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It’s been a little over one year since we arrived back here in Brasilia, and this is how my arrival has unfolded. While being dragged around shopping with my wife, I meet a fellow rider in the shopping mall. I had on my Royal Enfield t-shirt. A stranger and now friend spoke to me in Portuguese asking if I was a rider. Not that I knew then what he said, as I replied my usual and well-learned Portuguese phrase:”Desculpe, mas eu não falo Portuguese,” yet in a friendly manner, he switched effortlessly and fluently into English (not such a common thing here). 

“Do you ride an Enfield?”, he asked. 

“Not yet, but I will be soon.”, I replied. 

And after a brief chat, we exchanged WhatsApp details – or ZapZap, as it’s known here in Brazil; with a promise to meet up for a ride. It took us nearly a couple of months before we could make good on our promise, since as life often does, the odd spanner got caught in the works, on family, or simply timing does not sync. Finally, when we made a time to meet up, Helder suggested going to his local moto hang-out, Kluster Moto Hub and Community.

Kluster, I was to learn, was set up and run as a loose co-op focusing on skill-sharing. For me, as an ex-pat Kiwi-aka-New Zealander living in Brasilia, Brazil, not yet having met too many moto riders here, this was just what I needed. Helder and Kluster have sure been the remedy to that minor problem. Since I don’t speak a lot of Portuguese yet, a harsh language to learn (but I am slowly adding words and phrases to my vocabulary), I was even more pleasantly surprised to find that many of the regulars at Kluster spoke a little English, or a lot more than I spoke Portuguese. I could not have found myself in better company and language or not; we all converse in fluent “Motorcyclese”.

And this is where I met Zeduardo aka Zed, co-owner of Kluster Moto Hub and Community”, with whom I got around to having a sit-down and a good chat about Kluster and how it all came into being such an excellent place. I found myself welcomed into its friendly and welcoming environment full of moto culture mementos and other memorabilia, all linked to Zed’s previous life as a geologist, travelling and working worldwide. I eventually suggested writing an article for Bike Brewers about Kluster and how it all began. 

Zed, like myself, started hacking around on motorbikes at age thirteen, and it has now grown into a full-on passion. His first bike was a 50cc two stroker, a scooter that he and a friend bought with their combined funds. Zed and his friend soon found that keeping an old motorcycle was not easy, a constant drain on their pockets. So after a short adventure of hiding the moto from their parents at friends places and other hideouts, they had to sell their first venture into motorcycle ownership. All of this was done without the permission of Zeds parents, like a lot of us who started riding at an early age but come hell or high water, we were gonna be motorheads. 

Zed tells me, once he started university, he had a scooter that brought him to and from his classes, all without a licence. His first legal bike was a 125cc Suzuki Bergman scooter and the perfect way to get around the streets of Brasilia. Not long afterwards, he finally got his licence and the beginning of a lifelong addiction to motorcycling. 

Kluster is a great community; a place where people can get together and work on their bikes, a unique opportunity as a place for people to get creative, to be supported and to be taught how to work on their motorcycles, doing simple jobs like learning to do an oil and filter change, adjust a clutch, bleed brakes or change brake pads. 

There’s enough space there for people to get even more adventurous and take on a full-on customization project. Or take on a motor performance upgrade, as I will be doing with the help of my mate Helder in the next few weeks. I will be sure to do a write up for you all once the work is completed.   

The customization scene here in Brazil and before the world wide web gave us all an eye into the world; Brazil had a uniquely tropical style of customization born from the isolation and the years of the dictatorship (a story for another time). But once we had the internet, the Brazilian motorcycle scene opened up with new models and larger displacement engines to play with. And of course, all that inspiration coming out of Europe, the United Kingdom and the US really set the creative juices flowing. 

Motorcycling in Brazil mainly was based around the use by poorer Brazilians as their primary mode of transport and working vehicle, and it still is today. Brazil’s cities and towns are awash with thousands of guys and girls who make their living working from their motorcycles. Small motorcycles are relatively cheap instead of car ownership in Brazil, which is quite expensive. 

Mostly, the customization scene is mainly done by people from more professional occupations, lawyers, doctors, corporate individuals, and the middle class in general. There is still quite a divide between the rich and poor here, but not as much as it once was. Most motorcycle riders here work in delivery or use motorcycles as the primary mode of transportation for the family. And customization is very low on their priority list and way out of their budget. Something we in the West take very much for granted. Life here in Brazil will soon wake most people up to the privileged lives we live as even our poorest people live reasonably well in comparison. 

