Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 66 Issue 16 i Australian Motorcycle News

AMERICA MIGHT HAVE lost two of its motorcycle brands with the recent closures of both Victory Motorcycles and EBR, but the former’s sister company, Indian, is growing at a rapid pace. New documents show that an additional three models will soon be joining the Indian range. The Polaris-owned firm has filed emissions certification documents (left) for new models under the ‘Chieftain Elite’, ‘Chieftain Limited’ and ‘Roadmaster Classic’ names. While the documents show the bikes will be powered by the same 1811cc Thunder Stroke V-Twin as Indian’s other large-capacity models, there’s little else to go on regarding their technical details. However, their names drop some significant clues. The Chieftain Elite and Chieftain Limited are clearly derivatives of the existing Chieftain bagger while the ‘Elite’ and ‘Limited’ titles both suggest that they’re…

“Bob Mitchell was better than they said he was! No one could touch him” Sixty years ago this Easter, Bob Mitchell won the sidecar race at Mount Panorama on a Norton 500, becoming the only man to win the unlimited three-wheel event there on a single-cylinder machine. After the race, Mitchell sold the outfit to fellow Victorian Bernie Mack and retired from racing to concentrate on his business career. He wasn’t yet 26, but he had raced on the Continental Circus for three seasons and achieved a placing in the FIM Sidecar World Championship (fourth in 1956) that has never been matched by another Australian. He finished third in the 1955 Dutch TT and 1956 Belgian Grand Prix, and fourth at both the Isle of Man and Assen in 1956.…

Ducati’s original Scrambler, built between 1962 and 1976, was what we might describe in today’s terms as a soft offroader or crossover model. When the name was revived in 2015 with a carefully cultivated go-anywhere image, it was more road oriented. And while Ducati did dip a 21st-century toe into the Scrambler’s dirt heritage with its wire-wheel and high-mudguard-fitted Urban Enduro, this was purely a bodywork styling exercise. Ducati’s new Scrambler Desert Sled is a genuine dirt-based ride. It takes its name from the off-road machines that first appeared on the sands of South-West California and in Mexico’s Baja desert back in the 1950s. The original Desert Sleds were stripped down roadbikes built for off-road desert racing; the new craze reached such heights that Ducati introduced its original Scrambler range,…

It was when the WSBK started in 1988 that the craze really took off AS LONG AS any form of racing has set requirements for minimum production numbers there have been manufacturers prepared to see what they can get away with. There’s no hard-and-fast definition of a ‘homologation special’, but whenever a bike’s production is limited to just what’s needed to be eligible, it probably qualifies for the term. Even before the advent of WSBK, manufacturers were already playing the game. You can go back as far as the Suzuki GSX1000SZ, which appeared back in 1981 as a sleeved-down, 998cc derivative of the normal 1100cc Katana to squeeze under the 1000cc superbike race regulations of the day. But it was later, when four-cylinder superbikes were restricted to 750cc, and particularly…

Although it’s not yet green-lit for production, we know Honda is already developing an even more focussed bike to fit the latest homologation rules (see below, and AMCN Vol 65 No 24). A V4 superbike based around the RC213V-S engine in a totally new cast-aluminium chassis, it’s being developed in much the same mould as the original RC30. If it reaches production – and our sources say that remains a hot topic of discussion within Honda – the bike will be even higher-spec than the new CBR1000RR SP-2. However, it will still have to meet the €40,000 price limit (A$56,000) that WSBK imposes on the production version of any bike that competes in the series.…

AS WELL AS being the curtain raiser for the WSBK season, it’s also the first round of the ASBK – and what an undercard that promises to be. Competition is fierce this year with 43 Superbike riders fighting for 40 grid spots, and 48 racers in 300 Supersport battling for 42 grid spots – it’s been a long time since our local grids were oversubscribed like that. Check out the form from testing on page 134. Over the weekend, you’ll see 16 races in all, including the three WSBK and WSS events, three races apiece for domestic superbike, supersport and supersport 300, and four outings for the historic bikes of yesteryear. Bring it on! Italian Grand Prix collection The circuit’s newest attraction is the impressive collection of 24 thoroughbred Italian-made…

As much as Honda wanted to win, Hideo ‘Pops’ Yoshimura wanted to stop them The Suzuka 8 Hours has been the world’s most important motorcycle race for the past 30 years. The Japanese bike industry pours more money and resources into winning the event than any other single race – but it wasn’t always this way. The first 8 Hours grew out of the popular six-hour scene in Japan, the USA and Australia, where the Castrol Six Hours for bog-stock bikes was one of the world’s best-known races. Honda spent most of the 1970s out of Grand Prix racing, sulking at the two-stroke takeover and spending its money on the FIM Coupe d’Endurance series, including the hugely popular Le Mans and Bol d’Or 24-hour race. It was inevitable Honda would…

