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Boorman’s back

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March 2025

Boost your bike skills

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Brain scrambler

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Tyre tread

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Britain’s best-loved…

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Back to their roots

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Slipping away

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February 2025

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Can two wrongs make a right?

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Screw threads

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January 2025

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Reassuringly simple

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How hard can it be?

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Honda Transalp

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The fastest ever 750

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WHEN A BIRTHDAY PRESENT TURNS INTO THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME…

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New bikes

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’81 Triumph TR7T

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Easy as that

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‘Y’know what? I want one’

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SAM SUNDERLAND

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Trackday Clobber

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SIX MONTHS FROM HOME

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BRADLEY RAY

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THE VINTAGE MOTORCYCLE CLUB

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DAN LINFOOT & HIS DAD

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THE KTM DESIGN TEAM

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A RIDE WITH MICK GRANT

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A RIDE WITH RANDY MAMOLA

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Glorious ride: A land lost in time…

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GOING THE EXTRA MILES

Features

A Ride With

Travel Stories

Know How

Offers and Competitions

Latest Competitions

Latest Offers

Magazine Issues

Bike Magazine

Latest Issues

Members articles

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Get set for showtime!

#### Get adventure-ready as the travel legend returns to the Devitt Insurance MCN London Show with tall tales and essential tips

Returning by popular demand, Charley Boorman will make a comeback to next February’s :a[Devitt Insurance MCN London Motorcycle Show]{href='http://www.mcnmotorcycleshow.com/' }at the ExCel with his Adventure Base Camp stage, promising to deliver non-stop entertainment across each of the three-days.

The Charley Boorman Adventure Base Camp stage, supported by Oxford Products, has a packed schedule and will be a daily hub of activity. Featuring stories from his worldwide motorcycling expeditions, offering tips and tricks for budding adventurers with a team of expert riders including the likes of around-the-world Guinness World Record holders ‘The Sidecar Guys’, special guests and plenty more besides.

One of the highlights of the stage’s schedule will undoubtedly be Boorman sharing new, unheard anecdotes from his latest TV trip, the _Long Way Home,_ the most recent TV epic in the inspirational _Long Way…_ series, which sees Boorman and Hollywood buddy Ewan McGregor ride around Europe on vintage motorcycles.

Between fascinating insights into Boorman’s expeditions, show visitors can expect loads of useful tips for planning two-wheeled adventures – from choosing routes, to packing essentials, how to overcome challenges on the road, and everything in between.

Whether you’re a seasoned traveller or a beginner dreaming of that first trip, the Charley Boorman Adventure Base Camp stage is a must. Prepare to be inspired, informed, and equipped to explore.

The Adventure Base Camp is not the only stage set to inspire and entertain at the London Show. TV’s Henry Cole, engineering genius Allen Millyard and detailing expert Guy ‘Skid’ Willison will be joined by Steve Parrish on the new Machine Mart stage providing laughs, legendary motorcycles, tips and more. The MCN World of Bikes stage will also offer special guests, insightful talks, interviews and industry scoops.

The Devitt Insurance MCN London Motorcycle Show will be held at Excel London on February 14-16, 2025, with advanced tickets available to buy now until midnight on November 13 for just £26.50 per person. Visit :a[www.mcnmotorcycleshow.com/]{href='https://www.mcnmotorcycleshow.com/' } and **:a[book your tickets today.]{href='http://www.mcnmotorcycleshow.com/' }**

Astounding people, remarkable feats, bewildering machinery: this edition of Bike is stuffed to bursting motorcycling heroism. From amazing riders, audacious engineering and unrivalled achievements to the everyday heroes who touch all our biking lives, it’s a celebration of everything that makes being on two-wheels so special.

