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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.