Inhoudsopgave van May 2018 - Performance Bikes

THE BIG difference between the HP4 and my bike is they way they feel to ride. Although my bike was fractionally faster, I’d say they’d be equals with more time – I’m just more familiar with my bike. The interesting result of the test is that they have near-identical weight, performance and cost, yet only share an engine. One man in a UK workshop, and the might of BMW’s R&D team reached the same conclusion. The HP4’s carbon frame definitely adds a unique feel: a little bit more taut, direct, but also more demanding – it took a few laps and increased confidence to make it work. It’s by no means rigid or vague, but it’s a race frame demanding much more commitment than my alloy road frame. Is it…

CHRISTIAN IDDON & MICHAEL LAVERTY – TYCO BMW “I rate Christian a lot. Watching him on a supermoto was seriously impressive, so I’m not surprised he’s been fighting for podiums in BSB. It took a while to come, but as a talent, the boy is a genius and I think he’s got a lot more to offer. “Michael needs a good year this year. In some ways last year was not reflective of him at all, he needs to re-find his form as he’s a much better rider than he showed in 2017. Maybe getting back on the BMW will do that for him; he’s won races on it before.” DAN LINFOOT & JASON O’HALLORAN – HONDA RACING “Dan came on really strong at the end of last year. He…

‘IT WAS DESTINED TO BE MODIFIED.AS SOON AS I GOT IT HOME, I TOOK A HACKSAW TO THE REAR MUDGUARD’ LOOKING AT IT, I reckon the only parts that are the same as when I bought the bike are the carb bodies and the starter motor...” Colin Stannard’s assessment of his Suzuki Bandit 1200 turbo special is a reflection of the countless hours that have gone into creating the machine you now see before you. And yes, while it does have the obligatory (and not to everyone’s tastes, it has to be said) bit of airbrushing on its tank, this is far from some cobbled-together streetfighter. Over the 16 years it has taken Colin to create this bike, he has learned the hard way, through a lot of trial and…

1 Ring LED torch “Torches come and go, especially the cheap ones you buy from a petrol station, but this one has been bloody brilliant. I’ve no idea how much it cost me, probably less than £5, but it is still on its original batteries, despite being five years old. The rubber coat protects it when it gets bounced all over the garage floor and means you can jam it into crevices. I’d be lost without it, and if I ever see another in the local petrol station I’ll snap it up. Alongside a copy of Readers’ Wives, naturally.” 2 Vice “I bought this on eBay for £11. Old vices are so much better than the cheap cast ones you get from discount machine shops. The trick is to set…

‘We examine shock pistons to understand what sorts of damping they achieve’ REACTIVE SUSPENSION COURSE RUPERT PAUL THE UK IS particularly rich in bike technology expertise but there’s only one place where you can learn formally about suspension, and that’s Yorkshire, at Reactive Suspension’s one-day course for suspension nerds. For anyone looking for a far deeper understanding of the mechanics of damping adjustment, it’s a day well spent. Course tutor Gareth Evans trained as a marine engineer and has been a race technician for years (he did suspension for Yukio Kagayama and John Reynolds in British Superbikes). Most of his courses show you how to strip and modify forks and shocks, or set bikes up. But he also runs one on how to use a shock dyno to understand damping.…

2014 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R JOHN BENNETT I’D ARGUE THAT handling is even more important than power. I’d rather ride a bike with perfect poise and 100bhp than a 200bhp missile that handles like a turd. The Super Duke is not shit in the handling department, but it isn’t as sharp as a Tuono Factory: even allowing for the (now fixed) knackered tyres/ loose head bearings on my bike, I wasn’t 100% sold on the handling: I was sure it could be better still. So, with high hopes, I headed up north to K-Tech Suspension near Derby with the Duke in tow. I had heard very good things about them, so was sure they could dial the Duke in exactly where I wanted it. They get the highest accolade…

Eye Loupe set HOW LONG FOREVER COST IF YOU PAY MORE THAN A FIVER, THEY SAW YOU COMING CONTACT TAX-DODGING GLOBAL SALES WEBSITES I BET YOU didn’t know these things were called eye loupes, eh? They’re usually the preserve of those telling you the jewellery that granny left you in her will is worthless crap from Argos. But every good mechanic knows the value a set of these brings to your arsenal of tools you won’t need every day, but will prove useful, even if it’s just for getting splinters out. That is what you’ll use them for the most, especially if you’ve ever had to cut fibreglass bodywork, but they also come in handy for reading shims, removing pins from electrical connectors, examining bulb filaments, checking carb jets are…

CHRIS NEWBIGGING EDITOR chris@pbmag.co.uk I’m not late, I’m on European time. AUSTIN SMITH ART EDITOR austin@pbmag.co.uk The kids left that disc lock on there. MICHAEL RUTTER TRACK TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk Sorry, didn’t realise she was with you... MARK WHITE TECHNICIAN editorial@pbmag.co.uk Can’t touch that, it’s got beef in it. JOHN McAVOY ROAD TESTER editorial@pbmag.co.uk English isn’t my first language. JEREMY McWILLIAMS COLUMNIST editorial@pbmag.co.uk Yeah, damp kerb, nothing I could have done... JOHN BENNETT VLOGGER www.youtube.com/lambchoprides I didn’t realise the webcam was still on, m’lud. KAR LEE FORUM EDITOR editorial@pbmag.co.uk If I look directly into the camera, it’ll steal my soul. CAROLINE BARRETT EDITORIAL ASSISTANT caz@pbmag.co.uk I thought donner meat was vegan.…