Quite a few special two-wheelers as well. We’ve got the first test of Honda’s fabulous new CB1000 Hornet SP and thrust BMW’s new R1300GS Adventure beak-to-beak with its big-tanked rivals: Ducati’s Multistrada Rally and Triumph’s Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer. We take you inside Alpinestars’ race support truck, grand prix star Jake Dixon opens up to Mat Oxley, plus we tackle the gruelling Edinburgh Trial – on a CFMoto adventure bike. It can only end well…

#### The March issue of Bike is out now at all good newsagents, or why not :a[subscribe today and get 3 issues for just £3!]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/bike-magazine?utm_source=bikemagazine.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_bike&amp;utm_content=newissue_bike' }

#### With National Highways’ invaluable brand-new **BikerTek** riding skills hub

**W**hat better way to prep for an action-packed year of motorcycling than by spending time brushing up on your bike control to ensure you get maximum enjoyment from every mile you ride in 2025?

MCN and BikerTek have teamed up to deliver a new online skills hub that’s bursting with invaluable riding advice to boost your riding ability through simple tips and demonstrations. Follow the team as MCN’s experienced journalists and instructor gurus, Rapid Training, demystify the rewarding art of riding better.

A new six-part video series kicks off in February 2025, but the online hub is already packed with a raft of tips tutorials that will help you tackle 18 common skills challenges that riders could encounter on every ride – from cornering to braking, tackling junctions and roundabouts, to dealing with target fixation and carrying a pillion.

If you’d prefer to grab a mug of your preferred brew, put your feet up and watch MCN’s Chief Road Tester Michael Neeves reveal everything he’s learned, there’s also four years of superb videos from his ‘Secrets of a Road Tester’ series, covering topics ranging from speed management to group riding to bike set-up, to how to ride for the conditions and how to ensure your head’s in the right place for the ride.

Whether you’re battling through Britain’s wet and windy winter weather, or tucked up indoors awaiting warmer and drier roads… there’s guaranteed to be something in these series that will transform an aspect of your riding – and boost your enjoyment. And while instruction is invaluable, so is the right attitude to riding. Neeves says: 'Having the right mindset before you even throw a leg over a motorcycle is so important and can make a ride more enjoyable and certainly a lot safer. And that mental preparation can begin the day or evening before you ride.' There are even episodes that cover setting your motorcycle up properly, as well as lots of simple but effective bike maintenance tips – and what to do if you’re the first on the scene in an emergency.

Head to :a[www.bikertek.co.uk]{href='https://www.bikertek.co.uk' } now to see what you can learn about the art of riding motorcycles before your next ride – and arm yourself with the skills needed to make every minute of your bike time even more rewarding in 2025.

Catch up with the story so far, and get ready for the fantastic new six-part series that will air weekly from mid-February.

As if all of the unmissable content in the hub wasn’t enough, a whole new series of advice videos kicks off on February 19, covering such topics as setting optimal gears and speed for seamless corner-hunting progress, through to a filtering masterclass, how to be a slow-control expert, and how you can ride to be seen. Combined with all of the other videos and tips tutorials, it makes the BikerTek hub an invaluable one-stop resource for bikers who want to get more out of their bike time.

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###### 5 BIKES THAT REALLY MATTER THIS MONTH

#### Like the scrambler style but wish they looked psychotic and had 156bhp? This **Pan America**\-based headcase is the answer

**I**n a parallel universe where Harley-Davidson are surfing a wave of Pan America success, this brutal tracker wouldn’t exist because they’d already be making it – along with the Bronx naked bike, plus all manner of other spin-offs.

But in our realm, where Harley are fighting to keep their cylinder heads above water, it needs custom builders to push the boundaries.

‘This started around six months ago,’ explains Black Cycles boss Noel Muller from his Australian HQ. ‘A customer had bought his 2022 Pan America on the spur of the moment and wasn’t actually an adventure bike person. He asked if I could do anything cool with it.’

Naturally, Noel said he most definitely could, but didn’t know what until he stripped all the plastic off so he could see what surrounded the 1252cc 60° V-twin. ‘I found that the base bike is actually very compact so I suggested a modern scrambler style, as if Harley had made a dirt racing prototype.’

