Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 74 Issue 12 i Australian Motorcycle News

HERE’S ONE for the trainspotters. Exactly what motorcycle is my father riding in this shot below? Mum puts it at around 1969. Perhaps it’s a Honda, because it’s red. Twin exhausts, so maybe a CB175? No, because it has a two-stroke engine. Dad gave up road riding soon after us kids came along – like a lot of people do – and he passed away in 2016, so unless someone out there knows this one intimately, it remains a mystery. The real reason I find this image so confounding is that Dad always confessed to being a lifelong Kawasaki fan. Sure, once my two sisters and I came along he immediately swore to Mum that the dangers of road riding were behind him. But when he moved us from the…

THE MOMENT Ducati revealed its new-for-2025 Panigale V4 it was clear that the naked Streetfighter V4 must be in line for similar updates. Those changes make it the most powerful naked production bike Ducati has made. Try 160kW (214hp), at a screaming 13,500rpm. That’s 6hp up on the previous Streetfighter V4 and just less than the Panigale V4 – the slight reduction caused by different air intake ducting rather than detuning. That engine is the familiar Desmosedici Stradale V4, complete with all the updates that the Panigale V4 received for 2025. That means the usual 90-degree V4 layout and reverse-rotating crankshaft, along with the signature desmodromic valvetrain, plus new-for-2025 high-lift cams and a variable intake trumpet system to maximise torque and power at different revs and throttle openings. There’s the usual…

“It’s like they went to Bunnings to fit three trolleys of goodies into one. Then made that trolley go, stop and handle like a go-kart” AMCN tester Wattie (pictured here with the rock that made him break his leg on a Desert RallyX test) has gone above and beyond with superlatives about one of our MOTY entrants. Which one is it? And did it win? Find out in our highly-anticipated shootout starting Page 44 CRU SEALS DEAL! Way back in issue 74-10, Matt O anticipated a major change in ASBK. Now, after 13 years, Cru Halliday moves from YRT to the Stop & Seal team with his tech Brent Stephens. 10 Tassie’s famous Baskerville Two Hour celebrated a decade of racing last month. Visiting South Australian Isle of Man TT…

AFTER AN AWFUL start at Misano (and not until June, weirdly) the first ever asphalt-based FIM championship reserved for women settled down into four top Spanish riders versus the occasional Italian… and even a podium-scoring Australian in the diminutive but determined form of Tayla Relph. Ana Carrasco (Evan Bros Yamaha) and ever-present, one-event rider Maria Herrera went at it like the intense rivals they are, with Beatriz Neila and Sara Sanchez almost always within the same few square metres of racetrack. A serious injury to Norwegian rider Mia Rusthen, and a series of weird falls and inexplicable incidents, were not positive early happenings. But, at the very front, the top riders provided truly close and combative racing. An astounding grandstand finish at Jerez saw Herrera make a last-corner mistake and lose her…

POLISH RIDER Bartosz Zmarzlik claimed his fifth World Speedway Championship before turning 30, winning three of 11 rounds. Eight riders, including Slovakian Martin Vaculik, won rounds, but Australian hopes faltered. Jack Holder and Jason Doyle started strong, with Holder securing his first career win and finishing sixth overall. Doyle’s season-ending injury saw Max Fricke replace him, but he only managed 11th. Fricke and Brady Kurtz qualified for 2025, and Doyle earned a wildcard spot. Australia narrowly missed repeating their Speedway of Nations victory, finishing second to Great Britain. In Under-21 competitions, Poland dominated, though Australia excelled in Speedway of Nations 2, finishing third. Promising juniors, including Beau Bailey and Cooper Antone, impressed in FIM events. Domestically, Rohan Tungate won the Australian Senior Solo Championship, dethroning Max Fricke. Weather delayed the…

10 BIKES 1 WINNER Welcome to AMCN’s Motorcycle of the Year for 2024, presented by National Motorcycle Insurance – the most anticipated test for readers, staff and the industry alike! This year AMCN has called upon the expertise of its dedicated fleet of bike testers, here in Australia and overseas, to determine the single greatest all-round motorcycle of the year – as judged against our tried and tested criteria. We’ve selected a cross-section of incredible bikes that show the current state of the industry and the huge choice Australian riders have at their disposal. After testing all of the major new bikes over the past 12 months, we’ve narrowed our choice down to the 10 you will devour over the following pages. Importantly, rather than be compromised by exactly what…

