Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 69 Issue 04 i Australian Motorcycle News

NEXT TIME YOU are sitting at the lights on your modern bike, try this: just ease the clutch out slowly with the bike in first gear and no throttle. Hear that? It can be subtle on some bikes, but most new machines will pick the revs up, all by themselves. They often do the same thing when you select first gear. Carbies never did that for you unless there was something stuck in the carby slide. Stalling a new bike is harder than ever. If humans want to make something work enough, they make it happen It’s a small but worthy modernisation many new bikes have, but the tech we have on our new bikes is a thin imitation of the car-spec tech most mid-priced four wheelers enjoy today. Radar-cruise…

MV AGUSTA IS the latest European brand to align itself with a Chinese manufacturer, announcing last week that it and Chinese giant Loncin Motor Co have entered a long-term strategic partnership. The agreement will initially mean the development of an all-new four-tiered range of premium machines in the 350cc-500cc category, which will be designed in Italy and manufactured in China. Depending on which market the machines are being sold into, the bikes will carry either MV Agusta branding, or badged as VOGE, which is Loncin’s premium brand. The Italian firm is hoping the fruits of the partnership will attract new riders to the MV brand who will remain loyal, as well as allowing greater exposure and easier access to the lucrative Asian markets.MV Agusta is also hoping the partnership will…

WITH PLANS FOR a possible hybrid motorcycle and a third variant of its popular W800 retro coming next year, Kawasaki is ramping up its options. We’ve seen these patent applications for a hybrid project we think would have its best application in an ATV or four-wheel off-road buggy. The problem with hybrid bikes is there simply isn’t enough space on a two-wheeler to easily fit a petrol engine, an electric motor and all the control systems and batteries. Here Kawasaki mounts the electric motor above the transmission (labelled 4) with the batteries where you’d normally find the airbox and fuel tank (42). Kawasaki has two options for the fuel tank: fitted like a pannier or bolted to the front sides. Meanwhile, we’ve received a document (but no images) of a…

JOHN HOWARD IS still the Prime Minister, serving the country for the ninth year in a row. Vampire novel ‘Twilight’ by Stephenie Meyer is first published by Little Brown. In the US, Hurricane Katrina makes second and third landfall as a category 3 hurricane, devastating much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. It kills more than 1800, and causes over $115 billion in damage. Coordinated terrorist bomb blasts strike London’s public transport system during the morning rush hour, killing 52 and injuring 700. And the well known American journalist and author, Hunter S. Thompson, passes in early 2005 after committing suicide. How much? In 2005 you would’ve paid a cool $17,995 for a Ducati 1000 DS. You can pick one up for around half that…

Adventure spec Thank you for your educational and insightful collector’s edition celebrating the spirit of adventure (AMCN Vol 69 No 03). I enjoyed your 10 hot tips for adventure riders and learnt quite a bit and hope to master my Tiger with a lot more comfort. As a five-foot-nine rider I have always tried to nail the stop and exit off my bike, scared I might topple over. And now I have a newfound confidence! Thank you for a great mag The day after reading your magazine I started trialling the technique described, sliding my butt to one side, and now have a newfound confidence. Thank you for a great mag and a special mention to GS off-road training for their fantastic tips. Brett Hegarty Sunshine Coast, Qld One of…

Reckon you’re pretty quick when it comes to two-wheeled trivia? Then have a crack at our who-what-where series. If you’re finding it hard, here’s a clue – all the answers have appeared in AMCN at some time over the past 67 years. When you reckon you’ve worked out the bloke, the bike and the track, email your numbered answers to comps@amcn.com.au for your chance to win! 1. WHO? Who holds the record for the most Grand Prix wins ever? 2. WHEN? When was the last motorcycle race held on Mount Panorama? 3. WHAT? What motorcycle manufacturer has the most wins at the Suzuka 8 Hours? 4. HOW MANY? How many Grand Prix pole positions does Mick Doohan have under his belt? 5. WHERE? Where did Jack Miller get his first MotoGP…

“WE BEGAN THE project in March 2010, and four years later we took an unbranded motorcycle to Tokyo, to London, to San Francisco, we put riders on it, and then we asked, ‘What would you think if it was branded as a Harley?’ And they’d sit up in their chair, and they’d say, ‘That would be cool, I would think way differently com about .au Harley-Davidson than I did before. I wish Harley-Davidson would do something like this – I’d be proud of them if they did.’ Well, now we have done.” “We’re at a historic juncture in the evolution of mobility, and Harley-Davidson is at the forefront. Innovation that moves the body and soul has always been at the heart of our brand, and this next chapter in our…