Kluster has a membership program that, for R$75.00 a month, gives you full access to the tools and the motorcycle lifts to work on your moto, and some focused workshops are offered like learning welding and fabrication or basic motorcycle wiring, or spray painting a tank or the frame and other parts that you might need paint applied on your project. 

The team comprises Zed and his partners André Gusmão, Victor Mayer and Hérique Marque. André is a long time friend of Zed’s, and they have been working on Kluster together from its beginning. And again, a friendship forged from a love of life on two wheels. Victor is the workshop Cafe manager. Hérique aka Eric, is Kluster’s front of house man and the first friendly face you’ll meet on arrival. He speaks English and Portuguese.

 Kluster Moto Hub and Community is more than just a place for motorheads, it’s a home away from home, and it’s all about friends and family. It is also home to a tattooist, Marcelo Munster; you can find him on Instagram @marcelomunster if you are looking for some of that old school cool ink to go with your moto mania passion. 

The pandemic hit Kluster hard, as with many small businesses here and in the world. But thanks to cool heads, good management and a loyal community, it has survived and looks set to thrive as it moves forward with new projects and the steady growth of new members. 

Indeed Kluster has been a lifesaver, a great place to meet up and make new friends; long may Kluster rein as Brasilia’s number one moto hang-out and community. 

So if you’re passing, call in, meet the crew, shoot the shit, grab a coffee and a snack, get ya bike washed while ya kick back on the plush leather sofa and make new friends.

You can make contact via; 

• WhatsApp +55-61-3233-8978
• https://www.klustermoto.com

• NORTE – SOF NORTE QUADRA 05 CONJUNTO C LOTE 13 SOF NORTE – ATRÁS DA LEROY, DF-003 – Zona Industrial Norte, DF, 70634-530

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XTR Pepo
Then there is Pepo Rosell. If you don’t know who that is, make sure to check out some of the articles we have written before. The Frenchman who has been living in Spain for a long time now, is known for his radical designs; a craftsman of the first-degree. Pepo maintains an almost scientific approach to building motorcycles. And when we say build, we mean BUILD, as in, from the ground up. Pepo has a passion for racing too, so it comes as no surprise that most of his builds are race inspired, often replicas of real racing machines.

Performance mods – Body
Let’s get down to business. Everything about this Continental GT breathes RACING. To begin with the most rigorous mod that Pepo performed on this build, it has to be the modified frame. Harris Performance did an outstanding job designing the original frame. Pepo must have thought differently and reduced weight and added stiffness to the already pretty-good frame. The rear swing arm is a modified unit from a Ducati Pantah(!). The front and rear wheels come off a Triumph Daytona 675R and is a lot lighter than the original wire-spoke wheels that come stock on the GT 650. The brakes are BREMBO – Kevlar brake lines anyone?
The front and rear suspension are OHLINS fully adjustable units. It goes without saying that all brackets have been custom CNC’d from billet aluminium by Pepo, including the triple clamp. A set of clip-ons and DOMINO controls & grips ensure the right kind of control. There are various carbon fiber bits and pieces used such as the custom fuel tank with endurance style filler cap, carbon fiber front fairing, rear mudguard, and the one-off seat. Carbon fiber is great for weight saving. The FULBAT Lithium battery helps with that too, weighing less than 700 grams it’s literally a lightweight.

Performance mods – Engine
XTR went all out with the engine mods, without sacrificing reliability. The parts that have been used are tried and tested. There are the obligatory DNA pod filters, custom exhaust system curtesy of Wolfman and Spark, and high-performance HT leads. What’s more interesting are the S&S performance cams and the high compression pistons. Combined with a custom fuel map with the help of a Power Commander, we wouldn’t be surprised if this Royal Enfield produced more than 60hp at the rear wheel. Combine that with the ridiculous weight savings on the body and unsprung weight, and sticky Continental SPORT ATTACK rubbers, we are convinced that Pepo turned this easy-going Continental GT into a fire-breathing, hell-raising, racing machine!

Finishing touches
What we love the most about XTR machines is the level of detail each build is delivered with. Whether it’s the machines rear set, double headlight with external brackets, LED indicators, machined levers or unique paint-scheme (by ARTENRUTA Painting), each bike looks like it’s doing a 100 mph at standstill. There is no doubt that Pepo has racing fuel going through his veins and for that we salute him.