When a 16-year-old Eddie Mulder won the annual Big Bear desert race in remarkable circumstances 64 years ago, no one could have predicted that it would one day inspire Royal Enfield’s best-handling motorcycle to date. While the Indian brand didn’t exactly set out to achieve impeccable road manners when it began work on the new 650 retro-styled scrambler, the combination of six years, improved technology and platform evolution has inevitably meant the 2024 Bear 650 is currently the cream of its 650cc parallel-twin crop. Named after a legendary race in California’s Mojave Desert and based around the company’s Interceptor, the Bear 650 joins the original Continental GT and Interceptor models, the cruiser-style Super Meteor and Shotgun versions and the soon-to-be released Classic 650 as the much-awaited scrambler version of the…

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 powercruiser concept with 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, with the Storm GT the highest spec. The sheer scale of the Rocket 3 is striking. Even at rest it exudes…

Don’t be tricked. The MY2025 Ducati Multistrada V4 S might look like the current model, but beneath that distinctive and largely unchanged silhouette lies a host of developments that make the Bologna factory’s best-selling adventure-tourer even more efficient and rewarding to ride. Predictably enough, a raft of electronic updates sits centrestage, all aimed at boosting the versatility of the Multistrada. Ducati Vehicle Observer (DVO), the predictive electronic control system developed by the Ducati Corse MotoGP team and which debuted on the 2024 V4 Panigale, finds its way onboard along with Automatic Lowering Device, which lowers the ride height as the road speed drops to allow better control and more confident stops. Ducati’s electronic boffins have also added a new Wet riding mode, which sits alongside the Touring, Urban, Sport modes…

Specials don’t come more exotic than this. The attention to detail on Jamie Seneviratne’s NSR500 replica is so exquisite, so convincing and so intertwined with Mick Doohan’s actual race bike that even on close inspection it’s hard to spot that this doppelganger wasn’t put together in HRC’s own workshop. Instead, it was made in a small, non-descript industrial unit on the outskirts of York, in northern England – the premises of GP replica builders 2Moto. “We make high-end toys,” grins Felix Hirzel, the brains and engineering genius behind 2Moto, “and this build is the closest we’ve achieved to the real thing.” When Hirzel says ‘closest’ he’s not employing hyperbole. This bike’s carbon fibre fairing and self-supporting seat unit were created using genuine factory moulds – the ones that produced Doohan’s…

Here are some highlights of the past 12 months. THE GO-SHOW GOBERT GONE In one of our most emotional issues, we farewelled the troubled genius that was Anthony Gobert, who left us aged just 48 years. The overwhelming reader reaction resulted in demands for a poster, which we supplied in the following issue.  AMCN Vol 73 No 15 BENCH MARC! In a somewhat prophetic headline, we looked back on Marc Marquez’s career as he started a new chapter with Ducati, where he set a new standard both for himself and Ducati. AMCN Vol 73 No 13 CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! In an exclusive interview, 2023 ASBK champ Troy Herfoss revealed his first impression of his MotoAmerica Indian Bagger felt like “the next quickest thing to a MotoGP bike”. AMCN Vol 73 No…

ORIGINALLY A trans-Sahara adventure for a band of dilettantes whose only objective was to get to the party before the champagne ran out, Dakar has morphed into a tightly orchestrated, million-dollar spectacular. Cirque du Soleil on steroids. With the circus contracted to remain in Arabia until 2029, Course Director David Castera continues to manipulate the regulations, reconfiguring the route in the interests of safety and parity – a task made easier by the mandated use of electronic roadbooks. For 2025 the motos, autos and trucks will race separate courses on five or more of the timed stages; specifically the 48Hour Chrono Stage – which has been doubled in length to 950km. According to Castera this will “amp up the drama and sow chaos among the title contenders”. Sounds like a…

