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10 hours with the new zx-10r

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Kawasaki claim the new ZX-10R is the lightest, fastest litre-bike you can buy. Matt rides one through day and night in Qatarwords: Matt wildee pics: Double Red

First ride Kawasaki ZX-10R

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10 hours with the new zx-10r

A million watts of man-made light is burning day into the Qatari night. An oasis in the black of the desert, the second biggest floodlit sports complex in the world is a monument to Arab excess. Impressive, but like most things in Qatar there is no genius here – throw enough money at something in this oil-rich Emirate and success sort of happens.

But the bike on the track is different – it is inspired. Developed over the last three years, Kawasaki’s new ZX-10R is simply the most advanced Japanese sportsbike that there has ever been. And it’s fast. Insanely fast.

This the first truly all-new ZX-10R since the bike was originally launched in 2004. With a brand-new, high-revving engine which Kawasaki says makes just under 200bhp, a 600-sized chassis and an electronics package designed to usurp the likes of the BMW S1000RR, the design brief was to create a bike that could be ridden very quickly, very easily.

And in that it succeeds. The first time I get to ride the ZX-10R is a single, rushed lap attempting to follow Kawasaki WSB rider Tom Sykes. It’s the kind of thing bike manufacturers like to do at launches and although it makes for a nice picture, usually serves no real purpose. Except this time. I rode at Qatar during the launch of the previous ZX-10R, but that was three years ago, and in that time I’ve forgotten every corner. And now I’m supposed to stay with a WSB rider to relearn the track...

Of course Tom isn’t even cruising, and I’m miles out of my depth, but the ZX-10R forgives my hamfisted attempts to go too fast, too soon on an unfamiliar track. This is a bike that feels so right, so confidence-inspiring that knee down at the first corner seems entirely normal. By the end of the lap I’m duffing the pegs too, mistakenly piling into a second gear corner mid-way though third. The Kawasaki just leans and leans and shrugs it all off, even when carrying loads of front brake. Remarkable. In those first three miles I deserve to crash at least three times. And every time the combination of the S-KTRC traction control and the composure of the Showa BPF forks saves me.

On Bridgestone BT-003 race tyres and with suspension adjusted for the track the ZX-10R has one of the best litre-bike chassis – neutral, progressive and full of feel, it lets you chip away at your personal limits without fear of exceeding the bike’s. The traction control system manages power with such efficiency that it’s impossible not to get giddy, opening the throttle harder and harder, revelling in the intense drive out of every corner.

Sykes rolls into the pits and I follow. He rides off with another journo. Back in the pits and I’m alone with the bike. The 2011 bike is a very different proposition to last year’s machine. For one, it’s much smaller. The frontal area seems no different from that of a ZX-6R, and it is lower too – the seat is 17mm closer to the ground. Yet with lower, adjustable pegs it doesn’t feel any more cramped.

The level of detail is high. The swingarm, with its multiple castings and cutaways for controlled flex, is simply a work of art. The faired-in rear LED indicators are like that of no other bike. The treatment of the stubby exhaust, with its now-obligatory catalyser colostomy box, makes the

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Obsession Yamaha R1

One part inspiration to nine parts dedication, Jase Elphick’s M1 tribute is a stun ning example of what happens when you get the bike-building formula spot on

Wheels Galespeed magnesium wheels are just 3mm thick and weigh around 4kgs

Tail uniTHours of graft went into making this accept underseat cans

nikko Racing g-PackClever module that removes the factory-fitted 186mph limit and boosts bhp, but does sacrifice the use of your clocks

words: Emma Franklin pics: paul Bryant

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One part inspiration to nine parts dedication, Jase Elphick’s M1 tribute is a stun ning example of what happens when you get the bike-building formula spot on

Hydrogen; the most abundant element in the universe. Bumping around infinity, combining with other molecules, giving life and shaping mass. However in a

garage-sized corner of the cosmos, just outside Birmingham, Hydrogen didn’t get a look in. Jason

Elphick’s stunning R1/M1 replica has been forged by pure enthusiasm.

Pulling open the garage door Jason’s zeal for bikes explodes out like a multi-coloured

supernova. Spectrums of leathers, flags, posters and helmets line the densely-packed space; a space crammed with

memorabilia and bikes of all types. And at the centre sits his immaculate self-built

2004 Yamaha R1 M1 Rossi replica.

FRONT eNd Delicious AP Racing radial calipers sit at the end of Ohlins Road Race suspension

Quick acTiONAccossato throttle unleashes big bhp in just 75˚

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‘61... 62... 63mph...

