Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 70 Issue 23 i Australian Motorcycle News

DUCATI IS HARD at work track testing a new derivative of the Multistrada V4 sporting a single-sided swingarm that will be a range-topping version of its super-adventure model. It’s possible this will become the long-expected Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak model, already type-approved in American EPA emissions listings alongside the normal Multistrada V4 and V4 S models. Like the Multistrada 1260 Pikes Peak, the new single-sided swingarm V4 uses alloy wheels and road-oriented rubber. The fact it was caught testing on a race track is also notable, as for all its ‘adventure’ styling, it’s designed to go fast on asphalt above all. There is a 17-inch front wheel instead of the normal V4’s 19-incher and the entire front end appears to be straight off the Panigale V4 S. Notice the Brembo…

ACTING QUICKLY AFTER hiring Ford’s Jim Farley, who spent $US22b electrifying the automaker’s lineup, Harley-Davidson has turned the LiveWire into its own standalone brand. With virtual headquarters based in Silicon Valley, California, and Milkwaukee, Wisconsin, the new entity will reveal its first model at July’s International Motor Show in California. H-D sees its electric-only brand as an opportunity to lead a new emerging market. With many capital cities around the world planning to ban combustion engines by 2030 momentum is building. Ford is another American giant committed to EVs, with its recently announced F150 Lightning pickup truck just the start of a program to bring electric vehicles into the mainstream by 2025. H-D’s chairman, president and CEO Jochen Zeitz is on a similar mission. “LiveWire will pioneer the future of…

Fair dink’em Over the last several issues of AMCN I noticed that many of the bikes featured have no pillion seat at all and the few that do are often rated “immediately hopped off and walked away laughing,” as per Pete’s better half referring to the Harley-Davidson Street Bob (AMCN Vol 70 No 19). I can’t be the only rider out there who regularly enjoys carrying a passenger, so how about a feature on the best bikes for pillions in the various categories and capacities? Do such bikes still exist or have they, too, become victims of the industry’s misogyny? Mark White Bull Creek, WA Remember when sportsbikes even had decent pillion seats? If my old ’96 Blade didn’t have a comfy rear pew I probably wouldn’t be a family…

I turned 70 in the December just gone so decided to buy myself a present! And here it is with my best mate keeping watch. I have always had fully faired Japanese bikes and this is my first nakedbike – I am absolutely in love with it and it goes like stink! I will buy another bike when I turn 80. Loving life to the max! Martin Creek Covid times were tough. There have been some changes now, not all good ones. Geoffrey Walter Some of my girls. Andrew Mobbs Send Fred a photo of your bike, cos if he can’t ride as much as he’d like to, he at least wants to be able to look at more bikes. Email your picture to amcn@amcn.com.au and get it published in…

APRILIA HAS EDGED the price up to $31,790 (ride away) from $27,190 (ride away) in 2020. However, bearing in mind the new technology and upgrades, a $4600 hike probably isn’t bad, and still below the competition with similar spec. Ducati’s V4 Streetfighter S uses the similar Öhlins smart suspension, comparable rider aids, and is arguably just as desirable, maybe even more. But the Ducati is $34,200 (ride away) $2400 more than the Aprilia. But the extra dollar buys 30hp more engine performance compared to the Aprilia, to be fair. MV Agusta has the stunning Brutale 1000 RR, which also uses similar suspension, but this time prices start at $52,190 (ride away). Like the Ducati, the MV is also a member of the 200hp-plus club. KTM has announced a 1290 Super…

SUZUKI RECURSION LIKE THE MORE recent Yamaha project, Suzuki’s Recursion project targeted emissions and economy above out-and-out performance, claiming 100hp from a 588cc turbocharged, intercooled parallel twin. The project evolved into the XE7 engine prototype two years later, looking much closer to production-readiness. The XE7 grew to around 700cc and gained a DOHC head instead of the original SOHC design, suggesting higher-performance targets, but after being shown in 2015, the project disappeared from sight. Since then, a steady stream of patent applications from Suzuki has shown that the idea is still developing, growing into a bike with quite a different layout and design compared to the original Recursion concept. HONDA SUPERCHARGED AFRICA TWIN HONDA MIGHT HAVE led the way in the original turbo motorcycle era with the CX500 Turbo and…

