Wahid Ooi, Author at BikesRepublic.com

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Wahid Ooi

Motorcycle Maintenance: What are the Most Replaced on a Motorcycle?

Motorcycle ownership means maintenance.
Maintain your bike properly and it will last for a long time.
But what the most replaced within every year?

Own a motorcycle and you have to keep maintenance in mind. Motorcycle maintenance is so much easier these days as parts and consumables last longer and are more reliable. That reliability means technicians only need to perform “big” maintenance jobs between longer intervals.

But what needs to be replaced the most frequently? Let’s looks at those items that generally fall within a single year of ownership.

1. Engine oil

The most obvious consumable that needs replacing. Oil change intervals can vary from motorcycle to motorcycle and the type of oil you use. Always check your user’s manual to confirm.

Mechanics usually recommend replacing semi-synthetics oils at 3,000 km and fully-synthetics oils at 5,000 km. However, there are manufacturers who recommend oil changes at 8,000- or 12,000 km depending on the recommended grade.

2. Spark plugs

Current iridium spark plugs need to replaced between 10,000 to 12,000 km, depending on the manufacturer’s recommendation. Of course, modern spark plugs are so good that they keep running even after 50,000 km but fuel economy and performance suffers. The degradation is progressive and you don’t even notice it.

3. Fork oil

There are still many disputes about how often you should replace fork oil. Some manufacturers don’t even publish the interval in the user’s manual. It’s sad to say that fork oil is the most neglected consumable on a motorcycle.

Through personal experience, we replace it between 20,000 to 25,000 km.

The forks move up at down like the pistons in the engine do, albeit slower. That movement squishes the oil through orifices in the fork piston or cartridge to convert kinetic energy to heat. Hence the oil will definitely break down in time.

Do not wait until you see it starting to leak because you may not be sure how much has leaked out. Also, do replace the seals.

4. Brake pads

Brake pads slow you bike down by clamping down on the spinning brake disc, converting kinetic energy (movement) to heat.

The rate of wear depends on how you apply your brakes, from how fast, type of material riding condition (highway, dirt, rain) so there’s no set mileage. As such, you ought to check them at least once a week when you inflate your tyres. (You do check your tyre pressure right?)

5. Final drive i.e. chain, belt, driveshaft

The final drive is also one of the most neglected part. All types need to be kept clean, but the chain is the most maintenance intensive. Do clean and lubricate it after riding through a rain storm or after riding for 400 km.

Again, depending on how you ride, maintain and type of chain you use, a good set should last you around 30 to 40,000 km. I’ve personally seen a poorly maintained chain with their broken rubber rings sticking out after just 8,000 km. Not only did he never cleaned it, but he never once lubed it, as well.

6. Battery

Modern batteries are really lasting provided that they are well-maintained. The common AGM (absorbent glass mat) maintenance battery could last approximately 2 years or if certain steps were taken since new. A new battery has to be charged after filling the acid, and plugged into a trickle charger during extended downtime. Also, the bike’s charging system shouldn’t undercharge or overcharge it.

An incorrectly activated or maintained battery can go kaput within 8 months to 1 year.

Kawasaki First to Adopt Bosch Advanced Rider Assistance Systems

Kawasaki will be the first to fully adopt the Bosch Advanced Rider Assistance Systems.
The suite of systems helps to ensure safe following system, avoid forward collision and provide blind spot warning.
Which model has not been revealed.

There were intense speculation that the Ducati Multistrada 1260 Grand Tour or new KTM 1290 Super Adventure would debut advanced rider systems. But it turned out that Kawasaki will be the first to adopt the Bosch Advanced Rider Assistance Systems.

The Multistrada 1260 Grand Tour was unveiled at the Ducati World Premiere 2019 while the KTM 1290 Super Adventure wasn’t ready for EICMA 2019. Now it’s said the 2021 Multistrada V4 and the upcoming KTM will feature such systems.

Kawasaki has since announced that one of their models will feature the Bosch Advance Rider Assistance Systems. The set of electronics include Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), forward collision warning and blind spot detection. The system was adopted from Advanced Driver Assistance Systems for cars.

According to Bosch, the three systems are active at all times, scanning for potential hazards. We can agree that our attention can sometimes be distracted or get lulled into a sense of contempt.