Back in the day all you needed to make your 125 go faster was a dodgy powervalve and a big file. Then they went four-stroke. So now how do you get big speed from a 125?

ack in the day, when we were young, it was easy to extract triple figure speeds from a 125. Two-stroke fumes mingled with the greasy aroma from the portion of chips shoved up your jacket, as the quivering speedo needle edged ever closer to the magic ton. Head buried in the tank, acid-wash jeans frantically flapping in the breeze, chips getting progressively colder. 125s of the 80s and 90s were genuine scaled-down performance machines. Factory-built to zing-out 30 or so bhp from rev-crazy two stroke engines, then mechanically

strangled to satisfy UK learner licensing. Fortunately for us, those restrictions were simple to remove, meaning full power and genuine sports performance was just a snip of a wire or an abandoned washer away. Oh how the A&E departments swelled.

Fast forward 20 years and the 125s of today are a different prospect. Pressure from environ-mentalists mean today’s 125s are more about frugality than fun. Sure, four-bangers like the Derbi GPR125 and our Yamaha YZF-R125 tick all the boxes in the looks and chassis department, but lack the engine excitement that 125s of years gone by had, not to mention the fact there’s very little scope for derestriction. Sad times.

But it raised a question here in the PB office. Just what would it take to get a modern sports 125 up to unrestricted performance of its two-dinger ancestors? We went on a nostalgic mission to find out...

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3600 garages Best GearOur bikes Project 955i How to Rated kit

project yamaha yZF125r

Project 125

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‘61... 62... 63mph...

Back in the day all you needed to make your 125 go faster was a dodgy powervalve and a big file. Then they went four-stroke. So now how do you get big speed from a 125?

Best Gear

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WSB...in detail

Words: Roland Brown Pics: StudioZac

World SuperBikeS

Suzuki GSX-R1000P69

Kawasaki ZX-10RP67

Honda FirebladeP65

Ducati 1198P63

BMW S1000RRP61

Aprilia RSV4P58

The factory WSB machines are the planet’s fastest and finest production bikes: 200bhp jewels dripping with unobtainable, hand-crafted parts. This is what they’re like under the skin

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PURPOSE BUILTThe RSV4’s infinitely adjustable chassis is still the trickest in World Superbikes. Main change for 2010 was to move the petrol tank lower and rearwards in the standard twin-spar frame. A new swingarm increased torsional rigidity. Öhlins supplied MotoGP style through-rod forks. “They’re harder to set up but when they’re working well they’re really good,” said Martinelli

5 FINELY TUNEDHaving got the frame’s swingarm pivot and engine mount locations set, Aprilia barely touched them all season

6 ROMAN’S NOSEThe RSV4’s sharply styled fairing helped Max and Lanky Leon set an unbeatable straight-line pace

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5 3 DREAM PIPEFitting a revised Akrapovic exhaust early in the season gave the V4 a midrange power boost

4 FLYING HIGHC’mon Aprilia, celebrate the title by giving us an RSV4 R in that Alitalia paint scheme, please

WSB in detail

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Aprilia RSV4There was an inevitability about the way Aprilia won their first World Supers title in only the RSV4’s second season. The key elements were all in place. The compact, 65-degree V4 was the fastest bike all year, clocked at a whisker over 205mph at Monza. It handled well almost everywhere, thanks to a chassis of supreme adjustability and race readiness. And in Max Biaggi, excitingly if erratically backed up by Leon Camier, Aprilia had a fast and experienced rider who barely made a mistake all season.

Visually there’s almost no difference between this bike and the RSV4 on which Biaggi scored nine podiums and one win on the way to fourth in its debut season. “We didn’t change much but we made it better everywhere, in small steps,” said Camier’s crew chief Lele Martinelli. “The balance was better this season; we didn’t need to change much between one circuit and the next.”

That compact and awesomely powerful V4 was improved still further: “Just small things, the most important was anti-friction treatment,” said Martinelli. “The rev limit was 15,000rpm, which is 500rpm more than last year. Power is more than last year’s 215bhp, it’s difficult to say but maybe five per cent more at some revs.” Let’s say at least 220bhp, then.

Last year the all-new RSV4’s multi-

adjustable chassis sparked complaints from rival teams, this year the moans centred on a high-pressure fuel-injection system and geared camshaft drive that are banned for next season. “The others are going to have a bad surprise because here we used a 2011 spec engine with standard fuel pump and injection system, and standard cam drive,” said Martinelli at Magny Cours, where Biaggi took his tenth and final victory. It’s going to take a heroic effort to prevent him retaining that title.

