INDIAN RETURNS TO BONNEVILLE SALT

BEAUTIFUL EDGE
G R A N D C A N YO N N O RTH R I M A D V E NT U R E

K TM 1090
ADV R

HONDA AFRICA
T WIN DC T

+
SUPERBIKES
SUZUKI
GSX-R1000R VS. NOVEMBER 2017
CYCLEWORLD.COM
YAMAHA YZF-R1
 >> All that’s missing is you, your bike and GEICO Motorcycle insurance.

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 NOVEMBER
2017

24. 32. 35. 44.

ADVENTURE TREK
Traveling to the North Rim of the
Grand Canyon aboard the Honda
Africa Twin and KTM 1090 Adven-
ture R leaves the daily bustle in
the dust.
By Zach Bowman
SPOKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS
Why do some bikes have wire-
spoke wheels while others have
cast wheels? We cast light on the
subject and discuss the merits of
each design.
By Mark Lindemann
TEN BEST BIKES 2017
Bikes get better and better. It
makes the job of finding the best
harder but also more fun. From
road to dirt to racetrack, we ride
them all in the search of Ten Best.
By CW staff
THE R FACTOR
Suzuki GSX-R1000R vs. Yamaha
YZF-R1 in a road and track match-
up pitting Suzuki’s flagship sport-
bike against the winner of our
2017 Superbike Comparison.
By Don Canet

IGNITION COLUMNS DEPARTMENTS

12. FIRST RIDE: 2018 BMW K1600B 8. UP FRONT 10. INTAKE
A Bavarian bagger raises the bar and restyles the rear By Mark Hoyer 66. SERVICE
for a fresh take on the familiar K1600 inline-six-powered 21. BIKE LIFE 68. SHOWCASE
platform By Peter Jones
70. SLIPSTREAM
16. FIRST RIDE: 2018 Suzuki GSX-S750 22. TDC
Suzuki’s modern naked gets redressed, reformed, refined, By Kevin Cameron
and a new lease on life in the public eye
R A C E WAT C H
18. NEW PRODUCTS: Peak product picks Visit cycleworld.com
52. MUNRO INDIAN every day for a fun mix
ON THE COVER: 20. RIDE CRAFT: Smooth control input defined LANDSPEEDER of two-wheeled news,
Grand Canyon adventure. features, and videos!
Photo by Jeff Allen Commemorating Munro
By Kevin Cameron

Online: cycleworld.com | Twitter: @cycleworldmag | Facebook: facebook.com/cycleworld | Instagram: @cycleworld

CYCLEWORLD.COM 5
 CYCLEWORLD.COM

EDITOR–IN–CHIEF MARK HOYER

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 UP FRONT EDITOR’S LET TER
THE TEN
REST
OTHER NOTABLES
N
ot every bike has a Ten Best
category, but, as ever, there are
bikes that just need to be rec-
ognized for other outstanding
reasons. So here’s the Ten Rest of 2017.
B E ST FA ST E S T B I GG E S T :
S U Z U K I G S X-1 3 0 0 R H AYA B U S A
The 20th anniversary of big ’Busa is coming.
The 1998 press event for this ’99 model is
legendary for a day spent shredding Circuit
de Catalunya in Spain, followed by a day of
“street touring” on highways…at 185-plus
mph! One of the greatest bikes of all time.
B E ST B I K E S W E C A N ’ T CO M PA R E :
D U C AT I S
Ducati USA decided this year it wouldn’t
supply testbikes for use in comparative eval-
uation, so when we asked for the sublime
Scrambler Desert Sled or Monster 1200 S,
for example, the company declined. We help
readers understand relative merits of motor-
cycles primarily through comparisons, so if
you don’t show up for Ten Best testing, you
can’t win a Ten Best award.
BEST ABUSED CLUTCH:
YA M A H A Y Z 2 5 0 F X
A levitation-capable chassis mates with an
engine that feels like you put a handle on
dynamite. So fun, agile, and explosive, yet
totally controllable. Genius on knobbies.
B E S T “ V I N TAG E ” S P O R T B I K E :
T R I U M P H T H RU X T O N R
There’s a lot more café than racer in this seg-
ment. The Triumph Thruxton R is an excep-
tion. It’s a fully sorted sportbike with a retro
look and vintage feel but with high perfor-
mance and fine components.
B E ST R E A L LY N O T A
M I D D L E W E I G H T : K AWA S A K I Z 9 0 0
The Z900 shined in testing, topping other
bikes in the affordable naked class. Its 948cc
8 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
inline-four is too big even for our “big” Best
Middleweight category (limit is 899cc). As a
sporty daily rider, it’s a joy.
B E ST W O R S T WAY T O T R AV E L F O R
3 2 H O U R S N O N S T O P : U R A L G E A R- U P
“The Unnecessary Express” was truly one of
the great traveling experiences of my life—
and I did it driving a van. You see, sidecars
are so much fun you don’t even have to be
riding one to have a great time. THIS
MONTH’S
BE ST NO T-A-SIDEC A R T O DR I V E FOR S TAT S
32 HOUR S: MERCEDES SPRINTER VA N
42
Range, comfort, good handling, and enough
space for lots of people and even more gear,
the Sprinter van we used to chase the Ural
mentioned above was virtually flawless. All
this and 26 mpg over a 1,400-mile trip. TIMES CW HAS DONE
TEN BEST BIKES
BEST CHE A P ADV E NTUR ER :
SUZUKI V-STROM 650
There are bargains in the adventure bike
class, and the V-Strom 650 is one of the
sweetest. In fact, we’re currently outfitting
one with a few choice accessories and head-
ten
MORE MPH INDIAN
ing for Death Valley and Panamint to explore. WANTS TO SQUEEZE
OUT OF THE SPIRIT
OF MUNRO
BE ST S M A LL R A LLY BIKE :
HONDA CR F250L R A LLY
Okay, so you won’t be dominating the Dakar
Rally, but Honda’s CRF250L Rally adds func-
tional bodywork with a tall windscreen and
longer-travel suspension to its standard 250
and hits a chord.
JEFF ALLEN
BE ST WAY T O GE T A CH A RGE OUT OF
R IDING : A LTA R E DSHIF T M X
You wouldn’t expect a San Francisco startup
to build the best electric moto bike you can
buy. And you wouldn’t expect it to compete
with gasoline 250s. But this is a fully legit
dirt bike that happens to be electric.
3
LENGTH IN INCHES THE
DRYWALL SCREW WAS
MARK HOYER THAT TEMPORARILY
LET THE AIR OUT OF
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OUR GRAND CANYON
ADVENTURE
 ISLE OF MAN DREAMS  YAY TWO-STROKES  STILL TIPSY
TT TRACKSIDE OPINION
You caught the essence and character of
what is the most challenging roadrace
in the world better than anything I have
previously read (Race Watch, Sept.).
I experienced the TT as the race me-
chanic for English rider Rod Gould in
the 1968, 1969, and 1970 races. For the
1968 Grand Prix races we were spon-
sored by Cycle World magazine, and at
the TT we finished in fourth place in
the 250cc race behind the works Ya-
mahas and MZ. I have the fourth-place
Silver Winged Mercury that Rod gave
me on display at my home.
A special honor of the 1968 race
was Rod and I having lunch with Joe
Parkhurst, Ivan Wager, and Isle of Man
legend Geoff Duke. A fuel issue kept
us from finishing the 1969 race, but in
1970, now as the factory Yamaha team,
Rod finished in second place behind Kel
Carruthers in the 250cc class. I was for-
tunate to be invited to attend the 100th
anniversary of the TT race in 2007 and
watch John McGuinness be the first
rider to exceed a 130-mph lap.
If you are a lover of real motorcycle
roadracing, you owe it to yourself to
visit the Isle of Man at least once in
your life and experience by riding or
10 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
KICKSTART THE CONVERSATION
I’ve been an avid follower
of the Isle of Man TT races
for several years, have read
innumerable articles and
recaps about each season, and
watched every TT video I’ve
come across. But I’ve never
read an article that puts it all
into perspective as well as
Mark Hoyer did. Gee, wonder
how he got to be editor?
TOM DIXON
MILWAUKEE, WI
driving around the course what a chal-
lenge this unique race is. Experiencing
the excitement and action of the Isle of
Man and the TT races is an experience
not to be missed.
RANDY HALL
CYCLEWORLD.COM
NEVER LIKED YOU EITHER
Hey, Mark, I have been a subscriber to
your magazine on and off for 20 years.
Never liked you but you have ToTally
changed my mind with your Isle of
Man TT article. You ToTally deserve to
be at the helm, and please continue pub-
lishing one of my favorite magazines.
CAPT. JOE BAIRIAN
NEWPORT BEACH, CA
We ToTally see what you did there.
STROKE OF GENIUS
I sure hope KTM is successful in bring-
ing back the two-stroke. However, I
think they are missing the mark a little.
A 250cc dirt bike would be fun, but a
147-hp two-stroke triple “Streetfighter”
would be just right. Now if I still have a
half bottle of Klotz bean oil?
TOM MIX
CYCLEWORLD.COM
SHY PEE?
Thanks for the Peter Jones article on
balance. I’ve had that issue for the 37
years I’ve been riding, and discovering
that others have the problem—espe-
cially someone with your level of exper-
tise—was as consoling as finding out
there are others with shy pee! The issue
surely hasn’t gotten any better since
I’ve gotten older, and I’ve had to gradu-
ally go to smaller and lighter bikes.
Still, it’s important to keep riding, and
if I have to put my feet down, I just do
it and suppress the shame. But misery
loves company.
RUS CALISCH
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA
THE INSURANCE QUESTION
I hear a lot about the decline of sport-
bike sales. One factor I never hear
talked about is cost of insurance. That
is what keeps me away from the Ducati
Panigale 959. I am a late-30s male with
20 years of car driving experience and
two years riding experience with no
at-fault accidents. I was quoted by two
insurance companies about $4,300 per
year for a sportbike. The idea of spend-
ing one-third of the cost of a bike a year
to just insure it steers me in the direc-
tion of other types of bikes. Naked bikes
have almost or the same power and
riding experience as sportbikes. A liter
naked bike is only $1,400 per year to
insure. So the sale of the Panigale isn't
in the picture but a Monster 1200 S is.
Just my thoughts from a new rider with
many future possible bike purchases.
LINO FERREIRA
LINCOLN, CA
Lino, shhhh, keep it down about naked bikes,
man…
IOMTT.COM
Comments? Suggestions? Criticisms?
Write us at intake@cycleworld.com.
 BAVARIAN BAGGER  SUZUKI GSX-S750 2.0  SMOOTH OPERATOR  CYCLE SHED TALE

12 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

 

3 1

BY THE NUMBERS
SIX-GUN:
BMW’s acclaimed tourer/
sport-tourer K1600 platform
raises the performance bar in Available itera- Total number of available
the muscle bagger arena. tions of the K1600 color options for BMW’s Black
inline-six-powered Storm Metallic bag-laden
machine. beauty.

C W FIRST RIDE

2018 BMW K1600B

The Bavarians have gone baggers By Peter Jones

B
MW has officially entered the bagger market
with its new K1600B. BMW said it prefers the
B to be considered on its own merits as a new
model, rather than as a reworked K1600GT/GTL.
In my estimation this B is exactly like those
models from the seat forward, including every-
thing. Well, okay, except for the chopped wind-
screen and tubular handlebars. That’s about 87
percent of the motorcycle that’s unchanged.
Unique to the K1600B from the rider’s seat back: The rear
bodywork has a new “bagger profile” and the rear framework
is lowered, providing for the passenger seat to be dropped 2.8
inches; two big, long mufflers with cats inside of them; and a
set of permanently mounted 37-liter hard bags with built-in
taillights and power cords. Lowering the rear subframe results
in 0.4 inch less suspension travel.
How does one compare bagger V-twins to the B’s 1,649cc
six-cylinder engine that pumps out a claimed 160 hp and
129 pound-feet of torque, is 21.9 inches wide, and has a 12.2:1
compression ratio? The B, at a claimed 741 pounds wet, was
designed to have best-in-class performance, technology, and
styling, and although it’s a fair bet it outshines other baggers
with the first two, it’s eclipsed by tradition on that last one.
The K1600B has an
MSRP of $19,995, which
includes nifty standard
features such as ride by
wire and three power
modes: Rain, Road, and
Dynamic. Different from
many bikes, the trac-
tion control cannot be
individually adjusted,
though there are com-
plicated instructions to
turn off traction control.
An informative, 5.7-
inch TFT display makes
for a great interface

CYCLEWORLD.COM 13
 IGNITION FIRST RIDE
to control the bike’s many features.
Standard heated seats and grips, cruise
control, a power windscreen, and ABS
Pro with cornering optimization are also
excellent additions.
Not having ever ridden the K1600GT/
GTL makes comparing the experience of
piloting the B with those models unten-
able. But the first thing one might notice
about the K1600B is likely the same
as with those: It’s big. Case in point,
bikes do not come with a reverse option
unless they are big. Just push the button
and back the machine goes at 1 mph.
When going forward with an open
road ahead, great enjoyment comes from
wicking open that honking six into its
powerband at around 5,000 rpm, and
it quickly tops out at 8,500 rpm. Big B
could stand for Big Bike and Big Power.
Yet at lower revs it’s calm and tractable.
Nothing is smoother than an inline-six.
Despite the K1600B’s considerable wet
weight—not counting my wet weight—it
was comfortably capable on the tight
mountain roads we encountered on the
South Carolina-based press launch. I
tended to use second or third gear, which
kept me in the sweet part of the power-
band exiting turns and able to often use
engine-braking alone on entering them.
The rear suspension of the K1600B
matched my riding style better at two-
up preload than at the solo-rider preload
2018 BMW K1600B
E N GIN E T Y P E DISPL ACE M E NT SE AT HE IG HT FU EL C APACIT Y
Liquid-cooled inline-six 1649cc 30.7 in. 7.0 gal.
14 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
setting. Possibly, the slight weight shift
and geometry change to increased rear
ride height might have contributed to
that. In either setting—Road or Cruise—
and preload, the Dynamic ESA seemed
as though it could use a bit more damp-
ing. According to BMW, the ESA Road
mode is for fully automated damping,
while Cruise mode is for gentle damp-
ing. Either Dynamic ESA settings can be
used in any ride modes.
The Gearshift Assist Pro for clutchless
up- and downshifts works predictably if
used properly. It’s not really meant to be
a semiautomatic but works well if you
upshift under significant acceleration
and downshift with throttle fully closed.
I often found myself standing while
riding, and it wasn’t just to get maxi-
mum airflow during our intense heat
and humidity. I don’t have much of a
butt, but for a touring bagger I found
this seat surprisingly unforgiving.
The engine throttle response on this
ride-by-wire system feels quirky in its
slight delay, as it did on the very first
K1600GT and GTL models as reported
by CW staffers. Couple this with a
beautifully quick-revving engine and
a clutch that fully engages only near
the end of its travel, and it caused me
a bit of embarrassing over-revving on
some launches. The CW staff says it
grew accustomed to the long-term 2012
K1600GTL and was not embarrassed.
Overall, comparing it culturally to
classic baggers, as stated up front, is up
to you. In comparing its sporting perfor-
mance and technology, despite its faults,
the K1600B is untouchable in this class.
It goes like hell, corners like a pro, and
has lots of pleasurable gizmos.
But considered on its own, BMW’s
K1600B should be much more; it just
doesn’t feel sorted out like the S1000R
and R1200RS that I last rode. Nonethe-
less, its color has true bagger appeal:
Black Storm Metallic.
CL AIMED WEIGHT BAS E P RICE
741 lb. (wet) $19,995
 Long Beach, Ca New York, NY Minneapolis, MN
November 17-19, 2017 December 1-3, 2017 December 8-10, 2017

cleveland, oh DALLAS, TX chicago, IL Washington, D.C.

January 26-28, 2018 February 2-4, 2018 February 9-11, 2018 February 23-25, 2018

Participating manufacturers vary at each show and are subject to change.

 IGNITION FIRST RIDE
C W FIRST RIDE
2018 SUZUKI GSX-S750
Middleweight naked charged with decent exposure By Don Canet
S
uzuki introduced
its GSX-S750 to
the US market in
2015 and although
new to our shores
the middleweight
sport naked had seen no
significant change since its
2011 European debut. And
while the GSX-S possesses a
degree of GSX-R DNA, it is
not by any means (or intent)
a high-bar GSX-R stripped
of plastic. The performance
disparity between Suzuki’s S
and R platforms left wishful
enthusiasts who hoped for
a genuine Gixxer naked
wanting more.
A host of revisions applied
16 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
to the 2018 GSX-S750 aims to
close that gap while retain-
ing the performance value
this platform has offered
all along. New styling akin
to its larger 1,000cc sibling,
along with powertrain, elec-
tronic, and chassis improve-
ments are front and center,
but perhaps the most signifi-
cant update to the GSX-S750
is now for the first time it’s
50-state legal and can be sold
in California.
We recently got a first
hands-on taste of the new
GSX-S750 when Cycle World
Assistant Editor Will Steen-
rod attended a Suzuki press
ride along the Pacific Coast
Highway in Southern Cali-
fornia. Cost of ownership
aside, relative comfort is a
sport standard’s strongest
appeal when compared to a
supersport counterpart.
“Ergos are very comfy,
even for my large frame,”
6-foot-2 Steenrod reports.
“Legroom is pretty ample as
sportbikes go, while upper-
body ergos are a smidgen on
the aggressive side as you’d
expect. The new taper-style
bar is nice and wide, making
directional changes easy,
and even though the seat is
shaped for sport riding, not
comfort, it’s soft enough for
daily use.”
While this appealing
aspect of the GSX-S750
hasn’t changed, updates to
the 2k5 GSX-R-based engine
equate to a claimed 8-hp
increase over its predeces-
sor. Accounting for this
are newly added crankcase
ventilation holes for reduced
pumping loss, a larger-
volume airbox, new 10-hole
fuel injectors, and a revised
4-2-1 exhaust featuring a
freer-flowing catalyzer.
Suzuki’s Easy Start Sys-
tem that premiered on the
GSX-S1000 is now included
on the S750, allowing one-
touch auto-start that doesn’t
require the clutch to be
 FIRST RIDE IGNITION

disengaged when the bike bite, simply positioning the

is in neutral. It also gets the
Suzuki Low RPM Assist
feature that increases idle
speed by a few hundred revs
as the clutch is engaged with
the bike in gear. This clever
rider aid reduces the chance
of stalls when leaving a stop
and proved effective when
we deliberately botched
throttle/clutch coordination.
Now hooked up with the
times, the new GSX-S750
includes traction control,
offering three levels of sen-
sitivity that can be changed
on the fly via a mode button
and rocker located on the left
grip. The system can also be
switched off (for unadulter-
ated wheelie action) without
coming to a stop, and your
selected setting is retained
for the next ride. We found
TC Level 3 kept a tight rein
on horseplay, while the other
two modes allow the GSX-S
to put its linear spread of
power to pavement with
vigor while having your back.
Although our testbike was
non-ABS, antilock brakes
are a defining feature of the
GSX-S750Z priced $600 more
than our $8,299 base model.
The new Nissin radial-mount
four-piston monoblock
calipers and 310mm petal-
type rotors up front should
put a stop to criticism the
previous gen’s dated brake
system has generated. Power
and feel is very good, and
for those preferring more
master a bit inboard on the
new taper-style handlebar is
easily done.
Spring preload remains the
sole suspension adjustment
front and rear. Damping is
calibrated on the sporting
side, providing responsive
handling feel and steadfast
stability at the expense of
ride comfort when encoun-
tering sharp bumps.
I’ve always seen the GSX-
S750 for the attractive per-
formance value it represents
and have judged it as such.
My verdict on this newly
reformed edition remains
unchanged with even greater
evidence to support its case.
Time will tell if modern style
and features at a fair price
hold up in the court of public
opinion.

2018 SUZUKI GSX-S750

E N GIN E T Y P E DISPL ACE M E NT SE AT HE IG H T FU EL C APACIT Y CL AIMED WEIGHT BAS E P RICE
Liquid-cooled inline-four 749cc 32.3 in. 4.2 gal. 465 lb. (wet) $8299

CYCLEWORLD.COM 17
 IGNITION GEAR

NEW IDEAS

PEAK PERFORMANCE
Top picks for Pikes Peak or anywhere that leaves you breathless By Don Canet

1 2 3 4 5

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18 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

PROGRESSIVE.COM 1-800-PROGRESSIVE
 IGNITION RIDE CRAFT

DON’ T BE ABRUP T

SCHOOL
SMOOTH
Building pressure between initial
and final throttle By Nick Ienatsch

B
e smooth. That advice soaks into our
heads the moment we think about rid-
ing a motorcycle. We sense the inher-
ent stability issues that are magnified
by the addition of an engine to the
bicycle we are familiar with. Be smooth; got it.
At Yamaha Champions Riding School, we
refer to smoothness at the contact patch, load-
ing and unloading the tire and suspension in
a linear, repeatable way. The more lean angle
you carry—or the less grip you have due to
weather, road, and tire conditions—the more
this smoothness counts. You get it. I get it.
But the point of this article is something we
see and discuss at the school a lot: Our focus on
smoothness should concern the initial brake
and throttle application and the final closing
of the throttle or release of the brakes. That is
the point where loads are placed on, or removed
from, the tires and suspension. Abruptness
with this initial and final pressure is what liter-
ally hurts us.
The faster you ride or the less grip you have,
the more you must focus on this smooth load-
ing and unloading. I encourage you to practice
this initial and final smoothness every moment
you’re awake (gripping your coffee cup to
pick it up, setting it back down, and releasing
it, for instance) so the permanent practice is
ingrained for the moments you truly need
smooth loading and unloading.
Students work hard on initial and final
smoothness but then confuse smoothness with
big-time front and rear tire loading. They initi-
ate braking beautifully but then stay at that
light initial pressure too long. They sneak open
the throttle but don’t add significant accel-
eration as they take away lean angle. They’re
smooth, but they’re slow and inefficient.
If speed and efficiency matter to you, remem-
ber that smoothness refers to initial and final
brake and throttle movements. (It refers to
smooth body movements and turn-in rates too,
but that’s another article.) After you load the
suspension and then the tire, you’re in a posi-
tion to linearly add more pressure gauged on
lean angle and grip conditions.
Want to be an awesome rider? Be smooth but
then build pressure.

20 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017 ILLUS TR ATION BY Ryan Inzana


NOT BY THE HAIR
ON MY CHINNY,
CHIN, CHIN
BECAUSE EVERY MOTORCYCLE DESERVES A PLACE TO STAY
BY PETER JONES
I
s there a sadder view than a motor-
cycle without a warm, dry place
to spend the night? It’s so sad to
see a bike that’s wet, and getting
wetter, or a bike that’s a snow-covered,
water-stained, rusting orphan alone in
the street. Such thoughts bring disgust to
the heart and a tear to the eye.
A primary rule of motorcycling is:
Don’t live in a dwelling that doesn’t have
a garage. Of course, if you live in New
York City, or some such urban hell for
motorcycles, you’re screwed, so you’re
exempted from this, and we’ll all just try
to not think about it. But for the rest of
us, a garage is a moto-necessity. Yet…
I confess. I bought a house that doesn’t
have a garage. I did that about 12 years
ago. I still live in that same, stupid house.
But I’ve made amends. Sort of.
Adding to not having a garage is that
I have no place to put one. My property
is narrow and steep, with a street below
and a lane above. I have road frontage on
the back and front, yet two-wheel access
is impossible due to the property’s steep
slope. Getting to my house from above
or below entails two flights of stairs. I’m
trapped. My house is an Americans with
Disabilities Act violation.
At any previous time in my life, I
wouldn’t even look at a place to rent if it
didn’t have a garage. In fact, I’ve always
been generally willing to settle for living
in a garage, as long as it had a toilet and
electricity. Well, okay, electricity; I could
fake the other part.
Having no garage has shown me how
surprisingly difficult it is to walk a
155-pound 60cc Benelli Hurricane down
a flight of stairs. I mean two flights. It’s
parked in my living room because, well,
you know. It’s been there for three years.
It’s become a bit like Mike Mulligan’s
steam shovel.
BIKE LIFE IGNITION
I pondered my plight while “temporar-
ily” storing my bikes in the garages of
kind neighbors…for six years. I suffered
paralyzing anxiety. Then, finally, I found
inspiration. I didn’t need a “garage.” I just
needed something big enough for two or
three (or four) motorcycles. And a work-
bench. So I built a motorcycle shed. It’s BY THE NUMBERS
8 feet by 12 feet. It’s at the back, topside
of the property. But it’s also nearly 3 feet
above street level.
Do I smell gasoline? Is that a stain on
the living-room carpet?
To avoid zoning issues, I built the floor
of my shed where the roof of an outdoor
kitchen was (I said the property is steep),
maintaining an existing footprint to inches
avoid the nuisance of a building permit.
81
Doing this, however, required the shed’s
floor to be about 3 feet above street level
and only a few feet from the edge of the
street. So I had to build a ramp that folds THE AVERAGE
out from the shed into the back lane. I try LENGTH OF A
to remember not to leave it extended for 1,000CC SPORTBIKE
fear someone (my GF) might run into it
with a car (she already has).
For six years now I’ve been happy with
my solution, despite the steep ramp,
which requires motorcycles to be run-
ning when walked up into the shed. But,
in early spring this year, when I went
to wake my hibernating motorcycles,
I discovered that my pressure-treated
ramp had suddenly aggressively rotted.
3
HOW MANY PIGS A
It was devoid of all structural integrity. FAIRY TALE REQUIRES
My bikes were trapped inside. I felt an
unpleasant kinship with that pig who
had chosen wood because it was more
durable than straw.
I repaired the ramp. Anybody want to
buy a house?
305
THE NUMBER OF CUBIC
CENTIMETERS MY NEXT
VINTAGE MOTORCYCLE
PURCHASE HAS
CYCLEWORLD.COM 21
 IGNITION TDC
DADDY,
WHAT’S A
CARBURETOR?
WHY THE SUTER 500 GP REPLICA HAS
THROTTLE BODY INJECTION BY KEVIN CAMERON
T
hinking about Suter Racing’s
MMX500 offering—its $130,000
replica 500 GP two-stroke V-4—I
realize why they gave this bike
four-stroke-style throttle body fuel injec-
tion. They did it because selling the bike
with carburetors would have left its buyers
helpless in the face of how it used to be
done—confronted by main jets, slides,
needle jets, pilot jets, needles, air correction
jets, and the various heights of jet shrouds.
An experienced tuner carried literally hun-
dreds of these items to every race. All this is
meaningless to modern riders.
With the single exception of Honda’s
PGM injection, used around 1993, all those
hallowed slip, grip, and high-side 500 GP
bikes were fueled by carburetors. That
meant that jetting had to go up and down
with atmospheric pressure and tempera-
ture, the main variables of air density. In
extreme conditions account had to be taken
of humidity as well, for as we all know,
water vapor doesn’t support combustion.
Giving the Suter ECU-controlled throttle
body injection (one injector under each
intake butterfly, plus a showerhead injector
hovering over each intake bellmouth) saves
the buyer from all that, just as it does all
who ride modern fuel-injected four-stroke
production bikes.
Carbureted streetbikes ran rich in warm
weather (lower air density) because they
had to be jetted rich enough stock not
to run excessively lean in cold weather
(higher air density), so in EPA terms they—
two-stroke or four-stroke—were usually
whirling storms of unburned hydrocarbons
(UHC) on two wheels.
Modern bikes therefore carry sensors
to measure air density, throttle angle, and
what-have-you and have detailed fuel and
ignition maps in memory to keep engine
tune constantly corrected to ambient
weather conditions. Electronic fuel injection
22 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
wooded section of the Hockenheim track
(trees “transpire,” right?) could lean out your
bike. If that oxygen exists, the oxygen sen-
sor on a modern production or racebike will BY THE
detect it and the ECU will add any necessary NUMBERS
extra fuel to keep mixture constant.
You have probably read recently of plans
by OSSA and KTM to produce direct fuel
injection (DFI) two-strokes for off-road
competition. This is entirely different from
the throttle-body injection on the Suter and
on the 1993 Honda NSR500. Throttle-body
380
AMOUNT OF
injection simply replaces each carburetor HORSEPOWER A
with a throttle body and injectors. A fuel- 1990s-TECHNOLOGY
TWO-STROKE RACING
air mixture fills a cylinder’s crankcase ENGINE COULD
during the piston up-stroke, and on the MAKE IF IT WERE
following downstroke that mixture is GIVEN THE 1,000cc
slightly compressed and jets into the cylin- DISPLACEMENT OF
der through (typically) five transfer ports. TODAY’S MOTOGP
Because the exhaust port remains open FOUR-STROKES
during all of transfer, some fuel-air mix-
ture gets lost out the exhaust to become
UHC emissions—the basic problem that put
road-going carbureted two-strokes out of
production around 1984.
DFI solves that problem by either 1) inject-
one
NUMBER OF
ing the fuel directly into the combustion REFUELING STOPS
SUCH A BIKE WOULD
chamber, after the exhaust port has closed, NEED TO COMPLETE
or 2) by timing the injection of fuel into a A MODERN 75-MILE
part of the transfer stream so it can’t reach GRAND PRIX
the exhaust port until after it has closed
(this is called TPI by KTM, Transfer Port
7
Injection). Because no fuel can be lost out
the exhaust, this drops UHC to very low
values. Because only air and no fuel is
drawn into the crankcase of a DFI engine,
the crankcase is not cooled by fuel evapo- NUMBER OF LAPS A
ration. In some DFI or TPI snowmobile REAR TIRE MIGHT
engines it has therefore been necessary to LAST IF DRIVEN BY
SUCH AN ENGINE
provide a liquid coolant loop to cool the case.

Does this mean two-strokes
could make a comeback? Techni-
cally yes, but in practice only
maybe. Because DFI has to create
an evaporated mixture in the
60 to 70 crank degrees between
exhaust closure and ignition,
special (read: expensive) injectors
capable of rapid injection of ultra-
fine fuel droplets (Mother Nature
prefers droplets of 10 microns or
less) are needed, and such injec-
tors can’t keep up above maybe
10,000 rpm. That means you need
something very different from the
auto replacement injectors down
at the NAPA store. The problems
are less for transfer port injection,
but remember that things happen
at double speed in two-strokes;
10,000 rpm in a two-stroke is like
20,000 on a four-stroke.
There are other problems.
When Honda was developing its
two-stroke PGM injection, initial
throttle response was so instant
(abrupt) that it broke midcorner
wheel grip. Complicated software
had to be written to make injec-
tion “burbly”—like carburetors—to
bring the engine in more gradu-
ally and controllably. A photogra-
pher I spoke with years ago was at
Honda’s test track one day in the
’90s on other business and saw a
distant crew with an NSR, per-
forming one roll-on after another,
then plugging in the laptop and
making a change, then more
roll-ons. Even with carburetors
teams tended to stay with slower-
responding round-slide carbs
rather than the new flat-slides
whose sharper response (devel-
oped for MX) acted more like fuel
injection.
When I saw the injection on
the NSRs at Eastern Creek in 1993
(Australian GP) the only way I
could tell was because injection
needs to “know” exhaust pipe
center-section temperature to avoid
cold-pipe seizures. The engine’s
induction system was invisible
TDC IGNITION
DOES inside its airbox, but there in view,
THIS sticking out of the pipes, were the
MEAN temp probes and their leads.
TWO- The Suter V-4 has two contra-
STROKES rotating cranks to cancel the
COULD engine’s gyro effect, as previously
MAKE A practiced by Yamaha. Intake is
by carbon reed valves located in
COME- the cylinder vee and the two but-
BACK? terfly throttle shafts are geared
together. Exhaust port height is
varied by the usual gizmos to
improve bottom-end (9,500) with-
out compromising top-end. The
engine is made a bit over 500cc by
stroking from 50.5 to 58.5, giving a
displacement of 576.3cc. This was
done to allow the expected 200
hp to be achieved with less abrupt
porting than would be the case at
500cc. This is actually somewhat
more power than the racing 500s
were making toward the end, as
their power was extensively com-
promised in the interest of ride-
ability that translated into com-
petitive circuit lap times.
NORTH RIM ADVENTURE

24 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

CYCLEWORLD.COM 25
NORTH RIM ADVENTURE

The road
ran us out
of Sedona,
the sky kettle black and
upturned. Rain poured
onto that red desert,
flooding usually dry
washes with a thick slurry
of sand and water. We
saw it coming, a wall of
weather punctuated by
jabs of lightning. The
temperature tumbled to
the low 50s in a blink. We
had time to close our vents
and brace for the worst of
it, 10 hours into a 14-hour
ride from Orange County,
California, to Jacob Lake,
Arizona. There’s exploring
to be done up there on the
jagged edge of the Grand
Canyon’s North Rim.

Jeff Allen and I left on a couple of long-legged machines: a

2017 KTM 1090 Adventure R and a 2017 Honda Africa Twin,
escaping the freeway tangle of greater Los Angeles before
dawn. The two were glad to consume the long acres of asphalt
between where we were and where we were going, blasting
across the Mojave at the shallow end of 90 mph. The sun
caught us just outside of Indio, slipping beneath a shelf of
clouds and banishing the early morning cool. It would be 90
degrees by 9 a.m.
To be so similar in concept, the bikes could not be more dif-
ferent in character. The KTM is a weapon, a fierce and froth-
ing thing. It aches for on-ramps and the constricting asphalt
of mountain passes. Its 1,050cc V-twin has deep lungs, and
it fills them with glee, swelling to 10,000 rpm with a broad
rush of torque over and over again as you click through the
six-speed gearbox. The engine is full of character, crass and
coarse beneath you. It’s the kind of thing that would take

26 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

offense at being called a sewing machine.
Say that to the Africa Twin and the bike would beam with
pride. Its 998cc parallel twin is smooth, trading a sky-rattling
redline for an ocean of civility. It makes most of its power in
the lower octaves, with a good swell around 3,000 rpm. It’s
a proper heart for this puppy of a motorcycle. It is endlessly
approachable and made more so by a dual-clutch transmis-
sion. The gearbox is simple. Put it in drive, and the bike does
the rest, merrily switching gears with an impressive smooth-
ness most of the time. We were well out of California before I
bothered to look for the tach or the gear indicator.
And yet, for someone who’s spent a fair portion of a lifetime
trying to learn the intricate steps required to operate a motor-
cycle, the DCT was underfoot more often than not. Honda
abandoned the tried-and-true toe shift for a pair of manual
shift buttons mounted on the left handlebar. It’s a popular
neighborhood. There are no less than seven different actua-
tors on that bar. I lost count of the number of times I blasted
the horn or mashed the indicators while going for a shift. The
result requires a half-second of thought on which button to
press when you don’t have half a second to spare. It feels like
wearing your daddy’s shoes. Close to right, but not quite.
The road to Jerome is a tangle of asphalt. The black tarmac
scrambles over old sandstone canyons and weaves its way
through a spare conifer forest. Allen, on the 1090 R, vanished
like an apparition. Just as well, as the Honda doesn’t delight
in on-road antics, at least not laden with four days’ worth of
camping gear, tools, and kit. The suspension lacks the KTM’s
precision, yielding slower turn-in, and the low seat makes it
harder to position yourself on the bike. Throw in a tall, after-
market smoked windscreen that does little but get into your
line of sight, and you’re having a better time at six-tenths
than seven.
That storm started beating its chest as we approached
CYCLEWORLD.COM 27
NORTH RIM ADVENTURE
Sedona, the clouds tall and sharp as braced knuckles. It was
beautiful, the sky rippling in opposition to the bright and
rusting desert. We stopped for supplies, loading what room
we had left in our panniers with a day’s worth of jerky, gra-
nola, and as much water as we could carry. I was glad to be
back on the KTM as we left the grocery. The first drops were
already on us, and as we climbed
89A to Flagstaff, the sky was in a
rage. Water ran down the road in
deep, cold streams. We’d lost better
than 50 degrees inside of an hour.
It took all afternoon to get out
from under that storm, the heavy
clouds haunting us through Flag-
staff and out to Page. The desert
turned alien as we rode, purple and
sage hills of sand and stone wan-
dered out to impossible walls of
rock, the eons of our Earth written
28 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
in their strata. We watched the rain swell and ebb, saw it fall
in great sashes to the empty desert. The low scrub was glad
of the gift, and the air erupted with the perfume of that place:
mesquite and juniper.
It was a long, hard day, full of hot, flat miles and empty
hours, but the riding got good again outside of Cliff Dwellers
Lodge. The North Rim is 1,000 feet
higher than its southern counter-
part, and the sun began setting as
89A climbed out of the basin. The
light slipped through the storm to
paint the hills gold with the day’s
embers. Rain fell on our horizon,
bent like a thin summer skirt in
a breeze, the drops catching the
dusk as they fell. There was noth-
ing to do but laugh at the impos-
sible beauty of it and how easy it
is to miss these moments entirely,
 THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO BUT LAUGH AT THE IMPOSSIBLE BEAUTY OF IT AND HOW EASY IT
IS TO MISS THESE MOMENTS ENTIRELY, TO LIVE OUT OUR DAYS CRAVING THE CHEAPER
BALM OF A GLOWING SCREEN. THESE ARE THE WAGES OF THE MOTORCYCLE.

to live out our days craving the cheaper balm of a glowing
screen. These are the wages of the motorcycle.
We stayed the night in Jacob Lake, got up early, and covered
the 42 miles through the high forest to the lodge on the North
Rim. At more than 8,000 feet, the sky’s clearer, the air sharper
than down below. Flat-bottomed, white cumulous clouds
lazed their way above us as we rode through the open range
outside of the park, black cows and calves wandering through
the pine, the smell of their manure mixing with the morning
air. That road is a wonder, a smooth and gracious two-lane
that courses its way to the edge of the North Rim. It tumbles
in and out of high meadows, lush and green under the late-
summer sun and yesterday’s rain.
There is no preparing yourself for the canyon. It doesn’t
matter how many times you’ve seen it or how many photos
you’ve taken. Putting eyes on that vast chasm stutters you.
Your mind fumbles the concept of distances so wide or depths
so deep, and you find yourself looking from spot to spot in a
rush, desperately trying to take it in. The riven earth spills
out beneath you, and the sense of your own insignificance
rings loud in your ribs. It’s a treasure. We took it in at the
lodge with the rest of the tourists lounging on their deck
chairs. Hung out long enough to watch the eclipse and pick
up our backcountry camping permit.
Our plan was to stay in the park the first night then relo-
cate to the Kaibab National Forest the next, but the ranger
behind the desk had some unfortunate news. The forecast
called for rain, and the forest roads can turn to a mire with a

CYCLEWORLD.COM 29
NORTH RIM ADVENTURE
little precipitation. We took a knee
on the first night of camping and
headed off the plateau. After a day
and a half of pavement, we were
ready to get some dirt in our teeth.
What started as a 60-mile loop
through the Paria Canyon-Vermil-
ion Cliffs Wilderness devolved into
a seven-hour slog, first when Allen
and I lost each other for an hour or
so and later when I somehow managed
to find a 3-inch drywall screw with the Twin’s rear tire. It
wasn’t until we unpacked the tools that we understood just
how long our day was about to get. In our rush, we brought
the spanners for the KTM’s rear axle but not the Honda’s.
There was no getting the wheel off. Allen volunteered to ride
it the 35 miles back to the motel at Jacob Lake. Our flashers
illuminated the twisting road as dusk fell and night rose, the
two of us riding in a 25-mph parade.
After borrowing an adjustable wrench from the hotel the
next morning, we got the tire off only to discover that our
long ride on the rim had destroyed the carcass. The closest
replacement was two hours away in St. George, Utah. Allen
saddled up and rode the KTM west with the Honda’s rear
wheel strapped to the rack while I made calls and an appoint-
ment for a new tire and tube. By midafternoon, both bikes
were back together and gunning down Point Sublime Trail.
The trail began as an overgrown two-track, the ruts spar-
kling with still, dark water here and there from the previous
night’s rain. The KTM rides smaller than its 456-pound dry
weight would suggest. It’s made to be ridden while standing,
its bars and tank placed to accommodate the human body’s
30 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
various angles. It made gleeful work of the ruts and rocks
that became the order of the day as we rode further into the
pines, up and down steep scrambles. It’s a miracle, a dirt bike
on growth hormone.
We stopped in a wide clearing, the road obstructed by
a thick herd of buffalo. The great wall of muscle and bone
grunted and stomped in the dust, their brown hides a patch-
work of thin and thick hair. For a moment, it was possible to
imagine them spreading out across the width of our west,
unbridled by rifle or fence. We switched bikes before riding
through the thick of them slowly, the calves and cows wan-
dering off the road before the bulls. I wasn’t looking forward
to more time on the Honda, but the machine comes together
off road. It’s a thing you have to work to upset. The soft
springs and dampers bound over everything, and the DCT
makes standing shifts easy.
The transmission showed its limitations as the road con-
stricted again, climbing up steeper grades over more loose ter-
rain. My right wrist is dumb, incapable of the fine adjustments
required to keep traction in low-speed, technical maneuvers,
but that’s all that the DCT offers. There is no modulating

momentum and tire speed with a clutch. Just spin and pray.
It made for less relaxed climbs, but the bike and I repeat-
edly got to the top without spending any time on our sides.
Descents are another matter. Below a certain speed, the
Africa Twin freewheels, losing engine-braking and leaving
you to modulate your descent with just the rear brake. It
takes some getting used to.
Even so, both of these machines are a joy. We live in a world
that revels in gray ambiguity, where the measure of our
actions may never be taken. These bikes file us down to the
pass/fail point of ourselves, where every twitch of wrist and
ankle, every shift in position translate into making it over an
obstacle or enjoying a 500-pound deadlift in full riding kit.
Every mile feels earned, rare, and precious.
I am not a pro rider. Nothing on my résumé reads “Baja”
or “Dakar,” and yet, the taller, more powerful KTM feels
more confident under my feet. It’s a combination of every-
thing: ergonomics, throttle sensitivity, and the familiarity
of a clutch lever. A superior suspension doesn’t hurt, either,
and when we take a break, I talk Allen out of the 1090 R. I
wouldn’t give it up until we roll back into Orange County.
It is easier to ride not because of
push buttons or an accommodating
saddle but because the long days
I’ve spent riding have hardwired
the muscle movements neces-
sary to navigate the bike over the
increasingly demanding climbs
and descents we faced. I was on the
KTM as we ducked around fallen
trees and slogged through axle-deep
puddles wide as ponds, their bot-
toms soft and desperate to put me
on my tail. I was on it as my thighs
burned after better than 40 miles
of pounding over uncertain terrain
and when we finally rounded a cor-
ner to see the forest give way to the
canyon, the chasm glowing red and
wild in the late afternoon light.
We set up our tents and feasted
on the provisions we bought in
Sedona. The sun went sliding
toward the west, the light dragging
its way across the points on the far
rim. We watched the Milky Way
paint its way across the sky and
caught shooting stars as they went
burning toward our horizon. It was
a good day. One I’ll hold onto until
they put me in the ground.
This is the miracle of these bikes.
These same brutes spent one day
bashing across the interstate and
another ripping up a road made for
light and lithe 450s. They brought
us to the ragged edge of the Grand
Canyon without so much as a
change in tire pressure, to a vacant
campsite on the teetering edge of
our Earth. This is their promise.
EVERY MILE They are the partners with crow-
FEELS EARNED, bars waiting to break you from the
RARE, AND chains of tedium around your neck.
The thin excuse you need to get up
PRECIOUS. and go. To run far and wide.
CYCLEWORLD.COM 31
32 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
 W H Y
W I R E S ?
WHY DON’T ADV BIKES
AND MOTOCROSSERS USE CAST WHEELS?
B y M ark Lin d e m ann
W E A R E A N A T I O N D I V I D E D .
Forget about that red-state/blue-state thing, or
which bathroom to use, or burgers or burritos,
boxers or briefs. We’re talking about the state
of the motorcycling union. Wheels, specifi-
cally. Wire or cast?
Incendiary rhetoric aside, here’s the real
question. Why do the best dirt bikes in the
world still use wire wheels, while the best
roadbikes embrace cast construction?
Journey with us back in time some 6,500
years, when the first wheels appear, those
proto-Harleys lumbering on solid, Fred Flint-
stone ox-cart discs. Spoked wheels (think
Ben-Hur chariot) go back about four millennia.
These are compression-spoke construction—
the load path pushes down from the hub and
tries to compress the spoke(s) below. The first
wire tension-spoke wheels show up around
1800. They’re still radial construction; the
spokes radiate straight out of the hub. The
real breakthrough comes with the tangent-
spoked tensioned wheel, courtesy of James
Starley in 1870. These are the wheels we see
on bicycles and motorcycles today. Why is
this important?
All motorcycle wheels need to demonstrate
strength in three planes: radial, axial, and
torsional. Radial strength keeps the wheel
round and resists rim deformation when
hitting a bump. Lateral strength means side
loading—less important on a bike because we
lean when we turn. Torsional strength—the
genius of the tangent-spoked wheel—lets us
transfer drive and braking torque from the
hub to the rim. The number of times a spoke
crosses other spokes on the same side (most
motorcycle rims are laced in a three- or four-
cross pattern) increases torsional strength.
What about cast wheels? They’ve been roll-
ing longer than you might think. Remember
the 1927 Böhmerland? How about Morris
Mags (1973)? By 1976 any teenage squid could
get factory mags on his Yamaha RD400C.
Honda’s ComStars showed up a year later, and
BMW’s iconic snowflakes made their debut
in 1978. Today, cast wheels are everywhere.
A semantic digression: The vast majority of
PHOTOGR APH BY Drew Ruiz
our current one-piece motorcycle wheels are
cast. A few are forged, and the ComStars were
composite metal construction. In our discus-
sion we’re going to use “cast” for all contem-
porary one-piece metal designs.
Cast wheels offer plenty of advantages.
They facilitate tubeless tires, generally hold
their true better than a laced wheel, and
require little maintenance. They can transfer
more torque and carry more load. Depending
on the design, the overall assembly can be
lighter. God knows they’re easier to clean.
Yet for dirt bikes, wire wheels remain supe-
rior for two principal reasons. First, most use
6000- or 7000-series extruded aluminum
rims. This is an excellent, durable material.
Hit it hard—say, on a sharp-edged Baja rock—
and it tends to deform (dent), where a cast
wheel may crack and fail.
Second has to do with construction. Kenny
Buchanan, of Buchanan’s Spoke and Rim,
took us to school. Most off-road wheels use 36
or 40 spokes, and each spoke can have up to
1.500 pounds (!) of tension. These pull equally
on the entire rim’s circumference. Introduce
a sharp load in one spot (our nemesis the
rock) and the wheel tries to take an oval
form. But because the entire rim is in tension,
this deflection transfers the load maybe 270
degrees around the balance of the wheel—and
that means 27 spokes at 1,500 pounds each are
all trying to pull the wheel round again. Now
hit that same rock with the same bike at the
same speed, but rolling on a cast wheel, and
directly over one of the large cast spokes. The
force is localized over a small area. There’s no
give. Plus, the alloy used for your cast wheel
is less malleable to begin with. The wider the
rim (big adventure bikes), the more exacer-
bated the problem.
Sure, cruiser riders love wire wheels for
their traditional looks. And it’s possible to
straighten or replace a dented rim. But the
real reason to respect the tangent-spoked,
tensioned wire wheel is its elegant, Cartesian
answer to a problem that’s 6,500 years old.
Roost on, James Starley!
CYCLEWORLD.COM 33
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Almost any motorcycle will make the angels sing when you go for a ride. Because two-wheelers are of

course perfect transportation and entertainment. And therapy. And exercise. And sport. And

a lot more. But the Ten Best Bikes of 2017 bring even more to the road—and to us—than

all of that. They push the boundaries, they make riding more accessible and fun,

and they advance the riding world in ways their predecessors did not.

Some are expensive and low volume; others don’t cost much and

sell in the thousands. All are the best you can get in 2017.

I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y J i m H a t c h
 BEST SUPER BIKE
BMW HP4 RACE
In a world of super superbikes, the
BMW HP4 Race takes it a step
beyond. It is in many ways more
exotic than those machines raced
at the pinnacle of the sport in
World Superbike. The 377-pound
HP4 Race weighs, for example,
only 7 pounds more than the
World Superbike-class minimum
weight limit, and that’s with a
full tank of fuel. Such is the glory
of the bike’s carbon-fiber frame,
swingarm, and wheels. But the
finest components complete this
beautiful track-only machine: an
Öhlins FGR 300 fork and TTX 36 GP
shock, Brembo GP4 PR Monoblock
brake calipers, and Forged Pankl
rods in an engine that is claimed
to make 215 hp. Some things are
too fantastic to be common. The
HP4 Race is one of those things.

36 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

CYCLEWORLD.COM 37
 BEST T OURING
BIKE
HARLEY-DAVIDSON
ROAD KING
SPECIAL
We picked the Road King
Special here for being the
absolutely coolest bike
with bags to ever roll down
American highways. But
also as the avatar for the
whole Harley-Davidson
Milwaukee-Eight-powered
touring lineup. From
the top-of-the-line CVO
Ultra with Twin-Cooled 114
Milwaukee-Eight all the
way down to the stripped
and stretched Road King
pictured here, Harley-
Davidson made smoother,
more flexible, more power-
ful engines and coupled
this with chassis updates
that improved ride and
handling. Not the fastest
means for eating massive
amounts of highway, but

HARLEY-DAVIDSON
one of the most pleasur-
able and comfortable—
these are motorcycles that
make the journey as much
spiritual as it is physical.

B E ST
STA NDA R D
APRILIA TUONO
V4 1100 RR
One doesn’t necessar-
ily expect the deep-
est inspiration in the
Standard category.
Utility, sure. Flexibility,
definitely. Comfort,
without doubt. And
the Aprilia Tuono V4
RR has a surprisingly
strong expression of
those qualities, but it
is also one of the most
inspiring all-around
motorcycles ever to
burn high octane. Start
with the brilliant engine
that makes sound and
power to rank it among
the best of all time. Add
in a supernatural chassis
and great electronics
and no matter how
you ride you will find
two-wheeled joy. Every
moment riding the
Aprilia Tuono V4 RR is a
peak moment. It’s the
not-standard standard.

38 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

 B E ST
A DV E N T U R E
BIKE
KTM 1090
ADVENTURE R
Leave it to KTM. As the
company pushes ever
farther with its adventure-
bike lineup, it also knows
when to dial it back. As
much as we have loved
(and lauded) bikes like the
1290 Super Adventure, this
year it’s the lighter, friend-
lier 1090 Adventure R
that takes the prize. Only
KTM has succeeded in
building an adventure bike
that can burn up highway
miles like a tourer yet in
the dirt works exactly how
you’d expect a liter-class
enduro bike to perform.
Great fuel range, excellent
ergonomics, perfect power
delivery, and excellent
electronic rider aids work
on a truly exceptional
mechanical package. The
1090 Adventure R hits a
sweet spot that some-
how covers superslab
and single-track trail.

BEST OPEN-
CL A SS
ST R E E T BIK E
YAMAHA
YZF-R1
Keeping a Ten Best
Bikes run going these
days with any top-level
sporting motorcycle
is not easy. Yet the
Yamaha YZF-R1 makes
it to the list for the
third time. It has the
best combination of
outright performance
and rideability in the
liter sportbike class. It
doesn’t hurt that its
sublime crossplane
four-cylinder engine
makes some of the fin-
est combustion-based
music the world has
ever heard.
About the only thing
you might complain
about is its racy riding
position. But consider-
ing what this bike gives
you in dynamic capabil-
ity, you will lean in with
a smile every time you
ride on road or track.

PHOTOGR APH Y BY Jeff Allen CYCLEWORLD.COM 39

 BEST CRUISER
TRIUMPH
BONNEVILLE
BOBBER
Triumph will tell you that
the Bonneville Bobber
isn’t a cruiser. Purists will
tell you it isn’t a Bobber.
We’ll leave the semantic
arguments to others.
The Bonneville Bobber is
a beautiful motorcycle.
It sounds wonderful
and its 1,200cc parallel
twin makes the kind of
elemental torque and
lope-y music that never
gets old. And despite its
laid-back cruisy nature, it
is a great-handling motor-
cycle that works surpris-
ingly well on a winding
road. We could call it
the Best Good-Looking
Fun-to-Ride Motorcycle
With Minimalist Retro
Styling Made for Cruising
and Inspired by Bobbers,
but we’ll just stick with
Best Cruiser and let other
people argue about it
while we go riding.

B E ST
DUA L-SP ORT/
ENDURO
KTM 500 EXC-F
Other manufacturers
have built very good
single-track-ready
dual-sport bikes, but
KTM just keeps on
crushing it with the
EXC-F line, particu-
larly the 500. What
brought the EXC-F
back to the top? Was it
the improved throttle
response and power?
Or the more than
10-pound drop in dry
weight? The improved
suspension? The high-
quality components?
Yes, it was all of this.
Every pound dropped
informs this bike’s
every move. Why, it
even makes it easier to
pick up. The KTM 500
EXC-F isn’t just the
best dual-sport bike
ever made; it’s one of
the finest enduro bikes
in the world.

40 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

 B E ST
MIDDLE W EIGHT
ST R E E T BIK E
TRIUMPH
STREET
TRIPLE R
When the “new”
Triumph first made it
back to the US market
in the 1990s, the British
company’s first step
in life was to establish
itself as a legitimate
modern motorcycle
manufacturer, not some
retro-flogging nostalgia
brand. Naked bikes like
the Street Triple R came
to perfectly embody
the modern spirit of the
brand. And while it’s
true the larger Speed
Triple defined modern
Triumph, it is the light,
agile, and accessible
Street Triple with its
newly enlarged 765cc
inline three-cylinder
that perfectly expresses
the qualities of a
modern middleweight
streetbike in 2017.

B E ST
LIGH T W EIGH T
ST R E E T BIK E
HONDA
REBEL 500
A person at a very
large American motor-
cycle company once
famously said back
in the original Rebel’s
heyday that it didn’t
need to build an entry-
level cruiser because
Honda was doing it for
them. Well, in 2017,
Honda is still build-
ing great entry-level
cruisers. Witness the
Honda Rebel 500, one
of the most accessible,
fun, and easy-to-ride
lightweight motor-
cycles on the market.
It also happens to be
eminently affordable
and perhaps the cool-
est Japanese cruiser
you can buy. Make
that the coolest 500
cruisers you can buy
and a great way to get
started riding.

PHOTOGR APH Y BY Jeff Allen CYCLEWORLD.COM 41

 B E ST
MO T O CROSSER
HONDA
CRF450R
Balance has always
been a fundamental
tenet of Honda’s design
philosophy. But the 2017
CRF450R takes it to a
new level for the com-
pany’s motocrossers.
All-new for the first
time in five years, this
complete redesign gave
the bike the slim feel and
excellent ergonomics.
Suspension (and a great
new spring fork) is com-
pliant and controlled on
jump landings and rough
chop for expert riders
while being easy for the
average person to dial in.
The CRF is deceptively
fast thanks to broad,
tractable power, and the
switchable ignition maps
widen its adaptability.
It works as a complete,
well-rounded package
with, yes, an incredible
level of balance.

H O N O R A B L E
M E N T I O N S
Fiv e m o re th at v e r y n e a rly m a d e it

INDIAN SCOUT K AWA S A K I YA M A H A F Z-1 0 S UZ U K I KTM 1290

FTR750 V E R S Y S -X 3 0 0 If not for the red- G SX- R 1 0 0 0 SUPER DUKE GT
If only! True, you can A staff er at CW owns hot glow of a certain After a long wait, For pure, high-level
buy this one for about a bike with the license Italian V-4, Yamaha’s Suzuki’s literbike is technically supe-
$50K, and it is a killer plate ADV LITE, so we sublime FZ-10 might back. We chose the rior sport-touring, the
middleweight, but it’s have serious light- have ruled the Best base model here for its KTM 1290 Super Duke
not a Best Middle- weight traveling bike Standard class. amazing low price and GT remains an enlight-
weight Streetbike. enthusiasts in our What it gives away very high perfor- ened choice. Last
Best Standard? Super- midst. Kawasaki was in outright perfor- mance-per-dollar year’s overall Touring
bike? Pretty super, but the first to roll out mance it gains back ratio. In stock form category winner rolls
not quite appropriate. a truly capable all- in aff ordability, broad it put up a good fight down the road with
Still, this is one of around light adventure utility, and comfort. with the best in the a full complement of
the best-performing, bike with the Versys-X We have equipped class, and in full super- high-level electronic
compact, lightweight 300. It is highway ours with bags and bike trim it took the rider aids as well as
motor cycles ever capable, eminently gone long-distance MotoAmerica cham- electronic suspension.
made. It also domi- comfortable, has sport-touring and are pionship with Toni The most brutally
nated its first season excellent luggage still wearing out the Elias in the saddle, charming element is,
racing in American available, and isn’t tires on our daily com- demonstrating great of course, the 1,301cc
Flat Track Twins class afraid to get dirty. It’s mute. Incredible value braking stability, killer V-twin and its animal
with a crushing cham- also an indication that and flexibility from corner exits, and flex- torque and knockout
pionship victory in the the adventure class Yamaha. ibility in cornering line power. It’s a stellar
capable hands of Jared will continue to grow. that were unmatched way to take the wind-
Mees. Indian, we and at the track. ing road to places afar.
the rest of your fans
are dreaming of lights
and a license plate.

42 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017 PHOTOGR APH Y BY Jeff Allen

 VM NE
D
W
NOTHING STOPS
FASTER
CL
AS
SIC
RO
TO
RS

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Quality British and American brakes
Choose from UK made organic pads or semi-sintered Vee pads for feel and control,
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CW COMPARISON

ANSWER
R QUE

2 0 1 7 S U Z U K I G S X- R 1 0 0 0 R

44 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

RING THE 2017 Suzuki
GSX-R1000R

STION CAN THE

R-SPEC GIX XER
TOPPLE THE R1?
vs.
2017 Yamaha
YZF-R1

B y D o n C an e t
P h o t o g ra p h y B y J e f f A l l e n

2 0 1 7 YA M A H A Y Z F - R 1

CYCLEWORLD.COM 45
W
hen conduct-
ing our 2017
superbike
comparison
(“The Wait-
ing Game,”
August) a great deal of consideration
went into the selection of bikes to be
included. Foremost, only the most
recently updated superbikes were pitted
against the previous year’s winner. This
set the stage for a potential three-peat
by the Cycle World Ten Best Superbike-
winning Yamaha YZF-R1.
46 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
While the R1 is available in three
performance tiers, we view the
middle child as the “standard” mem-
ber of the R1 family and in turn went
with an Aprilia RSV4 RR and Honda
CBR1000RR, each of which also have a
higher-spec sibling aligned in price and
spirit with Yamaha’s $22,499 YZF-R1M.
Things were not quite as straight
forward when choosing among the all-
new 2017 Suzuki GSX-R1000 models.
On one hand the flagship GSX-R1000R
has an MSRP of $17,199 that’s only $500
more than our R1. But as pointed out
by a Suzuki representative, the base-
model GSX-R1000 has been a platform
of choice for several roadrace competi-
tors at the national level. This is due
largely to the existing knowledge base
for setting up its Showa Big Piston
Fork in preparation for racing and to
forgo a learning curve working with
the R-model’s Showa Balance Free Fork.
Considering the base-model GSX-R has
legs in the racing world gave it a foot in
our door.
As delivered, both GSX-R models
share identical engine and chassis spec-
ification with the differences beyond
the fork being the R’s lightened upper
triple clamp, Showa Balance Free Rear
Cushion lite (BFRC-lite) shock, added
implementation of IMU yaw and roll
sensitivity (pitch only for base model),
launch control, lighter battery, a couple
of styling touches, and a bidirectional
quickshifter.
While the R1 went on to top the field
yet again, the question remains how
might the GSX-R1000R have fared in a
shootout?
Joining me in answering this R ques-

CYCLEWORLD.COM 47
CW COMPARISON
tion was Chris Siebenhaar, a former
AMA professional roadracer and Jason
Pridmore STAR motorcycle school
instructor we have previously enlisted
as a co-tester in our “Sibling Rivalry”
test (July 2016) that pitted the 2016
Yamaha YZF-R1 against its lower-priced
YZF-R1S brother. Our plan entailed fit-
ting both bikes with Bridgestone Battlax
R10 radials for a track test at Buttonwil-
48 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
low Raceway Park, followed with a road
ride on their stock fitment RS10 tires.
We spent the better part of an early
August Sunday at a sold-out Trackdaz
event (thanks for squeezing us in,
fellaz) seat hopping between the two
bikes throughout several 20-minute
A- and B-group sessions. The differ-
ence in engine and handling character
between this pair of liter-class inline-
fours becomes evident at the crack of
the throttle. “Whether taking off from
a stop, rolling out of pit lane, or exiting
a corner, the smooth transition from
off throttle to neutral to accelerating
is flawless bottom to top,” Siebenhaar
noted of the Suzuki’s superb fueling
and intuitive throttle response. Abrupt
initial response remains the number-
one gripe that has dogged the current-
gen R1 since its 2015 introduction. Even
riding in the less edgy Power 2 mode,
the R1 can’t match the GSX-R’s degree of
connected throttle control.
Buttonwillow’s turn two has a tight
keyhole-shape entry and an increasing-
radius exit. This section of track
showcased another Suzuki strength
as each bike’s tall stock gearing saw
second-gear revs dip below 5,000 rpm at
the corner apex. The R1 tended to lurch
and momentarily unsettle its chassis
if added care wasn’t exercised during
initial throttle application, and delivery
felt soft during the initial phase of the
exit drive.
While the Suzuki enjoys a sizable
midrange torque advantage of roughly
10 pound-feet over the Yamaha, once
beyond 8,000 rpm it’s advantage R1
all the way to each bike’s 14,500-rpm
rev limit. Sadly, it’s game over for the
 SPLIT 1 SPEED
AVERAGE
2
L A P A N A LY S I S RIVERSIDE
GRAPEVINE
B U T T O N W IL L O W R A C E WAY PA R K BUS STOP
SPEED
AVERAGE EAST LOOP WEST LOOP
Utilizing a VBox Sport GPS datalogger we’ve performed an analy- 1
sis of each bike’s quickest lap around the combined East/West PEAK SPEED 1 SPLIT 3
COTTON SUNSET
Buttonwillow layout. Our three sectors highlight different charac- CORNERS

teristics of the track layout and how each bike fares in a given sec- SUNRISE
PEAK
tion. Section 1 includes the increasing-radius Off Ramp corner and SPEED
2
technical Cotton Corners where we’ve compared point-to-point
average speed. Located in the heart of Section 2, the fast Riverside PHIL
OFF HILL
sweeper, a corner that loads the chassis and rewards line holding RAMP
side grip. The final split includes a pair of hard braking zones and
the Esses, a series of side-to-side transitions taken at speed.

L A P -T I M E D ATA SPLIT 2
Bike Lap Time Split 1 Split 2 Split 3 Peak Peak Cotton Corners Riverside
Speed 1 Speed 2 Average Speed Average Speed ESSES
SUZUKI GSX-R1000R 1:52.98 41.86 38.25 32.86 137.2 132.4 64.1 96.8
YAMAHA YZF-R1 1:52.31 41.34 38.15 32.81 138.6 134.6 65.4 97.2 SWEEPER

Gixxer as revs surpass its 11,000-rpm
power peak, electronically hobbled with
ECU programming that results in a
15-hp linear decline across the remain-
ing 3,500 revs. Short of an aftermarket
ECU flash, we suggest dialing the
adjustable sequential shift light array to
cue timely short shifts.
Siebenhaar and I each found the
Suzuki’s Showa BFF front end incred-
ibly compliant over minor pavement
ripples and bumps. This left the R1 feel-
ing harsh by contrast on track but less
so during our road ride once suspension
damping had been dialed to each bike’s
baseline street settings.
“The upgraded Showa suspension is
extremely capable and can run a very
quick clip on track,” Siebenhaar said
of the GSX-R. When running a slower
pace on outlaps or trailing a B-group
gaggle, the Gixxer chassis instilled an
unmatched level of confidence and ease
of use. The R1 felt more like a stallion
born to gallop than trot, a trait that
became evident late in the day as triple-
digit mid-afternoon heat thinned the
herd allowing clean “hot” laps to gather
comparative times recorded with a
VBox datalogger.
The outcome saw the R1 flex its
top-end might. This along with its
more comprehensive and configurable
electronic aids, unflappable chassis
composure, and rear grip allowed the R1
to shine when pushing the pace. Data

CYCLEWORLD.COM 49
CW COMPARISON

THE NUMBERS analysis revealed the R1 at nearly a sec-

ond per lap quicker along with achiev-
BIKE SUZUKI GSX-R1000R YAMAHA YZF-R1 ing an extra mph or two of peak speed
Price  $17,199 $16,699 on the straights. It also didn’t appear to
Dry weight  426 lb. 415 lb. lose measurable ground on corner entry
Wheelbase  despite Suzuki’s fantastic auto-blip
56.0 in. 55.2 in.
downshift feature, something the R1
Seat height  33.5 in. 33.2 in.
still lacks.
Fuel mileage  35 mpg 30 mpg Quarter-mile runs using each bike’s
Fuel capacity  4.2 gal. 4.5 gal. launch control had the R1 in front with
1/4 mile  10.4 4 sec. @ 14 4.13 mph 10.15 sec. @ 147.30 mph a quicker ET and trap speed.
0–60 mph  3.0 sec. 2.9 sec. While we found the Suzuki saddle
Top gear 40–60 mph  2.9 sec. 3.0 sec. and ride quality slightly more comfort-
60–80 mph  able on the road, the R1’s crossplane
2.3 sec. 3.0 sec.
engine configuration offers a butter-
Horsepower  157.2 @ 10,880 rpm 161.6 @ 13,010 rpm
smooth contrast to the relatively buzzy
Torque  76.3 lb.-ft. @ 10,610 rpm 73.6 lb.-ft. @ 8930 rpm nature of the traditional 180-degree-
Braking 30–0 mph  33 ft. 32 ft firing Gixxer.
60–0 mph  128 ft. 125 ft. All said and done, the new GSX-
R1000R is well worth every cent of the
$2,100 premium over its base counter-
UPS DOWNS part. Its suspension epitomizes plush
SUZUKI • Bottom and midrange • Profuse vibes at upper revs yet controlled handling, the quick-
GSX- might
R1000R • Truncated top-end delivery shifter is the best I’ve yet tested, and the
• Sublime throttle control • Dark and cluttered dash addition of cornering ABS thanks to the
• Silky smooth bidirectional display
quickshifter IMU’s added functionality is a safety
bonus. One can argue that it might be
YAMAHA • Creamy combustion beat • Clutched downshifts are for a flash shy of class supremacy, but the
YZF-R1 • Super-flexible electronic fogies same aftermarket solution exists for
aids • Relatively heavy steering curing the R1’s throttle response woes.
• Unadulterated top-end • Hair-trigger throttle action
delivery Once again the Yamaha YZF-R1 has
met the challenge.

…THE NEW GSX-R1000R IS WELL WORTH EVERY CENT OF THE

$2,100 PREMIUM OVER ITS BASE COUNTERPART.

50 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

 100% Cotton
Made in America

FREE
with your aerostich.com/cycleworld
next order*
*Order must total $30 or more. T-shirt regularly $27.
 LEGEND REMEMBERED  SKUNKWORKS SCOUT  TIMELESS SALT CHALLENGE  UNRAVELING DATA TRACES

THE VIEW FROM INSIDE THE PADDOCK

52 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017 PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jeff Allen

MUNRO INDIAN RACE WATCH

HONORING
BURT MUNRO,
CELEBRATING
SPEED
Indian returns to
Bonneville 50 years later
By Kevin Cameron

O
n the Bonneville Salt Flats you stand on a mirror
of pure white that will burn your skin from below
while the arc-welder sun burns from above. Dark,
jagged mountains surround it. But it’s flat. And big.
A place to run for top speed.
In August of 1967, one-man R&D team Burt
Munro, then 68 years old, streaked across that salt
to set a 1,000cc record of 183.586 mph in his home-
built streamliner. It was powered by an engine
that began as a 36.4ci 1920 Indian Scout that he’d
bought new. With his own hands he had made the
OHV heads, cylinders, pistons, connecting rods,
and cams of his engine, working in a New Zealand
shed that was his home for 27 years. He had set
innumerable records with it. That was 50 years ago.
At the end of 2016 Burt Munro’s son John and
grand-nephew Lee Munro inquired from Indian
in Minnesota whether the company planned any
commemoration of this historic achievement. The
answer was, “Of course!” In January 2017 came the
go-ahead from the corporate president’s office; a
Scout-based Bonneville racer would be built and
Lee Munro—a competitor in Australian Super-
bike—would ride it.

CYCLEWORLD.COM 53
 RACE WATCH MUNRO INDIAN LA NDSPEEDER
On Saturday, August 12, 2017,
Lee Munro rode a modified
modern Scout to 191.286 mph on
the rough and slushy Bonneville
short course, in the Modified
Partial Streamlining (MPS)
1350-G class. This was not an
attempt at a standing record. It
was a practical recognition of
Munro’s dedication to an ideal
(his shelves of holed pistons and
twisted con-rods bore the words
“Offerings to the God of Speed”)
and a renewed commitment to
striving for excellence.
The Indian brand is more
than 100 years old, and the
success of Polaris in reviving
it is testimony to its power—so
many riders and others today
had a father or grandfather who
rode Indian that the name is folk
memory. How did management
decide so easily to continue
Munro’s Bonneville quest?
Without continued striving and
achievement, the memory would
remain just a big shapeless bag
of leftover sentiment.
The basis would be the Scout,
whose engine is a liquid-cooled
60-degree V-twin of 99.0 x
73.6mm bore and stroke for
1,133cc, with four valves per cyl-
inder operated by chain DOHC.
The limit of the Bonneville class
chosen was 1,350cc. To get closer
to that a whacking great 7mm
overbore took the cylinders to
106mm and displacement to
1,299cc (79.3ci).
54 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
This is a cruiser engine,
right? So what’s it doing with
a sportbike’s four valves and
double overhead cams? In two-
valve cruiser engines the key
to mighty bottom-end torque is
short valve timing, but as they
rev up, that short timing limits
airflow, causing torque to slope
down with rising rpm until they
wheeze out at around 5,000 rpm.
But what if you’ve ridden other
kinds of bikes and like that feel-
ing of winged power that sails
without strain to higher revs and
real horsepower? The only way to
combine the short timing that
makes torque down low with
enough airflow for power up
higher is with a very light four- fragile at the necessary power GENERATIONS:
Burt’s son John Munro
valve-per-cylinder valve train. level. After the fact it’s romantic congratulates Lee Munro,
That is the essence of Indian’s to remember all-nighters spent Burt’s grand-nephew, on
Scout—it has it all. under the stars in the glare of obtaining his SCTA license
at El Mirage, Lee’s first
When you plan for Bonneville headlights, putting another crack at land-speed racing.
you need several things. One is $10,000 worth of parts into a
power—the power to overcome blown engine. Better by far to
aero drag that rises as the cube of have an engine that does what
velocity. Another is reliability— you need it to do easily. The last
too many teams “go to blow” biggie is traction. Even at the
because their powerplants are best of times grip on the salt is

JOURNEY BACK:
Speed runs are punctuated
by a many-mile run back
to the pit area. Challenging
conditions in later runs—
wind and deteriorating
salt—led to headshake and
other problems in the 180-
mph range.
MUNRO INDIAN LANDSPEEDER RACE WATCH
maybe 40 percent of what it is
on nearby Interstate 80. It can
also be wet, slushy, and rough.
Then there are details like
streamlining or making sure
your electrics aren’t shorted by
the salt that has caused so many
efforts to sput out.
The stated aim of the Indian
crew was to honor Burt Munro
and say, “We’re here!” but I have
a suspicion that what they really
wanted was to hit 201 mph.
Horsepower. First was more ports horizontal…”
displacement—the 7mm over- As the late “Heavy Chief of Air-
bore. There’s no point in going flow,” Kenny Augustine, liked to
big if you can’t deliver the neces- say, “Air can either go fast or go
sary extra airflow. The obvious around corners. But it won’t do
path was bigger valves (intakes both.” That meant Indian’s engi-
are now 42mm, exhausts 36), neering team needed to not only
but the valve guide locations relocate valves but straighten
correct for a 99 bore were too new intake ports. How about we
close together for bigger valves— just do new heads?
crowd them and cylinder heads Those engineers created this
crack between the two exhaust project on their own time. When
seats or from plug hole to I asked how they all happened
exhaust, unless there’s to volunteer, I was told, “How
enough metal between. often do you get the chance to
Another problem: do a project like this using the
stock intake ports. latest research equipment? AVL
They look as though cylinder pressure indicators,
Keith Duckworth (hon- instrumented dynos, sensors…?”
ored father of intake Okay, I get it. This meant those
downdraft) began to intake ports weren’t just drafts-
draw modern ports man’s art. They were also known
but had to take a phone in detail through simulation and
call. While he was out measurement. MoTeC engineer
of the room, somebody James Whisler talked about the
else decided, “We need subtle effects of long versus short
to put a single throttle fuel-injector duty cycle and how
body in the cylinder either is affected by injection
vee to feed both, so timing. The more you can mea-
we’ll just bend these sure, the more potential control
CYCLEWORLD.COM 55
 RACE WATCH MUNRO INDIAN LA NDSPEEDER
strategies you discover.
“You don’t want to spray the
fuel on the port wall because so
much will evaporate that the
resulting vapor displaces some
of the airflow,” he said.
You can’t say that unless you
can actually measure and under-
stand what’s going on.
A twin-bore downdraft (Ford)
throttle body completed the
56 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
intake side. A single shower-
head injector? Mm, maybe not;
high-flow operation is good but
snap response? Not so good. So a
single injector was added under
each butterfly.
The result at this point is 175
hp at 9,100 rpm, with peak torque
down at 7,300. They talked about
their torque curve—a table, flat
from edge to edge, just like the
torque of Indian’s FTR750 flat-
tracker. That is made possible
by moderate valve timings,
four valves, and large valve
lifts. Plenty of torque down low
because short timings prevent
intake backflow. Torque contin-
ues into high revs because there’s
plenty of airflow cross-section.
When the engine was warmed
up on Saturday, its stable, regular
PRINCIPALS:
John Munro is well aware
of his father’s grand legacy
and was integral to The
World’s Fastest Indian film.
In fact, he shared that the
title came from one of
Burt’s trophies awarded by
SCTA. Wayne Kolden (right)
is a land-speed racer who
also happens to head up
“engine calibration” at
Indian and was charged
with leading this after-
hours racing program.
 RACE WATCH MUNRO INDIAN LA NDSPEEDER

idle told my ears that valve tim- ter. Drillings in the crank carry result—even though it might EXTREME LINER:
Lee Munro tries on the
ing is not “Top-End-Only Bonne- it to the crankpin. End-feeding be less than 2 microns thick in Indian Scout Munro Special
ville Super-Stomp.” I would hear the oil (rather than convention- the loaded zone (0.00008 inch). replica built for The World’s
plenty of radical rumpity-rump ally tapping it from the adjacent Burt Munro, too, had switched Fastest Indian. It’s nar-
rower and more stretched
idle from the two-valve V-8s main bearing, automotive style) his streamliner’s crankshaft to out than even the Spirit of
warming up around us. All the means “centrifugal force” works end-feed. Munro modern Scout racer.
contrasting sounds and what for you, not against you. A reli- Recip parts are Carrillo rods
they tell are just another reason able low-friction oil film is the and CP forged two-ring pistons.
to be on the salt.
Low grip on salt means
getting to full throttle takes
time. I watched more than one
supercharged roadster get to
second gear, show white behind
the right rear tire, and then snap
sideways an instant later, forc-
ing the driver to lift. A 400-mph
“liner” paradoxically became
much louder the farther it went
away from us.
Once at speed the conditions
are more severe by far than the
Daytona banking. Full throttle
for miles. Therefore have a look
at the big aluminum timing
cover on the right side of the
Scout’s engine. See that stainless
braided oil line? It sends oil past
a lip seal, straight into the end of
the crank, fresh from the oil fil-

58 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

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 RACE WATCH MUNRO INDIAN LA NDSPEEDER
The stock Scout has piston
cooling oil jets and so does this
Bonneville special. The bottom
end is stock: stock bearings,
stock case, gearbox, and clutch
(oh, yes—stronger springs). I had
the opportunity to talk with sev-
eral of the engineers Saturday
evening. They told me the work
they’d done and the understand-
ings they’d achieved would be
valuable in several other pro-
grams Indian is running.
“Does this mean the Scout
engine might not be a cruiser
forever?”
“Could be,” was the enigmatic
answer.
What con-rods did Burt
Munro run? Indian’s originals
were designed for 11 hp. He
sawed and filed a set of steel
ones from a truck axle, lasting
20 years (his “machine shop”
consisted of a Myford lathe,
straight out of the pages of
Trustee from the Toolroom).
Back to the present! The 2017
Scout is lowered about 3 inches,
with the original rear suspen-
sion units replaced by struts. An
off-the-rack Airtech fairing (is
60 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
that a Charlie Toy?) was narrow
at the front so the team made
narrowed fork crowns and
the bars were narrow, turned
straight down. Rider Lee Munro
said the bike was super stable at
El Mirage, where on July 19 this
year it went 186.681 mph.
“You get too aggressive, it’ll
fight back,” he said. “I think
of a bike as like an animal. I
suggest; I don’t force it. Here,
the center of the course is like
slush, like melted snow. And it’s
very rough, lot of holes, lot of
bouncing.”
What would happen Sunday?
Could Lee reach higher speeds
with the longer acceleration
afforded by switching to the
long course? You get in line with
the others and move up as the
runs are made. Ahead of the
Indian a couple of places was a
220-mph diesel highway tractor,
powered by an MTU V-16 taken
from a mining truck, mak-
ing thousands of horsepower.
Engines starting, lopey idles.
Where else could you see a ’32
Roadster with a downforce-
PHOTOS COURTESY MUNRO FAMILY ARCHIVES
ITERATIONS:
Burt Munro atop
an earlier version
of his 1920 Scout
streamliner (body
off) in 1962. Photos
above show the
bike in 1953 at Oreti
Beach, New Zealand,
where Munro reached
123.831 mph. Modern
Scout powerplant
with stainless
exhausts. It sounds
crisp.
PHOTO BY MARK HOYER
 RACE WATCH MUNRO INDIAN LA NDSPEEDER
producing venturi underbody
and an internal-compression
engine intake diffuser?
The Indian starts and warms
up. Reliable operation, sharp
sound, professional response.
Munro gets aboard and goes—
no muss, no fuss. A disappoint-
ing 186.415 mph. Later some-
one comes to the door of the
motorhome and asks engineer
James Whisler, “Are you… Will
they make another run this
afternoon?”
Whisler, looking up from the
many data traces on his laptop
screen, points out the window.
“See that flag over there? As
long as it’s pointed up-course
there’s no point in another run.”
He explained that Saturday
there had been a 1- to 2-mph tail-
wind and today it was a 10-mph
headwind. Plus the air’s thinner
today—density altitude yester-
day was 4,800 feet, but now it’s a
gasping-for-breath 6,000. Teams
in turbo classes can dial up their
boost to detonation’s doorstep
62 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017
and have power, but the Indian’s False information. This is not VOLUNTEERS:
atmospheric induction makes its push-button “computer racing” The 2017 Indian Land-
Speed Racing crew, work-
power proportional to air den- but requires hours of staring at ing on their own time after
sity. There’s no point in fighting the data (just as the old-timers hours to get the Scout to
physics. Physics wins. stared at spark plugs), trying to the salt (from left to right):
Indian today has something Neil Sikora, Gary Gray, Lee
extract the real meaning. Munro, James Whisler,
Burt Munro did not: reams of What next? The engineers Steve Tittl, Matt Graser,
data, gathered by the sensors gathered valuable data and I sus- Dan Gervais, Brenna
that cover the machine, reported pect the hankering for 201 mph Matthies, Todd Matthies,
and Wayne Kolden.
to the laptop through a USB goes all the way to the presi-
cable plugged into the bike dent’s office. As Burt Munro
behind the rider’s left thigh. This used to say, “You just need one
is grand because it reveals things good run…”
you’d never think of,
but interpreting the
data is a minefield.
“Every sensor you
use is just a lie, an
approximation of the
real world,” Whisler
said. Every sensor has
a response time and a
sampling rate. Think
about it. If sampling
rate comes close to en-
gine firing frequency,
strange “trends” can
appear that are just
artifacts of the system.
 april 21 - 23 august 25 - 27
Circuit of the Americas june 23 - 25 pittsburgh international
utah motorsports campus race complex
april 28 - 30
road atlanta july 7 - 9 september 8 - 10
mazda raceway laguna seca new jersey motorsports
May 12 - 14 park
virginia international august 11 -13
raceway sonoma raceway september 15 - 17
barber motorsports park
june 2 - 4
road america * schedule subject to change
 WRAP OR COAT  BACK ATCHA  HOT OIL RUB  ASK KEVIN

BY RAY NIERLICH

might be a leaking valve cover gasket,

it turned out to be a slow drip from
around the Crank Position Sensor at the
front of the engine, with oil dripping
onto the headers below.
I replaced the O-ring while doing
the valve inspection and other service
under the fairing, which took care of the
problem. Unfortunately, the problem
came back within a year, and rather
than replace the O-ring again and end
up with the same result I put some black
RTV silicone around the seal. I don’t
expect the problem to return. If Jack’s

PHOTO BY JEFF ALLEN

problem continues intermittently, he
may want to look into this.
DANIEL G. STAYNER
YOUNGSTOWN, NY

A:
Thanks for keeping me humble.
Yes, if you see a whiff of smoke
HEADER DRESS from inside the fairing when

Q: I am wondering if you could help me out with a mind-boggling

thingy regarding my exhaust pipes. I have a Moto Guzzi V7 special
and I just changed to a set of matte black Mistral mufflers. I was
wondering if you suggest that I wrap the pipes since they are in stainless
steel, to help match them with the mufflers, or if I should powder enamel
coat them in black instead? Or if you have other suggestions?
ALDO LOMBARDI
CYCLEWORLD.COM
first starting your bike from cold,
most likely engine oil (or coolant, but
that stuff is stinky when burned) has
dripped on the exhaust when the rub-
ber seals cooled off, got hard again, and
leaked. In the Concours 14’s case, it is
the exhaust camshaft sensor O-ring that
is most likely the culprit. As you say, a
dab of high-temp silicone with a new

A:
I generally discourage pipe wrap, as it will keep heat (and moisture) O-ring will do the trick. It’s also worth a
in and shorten the life of the pipes. But if you dig the look, you quick check to be sure the last tech fully
must. With good preparation, VHT exhaust paint (or similar) has tightened the valve cover bolts. On older
worked well for me. I beadblast the pipes to get a bit of etch on the surface bikes with cable-driven gauges, tachom-
before painting. Cheap and easily touched up. Powdercoating is great on eter drives were usually the leakers.
exhaust pipes but might cost more than buying brand-new black pipes.
TRUTH ABOUT TEMP

FEEDBACK LOOP
SMOKE TALES
California during the summer of 2014.
When the bike sat for more than a day
Q: When I got my driving licenses,
back in dino-time (oil-wise), I
learned the engine wasn’t really
warmed up until oil temperature had

Q: Just getting caught up on some

previous issues and read the
question about the smoking
2008 Kawasaki Concours (“Dragon
Smoke,” May). I had a similar issue on
my 2009 Concours while working in
it would smoke from under the fairing
for a few minutes when first started. It
wasn’t a major issue, so I waited until
the end of the riding season when I was
back home in western New York to look
at it further. While I initially thought it
reached 60 degrees Celsius/140 degrees
Fahrenheit. Is this still true? (Or was it
ever?) On my Guzzi the oil-temp meter
often doesn’t reach that temp until 6 to 8
kilometers, however on my water-cooled
Ducati, the “cold” indicator (cooling media)

66 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

goes out after just 2 to 3 kilometers.
LARS WESTLUND
NORWAY
A:
Today’s tolerances, materials,
and lubricating oils are all much
better than in the past. Operating
temperatures somewhat outside of the
ideal aren’t much of a concern for mod-
ern production engines anymore. If your
engine runs on the cool side, watch for
moisture not getting evaporated out of
the crankcase. Water makes a very poor
lubricant. If your oil ever seems even
slightly milky, change it. If your engine
oil runs very hot (say more than 230
degrees Fahrenheit), consider running
full synthetic oil and perhaps adding an
ASK KEVIN
TRUTH ABOUT GENESIS?
Q: Cycle World journalist Kevin
Cameron wrote in his book
Sportbike Performance Handbook that
early Genesis engines had combustion
problems, the chamber “was tight and
compromised.” Referring to spark lead,
the engines had, as he stated, “a dis-
graceful 45 degrees in the case of the
old Yamaha FZ750.” Yet well-known
tuner Jerry Branch, who also assessed
the FZ750 engine, described the com-
bustion chamber as having “potential”
and said it was “shaped just about
right with most of the charge in the
middle, under the plug”—so which one
of them is right?
I am in the process of writing a book
about the FZ750 and was greatly
taken by Nick Ienatsch’s article about
Brad Dirnberger’s race-winning FZ.
I’d be much obliged if Kevin could
take the time to clarify the above,
as his detailed Tech Analysis of the
FZ750 back in March 1985 is at odds
with what he states in his Sportbike
Performance Handbook.
MICHAEL BOYLE
NORTHERN IRELAND
A: Saying a cylinder head “has
potential” is what you say for
public consumption when it doesn’t.
Otherwise, why did Yamaha’s chief
problem-solver, Masao Furusawa,
offer Valentino Rossi four different
oil cooler. Excessively high oil tempera-
ture will cause carbon buildup in the
engine’s hottest places such as piston ring
lands and exhaust valve stems/guides.
Also, when oil is excessively heated,
its lubricating ability breaks down,
which of course will accelerate engine
wear. A properly functioning liquid-
cooled Ducati is less likely to suffer
oil-temperature extremes than an air-
cooled Moto Guzzi, and if the latter is
vintage, the crankcase breathing might
not be as effective, leading to more
moisture buildup if you take a lot of
short trips in cool weather where the oil
might not get up to a high enough tem-
perature to evaporate the water. Solu-
tion? Ride farther and faster!
testbikes before the 2004 season?
Two had five-valve heads, two had
four-valvers, and both 180-degree-
firing and 90-degree-firing cranks were
offered. Rossi liked best and went
quickest on the four-valve 90-degree
engine, and it was on an M1 of that
type that he won the championship
that year. To my knowledge, no one
has used a five-valve in MotoGP since.
Yamaha's R1 1,000cc production
sportbike was itself converted from
five valves to four valves, which it now
features.
The piece by Nick Ienatsch regarding
a restored vintage racebike does not
describe a bike that was competitive in
US national AMA Superbike racing but
rather a nicely prepared nostalgia bike,
capable of winning vintage events.
One American builder who had a
lot of experience with the FZ, Steve
Johnson, told me with the five-valve
the builder had a difficult choice. If he
wanted strong acceleration, he could
raise the compression, but because
that slowed combustion on top-end,
peak power was poor. If he built the
engine for peak power, with a com-
bustion chamber open enough for
combustion-accelerating turbulence
to persist all the way through combus-
tion at peak revs, its lower compres-
sion ratio reduced acceleration. In his
experience, the advantages of the two
could not be combined.
—Kevin Cameron
BEST USED BIKES
KTM 990 SM T
YEARS SOLD: 2010–2013
MSRP NEW: $13,998 (’10) to $13,999 (’13)
BLUE BOOK RETAIL VALUE:
$7985 (’10) to $10,260 (’13)
BASIC SPECS: Based on KTM’s 990 SM
platform, the SM T (T designation for
“traveler”) expands on the liter-class super-
moto concept with a few tweaks aimed
at improved comfort and convenience. Its
75-degree, liquid-cooled V-twin is tuned
for meaty midrange delivery, producing
an inspiring spread of torque from 3,000
to 7,000 rpm with plenty of over-rev to
10,000 and offers a relaxed throbbing
freeway cruise. The 48mm WP fork and rear
damper were recalibrated for reduced sad-
dle height while striking an ideal balance of
bump compliance and sporting capability.
Radial-mount Brembo Monoblock calipers
provide superbike stopping performance
that makes the most of the SM T’s sport
radial tires on cast-alloy Marchesini wheels.
WHY IT’S DESIRABLE: The 990 SM T
delivers supermoto back-road performance
character with an added bonus of daily-use
versatility. Its frame-mount mini fairing
with short windscreen, hand guards, broad
thick saddle, and generous legroom have
won favor with rider and passenger alike. It
features integrated bag mounts for acces-
sory panniers along with a cast tail rack
with grab handles and capability to carry
a top case. The chassis won acclaim for its
superb blend of ride quality and agile, sure-
footed handling nature.
THE COMPETITION: At the time KTM
announced the 990 SM T, production of
the Buell XB12XT Ulysses had just ceased,
leaving the Ducati Multistrada 1200, Suzuki
V-Strom 1000, and Triumph Tiger 1050
as the closest peers in design if not price.
Ultimately, KTM’s current 1290 Super Duke
GT has filled the SM T niche.
CYCLEWORLD.COM 67
G E A R R IN G &
GE AR NECKL ACE

K I N E K T. C O M (888) 600-8494

: : : : : cycleworld.com
 GLORY OF GOODWOOD
England’s Goodwood
Revival Meeting matches
period dress to vintage
racing, making it one of
the great historic events
SLIPSTREAM

of the year.

70 CYCLE WORLD NOVEMBER 2017

Photographer: Amy Shore

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