Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 73 Issue 22 i Australian Motorcycle News

“GWM IS TURNING ITS HAND TO BUILDING MOTORCYCLES UNDER A NEWLY FORMED SUBSIDIARY” HAVE YOU seen how many GWM utes and Haval 4x4 wagons there are on Australian roads these days? Great Wall Motors (GWM) sold the first Chinese-manufactured vehicle in Australia in 2009 under an independent distributor; seven years later, in 2016, GWM set up its factory-backed distribution network in Australia; and then in 2021 it launched its imaginitively named ‘Ute’ here. To the end of April this year, the GWM 4x4 Ute had sold 2738 units for a four percent slice of Australia’s 4x4 ute segment. Not bad for a company that has only been around for 15 years. In total, in the first four months of this year, GWM has captured a 3.4 percent share of the…

NEW PATENT applications from Yamaha show it’s looking at a semiautomatic option for the MT-07 and its spin-off models, eliminating the clutch lever and the foot shifter and replacing them with ’bar-mounted shift buttons. Unlike Honda’s DCT, which has a similar control scheme, the Yamaha setup keeps a completely conventional gearbox and clutch and simply replaces the manual controls with two electronic actuators – one for the clutch and one for the shifter – mounted just above the transmission. It’s all operated via its own electronic control module. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Yamaha has nearly two decades of experience with such a system, having offered it on the FJR1300 tourer under the ‘YCC-S’ (Yamaha Chip Controlled Shift) name since 2006. The new patent applications related to the idea show…

CFMoto has evolved significantly over its 35-year history. With a global reach of 3000 dealers and a workforce of over 5500, the Chinese-based manufacturer is now a major player. The company even competes in the Moto2 and Moto3 world series. Its latest model, the CFMoto 450MT, is a 449.5cc adventure bike that appeals not only to the entry-level rider in this segment but also a broader market looking for a lightweight, robust and capable on-road/off-road tourer. With rally-inspired design, a 270-degree-crank parallel-twin engine and impressive specs, such as KYB suspension, 220mm of ground clearance and a 21-inch/18-inch wheel combination, the 450MT is built for serious off-road action. Plus it features a five-inch full-colour dash, Bosch traction control, dual-channel ABS and adjustable seat and screen – all for $9490 on the…

2004 Rocket Ill Launch model had record-breaking 2294cc DOHC triple engine with 79kW and 209Nm. 2004 Rocket Ill Classic Addition of rider footboards and new silencers rather than forward footpegs. 2007 Rocket Ill Classic Tourer Addition of touring screen, soft panniers, luggage rack and backrest. 2009 Rocket Ill Touring A proper bagger with hard luggage, touring screen and single round headlight. 2010 Rocket Ill Roadster Major update with new engine producing 109kW and 221Nm. Mid-mounted footpegs. 2014 Rocket X Limited edition celebrating 10 years, with unique paint and blacked-out finishes. 2019 Rocket 3 Ground-up overhaul, new 123kW/221Nm 2458cc triple, 40kg lighter, modern electronics. 2024 Rocket 3 Storm Power and torque bumped up to 134kw/225Nm, new dark colour schemes.…

It’s ironic that the first all-new MV Agusta after the Italian brand was acquired by Austrian giant Pierer Mobility, owner of off-road titan KTM, should be the company’s first adventure tourer of the modern era, powered by MV’s all-new 931cc three-cylinder engine that’s destined to form the basis of a whole series of new models in the coming months and years. Because this was the motorcycle that Stefan Pierer told me last June, after he’d bought the initial 25.1 percent slice, that MV Agusta should not be making! “Adventure bikes are a big market sector, but they’re also the most difficult segment and the most competitive to be present in,” he told me. “Nobody is waiting for such a model from MV Agusta.” Yet six months later at last year’s…

