2011 Erik Buell Racing 1190RS Preview

Well, that time became this weekend at the Powersports Dealer Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana, when Mr. Buell rolled out his new 1190RS streetbike. After Harley-Davidson killed the Buell Motorcycle Company, it restricted Buell from building streetbikes, allowing construction solely of racing motorcycles based on the previous production bikes. That agreement has now ended. Buell’s vision of producing an American sportbike enters a new chapter with the 1190RS, a serious evolution of the 1190RR racebike privately campaigned during the 2010 AMA Superbike season with rider Geoff May.

Buell’s RS is cloaked in fresh new skin, now with a full fairing in a slim and edgy new design constructed of carbon fiber. Its nose is now much pointier, fitted with a pair of projector lens headlights stacked atop each other similar to Ducati’s 999 but in a more streamlined layout.

BMW K 1600

The star feature of the BMW K1600 is its inline six-cylinder engine. It’s not the first transversely-mounted inline six-cylinder engine to power a motorcycle, Honda’s CBX, Benelli’s Sei and Kawasaki’s KZ1300 all came and went decades ago, but the BMW engine is the most impressive. Measuring less than 22” in width, the liquid-cooled, 1649cc inline-six is incredibly narrow, weighs only 126 lbs. but produces a claimed 160 hp at 7,750 rpm and 129 lb.-ft. of torque at 5,250 rpm.
The fully-loaded BMW K1600GTL weighs 767 lbs., which is substantially less than the Honda Gold Wing’s 900-plus wet weight. The relatively light weight of the BMW K1600 allows the touring bike to handle like a much smaller, sportier motorcycle. Slowing the BMW K1600 down is a triple-disc set-up utilizing BMW’s ABS as standard equipment. The K1600’s braking system also includes linked brakes (where both front and rear brakes are employed when applying pressure to either hand or foot levers and controlled by the bike’s ECU).

2011 Aprilia RS4 125 Review

Everybody knows that 2-stroke engines can produce more power than a comparably sized 4-stroke. The RS125 can be tuned to around 33 horsepower, whilst the RS4 125 can only get to about 25 horsepower with a 180cc kit. The RS4 125 can’t replace the RS125 performance-wise, but it does benefit from a reliable torquey 125cc four-stroke engine that doesn’t need a rebuild every 10,000 miles. The RS4 125 is also more environmentally friendly using less fuel and oil compared to the 2-strokes.  I, however, tested on a race track, so I spent pretty much all the time testing in the range between 10,000 and 11,000 rpm where the engine pulls much better than anywhere else in the power range. It’s a narrow range for riding fast, and I quickly found out that losing revs must be avoided at all cost. Compared to a 2-stroke, though, there’s plenty of midrange. I had lots of fun slipstreaming the other journalists on the circuit just like they do in the 125 GP championship, but it got slightly boring as soon as I found myself without anybody to chase down.

2011 Aprilia Tuono V4R APRC Review

I start my first session with the traction control set at level six and then reduce by one for each lap until I’m down at level one. The Aprilia 2011 Tuono V4R is a bit of a shock to the system as it just pulls like an angry bull everywhere and stops as if a freight train suddenly started pulling it in reverse. When I’ve finished my second 20-minute session I’m experiencing arm pump and a threatening cramp in my left leg each time I brake hard. My mechanic made some rear-suspension adjustments which changed the bike a lot and made my hard riding much easier.  With the APRC traction control I can accelerate early from great lean in safety, and even on level one it feels safe despite some nice sliding action out of most corners.