Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 73 Issue 09 i Australian Motorcycle News

“THERE’S NO DOUBT PHILLIP ISLAND STILL MANAGED TO DELIVER IN SPADES” REGARDLESS OF the weather wreaking havoc on this year’s Australian GP schedule, no one can deny that there was still some fabulous racing action across the weekend, in both wet and dry conditions. It was fascinating to watch Jorge Martin streak away from the rest of the field in Saturday’s main MotoGP race, building up a massive 3.5sec second lead by lap 15, but as commentator Simon Crafar predicted early on, Martin’s choice of soft rear tyre would likely come back to bite him in the latter stages of the race. And bite him it did, with the gap to the chasing pack after the midpoint of the race slowly but surely decreasing. On the penultimate lap, Martin’s lead…

SOMETIMES manufacturers’ attempts to hide their new models from sight do little more than draw attention to them and that appears to be the case with this weird-looking mashup that Yamaha has been testing in Europe. And it’s fair to say the disguise does its job. The engine and frame appear to be standard Yamaha Tracer 9 parts. The usual three-cylinder engine, a standard exhaust system, and the cast-aluminium chassis and swingarm are all unchanged from the production model. So it doesn’t look like Yamaha is making sweeping technical changes. Then it’s a case of running through the parts that aren’t normal Tracer 9 fare, and it becomes clear that Yamaha is trying some subterfuge. The bellypan is an aftermarket Powerbronze component that’s already available for the MT-09 while the…

MULTI RS EDITION DUCATI HAS unveiled yet another special-edition Multistrada, this time called the Multistrada V4 RS. As well as some carbon-fibre parts and a titanium seat support, the RS boasts what Ducati calls “unique and exciting livery… with references to MotoGP.” The RS will be produced in a limited and numbered series and will set you back $55,800 (ride away). KB ONE YEAR SPECIAL FOLLOWING ON from the one-year-only Gold Line bikes of 2022 and the Chrome Collection that followed in 2023 Triumph has announced a range of custom-painted models that will be offered only in 2024 in the form of the new Stealth Edition range. Applied to the Modern Classics lineup (Bonneville, Speedmaster, Bobber, Speed Twin and Scrambler 900), each bike gets a tank that fades from black…

READING THE specification sheet or jumping off one of Yamaha’s adventure-ready rivals, you immediately notice the minimal electronic features on this model. These days features like traction control, different throttle opening modes, heated grips, heated seat, different power modes, quickshifters and even electronic suspension modes tend to be the rule rather than the exception. Was this a concern or did this bother me in any way during my ride on the World Raid ? Honestly, no. In fact, I like the simple side of the Yamaha. Sure, if I was riding during winter, I’d be missing the heated grips/seat, however the lack of other electronic features did not bother me – maybe that’s the racer coming out in me again. More than $25k is a lot of money for a…

AS WELL AS the RR, Kawasaki is also bringing in a limited number of Ninja ZX-4Rs. The single R is $1400 less expensive at $11,794 plus on-roads, but loses the RR's quickshifter, KRT paintwork and adjustable suspension. Apart from that though, they are identical, but for $1400 you may as well go to the up-spec version. Initially, I thought the difference in suspension performance around Morgan Park was negligible, but as I learned the track and reduced my lap times, the RR certainly performed better out of the box. The Kawasaki techs also made some adjustments at both ends to suit my size and speed and that simply isn’t an option on the R. There is a power-restricted model available in other markets and I’m a little surprised Kawasaki Australia…

Even 70 years ago, a 77ci (1265cc) Indian Four would never have been anyone’s first choice for tackling America’s most gruelling off-road enduro. Scaling 218kg dry with a 1549mm wheelbase thanks to its lengthy F-head four-cylinder engine, such a bike was surely too heavy and unwieldy to traverse Southern California’s gruelling 820km two-day Greenhorn Enduro run across the Mojave Desert and the rugged mountains surrounding it. But nobody told 30-year-old Max Bubeck. He won the arduous event with its half-time Saturday night finish atop the 2073m peak of Greenhorn Mountain aboard his Indian Four in 1947, ahead of two 61ci (999cc) Harley-Davidson Knucklehead V-twins which, like all the rest of the 120-strong field were in theory much more suited to the conditions. The slightly built 170cm, 59kg Bubeck had owned…