“CRASHING. HURTING MYSELF. FLYING THROUGH THE AIR AT 260KM/H DOESN’T HELP!” On the whole, things are going pretty well for Remy Gardner right now. The Australian sits at the top of the Moto2 World Championship after five races. His adaption to Aki Ajo’s all-conquering set-up that has dominated both of grand prix racing’s junior categories in the season’s opening stage has been seamless. And although he insists nothing is confirmed, a MotoGP seat with Tech 3 KTM in 2022 is all but his. “I can’t complain, can I? Everything is going well,” Remy told us on the eve of the Spanish Grand Prix. “A good start to the season. Consistency is key here. Even if there is no podium, I still have to finish races and get points. It’s a…

DUCATI CORSE BOSS Gigi Dall’Igna admits he feared for the future of Jack Miller before he stared down physical and performance issues to secure his immediate future at Ducati. The turning point was Miller’s consummate Spanish GP win at Jerez, which turned the tide after confidence-denting results in both the races in Qatar and a crash in Portugal. No one was happier than an emotional Dall’Igna with Miller’s resurgence, with a back-to-back win in Le Mans easily activating Ducati’s option on Miller for 2022. “In those weeks I thought a lot about Jack,” Dall’Igna told AMCN. “He had collected less points than he could have and when that happens to a rider, it is an easy moment to enter a negative spiral that brings him down. I was afraid, but…

AN INTERPRETATION OF the WorldSBK rules has left Kawasaki on the back foot after the FIM said the firm’s new engine isn’t new enough to warrant a rise in allowable rpm, while the similarly updated BMW is. AMCN understands the main cause for concern inside the Kawasaki camp is that the factory KRT team have been testing with an engine that revs 500rpm or so more than the previous one. The BMW M 1000 RR also has internal changes and, crucially, is allowed to have a new higher rev limit partly because it has a higher peak power figure as stock. Because of this BMW has made use of its permitted concession parts to complete a significant tuning package. However, the FIM technical stewards deemed what more or less amounts…

KATE RAYMOND HAS completed a solo double-crossing of the Simpson Desert. On 16 May Raymond, 34, rode her stock Suzuki DR-Z400 back to Kulgera on the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory to mark the feat, completing all but a short distance of the ride completely solo. It was not her first Simpson Desert crossing, but she rode from west to east this time, and entirely by herself. A luggage rack failure and rear shock problems slowed her progress on day one, however Kate remained undeterred. After all, this was not a record attempt, but the fulfilment of her dream to conquer the Australian desert on her own. Spending a night alone in the desert was all part of the plan, however fireside repairs kept the serenity to a minimum.…

THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY C&R Constructions Kamfari enduro will go down as one of the toughest. Higher-than-average rainfall during the wet season, combined with an already tough course set out by the Darwin Motorcycle Club, claimed more riders and machines than any race in recent years. The four-hour race started well for Nathan Evans, who grabbed the holeshot from the dead-engine start and into the first corner. Showing great form, Evans pulled away from Daniel McInnes and Darren Clement and completed the 12km lap in just over 16 minutes. From there, things only got tougher; 2019’s winner Ayden Bridgeford drowned his new Husky and was out of contention while Daniel McInnes also succumbed to the water on his second lap. Chris Warwick was looking for his third Kamfari victory, but bike…

YAMAHA HAS BROUGHT back one of its most famous model names to create the 2022 YZF-R7. Based on the MT-07 nakedbike, Yamaha says it bridges the gap between the entry-level R3 and its R1 Superbike. There will be controversy over whether the new R7 is worthy of the legendary name it bears but seen in isolation there’s no question that it’s an impressive-looking new model. Although comparisons will inevitably be drawn with Aprilia’s RS660 – another similarly sized parallel twin that also aims to revive the flagging supersports market – the Yamaha is a much cheaper machine to buy. Heavily based on the existing MT-07 nakedbike, and so closely aligned to the likes of Kawasaki’s Ninja 650, it has a track-ready appearance that uses elements of World Superbike and MotoGP…

