Welcome to my weekly MotoZania.com column. Or is that now a blog? Oh and it may not be exactly weekly.I’m James Kingstone known on MotoZania.com as R1madBrit. I am responsible for getting MotoZania.com to number 1 in UK and Europe. (Wir koennen auch Deutsch redden wann du wilst).
This weekly column will be my take on all things motorcycling.
Ride with me on my rants, road-tests, learning, training, venting, sarcasm, enthusing, comparing, explaining and hopefully receiving/giving plenty of banter and teasing. I will introduce interesting bikes, people, places, and technical stuff from a layman’s point of view. OK, OK – idiot’s point of view! There may be a fair bit of USA/UK/Euro comparison going on if that’s alright with you. Oh, and my benchmark bike is the Yamaha R1. I have a ’98 here in England and a 2005 in Arizona (now sadly for sale). A list of bikes I’ve owned goes as follows, I won’t list the 110 cars...
Triumph Tiger Cub – 200cc – England 1968. Black/Silver Cafe Racer with clip-ons. I loved it.
Honda S90 – 90cc – Black/Silver. It never let me down from London to Oxted.
Yamaha AT90(?) – 90cc – Yellow/Chrome. My first wheelie. Too lightweight. Triumph Tiger Cub – 200cc – Blue/Silver. Murder to kickstart. I fitted ‘scrambler’ bars.
BSA Twin - 500cc – White/Red – Darley Moor club racer. Alloy oil tank and clip-ons. Handled well.
Triumph T100 – 500cc – Blue/Silver. Fast at the time. I sold it for £125. I could cry...
Norton Dominator – 600cc – Black/Silver. Reliable. Good brakes. Only Lucas killed it.
Kawasaki GPZ600 – 600cc – Red/Silver. Very fast on the Munich Autobahns in 1990.
Kawasaki KLR650 – 650cc – Blue/White. Brilliant in Munich city traffic, Slow up the alps!
Ducati 750ss – 750cc – Black. Terrible steering lock. Dropped a valve. Love/Hate as always.
Honda CBR600 – 600cc – red/White/Blue. Back in England. Sensible, fast, comfortable.
Yamaha FS1E – 50cc – Red (resprayed). My son and I had fun in the car park on this.
Yamaha YZFR1 – 1000cc –Red/White. 1998. Still riding it. Smooth. A classic.
Yamaha YZFR1 – 1000cc –Red/Black. 2005. My Arizona bike. This is my second home. No expenses claimed to the UK Government...yet!
To begin with I need to set your expectations.
I am NOT an ex-racer.
I am NOT an engineer.
I am NOT a motorcycle business guru.
I do NOT really understand rebound damping settings, sag, offset and trail etc etc.
I am NOT certain about why a bike handles well or ‘badly’.
I am NOT good at wheelies or stoppies.
I am NOT a duffer whatever Andy says.
I am NOT an engineer.
I am NOT a motorcycle business guru.
I do NOT really understand rebound damping settings, sag, offset and trail etc etc.
I am NOT certain about why a bike handles well or ‘badly’.
I am NOT good at wheelies or stoppies.
I am NOT a duffer whatever Andy says.
I am a biker of middling capabilities who gets nervous in corners and has good days and bad days. (I fell off once near Farnham castle. Diesel fuel on a wet road. Made me twitchy in right handers for a long time...)
I have been riding since 1968. That’s 40 years man! OK so you’ve guessed I’m an old git!
I passed my motorcycle licence the second time round on cobbled Manchester roads in 1971. There were NO road markings on cobbled roads therefore you failed your test at the minor crossroads because your mates didn’t warn you. Good laugh in the pub afterwards at your expense. I soon learned and passed within a month. Goodbye L plates.
I took the Arizona motorcycle test for my USA licence over 40 years later. I came only middle of the class! I blame my 250 Ninja’s sticking clutch and brakes for my stoppies... they hit my head with the clipboard and said I was incorrigible. I have to renew it every 6 months due to massive USA-wide bureaucratic ‘safety’ regs. (sigh).
The idea was that a USA licence may prove wise for my 15,000 mile charity ride for Paul Newman’s Hole-In-The-Wall-Gang charity for kids. All it did was get me two speeding fines! I rode around the outside of the USA for 3 months and one week on my 2005 Yamaha R1. The USA is GREAT for riding. http://designr1fullcircletour.blogspot.com/
I also took the wheelie school in England. It snowed and we lost half a day. Me and another old git named Richard came top two. Needless to say he was numero uno. Go on and brag ya bastard! It didn’t help me wheelie my R1. The plastics are worth more than my life if I drop the thing showing off. I need a rat bike to practice on...