RST BECAME THE official safety partner of the Isle of Man TT in 2015, and what a great move it was from the brand’s colourful owner, Johnny Towers. This partnership paved the way for a limited run of products bearing the insignia of the legendary road racing event which has captivated motorcycle enthusiasts for the past 110 years. Towers not only models in his own catalogue but is also a formidable UK motorcycle racer. He started RST in 1988 with a vision of producing high-quality riding apparel at an affordable price, and it’s clear from the quality of this product that JT wasn’t taking any chances with his signature IOM TT range. The smooth and supple full grain aniline cowhide is set off with a classy, understated Isle of Man…

IT MAY HAVE missed out on the AMCN Motorcycle of The Year trophy by the narrowest of margins, but Yamaha’s MT-10 remains one of the most exciting releases of 2016. Throughout 2017 we plan to show off just how versatile this stonking litre nakedbike can be. We’re kicking things off by kitting the big girl out with a selection of Yamaha genuine accessory touring gear and hitting the road to Melbourne for this year’s WSBK season opener at Phillip Island. All of the listed accessories are available from your local Yamaha dealer. You can also view the entire catalogue at yshop.yamahamotor.com.au. The kitted-up MT-10 will then be handed over to our WSBK correspondent Gordon Ritchie, who plans to get gloriously lost somewhere in Victoria. But first we need to install…

YAMAHA TOP GUN Maverick Viñales has made a dream start to the 2017 season and is now a much-hyped early favourite for the MotoGP world championship. Ignoring the pressure of being Valentino Rossi’s new teammate in the factory Yamaha squad, Viñales set the pace at the opening three-day test of the season in Sepang. The 22-year-old was impressively calm and fast on a super-tuned M1 that has been refined into a strong package for 2017. A key chassis change and work to broaden the engine power range helped address one of Yamaha’s primary concerns – improving race-long performance and rear tyre wear. Rossi said it was an important test for the new frame. “It is easier to ride and puts less stress on the tyres, especially in the second half…

THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL Drag Racing Association recently finished off two back-to-back championship rounds for the ANDRA Drag Racing Series and Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series. The first event was the 51st ANDRA Australian Nationals held at Calder Park Raceway from 28-29 January. Back in the nineties, the Nationals was permanently held at the Melbourne-based track, and at its peak it attracted over 350 entries and more than 50,000 fans over three days of competition! Sadly, this year’s event was only able to feature one category – Modified Bike – with a 14-bike field. After three sessions, Rob Cassar led the competition with a 7.65 ET at 172mph on his nitrous 1500cc Kawasaki. Unfortunately, the current ANDRA Champ got out of shape in Round 1 and was put on the trailer…

“My aim is to be the first female in Australia to win the 300 Supersport Championship” LAURA BROWN IS a 30-year-old of many talents. She’s not only a qualified vet, but also an accomplished Latin dancer and social media celeb. Laura is also bloody quick on a motorcycle, and an inspiration to young women wanting to get a start in road racing. Laura returns for a full season in 2017 following a nasty injury that sidelined her for most of last year. We caught up with Australia’s fastest animal doctor for a quick chat. How did you get started in racing and bikes in general? Back in January 2015, a friend of mine put GSX-R fairings on my 250 Ninja roadbike for a club race. I did it and then…

RARELY IS A jumble of letters and numbers as evocative as the combination of G, S, X and R when combined with 750. Now fans of the bike that started the whole modern superbike class can start celebrating as we get word there’s a new GSX-R750 in the works. While sales of Suzuki’s genre-defining superbike have long since fallen from its 1980s and 1990s peak, for many the GSX-R750 still hits a sweet spot that others fail to reach. That 750cc engine is in the Goldilocks zone, not tearing your face off like today’s 1000cc superbikes but offering more power and grunt than any 600. And as the cost of 1000cc superbikes spirals ever higher, the 25 per cent capacity reduction to the GSX-R750 results in at least a similar…

CHINA IS THE WORLD’S biggest market for electric bikes by a massive margin, but the vast majority are scooters with old technology, low performance and short range. Now there’s a new patent that might change that. Notably, it’s been filed in the European patent office rather than in China, and the design appears to have all the details needed to meet construction and use regulations in Europe. The company behind it, Chongqing Qiulong Technology, is believed to be planning to sell the bike under the name Sur-Ron – a mysterious new brand that was set up in 2014. At the moment the Sur-Ron website shows the company is trying to employ staff across a wide range of jobs, and says it has a 40-strong R&D team. While Sur-Ron is yet…

