#wiesmann for the Mondays
Thing of beauty that Wiesmann gt mf5
Wiesmann MF5 for #caseofmondays
NAKED SUPERBIKE COMPARISON TEST REVIEW
Three naked superbikes go into the cage. Only one comes out.
An exciting trend is gaining traction, a movement owed much to the fat, smoking burnout laid down by the Cycle World Ten Best winning Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS. Rumors of gnarly nakeds from multiple manufacturers have been brewing ever since the Italian brand raised the stakes with the debut of its RSV4-based super standard two years ago. Speculate no more, as this is the year of the naked, complete with all-new superbike standards leading the way.
Distilling this year’s bumper crop of top contenders has given us three very different engine configurations driving a common theme: red-hot performance tempered with a bit of real-world refinement and comfort.
Entering the cage for a heads-up bout with Aprilia’s 1,000cc V-4 is the inline-four-powered BMW S1000R and a booming 1,301cc V-twin KTM 1290 Super Duke R. Our combatants all weigh within 20 pounds of one another and produce about 150 rear-wheel horsepower. Each features comprehensive electronic rider aids with selectable power delivery modes, traction control, wheelie control, and sport-oriented ABS. BMW takes this a step further with cruise control and suspension featuring DDC (Dynamic Damping Control).
While each bike here packs a knockout punch and enough kicks to go around, there’s no split decision when it comes to title fights in Ten Best balloting. With this in mind, we planned a real-world test route full of mean streets and high mountain passes.
Joining me were the two Ryans, CW testers Ryan Dudek and Ryan Orr. Both are wicked fast on the street and also pro-level dirt riders, a perfect mix of all-around skill for bull-by-the-horns bikes like these. We saddled up and rode east toward California’s Lake Arrowhead in search of the perfect ride. You can’t get anywhere in Southern California without getting brutalized on the freeway. Having a sporty motorcycle that can cope with bumpy and menacing 14-lane-wide superslab is key to survival.
The KTM is the wild animal of the group and growls at you a bit for droning along at freeway cruise. Its engine pulse emits a hint of coarse vibration felt in the grips that, while not an irritant, contrasts with the silky smoothness of the other two. Ergo-wise, the Duke feels narrow, has a bit more leg room, and the shortest reach to the highest handlebar of the three. “The ergonomics are perfect for my 5-foot-10 frame with plenty of room from seat to peg,” Orr noted of the KTM. “The saddle fits well and has great foam to keep the butt alive on those long rides.” Dudek, a lankier 5-foot-11, countered with, “The saddle is wretched—don’t know if it’s the curvature or the forward slope that encourages wedgies.”
While the Aprilia’s firm saddle and rearset peg position make no apology for its superbike heritage (as is true with the others), we found the tapered-aluminum bar offers plenty of lower back relief, though the reach to the bar was farthest.
BMW offers the best of both worlds opined Dudek, who picked it as “the most well-rounded bike and also the most comfortable.” Orr agreed. “The ergos let you sit down into the bike, helping build that confidence that you are one with the road.”
It was a feeling that soon came into play as we took the off-ramp headed for the twisties. For all the miles of cabin-lined roads we traveled riding various paces and trading bikes, the real payoff came on a 5-mile ribbon between Crestline and Silverwood Lake. Repeated runs through this concentration of first-, second- and third-gear corners allowed for back-to-back impressions as we rotated through the bikes.
While KTM’s tractable delivery felt unrivaled with TC toggled off, the proliferation of electronics on these bikes has become the great equalizer. The benefit of a flexible and predictably responsive engine remains, however, as the booming twin delivers a broad spread of torque that nearly negates proper gear selection. “It feels like the rear tire grips the ground with every thump,” Dudek said. “I can be lazy with shifting and it still comes alive right off the bottom.” The flip side is when you let revs rise, and the KTM breathes fire on top.
The Super Duke is also very nimble in turns, nearly to a fault, as Orr discovered. “This bike’s chassis is very responsive to brake or throttle action. It will stand up in the turn on acceleration or tuck in with a hinge feel on braking,” Orr said. While I didn’t find the handling disconcerting, I pride myself in having a fluid technique. Of course, there’s also the softer throttle response of Street mode if needed.
Due to tall gearing and less torque output, the Tuono requires more frequent use of the gearbox. Not such a bad trait, though, since its soul-stirring exhaust note and slick quickshift action rival the exhilaration of squeezing off a clip of M16 rounds. Handling is sharp, precise, and fully track ready with its added degree of chassis tautness and stability, particularly at high speed. While the brakes lack initial bite, there’s plenty of power with a firm squeeze on the lever. The electronics were the most difficult to set quickly, but it’s worth pointing out the added level of adjustment the Tuono offers: eight-level TC, three-level wheelie control, and three-level ABS, each of which can be tweaked within the trio of power-delivery maps.