The last time I rode a Chinese-made enduro bike, for Australasian Dirt Bike, I was very disappointed, but that test was quite a few years ago now and intrigue had got the better of me. However, a specs sheet that showed a 175kg dry weight, 450cc engine and $9490 price tag made me expect a bike that would be heavy, slow and cheap. And worse, I was going to be stuck on it for three days. The 450MT is powered by a 449cc parallel-twin engine that is claimed to produce 32.5kW (41.5hp) at 8500rpm and 44Nm of torque at 6250rpm. Not armstretching numbers, but it’s how and where the power is delivered that makes the difference. The first thing I clocked about the new MT was the cool exhaust note.…

There’s a small primal thrill that comes with the simple act of shifting gears on a motorcycle – an ancient connection between machine and rider. Yamaha’s latest technical release aims to offer riders the option of continuing that experience, or discovering a new world of semi-automation that can be tailored for ease of use or to enhance a sporty ride. Yamaha has chosen to debut the new system on its long-running MT-09 naked. A model designed for practical sports riding, it offers an agile, performance-driven experience. The big question is whether the Yamaha Automated Manual Transmission (Y-AMT) will deliver a better riding experience for the latest version of the MT-09. Riding off on the MT-09 Y-AMT for the first time, I had a strange sensation I’d forgotten something; a feeling…

I recently read a little tidbitabout the 2024 Paris Motor Show. Putting aside the fact that it’s all about cars and – cop this – you’re reading a bike mag, the gist of the article was pretty jaw dropping. Allthe “classic”European and Japanese manufacturers were either MIA or playing it super lowkey. But what was there with bells on was an army of Chinese brands. And no, the fact that you’ve probably never heard of them means nothing. You’d probably never heard of “Honda Giken Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha” until they went and flipped the motorcycle world on its greasy, windburnt head in the1960s. Yes, it’s easy to laughat burning Chinese EVs and take empty comfort in cliches abouthorrible quality and copycat designs. But those with the brains and insight into the…

Established in 1924 to protect the rights of motorcyclists across the nation, the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) – now with 250,000 members – remains the force to protect moto enthusiasts against such nonsense as the Consumer Product Safety Act banning the sale of minibikes, and attempts by the US insurance industry to refuse cover for sportbikes over 500cc. Even in more enlightened times, proposals to ban motorcycles from using certain county and city streets remains an ongoing problem, according to AMA’s Public Relations team Joy Burgess and Keaton Maisano. Now in its centenary year, the AMA also administers over 70,000 competition licences, more than any such organisation worldwide. But the lobbying function of the AMA is unique. While the Hall of Fame is dedicated to commemorating Americans from the world…

“MAYBE I WILL EMBRACE THIS NEW, PLODDING RIDING STYLE. AN OLD PLODDER ON AN OLD BMW, COMBINED AGE 107” GREEK PHILOSOPHER Plato quoted his ageing playwright mate Sophocles as saying, “To my great delight, I have broken free of (lust), like a slave who has got away from a mad and savage master.” I can’t say I’ve aged enough to empathise, but I had an epiphany about the motorcyclist’s equivalent of Sophocles’ drooping indifference when I rode sedately around a corner the other day and felt fine with it. In fact, not only did I not feel an urge to dip my footpegs closer to the tarmac, I quite enjoyed the slower pace. Struth, this is serious! I’ve not only come face-to-face with the emasculated state of whatever riding ability…

RACING WHAT, WHERE & WHEN ROAD RACING AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 Rd1 21-23 Feb, Phillip Island, Vic Rd2 28-29 Mar, SMSP (under lights), NSW Rd3 2-4 May, Qld Raceway, Qld Rd4 13-15 Jun, Morgan Park, Qld Rd5 8-10 Aug, Qld Raceway, Qld (Sbike only) Rd6 6-7 Sep, Phillip Island, Vic Rd7 3-5 Oct, One Raceway, NSW Rd8 7-9 Nov, The Bend Motorsport Pk, SA MOTOGP 2025 PRE-SEASON TESTS 31 Jan–2 Feb, Sepang Shakedown, MY 5–7 Feb, Sepang, MY 12-13 Feb, Buriram, TH MOTOGP 2025 IN-SEASON TESTS 28 Apr, Jerez, ES 9 Jun, Aragon, ES 15 Sep, Misano, IT MOTO2 PRE-SEASON TESTS 12-13 Feb, Portima, PT 18–20 Feb, Jerez, ES MOTO2 2025 IN-SEASON TESTS 13 May, Le Mans, FR 18–20 Feb, Jerez, ES MOTO3 PRE-SEASON TESTS 10-11 Feb, Portima, PT 21…