With the owner frothing enthusiastically, Noel then actually had to build it, which wasn’t easy. The immediate problem was the tank, which is 21 litres in standard form. ‘It’s massive,’ says Noel, ‘and wouldn’t work with the plan, so I built a concealed 8.5-litre tank from the neck \[steering tube\] to the rear wheel – it’s about a metre long. That meant making a shorter subframe to fit.’

The next challenge were the new panels, which Noel made from aluminium. ‘I had the shapes in my mind, but making them blend to the large multi-function screen – which I moved down from above the handlebars – was very challenging.’

As was the exhaust. ‘My first idea was to run a pipe upwards from the original low-down headers, but that looked ridiculous. So I chopped up the headers and built a new middle section to flow better into the Vance and Hines muffler.’ Because Noel had chopped out the original catalytic converter he had some space to play with, so filled it up with a 2.4-litre auxiliary tank. ‘It can be removed easily without tools to top up the fuel if necessary,’ says Noel.

‘The regulator was originally mounted down in front of the bash plate \[an odd location at the best of times\] so I relocated it up inside the left side wing and made a new, more compact bash plate. It’s built from two pieces of aluminium and I dimple died it \[holes are punched through the material, leaving a lip which increases overall rigidity\]. That helps aesthetics and cooling.

‘The test ride went great – it was my first time on one of these motors and I have to say that it absolutely hammers! It was hard to keep the front wheel down. The standard bike is 150bhp and the exhaust gives another six – it definitely feels like a genuine 156bhp.’

The standard pipe went down to a catalyst under the engine, but with that gone Noel was free to route it upwards to the tail for a high-level exit.

New 8.5-litre handmade tank runs from the steering stem to the rear of the saddle. There’s an auxiliary tank under the engine.

Standard Harley 1252cc V-twin with variable valve timing and self-adjusting hydraulic lifters. Power is 156bhp with the Vance and Hines exhaust, torque is 94 lb.ft.

Noel made the aluminium base. There’s minimal foam, but that doesn’t matter because you’ll be stopping for fuel all the time anyway.

All handmade in aluminium by Noel to give a motocross vibe. Dash is incorporated in the tank cover.

Original letterbox-style main beam is ditched in favour of a Highsider Satellite.

#### :a[Head into stores to grab your latest issue, or why not subscribe to Bike and never miss an issue! Right now you can enjoy 3 issues for just £3 in our January Sale - what are you waiting for?]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/bike-magazine?utm_source=bikemagazine.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_bike&amp;utm_content=article_brain_scrambler' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'}

#### Michelin’s technical manager **Tony Charlton** explains why tyres are so groovy

The reason you have grooves is to remove water from the contact patch, but also because the edges of the grooves produce very high-pressure areas that cut through any film of water or grime.

The high pressure is created when the tyre rotates and the edge following the groove hits the road surface fractionally before the rest of the tyre, with the weight of the bike pushing down through it.

That’s why some of our tyres have a lot of sipes – the very thin slits. These actually close up as the contact patch is formed, but when they first touch down they create that high pressure edge.

The beauty of a motorcycle contact patch is that it’s oval, with a point at the front. It acts like the bow of a boat, pushing water out of the way, and does the majority of the water clearance work. If a tyre was very thin and high pressure – like a bicycle tyre – it wouldn’t need grooves. In fact, the only reason we put grooves on narrow bicycle tyres is to make people more confident in the wet. They’re cosmetic.

But with a motorcycle tyre in the wet, grooves store water rather than channel it, as they do on car tyres. This is why motorcycle grooves don’t have to be continuous – they don’t have to push the water anywhere. Tread shapes are partly dictated by aesthetics, but the tread blocks in between need to be able to resist the forces of braking and acceleration. That’s why tread patterns on a front and rear tyre are the reverse of each other.

They have to cope with opposing forces – braking at the front, acceleration at the rear. If you ran the tyres the wrong way round they would feel pretty similar, but you’d notice less stability if you were pushing on, and they would wear faster. I don’t recommend it...