After a year like 2023, surely the only way is up for Honda. The early stages of this season have demonstrated the Japanese factory is facing a long and complicated road back to the top of MotoGP. But at least the world’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer has shown initiative and direction in recent months. All that was seriously lacking this time last year. Whether it was Marc Marquez’s decision to leave the grid’s most successful team for Ducati’s third satellite squad, Joan Mir considering retirement after just a handful of rounds on the RC213V, or Alex Rins – the sole rider to win for Honda through all of last year – slipping through their fingers, 2023 was painful viewing for anyone associated with HRC. The manufacturer lurched from one crisis to…

JOSH NEWMAN has taken his Wet4U Race Fairings Kawasaki Ninja to the round win at Queensland Raceway, with the opening race win coming after a red-flag stoppage involving Jesse Stroud (Connect Homes) and Oliver Short (FuSport). Newman held on after the restart, taking a narrow victory over Harrison Watts (Champions Ride Days) and Valentino Knezovic (Motocity). With the field tightly packed in Race 2, several riders went down with Ryan Larkin (Green Plant Nutrients) and Mitch Simpson (Simpson Crash) early casualties. The large leading group eventually settled to five serious contenders and it was Knezovic who was the eventual winner from Newman and Will Nassif (Nassif Racing). The final race produced another big leading group – this time it would be former MiniGP series winner Harry Watts (Champions Ride Days)…

IT’S NOT AN exaggeration to say the Jerez Sprint was the most chaotic to date. Nine riders failed to finish and 15 crashed overall – a ludicrous number for a 12-lap race. The reason was the track hadn’t dried out completely before the race start, with wet patches repeatedly catching riders out at Turns 5, 8 and 9. “If it’s dry it’s okay, if it’s wet it’s okay. But if it’s mixed, it’s a piece of shit,” were Pedro Acosta’s sentiments. “In Turns 8 and 9 you were able to see the patches but in Turn 5, which is uphill and has the sun, you don’t really know where the patches are.” Luca Marini felt the high and unpredictable wind was another cause of the carnage. “The wind was a lot…

AFTER TWO years competing in Europe, four-time Australian Off-Road champion Daniel Milner returned home to do it his way; forming a satellite KTM team for the 2024 series. When Milner won both opening rounds at Roma, taking an early championship lead on his KTM 450 EXC it appeared a case of déjà vu. Neither Kyron Bacon (Yamaha WR250) nor Jonte Reynders (Sherco 300 SEF) had an answer to his speed. Then, in the sand and rocks at Mount Misery, Bacon defeated Milner by 30 seconds in Round 3 while Reynders retired with an electrical glitch. Technical issues nobbled Bacon in Round 4, which was won by Milner, well clear of Reynders and Will Dennett (Yamaha WR250). Milner’s Kiwi teammate Tom Buxton (KTM 250EXC) is settling in, but faces a tough task…

Bimota – now backed by the financial might of Kawasaki – has announced it will return to WorldSBK racing in 2025 with a new ZX-10RR-powered superbike that logically should go by the name KB5. With Kawasaki now at the helm, the financial woes that have dogged Bimota over the years are a thing of the past and the company’s planned return to worldclass competition looks like a recipe for success. With Kawasaki’s ZX-10RR engine at its disposal, Bimota will have to develop a bike around that four-cylinder – very much its forte, as building lithe frames to house Japanese engines was the founding concept of the company back in the 1970s. The new bike might carry the name KB5, standing for Kawasaki-Bimota 5. That would make it a follow-on from…

The insane development speed of China’s motorcycle industry has seen a rash of new four-cylinder bikes from the country over the last few months – but now they’ve all been put to shame by a brand-new company with a bespoke flat-eight bike engine. Last issue we revealed details of this all-new model being developed by Great Wall Souo Motorcycle, a newly-formed subsidiary of Great Wall Motors (GWM). Now comes official confirmation from Great Wall’s boss, Wei Jianjun. Well-known in Australia for its Great Wall and Haval range of SUVs and utes, GWS is on a massive global expansion program. GWM’s boss, Wei Jianjun, took over the brand in 1990 when he was just 26 and has become one of China’s richest entrepreneurs. He is also passionate about motorcycles. Posting on…