ENGINE Capacity 693cc Type single cylinder, four stroke, OHC, four valves Bore & stroke 105mm x 80mm Compression ratio 12.8:1 Cooling Liquid Fueling EFI, 50mm single throttle body Transmission Six-speed Clutch Wet, hydraulically operated multi-plate, with APTC slipper clutch Final drive Chain PERFORMANCE Power 55kW @ 8500rpm (claimed) Torque 72Nm @ 6750rpm (claimed) Top speed Not given Fuel consumption Not given ELECTRONICS Type Keihin, EMS double ignition Rider aides Bosch 9M+ two channel ABS CHASSIS Frame material Tubular chromium-molybdenum steel Frame type Trellis Rake 25° Trail 109mm Wheelbase 1434mm SUSPENSION Type WP Front: 43mm USD telescopic fork, adjustable compression and rebound, 135mm travel Rear: trellis swingarm with monoshock, adjustable…

THE 24-YEAR-OLD Portuguese rider has the toughest job of all this year’s rookies. Not only is the former Moto3 and Moto2 winner serving his MotoGP apprenticeship, he’s also trying to develop a motorcycle. Pol Espargaro has had some strong rides on KTM’s RC16, because his all-in-wrestling riding style suits the bike, but so far, he is the only one. Interestingly, Oliveira is KTM’s first MotoGP rider who hasn’t climbed onto the RC16 coming from a Yamaha YZR-M1. “For this reason, I think KTM takes notice of what I say,” he says. “My comments are real, because they’re not based on my experiences with another MotoGP bike. I tell them that the bike needs to be more versatile for everyone and it needs to be easier in many aspects.” Oliveira’s priority…

SYDNEY HOMELESS Connect is the brainchild of Andrew Everington, who came up with the idea while volunteering for a similar event on an overseas business trip. While volunteering he met a homeless man named Matthew, who, it turned out, had a similar background to him, with a wife, kids, and career. Though a few bad life decisions had soon led Matthew down a path of alcoholism, and eventually to homelessness. The impact this had on Everington was enormous and, with persuasion from Matthew, decided to launch a similar initiative in Sydney. This year marks the 10th running of SHC and while it can be viewed as a success with ever-increasing numbers of people it supports, the bleak reality is the homeless rate in Australia continues to grow.…

BORN INTO A farming family at Pesaro on the Adriatic coast in the 1930s, Giancarlo first worked as an apprentice for a company making woodworking machinery for the furniture industry. By the late 1950s he had started a similar company and his natural technical abilities and business instincts turned Morbidelli Woodworking Machines into an export success with over 300 employees. However, it was his hobby of tuning Italian racing motorcycles, such as Benellis and Motobis, into race winners that eventually took over his life. In 1969, aged in his early 30s, he combined with racer-engineer Franco Ringhini to construct a disc-valve, water-cooled 50cc racer. This was soon followed by a 125cc version. After success in the 50cc and 125cc classes Morbidelli teamed with skilful ex-Kreidler engineer Jorg Muller in 1974.…

Top 3 TV 1 MXGP Rd17 Imola, LIVE MXGP-TV 18 August 10pm (AEST) Log on to mxgp-tv.com to catch all of the FIM MXGP action from Imola, Italy. Race 1 starts at 10pm Sunday night, with Race 2 at 1am Monday. There's also full coverage of MX2, EMX and WMX; check out the full schedule online. 2 MotoGP Rd12 UK, LIVE Videopass 25 August 7pm (AEST) MotoGP heads to Silverstone for Round 12. Videopass and Fox Sports air all classes live with Moto3 starting at 8.20pm, MotoGP at 10pm and Moto2 at 11.30pm. Free-to-air viewers can catch MotoGP on 10 Bold. 3 Racing Together 1949-2016 redbull.com On demand Anytime This film takes a look at the history of grand prix motorcycle racing with key personalities including former legends Mick Doohan…