Another safety system – one that wasn’t even really considered when V2V was first mooted – is flourishing and that’s radar-based crash prevention or mitigation. The advent of small, low-cost, short-range radar sensors over the past decade or so has led to huge numbers of cars adopting them for both crash prevention and conveniences like adaptive cruise control. Fitted at the rear, they can also be used for blind-spot warnings and to tell of vehicles approaching too fast from behind. The number of radar-equipped motorcycles is rising rapidly. Ducati, KTM, BMW, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Triumph are among the brands already offering production models with radars either at the front, rear or both ends. They will soon be joined by Piaggio and Moto Guzzi. Patents, meanwhile, have shown that others, including…

While preventing crashes is clearly a strong focus of the technologies being developed to end motorcycle-related fatalities there’s clearly a more instant step that can be taken by reducing the injuries suffered when a crash does happen. We recently took a deep dive into the development of a future generation of motorcycle airbags (AMCN Vol 73 No 02), with automotive safety leader Autoliv due to bring its first mass-market motorcycle airbag to production in 2025, probably on a Piaggio scooter to start with. Autoliv’s system is fairly conventional, targeting the most common car-vs-motorcycle crashes and aimed at cutting injuries particularly in parts of the world like Asia and India where there are large numbers of small motorcycles in city environments, often with riders who aren’t wearing full protective gear. However,…

Pedro Acosta was born when Valentino Rossi was on his way to winning his first MotoGP championship with Yamaha in 2004. MotoGP’s hype machine has already anointed the 19-year-old Spaniard as the next Marc Marquez. And Acosta will still be a teenager when he makes his premier-class debut – aboard a Tech3 GasGas RC16 – next March. Not even Rossi or Marquez managed that. Wonderkids are nothing new in the MotoGP paddock, of course. The lower classes are a conveyor belt of keen teens, but Acosta has that special something, just like Rossi and Marquez. In fact, like all the greats do. You see it in their riding, obviously. Then you see it in the way they walk and how they talk. There’s swagger, confidence, cockiness even. But not too…

“BUT NOT ALL OF HONDA’S POTENTIAL TORCH-BEARERS ARE RIDERS…” WHEN YOU FIND yourself in a dark place, given competence and willpower, you can generally find a way out. As long as you can find the torch. Nobody can doubt that Honda Racing Corporation, currently in a very dark place, lacks competence and willpower. The winningest manufacturer in motorcycle racing history definitely has the innate engineering ability to get themselves out. But who will hold the torch? It needs a fine rider to do that. One with ability, dedication and a degree of patience… because these things take time. In the wake of Marc Marquez’s decision to walk, speculation has been rife. There are some notable possibilities. Johann Zarco has a wealth of experience, and has just lost his Ducati ride.…

AMID THE disappointment that came with the cancellation of the MotoGP Sprint, there were reasons to celebrate as news filtered through that front-row starter Joel Kelso had secured his place on the 2024 Moto3 grid, a move that will see four full-time Australian riders in the MotoGP paddock. The 20-year-old will be replacing Ana Currasco in the well-appointed BOE Motorsports KTM squad, lining up alongside David Muñoz in the two-rider outfit. After learning he had lost his seat in his current PruestelGP squad for next year in mid-August, Australia’s Moto3 star was frantically searching for an alternative. And with little success. "I NEED TO WORK ON MYSELF TO BE BETTER. WE NEED TO COME OUT SWINGING NEXT YEAR" He recently admitted to AMCN the stress had taken its toll on…

The Tokyo Motor Show has been the standard launchpad for the wildest Japanese concept bikes for decades – in 2023 the show is renamed to the Japan Mobility Show but it’s still being used to unveil weird and wonderful visions of future motorcycling. Yamaha has announced its show models in advance of the event, which opens on 26 October, and they include several concepts that, while not destined for production in the way they currently stand, show the direction Yamaha is taking in the future. The headliner is the MOTOROiD2, a successor to the MOTOROiD concept of 2017 and evolves some of the same ideas. The original MOTOROiD was a self-balancing electric bike that could travel without a rider, and the MOTOROiD2 does the same but with even more abilities.…