HONDA HAS been slow to adopt the systems required for adaptive cruise control but it’s clear from a patent that it’s hard at work on catching up. We’ve previously seen several patents showing radar-equipped versions of Honda’s Goldwing and Africa Twin models, but the latest documents add a pair of stereo cameras to the mix, which has the potential to take a step forward compared to radar-only adaptive cruise control systems. Cameras, when used in stereo, can judge the distance to objects and vehicles ahead by triangulating their position, and have the advantage over radar of being able to monitor road signs, traffic lights and brake lights of other vehicles. Additional patents show logic charts for an automatic braking system which will take information from the cameras and a radar mounted…

It’s been a long time coming but Zontes has released the first of its three-cylinder models in the 703F adventure bike. Just on sale now in China for $A9500, it will be released globally. The culmination of a yearslong development which hopes to leapfrog parallel-twin rivals, the 703F features a 699cc triple with a 70mm bore and 60.6mm stroke allied to a 13:1 compression ratio for a peak of 71.5kW (96hp) at 10,000rpm and 76Nm at 7500rpm. The engine uses a 120-degree crankshaft and a balancer shaft. Like Yamaha’s MT-09 triple, the cylinders are cast as one piece with the upper crankcase. The engine sits in a cast aluminium twin-spar frame with fully-adjustable Marzocchi suspension front and rear, plus 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wire wheels. Zontes has opted for…

Since the early 1950s the Pacific Highway has been the chief thoroughfare north out of Sydney, replacing the original route via the Wiseman’s Ferry punt that opened way back in 1829. The introduction of the Calga tollway in 1968 did two great things for motorcycling; it freed up the Pacific Highway between Berowra and Somersby to become northern Sydney’s chief racer road haunt, and made a trip to Surfers Paradise Raceway a 12-hour drive, but for the lead-footed, a sub 10-hour run. Equally, it made Amaroo and Oran Parks a viable weekend race option for Queenslanders, cementing the eastern seaboard as the motorcycle competition stronghold of Australia. It was also a serious engineering triumph and a major piece of public infrastructure that happily remains toll-free in an era of expensive…

RACING WHAT, WHERE & WHEN ROAD RACING AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP Rd4 12-14 Jul, Morgan Park Raceway, Qld Rd5 7-8 Sep, Phillip Island GP Circuit, Vic Rd6 4-6 Oct, One Raceway, NSW Rd7 8-10 Nov, Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, SA BLU CRU OCEANIA JUNIOR CUP Rd3 12-14 Jul, Morgan Park Raceway, Qld Rd4 4-6 Oct, One Raceway, NSW Rd5 TBA Rd6 8-10 Nov, Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, SA AUSTRALIAN SIDECAR CHAMPIONSHIP Rd3 6-7 Jul, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Rd4 15-16 Sep, Phillip Island GP Circuit, Vic INAUGURAL SOUTHERN CROSS CHALLENGE CUP 6-7 July, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW AUSTRALIAN HISTORIC ROAD RACE CHAMPS 15-17 Nov, One Raceway, NSW SENIORS ROADRACING MEETING 18-19 May, Mac Park, SA MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Rd5 12 May, Le Mans, FR Rd6 26 May, Catalunya, ES Rd7 2…

“MY MOTORCYCLING ISN’T RECREATIONAL. IT’S NOT LEISURE, IT’S PURPOSE. MOTORCYCLING GETS ME THROUGH LIFE” MATHO, WHEN YOU told me you were going to dump on my ‘new bikes are good’ column, I figured you’d take a screaming dump from a great height. This one hit with all the thunder of a, well, a BMW R 75/6 on full patter. Patter? The first time my old bikes rule took a major hit was in the rain on that long hill out of Dorrigo where two-lane tar hugs the crest all the way. It’d just gone dark when Ruby decided to quit. No more bang, not even a splutter. She just died. Wet, cold, a hot pub meal and a bed just up the road and I’m half off the road in…

