Table of contents for 24 February 2016 in MCN

‘To add a touch of glamour, you can enlist the experience of top level ex-racers’ The Honda Ron Haslam Race School at Donington Park celebrates its 20th birthday this year and is firmly established as one of the UK’s most popular motorcycle track events. It caters for everyone from complete beginners to trackday regulars and racers. New riders learn on CBR125/300s and CB500s and the more experienced get to ride the famous GP circuit on CBR600RRs and Blades, all included in the price. Tuition is tailored to the individual. Of course, the other big-hitter is the world renowned California Superbike School (CSS), which was founded in 1980. Inspired by Keith Code’s Twist of the Wrist books, CSS carefully dissects the art of track riding into a regimented three-level course structure.…

‘It’s like they’ve just stepped out of the telly and into your life’ Actually, this one is almost too good. The basic format is down to earth enough, and one we’d all recognise: a coaching based trackday with on-track instructors waiting patiently in the pitlane to lead you out onto the circuit, plus clued-up riding gurus and technical helpers in the pit garages to help you set up your suspension and electronics. So far so normal. Except the track is Spa Francorchamps – 4.4 miles of flat-out Ardennes swoops – and the coaches are BSB champion Josh Brookes and two-time WSB winner Colin Edwards. Oh, and those technical experts happen to work for one Valentino Rossi. Massimo Meregalli, Silvano Galbusera and Matteo Flamigni, all dressed in full Movistar Yamaha race…

2015 Suzuki GSX-R750, £8390 Seller says: One-owner bike showing just 375 miles. Laden with Yoshimura goodies, including the R11 carbon end can, FSH, pristine. 2013 Suzuki GSX-R750 £7195 Seller says 2013, 13-reg, 6450 miles, blue, immobiliser, this is a mint condition UK bike that’s HPI clear and ready to go. 2011 Suzuki GSX-R750 £6499 Seller says One owner, 3421 miles, service history, clean bodywork, good tyres, tidy straight bike, will come serviced with a new MoT. 2011 Suzuki GSX-R750 £5994 Seller says 2011, 11 Reg, 9090 miles, immobiliser, excellent condition throughout, very well looked after, standard and unmodified.…

‘If you are going to keep the bike look for a red and silver 750’ Martin Westbrook is the boss of Forza Italia, based at Silverstone race circuit, who specialise in Aprilia, Moto Guzzi and MV “If you are going to keep the bike for years, then look for a red and silver 750. Although it hasn’t got the mid-range of the 1000, that classic MV colourscheme with its echoes of Hailwood, Surtees, Agostini and Read means that people will pay fair money for a 15-year-old bike. “If it’s got a full service history it’s hard to buy a bad one, but one area that catches people out is chain adjustment. The single-sided swingarm design means you adjust the chain by moving the rear hub. If you don’t use a…

‘Tracking down a mint 1992 Blade is very hard’ Changing face of classics Following last week’s observation about bikes being cheap in winter, I thought I’d point out some examples of what fetched how much in mid-January. An immaculate 1997 Yamaha V-Max, with just 17,000 miles made £3000. Tricky things to value, V-Maxes, because you can get them for much less than that, but in a dealer’s showroom, I reckon this one would have made £4000. I saw another 1990 bike make over two-and-a-half grand, so £3000 was a bargain. Incidentally, £3000 got someone a 6000-mile 2004 Fireblade back in October. I mention this because the price of early Blades is going through the roof now. Tracking down a mint original 1992 model is very hard. Not long ago I…

SUZUKI GSX-S1000F £9999 Adam Child, Senior Road Tester adam.child@motorcyclenews.com Miles 7437 MPG 48.2 Suzuki’s big sales pitch for the GSX-S1000F was that it shared an engine with the much-loved and hugely successful 2005 GSX-R1000 K5. So what better way to see just how close the two distant relatives are than a blast down Bruntingthorpe’s two-mile runway? And, just for fun, I also compared it to the 2015 GSX-R1000. We obviously knew my GSX-S would be down on top speed, but a true 157mph is respectable. It’s not restricted and was bouncing off the rev limiter at the end of the two-mile straight, where it was reading 167mph on the speedo. Acceleration times are impressive in comparison to Suzuki’s latest sportsbike. The GSX-S is less than half-a-second slower than the current…