IF THE CREATOR of The Jetsons imagined the Family of the Future to use motorcycles instead of flying pods to get around in the 1960s cartoon, then this would surely be the helmet worn by George, Jane, Judy and Elroy. It’s not the work of Hanna-Barbera, however, but American firm NandLogic, which hopes to bring its so-called Encephalon helmet to market via a soon-to-be launched crowdfunding campaign. Some of the helmet’s features have been seen before, but others haven’t. Perhaps the most innovative technology is the fact that pretty much all the features will function autonomously while on the move, without any input from the rider. Functions can be customised and programmed via the system’s smartphone app and NandLogic is hoping the final consumer model will be relatively affordable (sub-$1000)…

Italian motorcycles are things of beauty, not only in their design but in the way they handle, the way they deliver their power, their presence and that feel-good factor that just makes going for a ride worthwhile. When I got the call from Editor Dobie to test the latest retro classic incarnations from SWM, he was quite surprised to learn that I had one tucked away in the shed. Although the marque is not well known, I grew up riding trials bikes made by the brand and to this day I’m probably one of the few people to have followed SWM’s existence. In the 1970s and 80s SWM was definitely a hard-edged company that made competition motorcycles, and perhaps that’s why the company became defunct. Reborn only three years ago,…

Everybody has a favourite island. For pure road racing nuts, the Isle of Man is it. For the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship, it’s Phillip Island. For the entire WSBK and WSS field, the yearly visit to the 4.448km circuit is a much-anticipated moment. It is easily the best circuit in the southern hemisphere, with some unique challenges to men, machinery, and the left side of the tyres. And this year PI will have the honour of starting off the 30th season of WSBK competition, which began at Donington Park in the UK all the way back in 1988. You’ve come a long way kid. The usual pre-season tests at PI (20-21 February) are an annual pre-season highlight and the last chance for a real shakedown before the racing and…

IN THE DARK days following a career-ending crash in the 2003 Bulgarian Motocross Grand Prix, Pit Beirer never imagined he would one day lead KTM into its ambitious MotoGP project. But that is where the now 44-year-old German finds himself, having been a key player in KTM’s success story in a variety of bike disciplines over the past decade – including AMA Supercross, the Dakar Rally and Moto3. Now head of motorsport at KTM, Beirer describes himself as “an old-school motocross rider” who formed his own team and won GPs before his racing career ended with the spinal injuries that put him in a wheelchair. The transition to being an office guy and progressing through the management ranks after his 2003 crash required determination, self-confidence and patience. And Beirer will…

A bit of Sportster play-racing with your mates through the hills will leave you grinning in a big way HARLEY-DAVIDSON CAUGHT many observers by surprise when it wheeled out the Sportsterbased ‘old-school custom’, the Nightster, a decade or so back. It was followed in successive years by the flat-tracker tribute, the XR1200, the ‘dark custom’ Iron 883 and the ‘bar hopper’ Forty-Eight. Suddenly the bike that had long been disparaged as the ‘Skirtster’ by H-D ‘Big Twin’ enthusiasts was out of the shadows and proud. Clearly lighter and more compact than their big brothers, the various members of the Sportster line-up lose out in terms of in-your-face presence to the big ’uns – but hey, they win it back in terms of agility and overall performance. And Sportster riders never…

THE SHOEI NXR Seduction is a striking helmet with a unique feminine pink lace corset graphic lining up perfectly with physical contours and vents on the helmet. I think the most important feature of the helmet is that you hardly know it’s there protecting your head. It feels a lot lighter than my last helmet and has an aerodynamic shape that really helps with reducing wind noise and buffeting. There is a breath guard, chin curtain and comfortable ear pads, which help reduce in-helmet noise. And it’s really easy to get on and off as the bottom of the helmet widens, limiting the opportunities of ripping my earrings off in the process. Ventilation is great, with four easy-to-operate inlets on brow and chin. They can be opened or closed to…

AFTER A DECEMBER of nothing but tumbleweeds in the longterm parking area, Christmas has come late with the arrival of some new metal, including the cool all-black version of the recently released CFMoto 650NK. There’s a full test report in AMCN Vol 66 No 15, but in a nutshell it’s a 650cc parallel-twin nakedbike made in China that is retailing Down Under for less than $7000 ride away, and giving a lie to the assumption that budget Asian bikes are inferior to the offerings from the traditional big manufacturers. Some readers will remember that AMCN enjoyed the company of the previous model 650NK back in 2014 and put it through one of the toughest tours of duty ever. Over 12 months and more than 7000km it was used and abused…