I’VE SPENT the last three years building this in my garage in Manitoba, Canada. It’s a Pierobon-framed 1098R. It took a while to track down all the 1098 RS items. It started with the Pierobon frame, an RS swingarm, linkage and ride height adjuster, and RS triple clamps with magnesium eccentric adjusters. It has the RS fuel tank over an EVR carbon airbox, CDT carbon bodywork, RS rearsets, an H2O Performance radiator and Microtec ECU. Every fastener is titanium; it even has a titanium swingarm spindle. The exhaust is Termignoni, naturally. It has Brembo GP4-RR calipers on Sicom discs, Öhlins TTX shock and FGR forks. The engine has Carrillo billet rods, a Ben Fox crank, high-comp Pistal pistons, ceramic bearings and an RS gearbox. I’m sure I’ve missed other details,…

THE WORLD OF of multi-million pound corporate pride and the ingenuity and obsession of an individual have collided in the pursuit of the same goal. For the automotive giants at BMW, and my little Bathams Racing team (only myself, Alec and Matt/Tim Batham are permanent fixtures), making the BMW S1000RR as light and extreme as possible was the goal in 2017. For BMW, the HP4 Race is their money-no-object litre bike – their chest-beating statement to the world of their technical excellence, and quite possibly a glimpse into their future plans. For Alec, there was a much simpler goal, to build a bike on which I’d bid for glory at the 2017 Macau Grand Prix. Faced with the dilemma of either building our own bike or digging deep to come…

 HEN DUCATI LAUNCHED their new V4 Panigale to the world’s press in January, you could be forgiven for believing the occasion was right up there with the second coming of Christ. Not one report coming out of Valencia had a bad word to say about the V4. Even PB’s hard-to-impress Chris Newbigging was moved to say, “It is a class re-defining machine”, which is a massive statement when you’re referring to a class occupied by the BMW S1000RR, Yamaha R1, Aprilia RSV4, Kawasaki ZX-10R, Suzuki GSX-R1000 and even Ducati’s now obsolete V-twin Panigale. ‘IT RUMBLES AND GRUMBLES EXACTLY LIKE A V-TWIN ON TICKOVER, ON ACCOUNT OF ITS UNIQUE BIG-BANG ENGINE CONFIGURATION’ For once, I found myself assuming the role of cynic and inwardly concluding that the world’s press must surely…

VALENTINO ROSSI has decided to continue racing into 2020, when he will be 41 years old. Much of how that two-year extension to his Yamaha contract pans out will depend on the results he achieves at the first few races, when he will be trying to erase the memories of his worst ever MotoGP season, apart from his two years in the Ducati doldrums. Analysis of Rossi’s points-scoring performance during his 18 seasons on 500s and MotoGP bikes provides a fascinating insight into the ups and downs of his career. Calculating his average points haul for each race shows exactly how strong or how weak he was during each championship. His best year was 2003, when he scored an average 22.31 points at each race, an amazing performance considering a…

Don’t cut corners There are so many jobs when you think, ‘Can I get away with that by bodging it instead of doing it properly?’ Don’t bodge; in the long run it always returns to bite you on the arse. Don’t be a twat – do it right the first time. It’s only money… Bikes are money pits. If you can’t accept this, perhaps you shouldn’t have a high-powered motorcycle! I’ve seen some amazing restos and specials destroyed by scrimping on tyres after spending £1000s on shiny stuff. Buy quality parts I’ve been stung before by cheap, crap, pattern parts. I once skrimped on my RGV’s fork seals, saving a few quid. The result was oil all over the fork legs and a missed Cadwell trackday, which cost me far…

2008 HONDA FIREBLADE CHRIS NEWBIGGING THERE HAS BEEN a lot of arsing around this month, resulting in progress on our Fireblade project being slow. Not ‘Johnny’s RGV’ slow, or slow enough that it’ll stall, like PB project bikes in the days of yore, but it doesn’t look hugely different. Sorry. But what we have done is important – it means the extra performance capability we’re building in can be combined with a full MoT. Refitting the original tail light and indicators at the back wasn’t going to happen, and neither was reinstating standard mirrors at the front, which also house side lights and the front winkers. A raid on my memory bank recalled a Harley with tail-lights integrated into the indicators, and a quick Google led me to Rizoma’s website.…

‘If we can run this tyre at the Isle of Man, it will allow us to run a better shock setting’ ALEC TAGUE BATHAMS RACING BRITISH SUPERSTOCK/ROAD RACING IT’S BEEN a bloody hard month – ultimately successful, but at the end of March I’d only seen the wife for three days in the last couple of months. Hopefully she’ll still be there when I eventually get home... We had a really successful test at Castle Combe with Metzeler in preparation for the road race season – testing both treaded and slick tyres, and two new rears in particular. Until the HP4 test (p18), Rutter hadn’t ridden a bike since Macau, so we sent him out on the K2 front/K1 rear combination he’s used before to get him settled. Then…