I’VE BEEN FORTUNATE enough to race in the United Kingdom for seven seasons now. I’m 30 in September, and never in my dreams did I think I would be able to continue racing at a high level for this long. All the British Superbike Championship classes are generally over subscribed. Just a couple of seconds per lap means being on the front row or packing up and being on the road home Saturday night, having not qualified for Sunday’s race. Our factory-backed bikes come directly from Italy I have been very fortunate that in the last three seasons I have had AJN Steelstock, one of the UK’s largest steel stock holders, as my major sponsor. I’ve had a good run for the last two seasons in the one-make Ducati Tri-Options…

Bridgestone Endurance Team IT WAS GOOD to actually get a win! Everything went quite smoothly, apart from Greg’s issue with the chain. It was really exciting having close competition like Troy and Oli. The positive of being on a Superbike means you can get through the traffic easier, but from a physical point of view it is easier to ride a 600, so it was interesting to see how that played out. We basically worked it out to do 42-minute stints, and both my BMW and the Kawasaki were pretty much the same on fuel consumption. The Bridgestone tyres worked really well over a long distance, they were very consistent. For both of us it was a matter of having some fun and getting that winning feeling again.…

COREY TURNER, BEN Lowe and Ryan Yanko ventured from Queensland to attack the race as a single-bike entry, the only competitors to take on the challenge in 2019. Lowe said every pit stop set the team back at least one lap compared to their rivals, but that they were going to give it another shot next year. “Everyone had a part to play, there was about eight people involved in the pit stops. I purchased a Fast Frank wheel-change kit and Ryan bought a fast refuel system but it didn’t work, so it took longer to refuel the bike than it did to change a rear wheel!” “At the three-and-a-half hour mark we were sitting sixth outright. When we did our front wheel change the brake pads fell out of…

Circuit length 5.403km Race distance MotoGP 108.06km Moto2 102.657km Moto3 97.254km 2018 winners MotoGP A Dovizioso 41m07.728s Moto2 M Oliveira 39m22.324s Moto3 F DiGiannantonio 39m09.124s Did you know? Marc Marquez became MotoGP’s equal-highest pole winner at Brno. Marquez tied Mick Doohan’s mark of 58 poles with his dazzling sliding-on-slicks effort and, as fans might expect, he did it in record time. The Spanish master racer has scored his poles in 118 races, in a short seven-season span. Doohan started in 137 500cc GPs between 1989 and 1999. Valentino Rossi has 54 poles.…

Circuit length 4.318km Race distance MotoGP 120.904km Moto2 107.95km Moto3 99.314km 2018 winners MotoGP J Lorenzo 39m40.688s Moto2 F Bagnaia 37m45.914s Moto3 M Bezzecchi 37m13.198s Did you know? The Ducati team looked pretty happy after the race, didn’t they? Well, imagine how much the KTM team celebrated on home soil. Dovizioso’s brilliant win was 6sec faster than Jorge Lorenzo’s last year, when Lorenzo finished 29.168sec ahead of the first KTM, Bradley Smith’s, in 14th. This year the leading KTM was Miguel Oliveira’s, in eighth. But the rookie was only 16.206sec behind the winner. In other words, KTM has gained 19sec (or 0.67sec a lap) in a year...…

Mir missing Joan Mir missed the Austrian round after a horrendous high-speed crash in the post-race Brno test. Mir lost control entering Brno’s fast first corner and jumped off his Suzuki GSX-RR at a scary 240km/h. Miraculously he escaped serious injury, but missed the Red Bull Ring clash with chest and lung injuries that hospitalised him in Brno and Barcelona for a week. CY Heavy handed Moto2 riders have a 9000 Euro ($14,400) incentive to stop the potentially engine-destroying habit of over-revving on the newfor-2019 Triumph 765 engine. Some riders have been hitting 15,200rpm on downshifts, well over 1000rpm in excess of the triple’s 14,000rpm maximum. Triumph and IRTA have agreed that over-rev culprits will pay the fee for an engine rebuild. CY Italian holeshot Aprilia has become the second…

PETER HICKMAN became the first rider in the history of the Ulster Grand Prix to win all seven races. He matched road-racing legend’s Phil McCallen’s record of lofting the winner’s trophy five times in a single day and, just for good measure, obliterated the lap record of what is the fastest road race in the world. The Smiths BMW rider was fastest in practice and qualifying, before his astounding consistency saw him dominate the races. It didn’t come easy, however, with Isle of Man TT winner Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing) pushing him all the way in both Supersport races, while Dean Harrison (Silicone Engineering), Conor Cummins and rising star Davey Todd (both Milenco by Padgett’s) were there or there abouts in the big-bike categories. In the first race of the…

