Naked Bikes

Street Triple ‘R’ announced with Daytona-spec brakes and suspension

July 22nd, 2008

Although Triumph’s 675cc Street Triple has already laid waste to everything it’s been tested against in the middleweight naked category - and indeed, a lot of larger bikes - Triumph has announced it will be joined by an up-spec ‘R’ version for 2009 that promises a harder performance edge.

It’s a simple and logical upgrade for the Striple, incorporating the thicker, fully-adjustable USD forks and excellent rear monoshock from the donor Daytona 675, as well as the 4-piston brake calipers, radial master cylinder and larger discs that give the Daytona its stopping power. The seat’s a bit higher and the handlebars are spiffy Magura units - and those are about the only differences. The engine is left untouched.

There has been very few complaints about the brakes and suspension on the standard Striple, so you’d have to assume the main benefit of the R upgrade is the ability to fiddle with the settings - a great addition if you know what you’re doing, but also a huge invitation for novice tweakers to completely ruin the ride quality of their bikes by turning all the dials to 11 in search of fully sick race bike handling. (more…)

How to fix the snatchy throttle response on your Yamaha FZ-1

February 27th, 2008

Several FZ1 owners I’ve spoken to have complained about a nasty fuel injection snatch on the transition from a closed throttle to a slightly open one. Coming into a corner, for example, they might be leaned right over and go to get back on the gas, but they’re finding it impossible to get the throttle open without a big jerky power spike to the rear wheel. Annoying and dangerous - but fixable. (more…)

MV releases top-of-the-range Brutale 1078 and F4 312 RR

February 19th, 2008

MV has beefed up its top-of-the-range sports and naked bikes for 2008 with a new Brutale 1078 that features a detuned version of the F4 312 engine, and an RR version of the 312 that leaves us wondering exactly where the 312 was deemed lacking.

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Streetfightering the streetfighter: MV Bestiale to go into production

February 14th, 2008

The stock MV Agusta Brutale 910 is a very pretty thing indeed, every detail has been designed with love and care to be as attractive as it is functional. But there’s something a little prissy about it; it demands to be polished and adored more than ridden, which is possibly why French designer Yacouba Galle decided to reinvent the 910 as a balls-out streetfighter with serious head-kicking attitude to match the bike’s ferocious performance.

His creation, the Bestiale, is dripping with aggressive styling cues from the streetfighter scene; a wickedly angled R6-inspired tailpiece, super-stubby exhaust and a snub-nosed diode headlight unit. The tank bodywork jags down, matching the angle of the cylinders and the tailpiece, and the sides meet underneath in a bellypan/radiator shroud.

If it looks a bit like a Superduke, that’s not surprising. Jacouba spent a lot of time with KTM’s groundbreaking brawler while he was shooting the promo video I’ve been going on about lately. (more…)

A quick look at Voxan’s French V-twin range and the Starck Super Naked concept

February 13th, 2008

French manufacturer Voxan has a stable full of nice 1000cc V-twins that we don’t get to see a lot of in other parts of the world. The Voxan rage was looking very delectable at the Paris bike show, so we thought we’d run a quick overview of the current range and a couple of upcoming and custom bikes like the Starck Super Naked above to show you what you’re missing out on if Voxan’s not sold in your area.

At the heart of most of the range is Voxan’s own 998cc, 72-degree liquid-cooled V-twin, fed by Magnetti Marelli injection. France imposes a frankly disgraceful 100-horsepower limit on all roadbikes, so that’s what the French retail versions of all Voxan bikes put out. Certainly the engine is capable of plenty more, and I’d imagine there’s a thriving derestriction industry ready to juice them up fresh from the showroom.

First up, there’s the Black Classic about, with lines not dissimilar to Ducati’s 1000 Sport: (more…)

Buell announces new long distance tourer: the XB12XT

January 31st, 2008

   Seems the Suzuki Bandit 1250 isn’t the only hoon strapping on saddlebags in the name of practicality; Buell’s Ulysses adventure tourer has been reinterpreted as a long-distance ride with shorter travel suspension, a lower seat height, a goofy windscreen and a whopping big set of luggage. Meet the XB12XT. 

