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PGM V8 – Meet the 2000cc V8 monster naked bike from Australia

The PGM V8 is the latest 2000cc V8 monster naked bike that has been created in the land obsessed with V8 power, Australia.

Pat Maloney created the PGM V8 after retiring from a successful life in Superbike World Championship and Formula 1.

The engine is created by joining two Yamaha YZF-R1 engines together which generates a powerful 334hp and 214Nm of maximum torque.

In a place where the general population and motorheads are almost obsessed with the V8 engine configuration, it’s not a surprise when someone decides to stuff it into a motorcycle chassis. That’s exactly what happened a couple of years back when Pat Maloney created the PGM V8 which is arguably one of the world’s most powerful production motorcycles. (more…)

What You Need to Know When Choosing Tyres

Tyres are the best way to improve your bike.
But how do you determine the best tyres?
Here are a few points to consider plus tips.

We’re overstating the obvious here, but tyres are definitely the most important component on your motorcycle. Tyres not only determine the bike’s handling, but also translates to rider safety, confidence, comfort, and fuel consumption in the overall picture.

But what are the factors you should base your choice on?

COMPROMISE

Do realise that all tyres are a compromise between mileage vs. wear, slow-speed vs. high-speed handling, stability vs. quick-turning, and many more aspects. A tyre that is popular in racing championships such as MotoGP and World Superbike may not suit your riding style or the mileage you have in mind.

That’s because different brands and even the models offered by one brand have different characteristics. For example, Bridgestones generally have hard sidewalls and round profiles compared to Metzelers and Pirellis that have softer sidewalls and round profiles. However, while the Pirelli Supercorsa ‘s profile is rounded, the Pirelli Angel ST sport-touring tyre is triangulated.

Firm sidewalls provide lots of feedback to the rider, but may not provide the confidence and comfort to some riders when the road gets bumpy. Conversely, soft sidewalls are more compliant, thereby providing more confidence over bumps at the expense of some feedback.

Furthermore, certain tyres are made to slide early as a signal to rider who’s nearing the limit (although there’s still much traction left). I personally like this characteristic because I don’t have to second guess the tyres’ limits, especially when riding in the rain or on wet roads. Certain riders may find it disconcerting or terrifying to have their tyres sliding around.

PROFILES

A triangulated profile gives the sensation of quick steering and willingness to lean into a corner. Additionally, a triangulated profile provide better side grip due to bigger contact patches. However, these type of tyres may not feel as stable when riding in a straight line and hard braking.

A round profile tyre offers more stability when running straight and during hard braking, sacrificing quick turning and flickability, hence feeling more neutral. Besides that, round profile tyres allow the rider to maintain his chosen line with comparative ease.

Again, the question: Which one?

It depends on your riding style, preference (read: brand) and skill level. My personal choice is the triangulated profile as I like the extra agility when commuting. But it’s also because of my preference to turn into corners later on the streets (to allow me to see further through corners), which requires me to flick the bike in quickly. Conversely, I prefer the round profile tyre on the track where the corners are set in place and since there’s no need to cilok through traffic.

COMPOUNDS

One undying tyre myth is that stickier race tyres allows riders to go faster. While this certainly applies to the track, it isn’t so on the streets.

As most already know, rubber becomes more pliable when it’s heated up, allowing it to conform to the “peaks” and “valleys” in the road surface. This heating and cooling cycles also alter the tyre’s character, turning the compound harder and harder over time.

Race tyres are made just for that: Racing. They perform at their optimum levels once or twice and then discarded. Race tyres are also designed to withstand more heat due to the extreme speeds; cornering, acceleration and braking forces; and abrasion before they finally degrade. For this reason, they need more time and aggressive riding to get them up to working temperature.

That in turn makes them unpractical for street use, as riding like a madman everywhere is just plain impossible, not to mention dangerous even if one is able to.

Besides that, dry race tyres don’t have much tread or even at all to handle rain, or other dirty conditions on public roads. Wet weather racing tyres on the other hand uses ultra-soft compound that’ll destroy itself in less than 60 km when ridden in the dry.