PICTURES by SERGIO CARDEÑA

Builder details:
XTR Pepo
Website
Instagram
Facebook

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Superlative
To top off three consecutive weeks of riding big (or should I say GIANT?) bikes I was offered the opportunity to test the 2021 Triumph Rocket 3R for a full seven days.
And what a week it turned out to be!

The prelude to this week was composed by the BMW Motorrad R18 Transcontinental and the Indian Roadmaster Heritage (post to be published). Both machines are fitted out with 1.800cc engines and pack an impressive amount of ‘oomph!’ in the torque department. The horse stable is quite overcrowded too.

I am happy to ride nearly any bike but there are those that give you extra pleasure. The BMW and the Indian are sort of similar bikes in spite of the totally different styles. I try to adopt myself and my riding style as much as I can to fit to the bike I am testing. On most occasions I managed to keep my inner demons and the hooligan safely locked away in the panniers of those bikes, but the Triumph is a naked bike without such storage options.

Do I like it?
When Triumph launched (pun intend) the Rocket back in 2004 the whole world thought the engineers had gone completely bonkers. How much fun these guys must have had when they were designing that machine though.

Truth be told, being a caféracer afficionado, I was never a big fan of the Rocket. I just did not see the point in creating such a monster cruiser with a rear tyre fatter than fitted on most cars and a stonking 2.3-litre engine between your thighs. As said those engineers must have created it to shock and surprise – and they managed to do just that. It was impressive and scary. Still leaving the happy few with a whopping grin as they summoned its ungodly torque.

3 times lucky
With all of the above in mind I was never really tempted to try this bike out. But with the new 2021 ‘3’ design, which is a major improvement in my view, the time was right to swing my leg over the seat and hit the launch button.
It’s an imposing € 30,000+ motorbike that comes in two editions – the R, and the more laid-back, long-distance GT. The latter comes with footpegs mounted forwards , a decent windscreen and a pillion backrest over the back wheel.

Powertrain
Both Rocket 3 ‘R’ and ‘GT’ trims share the same powertrain. Triumph are in a league of their own, fitting the largest production motorcycle engine in any motorcycle: 2500 cc’s over the previous 2300 cc’s.
While increasing the number of cc’s, the madmen at the Hinckley R&D department managed to shave off nearly 17 kg’s compared to the Rocket’s predecessors thanks to all-new aluminium frame. It weighs 291kg without any fluids. It’s still a substantial chunk of metal. The motorcycle now produces class-leading 167 hp at 6,000rpm (redlining at 7.000 rpm) and a mammoth 221Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm.

All this power goes through a six-speed helical gearbox with a ‘Torque Assist’ hydraulic clutch. The bike I rode was fitted with a quick-shifter, which is as an optional accessory. When called upon, the horses in the stable are led to the rear wheel using a longitudinal shaft drive to give the rider all the fun he (or she) is ready to handle.

Styling
Triumph gave the Rocket 3 the limited edition treatment with only 1000 examples of each of the R & GT variants globally. Upping the exclusivity game, each Black edition Triumph will receive a Certificate of Authenticity and a customizable motorcycle VIN for each bike.

Moreover, for an already incredible-looking motorcycle in the flesh, the attention to detail has been taken to the upper echelons, giving it an even more menacing appearance. Common between both variants is carbon fibre front mudguard, completely blacked out exhaust fenders, heat shields, end caps, and an exquisite crinkle back powder coating on the engine’s intake covers. Besides, Triumph further enhanced the bike with the front mudguard holders, headlight bezels, fly-screen, radiator cowl, and so on.

The list doesn’t stop there as Triumph’s designers gave a black anodized finish to the bike’s handlebar clamps, yokes, riders, fork lowers, brake and clutch pedals, rider footrests, heel guards, and the innovative folding pillion footrests

Triumph really attended to even the smallest of details and managed to put the icing on the cake with the black anodized paint job and a magnificent aluminium finish on the bar-end mirrors.
All the similarities aside, the main differences between the R & GT variants include a slightly sportier stance for R with the mid-positioned footpegs, wide handlebars, and a matte black livery with a blacked-out Triumph logos and a glossy white stripe running down the centre of the fuel tank.