MAXED POTENTIALBiaggi had the fastest bike and got the best out of it too, putting together a brilliantly consistent season to add the WSB crown to his four 250cc titles. The Italian won ten of the 26 races, including a mid-season burst of six in eight, to take the championship with a round to spare. Leon Camier will be looking to get closer to his team-mate in 2011, when Biaggi starts as favourite again

1 SMARTIE POWERButtons on left clip-on regulate both traction control and engine braking: blue = more, red = less

2 COOL SPAGHETTIWorks RSV4’s sophisticated electronics helped Biaggi win the title, then formed the basis for the APRC wizardry that looks like making the Factory Special Edition next year’s hottest streetbike

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Main test Cheap exotica

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If you’ve got any sense, which of course you have or you wouldn’t be reading PB, you probably ride a fairly recent mainstream sportsbike, bought after

careful consideration of the alternatives. It’s reliable, efficient, fast, sweet-handling and, all things considered, not too expensive to run. No reason, then, to hanker after a flighty, over-priced, limited edition piece of designer metal that’s probably going to be nothing but trouble from day one. No reason at all.

Doesn’t stop you though, does it? Certainly doesn’t stop us, which is why we’ve gathered an eclectic selection of drool-worthy exotica to see what they’re really like. Crucially, they’re all old enough to have left behind the initial heady rush of depreciation that inevitably follows this kind of big-ticket purchase, but they’re still special enough to have been pampered a bit (hopefully) and not to have accumulated big miles. That means they’re down towards prices us mortals can

contemplate, but it also means you have to be a bit careful what you’re buying, as we shall see over the next few pages.

MV Agusta’s F4 is an obvious choice – early ones are now surprisingly affordable. The Ducati 749R pretty much defines the idea of exotic – rare and dripping with choice upgrades. Bimota’s SB6R is from a different generation, but it’s still got a lot going for it. Any one of them will attract a crowd wherever it’s parked, but what are they like to ride?

precious metal

Words: Kev Raymond Pics: Rory Game

Why choose an ordinary bike when extraordinary exotica like these dream machines can be had for ordinary prices?

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One of the useful things about being an old fossil is the ability to recognise the worth of another old fossil when you bump into one. Bimotas and I come from the same layer of primordial sediment, the days when the Japanese factories were very good at building engines but hadn’t yet worked out how to make them go round corners. In those distant dark days firms like Moto Martin, Bakker and Harris made a decent living transplanting those great engines into stiff, hand-crafted frames, with Bimota being the last word in exotic Italian flair. They started out with the gorgeous Honda CB750-powered HB1 and went on to build iconic takes on the GS750 and Kawasaki Z1, as well as building serious race bikes good enough to win world championships and, later, the odd but incredibly innovative Tesi range.Spec Top speed: 166mph 0-60: 3.46s Power: 121.94bhp Torque: 72.6lb.ft Weight: 190kg

Wheelbase: 1400mm Rake/trail: 24°/ 96mm Fuel capacity: 22L Seat height: 800mm

Bimota SB6RNever judge a Bimota by its a cover

Main test Cheap exotica

Buying oneTargeT priceDealer £6000TargeT pricePrivate £5000

The techengine The SB6R uses Suzuki’s 1993 GSX-R1100WT engine (hence the name, which stands for Suzuki Bimota collaboration number 6) with a 1074cc capacity. Rather than try a fuel injection system, Bimota stuck with Suzuki’s 4 x 40mm Milkui carbs, however the company did decide to add its own cams and underseat exhaust system, gaining a claimed 12bhp. They didn’t see fit to add a sixth gear, however.SuSpenSion/brakeS As you would expect from a Bimota the SB6R runs the very best suspension and brakes of its day. The Paioli 46mm forks are fully adjustable with the sliders made of an aluminium and carbon fibre composite, while the Ohlins shock is horizontally slung. Four-piston Brembos grip 320mm fully-floating discs.chaSSiS This is what Bimota built its reputation around. The aluminium alloy beam frame runs in as straight a line as possible from the headstock to the swingarm pivot for maximum strength while the sub-frame is carbon fibre and fully self-supporting. The swingarm is also made of aluminium and has the Bimota logo embossed in its side.

pRice new £17,460 pRice now £5000

None of which cuts any ice with John (“God damn, that Bimota’s fugly.”) or Kev Smith (“It looks like it was designed by Rickman in the Eighties.”). They’ve got no handle on what the name means to those of us who were brought up on a diet of old Seventies Jap fours.