Back in 2021 MV Agusta revealed the Lucky Explorer 9.5 and Lucky Explorer 5.5 models as it planned to dive into two unfamiliar and hotly contested markets – adventure bikes and small-capacity machines. While the Chinese-made Lucky Explorer 5.5 project appears to have been put on ice – it was a rebodied Qianjiang machine rather than a purebred MV – the larger 931cc Lucky Explorer 9.5’s development has continued and in 2024 it will finally reach dealers, albeit under a different name. Yes, the Lucky Explorer title has been ditched. In its place comes the ‘Enduro Veloce’. It’s the second time the name has been tweaked. The machine that was originally shown as the Lucky Explorer 9.5 is internally titled ‘ESUPD’ and over the past year or so documents in…

Being an ex-professional off-road racer, I’ve never had much of an interest in adventure motorcycles. When I was racing, I used to wonder why anyone would want to ride those big, heavy-looking dirtbikes. However, since hanging up the professional racing helmet a good 10 years ago, my opinion and view on adventure motorcycles has totally changed. Especially after just finishing an unsupported 10-day 3500km adventure bike ride from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory to Bathurst in New South Wales. Now I get it. The combination of riding into areas most people will never see, mixed with simple living off the motorcycle is totally priceless. When the current Yamaha Ténéré 700 was introduced in 2019, I got my hands on one for a day and I was pretty impressed by…

Ah, the 90s. Or, as some call it, the naughties. A time of grunge music, Madonna getting her gear off and motorcycles with weird and wonderful colour schemes. It was a time when Kawasaki’s ZZ-R1100 was the king of speed, Honda’s Fireblade broke the superbike mould and Japanese manufacturers brought us 400cc race replicas with lights. The likes of Honda’s CBR400RR and Kawasaki’s ZXR400 packed screaming four-cylinder engines into what was essentially a miniaturised superbike equipped with alloy frames as well as top-notch suspension and brakes. And, despite never officially being imported into this country by their respective manufacturers, these pocket rockets attracted legendary status from the folks that rolled on two wheels in the late 80s and 90s. I spent lots of time on CBR, ZXR and FZR400s back…

The LAMS-compliant Harley-Davidson X range has been revealed in Australia through a special pre-launch media event held at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium, although stock of either model won’t start to reach dealers until December this year. The range consists of the X350 and X500 models, both developed in conjunction with Chinese manufacturer QJ Motor, which owns numerous brands including Benelli. While the X350 is an all-new model, the X500 has a lot in common with the Benelli Leoncino 500, but is obviously restyled and heavily branded as a Harley-Davidson. The X350 will be priced from $8495 ride away and the X500 from $11,495 ride away. There’s no overstating the importance of these two new models to Harley-Davidson as they represent a return to the LAMS market segment for the marque, a…

Cameras and radars, used together, bring us to the next logical step – steering-assist systems. Once again, the cue comes from cars. We’ve already reached a tipping point when, in some markets, the first truly self-driving cars are hitting the road. In America, Tesla’s controversial Full Self-Driving (Beta) is already in use. Elsewhere, there are a growing number of highway self-driving systems, intended only for use on multi-lane roads without intersections, being certified for use. These all tend to work using cameras, cameras and radars or even LIDAR (pulsed beam) systems. Unlike V2V or V2X, there’s no reliance on other vehicles being fitted with matching components or a need for infrastructure to be built around them. Essentially, the cars drive themselves in the same way that you would. Applying the…

Back in 2018, Bosch demonstrated one of the strangest motorcycle safety ideas we’ve seen yet: rockets mounted on the sides of a bike to help push it back on to the right path once a slide starts. It might sound like something from a comic book, but the idea – given the dry-sounding name “sliding mitigation research project” – was unveiled alongside Bosch’s motorcycle radar, its adaptive cruise control, forward-collision warning and blind-spot detection systems. All those other things are now in production and available on multiple bikes from an array of manufacturers, so to write off the sliding mitigation system might be unwise. The idea is to use gas accumulators, as found in airbags, mounted behind carefully-sited rocket nozzles on the sides of the bike. If a front or…

