FIGURE - OF- EIGHT
Two cones, 12m apart and 3m from the start/finish line. Five full figures-of-eight, against the clock. In Moto Gymkhana terminology, a ‘GP8’ course. One timed run with no practice
TIGER 1200 59.73s
I’m not sure if I’ll be any good at this, but the Tiger should be. It only takes first gear, rolling speed on between the cones, then taking it off as the throttle is shut. Turn the head, try to get the bars to the lock-stops, drive… more drive… And repeat. By the time I’ve done the second lap I’m dizzy and using too much juice, adding too much speed to make the circles too big — but I’m also tuning harder and tighter. I’m enjoying myself, but the Tiger is definitely better at this than me. SW
SV650X 1:29.17s
My heart sank as MFG explained this challenge. Having only taken my Module 1 test a few weeks ago, the rest of the RIDE team reckoned this should have been a doddle for me. But I hated that part of the licence process, and I found it really difficult to get nice flowing tight turns. I was wobbly, had no confidence and I took the most time: no fault of the SV, and entirely the fault of the rider. Recent experience, it seems, counts for less than lots of experience. JB
CB1000R+ 1:21.98s
Being shorter than ideal, I often can’t put a foot down even if I want to on the CB. Thankfully, even though everyone was watching, we didn’t disgrace ourselves — but I’m sure I could do better. The Honda has lots of steering lock that I don’t think I exploited and my confidence grew as the laps went on. CB
H2 SX 51.52s
The low-speed manoeuvrability of the H2 is excellent on the road, but between two cones the Kawasaki is actually a long thing with a high centre of gravity and a tendency to topple. Turning circle is fine, it’s just trying to make a bike built for graceful high-speed habits fit low-speed point and squirt. All things considered, it’s not bad. SH
SCRAMBLER 1100 51.62s
The Scrambler and I take a simple approach: stay tight to the cones and only use the back brake to avoid front-end dive. That all works nicely, but throwing the bike around cones left and right, late braking, early acceleration, managing revs, counting laps AND trying to look cool is a lot to manage. I spent a splitsecond looking at what lap Martin said I was on and put a foot down on lap four, adding a second to what would’ve been a decent time. That makes it his fault though, right? LS
2nd 790 DUKE 44.05s
I want another go! This was the only test of the day that I finished shaking with excitement. The KTM 790 feels really agile and light with loads of punchy power. What I struggled with was trying to feel for grip from both the front and rear tyres at such low speeds. I could definitely go faster with some practice, but I’d probably need about 500 laps, not just five. BD