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CONSERVATIVE CONCEPT, 21ST-CENTURY ENGINEERING (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2010 Honda Deauville
It's a very European concept, the light tourer, and Honda's NT700V Deauville has a lot of European heritage. It shares its engine with the TransAlp – which is made in Spain – and takes its name from a seaside resort in France.
Yet it also has a lot of signature Honda technology, such as combined brakes, and its styling has echoes of the TransAlp and Varadero. It also has a couple of unusual – and quite effective - design solutions.
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Ageing biker, born to be wild? Here's one for the road (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2010 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy Special
Snobbery in motorcycling works in two directions. Riders of light, high-revving Japanese or Italian bikes tend to regard the owners of heavier, torquey bikes as old duffers reliving past glories on their weekends.
In turn, the old duffers who take great pride in their big machines tend to sneer at the "power rangers" and their "crotch rockets". The new Harley-Davidson Fat Boy Special is definitely not one for the "power rangers".
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Aprilia SXV 550 a high-revving hooligan (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Aprilia SXV 550
There's a reason why big enduro bikes – and, by extension, supermotards - have thumping great single-cylinder engines. Off-road riding – and inner-city hooliganising! – are all about huge gobs of torque, delivered without hesitation across a wide mid-range to cope with rapidly changing, unpredictable conditions.
So I could never understand what possessed Aprilia head Ivano Beggio to push ahead with a range of enduro and motard machines powered by a high-revving, short-stroke V-twin until I rode one - an SXV 550 supermotard. The experience was unforgettable.
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Yamaha Ténéré back - and better than ever (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Yamaha Ténéré
It's a name to conjure with – the Ténéré desert is one of the world's most inhospitable places, a vast plain of North African sand covering 400 000 square kilometres from north-eastern Niger into western Chad.
The Ténéré was the scene of some of the most epic battles of the early Paris-Dakar rallies in the 1980's – battles which were won nine times by riders on Yamahas derived from the XT500, Japan's first big four-stroke dirt bike - and it gave its name to Yamaha's first go-anywhere tourer, the XT600Z of 1983.
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KTM's 990 SMT tourer has soul of a motard (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 KTM 990 SMT
KTM does things differently – but this one is odd even by KTM standards. The 990 SMT is a litre-class, V-twin supermotard with a small screen, a carrier and fittings for hard luggage.
It looks as weird as it sounds – and KTM has a reputation for strange-looking motorcycles - but works remarkably well.
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Yamaha TMax: Scootourer or single-speed sportster? (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Yamaha Tmax
When we rode the original Yamaha TMax in December 2001 it was the first scooter motoring.co.za had reviewed with serious sporting credentials – partly thanks to the muscular delivery of its 499cc, DOHC parallel-twin engine and partly because it was the only scooter on the market with decent rear suspension.
But time marches on and Yamaha's überscooter has had a major upgrade for 2009 – starting with a die-cast aluminium frame (Yamaha claims it's the first one on a scooter), that uses the rigidly mounted engine as a fully-stressed member and the pivot pin of the (new) cast-alloy swing-arm passing through the rear of the engine case a la Ducati to maximise chassis stiffness.
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Triple R's a sheer bundle of fun to ride (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Triumph Street Triple R
Triumph's recently launched Street Triple R was my ride for the recent Star Motoring Snowball Run and, apart from freezing my cahoonies off, I really enjoyed the agile, sweet-sounding British machine.
The Street Triple is the marque's naked middle-weight bike and shows more of its underbits than Paris Hilton and Britney Spears combined, with not a fairing to be seen anywhere.
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MORE OF EVERYTHING (EXCEPT TOP SPEED) (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1
It's long been known that V-twins (and, to a lesser extent, V-fours) don't spin their rear wheels as easily as inline four-cylinder bikes because the tyre has more time to recover between the (admittedly bigger) power impulses – the so-called "Big Bang" effect.
But straight fours make more power and in some applications – such as GP racing - that's more important.
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THREE CYLINDERS MAKE REALLY SWEET MUSIC (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Triumph Daytona 675
Riding into the Kyalami pits after a hectic track session, senses buzzing, heart revving and arms painfully pumped, I couldn't decide what I liked more about the 2009 Triumph Daytona 675: that 1min59 lap time or its groovy engine sound.
I guess the lap time. It was, after all, the first time I'd broken the two-minute barrier on a 600cc-class machine. That kind of thing sticks in your mental repository of Grand Events, like your first kiss, your first bungee jump and your first 100kg bench press.
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Big's not always better - take Kawa's new Ninja... (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Kawasaki ZX-6R
A 600cc engine, to the uninitiated, sounds about as threatening as a Teletubby with little chance of prickling the interest of any serious power hound but whenever I straddle a 600 sports bike I'm reminded that these little crotch rockets possess a ferocious bite.
The first time I revved Kawasaki's new Ninja ZX-6R to its howling 16 500rpm red line, I realised it was no Teletubby but instead a Chucky doll.
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LIFT OFF FROM THE CITY ON A SPACE CRUISER (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Triumph Rocket III Touring
It wasn't until I'd finished performance testing, taken all the pictures I needed and recorded accurate fuel consumption figures that I began to Get It.
I took advantage of a quiet afternoon in the office to play hooky and went out on the Triumph Rocket III Touring, well away from our usual test route, not measuring or comparing, chasing neither deadlines nor the light – just riding, with nowhere specific to go and all afternoon to get there.
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147 INDUSTRIAL-STRENGTH KILOWATTS (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Yamaha Vmax
I thought it would be out of scale, like a Hummer at a drive-in, but within a few minutes of collecting it Yamaha's second-generation V-Max demonstrated enough poise and low-speed controllability to slice through the 5pm traffic like a bike half its size.
And it had enough instantaneous acceleration to grab the gaps before the car drivers even knew they were there.
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SOLID ALL-BLACK ATTITUDE ON WHEELS (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Yamaha Warrior
Most cruisers, whatever their origin, use a big 'n lazy V-twin engine to produce relatively modest power but lashings of torque at low revs. With the right gearing that means phenomenal acceleration then a fat, rumbling V-twin soundtrack but not a lot of top end.
It's the time-honoured American Way - taking life a quarter-mile at a time - but until now most cruisers also handled like wheelbarrows and took for ever to stop.
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POLARIS GAMBLING ON SUCCESS WITH CRUISER RANGE (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Victory Vegas Jackpot
Harley is one of those iconic brands that's bigger than the arena in which it operates. It appeals to many non-bikers because of the Harley legend and all the branded paraphernalia (Zippo lighters, leather jackets etc) that goes with it.
Many a grey pony-tailed accountant who wouldn't contemplate any other bike will buy a Harley because of the free-ridin', live-the-dream Hog image.
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IT EVEN GOES ROUND CORNERS - QUICKLY (Motoring.co.za)
Model(s) covered: 2009 Harley-Davidson XR1200
At first glance it's a right mish-mash of a bike – it's the first Harley-Davidson designed for the European market (it's not even available in the US) yet its styling was inspired by that most American of racing disciplines – flat-track.
The XR1200 has new-millennium fuel-injection, brakes and front suspension but its engine and frame were designed in 1956. Milwaukee calls it a sports bike yet it weighs more than most European tourers. It's a rolling contradiction.
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