AUSTRALIA AGAIN HAD a presence at the 2019 AMA Flat Track Grand Championship staged in Ohio last month. Over 800 riders contested the annual four-day event for amateur racers featuring half-mile, TT and short track events with Number-one plates awarded to the overall winners of each of the 21 classes. Queensland youngster Riley Nauta won both 65cc Standard and Modified classes for the 7 to Under 11s, riding the standard machine in both. Previous winner Tom Drane again impressed, finishing in the minor placings in all three classes he contested, sometimes racing riders four years older than him. Sam Drane also grabbed attention in his first outing, just missing the overall placings. There was also a Pro / Expert Singles class as part of the event, won by Max Whale,…

$7M The charity fundraising goal for the biggest ever running of The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride on 29 September. Visit www.gentlemansride.com “It would be strange to ride a motorcycle without noise, since I rely particularly on this aspect”Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales comments on electric motorcycles HARLEY MINI-ME How serious is Harley-Davidson about electric bikes? It used last week’s X Games in Minneapolis to showcase its IRONe12 and IRONe16 electric two-wheelers, aimed at children aged three to seven years. Full LiveWire launch report on Page 40 WHEELIE AMAZING Competitors from around the world will try to beat the 350km/h record for a 1km-long wheelie at the Guinness World Records event at UK’s Elvington Airfield over 17-18 August. Last year’s winner was American Cecil 'Bubba' Myers, who defied vicious crosswinds to hit 331km/h on…

Congratulations Russell, you’ve scored a beaut Motul cap and T-shirt valued at $35, kindly supplied by our mates at Link International. Rider Jonny Devine Ride 2009 Honda CB1000R He says I brought this bike to Australia with me in 2012 from England where I used it as a daily commuter, but now I just use it for jollies. Occasionally I am tempted by the Super Duke or S 1000 R, but I have never been unhappy with it and very much doubt I will replace it by choice. It’s pretty standard as I don’t like to make it easy for the police to ticket me, nothing worse than being stopped for no reason then watching them poke around to find something to do you for (to be fair this only…

ENGINE Capacity 599cc Type in-line four-cylinder, DOHC, four-valves per cylinder Bore & stroke 67.0 x 42.5 Compression ratio 13.1 : 1 Cooling liquid-cooled Fueling Fuel injection Transmission six-speed Clutch wet multiplate Final drive chain PERFORMANCE Power 87.1kW @14,500 rpm (claimed) Torque 61.7Nm @10,500 rpm (claimed) Top speed –Not Given Fuel consumption 6.6l/100km ELECTRONICS Type Yamaha Rider aides YCC-T, YCC-I, ABS, D-Mode and Quickshifter CHASSIS Frame material aluminium Frame type Deltabox Rake 24 degrees Trail 97mm Wheelbase 1375mm SUSPENSION Type KYB Front: USD fork, fully adjustable, 120mm travel Rear: monoshock link suspension, fully adjustable, 120mm travel WHEELS & BRAKES Wheels cast aluminium Front: 3.5x17 Rear: 5.5x17 Tyres…

THE CHANCE TO evaluate the LiveWire in customer-ready guise came at the global press launch recently held in Portland, Oregon, in America’s Pacific Northwest. There’s a widespread acceptance of EVs in the local area – in fact, 48 percent of locals own or have travelled in such a device. Portland was also appropriate as the birthplace of unquestionably the most advanced electric motorcycle yet produced in the USA so far – the beautiful, bench-setting MotoCzysz which four times won the Isle of Man’s TT Zero race, including twice defeating Mugen, aka Honda. Creator Michael Czysz’s tragic early death from cancer prevented the fruits of his research being brought to the public, as he’d planned – but the chance to ride the LiveWire seven years on after I’d last visited Portland…

REIGNING MOTO2 WORLD champ Pecco Bagnaia is the second VR46 Riders Academy rider to make it into MotoGP. The 22-year-old Italian was also the fastest 2019 rookie out of the box, finishing February’s Sepang tests second fastest, 14 places ahead of Quartararo! However, he has found the racing harder. During the first half of his rookie season, he has scored points at three races, but has crashed out of four. “MotoGP is completely different to anything else,” he says. “There is three times as much work to do as there is in Moto2. I like the work, but it’s not easy because you have to understand many things and you have to be more careful in every area. “I’ve had too many crashes. In Moto2 the front tyre has a…