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**Save up to 82%** on a Bike Subscription in our January Sale with **3 issues for £3**

Bike magazine is your definitive guide to the world of motorcycling. Every issue you'll find incredible motorcycling travel stories from our team and readers with amazing adventures and epic photography. Plus there's expert opinion on all the new motorcycles available in the UK, giving you all the details you need to choose your next bike.

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Subscribe to Bike Magazine in our January Sale

Grab your tickets now, as the Devitt Insurance MCN London Motorcycle Show roars into town February 14-16, 2025. Celebrating the best of all things two wheeled, the show promises displays of the very latest models from the world’s leading manufacturers, a live action extravaganza which will see racing heroes go head-to-head, three fantastic stages hosted by your favourite motorcycling celebrities, the latest premium kit and accessories at bargain prices, with much more still to be announced.

Come and see the latest 2025 models on display from the world’s biggest manufacturers, featuring Honda, Ducati, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki, KTM, Triumph, BSA, CF Moto, Agusta MV, Artisan Electric and Royal Alloy. More coming soon!

**Live flat-track fun**  
Prepare for hair-raising live flat track racing action as the biggest names in British biking battle it out on a thrilling indoor circuit. A purpose-built indoor flat track circuit, a squadron of Britain’s best biking talent past and present, and three days of adrenaline-pumping action. How does that sound?

Taking place inside London’s ExCel, riders include 23-time Isle of Man TT winner John McGuinness, and current TT lap record holder and Bennetts British Superbike star Peter Hickman. The pair will be in the mix among more of Britain’s top racers competing on a tailor-made flat track circuit in an effort to become the 2025 Devitt Insurance MCN London Motorcycle Show mini indoor flat track champion.

**Henry Cole Live Stage**  
The new-for-2025 Machine Mart stage sees TV’s Henry Cole, Allen Millyard, and Guy ‘Skid’ Willison, come together to tell unheard stories, provide plenty of laughs, as well as astounding you with their legendary motorcycles and engineering expertise. Fans will also get the opportunity to meet Henry and his guests for a chat and even a quick selfie!

**Boorman’s back**  
The king of motorcycle adventures returns to host the popular Charley Boorman Adventure Base Camp stage, supported by Oxford Products. Expect new tales from his latest TV trip, the

Long Way Home, a pannier load of useful tips and tricks to use while planning your next adventure, and how to overcome challenges on the road and plenty more insights from the Long Way series star.

## Save cash by booking advance tickets now

#### …helmet, and biker café, and race meeting, and more. Here’s motorcycling’s most popular everything of the past 12 months (and beyond)

Which helmet is the UK’s favourite? What race meeting has the biggest crowd, and which place for food, tea and bike-based banter is the most popular? To try to find the best by any sort of credible yardstick, we’ve applied some ‘science’ and, where not available, asked the experts in their field and referred to suitable polls to find out the best-sellers and biggest award winners. Here are the most popular of all in 10 of the most popular motorcycling categories…

Phil Martin, manager for _MCN’s_ dealer team sales: ‘They’ll never win an overall Dealer of the Year award because they only deal with second-hand bikes and a few new 125s. But I would say they’re the biggest dealer in terms of used bikes – and the UK’s biggest in terms of overall numbers.’

Race meetings are all about attendance figures, but TV viewer numbers are also important – although exact numbers are often (and annoyingly) highly guarded for commercial reasons.

‘We wouldn’t give crowd figures,’ explains Laura Stevens, media and PR for the British Superbike championship. ‘But traditionally, the top three rounds in terms of crowd would be Brands Hatch finale, Cadwell Park (August bank holiday), and the first visit to Oulton Park.’ And TV/Eurosport figures? ‘The viewing figures usually correspond the same, however Donington Park second visit was high, too.’

As this is being compiled before the end of the year there’s still some selling to be done.

However, the MCIA’s official figures for the year to date (Jan-Oct) are a solid indication of which new bike will top the chart.

