamaha has built a robot that can ride a motorcycle. Two other bike manufacturers are taking a different approach to the future of their two-wheeled products: artificial intelligence. Three months ago Kawasaki announced that it’s working on a new generation of electronically enhanced motorcycles. Ones that have the ability to form personalities that can develop and evolve in parallel with its owner. By combining current technologies on modern-day motorcycles with emerging technologies like language detection and another advances from SoftBank that endows inanimate objects with artificial emotions, Kawasaki says it can create emotionally rich relationships between bike and rider, while vastly improving safety and reducing risk. The result is a bike providing riding tips, adjusting the…

People who saw Eric Hinton ride still comment on his style and firmly set jaw If you want to fully understand Eric Hinton’s career, dig deeper than his world championship results. He won four non-championship GPs in Europe, highlighted by the 1959 Czechoslovak 500 GP on the Brno public-road circuit. Hinton raced the Continental Circus for nine seasons, four in the 1950s and another five in the 60s, competing with world champions Keith Campbell, Geoff Duke, Mike Hailwood, Gary Hocking, Tom Phillis and Jim Redman. He witnessed the Italian factory battles of the mid-1950s and Hailwood trying to tame the evil Honda 500-4 around Spa-Francorchamps in 1966. In Europe, Hinton did everything from fixing an electrical problem with his teeth to befriending MV Agusta’s then 500 GP’s rising rookie Giacomo…

First of all, welcome to the party. Over the course of 12 busy months it can be hard to savour the hits and highlights as they happen, so for us the Motorcycle of the Year award is a welcome chance to revisit and celebrate our favourite bikes. This year we selected eight wonders: the Kawasaki ZX-10R, the Honda Africa Twin, the Triumph Thruxton R, the Aprilia 1100 Tuono Factory, the MV Agusta Brutale 800, the Ducati XDiavel S, the Yamaha MT-10 and the KTM Super Duke GT. They come from across the spectrum of bike genres: adventurers, tourers, café racers, nakedbikes and out-and-out track weapons. What they have in common is that they all stood out from the two-wheeled crowd in 2016. Each scored an invite to AMCN’s annual MOTY…

One hell of a deal for a litre of go-anywhere freedom machine ADVENTURE BIKES are big, in both ways. And the most sizeable impact on the adventure scene in 2016 was that of Honda’s reborn Africa Twin. After the long absence of this legendary line of desert sleds, the return was so hotly anticipated that it almost wouldn’t have mattered how good the bike was. Just carrying the name was enough to fill its pre-release order books before the mud had dried on the ‘True Adventure’ concept bike displayed at EICMA 2014. The question was, just how ‘adventurous’ would the often conservative-minded Honda hierarchy allow the Africa Twin to be? The answer is ‘not very’ in terms of innovation. But ‘very’ in terms of transcontinental all-roads touring capabilities. You could…

Like a firecracker planted in the proverbial date of mediocrity MID-CAPACITY BIKES rock. When you analyse just how much of a big bike’s performance is ever used on the street, shopping in the 600 to 800cc category makes a lot of sense for most riders. The Brutale 800 isn’t your average mid-capacity middle-of-the-road bike though. It’s like a firecracker planted in the proverbial date of mediocrity – red, raw, racy, and ready to go off. Its place here in the MOTY line up is proof that the prize on offer isn’t purely about practicality and perfection. We also like MOTY to celebrate the bikes that capture the essence of motorcycling in its purest form. Riding should be fun, and it should be exciting. The Brutale supplies these two valuable emotional…