The system is fed by data from a pair of mid-range radars up front and behind the bike. With the cruise control activated the ACC will have the bike maintain a safe distance to the vehicle in front.

As for the forward collision warning system, it will detect brake lights on the vehicle up ahead and warns the rider with a visual as well as aural cues.

Blind spot detection works like in some upscale cars by inserting a warning light in the rearview mirror. (A great feature for sportbikers.)

Kawasaki did not mention which model will feature these new systems, but our guess is the new 1400GTR since it’s a sport-tourer and the Euro 5-compliant model hasn’t been revealed yet.

BMW C 400 X, BMW C 400 GT Test & Review — “Changing Perceptions”

The BMW C 400 X and BMW C 400 GT are part of BMW Motorrad’s Urban Mobility lineup.
They are well equipped with the TFT screen, Bluetooth connectivity, Keyless Ride, ASC and ABS.
Sure, they are scooters but they ride like big bikes hiding underneath the bodywork.

Scooters. Lovely bikes to ride as commuters, low fuel consumption, lots of cargo space. But iffy handling, lowly specs and “meh” performance. Right? But what about the BMW C 400 X and BMW C 400 GT?

Now, this dynamic duo are really different in almost every single way. Hear us out.

BMW C 400 Platform

BMW Motorrad calls their scooters “Urban Mobility.” The C 400 lineup are the smallest of the C-series which includes the larger (and faster) C 650 range.

Both are powered by the 350cc, single-cylinder engine which produces 34 bhp at 7,500 RPM and 35 Nm of torque at 6,000 RPM. Power is sent through a centrifugal clutch and finally a stepless CVT transmission.

The forks are 35 mm units with double spring struts at the rear. But there are two 265 mm brake discs up front and one at the back. Wheelbase is a slightly long 1565 mm. ABS and ASC (Automatic Stability Control i.e. traction control) are standard on both bikes.

That large TFT screen takes centre stage when you approach either bike. Look closer and you’d pick out the keyless ignition button, keyless fuel cap and BMW multi-controller wheel.

The TFT can connect to your phone and Bluetooth communicator.

This is where it gets interesting. You can have navigation on the TFT screen when connected to the BMW Connect app on your phone, showing you turn-by-turn directions.

Switching to the multimedia screen, you can see the music that’s playing through it. From there, you could use the multifunction wheel on the handlebar to play, pause, choose the song, and even playlist. Only problem was we couldn’t get the karaoke function to work. Just kidding.

Now flip it to the phone function and you’d see your phone’s contacts. Select the person you want to call and voila.

Sure, these functions are available on bigger bikes, too but no other scooter outside of BMW’s line-up do.

BMW C 400 X (from RM 44,500)

The C 400 X is designed for daily commuting. That explains its distinctive “cut down” look for easy manoeuvring through city traffic and narrow streets.

Compared to the C 400 GT, the “X” has a flyscreen, thinner seats and minimal bodywork. The headlamp looks similar to the R 1250 GS’s while the tail section looked like it was tacked on although it shares the G 310 R’s design.

It weighs 204 kg fully fuelled and ready to go. But it could still carry 201 kg of payload! That means if you and your passenger weigh a total of 150 kg, you could still load 51 kg of luggage onto the bike. What is this? A GS?

But it’s a scooter, right? Yes, until you ride it.

Twisting the throttle the first time, I gave it a wristful like I would on other scooters and small bikes. The bike just took off down the road so fast I thought I was going to blow past the intersection and into the Oldtown White Coffee’s lobby up ahead. Whoa boy!

A two fingered pull on the front and rear brakes brought the bike to a complete stop as quickly as a big bike on Brembo brakes. I kid you not.

Approaching the sweeper after the fire station at Cyberjaya, I slowed well down as I feared that the handlebar may wag back and forth, besides grounding the bodywork like on other scooters. Surprise, surprise. The handlebar stayed steady as if it has a steering damper (it doesn’t) and there was a huge amount of ground clearance left.

So, I gunned it into the next left-hander which led to highway at much higher speeds. The bike’s low CG-long wheelbase combination actually let the bike hold its line and truly railed through. Again, the handlebar stayed steady. It was as if I was riding a conventional big bike.

