2006 November blog

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Headed down to meet Gary Freeman first thing in the morning with the Tiger 1050 today. Bike was filthy with road grime by the time I reached Donington services to meet Gary the photographer. Gary had conveniently arranged for us to go and wash the bike at Marco Melandri's house, not far from the legendary British MotoGP circuit. Melandri wasn't home unfortunately, but his mate Jamie Dobb (MX 125 world champ) was home and put the garden hose on for us. Then Gary and I went to start to shoot. We got some great shots at various locations. Including some tracking shot remotely. To explain, camera is fitted to the side of the van with a specialist device and remote control via radio so that Gary could close the shutter from the van remotely. Pretty cool! Gary also just did KTM's 990 Superduke brochure in Osaka, Japan by the way. The shots should be spectacular! More pix tomorrow. TS

I have now arranged to test the two new CCM's showed by the British manufacturer at the NEC show earlier this year. It will be great and the firm is based just around the corner from me too. We will start with the SR40 next week. Tomorrow it's time for the action shoot of the Tiger 1050. It will be both beautiful and spectacular if the weather stays as it has been today. TS

Got those shots I was waiting for from MCN photographer Ian Jubb this morning. I wasn't supposed to tell you about that, but then MCN insisted on being credited, which is fair enough so it's common knowledge. What isn't fair is that those two shots are going to cost me money for each additional publication. I'll have a chat to my man at Aprilia UK when he comes back from Eastnor Castle over the weekend. Jubb did a good job getting that wheelie shot as it wasn't a place where you would normally wheelie anything. I had so little runway in front of me when landing that I just made it before jumping into the bushes. The RXV would probably have made it, but it would have freaked me out! Whilst talking about photography, I'll meet up with Gary Freeman to do the action shots of the Tiger 1050 just over the weekend. Thanks to Triumph for letting me keep the Tiger. You'll have it back before Xmas! The Tiger is eating the miles as if it was nothing. I have done some really economical runs by now too and the range dramatically increases to more than 200 miles before running out of fuel. That's pretty good, but you never touch the ton even doing that sort of boring riding. Riding with the offroad helmet on the motorway forced me to ride slower and wear a balaclava under the helmet. It was still cold. Speaking of the cold, just received some new riding gear today. The Scott Gerona Gore-Tex jacket is a fairly stylish piece of kit and the white matches the white Tiger. So I'll use it for those shots. I am also talking to four-five American advertising agencies at the moment on what we can do to make this site really profitable. It deserves to be profitable and I need more cash next year to pay for Gary Freeman's work and the designers. Because I will keep them all busy! A little piece of info I have held back from the Milan show was when I met Claudio Castiglioni on the MV Agusta stand. He was chatting to Dr. Herbert Diess from BMW-Motorrad. When I asked to take their picture Diess backed out. He said that he was afraid of me speculating. Right, and so you should for not being honest with me! What's going on BMW? World Superbike cooperation perhaps? In-line four supersport engine chat? Or just friends? Whatever it was, I'll find out. And for the record, I'm no paparazzi, because then you would have seen the shot already. By: Tor Sagen/Photo: Ian Jubb/MCN and Tor Sagen

Big day today when Aprilia World services UK launched the 2007 RXV 450 and 550. It's mainly the engine that have received modifications compared to the 2006 we rode in Sicily earlier this year. A slightly lower seat with a more rounded profile is a rider friendly modification. The terrain we rode the RXV's on today was completely different from the dry gravel and grass we rode on in Sicily. Today was a typical UK Autumn day with ice cold and moist air in the morning (the grass was extremely slippery) followed by some heavy rain after lunch. Many of the 2007 modifications have been done to smoothen out the engine delivery to make the RXV's better on just wet mud and grass which are two of the most slippery surfaces on this planet (apart from snow and ice). I was freezing cold by the time I arrived Eastnor Castle in the Midlands. I rode the Tiger 1050 down wearing full offroad gear, which let's a bit more air through than my Goretex stuff. But I knew that after a couple of laps on the RXV's I would be more than warm enough. Eastnor Castle is gorgeous by the way and I have never, ever ridden dirt bikes in such a place! It's like a boys dream to get to plough up the grass in a castle park. And we call it work! It was a real treat by Aprilia. Anyway, we went on a sighting lap in a big Land Rover first. A few challenges here and there in the form of slippery downhill grass and mud sections followed by steep dips and tight bends. Looked pretty cool and I couldn't wait to have a go. The revised V-twin engine really have improved throttle control, but more in the article about that. I passed a good number of fallen journalists around the track (Enduro terrain), but that was more due to lack of offroad experience than anything to do with the bikes. Or it could have been the SAS that took them out as they were training in the area. Some of you will have spotted that there are new decals for 2007 too. More white around the lion for a more exclusive racing image as Aprilia explains. Whilst waiting for my wheelie pictures around the track you'll have to settle for the static's that I shot today. TS