THE BRAINCHILD OF second-time editor Sam Maclachlan, the AMCN Winter Jacket Drive was born in 2011, collaborating with Mission Australia and the Sydney Homeless Connect event for the first time in 2012. Many thanks must go to the hundreds of people across the country that send in their jackets for such a good cause. We receive jackets right up to and including the day the jackets get distributed at the important event. But keep sending them in, well get them out to people next year, which will be the 10th running of the AMCN Winter jacket Drive. It’s a milestone we can all be proud of together, because without your generous donations it simply wouldn’t happen.…

Show time 17 AUGUST Motorcycle Show ’n’ Shine, Winston Glades Shopping Centre, 259 Ash St, Flinders View, Qld. Registration from 5-6pm; show open 5-8pm. Categories include Cruiser, Sports, Three-wheeler and Pre-1989. $10 show entry, with proceeds to the Salvation Army. Hosted by Ulysses Club Lockyer Branch. For information email lockyer.webmaster@gmail.com. 24 AUGUST Cruise to Crows Car & Bike Show, Crows Nest Showgrounds, New England Hwy, Crows Nest, Qld. Registration from 9am; show open 11.30am til midnight. All makes and models welcome. Loads of categories, bar, live music, food vendors, kids’ rides and more. $10 registration fee; $10 campsites; gold coin general entry. For information email cruisetocrows@gmail.com. 24-25 AUGUST Bulli Antique Motorcycle Weekend, Bulli Showground, Grevillea Park Rd, Bulli, NSW. Swap meet, auction, camping, technical seminars, AMCA judging, awards, demonstrations, bike…

IN A WAY, all racing is about going unnecessarily fast. If you’re in such a hurry to get back to the start-finish line, why not just stay there? But let’s not completely undermine the point of it. Let’s accept that it is necessary to go – not fast as such, just faster than the other riders. Two things at Brno triggered these thoughts. One was the presence of Mighty Mick Doohan, who was glad-handing and passing out signed posters with a picture of his old Arai crash helmet (eh? I have a spare if anyone called Michael is interested). The other was Marc Marquez, fitting slick tyres on a damp track in qualifying, and dancing with disaster to set a clear pole time. Mission accomplished. But then, even as light…

Unlimited Motorcycles (at least one A or B grader) – Bridgestone Endurance Team (T Collins, L Epis, G Epis) 600cc Motorcycles (at least one A or B grader) – Baylisstic Boys (O Bayliss, T Bayliss) Unlimited Motorcycles (at least one C grade – others C or D) – Shaggers (D Ayash, D Wong, D Wong) 600cc Motorcycles (at least one C grade – others C or D) – Not Fast, Just Furious (M Franco, B Green, A Sanderson) Unlimited Motorcycles (all D grade) – Shaggin (S Spicak, S Rossini, M Anderson) 600cc Motorcycles (all D grade) – Big Yam (C Hobbs, B Small, C O’Mahony) Single Bike Team Entry – SWC (C Turner, B Lowe, R Yanko) Teams with at least one A or B grade rider – Tony Hatton…

“I could see how Rins was spinning the rear” – Miller There’s no stopping Marc Marquez. At a weather-hit resumption of business at Sunday’s Czech Republic GP, he was once again invincible. Having equalled Mick Doohan’s record with a 58th premier-class pole position – a massive advantage of some 2.5 seconds achieved with breath-taking brinkmanship on slicks on a damp track – the Repsol Honda rider led a belated and slightly abbreviated race from start to finish. Naturally, he survived at least one near crash and while for the first 10 of 20 laps he dangled a carrot of possibility in front of his pursuer Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati), it was only to cruelly steal it away in the second half as he pulled relentlessly clear to take his…

Satellite Suzukis Suzuki’s hopes of a satellite team are back on hold, said Shinichi Sahara at Brno’s annual technical meeting, and the earliest it would be possible would be 2021. “We are studying about a satellite team, but we haven’t reached any conclusion,” he said. “For sure it will not be next year, but we are thinking for 2021.” All delegates agreed that plans to increase the number of races and reduce official tests would throw more importance on having not only a test team but also a satellite team, where new ideas might be tried. Jack in... limbo? What a difference a week makes. At Brno Jack Miller said a new contract with Pramac Ducati for next year was dependent on “fine details” being confirmed. “I check my postbox…

Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso laid on a Spielberg thriller in Austria. And for a fourth straight year, in a long battle climaxing in a last-corner shootout, it was Ducati that took the Academy Award. The twist to the plot was a reverse mirror image of last-year’s cliff-hanger at the Red Bull Ring. In 2019, Marquez had pounced on Dovi, only to run wide and concede the win. This year, it was Dovi who took the inside dive – and he made it stick. The Mission Winnow Ducati rider hadn’t won a race since the opening round in Qatar, as Repsol Honda’s Marquez made hay with the championship, taking wins and second places. At the deceptively simple drag-strip/hard-braking 4.318km track outside Spielberg, the fastest of the year, the pair spent…

Di Meglio now leads CUT FROM AN ORIGINAL eight laps to just five on a wet track, the second MotoE race had a new winner in 2008 125cc World Champion Mike Di Meglio. The Marc VDS rider led every lap but one, when Tech 3’s Hector Garzo got ahead, only to slip off next time round. He tried to lift the bike to continue, but the hefty 260kg weight meant he was unable to get it up out of the gravel. Xavier Simeon (Avintia) was second, Bradley Smith (One Energy) third, narrowly ahead of fellow GP retiree Alex de Angelis (Octo Pramac) and Gresini’s Matteo Ferrari. Veteran Sete Gibernau (Pons 40) was an impressive sixth, better than a second ahead of Australian Josh Hook (Octo Pramac). Hook was through from…

FABIO QUARTARARO’S SATELLITE Petronas Yamaha was the best of what Jack Miller called “the Monday heroes” at the Brno tests, narrowly heading a trio of Yamahas at the top of the time sheets. His time of 1m 55.616s was inside the race lap record, but a full second short of race winner Marc Marquez’s best-ever time. The 20-year-old French wizard was 0.01sec quicker than factory Yamaha rider Maverick Viñales, who was better than a tenth clear of second Petronas satellite teamster Franco Morbidelli, so that Yamahas dominated the imaginary ‘grid’. Alex Rins (Suzuki) was next, from Cal Crutchlow’s Honda and Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha. Marquez placed eighth and Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and Miller 12th and 13th, respectively. More important than the positions, however, were the bits and pieces on show (or…

Australian Motorcycle News road test photographs are posed for by skilled, professional riders under controlled circumstances. Attempting to imitate their actions may be dangerous. Australian Motorcycle News supports and endorses rider training and wearing protective riding gear. Especially if you’re the recipient of the swanky new airbag jacket which was sent to Gassit HQ to test and feature in the magazine, only for some kind-hearted soul to unknowingly add it to the pile of jackets bound for distribution at this year’s Sydney Homeless Connect. You ought to be wary of any sudden movements, or you very well may get a rude and sudden shock! In any case, we’re just stoked you’ll be warm.…

Triumph is still a key player in the streetfighter market TRIUMPH IS DEVELOPING an 1160cc, big-bore version of its legendary Speed Triple to make sure the mainstay of its roadster range won’t be castrated by the imminent Euro 5 emissions limits. Although the 110kW Speed Triple has long since been overtaken by more powerful rivals like BMW’s S1000R, KTM’s 1290 Super Duke R and MV Agusta’s Brutale 1000 – not to mention Ducati’s forthcoming game-changing Streetfighter V4 – it’s still a key player in the naked streetfighter market. With a heritage going back to the earliest days of John Bloor-led Triumph’s 1990s revival, the Speed Triple has been through multiple iterations. The longest-running model in the current line-up, it has grown from 750cc to 1050cc during its years on the…

Motrac revs up Chinese firm Motrac is building its model portfolio to international standard with a mid-sized 650cc cruiser about to join its 500cc parallel-twin naked and sportsbikes and an 800cc V-twin cruiser. While the new model shares the same chassis as the existing MV800 cruiser, the water-cooled SOHC 650cc engine is a new design. Relatively high-spec components include Nissin radial-mounted brakes with ABS. Motrac is a strong player in the Chinese market but is tipped to expand internationally soon. Smart helmet Forcite’s MK1, AI powered smart helmet is here. It incorporates a HD, wide-angle camera, Bluetooth communication, intercom and handlebar-mounted control unit. The camera starts recording the moment you put it on and can last for up to five hours. Visit forcitehelmets.com for details.…