For the riders who are more adult than me, the GT variant has more relaxed ergonomics for the rider & pillion with forward-set footpegs, an adjustable windshield, an easy-to-reach handlebar with heated grips. Passengers are cared for by mounting an adjustable backrest.

Furthermore, it gets a triple black paint scheme with ‘50 shades of black’ on the fuel tank to distinguish itself from the sporty sibling.

Ride baby! Ride!
I mentioned before this is an imposing bike. Definitely not fit for novice riders. Still, once you are on the seat, is less scary instantly. The seat is mounted low, and the weight is buried low in the chassis, so although it takes an effort to get it off the side stand, it feels nicely balanced. The engine fires up and wobbles the bike gently to the left-hand side

As I set off on my first flight on the Rocket, it immediately felt like home. It is a gentle giant when you treat it as such. It is an amazingly easy bike to ride. It really handles like a Street Triple. The engineers have done an incredibly good job there as well. Everything about it is impressive as you’d expect with this much torque, pulling away is simply a case of easing the clutch lever out. My brain told me to short-shift up into second gear before giving it the spurs, but my inner demon was hitting the adrenaline pump switch. It was not before long that my hooligan persona was the pillion passenger, whispering sweet nothings in my ear…

Fast, faster fastest
There are more than enough electronics aboard to make you feel confident enough to open the throttle once in second gear. That’s where the band starts playing! Before you realize the front wheel is no longer touching the tarmac and the 24cm-wide rear (240/50 R16!!) tire digs in for traction. As a result you launch yourself forward at warp speed. The fact that the Rocket pulls this mind-bending, vision-distorting trick from just 2,000rpm onwards, makes for an utterly hilarious ride. You just feel like you’re are on a drag strip constantly and you are just in it for the ride, hanging on for dear life.

It is hardly surprising the Rocket 3 has set a Guinness World Record of 2.73 seconds to 0-100 km/h.
Me being me, I got overly self-confident rapidly. While on a slightly wet highway, cruising at around 120/130 km/h, I shifted down and hit the throttle to overtake the car in front of me. Suddenly all warning lights on the dashboard flared up as the rear started twisting just before the minions in the traction control department decided to help me out.

WHOAA! That was an exciting moment. Yes, the torque is truly unbelievable. Never before did I experience such powers on a bike.

Who needs one?
I asked that same question when riding the BMW and the Indian too.
The amount of money you’d spend on bikes like that is extreme. All of them are in the € 30.000+++ segment. The BMW and the Indian go up to € 40.000 easily once you start selecting the available options.

The Indian Roadmaster Heritage and the BMW Transcontinental are ‘luxury liners’. You can have miles for breakfast and be home for dinner still after a full day of riding, still feeling quite relaxed. Answering the ‘why’ question with the Triumph Rocket 3 was much harder. It is not a bike you take out to commute on a daily basis, nor is it a machine built to go on long roadtrips (I’d do it still, just for the fun of it). So who is this meant for?

Even my contacts at Triumph had some trouble coming up with a defining response. However we all seem to agree that is a fun machine for those who are in it ‘for the ride’ as Triumph puts it in their corporate slogan. If you are lucky enough to sit on a lot of ‘disposable income’ and want to stand out from the crowd, this is the definite motorcycle to go for.

If you are such a lucky person, I can only say: ‘go for it! You only live once!’

Looking ahead
This winter we will be following our friend Bas Kentrop at Roké Motors.
He is an amazing mechanic who managed to create a monster supercharged Triumph Thruxton R a few years ago. This bike packs an impressive 175 Nm and 171 Bhp.

We rode that machine back in 2017. We filmed the experience and made it one of our best viewed clips on our YouTube channel. Unfortunately the sound of this beast was so loud, it just killed the microphone, which we only found out in post-production. Our video editor decided to add in a little piano music, much to the dismay of the majority of the viewers (just look at all those comments..). We will re-make this video in 2022 as we have retrieved the current owner. Including the real sound. Promise!

Anyway, Bas will be working on a supercharged version of the Rocket 3. Can it get any wilder than that we ask? Watch this space as we will give regular updates on the progress of this project and I will be road testing it in Spring of next year.

Until then, I will just enjoy the memories of my love affair with this standard Triumph Rocket 3.