In 2023, the BMW R1250GS Adventure continued the GS’s ongoing reign as the UK’s best-selling new bike (over 125cc – Honda and Yamaha shift way more scooters and tiddlers). There were 1697 sales. In 2024, even with two months of sales to be added

BMW had shifted 1606 GSAs… but Triumph had beat them, having flogged even more examples of the new Speed 400 with 1625 bikes. You can read what makes it so popular on page 52. And, just to cement Triumph’s league-topping position, the Scrambler 400 X variant has been all-but-matching the Speed’s sales success. Small bikes genuinely are where it’s at.

#### **Textile jacket:** Oxford Mondial Advanced

‘This jacket was always a revelation for Oxford as it had a laminated waterproof membrane and cost about half as much as an equivalent Gore-Tex jacket,’ reckons Keith Roissetter of Sportsbikeshop in Harlow.

‘It’s been replaced by the Mondial 2, but we’ve had good stock of the original throughout 2024 and at £200 it’s a steal. The membrane is bonded directly to the back of the jacket’s outer shell, so it doesn't saturate like jackets with a separate waterproof liner. That’s why the Mondial is such good value and why it’s been the most popular jacket this year.’

#### **Biker Café:** Jolly’s Bike Stop, Devon

This one’s less of a ‘best attended’, more a popularity contest. A recent poll by the UK Biker Café Facebook group attracted more than 3500 votes for the ‘Top UK Biker Cafés of 2024’ and this year Josie’s Bike Stop at The Jolly Roger in Bovey Tracey, Newton Abbot, Devon, came out tops. Praised for its regular Thursday bike nights and friendly atmosphere, it’s a popular stop for ride-outs and groups. Second was The Old Stores Motorbike Café in Mold, North Wales. Third went to the Owls Nest, Llandovery, while the _Bike_ office lunchtime regular – Two Flags at Morcott, Rutland – came fourth.

#### **Used bike:** Honda GL1800 Gold Wing (!)

How do you find the most popular used bike in Britain? You sneak into the _MCN_ offices while they’re enjoying an extended ‘working’ lunch and delve into the data from their online Bikes for Sale to find the most-searched-for models.

The top ten for the past 12 months is either a) an eye-opening revelation and proof of the cruiser’s huge resurgence, or b) evidence that a lot of people who search for used bikes online are perhaps not actual buyers but rather non-riders typing in famous model names that they’ve heard. We’re going with the latter, given that there are two Harley-Davidsons in the top five. Still interesting reading, mind.

Biggest bike bash of the year? Motorcycle Live. This year’s show at the NEC attracted ‘just under 90,000’ visitors, with 11 colleges and universities attending ‘career days’ to encourage new riders and jobs within the industry. Good stuff. It remains easily the UK’s best-attended show. In comparison, ‘over 30,000’ attended the two-day Devitt MCN London Motorcycle Show in February, with around the same going to the Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show in Stafford in October. The ABR Festival at Ragley Hall, Warks, in June, was capped at 17,500.

#### **Dealer:** West Coast Motorcycles, Glasgow

Potentially contentious as we’re not after the biggest or the most commercially successful, but the somewhat subjective ‘best loved’. So we challenged an expert: _MCN_ dealer team sales manager Phil Martin. ‘There are no league tables – different dealers work with different manufacturers, there’s new and used… But the most recent dealer to win _MCN’s_ Dealer of the Year award is West Coast Motorcycles.

‘Having had significant success with Harley-Davidson, they opened up with Triumph in the last year or so and that seems to be going really well. They do a lot in their community, put on regular bike nights, and they’ve got great customer feedback.’

#### **Helmet:** Scorpion Exo‐1400 Evo Carbon Air

Sportsbikeshop is the ‘biggest online motorcycle clothing and accessories retailer in the UK’, which means they know lots about kit and clobber. The clothing and accessories retailer has nine stores nationwide, stocks all the leading brands, claims to get more website visitors than any other online UK motorcycle store, and therefore knows better than any what sells.