Oxford Protex Stretch outdoor bike cover from £79.99 Tester Simon Relph Time tested One year What’s good? I love a well thought-out product and something as simple as a bike cover can get overlooked. Just pick up this Oxford item and it feels good, soft on the inside to avoid scratching paintwork and a stretchy material to help the cover cling to the bike. Even in high winds, when I have forgotten to connect the adjustable bellystrap, it has remained snugly over the bike and at the same time kept it dry. The elasticated bottom edge helps to keep it in place too. If you’re covering your bike up in a location where the numberplate must be visible, there is a plastic window in the rear of the cover with…

Q Who is to blame for my costly supermarket slip-up? Although the forecourt of a supermarket petrol station on the site of a big branch had been gritted, the access road was untreated and I dropped my bike on a patch of ice lurking by a mini-roundabout. I didn’t do a great deal of damage to the bike but it was new so I’m not best pleased that there’s a massive scuff. Can I make the council pay? James R, email Snow and ice claims can be difficult and are very different depending on who was responsible for the mini-roundabout. The local authority is only responsible for ‘adopted’ roads. It sounds like the road you are referring to may not be adopted and could be the responsibility of the supermarket,…

WSB ON TV 522 million Total TV Audience 2015 (13 Rounds) 6740 Total Broadcasted Hours 200 Countries reached WSB TRACKSIDE SPECTATORS 575,405 WSB ONLINE DATA 8.5 million visits to www.worldsbk.com 3.4 million unique users 23 million pages visited Facebook 850,000 fans Twitter 100,000 followers MOTOGP ON TV 291 million homes reached via cable / satellite TV Networks 20,227 Total Broadcasted Hours 207 Countries reached MOTOGP TRACKSIDE SPECTATORS 2,717,314 MOTOGP ONLINE DATA 110 million visits to www.motogp.com 37 million unique users 360 million pages visited Facebook 10M fans Twitter 1.6M followers…

Nick Hayden ex-MotoGP Champion The Kentucky Kid is the biggest new name to enter WSB in years. He’s a top American, the first in the series since Ben Spies in 2009 and a real-life MotoGP champion. And as a rider he may just be able to get the Honda to excel for 20-odd laps every weekend. He’s a star, nothing less. But is Hayden ready to start the season after just a few tests? “Ready or not we are lining up soon, so we’d better take what we have and make the most of it,” he said. “We had a few tech test items we wanted to get through at Jerez but didn’t get finished, but I guess that’s how it goes sometimes - especially with not a lot of…

 SIMONPATTERSON ‘I didn’t need to set the world on fire, so I didn’t take too many risks’CAL CRUTCHLOW AT PHILLIP ISLAND MOTOGP REPORTER simon.patterson@motorcyclenews.com Cal Crutchlow shocked the MotoGP elite by posting the third fastest time during the three day Phillip Island test onboard his 2015 spec LCR Honda. His 1m 29.348s best saw him bettered by only the surprise pace-setter Maverick Vinales and two-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez. Despite struggling all week with set-up, Crutchlow was able to put in a seriously fast lap in the closing stages of the final day to propel himself up the leader board. But the experienced Brit, who is now in his sixth season of MotoGP remained grounded, admitting that it was a single lap and not sustainable pace. Still running Honda’s…

Octo Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci looks set to miss the next and final test at Qatar in two weeks time, after falling at the ultra-fast turn eight in the closing stages of Friday, breaking bones in his hand. The fastest man on the opening day of the test, in damp conditions, Petrucci fractured the second, third and fourth metacarpals in his right hand in the high speed fall. And while the target for his return is the opening round at Qatar in five weeks’ time, team boss Francesco Guidotti says it’s too early to speculate on when the Italian will be back. “It’s never the right time to fall, but surely this is a particularly sensitive time. We have to focus on Danilo’s recovery, and we are confident that…

