Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 72 Issue 13 i Australian Motorcycle News

NOW YOU have had four weeks to gorge on the 196-page 2022 Yearbook, welcome back to normal programming, and the first fortnightly issue of AMCN for 2023, which is packed with a mix of motorcycling’s past, present and future. Looking back to years gone by, fans of Team Green are going to adore Rich Hobbs’ spectacular collection of Kawasakis spanning the years 1969 to 1977, while racing fans of the 60s and 70s will no doubt pore over the pages featuring the beuatifully restored Ken Blake Jesser Triumph Bonneville T120R that Alan Cathcart was privilged enough to ride thanks to the efforts of MA’s Museum & Heritage Committee. And Kiwis get a special mention this issue as the instigators of the original BEARS racing concept thanks to Hamish Cooper’s feature…

If the new M 1000 R doesn’t seem quite special enough, or you would prefer to have yours in a Blackstorm metallic/M Motorsport colour scheme, you’ll have to opt for the M 1000 R with M Competition package, which retails at $39,890 ride away. You get plenty of kit for the extra $7600 over the ‘standard’ M 1000 R including: >M GPS-Laptrigger to automatically record your laptimes >M rider footrest consisting milled and fully adjustable footpegs >M Pillion Package consisting seat and pillion footpegs, and pillion seat cover >M Carbon wheels that are more than 1.7kg lighter than the standard forged aluminium wheels and come with 0.5 mm thicker brake discs >M Carbon pack consisting carbon-fibre front and rear mudguards, chain and pinion guards, airbox cover, tank covers and wind deflector…

If the mythical Australian rider factory’s exact location is ever detected, chances are that this crucible of talent will be discovered somewhere in the Adelaide Hills, where so many of the country’s greatest, most talented riders have emanated. That includes the man who many fans insist was the best rider ever to roll off that production line, but who never achieved the rewards that his talents deserved. His name? Ken Blake. Born in 1945 in Strathalbyn, South Australia, Blake was a panel beater who rode to work on a series of Triumph Bonnevilles, on which at weekends he’d use to tear up the tarmac in the strictly unofficial road racing ructions he and his mates spent all their spare time indulging in, as he recounted in a 1970s interview with…

“I have two H2 750 triples, kind of by mistake. Once I got the bug for restoring, I bought the purple one and rebuilt it – the purple is such an iconic early-70s colour for these. But I also found that they did it in a lovely shade of red, so I decided to try and source another set of bodywork to paint up, but just as I’d got the paintwork back for the red one I came across a really good condition original red bike with poor paintwork. “So I bought that and put my new paintwork on it. They’re both 1975 H2C models, and they only made 5000 of them, so they’re quite rare. “To go with the red H2, I’ve also got a 400cc S3A triple which…

“My 1975 Z1B also came from America with just a few thousand miles on it – the only British bikes I’ve got are the Z650s. I’ve always loved the Z1, and it was top of my wishlist when I was a teenager, and the B was my favourite because I thought it had the best colour scheme – it’s a lovely looking bike. I restored it to as-new condition, and it still has zero miles on it – it’s too nice to ride, so I definitely bought it just to look at. “I started off on four-strokes with the Z650, and always loved them, but I was always a bit scared of the Kawasaki two-strokes – I was worried about being bucked off – but as I’ve become more experienced…

“NOTHING MAKES A BLOKE FEEL YOUNG LIKE A DAY ON A FAST MOTORCYCLE” JUDGING BY the number of bikes on the ferry to Tasmania last month I’m thinking the world’s best riding destination isn’t a secret anymore. Tell you what though, the old UNEMC, our old student union motorcycle club – now 44 years young and riding harder than ever – has got the Tassie gig down pat. Yep, this year’s trip was insane fun: incredible roads, incredible mateship and nothing but laughs every night. Whoops, there was a lot of beer, wine and food involved most nights, too. You get that, especially when tour organiser ‘Rocket’ Rod Wiffen books motels right next to pubs. Or pub rooms right next to the bar. Or that Airbnb house right behind a…

NEWLY CROWNED ASBK Superbike champion Mike Jones was in a class of his own at December’s Motorworks/Michelin 2 Hour at Baskerville, lapping the entire field in a convincing win alongside teammate Jeremy Huddlestone. As in previous years there was a strong entry from interstate, including regulars Ted Collins and Jed Metcher. The Metcher-Brett Simmonds pairing hit early trouble when their Honda failed to fire due to electrical issues, however local Chris McGrath stepped in and loaned the team his Kawasaki ZX-10R, meaning the duo only had a handful of laps to dial in a different bike before the race start. When the flag dropped for the Le Mans-type start, Collins got the best while Jones on the Huddlestone Yamaha got away cautiously in fifth. Back in the pack, two first-time…