Tigerday today. I have been out photographing the Tiger 1050 at various locations around Manchester today. Salford Quays and Trafford Water park mainly. I think I have got some good static shots now so action remaining. It was cool riding the Tiger around town today, fairly high riding position allows a good view over the traffic and the engine pulls cleanly already from 2.000 rpm with good push from 3.000. All good for town work really. And wheelies... At Salford Quays I was chased away by security for not having permission to photograph there that day. Bollocks and luckily I already had some shots. I have heard that they want royalties from images sold with the Lowry in the background. Greedy bastards! Anyway, I have paid good money both at their theatre and restaurants several times so that will have to be enough. I will however give them a ring next time. See the pictures here. Tor

Pictures are out! I just added 223 extra images from the EICMA show here. Hope that's good enough for you all. The Erik Buell interview turned out at 1800 words whilst the show report itself is 2.700 words + another 1500 words on various subjects. There's just so many new bikes at the EICMA show, but it's still my favourite show even though there is a lot of work for me to do always. The Tiger 1050 is behaving well even on the very windy motorways we have in the UK at the moment. During the weekend I'll wind down by riding Tigerboy, but the camera needs to come with me as I need a lot more Tiger images. Laters, ciao!

You are probably wondering what the hell is going on now since there are very few pictures from the show out and info not updated. I can feel the pressure sinking in and deadlines and printers in industrial estates cursing me. Text is ready for most of the new models and will be updated shortly. However, last night I arrived London Luton at midnight coming back from Milan. Then I had a three hour ride on the Tiger 1050 from London to Manchester. Then I published what I had scribbled in the blog at the airport and went to bed! Now I'm still trawling through press kits and FTP'ing the press kits that are difficult to get online to the editors that I work with. As we speak some gorgeous images of the Bimota Tesi 3D is speeding through the wireless network onto the backbones of Europe to arrive at their various destinations. Soon there will be a proper report from this years eventful EICMA show in Milan. Tor

I'm now at the airport in Milan. I've had a bottle of beer after two busy days. I haven't had time to update much at all on the site unfortunately, so I have decided to publish everything at once tomorrow. I had to serve the editors relying on me as their reporter in Milan and I still have transcripts to do from both my interviews with Giandrea Fabbro (Ducati 1098 designer), Casti' (Claudio Castiglioni) and his son Giovanni, the Bimota men, Ferrari engined Terra Modena owner and Erik Buell. It took ages to upload the odd 1.5GB of picture material I have collected to the FTP server in France from the press room in Milan. I am now facing a three hour ride in about four hours before I am back home. It'll be a long night and I'll blog more later. I did miss that Liverpool flight by the way and had to go down to London Luton instead early next morning. A real pain in the neck! TS

Tiger-talk today ahead of the EICMA coverage from Milan. I have already racked up around 140 miles on it. I was surprised to see the sun was out this morning and it promised to be a very nice day on the Tiger 1050 first and then head over to Milan. The Tiger press fleet had not arrived yet when I entered the Hinckley factory just before lunch. So I had lunch with the Triumph staff whilst waiting. A nice and warm chilli whilst discussing why it's so expensive for the manufacturers to attend all the international motorcycle shows. Triumph attends all the big international shows (Birmingham, Cologne and Milan) but lets local dealers do the rest. The Tiger 1050 world launch have barely started in Spain, but the weather has been appalling over there so I got a very good deal riding the Tiger on UK roads properly already now. And it finally arrived the Fusion white (albino) Tiger 1050. Suddenly I had very little time and had to settle with just a few shots on a service station along the M6. I had planned to ride through the Peak district rather than the motorway, but time left me with no choice. That also dictated how I used the throttle and the needle stayed on the east side of the speedo most of the way. White lightning past many cars and they wouldn't know what hit them until the white beast had past. The 1050 triple engine comes in a 114bhp version with 100Nm of torque. The figures are down on both the Sprint ST and Speed Triple, but riding it you wouldn't think it actually is less powerful. The midrange is really good and I used it a lot even though I used the revs greedily. Not because I needed to, but because I had to. It was fun and I almost thought I'd rather ride the Tiger 1050 more than go to Milan. But, duty calls and I raced out to Liverpool airport like a maniac. Did I catch my flight? Read my blog tomorrow and I'll tell you along with more EICMA stuff. TS