To start with, this one didn’t run at all, courtesy of a flat battery. Or rather, batteries – they sit in the nose-cone, under the clocks, which is a bit weird (it’s partly to do with Bimota being obsessed with a 50/50 weight distribution) but at least makes connecting jump leads a doddle. Once fired up it ran rough. A sniff in the tank confirmed ancient, degraded fuel, and a fresh helping of unleaded followed by a couple of romps up and down the rev range soon had it back on song.

Kev and John are careful not let the MV and Ducati’s keys out of their sight so I end up on the Bimota for the first thrash – a boring bit of dual cabbageway followed by some fast, rolling A and B-road madness. By the time we get to the first fag-and-photo break, I’m looking forward to handing over the Bimota to one of the others. Not because I don’t like it, but because I’m looking forward to seeing their reactions once they’ve actually ridden it...

“I know I haven’t ridden it yet, but I’ve got absolutely no desire to,” moans Kev.

Fast forward to the next stop: “It’s really nice! I fully expected to hate it but I don’t. The seat’s only there to stop you falling through the middle though – it’s certainly not comfortable.” Actually Kev, by Bimota standards that bit of

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The highest quality components still work brilliantly if set-up well

plank there is pure bloody luxury. “It’s a bit cramped, not because the pegs are high but because the seat’s low. You could get away with adding loads of extra padding, which would help a lot. But it steers brilliantly, really smoothly straight to full lean. It’s nicely balanced; when you pick it up off the sidestand you can really feel the weight’s concentrated in the middle. It’s gone up in my estimation. Am I going mad? Suddenly it even looks prettier...”

It’s certainly striking in its non-standard bright yellow. Johnny was equally impressed, if less verbal about it. “ I like that...,” he said, in between puffs. “For a big, heavy bus it turns well – it shouldn’t but it does. The tyres help get the best out of it.” He’s right – it’s sitting on pukka Diablo Corsa IIIs which suit it perfectly,

It’s not perfect of course. The sidestand’s useless and it’s not exactly the most practical thing in the world. But it has so much potential. The suspension’s excellent and the brakes and chassis are way ahead of their time. The motor’s an old-school grunt-meister which would be annihilated in a head-to-head with a modern GSX-R1000, but it works on the road. And of course there’s a wealth of tuning parts and expertise out there to turn it into a very different beast indeed - think big bore 1300+cc with 160-odd horses and enough torque to uproot trees. Nice. Back to reality, and the Bimota suddenly starts dropping down onto three cylinders. It’s intermittent, and presumably something trifling like a loose connector somewhere, but it’s too late to do anything about it today. “It’s a shame,” says Kev. “But not unexpected.” What was unexpected is that it was challenging the others at all. Find a half-decent one, give it a thorough fettling, and you’ll have a timeless modern classic that’ll still keep up with pretty much anything on the road.

‘The Bimota’s suspension, brakes and

chassis are ahead of their time.’

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Owning Honda VTR1000SP-2

What no dinky winkers or anodised bobbins? NO! This SP2 was upgraded solely for going, stopping and turning

evolution of the species

I haven’t had any time to give it a proper clean,” Adam Cooper said as he lifted the dust sheet off his 2004 Honda SP2.

Which left me wondering what he meant by “proper”; has he found a way of polishing grease, or was that a speck of dirt I spotted on a valve cap?

He’s a thorough man and the owner of two Honda V twins – the SP2 featured here and, at the back of the garage, an SP1 track day bike.

Adam likes slow, steady improvement in both his bikes and his riding. He started out on a scooter at the age of 16 but moved to a car as soon as he passed his test.

“I didn’t want to mess around with a 33bhp bike for two years.”He returned to bikes at 21 via Direct Access and bought himself a

Suzuki SV650 which took him quickly enough through a couple of years riding until it was time to move up.

“I tried everything: GSXR1000 K5, a Ducati 999 R1, older style Aprilia Mille, an R1 an under seat exhaust Fireblade. I liked the Fireblade but when I rode the SP2, I knew that was it.”

And so it has been since 2005 and as far into the future as he can see at the moment, although we did discuss the possibility of a BMW S1000RR for a few minutes...

Over the last five years Adam has modified the 2004 bike into the precisely sorted device you see here.

“There are no mods that do not make it stop, go or turn better.”The first change was to go down a tooth on the front sprocket.“It struggled to pull sixth gear at 70 and I got fed up with having to

slip the clutch to pull away.” A couple of track days getting nailed down the straights by the likes

Adam Cooper has created his perfect road bike and quite possibly the most sorted SP2 in the UK. Here’s why the one-mod-at-a-time approach is best...

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evolution of the species

Words: Jim Lindsay Pics: Rory Game