WE’VE GOT OUR hands on design patent images showing the bold styling of Benelli’s next-generation TNT600. While the frame, suspension and engine are carried over from the existing model, the completely new styling is a clear step forward. Key changes include a belly-mounted exhaust, exiting from a stubby pipe on the right hand side, rather than the old twin under-seat silencers. That allows a more fashionable, shorter tail unit. An angular fuel tank has side sections that extend forward, with colour LCD instruments behind a pair of raked headlights. Benelli is expected to unveil the 2020 TNT600 at the EICMA show in Milan this November.…

Killer Miller Our Jack Miller wins his latest MotoGP podium fair and square, before crashing out of the podium battle in Austria. US call to arms The Motorcycle Industry Council has partnered with researchers and strategists to unite the US motorcycle industry in its fight to attract more people onto bikes. Let’s try a similar strategy here. Career killer Turkey’s Toprak Razgatlioglu won the Suzuka 8 Hours without even riding the Kawasaki because he required a totally-different set-up to his teammates. Now it looks like he will leave Kawasaki’s WSBK team. Track battle The Auckland Motorcycle Club has gone to New Zealand’s High Court to try and save the Mt Wellington go-kart track, which it has used for over 40 years.…

1 If required, the job could have been completed using just the contents of the supplied toolkit, though a one-hour job would have almost certainly taken two. 2 Once the screw has been removed from the top-right corner of the left-hand side cover, you need to lift it an inch to unhook the base before pulling it towards you. The (too) small plastic locater lug on the top left-hand corner snapped, with very little input from me. 3 All of the GT’s frame rails are exposed, even when the seat has been replaced. So when you use white cable ties because they were closer, thinking they’ll be hidden beneath the seat, you’re going to have to remove the side cover again to remove the seat in order to cut all…

ENGINE Type Internal permanent magnet synchronous motor Controller IGBT Cooling Water jacket Transmission Single speed Clutch Not applicable Final drive Belt BATTERIES Type Lithium Ion Capacity 15.5kWh total, 13.6kWh min. usable Recharge time Wall charge: Full 12.5 hours, 80% not given DC fast charger: Full 60 minutes, 80% 40 mins PERFORMANCE Power 78kW @ 1rpm(claimed) Torque 117Nm @ 1rpm (claimed) Top speed 185km/h (measured) Range City: 235km, Highway: 110km, Combined: 152km ELECTRONICS Type Not given Rider aides ABS, traction control, anti-wheelie and rear-lift mitigation CHASSIS Frame material Cast aluminium Frame layout Tubular trellis Rake 24.5› Trail 108mm SUSPENSION Showa Front: 43mm USD Seperate Function Big Piston fork, fully adjustable, 115mm travel…

VITPILEN, IT TURNS out, is Swedish for ‘white arrow’. And although the Vitpilen is neither white nor an arrow, it sounds kind of cool none the less. The Vitpilen was unleashed on an unsuspecting world back in 2015 when Husqvarna unveiled a concept at the EICMA trade fair. Luckily for you and me, the production model has remained visually true to that fine looking concept unveiled all those years ago. Okay, so what the Hell is a Svartpilen? Svartpilen, as it happens, means ‘black arrow’. The Svartpilen is the Vitpilen’s sibling and is another Husqvarna concept that has come to fruition. Mechanically similar, the Svartpilen employs flat track-inspired styling, complete with wire-spoked wheels and block-pattern rubber.…

JOAN MIR DOMINATED the 2017 Moto3 world championship and signed with Suzuki’s MotoGP team after his first few outings in Moto2, without even winning a race. Mir is only 21 years old, so Suzuki have long-term plans for the Spaniard and urge him not to run before he can walk. “At the moment they say to me, ‘don’t worry about the result, just get used to the races, the bike and the rivals’,” he says. Mir’s first half season in MotoGP was up and down: four top-10 finishes, two finishes outside the points and a couple of DNFs. At Le Mans he had a nightmare, crashing five times during the weekend, including three on race day: twice in morning warm-up, once on the warm-up lap. “For me it was very…

AS IT HAS been in the past, Mission Australia’s MissionBeat team did much of the grunt work in getting your generously donated jackets out to those that need them most. Shannon’s again generously provided drop off locations for your donated jackets, and there were some very generous corporate donations, such as Australian MotoDry distributor Moto National’s donation of 40 brand-new jackets. Combined with the jackets donated by our readers, we were able to go some way towards making life on the streets just a little bit warmer for those struggling to provide themselves basics such as a roof over their heads.…