Bimota’s return to the Superbike World Championship is already creating concern among its rivals in early testing, thanks to the single-minded design of its KB998 racer. Now the homologation-required road version, which has to be sold under a WorldSBK-imposed price cap of 44,000 euro ($A71,400), has been revealed. During recent tests, the KB998 was instantly on the pace, with riders Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes topping the timesheets at Jerez in October during the race version’s first run. The production model, unusually revealed after the racer, hints at how it achieved that immediate success. Details include structural carbon fibre for the seat unit, a MotoGP-style swingarm with underslung bracing and a huge array of chassis adjustability. Showa suspension and Brembo brakes, allied to a dry weight of 195kg, are on…

Earlier this year the giant Chinese car maker Great Wall Motors launched onto two wheels with the Souo brand and a pair of vast, two-litre, eight-cylinder tourers. Now a third model will be launched. The initial Souo models were the S2000ST and S2000GL, both laser-targeted at Honda’s Gold Wing – the ST at the base Gold Wing, the GL at the fully-kitted Gold Wing Tour. The new model is a cruiser, dubbed LH2000, based on the same powertrain that takes inspiration from Honda’s F6C and Rune models. Souo’s thinking is clear: it wants to be taken seriously, so it’s targeting arguably the most famously high-end motorcycle on the planet. Part of the plan is simple one-upmanship. The Gold Wing has six cylinders, so its bikes have eight. The Honda has…

Europe’s largest motorcycle manufacturer has gone into self-administration and is working through a 90-day period to restore its financial stability After a torrid period that’s seen its parent group – Pierer Mobility – lose 90 percent of its share value since its peak in 2023, KTM AG has entered ‘self-administration’ in an effort to stave off bankruptcy. It has debts totalling a whopping 3 billion euro ($A5b). Self-administration, under Austria’s insolvency laws, gives companies a 90-day window of protection from creditors. KTM’s self-administration application was submitted on 29 November. The resulting restructure is expected to include a substantial reduction in the company’s manufacturing output, despite KTM making a significant number of lay-offs earlier this year. The Austrian legal situation doesn’t involve overseas distributors, but new model releases will be delayed.…

The Oceania team came third at the recent inaugural FIM Intercontinental Games at Jerez, Spain, despite injury, some riders being taken out by rivals, and dicing with the world’s best on unfamiliar bikes on unfamiliar tyres. Spot the five changes made, email us your answers (and your postal address!) and you could win a neck sock. WIN! AN AMCN NECK SOCK EMAIL YOUR ANSWERS AND ADDRESS TO AMCN@AMCN.COM.AU FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN! ANSWERS WILL BE REVEALED IN THE NEXT ISSUE…

THE PENULTIMATE season of WSSP300 racing (so they say) was either high-speed all-in wrestling, or reckless games of pure chance. The too-heavy and not-quite-fast-enough formula of this class provides truly, madly, deeply entertainingly levels of racing. But it’s all a bit too mad at times, which means that there are few predictable race results and almost no guarantees. Several riders could have won the title after its eight rounds. Even if he only scored one race win, Indonesia’s Aldi Satya Mahendra (Team BR Corse Yamaha) was the one who kept it together enough in terms of race finishes and podium proximity to be crowned champion. In the very last round, of course. All four main manufacturers (Kawasaki, KTM, Yamaha and in the final race of all, Kove) won races. Nine…

TEAM CAPTAINS Mike Jones and Archie McDonald have led Team Oceania to third overall in the inaugural FIM Intercontinental Games held at Jerez, Spain, over 29 November – December 1. It was an impressive outcome considering one member was out injured and several others crashed in the races. McDonald captained the Supersport 300 squad of Cameron Swain, Jesse Stroud and Tara Morrison, all riding Yamaha R3s. Jones’ Supersport squad of Tom Toparis, Max Stauffer and Tayla Relph were on Yamaha R7s. After two days of qualifying and practice racing begin without Stauffer. He had crashed in practice after setting the eighth fastest time, breaking his hand. McDonald had qualified on the front row and was an early leader, while Swain had some work to do after copping a ride-through penalty…