One of a generation of incredible Italian talent, Cadalora made his debut in GP racing in 1984, taking a 125GP and two 250GP titles en route to the premier class. Riding for both Giacomo Agostini and Kenny Roberts’ teams, he took eight 500GP race wins, but was always regarded as somewhat of a temperamental rider. As fast as anyone on his day, he was also prone to off days that would prevent him from ever challenging for title success. Remaining a loyal Yamaha fan since his 500GP days, he has most recently been taking to track with the likes of MCE British Superbike champion Josh Brookes as part of Yamaha’s R1M customer experience days across Europe. Cadalora told us: “It was nice to be asked back here for the test,…

‘I was right there behind Valentino – and I could pass him’MAVERICK VINALES Seamless changes Now sporting a seamless gearbox on the up-changes, the team are also hoping to debut the both-directions seamless box at the Qatar race, giving their riders more stability under braking. Electronics Suzuki’s electronics were never at the same level as Honda and Yamaha, meaning that the step down to the new controlled electronics for 2016 has been much easier to deal with. They are not missing what they didn’t have in the first place. Frame gain With both a 2015 and 2016 chassis on offer for the riders in Phillip Island, Vinales actually preferred to stick with the older frame – and it looks likely he’ll now start the season with the sweet-handling package he’s…

The Speed Triple has always been a rip-snortingly brilliant road bike, but for 2016 Triumph have pumped-up its performance, which should see it close the gap on its super-naked rivals. While it still doesn’t have that any-gear any-revs pull-your-arms-from-their-sockets acceleration of bikes like the BMW S1000R and KTM’s 1290 Super Duke R, it can now match them in the handling stakes. And besides, the Speed Triple’s motor always was and remains brilliant for sporty road riding – it’s plenty fast enough, but its power delivery gives you the confidence to whack it to full throttle, so you really feel as though you’re riding it and not just a passenger trying to hang on. Even in its £10,200 base-model S guise, the 2016 bike looks stunning and makes the old bike…

You can tell by a rider’s body position, lean angle, corner speed and patience level whether they’re a crash waiting to happen. It’s so obvious you can spot the signs in a couple of corners. Road riders tend to ride straight-armed in the corners and flatfooted on the pegs and quickly run out of ground clearance and grip. Hanging off might feel alien and take a lot of effort, but it gives you a bigger safety margin at speed. Lots of riders are on the edge in the corners, but don’t use 100% throttle on the straights. Doing all your work on the straights and not overriding the corners is the key to an easy fast lap. Then there’s the ‘kneedownflick-highside’. That’s where riders slam the bike down to get…

Be early, be prepared Arrive at the track early. Set tyre pressures, fit tyre warmers, if you’re using them, and get noise tested before signing-on and briefing. Don’t forget to fill up If you’re riding to the track, brim your tank full of fuel at the closest petrol station, then you’ll have enough for at least half a day. Get the right rubber Trackday compound tyres are best. They don’t need tyre warmers, work in a wide temperature window, aren’t as likely to cold tear as race tyres and are durable. Bring all the kit you need Make sure you have enough tyres and brake pads to last the day. Keep hydrated, eat light Bring water and light snacks. Avoid the pie and chips at lunchtime - it’ll wipe you…

Long live WSB! I strongly disagree with the letter saying WSB is doomed (MCN, February 10). WSB provides the best racing of all the available championships. What is wrong with Tom Sykes beating Leon Haslam? I admire both riders and all the others who take part. The only reason I pay for subscription TV is to watch WSB on Eurosport. I cannot wait for the new season to start. John Dean, Stoke on Trent Ed: Don't miss our eight-page WSB special on p54-61 Best of British? My son and myself particularly liked the Street Twin (my son was considering buying a one new) until we read the test in MCN. Built in Thailand? Sorry Triumph but we will not be buying. We were both considering each buying a Tiger…

It’s getting light by 7am, it’s above freezing more often than not and Cal Crutchlow is showing the factory boys a thing or two in MotoGP – happy days are here again! It’s that time of year when everything starts feeling fresh, exciting... like we’re on the brink of something big. Of course, all-too-often, that promise soon dribbles away into a feeling of hollow disappointment. Judging by the stories so far in BSB, WSB and all three GP classes, that won’t happen in 2016. Off the back of one of the most controversial MotoGP seasons ever in 2015, the scene is set for something truly spectacular. With rule changes and a new tyre manufacturer supplying the rubber, the natural order of things looks to have been given a mighty mix…