Honda Africa Twin ENGINE Configuration Parallel-twin Cylinder head SOHC, four valves per cylinder Capacity 998cc Bore/stroke 92 x 75.1mm Compression ratio Not given Cooling Liquid Fueling PGM-FI EFI Power 70kW @ 7500rpm (claimed) Torque 98Nm @ 6000rpm (claimed) TRANSMISSION Type Six-speed manual/DCT Clutch Wet, slipper (STD and ABS), (DCT) Final drive Chain CHASSIS Frame material Steel Frame layout Semi-double cradle Rake 27.3º Trail 113mm SUSPENSION Showa Front: 45mm USD, fully adjustable, 204mm travel Rear: Monoshock, fully adjustable, hydraulic preload adjuster, 220mm travel WHEELS/TYRES Wheels Aluminium rim, steel spoked Front: 21 x 2.15 Rear: 18 x 4.00 Tyres Dunlop D610 (standard) Front: 90/90-21 (54H) Rear: 150/70-18 (70H) BRAKES Brembo 2-channel switchable ABS Front: Twin 310mm floating discs, four-piston radial calipers Rear: Single 256mm disc, two-piston caliper DIMENSIONS Weight 228kg(STD), 232 kg(ABS)(wet,claimed)…

Twin high pipes bark with a hard-edged, high tickover As far as motorcycle sport comebacks go, this will take some beating. The reborn Indian Motorcycle company recently returned to flat-track racing after a 60-year hiatus to resume hostilities with Harley-Davidson. In less than a year, the Minnesota-based company has committed to compete in America’s national flat-track championship. It built two racebikes from the ground up and entered the final round of the 2016 season with 47-year-old ex-champ Joe Kopp on board. In brutally dangerous conditions, Kopp won the Dash for Cash, a kind of Superpole for the six fastest qualifiers held over four laps of the mile-long track. He then got the holeshot in the 25-lap, 18-rider main event and eventually finished a gruelling seventh. This all played out in…

The engine note is unmistakably meatier Style is everything Designing a new engine to carry the Harley-Davidson name is as much about appearance and sound as it is about power and torque. H-D engineers needed to be sure the new engine looked just right. Nine design concepts were sketched and shown to Harley’s customer base. Designs ranged from a modern interpretation of the classic Panhead (1948-1965) to a futuristic model, and everything in between. The selection process was tough with one design binned as soon as it was likened to a bouquet of flowers. One customer said he wanted people to know he is on a Harley from a football field away, and wanted them to know he’s on a new Harley from 25 feet. Heat down, power up…

FREE PRACTICE ONE Friday 10.55am YOU CAN FEEL electricity in the air as mechanic Mark Elder wheels Andrea Dovizioso’s Desmosedici into pitlane. This is the culmination of two days of work creating a potential race winner from 46 boxes flown over from the previous round in Japan. A drag-racing-style starter is pushed onto the end of the crankshaft and the V4 engine bellows into life, quickly settling into a fast idle. Using a starter rather than rollers means the gearbox doesn’t get loaded up. Mechanics and technicians circle the noisy beast, which soon sounds angry as the throttle is twisted, building revs and engine heat. ‘Desmo Dovi’ pulls on his helmet as final pre-flight checks are concluded. Icy wind, sheeting rain, 14°C track temperature and the fact that it’s the…

Honda’s ST1300 had big boots to fill when it took over ‘Big Red’s’ magnum grand tourer role from the ST1100. But it was well up to the task. Its aluminium beam-frame is lighter and stiffer than the 1100’s tubular-steel version. While the new 1261cc version of the liquid-cooled V4 engine shared its basic architecture with its 1084cc predecessor, much of it was new. Electronic fuel injection replaced carburettors, cam-drive changed from belt to chain and twin balancer shafts enabled the much smoother engine to be a rigidly mounted chassis component. As with the ST1100, a five-speed gearbox and shaft final-drive completes the ST1300’s drivetrain. The ST1300 rides on 45mm non-adjustable forks and a pre-load adjustable monoshock –unremarkable but very effective kit. The full touring-fairing and electrically-adjustable screen provide excellent protection…

TWO TEENAGERS, TWO dirtbikes, two families with a common area: a big country and a big sky at night. Nick Ienatsch is a veteran American motorcycle racer, journalist and respected instructor on the art of two-wheeled riding. He’s written a book that will strike a chord with teenage riders looking for the ‘big break’. And their parents. His story is set in the wide-open expanses of Colorado but it could easily be set just about anywhere in Australia. To succeed in motocross/supercrosss/dirt track takes a bit of luck, a pinch of self-belief, and a lot of commitment from both riders and parents. This simple tale tells a common story from both sides of the financial divide of motorcycle racing. One kid will win and the other will lose. Along the…