As the good roads unfolded and the miles piled up, the S1000R began to elicit a pleasant kind of confusion. “The BMW offers the luxury. Wait, I mean performance. Okay, maybe both,” Orr enthused. It’s not surprising, given that the S1000R borrows its sport-oriented tech from the stellar HP4. On-the-fly selection of four ride modes (Dynamic Pro, Dynamic, Road, and Rain) instantly affects throttle response, traction control, wheelie control, ABS/anti-rear-lift, and DDC. Another bar switch toggles among Hard, Normal, and Soft DDC settings.
On this particular stretch of road I liked a Dynamic Mode/Hard DDC combo. The direct throttle response combined with modest TC/anti-wheelie intervention allowed just enough corner-exit drama to make me feel like a hero without risk of taking it too far.
“This bike rocks!” Orr said. “It’s faster than heck, but you can use the power it has. The traction control is well dialed in, and in the right mode you can drop the hammer and it delivers that power straight to the ground.” Dudek picked it as his favorite as well, citing its superior comfort and handling. By the time I had descended the mountain on my final stint and spilled onto Interstate-15, the decision was unanimous. Giving the BMW two thumbs-up, I switched to Road Mode, Soft DDC, flicked on the heated grips to low, and set the cruise control for the smooth drone home.
Vintage Motorcycles aka Café Racer
The term café racer developed among British motorcycle enthusiasts of the early 1960s, specifically the Rocker (or ton-up boy) subculture. The term describes a style of motorcycle for quick rides from one “transport café”or coffee bar to another. Cafe Racers were also common in Italy, France and other European countries.
In 1973, US freelance writer Wallace Wyss, contributing to Popular Mechanics magazine, asserted the term café racer was originally used in Europe as a “put-down” toward riders who pretended to be road racers but instead only parked outside cafés.
The café racer is a light and lightly powered motorcycle that has been modified for speed and handling rather than comfort. The bodywork and control layout of a café racer typically mimicked the style of a contemporary Grand Prix roadracer, featuring an elongated fuel tank, often with dents to allow the rider’s knees to grip the tank, low slung racing handlebars, and a single-person, elongated, humped seat.
A signature trait was the use of low, narrow handlebars that allowed the rider to “tuck in” — a posture with reduced wind resistance and better control. These handlebars, known as “clip-ons” (two-piece bars that bolt directly to each fork tube), “clubmans” or “ace bars” (one piece bars that attach to the standard mounting location but drop down and forward). The ergonomics resulting from low bars and the rearward seat often required “rearsets”, or rear-set footrests and foot controls, again typical of racing motorcycles of the era. Distinctive half or full race-style fairings were sometimes mounted to the forks or frame.
The bikes had a utilitarian, stripped-down appearance, engines tuned for maximum speed and lean, light road handling. The well-known example was “The Triton”, a homemade combination of Norton Featherbed frame and Triumph Bonneville engine. It used a common and fast racing engine combined with a well-handling frame, the Featherbed frame by Norton Motorcycles. Those with less money could opt for a “Tribsa”—the Triumph engine in a BSA frame. Other combinations such as the “Norvin” (a Vincent V-Twin engine in a Featherbed frame) and racing frames by Rickman or Seeley were also adopted for road use.
Café racer styling evolved throughout the time of their popularity. By the mid-1970s, Japanese bikes had overtaken British bikes in the marketplace, and the look of real Grand Prix racing bikes had changed. The hand-made, frequently unpainted aluminium racing fuel tanks of the 1960s had evolved into square, narrow, fibreglass tanks. Increasingly, three-cylinder Kawasaki two-strokes, four-cylinder four-stroke Kawasaki Z1, and four-cylinder Hondas were the basis for café racer conversions. By 1977, a number of manufacturers had taken notice of the café racer boom and were producing factory café racers, most notably the Harley-Davidson XLCR.
In the mid-1970s, riders continued to modify standard production motorcycles into so-called “café racers” by simply equipping them with clubman bars and a small fairing around the headlight. A number of European manufacturers, including Benelli, BMW, Bultaco and Derbi produced factory “café” variants of their standard motorcycles in this manner, without any modifications made to make them faster or more powerful.
2015 Audi RS6 Refreshed Super Wagon in Paris
In one of his most recent interviews Audi of America president Scott Keogh said his favorite German machine is the RS6, a model which he can’t own or sell to other customers in the US. That’s high praise from a top official, so when we noticed an RS6 facelift model on show in Paris, we knew we had to take a second look.
In one of his most recent interviews Audi of America president Scott Keogh said his favorite German machine is the RS6, a model which he can’t own or sell to other customers in the US. That’s high praise from a top official, so when we noticed an RS6 facelift model on show in Paris, we knew we had to take a second look.