I am very sorry for being a bit amused over how the 1098 launch ended for Ducati. The whole firm tried to be super controlling about who got this and who got that. How long have Ducati been in the PR business? And why could they not see this happening? I am talking about the leakage of images and the details being spread out over certain magazines front-pages several days before the Embargo and low resolution on the internet. When I asked whether I could hand over some high resolution 1098 pictures to a couple of magazines that asked I was told they were not core publications, so they could wait until Monday despite having deadlines earlier for a later release. I am sorry Ducati, but on this one you had it coming. Better luck next time. From my perspective, being a member of the press, it's always better to work with the press rather than against it. Simply because we win each time. Now that 1098 looks like a bloody fast machine and I love V-twins. I hope it's good! Forza Bologna! TS

Now that the 1098 is old news already I can move on to the next story. Today's blog will be about Bimota 3D's, 2007 Aprilia RXV's, Erik Buell and the Tiger again. Bimota released some new sketches that shows the major introduction of a trellis frame to the front of the fork-less Tesi 3D. I can't wait to see the final product as this is some serious engineering from a small Italian manufacturer. All the Tesi's were great achievements, but next year you can buy one that's cheaper than a house and that's not too bad! I have had time to arrange an interview with Erik Buell, another engineering brain, in Milan. But I have been slotted in on Wednesday morning which could be a bit stressful as I am flying back to the UK later that day. I think I'll be able to get a few words on the floor on Tuesday as well just in case. later this month, more specific on November 22, I will ride the 2007 Aprilia RXV's here in the UK. The demo takes place at the Land Rover proving grounds in the West Midlands. It promises to be exhausting as usual, so I guess I'll have to go out running when my cold let's go. Today's pictures are from the Sicily world launch that happened earlier this year. Sicily is not that big, but this is still in the middle of nowhere. Later that same day we also rode the SXV's which involved a change of clothes so we were all knackered at the end of the day. Riding Enduro's is a great way of keeping fit and I'll try and ride as many as possible this winter in between launches and other activities. Whilst doing my research about the 2007 RXV's I found this by the way: RXV test online. I thought they had now got some more info than me. But who wrote the article:-) I'll be chatting to Aprilia on Tuesday so we'll get the low-down then. I wrote that version of the copy exclusively for Dirt Rider and it was published in the US a couple of months ago. The production Triumph Tigers only arrive back to the Hinckley factory on Monday morning. That's when I will pick one up. Before I leave I will have some Tiger Frosties for breakfast. There's no end to how much fun we can have with this Tiger. Hope it's not all gone by the time I write my copy! Pictures of the new Tiger 1050 and the old that I last rode in 2004. Tor 

Dynamite news that new superbike that still can't be referred to as the 1098 despite it saying so on the fairing sides. Remember where you heard that Ducati will race a 1200 despite the new bike having 1098cc's. The rumours have been talking about the R version getting a bigger engine, perhaps the 1200 (or 1198). The new bike gets the single sided swingarm, new top notch brakes and GP7 instruments. One of my Italian designer friends would have referred to the new 1098 fairing as "fat" as the side view points in a very aerodynamic direction rather than the thin and flat Tamburini 916. The beauty of a V-twin is the fact it is so narrow by nature and only radiators etc ruins that look. Suzuki went a bit aerodynamic crazy with the TL1000R as not much about that bike shouted V-twin! That's why so many people was surprised when I started up the engine on my old TL1000R. It looked like a four, but sounded like a great twin. I am still undecided whether Ducati now have done a little of the same to the 1098. First we shall see it in the flesh already next Monday. I will not be riding the 1098 at Kyalami after all, but I have been promised (by a hectic Italian press office mind...) that I can ride it in Bologna in December. And to ride the Hypermotard at the spring launch. The Desmo RR might never get a launch, even though I doubt it. The bike's too fantastic on the paper not to let journalists tell the world about it. Think about this, if we don't get to tell you about it then who will? Your local Wall street broker certainly won't and he's the only one that can afford one. To tell you the truth, I have been on a Ducati offensive lately and probably, due to my direct working methods, offended someone too. So be it, it's all about the bikes for me, not politics. I sometimes despise company politics on different matters. I'll do some more scribbling on this subject another time when I am really bored. But I will be talking to the top Ducati brass in Milan. Monday the 13th starts for me when I ride down to Hinckley to pick up the 2007 Tiger 1050. Then I fly from Liverpool to Milan in the afternoon directly to the Ducati press conference. I'll hook up with my friends around the world including local man Luc1 (his name remains a secret, just like Michelangelo), Didier from French Motards-Online and chief Ivar at MC-avisa in Norway as well as the usual suspects I always meet at the press conferences in Europe. Then I'll be back a couple of days later to ride Tigers in the Peak district. Better shout Tiger, Tiger and stay out of its path! Ciao!