In this case, you should just go ahead and fit street compound tyres that’ll provide good mileage and still could be occasionally used on the track. As we discussed above, street compound tyres need very little time and aggressive riding to get them working properly.

Tyre technologies have advanced so much that even sport-touring tyres provide better grip for 90% of all the riders out on the streets. The Bridgestone T30 Evo, Pirelli Rosso Corsa, and Pirelli Angel ST, Michelin Pilot 4 are pretty good examples. You’d be surprised what some skilled riders could do with these tyres. Let’s be honest with ourselves here. Most of us couldn’t outride the capabilities of modern sport-touring tyres.

On the other hand, it’s not wrong to fit supersport tyres if that’s your cup of tea. However, do consider if your riding or intended riding consists mostly of daily commuting on the highway, with just the occasional weekend lemang ride and rarely to never on the track. It may make more sense if commute between Ulu Yam and the city, but how about rainy days?

TYRE AGE

A tyre’s production date is stamped on the sidewall and you may see something like “3017.” The first two digits denote the production week, while the last two denote the year. In this case, the tyre was produced on the 30^th production week in 2017.

Never buy tyres that are six years old or more, including second hand ones.

Speaking of used tyres, I’ve met riders who complained that their used tyres were terrible and couldn’t understand why many other riders swear by them.

Remember the earlier discussion about heat cycles? It’s safe to assume that second hand tyres have gone through a few heat cycles before being put up for sale. The chemicals in the tyre will “outgas” leaving behind a tyre that’s pretty much unlike a fresh tyre anymore, despite looking new and has deep treads.

Apart from that, because each rider has a different riding style or skill, a tyre will take on the characteristics as the direct result. Yes, you may say that tyres have “memory.” This is also one of the few reasons why we feel “different” on a friend’s identical bike.

Again, it’s not wrong to use second hand tyres, but do not compare them to how they would be when new.

BREAKING IN NEW TYRES

Breaking in, or running in, new tyres should be done with some thought.

A tyres need a few repeated heating and cooling cycles to stabilize its chemical compounds. Additionally, how you break in a tyre will determine how it would perform further into its life. Too much stress early in a tyre’s early life will have it hardening quicker. As such, don’t be too gentle or greedy in breaking in your tyres during the initial 300 km.

TYRE PRESSURE

Sometimes manufacturers would overinflate the tyres of the bikes leaving the factory for storage and transportation. There are dealers who don’t check for this when they deliver the bikes to customers, leading the new owners to believe that new tyres should be overinflated.

Truth is, it’s always best to refer to the bike manufacturer’s recommended pressures. (Ironic, eh?) We’ve posted this question directly to Pirelli during a recent Pirelli tyre clinic and they recommended so as well.

You may increase the tyre pressures when carrying a passenger and luggage, but again, your motorcycle manufacturer has recommendations for these scenarios. Just fill up according to the pressures usually stated on the swingarm for the respective scenarios.

How it’s made: Kalex Moto2 race chassis

The Moto2 race category is clearly dominated by one bike manufacturer which is Kalex.

With a technologically-advanced chassis, almost 70% of the entire intermediate race class used Kalex in the 2017 season.

Riders like Johann Zarco, Franco Morbidelli and even Hafizh Syahrin all used Kalex bikes for a very good reason.

We Malaysians are all too familiar with the world of Motorcycle Grand Prix. With the country’s main goal in getting a national rider into the top of the league, there are a few worthy candidates who have been racing brilliantly in the intermediate and novice classes which are Moto2 and Moto3. (more…)

JPJ testing the 2018 Honda X-ADV adventure scooter?

Some spy shots of JPJ testing the 2018 Honda X-ADV adventure scooter have been circulating online.

This means that the Road Transport Department is currently going through the Vehicle Type Approval (VTA) process for the Honda adventure scooter.

The Honda X-ADV is expected to arrive in Malaysia this year together with the Africa Twin.

Some very interesting spy shots of the our very own Road Transport Department or more popularly recognised as JPJ has been seen testing out the latest 2018 Honda X-ADV adventure scooter around Putrajaya. This can only mean one thing, ladies and gentleman. The 745cc adventure scooter is coming to Malaysia. (more…)

How to Break In (Run In) Your New Bike

Breaking in your bike means preparing it for a long service.
Done correctly and your bike will return a long life of good service.
Done wrongly and you’ll be suffering soon enough.

