Fast Bikes March 2018

TOP 7 USSED YLE T S S E IK B T S A F 8 1 20

NAKEDS

MARCH 2018 ISSUE 337

4etta

VeWnDUd CATI NE

LE PANIGAU LE SET TO R

YAMAHA MT-09 SP:

KING OF BLING

KITTED STREET NAKED FOR THE MASSES PLUS: THE VIRTUES OF V4 ELECTRIC BIKES ON TRACK MICHELIN TALKS MOTOGP PANIGALE MODELS EXPLORED SUZUKI GSX-R1000 K5 BUYER’S GUIDE & MUCH MORE

ISSUE 337 MARCH 2018

GET IT FIRST!

Subscribe .........................................8 You get the mag first, at a bargain price, straight through your letterbox.

You know it makes sense!

GEARED UP!

Products.......................................... 14 All the best gear you could ever want!

IT’S THE NEWS!

Upfront............................................ 10 The juiciest goss of 2018!

THE KNOWLEDGE

18

Used Buyer’s Guide......................... 70 Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 K5 is a timeless bargain!

MASTERCLASS

Riding .............................................. 76

OUR TAKE ON ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING RELEASES OF 2018...

Focusing on vanishing points.

Legal ................................................ 79 When the family stop you riding...

Track Attack....................................88 Everything you need to know to nail tracks!

Cadwell Park is first up…

Know Your Oil .................................92 The ingredients that keeps your engine alive!

LAUNCHES

TESTS

The one we’ve all been waiting for, but is it the new king of sportsbikes?

Is it really the future of motorcycling? We track test the Energico Ego to find out!

Ducati Panigale V4 ........................ 18

Yamaha MT-09 SP ......................... 36 Taking Yamaha’s glitzy SP to the limit!

YOUR LIFE ON BIKES

Chatter ............................................80

Our pick of the best used nakeds out there.

OUR LIFE ON BIKES

Project Gixer ..................................84

Flog your bike for more................ 44

It’s been a manic month for the big thou’!

Want more dosh from your bike? Step right this way.

Staff Bikes.......................................94 Our termers get some post-winter love!

62

•

Yamaha R6 • Suzuki GSX-R1000R

RACE SECTION

Pit Pass............................................98 All the best news from the paddock!

56

Better your braking ...................... 50 ELECTRIC BIKES... WE FIND OUT THE SHOCKING TRUTH! TRIUMPH’S G

COLUMNISTS

Neave twins ...................................111 Season prep for the Neave twins!

Gary Johnson ................................ 112 Nailing slopes and falling down cellars...

Chaz Davies .................................. 113 Chaz is on cloud nine!

Steve Parrish................................. 114 Parrish goes behind the scenes of 2018!

SU

GEAR

FASTBIKESMAG.COM

All you need to know before picking up a Panigale!

Best Used Nakeds......................... 42

All of your adventures!

BUY

Panigale Buyer’s Guide ................. 28

The V4 may be the future, so we look back at its history!

You & Yours.....................................82

Aprilia RSV4RF • KTM EXC 250

FEATURES

V4s – the very best of! ................. 32

It’s only fair we give the best readers in the world a couple of pages of their own!

•

Electric track action...................... 62

CRIBE S B See page 8 for details

We get under the skin of stopping!

WELCOME

The future’s now

I

t’s crazy to think how advanced today’s technology is, and it’s bloody exciting to look ahead and imagine what’ll be coming our way next. I’m writing this having just got back from Ducati’s Panigale V4 launch where my eyes were well and truly opened to the virtues of a ‘next generation’ sportsbike. Sounds cheesy, doesn’t it, but the truth is the V4’s raised the goalposts and that means others will soon have to follow. Good news, right? Surely, it has to be. We all want the latest and greatest, even though we might not quite know what that is yet.

Ten years ago I was racing Superstock on a ZX-10R. It was about as fast as fast could get, with all of 180bhp at the rear wheel. Okay, so it was about as good at handling as politicians are with finances, but the thing did shift in a straight line.

Well, at least when compared to the bikes kicking around back then. But a decade on and those kind of figures, at least in BSB Superstock trim, are to be sniggered at. In the past few years alone we’ve seen loads of bikes breach the magic 200bhp once they’ve had a bit of dyno work and a race pipe shoved down their gobs. But Ducati’s V4 offers you a Euro 4 street legal package with over 200bhp at the rear wheel, genuinely, as proven by Moto Rapido who spoke to us about the new model for this issue’s V4 report.

Just give me a second to get my head around that. Of course, it’s not all about power. The V4’s brimming with the most sophisticated tech on the market, which can allow you to take that 200+ animal and mould it into whatever you want it to be. Well, within reason. Again, ten years ago such advanced features were exclusively for the likes of GP gods, but nowadays they’re everywhere, including on street nakeds like the new MT-09 SP Boothy’s just put through its paces. But of course, there is a downside to everything, and in this instance it’s cost. With both the aforementioned bikes I’d say you get what you pay for, including the MotoGP soundtrack in the V4’s case, but I’d probably need to sell a kidney for the Ducati. But hey, we all need something to aspire to, and in the meantime there are loads of awesome used bikes on the market, including the seven great nakeds we’ve clocked this month. If you’re after an affordable weapon to make 2018 a corker, check these out. Summer can’t come soon enough.

18

Ducati’s set to make a splash...

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, NEW S & REVIEW S PLA NET FAST BIKES – NEW ME TAL It's okay to drool...