PLUS Fireblade reload Honda has stuck with its winning CBR1000RR formula for another year. Does the SP have the goods? Pillion in a million Riding from Australia to Europe is a crazy enough, we've found a pillion who's made the trek Márquez v Viñales Honda's wonderboy may have finally met his match in Yamaha's new golden child WE THRASH THE 2017 GIXXER 1000 The wait is over! Suzuki's all-new GSX-R1000R has arrived. We track test it at the world's best superbike circuit, Phillip Island…

THE 2017 AUSTRALIAN Superbike Championship was already set to be a cracker, now it has been boosted even further with a late entry for two-time champion Josh Waters on a factory-backed Suzuki. Waters will race the new Suzuki GSX-R1000R, which has been homologated in time for the highly anticipated seven-round series. “The bike feels really good,” said Waters, who has also raced in the World and British Superbike Championships. “It’s awesome to be able to come back into the series, and with Suzuki as well, who haven’t been a part of the championship in an official form since 2013.” Waters’ bike has been prepared by Phil Tainton and will be run by Canberra Motorcycle Centre with support from Suzuki Australia. MV Agusta has also lodged a late entry for the…

IT WAS A meeting to celebrate speedway sidecar racing and to honour one of the stars of a previous era – but it was the sport’s young guns who stood up to be counted. The first staging of the Garry Treloar Roll the Dice Invitational at the Kurri Kurri track on 4 February attracted a big roll-up of fans from decades past who came to remember one of the stars. It some ways it is unfair that Garry Treloar is best known as the father of the ‘best there’s ever been’ in speedway sidecar racing, Darrin Treloar. Make no mistake, Garry was good – between 1976 and 1984 he won two Australian Pairs titles, and state titles in New South Wales and Victoria during a time when success never came…

What? The next-generation GSX-R750 is expected to retain the existing four-cylinder engine, retuned to meet the latest European emission rules. With no race series to compete in and no direct road-going rivals, Suzuki doesn’t need to increase the bike’s performance, so power will be close to the current 110kW. But expect a full package of the latest Bosch traction control to go along with ABS from the same company. Suzuki is also likely to retain a similar chassis to the current model, which is no bad thing. Suspension will no doubt be updated and styling will likely reflect that of the latest GSX-R1000 (below). When? It’s sure to be available before the start of 2019, but could appear even earlier as a 2018 model. That might depend on Suzuki’s marketing…

WHAT’S THE OLDEST bike remaining in production? Given the way motorcycles evolve, it’s a tough question to definitively answer, but a good candidate must be the Chang Jiang CJ750. The Chinese-made sidecar outfits are a throwback to bike technology that’s nearly a century old. Originally based on the WW2-era Russian IMZ M-72, itself an outright copy of the pre-war BMW R71, the base-model CJ750 is surely the last remaining production bike powered by a side-valve engine. It even retains the old six-volt electrical system. Time finally caught up with Chang Jiang in 2009, when even China’s relatively lax emissions laws became too strict for the ancient engines. Despite this, ‘new’ CJ750s still trickle onto the market, built up from spare parts by independent specialists. There’s also a roaring Chinese trade…

FORMERLY CALLED THE Barry Sheene Festival of Speed, this annual historic racing event is shaping up to be a ripper for 2017 with more big names than ever jumping on retro racers at Sydney Motorsport Park on 24-26 March. With blokes like Giacomo Agostini, John McGuinness, Pierfrancesco ‘Frankie’ Chili, Steve Parish and Troy Bayliss all confirmed, as well as Graeme Crosby, Maria Costello and Chris Vermeulen, it really is a must-attend event for any fan of motorcycle sport. There are more than 400 bikes already entered for the packed program of more than 50 races across the three days. The event will also form the opening round of the two-round Trans-Tasman Challenge, where Australian and New Zealand teams will race for glory on Aussie soil before the deciding round is…

 BACK IN 1972 Kawasaki established the ‘Z’ range and brought production superbike race replicas to the masses. Nowadays, we expect an annual offering of race-ready models from the big Japanese brands, but it was this game-changing naked in the 70s that first gave consumers a taste for street-legal superbikes. The arms race between motorcycle manufacturers continues today, and the good news for LAMS riders is that these giants of automotive engineering have now turned their attention to the rapidly growing 650cc market. The six-speed gearbox is one of the little Z’s biggest assets With the release of the new Z650L, Kawasaki has transcended its ER6-NL platform using a combination of clever styling tweaks and chassis updates to create an aggressive middleweight supernaked. Unlike the rest of the firm’s current in-line…