I have been riding since 1968. That’s 40 years man! OK so you’ve guessed I’m an old git!
I passed my motorcycle licence the second time round on cobbled Manchester roads in 1971. There were NO road markings on cobbled roads therefore you failed your test at the minor crossroads because your mates didn’t warn you. Good laugh in the pub afterwards at your expense. I soon learned and passed within a month. Goodbye L plates.
I took the Arizona motorcycle test for my USA licence over 40 years later. I came only middle of the class! I blame my 250 Ninja’s sticking clutch and brakes for my stoppies... they hit my head with the clipboard and said I was incorrigible. I have to renew it every 6 months due to massive USA-wide bureaucratic ‘safety’ regs. (sigh).
The idea was that a USA licence may prove wise for my 15,000 mile charity ride for Paul Newman’s Hole-In-The-Wall-Gang charity for kids. All it did was get me two speeding fines! I rode around the outside of the USA for 3 months and one week on my 2005 Yamaha R1. The USA is GREAT for riding. http://designr1fullcircletour.blogspot.com/
I also took the wheelie school in England. It snowed and we lost half a day. Me and another old git named Richard came top two. Needless to say he was numero uno. Go on and brag ya bastard! It didn’t help me wheelie my R1. The plastics are worth more than my life if I drop the thing showing off. I need a rat bike to practice on...
I blame that 1960’s Triumph Tiger Cub for my fascination with all things technical. My aspirations as an artist disappeared in a cloud of double overhead camshafts. I picked that Triumph up from a sleasy Brixton dealer and by the Ace Cafe on the North Circular it was snowing so heavily I had 2 feet down all the way to my Notting Hill £1.50 per-week 5th floor bedsit. We can talk TRex and Twiggy later guys!
It was the impossibility of starting that Tiger cub that made me go to the local library and begin reading about how engines and motorcycles work that began the fascination. I was robbed of that £50 cafe racer by a Scouser swine for £6. Can you believe it? I can name him to this day! ‘Trick me once – your shame, trick me twice – my shame’. That’s why I plan to ‘Learn as I go along’ and hope that you will follow my escapades. Or should that be escape-aides?
Enough of the introduction rubbish - on to my first real bike test. Photos attached..jpg)
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KTM 990Adventure
I first sat on the KTM 990 Adventure at an Arizona motorcycle show. I just liked the ‘sharp-edged’ design after the awful era of ‘organic’ shapes and jelly-mould styling. Triumph's swimmer-goggle Sprint was the ugliest. Tom Seagroves of Bernies, the Mesa Arizona KTM dealer offered me a test ride. http://www.ktmmotorcyclesusa.com/. I had a whole Saturday afternoon as long as I signed the waiver not to sue them if I was an ass and crashed. WTF? In England the dealers make you leave a £10bn bail-out deposit, sacrifice your first-born and bring your great grandmother as a pillion to ensure safe speeds. (Or so I thought until I met the Aprilia nutters...next column!).
Saturday sees me suited and booted and nervous and quiet. The guys at Bernies were cool and wheeled my orange beauty out and said ‘adios’. I could barely touch the ground and I am 6’. I wobbled out onto East Southern and headed to Country Club and north to Payson AZ. Let’s make the story short. Riding all alone on strange roads in a foreign country is a tad lonely. But did I fall in love or what? And just like LOVE this baby came with PAIN! The seat is a pain in the arse. Gel filled boxer-shorts with a mattress bungee-corded on top of the seat might help. Seriously, after 20 minutes I was in agony. I ride my R1 for HOURS with no pain so it must be the upright riding position as well as that cast concrete seat.
Everything was so SMOOTH and GRUNTYon the 990. The only words I can find for the clutch/engine/gearbox interaction is ‘buttery smooth’. Once I got used to the Himalayan view from the concrete saddle I was in heaven in both ways. I had never experienced a bike that can give you so much confidence. I was rolling through corners at 95mph single handed taking photos with my left hand! ‘Eedjut’ you say but you have to experience the confidence boost to believe it.
Once up through the twisties and into the town I tanked up. The twin tanks were not a great idea and the cables blocking the key became an irritant. Get it sorted KTM. At the top end of town was an English roundabout! I rode round it 12 times it was so much fun! (Sad bastard but this is the land of 5000 mile straights).
Good: Superb controls and handling with smooth operation. Funky styling. Slim. Good wind protection. Little glove box is nice.