‘This is Sportsbikeshop’s top-selling helmet for the first 10 months of 2024,’ Keith Roissetter, manager of the Harlow branch, tells us. ‘It’s thanks to a mix of light weight, practical features and cool looks. The carbon-fibre shell is light and looks great – and there’s a tinted visor included as well as the standard clear one, which definitely adds to the appeal. The Airfit system helps, too, as inflatable pockets behind the cheek pads mean we can tune the fit to suit a lot of riders without having to replace the pads. The price has been another big factor: there’s a new model out, so this one is less than £250. Thankfully we’ve still got a good supply in the core sizes.’

#### **World championship race:** British MotoGP, Silverstone

If you watched this year’s British GP on TV and thought it looked a bit quiet in the stands, it’s perhaps because you were watching on telly instead of being there to witness Jake Dixon’s Moto2 win. Silverstone was better attended than in 2023 – total for the weekend was 117,867, which was a slight increase. Shame the number for Sunday’s race day was slightly down, from 48,564 to 42,529.

In comparison, weekend attendance at the Donington Park World Superbike round was 52,743. Which is clear proof that we require another Foggy. Back in the late 1990s, at the height of ‘Foggy Mania’, WSB comfortably whupped GP’s ass when it came to spectators – in 1999 when Carl Fogarty was chasing his fourth title, the Brands WSB round was witnessed by a staggering 121,000 fans. It was the biggest single-day attendance at any British sporting event that year.

#### :a[Head into stores to grab your latest issue, or why not subscribe to Bike and never miss an issue! Right now you can enjoy 6 issues for just £19.99 with our festive offer - what are you waiting for?]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/bike-magazine?utm_source=bikemagazine.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_bike&amp;utm_content=article_britains_best_loved' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'}

###### **5 BIKES THAT REALLY MATTER THIS MONTH**

#### CCM reveal **Project X,** an off-road successor to the much-loved GP450

It’s easy to forget what an off-road powerhouse CCM used to be.

Back in 1977, for example, a couple of CCMs led the British motocross GP, keeping swarms of Japanese factory bikes behind them. They didn’t ultimately win it, but the episode was enough to scare Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), who bought a CCM and took it back to Japan to forensically examine. And now the Bolton firm are heading back towards dirt with this, the Project X.

As with all recent CCMs, it’s Spitfire based, with the same 600cc single-cylinder engine and TIG-welded steel frame as the popular road bike range. But thanks to a bigger fuel tank, long-travel suspension and new wheel sizes, Project X has become a serious off-road tool according to CCM.

‘The Spitfire range has been really successful for us,’ CCM’s new managing director Jason Broome tells _Bike._ ‘But CCM purists have been asking for a bike that’s closer to our roots, so naturally we wanted to deliver. But we needed to be practical at the same time. Developing a whole new bike will take years.

‘In the meantime, we asked ourselves, “can we make our existing engine and chassis more targeted at our heritage?” The first problem was the fuel tank. If you want an enduro bike it’s got to have sufficient range, but a fuel tank isn’t something you can just knock up. It takes time. We’ve developed an injection-moulded plastic tank with a cover, just like a competition bike would have. We’ve also relocated the fuel pump to get an extra litre of fuel in. It’s now between 17 and 18 litres, which equates to a 150-mile range.’

Apparently the other major request from long-standing CCM fans was an airbox – none of the Spitfire variants have one. ‘Again, that was a challenge,’ says Jason. ‘But we’ve done it. Along with the long-travel WP suspension, 21in front wheel and 18in rear, plus sump guard and new mudguards, it’s resulted in a capable enduro bike. Each one will be made to order, so customers can specify whether they want them in enduro or road trim.’

The Project X will cost £13,995 when it arrives in June 2025.

Beautifully made steel trellis, lovingly TIG-welded together in Bolton.

Sort of. CCM’s 2022 ‘Retro Trailie’ concept looked remarkably similar.

Rorty 600cc single from the Spitfire, making 55bhp and 37 lb.ft of torque.