HONDA VFR800X CROSSRUNNER £10,299 THE BIKE Claimed weight 242kg Seat height 835/815mm MPG 42 Servicing to date £120 Mods to date £1043.80 Mileage 7472 THE RIDER Simon Relph, Senior Designer simon.relph@motorcyclenews.com Height 6ft 1in Weight 98kg His riding Forty one years of experience, both onand off-road. Touring as far afield as New Zealand Imagine driving down the motorway in the car with the windscreen wipers on full tilt, barely coping with what’s being hurled at them, the warning light on the dash highlighting the possibility of snow and ice. As the heater blows warm air up your trouser leg and the stereo serenades you with your favourite sounds, a motorcycle goes past you in the fast lane and you immediately think ‘you poor bastard’! Well, that poor bastard happened…

Three decades after breaking out of punk fashion clobber and starting to tailor serious motorcycle kit, BKS are celebrating their 30th anniversary with a pair of new suits. The firm is still in the hands of founder Brian Sansom (add his middle name, Keith, to get the BKS initials), who still measures each customer 30 years after setting up the business on Maggie Thatcher’s Young Enterprise Allowance Scheme. The anniversary made-to-measure suits are designed to showcase the lengths that BKS can go to with a suit that’s made entirely at the UK company’s headquarters in Devon. Both the one-piece and two-piece suits are made from kangaroo hide that’s between 1mm and 1.2mm thick with reinforcements in key areas. It’s double and triple-stitched and meets the highest level of CE approval,…

Aprilia RSV-4 RF V4 | 78mm x 52.3mm Serious development seems to be out, given that Aprilia has officially quit the WSB scene, but the old RSV-4 RF still won races with two different riders in 2015. Riders: Alex De Angelis, Lorenzo Savadori BMW S1000RR Inline four | 80mm x 49.7mm The S1000RR has direct engine and electronic development from BMW in 2016, but it is up to each team to do their chassis and cycle part development. Riders: Josh Brookes, Karel Abraham, Marcus Reiterberger, Jordi Torres Ducati 1199 Panigale R V-twin | 112mm x 60.8mm With more free-flowing exhaust pipes, heavily revised electronics, a subtly different spread of sensors, the Ducati is evolving at pace for 2016. Riders: Chaz Davies, Davide Guigliano, Xavi Fores, Fabio Menghi Honda CBR1000RRSP Inline…

For a team that won the championship in 2011 with Carlos Checa (and a big wodge of Ducati’s official input) each year since has been a bit disappointing. It takes a lot to get a Ducati collector such as team owner Genesio Bevilaqua weaned off his Italian bike habit, but there are good reasons for his switch to BMW. The adoption of a race-winning rider like Jordi Torres, the introduction of the BMW homeboy Markus Reiterberger and the special relationship he will bring, and not least the tech input of one-time Aprilia racing chief Jan Witteveen, makes this a BMW customer sport team with some triple X-factors in their pre-season prospects.…

Last season the 2013 world champion Tom Sykes still won four races and finished third in the championship standings, for many that would have been a good year’s work, but for Sykes having to watch his new team-mate dominate with such ease would have been very difficult to stomach. For 2016, Sykes gets to campaign a bike he has been instrumental in developing and the 30-year-old Brit has been resurgent in pure testing pace. More importantly, he and his crew have been much happier with his race-long pace – an area where he often struggled in 2015. “Straight away, we were a lot more consistent over distance,” said Sykes after first encountering his 2016 machine. So the big question is can Sykes take the fight to Rea and challenge for…

‘The main thing before the start of the season is to fix the engine’LIVIO SUPPO “We’re in a much better situation than we were at Sepang. Phillip Island is a circuit that suits the Honda, but still, the engineers have done a great job in only a few weeks after the Sepang test to learn how to manage it. “The first two days of the test were really set-up days for us, even if the weather wasn’t perfect, because until the electronics are working it’s impossible to learn how to set up the chassis. Both riders were able to find something good right at the end. “At the moment, the riders are trying to work out what they like from the chassis, and are using something a little different. This…