“WORKING ON OLD BIKES IS THERAPEUTIC, THEY RECKON” THE NEW seat cover arrived, the replacement for the ripped one on the old R75/5. So did the aluminium trim straps that go around the bottom edge. They’re all shiny and new! They don’t look like they belong anywhere near the worn and weathered bike and it pains me to imagine what it’ll look like when they’re fitted. I tried not to think about it and went to work. Working on old bikes is therapeutic, they reckon. If you believe that, you clearly don’t know that therapy is an emotionally painful, traumatic journey. The deeper I journeyed into this seat, the more painful and traumatic it was. I almost abandoned the whole commitment before managing to detach the seat from the bike.…

THE FINAL ROUND of the 2023 FIM World Rally Raid Championship – the Rallye Du Maroc – was won by KTM-mounted Toby Price, however his victory fell short of bridging the points deficit to Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna), who had inherited the title lead when Price lost time replacing a broken shock in September’s Ruta 40 Rally. Benavides had already demonstrated the pace and navigation skills to match the two-time Dakar winner and, come Morocco, set out to consolidate his points advantage. The HRC contingent of Ricky Brabec, Pablo Quintanilla, Skyler Howes and Jose Ignacio Cornejo had the numbers to assist teammate Van Beveren to the win – and possibly the championship – until Howes crashed out and Brabec’s bike developed an electrical glitch on the first day. And they were…

Remember Honda’s self-balancing concept from 2017? This new patent shows a machine that looks nearly identical to that but contains even more radical ideas when it comes to using electric power to assist the rider. The outline might be the same as the Riding Assist-e but the technology is very different. Most importantly, it has three electric motors; two driving the rear wheel and one powering the front, making it two-wheel-drive. Why have two motors driving one wheel? The answer lies in the torque of those motors and the reaction to that torque on the attitude of the bike. The two rear motors are mounted longitudinally, just ahead of the rear wheel, and each powers its own shaft drive, spinning the wheel via bevel gears on each side. To do…

In senior high school, Phil Aynsley was a slightly nerdy science whiz and model aircraft maker with the ambition to be an air-traffic controller. Then he spent $850 to buy a silver Ducati Desmo 250. School mates gathered around it five deep. Instant street cred. Aynsley’s eyesight put paid to his career first hope, but his love of Ducatis and good design eventually took him around the world photographing motorcycles and self-publishing two coffee-table photo books. Phil had ongoing heart trouble in later life and died in Perth on 22 September, aged 68. He was travelling Australia in a motorhome and had plans to do another pictorial book, this time on landscapes. A few months before his passing, Aynsley had been in Italy photographing bikes in museums and private collections…

Ducati has just unveiled the latest step in its long-running Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication system, a technology it’s working on in association with its parent company – the vast VW Group – and as part of the Connected Motorcycle Consortium, which was set up in 2016 and encompasses many manufacturers. Honda, Yamaha, BMW, KTM, Harley-Davidson, Suzuki and Ducati are all key participants. The idea of Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) tech is that cars and motorcycles (and, in the case of V2X, infrastructure like traffic signals) should transmit their status to each other, either via a wi-fi-like short-range radio protocol or, in the case of proposed Cellular V2X (C-V2X) systems, a 5G phone network. Each vehicle transmits key information about itself and its movements, to be picked up by other, nearby vehicles,…