The RS6 is a performance flagship of the A6 range and boasts similar acceleration numbers to an R8 V10. Just like the rest of A6 family, it has received cosmetic updates for the 2015 model year which affect mainly the headlights and taillights of the vehicle.
The biggest change is at the front, where the wave pattern in the headlight unit is replaced by double white lines. The famous Matrix LED technology from the A8 has been adapted for use in the RS6. It works by dimming individual light beams in order not to blind oncoming traffic while giving you maximum visibility.
If we were to be all metaphorical about it, what Audi has done is to take its heavy hammer and add a bit of end to make it into a halberd. Perhaps that’s a stretch of the imagination on our part, but then so is a wagon like this.
In the absence of the much-rumored RS6 Plus model, the output of the 4.0 TFSI engine remains limited to “only” 560 horsepower. Available only with n eight-speed auto and quattro all-wheel drive, this propels the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 305 km/h (189.5 mph) on models that have been unrestricted.
The only major change brought about under the bonnet is that fuel consumption has been lowered from 9.8 liters per 100 kilometers down to just 9.6 seconds, this being partly due to the new EU6 regulations that are coming into affect.
Prices in Germany start at €108,900, making this one of the most expensive Audis you can buy. However, the equivalent Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG with 4Matic starts at €121,380, so the RS6 isn’t that bad.
The beautiful Misano Red Pearl RS6 we saw in Paris is by no means standard. In fact Audi has thrown a couple of tens of thousands of euros in options, including a variety of carbon fiber spoilers, skirts and diffusers. Expensive, but stunning!
[via Autoevolution.com]
MANX TT: TEN THINGS YOU (MIGHT NOT) KNOW
1. The Isle of Man TT began in 1907, after a law was cleared in 1904 that allowed roads to be closed for the Gordon Bennett car trials.
2. When the race first started practice sessions used to take place in the early morning with regular traffic. Charlie Collier and Rem Fowler were the two winners of the then two-class race (single and double).
3. The BBC started broadcasting the race live after the second world war.
Eric P Glasper ’72
4. The current course is 37.73 miles (six laps) which was adopted in 1920, though the original course (known as St. John’s course) was under half this at 15.6 miles. There was also a course called the Clypse Course for Sidecar, Ultra Lightweight and Lightweight race. It was first used in 1954 and was 10.79 miles long.
5. The TT route is scattered with memorials to the various riders who have been killed or injured during the gruelling race. In 1970 alone 6 riders were killed and in its history it has taken 223 lives.
6) In 1977 the race lost its world championship title, due to safety reasons, though continued as an opportunity for any road race enthusiasts to make their mark, including John Mc Guinness who took 15 wins, Phil “Hizzy” Hislop who took 11 and Phillip McCallen who took 11
Dunlop 1982
7 The ‘King of the Road’, Joey Dunlop OBE MBE is undoubtedly the most decorated rider that the TT has seen, with a total of 26 wins. His first win was in 1977 and he has gained titles such as: “7 Formula 1, 4 Senior, 3 Junior, 5 Lightweight and 5 UltraLightweight Races, plus the 1977 Jubilee Race and the 1980 Classic 1000”. He is also the only rider in history to have 3 hat-tricks to his name- “1985 F1, Senior and Junior, 1988 F1, Senior and Junior and in 2000 the Formula One, Lightweight and Ultra Lightweight.” In 2002 the 26th Milestone was renamed “Joey’s” in his memory.
8 The race was cancelled in 2001 due to a Britain-wide outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease.
9 The fastest ever lap was set by John McGuinness riding a 1000 HM Plant Honda in 2007 in the Senior TT, clocking 17m 21.99s at a speed of 130.354mph. This lap time also lead him to take the fastest race time of 1hr 11m 56.29s. In 2007, the centenary of the event all but 1 category for both lap and race records were shattered.
10 The 2009 race saw John McGuinness destroy his previous lap record in the Senior TT category riding a Honda CBR1000R with a time of 17’12.30 and an average speed of 131.578 mph.
2009 also saw the first zero-emissions race with 15 all-electric bikes.
Ducati 1977
CLOSER TO THE EDGE
Whatever you think of the ethical whys and wherefores of the Isle of Man TT, hold tight until 22 April, when the the 3D documentary Closer to the Edge will hit screens all over the UK.
It focuses on self-style maverick Guy Martin and his love of Road Racing – and examines the motivations, action and consequences of some of the most dangerous racing ever taken on by man and machine.
Not having seen the film at time of writing we can’t really comment – but we’ve always been of the opinion that danger is an inherent and wholly understood aspect of motor racing of all kinds.
As long as there are roads and machines, men and women are going to want to race them – no matter what the consequences.
Look out for the movie. It’s bound to be a worthwhile watch.
You must be logged in to post a comment.