 
All in all
The Rocket is a superb machine and more. It handles phenomenally, the power is awesome and you can enjoy the bike in any way you want. You can ride it as a cruiser or race it around. It is really up to you, your experience, your mood and your testosterone levels.
The setup of the fully adjustable Showa suspension is so well done that you’ll just ride the Rocket 3 like a regular street bike. It will tempt you to stick your elbows out and punch it into corners like a Speed Triple on steroids.

The riding position on the R model is relaxed and inviting you to just ride on. The brakes are magnificently strong. Those Brembo Stylemas are of superbike standards. They do their job very efficiently and you need them on a bike like this.

Yep, the rear brake is ripped from the front of a sports bike. And it’s a good thing too – you’ll want to use the back brake to settle it in corners and hammering it really helps bring you to a stop in a straight line, unlike on most bikes.
The Rocket gets the same TFT dashboard as mounted on the Triumph Scrambler 1200, and it has an 18-litre fuel tank which will get you just over 200 km’s. Unless you are like me of course. I needed a pit stop at around 180 km.

Electronics and other fun stuff
Being the top of the line model in Triumph’s line-up, the manufacturer fitted a whole suite of electronics to enhance the riding experience:
•Triumph Shift Assist (up and down quickshifter)
•Heated grips (standard on the Rocket 3 GT)
•Tire Pressure Monitoring system
•Advanced 6-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) measures the roll, pitch, yaw & acceleration rates of the bike in real-time and unlocks features such as Lean sensitive traction control and cornering ABS keeping the rider in safe hands at all times.
•Full-color TFT display instrument cluster.
•Preinstalled with Triumph’s ‘My Triumph’ app with support for smartphone music, calling, & navigation controls.
•Unique to Triumph motorcycles, you also get GoPro controls.
•Both motorcycles get 4 Riding modes: Road, Rain, Sport, and a Rider configurable mode to adjust throttle response and traction control.
•Added are Hill Hold Control, Cruise control, keyless ignition, steering lock, and fuel cap opening
•LED lighting all around with twin LED headlamps with integrated DRLs, LED tail lights, indicators, and a number plate light
•advanced lightweight aluminum frame.
•Suspension – Showa’s monoshock RSU with a piggyback reservoir at the rear and a massive 47mm Showa USD front forks with compression and rebound damping.
•Stopping power comes from Brembo Stylema ® radial monobloc 4 – piston calipers with two 320 mm dual discs and a never-before-seen four 4-piston Brembo caliper with a single 300 mm disc.
•Tires & rims: 150/50 17-inch Avon Cobra Chrome tires with a blacked-out 20-spoke cast alloy wheel at the front and an incredible 240/60 section R16 tire with an intricate cast alloy wheel at the back.
•Track+ and Protect+ tracking and alarm systems

details:
Manufacturer: Triumph Motorcycles
Astronaut: Ron Betist
Photography: Nubbs Sugrue
Helmet: Davida HelmetsJacket & jeans: REV’IT Urban
Boots: Stylmartin

The post Lost in space – Triumph Rocket 3 R road tested appeared first on BikeBrewers.com.

It is designed to fit well on a motorcycle, but walking around in it is often far from pleasant and you will look like your tailor has lost his eyesight overnight.

Fortunately there are a number of brands that have managed to find solutions to produce gear that looks under all circumstances. The origin of denim, a very strong cotton called ‘Serge de Nîmes’, as we know it today dates, back to the late Middle Ages and it was Levi Straus in the late 19th century who came up with the idea of the jeans as we know them today.
However strong the cotton threads may be, they will not protect you a lot when you are sliding across the tarmac.

Testing, testing 1, 2, 3
About two years ago I put the Pando Moto Steel Black 02 to the test and decided to slide on my behind for about 20 meters. I was amazed how little damage was done. Yes my ego was bruised badly after this first fall in over 30 years, but the jeans had nearly no physical damage. No tears, no holes, just a little bit of cloth scraped off the top where my hip contacted the road surface.

It can’t be a surprise I was instantly enthusiastic when the boys and girls from the Lithuanian-based factory sent us another batch of clothing to review. No, I have no intention to opt for another slider, but wearing the jeans to share feedback on design, comfort and durability.

Like a Boss
Opening the box I found a BOSS DYN-01 in my size (32-32). It is a greyish black colour, which is the only colour they come in. To be honest, I am more a fan of the (very) deep black colour of the ‘Steel Black’, but after washing it a couple of times that had faded a bit too.