ITALIAN ENGINEERING AND design firm Italdesign has patented an intelligent motorcycle seatbelt system intended to operate in certain types of accident. It reckons it will work best in the sort of crash where a car pulls out in front of a rider. Instead of being catapulted over the car’s roof or straight into its side, remaining on the bike would allow it to absorb the impact and protect the rider. Italdesign’s idea is to add a rigid, shell-like backrest to a motorcycle or scooter, with shoulder straps and a waist belt holding it into place on the rider. The backrest is mounted on a ball joint, so it moves slightly with the rider. A quick-release mechanism, operated by an on-board computer and sensors, would release the backrest instantly in the…

THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY of Australian racing legend Ken Blake’s death at the Isle of Man TT will be honoured in Melbourne on 9 June, with the Triumph on which he started racing taking centre stage. Blake’s 1964 Triumph Bonneville will be on display for the first time since 2014 at the Laurel Hotel in Ascot Vale. At the age of 20, Blake took the skills he acquired through fast road rides in the Adelaide Hills to Mallala racetrack in 1966. Riding his lightly modified 1964 Triumph Bonneville 650 he was soon running at the front of the field. His talent was quickly recognised by local tuners Les and Dean Jesser. The team, including frame engineer Ivan Ardill, who braced the chassis and sharpened the steering head angle, and John Lord,…

It may have been the big week which preceded it or it may have been the beers, but I cried when Jack Miller crossed the line in Le Mans to become the first Aussie since Casey Stoner to win back-to-back MotoGP races. I cried like Jack cried in Jerez two weeks earlier when he finally got the factory-win monkey off his back. It was such a stressful race to watch – I can’t imagine what it was like for Jack to actually ride in, let alone go and win! It was an emotional rollercoaster – from seeing Marquez leading a race and crashing – twice! – to seeing Jack out in the gravel and thinking the victory was out of reach. I had to close my eyes when he took…

I appeased my range anxiety with a stash of petrol in a one-litre bottle We knew it was coming, just not this soon. Our time with the Indian was up and it was due back to its Sydney warehouse. Small problem though; I swapped the FTR for a V-Strom in Mallacoota (MCN Vol 70 No 18) and Kel then rode the FTR to the Mornington Peninsula. From there it was picked up by Phil, who took it deep into the untamed (but leafy) streets in Melbourne’s east. There was a solution. Perhaps not the most practical of solutions, but surely a fitting farewell to what’s proved to be a largely practical big-bore nakebike during our eight-month Living With period. I was flying to Phillip Island to ride the new Hayabusa,…

It does sound amazing, even at idle. I know from experience that Aprilia’s V4 has always had a distinctive chorus but now, with more rpm to play with this has magnified the experience to overindulgent levels. Leaving the famous pitlane at Misano, and the new Factory sounds magnificent, the V4 blasting pulsating vibrations off the pit wall. Does it get any better than this? Out on to the track on preheated Pirelli slicks the bike is straight into it, accelerating hard to join the swarm of Italian racers already up to race speed. The noise is gorgeous, it has a voice which would put Pavarotti to shame! This is accompanied by the smoothest of quickshifters I’ve experienced on a roadbike. The changes are quick, perfectly matched in rpm. THE NOISE…

In a 25-year International road racing career, I rode several out-of-the ordinary racebikes, but there was one above all others which acquired a cult following of admirers around the world. So much so that in the early days of the internet, I’d get fan letters for my gal Trixie! So exactly 25 years since I scored the most satisfying of race victories with her at Daytona’s Cycle Week 1996, here’s a look back at the three years I spent racing the unique Over Racing-prepared parallel-twin Yamaha TRX850R for Yamaha Motor Europe. LATE IN 1994 word got out that Yamaha was developing a twin-cylinder sportbike based on its TDM850 Adventure Sports street trailie, to create a competitor to the Ducati 900SS then selling especially strongly in Japan. It did so by…

THIS WAS THE most important motorcycle in the world 20 years ago. When Suzuki released the mighty GSX-R1000 in 2001, the marque added another chapter to the evolution of the superbike category. The machine joined such evolutionary greats as the 1985 Suzuki GSX-R750, the 1992 Honda CBR900RR and the 1998 Yamaha YZF-R1 as truly important machines, ones that people remember many years down the track. The year prior to the 1000’s release in 2000 saw the rebirth of the GSX-R750, rewriting the 750 rule book with the stunning GSX-R750Y, the gem that became the template for the 1000 in 2001. Much of the 750’s design was carried over to the new king of the Suzuki sportsbike range. The chassis geometry of the 1000 was exactly the same as the 750…