As Jack Miller starts to gear up for the first of several important pre-season tests on KTM’s 2023 MotoGP racer, the Austrian powerhouse appears to be fast-tracking a practical road version of its racer. We’ve followed the development of several prototypes of this fully faired, parallel-twin sportsbike since it first emerged near KTM’s factory in early 2022. KTM appears to be swimming against the tide by continuing to develop a fully faired race replica in an era when sales of these bikes are declining. But it also is hacking its way into uncharted territory by making an everyday version of the limited-edition RC 8C. That track-only model, limited to 200, sold out worldwide within three minutes last October. Now a second-generation prototype has been seen that appears to confirm this…

DUCATI Replacing Energica as the 2023 MotoE championship racer could fast-track Ducati’s path to electrification. The racer looks very much like the petrol-powered Panigale and, while Ducati won’t admit a road version will appear soon, it seems likely this will be the case. You only have to look at Energica to see what can be spun off the back of a multi-year commitment to MotoE. While not an official Ducati project, the retro electric Ducati 860-E Concept has stirred interest and the factory has not attempted to distance itself from the boffins at work here. ENERGICA After withdrawing from MotoE, Italian electric motorcycle manufacturer Energica has started worldwide sales of its road models with three already approved by the Department of Infrastructure for sale in Australia this year – and…

After a three-year legal battle, a US woman who claimed diplomatic immunity after causing the death of a UK motorcyclist has been sentenced to eight months jail, which has been suspended for 12 months. Harry Dunn, a 19-year-old motorcyclist, died in August 2019 after US national Anne Sacoolas drove out of an RAF base on the wrong side of the road. She fatally struck Dunn, who was riding his motorcycle on the correct side of the road. The case became an international cause celebre involving UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump after US authorities granted Sacoolas diplomatic immunity, claiming she was ‘employed by an intelligence agency in the US’ at the time of the crash. Sacoolas, 45, eventually pleaded guilty, via videolink at the Old Bailey,…

For a quarter of a century this resolute French woman was a key part of the peripatetic group known as the Continental Circus, firstly with French riders Jacques Collot and Jacques Insermini, and from 1964 deep into the 1970s with Australia’s Jack Findlay. She said they met in the back of an ambulance at Clermont-Ferrand in 1961 after he suffered a crash. They lived in France in the off-season, leading to Findlay’s unofficial title as the Australian in Paris. Nanou was a translator, paddock nurse, confidant and quasi union organiser, chairing the Grand Prix Riders’ Association during its brief history circa 1970. She typed contract letters for Mike Hailwood and fought with race organisers to achieve better conditions for all the riders. She was initially a fan of four-wheel racing,…

LANGEN TWO STROKE 250 (VOL 72 NO 01) BACKGROUND Unlike the Salt Twostroke, the Langen is built from the ground up based on the vision of company founder, CEO and former CCM design engineer Christofer Ratcliffe. The Pommy masterpiece has a V-twin two-stroke engine designed by a bunch of old Ferrari engineers, a handcraft ed spaceframe, swingarm and expansion chamber, and carbonfibre bodywork. Like the Salt, each Langen is handmade and tailored to each customer’s needs and costs roughly $10K more than the Salt at a smidgeon under $A50,000. NUTS AND BOLTS Langen is powered by a 249cc, 90° V-twin crankcase reed-valve two-stroke engine – manufactured by Vin Motors – with twin contra-rotating cranks and puts out a claimed 57kW at 11,700rpm and 45Nm of torque at 11,700rpm. Fuel is…

On one hand I’m cranky at Suzuki but on the other I’m not. I’m cranky because it pulled out of MotoGP, but on the other hand that means the Hamamatsu factory is going to focus on bringing new and interesting bikes to the market. And that stream of new models has already started to flow. The updated GSX-S1000 models were released earlier in 2022, and in 2023 we’ll see a new GSX-S8 and new V-Strom 1050, 800 and 250. I nicked up to Newcastle on the New South Wales Central Coast for a sneaky quick spin on Suzuki’s new V-Strom 250SX. The V-Strom 250 name might be familiar, but the old model shares bugger all with the new SX model, which is lighter, smaller, more powerful and less expensive. To…

