MV Agusta is known for their super premium line-up of powerful bikes and some very well-known special edition models. Their latest endeavour involves a one-of-a-kind MV Agusta F3 800 painted in the colours of UNICEF to show their support for children worldwide. (more…)
GIVI Rimba Raid at Janda Baik 2019 may be over for close to two weeks now, but many are still reminiscing over the biggest and best edition to date.
The scars may have healed, broken bikes fixed, the glow of winning slow fades but memories will remain forever with the competitors.
Surely the spectators who showed up in droves were amazed to no end seeing heavyweight (read: expensive) adventure bikes being used for such purpose instead of blasting down Karak and parked outside Nanyang Kopitiam and Starbucks Gohtong Jaya (10% discount here for “BMW bikers” says the receipt, but they give it to all big bikers). Perhaps it was even more heartwarming to see the excitement of the children. Who knows, they may dream of owning such a bike when they grow up.
The GIVI Explorers who rode in with the GIVI Malaysian Adventure 2019 were equally, if not more awed at the event. Bear in mind that among these men and women from 16 different countries have large motorcycle rallies in their backyards. For example, Jeremias Israel who was an ex-HRC Dakar Rally rider who also took park in other world-class rallies. The Chilean even took part in the Janda Baik race and came away mighty impressed with the event and may well return. And then there were GIVI Explorers from Australia, Mexico, Thailand, Italy, and so forth. These are nations where motorcycle rallies are the norm. Yet, they were impressed with the organization and scale of GIVI Rimba Raid.
But if the event was amazing, it’s due to the extraordinary effort and hard work put in by the organizers led by Dato’ Captain Nik. He had only a number of people to rely on. It wasn’t merely a case handing the competitors their jerseys and telling them to ride through the jungle. If planning a trackday was hard enough, no amount of imagination can tell you how hard it was to plan and execute GIVI Rimba Raid. And yet there were critics.
Let’s not forget GIVI, of course. Together with the Rimba Raid crew, the GIVI crew had spent four days and nights to set up Kampung GIVI, ILMU and the surroundings along the track andoff the track.
Which brings us to the motorcycle manufacturers and sponsors. We have one question: Who says off-road riding on dual-purpose motorcycles isn’t a big thing?
BMW Motorrad sees the event as an opportunity, hence sending in their dealers (Auto Bavaria this time) at each edition, since many competitors ride the GS anyway. Ducati had the presence of mind to brand their Scrambler albeit last year, as they had to consolidate at Art of Speed this year. Bombardier were there to promote their latest side-by-sides, buggies and ATVs. But where was Honda? Yamaha? KTM? The field was filled with bikes from these brands. A little support to the competitors riding their brands would’ve gone a long, long way.
Anyhow, we hope that you enjoy the video. We can’t wait for the next GIVI Rimba Raid.
The Tech 3 team will also leave Moto2 in 2020 following KTM’s withdrawal.
KTM had made the announcement after the Austrian Grand Prix over the weekend. The decision was made to focus on MotoGP, while bringing the Husqvarna brand back to roadracing.
As such, Tech 3 will team up with KTM and Red Bull to form a new team in Moto3.
Tech 3 team principal Herve Poncharal says that he understands KTM position to strengthen their involvement in MotoGP and Moto3. To him, the Moto3 class is where new talents are generated for the MotoGP class.
This will the first time for Tech 3 to compete in the Moto3 class. Tech 3 was first involved with KTM in Moto2 in 2010, using the Mistral 610 engine. Their MotoGP effort switched to KTM this year after partnering with Yamaha for more than 20 years.
He also added that they have to spend the next few months to search for suitable riders.
The decision is somewhat ominous for Hafizh Syahrin, who was offered a spot in Tech 3’s Moto2 effort. His options are limited now, but there are rumours that he will take over from Khairul Idham Pawi in the PETRONAS Sprinta Racing Team. Following this, Khairul Idham will be moved back to Moto3 and takes the place of Ayumu Sasaki who is leaving the team at the end of the year.
It’s also a tumultuous time for KTM with letting Hafizh Syahrin go and losing Johann Zarco a year early.
Khairul Idham Pawi a.k.a. SuperKIP will always be remembered as the first ever Malaysian racer to win a race (and added another later) for the country in a world championship.
His first win was in the Moto3 race at Argentina in 2016 and would go on to win another three months later in Germany. He has since moved up the Moto2 championship in 2017.
But he’s been missing from the Moto2 grid lately, and his PETRONAS Sprinta Racing Team substituted him with Mattias Pasini and Jonas Folger.
The injuries to his right hand turned out to be more serious after his crash in Jerez in May this year. Surgeons had to partially amputate the little finger.
Pawi made a comeback at the Czech Republic round in Brno but acute pain forced him to withdraw halfway through the race.
Further surgeries caused him to miss the Austrian round. MotoGP surgeon Dr. Xavier Mir inserted a screw into the reconstructed bone in Pawi’s finger. The surgery was performed in the Hospital Universitari Dexeus in Barcelona, Spain.
Pawi aims to return to the Moto2 grid when fully fit. However, he may not recover in time for the Malaysian MotoGP round.