NORTHERN SOUTH AUSTRALIA features some of the most spectacular views, particularly around the Flinders Ranges National Park and, while many of the bitumen roads through the region are too straight and flat to qualify as exciting rides, there is one little gem that has recently been tarred to the benefit of motorcycle riders. Heading north from Hawker the road starts as an open fast straight ride which burns up most of the 50km to Wilpena, with only a few good sweeping corners appearing as you get closer to the Ranges. The turn off to the Wilpena Pound Resort on your left takes you a short distance to the resort, where you’ll find fuel and accommodation available. The road from the resort up to Blinman has only recently been sealed and…

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IN FRANCE, FERVENT speculation surrounded the future of Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team, which has a place on the 2022 MotoGP grid. It was believed Yamaha made a late play to secure the outfit as its satellite team, with Italian media reporting the Japanese factory offered to lease its bikes for half the price that it quoted to Petronas SRT. Rossi, whose team secured controversial backing from Aramco, the official oil company of Saudi Arabia, confirmed talks were ongoing through the weekend. “We are talking to both Ducati and Yamaha, and the chances of going with either at 50/50,” he said. “There are positive and negatives to both options.” But it appears the team will ultimately go with Ducati machinery next year, leaving Petronas to stick with Yamaha for a further…

MARC MARQUEZ WAS able to showcase his blinding speed in Sunday’s wet-weather race. But the eight-time champion is still suffering from a lack of upper-body strength, and felt particularly disadvantaged at Le Mans as he recovers strength from the career threatening arm break he suffered last July. “When I speak about muscles, I mean all the arm is close to 80 per cent. But some are 50 per cent. It depends on the movement,” he said. “I’m struggling more, especially the back of the shoulder. If you remember, two winters ago I had an operation on the right shoulder. That injury still is not 100 per cent recovered because there was some damage to a nerve in the shoulder.” That means Marquez is still struggling in long right corners, “like…

THE INEVITABILITY OF Jonathan Rea taking 100 career wins this season was possibly the reason why his celebrations, though heartfelt, felt slightly muted. Maybe it was the dragging weirdness of having no crowd on board to make an atmosphere? But Dorna pulled out some pretty big guns from afar, with Lewis Hamilton, Giacomo Agostini, Carl Fogarty, Wayne Rainey, Marc Marquez, plus many other sports figures, creating a video extolling Rea’s 100 win virtues in a distanced virtual manner.…

A wet track, one Hayabusa and a Phillip Island first-timer – no pressure “It hasn’t rained in weeks, so the rain has made the track slippery as hell,” one of Suzuki Australia’s techs said as I rolled out of pit garage number 49. I don’t know if hell is a slippery place or not, but I didn’t want to find out on my first trip to Phillip Island for a ride around the famous circuit by throwing a bike down the tarmac. And that bike was the fresh Gen III Hayabusa, a modern icon of motorcycles. So fresh that the new ’Busa had arrived in the country only days before my soggy spin around the Island and it was the only one on the continent. After I’d finished with it,…

After more than a century of development, the internal combustion engine that forms the centrepiece of virtually every motorcycle is reaching its swansong. But before the technology bows out for good, we’re likely to see a generation of petrol-powered bikes that are more advanced than any before as companies strive to simultaneously reduce emissions and increase performance. After years focussing on the development of Euro 5 compliant engines that meet the latest European emissions rules, which are widely mirrored by local regulations all over the globe, bike firms have a brief breathing space for the foreseeable future. The next set of emissions limits have yet to be set, or even widely discussed, so it will be years before they come into force. That means a period of stability is on…