This is how Pando Moto describe this item on their website: “Extremely durable 12 oz super-stretch CORDURA® denim combined with COOLMAX® technology ensures full comfort and maximal protection to give you total peace of mind on the road. In addition, the protective knit UHMWPE lining provides optimal safety in high-risk impact areas. European style meets precise design in the Boss-Dyn 01; featuring a smooth design with no external stitches on the front, these slim-fit jeans have very discrete embroidery and two-position knee armor pockets. CE officially approved PPE under EN 17092, level AAA (92 meters slide distance) safety means unparalleled protection throughout.”

I read a challenge here, obviously my 20 meters of sliding only qualify as ‘amateur status’.

In real life
Having worn the jeans for two months during the winter period I can only say I am a fan.
On days I was not riding my bikes, I just took out the knee and hip protection (they are fitted out with both) and wore them as regular jeans. There are pockets on the inside of the pants that make it very easy to take the protection out and put them back in again.

The jeans are extremely comfortable to wear all day, not in the least thanks to the elastane which is woven into the cloth and provides stretch.
When you switch back to regular jeans again the difference in thickness of the material is apparent. A clear sign of the protection the Pando Moto jeans offer.

There’s a sewn in mesh front and the full protective layer in the back. Funny fact; when you put the pants on a cold winter morning, you get a ‘steely’ cold sensation on your behind caused by the protective layer. It warms up quickly though but the first thought is that the seat of the pants are wet. Considering the thickness of the material, I am curious how it will hold up on a hot summer day.

Verdict
Motorcycle jeans are coming of age. There are a number of manufacturers that produce the style I like and Pando Moto is top tier as far as my personal taste is concerned. They fit very well, the sizing is excellent for my (slender) type of legs.

With the knee protection in, the space in that area tends to be a bit on the tight side, especially when riding in a sportier position with your knees high up. I am not sure how that would work out with riders who have real muscular legs.
My advice, try them out sitting in the position you will be riding in most and decide if this (slim fit) model is the right one for you.

Manufacturer’s details:

Slim fit. Middle waist.
13 oz single layer super-stretch Armalith® (15 times stronger than steel).
It has high heat conductivity, reflects the heat.
Fully CE approved – performance level AA (70 km/h abrasion resistance) in accordance with FprEN 17092.
SAS-TEC TripleFlex CE (EN1621-1:2012) approved knee armor INCLUDED.
SAS-TEC TripleFlex CE (EN1621-1:2012) approved hip armor – INCLUDED.
Reflective cuffs for safety ride.
Reinforced with chain stitches.
Unique hand-made ageing (washed down).
Embroidery in the front.
Made in Europe.

The post Pando Moto – Boss Dyn 01 jeans review appeared first on BikeBrewers.com.

Boutique Manufacturer
Los Angeles-based ARCH Motorcycle describe themselves as a ’boutique manufacturer’. We would rather describe them as cool dudes that create magnificent bikes.

Co-founded by Gard Hollinger and Keanu Reeves, they produce bespoke production motorcycles in their state-of-the-art, Los Angeles area factory.
They are smart about the way they go about their business too by creating over 200 unique parts in-house, which are proprietary to the currently available ARCH KRGT-1, their first production model, as well as their upcoming ARCH 1s and ARCH Method 143 models.

Designer and builder Gard Hollinger oversees a seasoned staff of devoted craftsmen who hand-assemble each unit to meet their client’s ergonomic and aesthetic preferences. ARCH Motorcycle was founded on the idea of redefining the American performance cruiser. Their bikes are manufactured with the idea to deliver an unrivaled riding and ownership experience through an obsession for innovative design, engineering excellence and dedication to the rider. On their website it reads: ‘Every ARCH Motorcycle is delivered via a uniquely collaborative process tailoring livery and ergonomic fit to each owner. What started off as an exploration of what may be possible in the world of motorcycling has quickly evolved into the benchmark for the premium motorcycle category’.

Phew! Sounds great. Unfortunately the BikeBrewers team has not yet had the pleasure of experiencing their claim to fame in real life, so in the meantime we just have to believe them on their word.

Quest for quality
Anyway, all joking aside, as a result of their quest to create awesome bikes, the boys from LA are teaming up with J.W. Speaker, an LED and emerging lighting technologies designer for automotive, power sports, transport, and industrial products.