We had the opportunity to ride both bikes to a camping trip organised by GIVI Asia (Malaysia) the next day. Running on the highway to GIVI Asia;s HQ at Bukit Beruntung, the C 400 X ran at 130 km/h without feeling like it was going to throw out the piston and rod through the footboard, despite its quoted top speed of 139 km/h.

Y-suku (Yamaha Y15ZR) riders tried to give chase but they soon gave up.

The engine was very economical too, still leaving 2/3 of the 12.8-litre fuel after that 63.3 km blasting.

It was a 137 km ride from GIVI Asia’s HQ at Bukit Beruntung to Lata Lembik in Pahang. Part of the route covered Batang Kali from Ulu Yam Lama to Gohtong Jaya, before descending back down to Genting Sempah. From there it was on the Karak Highway, then through Bentong.

My colleague Amirul was ahead on the C 400 GT, riding with pillion.

Heading up Batang Kali, both of us were constantly snapping at the back wheels of the bigger bikes up ahead. The road was wet but both of us C 400 riders just kept up the pace.

And we still had 2 out of 10 bars of fuel left when we reached our destination.

BMW C 400 GT (from RM 48,500)

We switched bikes later in the week.

It takes on the maxi scooter style for touring, hence the “GT” designation. You get a larger bodywork, and larger and taller windshield for more protection from the elements. The headlamp and taillamp were just as distinctive as the X’s although styled differently.

The seats were felt a little wider and taller due to extra padding. The front panel was style differently and had two lockable cubby holes just like the X’s. There’s a USB connector inside the left compartment for charging devices.

The extra bodywork brings it wet weight to 212 kg, but maximum permissible payload increases to 203 kg.

That’s a far as the difference goes between the two bikes, the rest are based on a shared platform.

The GT has a taller seat height due to the taller seat but I liked the extra comfort it afforded. Riding it out the first time, the lack of windblast was immediately discernible.

But the bike still hoots down the road like the X. The extra comfort was especially appreciated when riding the 60 km daily commute as I didn’t get buffeted by the wind. The windshield was great at stopping rain and water splashed off other vehicles in front.

The GT’s handling was slightly different to X’s due to the higher seat. Although it still tracks through corners, the handlebar did wag around. But as long as the bike headed to where I pointed it, I wasn’t concerned.

Conclusion

The only shortcoming was storage space under the seat. In order to keep the seat low and body narrow, the underseat compartment was shallow. Yes, you could place two jet-type helmets in there, but you couldn’t lay down a laptop backpack. Ah well, a top case will cure this.

Another thing was you have turn on the ignition in order to open the forward storage compartments and seat. We know it was designed as so in the interest of safety, though.

They ain’t exactly cheap but if you are the type who loves scooters, they are truly worth your hard-earned money.

We loved the C 400 X and C 400 GT. Both actually surprised us at how good they were as scooters… er… Urban Mobility vehicles. Maybe that’s why BMW Motorrad doesn’t call them scoots.

Now Our Malaysian Rider Loses Bike in London

A Malaysian rider lost his bike in London.
The city was his last stop after reaching a other destinations.
We wish him the best and hope he has a way out soon.

A Malaysian rider who aimed to ride around the world lost his bike in London recently.

Paul Wong began his solo ride on 28th September to various destinations and London was his last stop. He parked his BMW S 1000 XR sport-tourer in front of a restaurant before it went missing, believed to have been stolen.

The red coloured bike bears Malaysian number plates, with a doll dog attached to the rearview mirror.

We hope Paul can be reunited with his bike soon or there’s a way for him out of this hardship.

The theft is in contrast with a number of foreign bikes that were tampered with or had their front brake calipers stolen in Malaysia. Brake caliper thefts may be rampant in Malaysia but not entire bikes, especially large capacity bikes.

It’s the reverse in London where motorcycle theft is an epidemic. The local police has got their hands full in trying to stamp out the crime, while vigilante groups have cropped up to “assist.” The police and insurance companies have advised motorcycle owners to install GPS trackers on their motorcycles lately.

Perhaps we should install such system in Malaysia soon, too.