THIS LOVE STORY, HAD A FAIRYTALE ENDING DUE TO OTHER commitments and a change in the BEARS regulations in 1997, I clinched a deal with Yamaha Europe to contest the inaugural Sound of Thunder World Series on their Over-developed TRX850R racer, as well as for another sortie to Daytona – apparently, beating the Ducatis there the previous year had gone down well in Japan. The only condition was I had to repaint Trixie in the same red-and-black livery as their World Superbike/Supersport race teams. In preparation for the World Series, Yamaha Europe sent the engines back to Japan. They arrived just in time for Daytona, and as soon as I rode out onto the Speedway for the first practice session, I knew there was a significant improvement in performance. Over…

VALENTINO ROSSI MAY be undergoing the worst run of his 26-year career. But he has been around long enough to know how the French Grand Prix works. On Friday the Petronas SRT Yamaha star explained, “At Le Mans everything changes in five minutes. So everything is open.” It was fitting the main race in a chaotic weekend, which saw 117 crashes across all three classes, should be decided by the weather, with MotoGP enjoying its first flag-to-flag encounter since August, 2017. In the end, Rossi was out by only a few minutes and this contest turned on what happened within two laps. It began when the field rode into “a wall of rain,” to borrow Jack Miller’s words, necessitating a bike swap in pitlane. Winners and losers were made in…

WORLDSBK RACING HAS never started so late in the year as it has in 2021, but it has very much started with history made even on day one when Jonathan Rea scored his 100th career win, and his 85th since joining Kawasaki for the 2015 season. Not a surprise given that he has been champion for six years running. In race one, the only rider who could stay even close to his orbit was a certain Alex Lowes, his own KRT teammate, on a new bike which is new enough for a fresh homologation but not thought by the FIM to be a whole new engine. So as you were for the peak power, same as 2020. At a track like Aragon it should have made a real difference with…

AUSTRALIAN SPEEDWAY FANS will still get to see 2021 Australian Solo Championship meetings that were not staged when originally scheduled for earlier this year. While the Australian Sidecar Championship did go ahead as planned in April, all of the two-wheel title meetings were called off in January due to restrictions and on-going uncertainty surrounding Covid-19. The Senior Solo Championship will not be decided over the five-round series, but instead a one-off meeting at Oakburn Park, Tamworth, on 4 December after a Qualifying Meeting the previous night at the same venue. The other championships will be staged at their originally allocated venues – the Under 21 and the Under 16 250cc Championship will be held at the Gillman Speedway on 27 November and the Under 16 125cc Individual and Teams Championship…

SPEEDWAY IN THE UK has welcomed back crowds as their 2021 season finally got underway on 17 May, when Government guidelines allowed limited crowd access, provided codes of conduct laid down by the local council for each track were followed. You have to feel for fans at Wolverhampton, though. After more than 500 days since they last witnessed a meeting, their opening night was washed out after just two races – the only good news that Aussie riders Sam Masters and Nick Morris won those two events. Bad weather has caused a number of meetings to be rescheduled in the first week, but already in that week Jake Allen, Troy Batchelor, Jason Crump, Jye Etheridge, Cameron Heeps, Jack Holder, Brady Kurtz and Justin Sedgmen have completed at least one meeting.…

Matt was one of the first to progress to the superbike class after graduating from a dedicated junior road race series in Australia – the MRRDA. What do you think of the junior road racing scene in Australia at the moment? We loved that series, the MRRDA. It was relatively inexpensive racing the Moriwaki bikes and it has produced a few of the current top riders – Daniel Falzon and Mike Jones as well. When Matt moved on to race RS125s, the first thing we noticed was the expense. It wasn’t until we got to race Superstock 600s that we felt the playing field was level again. What prompted Matt to get into road racing? It was a trip to Phillip Island, we are great friends with the Parkes’ and…

“MY DAD WAS an aircraft mechanic at Essendon airport. He raced scrambles and had a square-four Ariel, so my three brothers and I grew up in this great aircraft/motorbike environment. That led to an interest in mechanics with Dad as a mentor, but I was pretty much self-taught. My first ride on a bike was [brother] Mick’s Jawa 250 that we rode at the local park. Dad then bought this basket case Triumph Tiger 100 that we tried to sort out, then a junked BSA 650 Road Rocket. I then I got a Yamaha AS-1 125 roadbike and John Maher, a top racer at the time, helped me when I started racing it after I finished National Service in 1971. “The early 70s were great, you could race every month…