It’s said to be Soichiro Honda who originally coined the phrase ‘racing improves the breed’ and never has the influence of on-track activity on showroom models been as obvious as in the latest crop of new bikes launched for 2017. Soichiro himself might have been pleased to see that his eponymous firm has recently unveiled a race-oriented, low-volume production bike – a typical ‘homologation special’ – in the form of the new CBR1000RR SP2. But the sudden spate of homologation specials also revives the endless question over production-based racing: does it truly prove which machine is best, or does it just encourage firms to create track-biased production bikes that are ill-suited to life on the street? A quarter of a century ago homologation specials were the norm in superbike racing.…

SOME PRETTY BIG pages in the 2017 FIM Supersport World Championship form book have been ripped out by circumstance, long before the season starts. Five-time (yes count ’em, five) champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) broke his right wrist and hand in a Supermoto accident just before his first 2017 winter test in Europe, and has now had surgery to try and fix the problem. He no-scored last year at PI but this year, with a lot of swapped seats and hungry rivals massing at the starting gate, a quick recovery would be – I apologise in advance for this – handy for him. He is joined in Kawasaki’s leading theatre of WSS dreams by Englishman Kyle Ryde, a young man on the way up. Michael Canducci is on the…

“I believe we have the finest collection of Cagivas in the world” Visitors to Phillip Island’s round of the Superbike World Championship will be able to view the birth of a new focus on motorcycling history at the circuit’s Visitor Centre. A comprehensive collection of 24 GP-winning motorcycles from Aprilia and Cagiva showcases two decades of two-stroke racing in three classes. The acquisition by the Fox family, owners of the circuit, is the start of what could become one of the world’s most intriguing museum collections. The History of Motorsport Display at the Visitor Centre already houses a cross-section of two and four-wheeled racing on the Island, dating back to just after World War I when cars and motorcycles shared the billing at Australia’s major racing events. Now, with the…

“Even if it takes 10 years we will not give up” KTM’S FIXATION ON and trust in their iconic steel frame concept is hugely admirable. But can it take them to the rarefied status of MotoGP world champions – or even MotoGP race winners? Bullish CEO Stefan Pierer is adamant the premier class title is the goal: “Even if it takes ten years we will not give up.” This is going to be a massive test of not only engineering excellence but of KTM’s willpower to stay the course with its heritage. When Ducati arrived in MotoGP with a factory team it bravely declared that the red bike’s steel tube ‘trellis’ frame with the Desmo V4 as a stressed member was untouchable. In 2007 Ducati won its only MotoGP world…

The advantage of attempting a repair job on your racebike fairing is it only needs to pass the 50/50 test: 50 metres at 50km/h. Racebike fairings inevitably get damaged, and if you’re always looking at ways to pay for your next entry fee or to afford a new set of tyres, you don’t want to waste precious dollars on fibreglass repairs when you can do it yourself. Our Yamaha YZF-R3 Cup racebike was in need of such repairs and, despite having no prior experience with fibreglassing, we decided to have a crack at it. The main area of concern was on the nosecone. A slide through the mud had cracked the fairing on both sides and it was beginning to flap around at high speed. There were also a few…

ELI TOMAC (MONSTER Energy Kawasaki) fought tooth and nail to score his first back-to-back main event wins of the 2017 AMA SX season at Round 5 in Oakland. The 24-year-old overcame a mediocre start to chase down reigning champ Ryan Dungey (Red Bull KTM) and make a clean pass before forging an eight-second gap on his way to victory. Rookie Cooper Webb (Yamalube Yamaha) was third with teammate Chad Reed eighth. At Round 6 in Texas, Webb and Cole Seely (Factory Honda) scorched off the line before carnage unfolded at the first set of jumps when Justin Brayton (Factory Honda) tried to scrub a jump on the inside line and came off worse for wear in the midst of the chasing pack. The aftermath triggered a red flag and a…

DUBBED THE ‘TURBO Twins’ by European fans, best mates Darcy Ward and Chris Holder formed one of the most successful pairings in speedway history when the duo raced for Poole (UK), Torun (Poland) and Piraterna (Sweden). So it was always going to be an emotional reunion when the two met up at the second annual Darcy Ward Cup at Mick Doohan Raceway, in Brisbane’s north. And it was a fitting result, with Holder storming to victory. Eighteen months on from the horrific accident which nearly claimed Ward’s life in Poland, the cream of Australian speedway united again to ride for the 24-year-old, who is still adapting to his life-changing injuries. While last year’s D-Dub #43 Cup was a somewhat sombre affair, given it was Ward’s homecoming as he settled into…