Ask around about how to break in your new bike and you’ll come across 101 answers. Which correct? Which is wrong?

Let’s start with the owner’s manual.

It usually specifies that you shouldn’t ride above a certain RPM within the first 1000 km, while also mentioning that you should vary your engine speed, not ride at a certain speed for long periods of time, and drag the engine in a certain gear.

Honestly, there’s nothing wrong by what the manufacturer recommends, but the way it’s written seems to suggest that one should over-coddle the engine. One way to look at this is because the manufacturers want you to take it easy and learn the new bike’s traits. That’s true statistically, as most crashes happen to riders who have just taken delivery of their new bikes.

However, there are a couple of things one should do to really break the engine in correctly. All of us want the engine to last a long time, produce good power and not burn oil.

AT STARTUP

Idling the engine for many minutes is bad.

While it’s true that fuels these days are relatively low in sulfur, especially the Euro 4 RON 97M variety, some gaseous residue may be left over just as you shut off the engine. Left overnight, the combustion chamber cools down and a little bit of water starts to condensate on the metal parts inside the combustion chamber. This water will then mix with the sulfur gases and produce traces of sulfuric acid.

What does acid do to metal?

Idling will not produce enough pressure to blow this harmful mixture out. Plus, oil circulates better under load.

Additionally and contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to spend 10 to 20 minutes to warm it up since our climate’s ambient temperature averages 28^o to above 30^oC, unlike in Mat Salleh countries.

The best way, then, is to start up and ride off but do so gently. Remember, GENTLY. We’re breaking in the bike, not breaking it. To give it full throttle now will have your bike screaming “overhaul!”

VARY YOUR THROTTLE APPLICATION

Avoid using constant, droning throttle and speed for the first few hundred kilometres. Varying the amount of throttle will produce both positive and negative pressures in the combustion chamber to seat the piston rings properly.

Correctly seated rings will consequently provide a proper seal, reducing combustion gas blow by (leaking past the compression rings) and oil consumption (leaking past the bottom oil control ring).

I’ve personally met a couple owners who found their new bikes either 1) “eating oil” and smoking or 2) lacks power after breaking in. Both happen because they kept using constant throttle. Constant throttle will coat the cylinder walls with a varnish and couldn’t seat the piston rings. To address this, they will need to rebore their cylinders (overhaul!) and repeat the break in process.

EASY ON THE REVS

It’s easy to think about not over-revving but you’d need to remember to no under-revving it, too.

You could ride through the gears up to 50% of the redline (i.e. 5,000 RPM if the redline is at 10,000 RPM) for the first 100 km, then up to 75% throttle for the remainder is good practice, in line with varying the amount of throttle you use.

Additional point: There are veterans and experts who recommended that you could redline the engine for the last 100 km just before the first 1000 km service. You may also apply this technique to allow the oil to flush break in debris into the sump.

SERVICE!

Don’t ever miss the especially crucial first service, which is usually at 1000 km.

The oil will contain bits of metal shavings from the engine, transmission and clutch when they break in, which needs to be removed.

OTHER PARTS

Do also keep in mind that the brakes and tyres similarly need breaking in, too. Vary your speed and loads to break them in, just like the engine. However, do keep a safe margin for the first 500 km.

Check out Motomice: A children’s book about motorcycling!

Looking for a perfect way to get children into bikes? Look no further than Motomice: A children’s book about motorcycling!

Written by American author Paul Owen Lewis, the picture book revolves around biker mice of all kinds from old-school choppers, superbike racers and even classic bike enthusiasts.

Priced at $16.99 (RM68.20), it’s also perfect to teach children about family, diversity and unity using the world of motorcycles as examples.

Most motorcycle enthusiasts who have made the journey into parenthood have the tendency to get their children into the same love and passion for motorcycling. While there are many ways to do, there’s no better way to do so then to begin with a storybook filled with colourful characters. (more…)