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#### _Bike’s_ datalogging expert **Bruce Dunn** deals with the side effects of his trade…

I’m replacing the clutch plates on this 2014 Suzuki GSX-R750 with both guilt and satisfaction. Guilt because the clutch’s demise was down to me performance testing it; satisfaction that I achieved excellent quarter-mile data… before it cooked itself.

So then: aftermarket or original? The Suzuki parts add up to just under £400, but a quality aftermarket kit from EBC with heavy-duty springs is just under £115. I put the bike on its sidestand – with it leaning over this stops oil running out when the clutch cover is removed. This won’t apply to all bikes, but can save faffing around with drain trays. The GSX-R’s clutch is conventional, with actuation via a pushrod from the left-hand side of the engine. Just make sure there’s ample free play at the lever, or if there’s an actuating lever on the clutch case side you can release the cable. Undo the cover’s bolts and make a note of any different lengths. Tease the cover off, keeping an eye for locating dowels; if it refuses to budge have a look around the edges for pry points, but use them carefully.

The outer pressure plate is secured by the springs. Undo these, and remove the plates individually, keeping note of the order: it’s usually friction plate then steel plate, repeated until the last friction. Make sure your new plates are the same and offer them up. Check your manual as there’s often an anti-shudder shim or additional sprung retainer. First and last plates sometimes differ too – on the GSX-R the last friction plate is thinner than the rest.

Clean the clutch drum and basket with brake cleaner. Use a brush to agitate heavier deposits, and rinse with a blast of brake cleaner. Clean the inside and outside of the pressure plate and cover, too. Scotchbrite is good to get traces of old gasket from the engine and cover. Soak the new frictions in the oil used in the engine or gearbox for at least an hour. Smear oil on the steels, too. Fit the plates in the correct order, ensuring the steels are in the right way – the round edges usually face a specific way (inwards on this GSX-R). Fit the pressure plate; sometimes there will be marks to line it up with the clutch basket. Refit springs and nip them up evenly, then torque them as per your manual. With a pushrod system, check in the manual for any screw or locknut adjustment.

Ensure cover-locating dowels are in place and fit a new gasket. As the clutch cover goes on remember to engage the actuating lever. When the case is seated nip the bolts up then deploy the torque wrench. Run the engine up for a few minutes, stop it and check the oil level. Check the clutch lever free play before a test ride – it’s likely this has changed, so give it a tweak.

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Packed with iconic machinery and astounding engineering, this issue celebrates the very best of British. We name Blighty’s greatest ever bike, showcase the world-beating engines, and reveal Britain’s best-loved… well, everything, from helmet and jacket to dealer and biker café.

The best-selling new Triumph Speed 400 takes on its fabulous 400cc-ish rivals, and the latest Honda Fireblade bangs heads with the BMW S1000RR on British B-roads. We expose the tech secrets inside BMW’s funky new F450GS, go behind the scenes at the European drag racing finals (0-260mph in six seconds, anyone?), and Mat Oxley chats with factory Ducati MotoGP rider Fabio Di Giannantonio. Plus, all the insight, humour, and entertainment you can only find in the UK’s best-selling motorcycle magazine…

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#### Today’s bikes are capable of mileages our forefathers would have deemed impossible – and we have two rather unexpected things to thank…

  
As children, most of us were told that two wrongs don’t make a right. But for bikers two things that can make our noses wrinkle – cars and exhaust emissions – can, it turns out, make things good for us. They’re the primary reason why bikes don’t break and do massive mileages.

Clean air is what we all want and need. Worldwide there’s been progressive tightening of emissions limits in this regard for many years, with the first regulations raised in California in 1966 due to ever-worsening air quality. The car industry, of course, fought back in their normal way by claiming there was no real way of meeting the regulations and it would bankrupt them. They squealed and squealed until it was obvious The Man wasn’t going to back down, then met the rules after all. However, the cost in good ol’ American hosspower was monumental. ‘Derated’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. ‘Eviscerated’ would be closer.