J.W. Speaker will provide its LED headlights for all ARCH Motorcycle units built in 2022, including the ARCH KRGT-1 and the upcoming ARCH 1s and ARCH Method 143 models. J.W. Speaker and ARCH Motorcycle will also partner in developing customized LED lighting technology for future ARCH models.

Innovative lighting
To find out what this deal was all about we had a quick call with Trish Logue, Director of Marketing at J.W. Speaker.

According to her “the team at J.W. Speaker are beyond thrilled to be working with ARCH Motorcycle as their lighting partner for 2022 builds and beyond. We look forward to collaborating with the ARCH team. We have been at the forefront of innovative LED lighting designs for decades and developed the world’s first dynamically Adaptive Motorcycle Headlight™, designed to calculate bank angles on a real-time basis, automatically sending light up or down as the motorcycle leans into a corner. ARCH Motorcycle has built its brand around utilizing best-in-class components and we’re proud to be part of its roster of partners.”

So we quickly race back to Gard who responds: “J.W. Speaker has been an important partner of ours for years, so we’re excited to evolve that relationship further as we look ahead to the release of upcoming models like the ARCH 1s. Our riders’ safety is of utmost importance and working alongside a trusted partner like J.W. Speaker with their Adaptive 2 Series headlights ensures we deliver best-in-class lighting technology for all ARCH motorcycles.”

Well, if two people are so happy about working together, magical things are never far away.
We look forward to seeing all those excellent plans come to fruition that will further enhance the pleasure of riding those magnificent machines created on the West Coast.

Even better, we look forward to receiving the invitation from ARCH Motorcycle and J.W. Speaker fly over to test them and serve a live report about all those wonderful things we just read about.

More information
Bikes
ARCH Motorcycle
Light
J.W. Speaker’s premier LED lighting technologies,

The post And then there was light_Arch Motorcycle teams with J.W. Speaker appeared first on BikeBrewers.com.

Being bitten by the motorcycle bug in Asia, our new reporter Koen Theeuwes became restless, paused his career and moved to the United States.
Currently residing in California, he has got plans to head South following the Pan American Highway.
We leave it up to him to introduce himself and his motivation for his trip.
Editorial team.

About Koen Theeuwes
Let me start with a short introduction about myself, before we get to the important topics.
My name is Koen, a typical Dutch name, (I guess my parents never meant for me to go abroad) but still, as it means ‘brave’ it is a name I wear with pride. I was born and raised in the Netherlands. I studied Business and Finance, which I still love, but around 10 years ago I discovered my greatest interest: people and their different cultures.

Only one thing allows you to experience people and their cultures to its fullest; travelling. So this is what I decided to do. Now you may think to yourself: ‘I’m on a bloody motorcycle blog, what do I care about this guy loving people, I want the smell of gasoline and roaring engines’. Good thought, keep it, we’ll get there in a sec.

How was this dream born?
During my studies in Rotterdam, I did an exchange in Istanbul and an internship in Nigeria.
That fueled my ‘wanderlust’ (terrible term, I agree) even more. So before starting work in the Consulting sector, I traveled South-East Asia for 6 months and lived the life. This is where my love for two wheels began. After renting all motorbikes in Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia I made it to Vietnam.

My Asian bikes
For $ 250 I bought a Chinese rip-off version of a Honda Win. No less than 110 ccs of pure power and beauty (..). Who needs a licence, insurance or lessons? Not me!

I rode it from Ho Chi Minh down the Mekong Delta and back up all the way to Hanoi. After these 4000 km / 2500 miles I was hooked.
The motorbike was going to be my means of transport to explore the world.

Back in Holland
In hindsight riding Vietnam without any preparation of course was rather irresponsible (sorry mom, we’ll talk about this later). So coming back home I came to my senses and decided to actually get a licence. Of course I got a bike as well. My second love was a custom Kawasaki CSR 305. It wasn’t fast, but it looked amazing and sounded even better.

While riding in Vietnam I promised myself I would make a big trip on a motorbike, before I turned 30. When I learned about the Pan-American Highway I instantly knew this was going to be the next one up.