THE BIKE EXPECTED to fetch the most at auction is this Ducati 125cc GP four-cylinder racer. The one-off prototype is an important missing link in Ducati’s racing timeline. First sketched out on paper by Fabio Taglioni in the 1950s, then halfheartedly developed to a semi-prototype stage in 1958, it was revived in 1965, tested but never raced. After being sent around the motorcycle show circuit it mysteriously disappeared. In 1989 the engine was discovered in Latvia and later the frame uncovered in Yugoslavia. In 2000 the machine was restored back to original condition and joined the Morbidelli Museum in Pesaro, Italy. Amazingly the across-the-frame four-cylinder was barely wider than Ducati’s existing twin-cylinder GP racer. It weighed just 85kg without its fairing, about the same as Ducati’s 125cc desmo single-cylinder GP…

THERE I WAS on the first decent winter’s riding day for many weeks, working on a mate’s deck instead of being out on the bike. Set above a small valley, the worksite gave me a birds-eye view of motorcycles seeking out the twists and turns of a nearby range of hills. I was too busy to look up much so I identified the motorcycles by their sounds. This got me thinking. It’s only been in the last 10 years or so that the range of performance motorcycle engines has expanded. Now we have V4s, V-twins, in-line fours, in-line fours that sound like V4s, twins that sound like parallel-twins and others that sound like V-twins. Before this, the choice was pretty much in-line fours or V-twins. The Indian would have been…

Racing under the Bridgestone Endurance Team banner, Ted Collins, Lachlan Epis and his dad Greg have once again tasted victory in the Sydney 5 Hour, held at Sydney Motorsport Park on 27-28 July, 2019. Hosted by the St George Motorcycle Club, the second running of the event saw 49 teams on the grid and also included the popular Formula St George 90-minute race. The main event kicked off just after midday with a Le Mans start, which saw Corey Turner take the holeshot. Turner and his new 52 Motorsports recruits Ben Lowe and Ryan Yanko were the only entry in the race to take on the mighty task of running just a single bike for the full five hours. Also running at the front during the opening stanza were the…

SYDNEY LOCAL SENNA Agius paired with Kane Burns to take a resounding victory in the St. George 90 Minute race, leading from start to finish. Agius started well and pitted after 34 laps, leaving Burns to complete a further 12 laps to take the chequered flag. Former IDM Supersport rider Burns took over with a one and a half lap lead, and despite a safety car showing, recorded a comfortable victory. It was a strong victory not only for the Tony Hatton Racing backed outfit, but also for the 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 400. Promising juniors Ben Baker and John Lytras finished a further 8sec back, with the father and son team of Jamie and Max Stauffer completing the podium. The weekend also gave Jamie and Max the chance to race…

“There’s no better way to start the second half of the season. Saturday was a write-off, and I almost gave up the chase with eight laps left. Then I could see Rins was really working the rear. I knew once I’d passed him I could gap him.” Everything was wrong. No front grip. No rear grip. Couldn’t do anything. We were struggling from Friday, and never found the right set-up for the bike. I kept my head down and was close to the points, but it’s not the result we deserve.”…

We had a really good chance today, and I felt comfortable, but I had a little wobble out of Turn 8, then I missed my brake point by about two metres, and lost the front. I know what I did wrong, which makes it worse. I could have picked up and gone on the hard runoff, maybe lost a second or two … but I tried to keep the line. I’m very pissed off, but that’s racing. I didn’t completely run off the track and I wasn’t kind of on line, and though I couldn’t see Alex (Marquez) he could have seen me. I could have won it, but it’s a racing incident. I got the feeling in the wet quite quickly, but we made it hard because qualifying was…

NO SOONER HAD the paddock absorbed the shock Lorenzo-Ducati rumours during the Austrian Grand Prix, than fresh whispers emerged of another potential switch for the currently beleaguered new Repsol Honda rider… a return to Yamaha instead. Lorenzo won all three of his premier-class championships and all but three of his 47 race victories with Yamaha, before abandoning the factory team for two years at Ducati in 2017 and 2018. His sensational switch to Honda this year came after he had already rejected a chance to join the new Petronas-backed satellite Yamaha squad. Yet the changed status of the 32-year-old now make rumours of talks with the team for 2021 more plausible. With ageing factory Yamaha star Valentino Rossi out of a contract for 2021 and what now looks like a…