Bad: That flippin’ seat is concrete! Ass ache until you DIE!!! Cables interfere with key. Twin tanks. Exhausts could burn some saddlebags?.
Ugly: Spindly swingarms.
Overall: Superb. I LOVED it and WANT ONE NOW!
Want to Try Before I Buy: Moto Guzzi Stelvio, BMW R1200GS, Ducati Multistrada, Triumph 1050 Tiger,
Tech Specs: 990 Adventure
2 cylinder, 4 stroke V 75°
999 cc
72 kW / 8500 rpm
95 Nm / 6500 rpm
11.,5:1
Electric Starter
5 speed, claw shifted
Electronic fuel injection
4 Valves / DOHC
Liquid cooled
Multi-disc wet clutch, hydraulically operated
Keihin EMS
Tubular chromoly space frame, powder coated
WP-USD Ø 48 mm
WP-PDS shock absorber with hydraulic spring pre-load
approx.22 Liter
approx.199 kg
It was the impossibility of starting that Tiger cub that made me go to the local library and begin reading about how engines and motorcycles work that began the fascination. I was robbed of that £50 cafe racer by a Scouser swine for £6. Can you believe it? I can name him to this day! ‘Trick me once – your shame, trick me twice – my shame’. That’s why I plan to ‘Learn as I go along’ and hope that you will follow my escapades. Or should that be escape-aides?
Enough of the introduction rubbish - on to my first real bike test. Photos attached.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
KTM 990Adventure
I first sat on the KTM 990 Adventure at an Arizona motorcycle show. I just liked the ‘sharp-edged’ design after the awful era of ‘organic’ shapes and jelly-mould styling. Triumph's swimmer-goggle Sprint was the ugliest. Tom Seagroves of Bernies, the Mesa Arizona KTM dealer offered me a test ride. http://www.ktmmotorcyclesusa.com/. I had a whole Saturday afternoon as long as I signed the waiver not to sue them if I was an ass and crashed. WTF? In England the dealers make you leave a £10bn bail-out deposit, sacrifice your first-born and bring your great grandmother as a pillion to ensure safe speeds. (Or so I thought until I met the Aprilia nutters...next column!).
Saturday sees me suited and booted and nervous and quiet. The guys at Bernies were cool and wheeled my orange beauty out and said ‘adios’. I could barely touch the ground and I am 6’. I wobbled out onto East Southern and headed to Country Club and north to Payson AZ. Let’s make the story short. Riding all alone on strange roads in a foreign country is a tad lonely. But did I fall in love or what? And just like LOVE this baby came with PAIN! The seat is a pain in the arse. Gel filled boxer-shorts with a mattress bungee-corded on top of the seat might help. Seriously, after 20 minutes I was in agony. I ride my R1 for HOURS with no pain so it must be the upright riding position as well as that cast concrete seat.
Everything was so SMOOTH and GRUNTYon the 990. The only words I can find for the clutch/engine/gearbox interaction is ‘buttery smooth’. Once I got used to the Himalayan view from the concrete saddle I was in heaven in both ways. I had never experienced a bike that can give you so much confidence. I was rolling through corners at 95mph single handed taking photos with my left hand! ‘Eedjut’ you say but you have to experience the confidence boost to believe it.
Once up through the twisties and into the town I tanked up. The twin tanks were not a great idea and the cables blocking the key became an irritant. Get it sorted KTM. At the top end of town was an English roundabout! I rode round it 12 times it was so much fun! (Sad bastard but this is the land of 5000 mile straights).
Good: Superb controls and handling with smooth operation. Funky styling. Slim. Good wind protection. Little glove box is nice.
Bad: That flippin’ seat is concrete! Ass ache until you DIE!!! Cables interfere with key. Twin tanks. Exhausts could burn some saddlebags?.
Ugly: Spindly swingarms.
Overall: Superb. I LOVED it and WANT ONE NOW!
Want to Try Before I Buy: Moto Guzzi Stelvio, BMW R1200GS, Ducati Multistrada, Triumph 1050 Tiger,
Tech Specs: 990 Adventure
2 cylinder, 4 stroke V 75°
999 cc
72 kW / 8500 rpm
95 Nm / 6500 rpm
11.,5:1
Electric Starter
5 speed, claw shifted
Electronic fuel injection
4 Valves / DOHC
Liquid cooled
Multi-disc wet clutch, hydraulically operated
Keihin EMS
Tubular chromoly space frame, powder coated
WP-USD Ø 48 mm
WP-PDS shock absorber with hydraulic spring pre-load
approx.22 Liter
approx.199 kg
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