THE FIM Stewards and Freddie Spencer in particular came in for criticism once again at the Spanish GP for controversies in the Sprint (Brad Binder on Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez on Joan Mir) and feature race. Aleix Espargaro took Johann Zarco out at Turn 5. Rather than feel rage toward the Catalan, the Frenchman was infuriated by Spencer’s response when they met post-race. “I went to Race Direction and Freddie Spencer was watching the action with us," he said. "And it seems he was looking at me wanting to know what I wanted. But I said to him that he is not good for this job because he don’t take the right decision in the right moment. So don’t ask me what you have to do. Freddie Spencer is…

MAX WHALE has continued to impress on his Latus Motors-prepared Harley-Davidson XG750, taking seventh place in the Super Twins class main event of the Texas Half Mile, held at Fort Worth, Texas. On a challenging track, Whale kept pace with the group around him and now has his eyes firmly set on a top-five finish. “This week we had a better starting position and that makes a huge difference," Whale told AMCN. "Last week we were on row four, this week it was row two.” The event was won by Indian FTR750-mounted Brandon Robinson in a tight top three of Jared Mees (Indian) and Dallas Daniels (Estenson Yamaha). In AFT Singles, Chase Saathoff (Honda) claimed the win from Kody Kopp (KTM) and Tom Drane (Estenson Yamaha) in a race punctuated with…

ROUND 1 OF the WA State Road Racing Championships saw high drama at Wanneroo on Sunday 21 April when two leading Superbike riders crashed early on the first race. After unofficially lowering his own lap record in practice, a determined Sam Clarke (Suzuki) nabbed the holeshot in Race 1, but it was short-lived when he crashed at the exit of Turn 6. Cameron Stronach (Yamaha) inherited the lead for seven corners before he crashed in exactly the same place. From the restart it was Ben Stronach (Yamaha) who took the win from Adam Senior (Yamaha) with Jack Langley (Yamaha) in third. Clarke showed just how good a rider he is when he bounced back with wins in Races 2 and 3 but it’s Ben Stronach who leads the championship on…

“It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past, I will fight to the very end” Love him or loathe him, no one can argue that the first words out of Marc Marquez’s mouth after fighting with reigning world champ Pecco Bagnaia for victory at the Spanish Grand Prix aren’t as true as the season is long. MXGP IN OZ The Northern Territory capital of Darwin has secured a five-year deal to host an Australian round of the FIM Motocross World Championship from September 2025, with an option to extend the contract before it’s due to expire in 2029. The event will feature the MXGP and MX2 classes as well as the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship and a national support class on a purpose-built facility at Hidden Valley. TRAIN FOR…

Since stunning the motorcycling world with a record-breaking 2300cc engine back in 2004, the Triumph Rocket 3 has been the embodiment of motorcycling brawn, with more testosterone than a Mr Olympia line-up. In this era of political correctness and tightening emissions regulations it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Rocket 3’s giant donk consigned to the history books but, to mark 20 years of sales success, Triumph has doubled down on its iconic power cruiser concept with the introduction of the wild new Rocket 3 Storm. Somewhat confusingly the Storm is not a variation from the base model – all 2024 Triumph Rocket 3s are Storms and there are two versions available. The $39,890 (ride away) Storm GT features a more relaxed, cruiser-based riding position with forward-mounted foot controls,…

Just when you thought every conceivable corner of the middleweight streetbike landscape has been covered, along comes the Husqvarna Svartpilen 801. Part scrambler, part roadster, part commuter, part flat-tracker, part high-tech hooligan and part eye-catching style statement, it doesn’t follow the rules set by others. Instead the Svartpilen 801 gleefully refuses to slot into a simple, single category. Visually, there are plenty of nods to Husqvarna’s off-road heritage. There’s the Pirelli MT 60 RS tyres, with their distinctive flat-track tread pattern. There’s the wide, cross-braced handlebar. There’s a single retro-style round headlight. And there’s the high-rise exhaust, the silencer tucked tight up against the tail just like a dirtbike. But the Svartpilen is no rose-tinted throwback. Its lines and silhouette are modern to the point of bordering on sci-fi. That…