Moto2 rider Alex Marquez has become the latest Marc VDS man to lose valuable pre-season testing time through injury, after crashing at Jerez on Saturday and breaking the triquetral bone in his left wrist. Immediately travelling to Barcelona’s Dexeus Hospital, the specialist team led by Doctor Xavier Mir immediately performed keyhole surgery to install a titanium screw, with the former world champion now in a race against time to be ready for the final tests in Qatar in three weeks. However, the rain-hit test was more successful for Brit Sam Lowes, finishing his second outing on the Gresini Kalex in second, behind Takaaki Nakagami, just outside the pole position record.…

It wasn’t all smiles in the Suzuki camp at Phillip Island, with Aleix Epargaro suffering what he described as “one of the worst tests” of his career as he ended the three days 17th fastest and a second off the pace of his team-mate. The Spaniard was left at a complete loss to explain his lack of confidence with a bike that he admitted was substantially improved. “I have no explanation. This track is very different from many of the rest – very fast and you use almost no front brake, but I couldn’t put any weight on the front at all. “It’s very strange, but I feel fantastic with the bike at the minute, I just have no confidence with the Michelins. I have no feeling on the side…

Triumph Street Twin For the ultimate balance between old-school charm and modern performance, the Street Twin is great value at £85 a month after a £1685 deposit. Kawasaki W800 If you want a classic that feels more authentic, rather than just looking retro, then the W800 is the one for you, at £75.39 a month after an £1850 deposit. Ducati Scrambler Sixty2 If your shopping list is restricted to A2 class bikes, then the new Sixty2 is a perfect option. Yours for a deposit of £1517.58, followed by £79 per month. Yamaha XSR700 It may be an MT-07 beneath, but the XSR feels a whole lot more special. A £1962 deposit and £90 a month secures the keys. Like a great deal? Head to THE MCN GARAGE…

BRANDS HATCH GP This longer 2.6-mile layout of the famous Kent circuit turns Brands into one of the greatest tracks in the world. Noise restrictions mean this layout isn’t used much, so grab the chance to ride it when you can. OULTON PARK One of the trickiest circuits to master in the UK. Littered with blind crests and technical, high-speed corners, Oulton Park is not a track for the faint-hearted, especially when you’re on a big bike. CADWELL PARK Best known for its ‘jump’, Cadwell’s Mountain section isn’t it the most remarkable part of track, it’s how narrow it is. Riding quick around here is like threading a needle and no racetrack gives you such an impression of speed. DONINGTON GP The former home of MotoGP, Donington is smooth, fast,…

Back in the summer of 2013 we tested this actual GSX-R750 against the then new MV Agusta F3 800 and the Ducati Evo Corse SE in a very special test. In glorious conditions we toured the roads of southern Italy, scratched around the Nürburgring-esque Nardo test track and blasted around its eight-mile speed bowl. Not only did the Suzuki cream the test, it also hit an incredible GPS-confirmed 181mph top speed around the bowl. Granted, it took fellow tester Chad seven miles with the throttle against the stop for the GSX-R750 to creep up to that speed, inches from the Armco at the highest point of the bowl, but it did it. Not even the GSX-R1000 is that fast now. The best we see in MCN tests is the mid-170mph…

1990 KAWASAKI KR-1S £750 Emma Franklin, Production Editor emma.franklin@motorcyclenews.com Miles 13,905 Mods Nitron Shock Elbow grease is cracking stuff, it costs nothing but yields tremendous results, especially when it comes to renewing motorcycles. In a previous life my KR-1S had been ‘treated’ to a ‘custom’ paintjob, which meant that many of the parts that should be bare metal as standard were now a subtle shade of black. Time to introduce my old friend Mr Nitromors, the brush-on-wash-off paint remover that’s super-satisfying to use. Fortunately for me, my top yoke and handlebar clamps had been painted black with a poor quality spray paint which meant that the Nitromors started to dissolve the coating back to the original metal beneath with only the slightest agitation. After rinsing, a quick buff with…