Where in bloody hell should I start this blog entry! Well, first of all; On Saturday night whilst I was out in town getting completely leathered up, some fatheads had made an attempt to nick my good old friend, the Cagiva Raptor 1000. I arrived home around 03.30 at night and I couldn't believe my eyes when I tried to go through the gate to my house. The poor old Raptor just lay there in front of me with a bloody skateboard next to it! Now guess what these fatheads tried to use the skateboard for! It must have been a couple of skinny chavs that ran out of muscle or got caught red-handed just as they were about to push the bike on the bloody skateboard out the gate. Managed to get the bike upright and unlocked the disc lock to push the bike back to its position in front of the garden gate. To my bloody horror I could see that when the bike had been dropped through the iron gate the brake-fluid reservoir had broken and leaked out brake fluid! Never mind that the instrument-panel had cracked as well. And since the rear brake disc cracked a few months ago (or last year, can't remember), I just bled the rear brake system empty to avoid any incident on the road due to the disc being cracked (as in accidentally using the rear brake). So basically with the front brake disc reservoir leaking brakes were now very dodgy and I had to fix it ASAP. Anyway, on Saturday night I had to go through all my stuff since moving only a few weeks ago to find all my chains etc to lock the bike to the iron gate and then I covered it up with my bike cover. That'll keep the thieving scum away for a while. Today I went out and tested the front brakes. the double four pot Brembo set-up was still doing its job, but I wouldn't trust them in a 100mph emergency! So headed over to Hunts Motorcycles in Didsbury to see what they could do to help there and then. Being a big Honda dealer there's mostly new and newish' second hand bikes in the shop. Nothing we could nick the brake reservoir from basically. Did place an order, but advised that I would head over to my local breakers as well to see what they had. Rode very carefully to Macclesfield to Cheshire motorcycle salvage and voila they had plenty of what I was looking for. They even offered free brake fluid and for me to borrow tools to replace the reservoir and bleed the brakes there. Great stuff and in no time the brakes were as new. And how much did it cost me to replace the brake fluid reservoir do you think? £2. Now the Raptor stoppies again and that's all I need. Did have a look for the rear brake disc as well, but funnily enough (you should see the amount of junk these people stock at Cheshire) they couldn't find the correct disc. I picked up a third disc-lock chain at Hunt's by the way to make sure I can chain both the front wheel, rear wheel and the frame. Even if my bike had been a bloody MV Agusta F4 CC no thieving scum (even) would be stupid enough to make another attempt. The only problem is that it's going to take me 30 extra minutes every time I want to go somewhere. This is Manchester for you and it's the first time ever anyone have tried to steal any of my bikes. If I ever catch them that skateboard will make a big bump in someone's head. Today's blog entry is already too long for my Ducati rantings, so I'll save that for another day. It's worth waiting for as well. TS

It's not even lunch time yet, and it's already been a good day for me. I told you a while ago that I would attend one of the most significant events in the latest years in American motorcycling history. Victory motorcycles will have something very special for us soon. It will be very different from any other Victory, but more importantly different from all other luxury tourers such as Honda Gold Wing, Harley-Davidson Ultra Glide, BMW K1200LT etc. The final design is what I am excited about as the concept sketches are pretty futuristic. I am hoping for a 50's Cadillac inspired tourer with wings at the back, but it might turn out slightly more conservative than that in the end. On the day we'll know as we'll soon see it exclusively. As for the EICMA show I'm getting new clients all the time and I've booked the cheapest plane ticket ever to go to Milan from Liverpool. It means I am landing one hours drive away from Milan central, but it's better than the alternative that would involve a 4 hour ride here in the UK. I am also trying to get a place at this months Ducati 1098 world launch in South Africa. We shall see... It's funny speaking to the various Ducati people today. I mention 1098 and every one of them says it's a secret and only refer to the new bike as the new superbike. Yet Federico Minoli have already revealed it's a 1098. Understand it if you can... LINK

Had to head down to London on business today and it was a very cold day today. My knees have not thawed properly yet and I had a hot dinner date to make. I didn't so had to settle for drinks in stead. I booked my hotel in Milan today right in the centre where I stayed last year for two nights. I'll be hooking up with house designer Luc1 for a drink, but it will be busy again as I have several magazines on the list again for my material. That's basically why I am staying two nights this time. I was thinking the other day which of the 2007 bikes I am personally craving the most to ride. I thought, screw the R1 and GSX-R1000, it's the new breed of big supermotards I am mostly interested in riding for my personal pleasure. BMW's HP2 Megamoto is very, very high on my list of things to do next year. Ducati Hypermotard as well. And the more special super, super bikes such as the Desmosedici RR and Hayabusa derived B-king. I guess the only chance to ride the Desmo is either to buy one or to attend the world launch. Realistically we're talking the launch I think (that won't be easy either, but I guarantee you that I will be there no matter what happens.) TS