2018 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R CHRIS NEWBIGGING KTMS SHOULD BE everything I want in a bike. Big, torquey V-twin? Check. Proper chassis? Check. Looks that make you turn around for a final gaze? Check. But there’s always been something that stopped me really wanting one, or being able to recommend them in the course of testing and reviewing bikes. They were 90-percenters: when the last 10% of development was done, they’d be great bikes... They were bikes perfect for the laziest of journalists: great for a thrash and worthy of a five-star rating, performance-wise, but they’d come undone the more you picked. Something I’ve often pointed out, to the point where I was asked why I hate KTMs so much. I don’t: they’re just so close to being bikes…

2017 SUZUKI GSX-R1000R AUSTIN SMITH THE FIRST TWO days on Chris’s hand-me-down GSX-R were great: since my 2017 Super Duke GT was returned, I’ve been riding my 1997 VFR750 hack. I’ll never knock it, but it always feels so flat and uninspiring after just about every test bike I’ve ridden. Remember that picture of Trev Franklin riding one in a flat cap with a pipe on the go? The old Honda does that to you – I end up plodding along, the enjoyment of being on a bike ebbing away. His Suzuki snapped me out of it just as I was contemplating IAM courses and lobbying my councillor for lower speed limits... The buzzing, snarling Suzuki is firm, sharp and exciting, even on wet roads. Everything is so direct, I…

MARKETING Phone 01733 468845 Marketing manager Sarah Norman Marketing executive Angela Humphrey Head of newstrade marketing Leon Benoiton Newstrade marketing Joe Deboo ADVERTISING Phone 01733 468000 Group commercial director Gareth Ashman Group commercial manager Rhonda Janes Key accounts Shaun Collin Account Manager Phil Martin Senior Telesales Sarah Frisby Telesales Exec Jessie Hutchings PRODUCTION Phone 01733 468341 Production controller Carl Lawrence Advertising production Kerry Beasley Printed by Wyndeham Peterborough Distributed by Frontline THE BOSSES Managing director motorcycling Rob Aherne Group managing director Rob Munro-Hall Editorial director June Smith-Sheppard Finance director Lisa Hayden Group finance & strategy director Sarah Vickery CEO Paul Keenan…

JAKE DIXON – RAF REGULAR & RESERVES KAWASAKI “Jake’s a talented kid. We worked closely in the past, trained together quite a bit. He’s gone his own way and it seems to be working for him. I think to go into a second year on the same bike should mean he starts in a stronger position, and if he keeps his focus and maintains his effort, he’ll be strong.” JAMES ELLISON – ANVIL HIRE TAG YAMAHA “James is super-fast but inconsistent. Hopefully the Anvil team will give him the kind of ‘small team’ feel that he needs, with it built around him. He says this’ll be his last year in British Superbikes and he’ll want to go out with a bang, that’s for sure.” LUKE MOSSEY – JG SPEEDFIT KAWASAKI…

‘Clever hybrid of carbs and fuel injection tech gave the 5PW more midrange and a beautiful throttle connection’ THE YAMAHA YZF-R1 5PW is one of those bikes that, once sampled, is very hard to give up. There is just something special about this model of R1 that captures the imagination more than any other generation, and it is often referred to with the same reverence as the Suzuki GSX-R1000 K5. But what exactly makes it so appealing? Building on the already solid, but often a little wild, foundations of the previous generations, the 5PW added fuel injection for the first time. A clever hybrid of carb and FI technology, alongside other engine upgrades, gave the 5PW not only more midrange, but also a beautiful throttle connection. Further enhanced by an…

‘It’s nearly 30 years old, buzzes like an Ann Summers device and wasn’t that well made in the first place’ 1989 SUZUKI RGV250K CHRIS NEWBIGGING TWO SEPARATE EVENTS guilt-tripped me into uncovering the RGV250 this month. The first was Johnny making a bit of progress with his own VJ22 – or Project Glacier, as it might better be called... There’s a vague threat it may run before fossil fuels are depleted. The second was opening my workshop up for this month’s 360° Garage feature (p72). PB contributor Jon was talking to me about the bike, and I started to feel bad about its inactivity. I have good excuses: my Brutale needed attention after its purchase last spring, and so did my little boy Freddie in his first year of life.…

2017 YAMAHA YZF-R3 HARRIS BEECH BRITISH SUPERSPORT 300 I GOT MY first taste of the Bathams Racing Yamaha on the practical part of my ACU licence test. It was a very cold day at Donington so I only did as much riding as I needed to – as it was, we found I’d grown out of my leathers over winter so I had to borrow a pair of my dad’s! I’ve ridden a friend’s KTM RC390 Cup bike, so had an idea what to expect, but the biggest bike I’ve spent time on before that is a MiniGP bike, with 12in wheels and a maximum speed of 70mph. The Yamaha on 17s and making more than 100mph was a big adjustment. I got comfortable on it pretty quickly, although I…