Forty-seven countries and around 10 and a half million square kilometres. That’s Europe, about a third bigger than Australia and roughly the same size as the United States. Its 287 languages might not seem a big deal compared to Papua New Guinea, where you’d need more than 800, but in Australia and the US you can pretty much get by with one. In Europe, each of those languages also tends to come with a different culture, different food and even its unique beer. It seems like a good idea then, to spend a bit of time on the road in Europe before the Bird of Time runs out of hours. Motorcycling is regarded fairly highly and motorcyclists are treated with respect. There are even several hotel networks specialising in looking…

1 PINKY PROMISE Moto National $219.95 1300 885 355 airoh.motonational.com.au The Airoh Connor Achieve Pink Matt helmet is available in three shell sizes. It the meets ECE2206 standard, has a thermoplastic shell designed inside a wind tunnel, chin vent, top vents and extractor, a tool-less visor, sanitised removable and washable liner, and is ASN (Airoh Sliding Net) Bluetooth ready. Sizes XS-XXL. 2 QUARTER TIME Cassons Australia $419.95 (02) 8882 1900 cassonsmedia.com The Ixon M-Quarter is a comfortable waterproof jacket inspired by outdoor tech-wear. It’s made with laminated Softshell ST4, a material with four-way stretch, and has a waterproof outer layer. It comes with shoulder and elbow protectors, a pocket for a back protector, mesh ventilation, loads of pockets, tightening straps and zip fastener. Sizes S to 4XL. 3 HANDS AND…

“WHEN I’D MADE THE CALL TO STOP RACING, WORD GOT AROUND PRETTY FAST” AFTER SYDNEY, I’d pretty much called it. I was finished in ASBK. There’s no point in going out there to finish 30 seconds off the lead and three seconds a lap off the pace – it’s a waste of money and a waste of everyone’s time. To have any chance of battling up the front in ASBK you have to be at the top of your game as a rider and your bike has to be the best it can be. If there is one small thing wrong, you’re finished. I don’t know what happened last year. Maybe it was the crashes that damaged something in the bike – I had a few big crashes last year.…

WITH RACING red-hot on track, the rumour mill was in full swing off it. Much centres around the battle for the second factory Ducati seat for 2024. Enea Bastianini is being considered, as are Pramac’s Jorge Martin and Gresini’s Marc Marquez. Factory bosses will decide before July. Unsurprisingly, both Martin and Marquez are keen for the berth, with the former likely to leave Ducati if an offer doesn’t arrive. Aprilia or Honda are alternative options. JORGE MARTIN IS LIKELY TO LEAVE DUCATI FOR APRILIA OR HONDA IF AN OFFER DOESN’T ARRIVE Then there is the possibility of a Yamaha satellite team. The Iwata factory is desperate to add two more M1s to the grid as it bids to quicken its turnaround. While VR46 has made it clear it’s happy to…

THE 2024 Speedway Grand Prix series could not have started any better for Australian riders and fans as Jack Holder finally broke through for his first ever victory and Jason Doyle followed him home in the final. Jack Holder’s first victory in 23 SGP appearances was not the only significant outcome at the season-opening Speedway GP of Croatia on 27 April. Jack also put his family name into the FIM Speedway Grand Prix history books as he and brother Chris Holder – a five-time SGP winner and 2012 world champion – become the first sibling duo in SGP history to top the podium. After the 20 heats Jack Holder was best with three wins among his score of 12 points to head the semi-final qualifiers, which included two of the…

You’ve come from a top privateer team and now you’re working with the Yamaha factory team. What are the differences? In this era, the differences in performance between privateer and factory are almost non-existent. I think the difference is preparation. There are two guys who work full-time for YRT and they maintain the bikes to a very, very high level. It’s not as if privateer teams don’t do that – it’s just that when you’ve got two guys working for 40 hours a week and that is their full-time job, the chances of getting something wrong or failing parts being missed are a lot less. Every time the bikes roll out of the truck, they are immaculately prepared. What about the culture of a factory team? John Redding has said…