Source: Careta.my

Supercharged Norton Superlight SS

The supercharged Norton Superlight SS has been unveiled.
It’s reputed to produce above 150 bhp while weighing only 153 kg.
Only 50 will be produced.

The supercharged Norton Superlight SS is going to turn the middleweight sportbike market on its head.

The small firm had promised a supercharged Superlight SS when they introduced the normally-aspirated Superlight model a year ago, so they are making good on their promises.

At its heart is a 650cc, parallel-twin with a 270-degree crank. Just like the Aprilia RS 660 was based on the RSV4 1100, the engine was actually based on the 1200cc V-four in the V4 SS. The engineers then supercharge the engine on the Superlight SS.

To compensate for the extra weight of the supercharger, the bike receives a carbon fibre frame. As a result, the bike weighs only 153 kg, which is incidentally 5 kg lighter than the base model.

Norton didn’t provide the performance figures, but BikeSocial thinks it should make “something north of 150 bhp.” The base model already produces 105 bhp.

Problem is: Only 50 Norton Superlight SS will be made.

The manufacturer surprised many when they started a crowdfunding call to raise ￡1 million a few days ago. But they’ve since suspended the programme within a couple days after a single investor pledged to shore up that sum. Norton is in good shape but needs some cash to build the pre-ordered bikes including the 1,000 units worth ￡5 million for the Japanese market.

VIDEO: Insane Onboard Video at 2019 Macau Grand Prix

The Macau Grand Prix is run on a road course.
The “track” is narrow and there is no run-off area.
Don’t forget to breath when you watch the video.

Never heard of the Macau Grand Prix? Well, it’s just the most insane track we’ve seen, that’s all.

To get a view of just how mad it all is, here’s the video of Yamaha YZF-R1 rider Horst Saiger chasing multiple Isle of Man TT legend and hard man John McGuiness.

First thing you’d notice the really stomach crunching sense of speed as they blast through a claustrophobic tunnel-like track. Plus, there’s not one single run off.

Next you’d notice the 00:00.00 on the bike’s display. It meant that these guys weren’t even running at full chat yet. It’s probably just an open practice session!

Look closer at the bottom left of the TFT display and you’d pick out the bike’s road speed. There were two sections where they hit corners from 190 km/h to more than 200 km/h.

Now that you can pick out the bike’s speed, watch how hard the bike could accelerate off the corners from 80 km/h to 130 km/h and beyond within a couple of seconds.

And of course, there’s McGuiness who rode the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade. It may not have the top end horsepower but look at how easy it was for him to leave the chasing bike behind in the complex of tighter corners.

Anyway, the race was a total fracas when it was cancelled after just three laps due to a pile-up. The race couldn’t be restarted as clean-up work had to take a long time, and would eat into the time slots for the following car races. Consequently, it was cancelled outright and no result was published.

There was talk of moving it to Sunday but the day was already packed with Formula 3, two World Touring Car races and the FIA GT World Cup’s final race.

Furthermore, the Motorcycle GP riders were out of fresh tyres since they’ve used them up through practice, qualifying and the race.

In the end, the officials decided to publish the results after consulting the rulebook which says red-flagged three-lap race is considered a completion. The race was restarted but just for one lap. Michael Rutter won from his teammate Peter Hickman was was just 0.298 second behind. David Johnson took third. McGuiness couldn’t make the restart due to refuelling problems.

Confirmed: Alex Marquez to Partner Marc Marquez at Repsol Honda for 2020

Alex Marquez is confirmed as Marc Marquez’s part in Repsol Honda for 2020.
It ends speculation that the brothers will be riding in one team.
The seat was left vacant by retiree Jorge Lorenzo.

Prior “wild speculations” of Alex Marquez joining his brother Marc Marquez in the Repsol Honda team for the 2020 MotoGP season has been confirmed.

Younger brother Alex is the 2019 Moto2 champion, while Marc in the eight-time world champion (sixth in MotoGP) including this year.

Alex had long being compared to the exploits of his brother, much like how it was for the Schumacher brother in Formula 1. The younger sibling finally captured his first Moto2 title this year.

However, both Repsol Honda manager Alberto Puig and Marc denied that drafting in Alex was because of the Marquez namesake. Puig had commented earlier that it would be based on merit. Marc Marquez, on the other hand, insisted that he didn’t push Honda to take to Alex.