1 Unless a suit, jacket, trousers, boots or gloves pass the CE safety test, the manufacturer is not allowed to describe it as protective clothing. 2 Most off-the-peg suit makers don’t submit their products for testing. As a result, MCN understands an easier-to-meet version of the standard is being drafted. 3 BKS have made suits to the existing CE standard since it was published in the 90s. Rivals say the very nature of made-to-measure suits makes them more likely to pass.…

1 NO LOVE-TO-HATE VILLAINS WSB is lacking villains, mercurial maniacs, winners and binners, Foggy v Chili dressing gown dramas. Riders who can lap almost at GP pace are stunning, on what really do start out as road bikes but nobody seems to respect or love them like they did Haga, Bayliss, Foggy, Edwards, etc. 2 LACK OF PROMOTION The old organisers relied too much on media coverage and the spectacle itself. Dorna will need to spend what it earns from WSB on some serious promotion. 3 THE #46 EFFECT Even more than Barry Sheene before him, Valentino is a true global star. People’s mums know who he is. Rossi has been, for nearly 20 years, a gigantic magnet for attention, none of which has therefore focused on WSB. Paradoxically, the…

Ioda Racing are new to the paddock, but not the Aprilia RSV4 machine they will campaign, after their recent MotoGP ART experiences. But both riders, Alex De Angelis and Lorenzo Savadori (the reigning Superstock 1000 FIM Cup champion), are new to the series. De Angelis is an experienced GP runner, who has won in the 250cc GP and Moto2 classes, but is recovering from a host of injuries sustained in a crash at Motegi in 2015 that put him in critical condition. If he’s fit he should be fast enough. Savadori was nothing short of excellent on his Superstock RSV-4 last season, with four wins and seven podiums from eight starts.…

Chaz Davies The man that can Last year not many riders got the better of Rea and his Kawasaki, but Chaz Davies did and will looking to do more of the same in 2016. The Ducati Panigale will have sharper teeth in 2016 thanks to never-ending development work and unconditional backing from the Bologna factory. While Kawasaki will be hard to beat, former World Supersport champ Davies believes he now has the complete package to fight for title glory. Davies said: “By the end of last season we’d stopped Kawasaki’s domination. Now we have a really good base package and we’re no longer having to throw parts at the bike, and this is important.” ‘Everyone is expecting me to take that last step forward’DAVIDE GIUGLIANO Davide Giugliano Fast and dangerous…

If you had to pick a rider that would make a stand-out performance before the Phillip Island test, Suzuki’s Maverick Viñales would be hard to ignore. The young Spaniard recorded the best result of his rookie season at the Australian circuit last year, he loves the track, and is on a GSX-RR that has made giant steps since the end of the season. However, if you’d have also said that 6ft 3in Loris Baz would make his mark on the test – with his pace and not by crashing at 189mph like he did two weeks ago at Sepang - many would have thought that you were crazy. But that’s exactly what the young Frenchman did, along with his Avintia Ducati team-mate Hector Barbera, with the underdog pairing ending the…

‘He’s been able to help me. He has a great passion for motorcycles’VALENTINO ROSSI Valentino Rossi has become arguably the greatest racer of all time by constantly re-inventing himself through his insatiable lust to learn and improve. And with the 2016 season nearly upon us, he was at it again, with the 37-year-old Italian proving he wants to learn new tricks by bringing in former three-time world champion Luca Cadalora into his tight-knit inner circle for last week’s Phillip Island test as spotter and riding coach. It’s an established tactic, and one that is used by his Movistar Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who employs his own former Grand Prix race winner in the form of Wilco Zeelenberg, but it’s nonetheless the first time Rossi has brought someone into the role.…

New tyre providers Michelin were trying to get to the bottom of a mystery quality control issue that affected a number of riders at Phillip Island. The problem manifested itself with a vibration from the rear of the bike as soon as the riders started to push. With many of the grid spooked by Loris Baz’s dramatic high speed crash at Sepang, many quickly aborted fast runs because of the problem. However, after an investigation, the French firm believe the problem was not a quality control issue, but rather a problem caused by transportation or storage, an issue that has affected other manufacturers in the past. Speaking exclusively to MCN, Piero Taramasso, manager of Michelin’s two-wheel motorsport activities, says that they now have to determine exactly what went wrong in…