TEL: 0330 024 0087
Principal Insurance
divider

All ready for some fun in Brum?

All ready for some fun in Brum?

Posted on Nov 27, 2015

  Tomorrow the doors will be gleefully thrown open to the UK’s biggest bike show, Motorcycle Live 2015. And what a show it’s shaping up to be with many of the big manufacturers set to unveil new models, including BMW, Ducati, Honda, Indian, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Triumph and Yamaha. They’ll also be the quirky – check out Polaris’s Slingshot reverse trike – and the creative and engineering genius which is the hallmark of the Custom Extreme zone. For us the fun starts on our very own stand. As we’ve already revealed it will feature the stunning DMC Eccythump Scrambler, a mighty 265bhp Triumph Rocket III and Ian Hutchinson’s TT circuit eating HM Plant CBR1000RR7. To that list you can also add two further beauties, the present day magnificence that is Indian’s Chief Classic and, from yesteryear, Mike Hailwood’s 1966 RC181, one of Honda’s famously ‘fast but flawed’ 500cc four cylinder machines which, despite reputedly being rougher to handle than a Friday night drunk, still earned Honda manufacturer honours in the GP. HMScrambler 1 cropRocket full profileOK, though, unlike Katie Hopkins, we realize it’s not all about us, with the NEC halls jam-packed with magnificent metal. Among newbies on the Yamaha stand will be MT-10, a feisty naked number borne of the R1, and the XSR900, a bike pitched by the Japanese manufacturer as one of its “faster sons” – machines that show “respect to the bikes that came before, whilst showing pride in the faster sons of today and tomorrow.” Thus you get an attractive retro-styled roadster married to the modern-day welly of an in-line 3-cylinder 850cc Crossplane Concept engine and features such as three-mode traction control.

Yamaha XSR900Faster son: the XSR900

Always a heavy-hitter at the NEC, Honda will be showing off the newly tweaked CB500F, R and Xs , plus the NC750S and its adventure stablemate, the NC750X. But most eagerly anticipated will be the CRF100L Africa Twin which attracted a fair few admiring glances and grunts when receiving its world debut in Milan. It seemed to also do the business when put through its paces by Spanish GP racer Marco Marquez and Dakar demon Joan Barreda. The boys seemed to enjoy throwing it around, judging by the video evidence.

Honda’s Japanese rivals are not resting easy either.  Kawasaki is putting in the limelight its newly revamped ZX-10R featuring a freshly tweaked engine which, through cunning design is set to improve both acceleration and deceleration as well as handling. Over at Suzuki the GSX-R1000 concept superbike will be the central attraction, equipped as it is with a shiny new engine featuring variable valve timing which is tickled via a ride-by-wire electronic throttle. It’ll spit out 200bhp and, having shed a few pounds, promises to be quite a beast. There’s a but though…..Suzuki have yet to reveal if you’ll be able to pick one up next year. You might try and second guess the tightlipped marketing team by pondering just why they’ve chosen to display the concept at the UK’s biggest biking shop window, six months before the main season starts! The aforementioned Indian is debuting the Sixty Scout, an entry-level version of the existing Scout which carries an appealing sub-£9k price tag and was this week lauded as “a great-looking, well-built, quality bike” by MCN in a world-first road test. Indian Scout Sixty Motorcycle Live

Be prepared for Indian's eminently affordable Sixty Scout.

Ducati is bringing to Brum the new, brutish belt-driven XDiavel cruiser as well as the 959 Panigale, which features a smart Superquadro V-twin to kick out an extra nine horses over its 899 predecessor. It looks tasty. BMW’s big shout is the R nineT Scrambler, the first of a planned series of bikes to be built around the acclaimed nineT’s boxer twin engine It carries a lower price tag than its parent but if you later want to splash the cash the German manufacturer is offering up more accessories than you’ll find in a supermodel’s wardrobe. Finally, a quick look at Victory who were also busy on that fashionable Italian city’s biking catwalk this month, unveiling a production version of the engine that motored Project 126, the machine designed to conquer Pikes Peak Hill, the world’s highest motorsports racecourse. Having achieved that feat the liquid-cooled four-valve engine with double overhead cam engine is now set to power the manufacturer’s next generation of 1200cc models. victory_ignition_concept_hi_res_205victory_ignition_concept_hi_res_203victory_ignition_concept_hi_res_137victory_ignition_concept_hi_res_204Its appearance at the NEC remains TBC at the time of writing but do expect Victory’s 2016 portfolio of six speed, 106 cubic inch, V-twins, including the bobberesque Gunner and Magnum bagger. One last memory jogger for you too – if you drop by the Principal stand you can grab hold of a free calendar which features a thoroughly delectable dozen of biking beauties. These include the 2016 Triumph Thruxton R, Augusta’s F3 800RC, Kawasaki Ninja H2 and one of just fifty Suzuki GSXR 750 replica's produced for MCN in tribute to Barry Sheene. We’ll see you there!
  • Motorcycle Live opens at Birmingham’s NEC tomorrow, Saturday 28 November and runs through until Sunday December 6th. Tickets on the door cost £20 for adults, £13 for seniors, £9 for children aged 11 to 16, with accompanied under-11s going free. For more details visit motorcyclelive.co.uk. 
  Calendar coverDon't forget to drop by our stand to collect your free 2006 calendar - you'll find us in Hall 4, stand 4c40.        
Motorcycle News