Speculations were rife as soon as after Jorge Lorenzo announced his retirement from racing, thereby vacating his Repsol Honda seat. There were “talks” of Johann Zarco getting the tap over LCR Honda riders Cal Crutchlow or Takaaki Nakagami but it was not to be, despite the fact that Zarco was a two-time Moto2 champion.

LCR Honda will stick to their current rider line-up for 2020. Despite being a satellite team, Crutchlow is actually under HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) contract, while Nakagami brought in Idemitmu as one of the team’s main sponsors.

That leaves poor Zarco without a seat. His only options are to join Avintia Ducati (which he already said he didn’t want to) or return to Moto2 and take up Alex Marquez’s seat at Marc VDS.

Yamaha MT-15 Spotted in Malaysia

The long-awaited Yamaha MT-15 was spotted in Malaysia recently.
A photo showed the bike being ridden on the North-South Expressway.
The bike may be launched in January 2020.

The long-awaited Yamaha MT-15 was spotted in Malaysia recently.

According to our friends at Pandu Laju, a reader sent in the photos of the bike being ridden on the North-South Expressway. From the picture, we could see that it bears a trade plate and wore no camouflage. It could well be tested for homologation purposes.

Although touted as the MT-25 in their website, our take is that the bike is the MT-15. The photo isn’t clear at all, but there is a piece of bodywork poking out in front of the rider’s right knee. As the MT-25 doesn’t have radiator shrouds (check out the main picture), it narrows down to the MT-15.

Anyway, If it’s indeed going through homologation, it means that we’ll probably see it being launched soon, but most probably in January during the annual Hong Leong Yamaha Dealers’ Convention, usually held at Genting Highlands.

Also evident in the photo are some elements of the bike’s styling. Its rear end and exhaust silencer are carried over from the fully-faired YZF-R15. In fact, the MT-15 is the naked version based on the popular YZF-R15 platform, thereby running the same mechanicals.

We shall see if it’s actually the MT-15 or MT-25 later, but Malaysian motorcycle fans will have something awesome to look forward to next year!

Source and photo: pandulaju.com.my

Exhaust System Pioneer Luigi Termignoni Passes Away

Luigi Termignoni pioneered many exhaust technologies.
They included the first aluminium silencer and titanium full system.
He was 75 years old.

We may see most bikes equipped with Akrapovic and lately SC Project exhaust systems these days, but back in the 90’s, Termignoni was the biggest name, especially on Ducatis. It was the work of one man, Luigi Termignoni who passed away yesterday, aged 75.

Termignoni started out by opening his Ducati, Kawasaki and Honda dealership and workshop in 1969. He became engine tuner for the next 20 years.

By 1971, he bought the first dyne bench to test his products. See the lack of dedicated exhaust systems, he began producing the first for the Kawasaki inline-Four. The first exhausts were handmade.

He began working with Bimota in 1976, creating different systems for different models. By the end of the decade, Termignoni had produced the first ever aluminium silencers.

He company expanded in the early 80’s and the pioneer began working with Honda in their endurance racing efforts. Fred Merkel won the World Superbike Championship in 1988 on a Honda RC30 fitted with a Termignoni exhaust system.

Not only that, his exhausts were seen as the best by the field and almost every factory used them, including the Ducatis, giving them their signature voice. Since then, the company has seen 16 World Superbike Championship, 10 MotoGP, 2 Paris-Dakar Rally and Rally Raid World Championship titles.

Heading into the 90’s, it was Termignoni who pioneered the titanium full system.

Much of his work and innovations have been adapted by other makers. A moment of silence for a great man.

Short-Stroke versus Long-Stroke Engines: Which is Better?

What do long-stroke, short-stroke, oversquare, or undersquare mean?
How do they affect engine performance?
And which is better?

You’ve probably heard of the terms “short-stroke,” “long stroke,” “oversquare.” But what do they mean? How about short-stroke versus long-stroke then?

We always see this in spec sheets:

Bore x Stroke — 78.0 x 53.4 mm (from the Triumph Street Triple RS); or

Bore x Stroke — 76.2 x 96.8 mm (from the Harley-Davidson Sportster 883).