ROAD RACING 2023 MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Rd17 29 Oct, Buriram, TH Rd18 12 Nov, Sepang, MY Rd19 19 Nov, Losail, QA Rd20 26 Nov, Valencia, ES 2023 AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP Rd6 27-29 Oct, Phillip Island, Vic Rd7 1-3 Dec, The Bend, SA 2023 SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Rd12 27-29 Oct, Jerez, ES 2024 BRITISH SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP* Rd1 20-21 Apr, Navarra, ES Rd2 4-6 May, Oulton Park Rd3 17-19 May, Donington Park Rd4 14-16 Jun, Knockhill Rd5 5-7 Jul, Snetterton Rd6 19-21 Jul, Brands Hatch Rd7 9-11 Aug, Thruxton Rd8 24-26 Aug, Cadwell Park Rd9 13-15 Sep, Oulton Park Rd10 27-27 Sep, Donington Park Rd11 11-23 Oct, Brands Hatch20 2023 FIM JUNIOR GP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Rd7 4 Nov, Valencia, ES 2023 FIM SIDECAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Rd7 29 Oct, Estoril, PT 2024 MOTOGP…

1 A BAG, THE BAG Andy Strapz $315 (03) 9786 3445 andystrapz.com The Special Edition AA Bag from Andy Strapz features a one-piece 600D Cordura outer construction with bonded waterproof backing, and angled pockets that keep water out. The AA is strengthened via four nylon rods to prevent sagging and features a stretch cargo net beneath the storm flap. 2 FIERCE FABRIC Cassons Australia $329.95 (02) 8882 1900 cassonsmedia.com The Ixon Fierce ventilated jacket boasts a combined mesh and softshell outer construction with safety bolstered further by Fanom protection on the elbows and shoulders. The Fierce also sports bicep, sleeve and hip adjustment, a stretch buckle for belt connection, and multiple inner and outer pockets. 3 WHAT IS THE MATRYX? Moto National From $599.95 1300 885 355 motonational.com.au The Matryx…

“IT’S MORE OF AN ADRENALINE RUSH THAN ANYTHING ELSE I’VE DONE IN MY LIFE, IT’S A CRAZY FEELING” WHO DOESN’T want to work in a motorcycle shop when you’re a motorcycle racer? I sure did! In the years previous I’d picked up an ASBK 300cc Supersport championship, ridden in the Italian CIV series, had a wildcard in World Supersport 300 at Jerez and also ridden in the Asia Talent Cup. Things were looking good and in 2019, the late Dale Brede signed me to ride for the Suzuki factory team in Supersport on a GSX-R600. It was surreal. I had two bikes that he supplied and an amazing team around me. Bredey and I were talking about the 600 ride and I decided to hit him up for a job…

THE OCEANIA Junior Cup was back in action at Phillip Island as the sole support class for the 2023 Australian MotoGP, with Archie Schmidt and John Pelgrave taking a win a piece in each of the two races. Conditions were perfect for qualifying on Friday with Riley Nuata cutting over two seconds from his practice time to record a best of 2m09.115s, breaking the lap record set by Levi Russo last year. Such was the progression of the OJC field, the top 16 riders all went faster than the previous mark. Schmidt made the best of the start in Race 1, surging from sixth on the grid to lead by the end of the first lap. Also making strong starts were John Pelgrave and Hayden Fordyce, after both had qualified…

AFTER MEETING for the first time at the Barcelona GP, the MotoGP riders moved a step closer to formalising a union, with former WorldSBK Champion Sylvain Guintoli chosen to be the representative. As one name put it, the teams have IRTA (international Racing Teams Association) to represent them, but the riders have no one. But there are other reasons, too, according to Aprilia Racing Aleix Espargaro. “Many things; about the schedule, and the safety. Many things,” Espargaro said. “In every sport you have athletes union and you need to have it, it is not about why. It is necessary. It like the bosses of teams, in Moto2 and Moto3 especially, can break the contract whenever they want and they have the IRTA – which means the Racing Teams Association – and…

How did the first season go with the well-backed squad? I’d had a great year on the Honda running my own team in 2022, but I’d reached a point where I couldn’t continue doing it all myself. I was building the bike, maintaining it, I was my own crew chief and electronic technician. We were getting good results but I was done, I couldn’t continue that way. It did get me to a point where it earned me a shot with a bigger team, there was enough interest and the chance to ride in an established team. DAO Racing only really use BSB as a point of testing for its roads campaign. The focus is Isle of Man TT and North West 200. It does a full BSB season, but…