One of the key figures behind the development of the M 1000 R is Product Manager Dominik Blass, and he says the bike made it from inception through to production reality in just three-and-a-half years. The M 1000 R is the second M model from BMW, but had it not been for intervention from BMW Motorrad CEO Markus Schramm, the M R could have been marketed with an HP moniker. “He [Schramm] came up with the idea to make the M brand big in the motorcycle sector and so we started off three years ago with the M 1000 RR,” explains Blass. “And now, with the M 1000 R, we have taken the next steps and brought the superbike DNA to the roadster class.” According to Blass, the objective when…

In September 1979, Ken Blake teamed with Tony Hatton to share a Honda RSC1000 prototype in the Bol d’Or 24-Hour at Paul Ricard, in which they duelled with Honda’s legendary endurance champions Jean-Claude Chemarin/Christian Leon for the win until their bike lost third gear. Two months later they teamed up again to finish third in the New Zealand Six-Hour Production Race on a Honda CB1100R. The Honda factory hired Blake for a pair of Endurance Wiorld Championship rides in 1980, pairing him with Jean-Claude Chemarin. They finished fourth in the Spa 24 Hours before Chemarin crashed out of the lead late in the Misano 1000km. These rides led to Blake’s first factory contract to join Honda’s world endurance squad in 1981. But first he was committed to racing in the…

“The core of my collection is the line of H1 two-strokes I’ve assembled, starting with the midnight white 1969 which lives indoors and doesn’t get ridden. That’s because it’s frame number 125 and engine number 133, and they made 6500 bikes that first year, so this is a very early one, possibly the earliest in the UK. “Unlike with their other models, this is a 1969 H1, and then they did the 1970 H1, and then in 1971 they did the H1A, which was two years after the first deliveries. For me, they’re just so pretty to look at – but I wanted to ride it. So I knew where another ’69 white one was in the same condition, so I bit the bullet and bought it – it’s another…

10-12 FEBRUARY 2023 Karuah River Rally, Frying Pan Creek Campground in the Chichester State Forest, near Dungog, NSW. Hosted by the BMW Touring Club of NSW. You don’t need to own a BMW, and it’s a back to basics rally at a shady, relaxing site. The rally and raffles raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service; rally awards for longest distance, oldest BMW, best club effort. No Catering, BYO everything, some firewood provided, motorcycles only. Nearest supplies are available in Dungog. Entry and badge $25. Signs to the rally will be up on Friday afternoon, further directions available at the Bank Hotel Dungog. For more information contact Rob on 0417 267 425, or see the website at www.bmwtcnsw.org.au. 10-12 FEBRUARY 2023 Steel Horse Rally, Jindabyne, NSW. All riders and…

“I’D LIKE TO DO THE NORTH WEST 200 STREET RACE AND THE TT ONE DAY” IT’S BEEN great to finally catch up with everyone in Australia after Covid, and I really enjoyed the final two rounds of ASBK with 727 Moto on the Yamaha YZF-R1. I hadn’t ridden Phillip Island since 2014 when I did a world Supersport wildcard with Triumph, so it was a bit tricky getting used to the Yamaha when normally in BSB Superstock I ride a Fireblade. If I can come back next year, I’d really like to bring my Honda because it’s a known quantity – all I have to change is the suspension and I can get straight down to work and go racing. BSB rules are very close to ASBK – but the…

We’ve had a gaggle of small to mid-capacity bikes through AMCN HQ of late: the Super Soco TC Max, Royal Enfield’s Classic 350 and CFMoto’s 700 CL-X Sport. And while all perfectly capable machinery in their own right, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t missing a little bit of grunt in the long-term corner of the shed. But now, because Harley-Davidson has flicked us a 2022 Fat Bob for a spell, grunt we have received. The Fat Bob is one of my favourite Harleys, and I reckon it’s one of the best-handling, best-stopping and most unique machines in the Motor Company’s range. The Fat Bob was unleashed on the world back in 2018 when Harley unveiled its all-new Softail platform. The new Softail frame is a massive leap…

Punting around the deliciously twisty roads of southern Spain on BMW’s potent new M 1000 R has me thinking about a bike I fell head-over-heels for around 10 years ago. Back then AMCN had an Aprilia Tuono V4 Factory in its long-term test fleet and, like many others, I thought it was just about the perfect roadbike for someone who wanted one bike to ride on the road and the track. It offered the performance of a superbike combined with real-world practicality; it was comfortable, it was fast, it was loaded with the best electronic traction aids of the time and it sounded oh-so tasty. Sure, with its high-revving inline four, the M 1000 R sounds nothing like an Italian V4, but it is a bike that like the Tuono…

Not that you’d have known if from the long faces in the Aprilia box as the 2022 season drew to a close. But this year was one of the high points in the Noale factory’s history, whose team, lead rider and much-improved RS-GP carried out a campaign of pleasant surprise to so nearly shake up the MotoGP establishment. Only at the final hurdle did it fall. Yes, Pecco Bagnaia mounted the biggest reversal in premier-class history. But it would be no grand overstatement to assert Aprilia’s rise from a project showing potential, yet one with a propensity to be its own worst enemy, to flower into unlikely challengers for the MotoGP title was ultimately the year’s biggest surprise. Forget the final five rounds, when Aleix Espargaro’s title challenge dispersed with…

Back in the early 1980s owners of British, European and American motorcycles from the late 1960s and 70s were at the crossroads. Vintage racing was only interested in catering for machinery built before 1963. Meanwhile, modern racing classes were flooded with powerful Japanese two- and four-strokes. So in 1983 a bunch of racers in Christchurch used a bit of classic Kiwi ingenuity to create a breakaway branch of racing the called BEARS (British, European and American Racing Series). Within five years it had become an international meeting attracting the biggest spectator crowds in New Zealand motorcycle racing, a strong competitor entry and eventually a prize pool of $20K. Its success would help inspire the inaugural 1995 FIM World BEARS Championship, with New Zealand-built Brittens coming first and second. This February…

“I have a couple of rotary-valve two-stroke single trailbikes both from 1972 – the 250cc F8A Bison and the 175cc F7B, which are a pair of Mr & Mrs off-roaders. My wife Kay is very petite, so the F7B is ideal for her, because it’s actually a 125 frame with a 175 motor, so it’s a very small bike, but very effective. All the other Kawasaki two-strokes were piston-port engines, but these trailbikes have rotary-valve motors. “Actually, you could probably semi-submerge them in water and they’d still run, because the carburettors are mounted inside the engine on the side of the crank, so until you get the airbox under water, you’re good to go!”…

“This 350cc S2A is a 1972 bike which they termed the Mach II, and was launched as a spin-off from the 500cc H1. There was also a 250cc triple, the S1 Mach I, but I’ve never seen one of those. Both the S-models had the same crankcase with a 52.3mm stroke, and this 350cc version has a 53mm bore for 346cc. This one was found in America set up as a drag bike, so it had an extended rear-end, wheelie bars and these TNT/Tony Nicosia stinger exhausts on it which are just totally raucous – Tony was a drag racing legend on Kawasakis. Dave Howard from Keighley, who’s my supplier of new old stock parts, rebuilt the motor completely with such a crankshaft. It goes like an absolute rocket, but…

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"HONDA AND YAMAHA HAVE THE MOST TO DO. THE SENIORS ON THE GRID NEED TO REASSERT THEIR AUTHORITY" TROUBLE WITH your laptop? Phone? Tablet? Everyone knows the first resort. Switch off, walk round the room three times, switch on again. Ninety-nine times of 100, problem solved. Reboot successful. Motorcycles, sadly, are less amenable. Even electronics-laden MotoGP bikes. So engineers spread across Japan and Europe, having done the three laps of the design studio, will be buckling down to something more serious. For it is harder than ever to find any sort of an edge. Given the parameters, it’s not so surprising that making the bikes more like one another emphasises the importance of small differences. All are shooting for the same goal, but when the routes to that goal are…

TOM SYKES, the man who delivered Kawasaki just its second World Superbike (WorldSBK) title in 2013, will return to the Japanese brand and the championship in 2023 as part of the privateer Puccetti Racing outfit. And the 37-year-old, who was a British Superbike rider in 2022 after being exiled from the WorldSBK paddock at the end of ’21, recently completed his first shakedown on the 2023 ZX-10RR in a private test at Jerez, declaring he “was pleasantly surprised with the end result”. Thanks to inclement weather, the two-day test proved to be largely an afternoon affair on the second day for Sykes and the other riders in attendance, including fellow British WorldSBK riders: Kawasaki Racing Team duo Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes, and Scott Redding (BMW). Rea was fastest on…