Suter recently made the announcement regarding the withdrawal due to personnel shortage
The Suter MMX 500 aka “The Beast” was the only two-stroke motorcycle that competed in last year’s Isle of Man Pokerstars Senior TT race
Suter recently broke news with their announcement of withdrawing from the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy for 2017. This came to a shock for a lot of folks considering that their highly anticipated two-stroke Suter MMX 500 aka “The Beast” made its debut in last year’s race placing 34th in the 2016 PokerStars Senior TT race. (more…)
Watch our editor’s first impression on all three new Benelli’s
The 302R isn’t exactly the most powerful and neither does it have the most electronic toys, but it is arguably the best looking in its class.
It weighs in at a hefty 190kg dry, and you do feel the engine struggling to shift that power to the rear wheel, though the six-speed gearbox is smooth and precise.
It has some awesome technology like the analogue/digital meter panel, the telescopic upside down front forks, metzeler tyres, a DOHC engine with eight-valves, and an adjustable rear spring suspension.
The Benelli 302R is the little sports bike with big dreams. It reminds me of bikes from the 90s that were really big in size but had small engines, the 302R is bigger than the KTM 390 and heavier too, but has a simple 300cc engine. The rear tyre too has a large profile, so if you want something that shouts ambition, then this it it.
The 302R definitely has the style but power though is just that for a 300cc engine. It puts out 37hp at an amazing 10,000rpm and 27.4Nm of torque from 9,000rpm; you really have to wring the hell out of this engine to access all of the power it is capable of.
It weighs in at a hefty 190kg dry, and you do feel the engine struggling to shift that power to the rear wheel, though the six-speed gearbox is smooth and precise. Even in slow corners or when doing a u-turn, you will feel the heft of this bike, but at just RM21,888, can you really complain?
If there is one thing that the 302R has, it would be style, lots of it. It definitely has a lot of presence and it looks like it is capable of a lot more than what it can actually do, but we’re not complaining. Beauty can sometimes trump character and talent, and that is what the 302R has done.
Handling seems to be okay, I rode it for all of 10 minutes around the Equatorial Hotel, Penang, so can’t really tell you how it handles the bends. But there is one thing I can tell you though, and that it has a long fuel tank. At just 14 litres, the fuel tank is not particularly large, but it is long, and that forces you to move your body forward to reach the handle bars, and the foot pegs are placed a little too close to your body, giving it a cramped feel. But hunker down and rest your torso on the fuel tank though and it feels fine, except that you can’t ride everywhere like that.
It does have some awesome technology though, like the analogue/digital meter panel, the telescopic upside down front forks, metzeler tyres, a DOHC engine with eight-valves, and an adjustable rear spring suspension.
The 302R isn’t exactly the most powerful and neither does it have the most electronic toys, but it is arguably the best looking in its class. We’ll be riding it more thoroughly as soon as a test bike is available to us, we’ll be back with a more thorough review soon.
[button color=”” size=”” type=”round” target=”” link=”https://www.bikesrepublic.com/comparison/jK85PCP1mLH9avn/”]Click here to see how the 302R compares against its competitors at the Bikes Republic Bike Buyer’s Guide![/button]
It runs on three spark plus instead of the usual single spark plug typical of single-cylinder engines.
Starts from RM6,988, making it the cheapest in its class.
The Benelli RFS150i is one of the most popular motorcycles of this week. Launched just about a week ago in Penang by new Malaysian Benelli distributor M Force Bike Holdings S/B, every motorcycle rider from here to Vietnam has been talking about Benelli’s first ever moped on all our social media channels.
The Benelli RFS150i is now available and starts from RM6,988 up to RM7,338.
The RFS150i was designed in Italy by Benelli’s team of designers, but was assembled in China, and there are plans to eventually assemble the bike here in Malaysia. We are fans of the overall design of the bike, and love the fact that it comes with LED daytime running lights. There is no other moped in the market right now that offers these lights, credit to Benelli.* (Ed – Actually the Yamaha Y15ZR has had LED DRL’s since 2015)
The RFS, which stands for Riders For Speed, has another unique feature in its engine, it runs on three spark plus instead of the usual single spark plug typical of single-cylinder engines. Three spark plugs may be more expensive to maintain and complicate to change, but it ensures that fuel is properly burnt with no wastage. Fuel that is burnt to its full potential gives you the maximum performance it is capable of, and reduces wastage thus making this bike run cleaner and more efficient.
The 149.8cc engine is liquid-cooled and puts out 15.5hp and 13Nm of torque; nothing to boast about but it actually performs better than the figures suggest. In real world conditions, there is good power for uphill climbs and decent acceleration. Fuel efficiency is what this bike was designed for, and though we can’t tell you how economical it is without riding it for longer than the 10 minutes we had with it, but with a six-speed gearbox and engine technologies designed to keep engine temperatures down to a minimum, we believe Benelli’s claims, for now.
It is a fairly light bike too, about 115kg’s dry and slightly over 120 ready to ride, the RFS150i felt nimble and sporty. The great handling of the RFS was aided by a upside down telescopic forks with 88mm of travel as well as an oil damped, single coil spring with 27mm of travel at the rear. The RFS150i is also the only moped with upside down front forks. Extra brownie points for Benelli again.
Overall quality was decent too, but we were riding bikes that were hastily assembled just a day or two before the launch, so we expect the final production model to feel better than. Price starts from just RM6,988 for the standard motorcycle, and goes up to RM7,338 for the special edition model which features special colours. This officially makes this the cheapest 150cc kapcai in its class.
The NM4 is powered by a 670cc, liquid-cooled, parallel-twin, SOHC engine
All its power down to the rear wheel via an automatic six-speed with two automatic modes and manual mode also known as Honda’s DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission)
Will be available in the US market this June at $11,299 (around RM50,130)
Honda has announced that they will be bringing back their NM4 for 2017. Reincarnated as one of the Japan’s major line up for 2018, the NM4 is the first of many that has been announced and confirmed by Honda. (more…)
National motorcycle maker Modenas today introduced its latest model – the Kriss MR2. The new MR2 moped/underbone/kapcai (lets just call it kapcai) is the successor to the old MR1 which was introduced back in 2011. If you’re wondering what the MR stands for, it is ‘Motosikal Rakyat’ in Bahasa Malaysia, which translates to the ‘People’s Motorcycle’.
Priced from just RM3,890 for the base model, the bike features a rotary gear system and a Euro-3 compliant 110cc, four-stroke engine that puts out 8.3hp at 7,500rpm and 8.2Nm of torque at 5,500rpm.
Fuel efficiency is what the new Modenas truly excels at; its tiny 4.5 litre fuel tank is capable of covering a shocking 200 kilometres on a full tank. There’s is also an undersea storage area that can fit a small helmet or other belongings, but not much else.
Modenas is targeting to achieve overall total sales of 60,000 units in local and regional markets by year end.
The MR2 is available in three colours – Sand White, Celebration Red, Strike Blue and Canary Yellow.
Modena says that it is committed to building up its after sales service support, and is aiming to improve this by opening its second Training Centre at its service centre in Subang by the middle of April 2017.
The 2018 Hesketh Valiant SC is equipped with 2,100cc S&S X-Wedge dry sump V-Twin engine coupled with a Rotrex supercharger
The Valiant SC is planned to have close to 250hp and over 300Nm of torque by the time it is ready for sale in 2018
The asking price for each Valiant SC is an astounding £50,000 (around RM276,500)!
Hesketh has introduced their latest addition to their line up for the masses that is the 2018 Hesketh Valiant SC. The British based manufacturer from Northamptonshire, England built the new supercharged Valiant under the new ownership. So what’s so special about this new motorcycle from Hesketh? (more…)