2018 APRILIA RSV4 RR TO HIT THE SHOWROOMS THIS MONTH! As you read this, the 2018 Aprilia RSV4 RR will be hitting UK showrooms for the first time, alongside the full fat 2018 RSV4 RF. The RSV4 RR comes in at £15,599 and features the exact same 201bhp V4 engine, adjustable frame and aPRC electronics package as you’d find on the RF, although you don’t get the same graphics set, it comes on Sachs suspension instead of Ohlins, and you’ll find yourself on cast wheels instead of forged.

All of this being said, you’ll be happy to hear that these little economies save you a whopping £4,400 over the RF and you still have pretty much all the bells and whistles, which even includes having a Pit Limiter, Launch Control and cruise control.

If you fancy it, a range of PCP and HP finance options are available for pretty much any package at www.apriliabikefinance.co.uk, and retailers can be found at www.piaggiogroup.co.uk

DUCATI UK JOINS THE UK AUTOMOTIVE 30% CLUB

Ducati UK MD Tim Maccabee.

You’ve probably never heard of it before but Ducati UK, alongside the other VW Group brands such as Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda and Bentley, have just joined the UK Automotive 30% Club, which aims to achieve a better gender balance within the automotive industry.

Managing director Tim Maccabee at Ducati UK is actually the first leader of the motorcycle industry to become a member of the club, which has the aim of filling at least 30% of key leadership positions with women by the year 2030.

He said: “Ducati UK is delighted to join the Automotive 30% Club. While many organisations within the Motorcycle sector, including Ducati, have a gender balanced workforce, the motorcycle market is under-represented in terms of the female customer base. By joining the Automotive 30% Club we demonstrate our continuing commitment to gender equality within the company and signal our support to the opportunities within the motorcycle industry.”

WHAT’S ON IN FEBRUARY? 2nd-4th February – Northern Ireland Motorcycle Festival (Lisburn) 4th February – Bike Day at the Ace Café (London) 10th February – Arenacross Round 5 (Sheffield) 10th-11th February – Welsh Dragon Motorcycle Rally (Wales) 11th February – Bike Day at the Ace Café (London) 16th-18th February – The London Motorcycle Show (London)

10 MARCH 2018 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM

17th February – Arenacross Round 6 (London) 18th February – Bike Day at the Ace Café (London) 17th-18th February – Classic Dirt Bike Show (Shropshire) 18th February – Huddersfield Autojumble (Huddersfield) First track days of the year!

Mallory Park – 10th February Brands Hatch – 17th February Cadwell Park – 18th February Oulton Park – 21st February

, NEW S & REV IEW S PLA NET FAST BIKES – NEW ME TAL

BUILD YOUR OWN FINANCE DEAL WITH SUZUKI THIS YEAR Low on the dosh but fancy a new bike for summer? Well thankfully for you Suzuki has put together a brand new finance offer, which will allow you to tailor a bespoke deal to suit your needs. Available on a host of models in the 2018 line-up (yes, it includes the GSX-R1000!), you’ll be able to choose between a 2% APR agreement, 3% APR over three years or 4% over four years. You also get to choose between a PCP agreement or opt for a hire purchase deal as well.

An example of the new offer means that the GSX-R1000 can be had on a four-year PCP deal for £119 per month, with a £3,161.62 deposit or trade-in. Over the same period of years, as part of a PCP deal with a £2,311.87 deposit, the V-Strom 1000 can be enjoyed for just £89 per month. If you’re into that sort of thing…

For customers preferring a hire purchase deal, the V-Strom 650 can be ridden away for £169 per month over three years, with a £1,724.11 deposit, or the GSX-R750-powered GSX-S750 can be owned for £195 per month over the same period, with a £1,129.52 deposit. Bargain!

Tempted?

You should be!

SALES BOOMING FOR DUCATI

With 55,871 bikes delivered to customers worldwide, Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding has reason to be happy after “Another positive year for Ducati from both a business and racing standpoint”.

The biggest sales boom was in Argentina with a stunning growth rate of 66%, followed by China with 31% growth. The upward trend was also evident in Europe, where Ducati increased bike deliveries by 4% to a total of 31,123. The Italian brand grew on the Spanish market where sales rose by a considerable 28.3%, while Ducati chalked up a 12% growth rate with 8,806 bikes delivered in Italy.

Over in our neck of the woods, Ducati UK didn’t have a bad time either with an increase in registrations last year compared to 2016, which in turn meant posting its second best year of registrations in its history. Out of the lot, the Multistrada was the top-selling family in the range, with the Scrambler and Monster coming in second and third – unfortunately no Panigale was in sight…

This positive end to 2017 is great news for us, as it allows Ducati to look to the future with confidence – especially with all the talk of Ducati being sold throughout last year. With a whole host of new models (including the V4) on the way even as we speak, we can only imagine this year will be just as successful…

FOGGY MAKES HIS SPEEDWAY RETURN! King of the jungle and World Superbike legend Carl Fogarty has finally made his return to Speedway, after having a big crash back at DirtQuake last July and suffering a broken shoulder blade, broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Hitting a wet Buxton Hitmen Speedway in Derbyshire last month on a standard Triumph Street Scrambler, Foggy got some laps under his belt and looked to be back to his usual self and having fun. He said “This I what I love about flat tracking. I can bring my own bike down here, even with road tyres on a wet muddy day, have some fun and chuck it back in the van.”

He may not be jumping back on a Superbike like Troy Bayliss is in Australia, but nevertheless we’re just happy to see him back out on a bike!

Happy Italians!

Looks a bit ‘Foggy’ there.

12 MARCH 2018 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM