New Year, New Bikes to Ride

2012! Apparently the world is going to end this December so there's not much time left in which to ride all the new bikes and dream about all the great cars we could have owned if we had only listened at school and made something of our lives.

Come February, I will be inroducing a daily update of news; Cars, bikes, sport on two and four wheels and from around the world. Many of the newly launched bikes I will have ridden so will give you my 2 cents-worth on what they are like. Not that any of you will take a blind bit of notice, but still we have to try!

So, thanks for reading and look forward to reading your super-critical comments!

Keep it between the ditches, rubber side down.

Harry

Only mad Dogs and Englishmen Go Rallying

Deep in the heart of the East Rand - a place one doesn’t go very often – is a very muddy field and a few dilapidated buildings that make up the RallyStar rally school venue.

Nothing much special there, you could say, but when the rally cars that are blasting round there are worth R2.5million each,  go like a bat out of hell and have various words like ‘6 Times National Rally Champions’ after the name, one does tend to sit up and take a bit of notice, despite the surroundings.

As a bit of a jolly and thank you to sponsors and the media alike, VW invited us to go for a quick spin in one of four cars assembled for the day. Sadly, we weren’t to drive the cars, but be mere passengers. However, when there is about as much chance of my getting out of first gear as there is of dating Charlize Theron (just to keep the East Rand theme going, you understand) it was possibly wiser to leave it to the experts if any fun was to be had at all.

And boy, what fun. After being reminded that, in the general scheme of things, we weren’t all that important in the event of crashing and burning - especially when it was probably our fault that we crashed in the first place by just being there – we were strapped in and driven off.

Actually, no, that’s wrong. We were strapped in and we took off. That’s better. There are barely words to describe the performance of these cars. They seem constantly on the very brink of utter disaster and destruction; every action is one of extreme violence, whether accelerating, decelerating, braking, turning; even the mechanical elements of engine and gearbox are simply brutal in their performance - no room for the mechanically squeamish here.

The one great surprise is the suspension, which is nothing short of astounding. What appears to be a bump in the road that should send the front wheel into orbit is merely smoothed out as if it wasn’t there.

Of course it could just be that you have seen the next immovable obstacle that you are heading for and, as such, have temporarily suspended all conscious recognition of the here and now; as if you had just run over the Titanic but didn’t notice because up ahead was Mount Everest.

The drivers are phenomenal. Utterly devoid of any conventionally measurable brain patterns, of course; how else could they do what they do? If the cars are on the ragged edge, it is because the drivers have put them there and it is such a fine line between death or glory that to perform the balancing act must take a distinct lack of imagination as to the consequences of failure.

Maybe the concept of failure just doesn’t enter into their make-up?

Profound thanks to the VW BP National Rally Championship team, the crews and the drivers for the experience of a lifetime. 

Vespa Quarantasei (46 to you and me)

Have to say that scooters have not played a large part in my life up to now, but this is a little beauty. Super retro, of course, as is everything that is worthwhile these days, but it has to be said, it's a sexy little Italian number. 
And don't the Italians have a wonderful way with words? Quarantasei just sounds so much better than Forty-Six, doesn't it? Although maybe not to the Italians....

This Week I Is mostly not falling off.....

2011-onwards Kawasaki Z100SX – ‘S’ for Special, ‘X’ for Extra (Apparently)

The SX is the faired version of the naked Z1000 which has been such a success for Kawasaki. At first glance it appears similar to the ZX10R I rode a couple of weeks ago, but actually they are as different as can be, in conception, execution and nature.

Where the ZX10R was just utterly insane, the Z1000SX is merely harmlessly daft. The big engine feels comparatively lazy, with much more low-down torque and a red-line that is a few thousand less than its screaming brother. It’s actually a really good engine to ride, with a seamless spread of mid-range torque but still with some excitement at the top end.

That’s not to say that it doesn’t go when you twist the throttle; it’s no slouch but it just lacks that ‘oh dear, I’m going to die’ element that makes the ZX10R what it is.

But as an all-round proposition, it makes an awful lot of sense. It may lack the ultimate pillion comfort of a dedicated cruiser but for a combination of long-distance and town riding, it is hard to beat. The quality of the finish is very good and there’s a real feeling of solidity to the bike.

This feeling carries on through the riding experience; it just feels planted and secure on the road. One ride I did was in pelting rain with a wicked side wind on the highway, but the machine cared a lot less than I did! In the dry there’s no faulting the ride and handling, although, let’s face it, in this day and age if there is something wrong with either department, the bike shouldn’t be on the road in the first place. Vibration levels over the 2010 model have been reduced by rubber-mounting the footpegs.

There’s nothing particularly fancy about the chassis or running gear – some might say that for the price, this shouldn’t really be so – but there is multi-adjustable suspension for those who know what to do with it. The fuel tank is 4-litres larger than the naked Z1000 at 19litres giving it a useful range boost that underlines the role Kawasaki see this bike fulfilling.

As an overall no-frills package that will do what it was designed to with no problems it would be hard to beat if you were looking for a large capacity Japanese four-cylinder bike. In real-world terms there is probably little to differentiate the Kawasaki from its direct competition from Honda and Suzuki, but, in my opinion, it scores over both those bikes in its styling and looks. But once you get into that realm, it is all down to personal preference.

One thing is obvious, though; it certainly doesn’t look as if it is a naked bike that has been hastily covered up with some fairings – the design looks very unified and integrated. And it is this that sets the bike apart from the competition.

Kawasaki Z 1000SX

Year 2011-12

Engine Liquid cooled, four stroke, transverse four cylinder, DOHC, 4 valve per cylinder.

Capacity 1043cc

Bore x Stroke     77.0 x 56.0mm

Compression Ratio          11.8:1

Induction DFI® with four 38mm Keihin throttle bodies, oval sub-throttles

Ignition /Starting; TCBI with digital advance   /  electric

Max Power; 101.5 kW 138 C     

Max Torque; 110 Nm 11.2 kg-fm @ 7800 rpm

Transmission/Drive; 6 Speed  /  chain

Frame Type: Aluminum Backbone

Rake/Trail; 24.5 degrees / 4.1 in.

Front Suspension; 41 mm inverted fork with rebound damping and progressive compression and preload adjustment

Rear Suspension; Back-link rear horizontal coupling charged gas, progressive rebound damping and spring preload adjustment

Front Brakes; 2x 300mm discs 4 piston caliper

Rear Brakes Single; 250mm disc 1 piston caliper

Front Tyre; 120/70 -R17

Rear Tyre; 190/50- ZR17

Seat Height; 822 mm

Weight; 228 kg / 231 kg ABS

Fuel Capacity; 19 Litres

This week I am mostly riding.....

2011 Kawasaki Z1000SX

Could this be the perfect road bike? I'll tell you in a week. And this time, i'm confident of making it through in one piece....

Great Bikes?

 Honda CB750, 1969

Clean lines, clean garage floor. Smooth, quiet, reliable.
The British were right to be worried.

If there was one bike that sounded the death knell for the British motorcycle industry (after all their own hard work to kill it themselves) it was the Honda CB750 Four. Certainly there had been Japanese bikes on the market before this, but they were all of a smaller engine capacity and that market had been diminishing since the late 50’s as the price difference between cars and bikes had closed, thus negating the advantage of the small bike as cheap transport.

It wasn't just the Triumph/Norton recipe
that made good cafe racers

By the time the big Honda arrived, the best the British could offer were vertical, parallel twins that were long in the tooth, vibrated like mad, leaked oil and were unreliable, with poor brakes and dubious chassis technology. Even the Triumph Trident/BSA Rocket 3 of 1969 was no great leap forward, with woefully underdeveloped engines and dreadful styling.

Kawasaki had fired the first shots across the bows with the 500cc Mach lll of 1969, but this offered staggering performance in a really dangerous chassis. Motorcycle lore has it that few of the original owners of the Mach lll survived.

The Honda was altogether more civilised. Electric starter, disc brakes front and back, silky smooth and leak free, 5-speed gearbox and the reliability that the Honda name was famous for. How could it lose?

Honda were quietly confident...

There was nothing startling about the engineering; undersquare cylinder dimensions, a modest 9 to 1 compression ratio and a lightened valve train allowed over 8,000rpm and good power. There was still one carburettor per cylinder and chain primary drive, housed in a tubular double-cradle frame. Horizontally split crankcases and advanced assembly techniques put paid to unwanted oil leaks.

Much is made of the Triumph Twin’s longevity, but the transversely mounted, overhead camshaft, in-line four engine that the CB750 introduced to production motorbikes is still the most popular layout and looks set to remain that way. The CB750’s popularity, performance and reliability dealt the final blow to both the vertical twin and the British motorcycle industry and kick-started a new era in motorcycling.

Great Bikes?

1938 Triumph Speed Twin

There are many reasons why the twin-cylinder engine made such a big impact when it was introduced by Triumph in 1938. Scarcely wider than the equivalent singles it made obsolete, it was a pragmatic solution to the market’s desire for something smoother and more powerful than a single yet less complex by far than multi-cylinder machines.

In addition, the structure of UK vehicle tax which rated on piston area, pushed British designs to smaller, harder working engines. Why go bigger and lazier, as the Americans’ promoted, when the smaller twin was much more efficient?

Even though it still vibrated, the vibrations were less severe than the equivalent, heavier single, due to the shorter stroke, which also allowed higher RPM and, coupled with greater valve area, more power.

In laying the foundations for the post-war boom in the British motorcycling industry, the Triumph twin became an icon that was copied by every other manufacturer of large capacity ‘bikes. Curiously, however, it remained a very British design. The Americans stuck to their V-Twins and the Italians and later, Japanese, went down the multi-cylinder route for road and racing machinery.

The immortal Triumph Twin motor

Despite, and maybe because of, America’s reliance on the V-Twin for its home grown product, it was the American riders who were instrumental in the capacity of the twin rising from 500cc to 650cc and later 750cc to provide the power they demanded both on the road and in competition. This was a shame as, in its 500cc guise the Triumph engine is beautifully smooth and can be tuned to a ridiculous degree. Later, larger versions, whilst having more power and torque, vibrated more. This wasn’t a problem confined solely to Triumph; Norton resorted to rubber mountings for their twin.

Triumph stole a march on their rivals with the introduction of the Speed twin in 1938. The onset of war merely consolidated that lead. The Speed Twin was revolutionary in its engineering; the genius of Edward Turner did the rest. The use of chrome and pinstriped painted panels on the tank and wheels, highly polished chain cases and the Amaranth Red paint finish added up to a machine that was streets ahead of the competition.

It is easy to knock the British motorcycle industry for throwing away the huge market and global lead it had going into the sixties by relying on increasingly antiquated designs. The parallel twin engine, being at the heart of the motorcycle, is also looked upon with derision, especially in the face of massively superior offerings from the Far East.

But, just as the Japanese came along with their own quantum leap in engine design, so it must be seen that Triumph made a similar leap back in 1938 and left us with a legacy of great bikes that is every bit as significant as anything that followed.