The Ulysses’ semi-dirt tyres have been replaced by Pirelli Diablo Strada tourers, and the XT even has a set of heated grips. Good, sensible fun… I guess. US RRP is $12,995. 

More pics after the jump. Oh, and for those that like to read about the man behind the bike, here’s an L.A. Times interview with Erik Buell about his rock ‘n’ roll band, the Thunderbolts.  

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Moto Morini 1200 Sport and Scrambler push all the retro buttons

January 31st, 2008

 Perhaps inspired by the wave of glowing nostalgia that greeted Ducati’s SportClassic and Triumph’s Scrambler, re-animated Italian brand Moto Morini have tweaked their 1200cc ‘9½’ v-twin roadster into two retro editions, the 1200 Sport and the Scrambler.

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Suzuki’s wild child grows up: The Bandit 1250 Grand Touring

January 15th, 2008

There was a time, and it wasn’t all that long ago, when if you wanted to be a tyre-shredding, wheelie-popping, society-menacing hooligan, the Suzuki Bandit 1200 was the pick of the showroom. Cheap, hardy, and chock full of stump-pulling grunt, the Bandit gave many punters their first taste of air underneath the front wheel.

Well, just like Henry Rollins has given up punk-rock brawling and started doing speaking tours and TV shows, Suzuki’s big bad bandit 1250 has just been released as a sensible mile muncher. It’s a bit odd to see a full set of panniers and a top box on a Bandit, let alone the Garmin Zuno sat-nav system hanging off the handlebars, but that’s what you’ll get for the extra UK£1000 you pay for the Bandit 1250 Grand Touring. The GT also features a bellypan, which looks nice but is hardly what you’d call an imperative touring addition.

It’ll still have great gobs of power, and probably no shortage of attitude in the right hands - and it’ll likely be as easy and bulletproof to ride and own as the Banditos of old - but to me, “Bandit” and “Touring” go together like “Goldwing” and “Racing.” Oh wait, they’re doing that too…

Pic of the GT’s bar-mounted sat nav after the jump.

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150kg, 150 horsepower: Hillbilly’s Chronos celebrates 25 years of Buell innovation

January 10th, 2008

Erik Buell built his first bike 25 years ago, a racebike for the AMA Formula One championship. Through his relationship with Harley-Davidson, he mass-produced the first true American sportsbike, and his machines have become known for their imaginative and inventive use of technology.

In a market that has become highly conservative under the dominance of the Japanese manufacturers, Buell’s use of the frame as the fuel tank and the swingarm as the oil reservoir, his rim-mounted front disc brakes, underslung exhausts and incredibly sharp handling mass-centralised bikes make this company stand out as a breath of fresh air, even if until recently the bikes have relied on vastly outdated Harley engines in order to maintain their apple-pie American angle.

Scandinavia’s Hillbilly motors built this custom racebike, the XBRR Chronos, as a tribute to Buell’s 25 years of innovation. No stranger to custom racing Buells (check out his outrageous Hellbender), Hillbilly’s owner Jens Krüper has pulled a 150kg, 150 horsepower rabbit out of his hat with the Chronos - a power to weight ratio the equal of the latest japanese litrebikes, and featuring some stunning innovations of his own in his quest for performance and pinpoint handling…

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LSL shows Kawasaki how the ER-6n SHOULD look

December 20th, 2007

Just last weekend, I had my first ride of a friend’s stock Kawasaki ER-6n, and it confirmed my high expectations from this cheap naked hooligan bike. The new-generation 650cc parallel twin engine is everything you’d want around town and more - and it’s very handy around a racetrack as well, I’m reliably informed. Handling-wise it was fantastic (at least around town), and the rear shock is so accessible that we replaced it and the exhaust with aftermarket jobbies in the space of about 75 minutes - so it’s an exceptionally easy bike to work on.

You’d have to say, though, that it’s one of the uglier bikes out there - Kawasaki have tried so hard to be different with the ER-6n’s blobby samurai look that I reckon they’ve overstepped the mark. Which was why I was so excited to find LSL’s ER6 showbike, with all the bulbous plastic yanked off the front and sides and a much more minimal look that to me says “essence of motorcycle.”

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