In 1973 the first automotive catalytic converter was produced, enabling a massive step forward in emissions control. The first ones were simple ‘two-way’ jobs that only converted hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, but they did allow tuning options that the previous best technology – thermal reactors, basically big empty boxes in the exhaust that kept gases hot for as long as possible in the hope HCs and CO would miraculously disappear – could not. Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) were later dealt with in a two-stage catalyst system where the engine was run slightly rich to reduce the NOx using some of the HC and CO in a first cat, with what was left of those then being oxidised in a second one after air had been squirted in by a pump. Complex, but it worked. Then it was realised that with sufficiently accurate control of the air/fuel ratio a single cat could do the job, and so one of the most fantastic devices ever was invented: the three-way cat (TWC).

Call me sad, but the TWC is a stupendous piece of kit. In this smallpackage all the hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms magically get rearranged to produce just nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide. Once it is ‘lit’ this happens with 99.99 per cent efficiency as exhaust gases fly through. There is absolutely no doubt it saved the spark-ignition engine.

Anyway. When cats were introduced, engines were down on pre-regs outputs, but it was obvious it was a device that could massively reduce emissions. Obvious to all, including legislators. The stage was thus set to keep ratcheting down emissions limits, and to require compliance over ever ‐longer mileages. And to keep increasing requirements to a level that would have been impossible beforehand, while monitoring things over longer periods. Naturally, this gave rise to evermore powerful engine control systems (fuel injection, electronic throttles, variable timing – you name it).

As an example of increasing requirements, for cars we have to show emissions compliance for over 150,000 miles. On-board diagnostics have been mandated in the US and Europe so that sensors continually diagnose whether other sensors are working properly, and if not the dreaded malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) is thrown. Any problems have to be reported. In the US, if your product shows a tendency to fall out of compliance the Environmental Protection Agency can force you to recall and fix them. Every. Single. One. Through MIL lamp reporting the agency also noticed that, in general, cars had a tendency to show problems with their emissions systems after someone had spannered them badly, so they made it illegal to require any maintenance to anything in the ‘air path’ (from air filter outlet to catalyst system outlet). Except the spark plugs, which I always think is weird. This included cam drives and boosting devices. Both had to take a massive leap in durability as a result.

Other things were needed. Oil consumption had to be nailed because of HC emissions, so understanding of piston/liner dynamics had to be improved. Friction had to be reduced because burning more fuel inherently leads to more emissions (we really had to do this for CO2 emissions reduction, but it’s true for criteria pollutants, too).

> ‘Next time you smell clean air, remember achieving it has been good in more ways than one’

It’s all harder with direct injection (DI) and we haven’t mentioned particulate emissions. But you can see that, due to technologies developed and deployed because of emissions regs, the modern engine is an astounding achievement. At modern emissions levels it cleans the air; it’s way cleaner than cigarettes, barbecues, or cooking your Sunday lunch; it’s more efficient and powerful than ever; it’s super-driveable even with ridiculous power; it’s durable like you wouldn’t believe; and it’s convenient and cheap, providing great utility – in exactly the way that a battery electric vehicle doesn’t.

If you’ve got this far, you’ll be asking what on earth this has to do with motorcycles. They’re not subject to the same emissions limits – either in absolute terms or monitoring. The fact is that bike and car manufacturers share the same suppliers and consultants, their engineers move between them, and they use the same processes and tools to develop and make their products. Consequently, the whole ecosystem just improved massively. Bikes just couldn’t help but get better as well.

When I was a greenhorn engine development engineer at Norton and Lotus, I used to bemoan evermore difficult emissions targets. Then an experienced old hand said to me: ‘No, lad, you’ve got it wrong. Meeting these limits is bloody hard. And bloody hard means more people are employed for longer…’ Ever since I’ve said bring it on. Effectively the only limit we cannot achieve cost-effectively is zero. So they can ban the engine – that’s exactly what the politicians have set for tailpipe CO2 . Given the historical efforts of all those super ‐clever engine engineers, that’s hardly fair, is it? Especially when it’s the fuel that’s the problem, not the engine per se.

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