There are currently talks of him moving back to Moto3 next year to replace Ayumu Sasaki in the PETRONAS SRT outfit, while Hafizh Syahrin takes his place in the Moto2 PETRONAS SRT team. We shall wait for the official announcement.
A group of UK lawmakers are pushing to ban handsfree devices for motorcyclists.
The suits are of the opinion that devices such as Bluetooth (CT) communicators are no different in distracting riders as holding the phone themselves.
In opinion, such a suggestion is only made by those who have never ridden a motorcycle and definitely not used a BT intercom. A BT intercom allows the user to make and receive calls in the helmet. Besides that, he can stream music or radio programming while riding, but there are advantages beyond that function.
Streaming music via BT means the rider can also stream satnav (satellite navigation) instructions via voice commands, rather than having to keep looking down at the phone. Besides that, it’s the best way to communicate with the passenger and other riders.
If BT communicators are not allowed for reasons of being distracting, shouldn’t the radio be banned in cars too? Most, if not all, new cars these days have phone connectivity through BT, as well.
Sure, this recommendation is happening in the UK, but wait till a certain gila kuasa (power hungry) “safety” group suggests the same thing here in Malaysia, like they how they advised the government that bikes should be limited to only 70 km/h and confined to the left lane.
It’s easy to skip over the fact that BMW Motorrad has many models of motorcycles in their line-up. Mention “BMW” and the very first image to pop up in people’s heads are the R 1200/1250 GS/GSA or S 1000 RR.
But how can we blame them? The bestselling motorcycle in the world was the R 1200 GS/GSA for many years, and soon to be taken over by its successor the R 1250 GS/GSA. The bestselling superbike – or at least among the bestselling – is the S 1000 RR.
In fact, we admit that we were rather surprised when we got the call to the test and review the 2019 F 750 GS. We know it exists but it’s so easy to overlook, even after testing the new 2019 F 850 GS. But let’s ride it anyway (since it’s a test bike – WOOHOO!).
But the main question that bugged us was why do you need a 750 when there’s already the 850?! Er…
And then get this: The F 750 GS is actually powered by the 853cc parallel-Twin which powers the F 850 GS. But the 750 uses a different tuning, resulting in 77 hp and 83 Nm of torque, as opposed to 95 hp and 92 Nm of torque. So, it’s an 850 but not an 850.
The F 750 GS’s silhouette is identical to its F 850 GS bigger brother, that’s for sure. But while the 850 seems very polished in its details, the 750 looks a little more spartan not unlike the previous F 800 GS. Or was it that I was biased…? Still, the build quality is typical of BMW.
The version we tested includes that large TFT screen found in the F 850 GS and R 12XX series, fortunately. The display has a very high resolution and scrolling through with the multifunction controller brings up all sorts of data, including “coffee break.” Great, now your bike knows how much time you spent at Starbucks Gohtong Jaya.
Electronic rider aids are the same, with a ride-by-wire throttle and two ride modes ROAD and RAIN.
Its seat height was much lower than that of the F 850 GS, as it wears a 19-inch front wheel, instead of a 21-inch wired wheel. The forks are conventional ones compared to upside down units on the 850. Ah hah, now there’s something really something different!
Okay, okay, let’s get going already.
The good news is it sounded just as good as the 850 since the crankshaft is offset by 270 degrees to mimic a 90o V-Twin. There’s a slight buzz at the handlebar when accelerating hard but you’ll soon ignore it.
And accelerate hard it did! It actually jumped forward harder and rawer than the 850 to a stonking intake sound from underneath the tank.
Having smaller wheels also meant that it was easier to flick the bike around. Combine that agility to the engine’s kick and you have a weapon that’ll terrorize other motorcyclists (which many dispatch riders learned the hard way). Flick, snap open throttle, brake, flick, snap open throttle, flick, repeat.
We’ve noted that the F 850 GS’s suspension was a tad too soft on the road. Traction was readily available, but the lack of feedback was disconcerting. However, the F 750 GS’s suspension was stiffer and had that feel that we wished we had.
It was only then that it dawned on me that the F 750 GS is the road-biased version, while the F 850 GS is biased more towards off-roading.
But doesn’t mean the 750 dares not venture where the road turns to muck.
We were testing another new adventure bike at the Rimba Valley Motorcamp that day. That particular bike was light and easy to handle, but every stone kicked the suspension here and there. It was controllable, but it the wheels hopped here and there.
When I got back on the F 750 GS to return home, I was surprise to discover that its suspension soaked up almost everything and the bike was super stable. Only one particularly large rock deflected the front wheel. I suspect that one could mount a 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wire spoke wheels and join GIVI Rimba Raid.
It was Karak Highway afterwards and the bike slid seamlessly into its sport-touring role.
The 2019 BMW F 750 GS is a pretty good bike, surprisingly. But it truly shows that you don’t need tons of horsepower to have fun, and that’s the fun in itself.
Sure, there were some sore points. There’s that handlebar buzz around 5,000 RPM. But I’m sure no one will actually mind these minor negatives.
And yes, we will remember that there is actually an F 750 GS side-by-side with the F 850 GS from now on. Same same but different.