How do they influence engine performance?

What is “bore”?

No, it’s not about Formula 1, although bore figures do apply to their engines, too. Bore is the width of the engine’s cylinder (inside which sits the piston). In other words, how large is the hole when viewed from above.

What is “stroke”?

No, not the medical condition or scoring system in golf. It is the height of the cylinder which the piston travels from BDC (bottom dead centre — the lowest position of the piston) to the TDC (top dead centre – the highest position of the piston).

What is “short-stroke” or “oversquare”?

Refer to the first figures above. So, since the bore is bigger then the length of the stroke, the engine is called “oversquare” or “short-stroke.’

What is “undersquare” and “long-stroke” then?

Now, refer the second figure above. The bore is smaller than the length of the stroke, thereby, the engine is called “long-stroke” or “undersquare.”

Wait, there is another square

Yes, there are engines with identical bore and stroke sizes. These are typically called “square” engines. No, it doesn’t mean mean the pistons are square in shape! Go ahead and laugh because a technical person at a car company told me that a square engine means the pistons are square, as were those in the Suzuki RG500 “Square Four”. He was serious and defended it to the death.

Why do short-stroke/oversquare engines produce more horsepower?

There are two things involved here: One is the combustion chamber’s area and the other is piston speed.

A bigger bore makes the combustion chamber wider, hence it can be fitted with more valves. More valves allow more air-fuel mixture in and exhaust gasses out over a shorter period of time. So, the more fuel-air mixture you can put in and the exhaust gasses extracted, the more power the engine makes.

Secondly, the piston travels a shorter distance, hence its maximum speed called “piston speed” is lower. A lower piston speeds means the engine can be taken to higher revolutions (RPM). The higher the RPM attainable the higher the horsepower.

However, you can’t put in too much air-fuel mixture at lower RPMs as the engine will “choke.” Since the flame travels at fixed speeds, it could burn all the mixture in time to all the ends of the combustion chamber. The combustion will be incomplete, lose power and drivability suffers.

Manufacturers overcome this by installing more than one spark plug to burn the mixture, returning some of the low-end torque. Fuel injection could leaned out but too lean a mixture will again lower engine power and make the engine hot, since there’s less fuel molecules to transfer the heat to.

Why do long-stroke/undersquare engines produce more torque?

Wait just a second there: It doesn’t mean high-revving engine produce less torque. It was certainly true for the old carbureted bikes, but modern bikes with fuel injection do produce high torque as well, albeit at higher RPMs.

Instead, long-stroke engines produce higher torque at lower RPMs. For example, the Sportster produces 73.2 Nm of maximum torque at 3,750 RPM, while the Street Triple produces 78.6 Nm at 9,350 RPM.

A longer-stroke cylinder usually has a narrower combustion chamber. That means it has lesser space for valves. Fewer valves means lesser fuel-air mixture and that puts a limit on power.

A long-stroke also means that the thrust faces of the piston are presented to the cylinder wall for longer periods of time, therefore creating more frictional losses. To overcome this, you need to use a longer conrod, but that only means needing to located the crankshaft lower and makes for a tall engine. The longer conrod will also add to inertia.

However, less air-fuel mixture means quicker combustions at low RPMs, resulting in higher torque at low RPMs.

Also, piston speeds are higher. Piston speed is the test of strength of the piston and connecting rod (conrod) subassembly. Higher speeds, thus inertia, would tear the connection apart. As such, the engine has a lower lower maximum RPM, putting another limit on horsepower.

So, is oversquare or undersquare better?

It depends on what kind of riding you want to do, which boils down the type of bike you want to own.

Oversquare engines are found pretty much on every type of bike other than heavyweight cruisers. The type of engine provides the power for speed. 1000cc superbikes usually have much bigger bores compared to bikes of other categories.

Undersquare engines are used in heavyweight cruisers as the provide the torque to get the mass going and feel relaxed besides saving fuel when riding at highway speeds. Indeed, the Harley-Davidson Milwaukee Eight Big-Twin turns over at only 1,500 RPM at 110 km/h, while the Honda CBR1000RR’s 1000cc inline-four does it at 4,500 RPM. That’s not all, the torque of the Big Twin kicks in instantaneously compared to a superbike’s. You have to ride a sportbike and a Big Twin side-by-side to experience this.