RETURNING TO the comfort of the family farm in Victoria after two frustrating, post-Covid years on the EnduroGP scene, Daniel Milner took on the challenge of creating his own team from scratch. Considering he’d won 40 successive off-road victories and three outright AORC titles for KTM before heading for Europe, acquiring the latest KTM 450 EXC-F and suitably liveried team truck wasn’t a problem. Nor was convincing his trusted mechanic Scott Lillis to join him and Kiwi champion Tom Buxton – who would finish third in the 250 Class. That the DM 31 KTM Team won the first round of the 2024 Championship outright was no surprise, but eight wins into the season it appeared as though Milner was about to repeat the 2017 season when he became the only…

BEN GRABHAM AGE 43 RIDING EXPERIENCE Riding since age three, off-road legend Grabbo has won everything from Finke (even with a broken hand) to Hattah, the Condo 750, the Australasian Safari and more. A stalwart for AMCN’s sister publication Australasian Dirt Bike, we’re chuffed to have him weigh in on MOTY24. SEAN MOONEY AGE 52 RIDING EXPERIENCE Sean has been riding since he was 17 – from commuting on a ridiculous two-stroke to now riding (road and track, with the occasional off-road foray) all kinds of machines – some big, some small, some expensive, some cheap, some petrol, some electric… all great fun! ADAM CHILD AGE 48 RIDING EXPERIENCE Adam has covered more miles testing bikes than there are pages in every issue of AMCN that has ever gone to…

The modern motorcyclist could be forgiven for feeling a tad confused about recent developments in market segmentation. No longer are we asked to choose between pure sport, touring and adventure bikes because so many do a bit of everything, and often do all these things very well. There are sportsbikes that are all-day comfortable, touring bikes that can tear up the track, and many adventure bikes that can, and do, both. The new GSX-S1000GX reflects this versatility in what Suzuki calls a ‘Supreme Sport Crossover’. This is, we are told, a model with “superbike-level performance, confidence-inspiring controllability, optimised comfort, functionality, connectivity and attention to detail” combined with a “comfortable upright riding position, long front and rear wheel travel, increased ground clearance and new technologies that include Suzuki’s first electronic suspension”.…

Electromobility in the roadbike space is a tricky game. On one hand there’s increasing pressures from both legislators and society to strive for fewer emissions, but the reality of packaging enough batteries into a motorcycle chassis to achieve anything approaching the equivalent energy density of even a small-capacity internal combustion engine really isn’t feasible at this time. We’ve seen many try. Mainstream brands such as Harley-Davidson have dabbled in the big-bike sphere with limited success. The big-four Japanese have come together with various other brands, including KTM and the Piaggio Group, to create the Swappable Batteries Motorcycle Consortium, which not only widens the scope of usability by negating the downside of having to wait for batteries to recharge, but they’re presumably also sharing the costs of associated R&D and the…

I returned to Australia after a couple of decades overseas and was looking for a project to fill in my spare time. My dad, Hamish, had been building up a low-cost version of a 1966 Triumph TR6 SC desert sled out of the remains of a Thunderbird 650 chopper sourced through Murray’s Britbikes in Adelaide. The project had stalled after he had got the engine professionally rebuilt. I thought it would be good if we put it all together from a box of bits he had lying around. Apart from the ignition all the components are genuine old parts, not modern reproductions. I recorded the assembly on my iPhone. THE INSPIRATION • Back in the 1960s, Triumph’s 650 twin ruled California’s popular desert races, which often had 500 or more…

Rob, many Aussie race fans would have noticed the news in recent weeks that your RT Motorsports by SKM team will disband. Yes, that’s right. It is a bittersweet moment for us. My business partner, Frank Krekeler, and I won’t be continuing in 2025. We’ve had some great moments, and we felt like we could go out on a high at the final round at Jerez. In many ways it was a great weekend; we have seen the talent of Carter Thompson emerge but we also had the possibility of winning two races and maybe the title with Inigo Iglesias. He sadly crashed on the Saturday morning, breaking his tibia. He still finished P3 in the championship, which is a very good achievement. You took on Carter Thompson this year…