MotoGP MIKE JONES received the call-up to stand in for Héctor Barberá on the Ducati GP14.2 in Japan and Australia, and showed his gratitude by putting together two performances that will likely leave him at the top of Davide Tardozzi’s reserve rider list. The humble 22-year-old rode a MotoGP bike for the first time, dealing with the pressure of taking on the world’s best riders at a new circuit and overcoming technical issues to bring it home without a scratch. Even more incredibly, he out-performed those who had ridden all season on equivalent machinery and came away from the two-round showing with a point in the World Championship. WSBK AN INJURED JOSH Hook hardly got a fair shake in the Grillini Team, so it was difficult to judge his overall…

AFTER BEING RELEGATED to a single-round, bit-part player in 2015, the Victorian Road Racing Championships (VRRC) has begun the journey to regain its rightful position as the state’s premier road racing series. After losing the right to host the series in 2012, the Preston Motorcycle Club regained the rights to the championship in 2016 and implemented a four-round series based on the ASBK format with three rounds at Broadford and one round at the Phillip Island GP Circuit. With determination, sheer hard work and unlimited passion the club’s dedicated members went about putting the building blocks in place to give the series every chance to shine once again. The highlight of the 2016 series was the battle between the Jones brothers for the Superbike title. Older brother and twice Victorian…

Kings THE 2016 KINGS of Wanneroo, 5-6 November, was owned by three men: Ben Stronach (Pro-Twin Kawasaki ZX-10) capped a stellar season, winning the 2016 Club Championship, State Superbike Championship, the Kings Superbike Shootout and the Kings of Wanneroo title; and the team of Jero Joyce/Corey Blackman (RHR Kawasaki 1000) who took out the State Sidecar Championship, the Australian F1 Sidecar Championship and the Sidecar Kings of Wanneroo. The event was marred by a racing incident that claimed the life of Chris Adley during the first Supersport race on Saturday afternoon. An earlier incident left Production rider Michael King in a critical condition, although he is now much improved and has been discharged from Royal Perth Hospital. Meet the Stronachs THE STRONACHS are without doubt the best known family involved…

“This place is f**king mental. It is as dangerous as hell and it has to be the most dangerous track in the world. But we race to get a buzz and this place gives you one hell of a buzz!” That was the wide-eyed verdict of Macau Grand Prix rookie Glenn Irwin after his first ride on the Chinese street circuit in 2016. The total absence of run-off on the 6.1km of Armco-lined streets that weave their way through the former Portuguese colony should have been enough to ensure the event’s demise decades ago, but Macau celebrated 50 years of bike racing this November. And, as Irwin’s words indicate, it remains an alluring challenge for two-wheeled adrenaline junkies who want to play their own game of Russian roulette in the…

SINCE 1973 THE Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) has been the sanctioning body for all drag racing in Australia. It was formed after the drag racing fraternity broke away from the original sanctioning body, the Australian Hot Rod Federation. In the early days the leadership and vision of John Storm, Dennis Syrmis and Tony Thornton saw drag racing explode in popularity, leading to strong growth. However, over the past few years some cracks started to appear with racers and tracks not happy with the direction ANDRA was taking. Subsequently the big three tracks – Sydney, Willowbank and Perth – began making plans of their own. The first step was the formation of the Australian Professional Drag Racers Ltd. High on the agenda was to look at ways to reduce…

“We had only teamed up a few hours before the main race after both our teammates had crashed out!” You and Daniel Falzon looked totally committed in winning the Adelaide Three-Hour and the big $4000 pay cheque. Tell us about your preparation and strategy for the event. We spent months building up our fitness and Daniel’s brother, John, who’s a brilliant race engineer, spent nearly as much time developing our race strategy. It was totally different to the first time Daniel and I raced this event (and won it in 2013 on a supersport bike). We had only teamed up a few hours before the main race after both our teammates had crashed out! The opposition has got really strong lately, but we only missed out on winning last year…