Oversquare is also more popular among manufacturers as it’s easier to increase engine capacity, since widening the bore takes less work than elongating the stroke. Widening the bore only requires “overboring” i.e. cutting away material in the cylinder wall. Elongating the stroke, on the other hand, requires re-dimensioning the piston, conrod, cylinder, engine block, among other things.

One last thing

Please be aware that these the just the basics. Manufacturers have experimented and used many other methods to overcome these advantages and deficiencies. We’ll touch on each, eventually.

Suzuki Turbocharged Bike Still in the Works

New blueprints show evidence of Suzuki continuing to work on a turbocharged bike.
They show how the turbo plus its piping are installed.
It’s a parallel-twin rather than an inline-four.

Remember that Suzuki Recursion concept bike from 2013? It featured a turbocharged 588cc parallel-Twin engine. New blueprints show that the Suzuki turbocharged bike is still in the works.

Suzuki then showed off the XE7 turbocharged engine at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show; replacing the SOHC with a DOHC head.

Anyway, there are new blueprints leaked online recently that shows the engine and turbocharger’s arrangements, so let’s take a look at them.

We noticed the placement of the catalytic convertor (numbered as “50”) is different from normally aspirated bikes since it’s sitting way up right next to the exhaust headers.

Turbocharged engines produce much more heat hence needs bigger radiators. A look from the front sees the top (40) and bottom (41) radiators. They are split in two to provide space for the cat. The turbocharger (3) just peeks through in between the two coolers (radiators).

The third blueprint strips away the radiators and gives a better view of the turbo’s arrangement. “33” is the air intake pipe, while “34” is the high-pressure pipe which routes the high pressure air from the turbo’s compressor to the intercooler, which then links to the throttle bodies.

You can see that the turbo mounts very closely to the exhaust headers. This has the exhaust gasses travelling only a short distance into the turbo’s turbine to reduce lag.

The blueprints do show a complete engine but whether it goes into production is another thing altogether. Seven years (counting 2020) is a long time but it also shows just how difficult it is to develop an entirely new engine what more with a turbo which isn’t exactly a well-developed technology for bikes.

For the record, Suzuki did introduce a turbo bike called the XN85 in 1983. The 673cc engine produced 85 bhp (hence its name), showing that a turbocharged engine makes higher specific power output. But turbo bikes of the era were plagued with lag and reliability issues and they went the way of disco music (i.e. died out).

You can read about the Suzuki XN85 and other turbo bikes here: Forced-Induction Production Motorcycles

Current age electronics, technology, engineering and materials may just overcome the previous problems. It looks like Suzuki is pining great hopes on this bike — as evidenced by the long developmental time — and do not want to screw up.

VIDEO: Watch as Johann Zarco was Whacked by Another Bike

Johann Zarco was known as “Mr. Backflip” when he was in Moto2.
He did the backflip again but not in a controlled fashion yesterday at the Valencia GP.
He is okay although in some pain.

Back when Johann Zarco was in Moto2, he was known as “Mr. Backflip” for pulling off backflip jumps when he won races. But we haven’t seen that since he moved to the MotoGP class in 2017.

But he did so yesterday at the Valencia Grand Prix, albeit not of his control and thankfully not morbid fashion.

Mission Winnow Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci had crashed at Turn 6 ahead of Zarco. Then Zarco also crashed a couple of seconds later at the same corner — lowsiding in the left-hander. Both rider and motorcycle slid harmlessly into the gravel pit.

Zarco remonstrated his fall, as he would later say that he was very disappointed to have wasted the last race that was given the chance to ride on an LCR Honda. He was seen cursing as he walked away from his crash.

Unbeknownst to him, rookie Iker Lecouna had also crashed in the same corner while in 15th place. The KTM RC16 slid right into Zarco’s legs and sent him into a backflip. He landed on his head and stayed down, visibly in pain.

Lecouna ran up to assist and apologise but Zarco had to be stretchered off the gravel pit. Fortunately, he was later seen debriefing the LCR Honda’s technicians in the pits.

He would also later say that there’s still pain in the ankles, possibly from ligament damage.