Finding the right moment
But as with most dreams, regular life kind of got in the way. My career was going well and I really enjoyed what I did (after Consulting I worked for Kraft Heinz, who doesn’t like to sell Ketchup?). However, the itch for an adventure trip kept creeping up.
But when is the right time? One thing I learned: there is never a good time. You just have to go for it. I luckily did manage to find a slot that was less ‘bad’ than others. The actual planning started in February (2021), I informed my employer in April I needed a year off and decided on leaving in September.

I was finally going to do it! Maybe not finish before turning 30, but starting it, for sure!

Preparations
In daily life I am very organized, but when traveling I like to go without a plan as much as possible.
There were a few things that required my attention:
1. COVID – needed to wait for vaccinations, hence my leave date in September. Otherwise I would have started in Alaska in July
2. Route – I wanted to make sure it was actually possible to ride my bike all the way. Turns out, it is not. But there’s solutions
3. Motorbike – was I able to legally ride a motorbike in all the countries on my route? With an American vehicle, yes. Any Latin / South American vehicle was probably going to raise questions of border officials at some point. This thus also concluded my starting country
4. Starting point – I have a good friend in Vancouver (Washington state, just North of Portland) who rides bikes as well. Figured it would be helpful to start somewhere where I had a ‘guide’
5. Other ‘trivialities’ – insurance, vaccinations, luggage, visas, other documents, etc. Will not go into the boring details here, but please find my contact details below if you have any questions.

In my next blog I will write about my arrival in the US and all the hoops I had to jump through to actually start riding. Sneak preview: it was a success, see my monster below. Stay tuned!

Contact
By popular demand.. :-) ..I started using Instagram.
Please feel free to follow @koentheeuwes
If you have any more specific questions you can reach out via email: koen.theeuwes@gmail.com. (Happy to answer or help!)

The post Pan American trip appeared first on BikeBrewers.com.

Gotta catch them all!
‘Tis the season to be merry. It is nearly Christmas and Triumph Motorcycles have decided to convince us that we need to add another present to our wish list. To the very top of that list that is.
It was a present that has been long awaited and rumors have been abundant in the past months, with spy pictures of camouflaged bikes appearing left, right and center.

The adventure bike segment is probably taking the most rapidly increasing slice of the motorcycle cake. It seems the whole world is looking for both road and off road adventures on two wheels these days.

To provide for all those thrill seekers and those who just want to have a very cool bike to ride, a lot of manufacturers are actively trying to grow their adventure bike market share. At EICMA we even spotted Italian brands, famous for their race pedigree bikes, introducing motorcycles ready to take their riders to the most remote locations on our planet.
Triumph motorcycles have been in the adventure game for many years and are releasing no less than five different versions of the Tiger in 2022.

Lighter, stronger, better
According to the manufacturer the new models are ‘strikingly lighter and a lot more powerful, with class-leading handling and specs, plus the benefits of Triumph’s new T-plane triple – the all-new Tiger 1200 leaves little to the imagination: it’s built to be the most capable, agile and controllable, large displacement adventure engine on the planet.’

Continuing: ‘As said, those adventure bikes are a real treat under any circumstance. With a transformation in capabilities and performance on the tarmac, and the most dynamic and exhilarating off-road experience, the new generation brings together the best of all worlds in an all-new Tiger line-up.”

To make those aforementioned remote locations easier to reach there are now two all-new Tiger Explorer options with 30-liter tank, in theory capable of getting you no less than 600 Km in between fill-ups. All other models (the standard GT, GT Pro and the Rally Pro) only hold 20 liters.

Innovations
The new and exciting Explorer versions of the Tiger 1200 are also fitted out with an innovative blind spot detection system to warn the rider of vehicles that could be invisible in the rear-view mirrors.

In spite of the fact that Tigers are by nature solitary animals there now is a whole new group of them that belong together; The Tiger 1200 is aiming to gain traction in new fields with the addition of GT and Rally editions of the adventure bike. On top of that, the 2022 model will also be available in new Explorer versions, boasting long-range 30l fuel tanks mentioned earlier, plus higher-spec kits and added tech stuff.

In case you lost track; summing it all up there is a more track-oriented GT, and the more off-road-focused Rally. There is a Pro version available on both models. Then there is the Explorer version (with a suitcase set as the main extra). Last but not least Triumph also present a basic version of the GT, completing the group of five new Tigers set free in the wild.
 

Beefy engine
The Triumph Tiger 1200 is powered by a 150 hp variant of the three-cylinder from the new Speed Triple; with T-plane crankshaft with uneven ignition order. This will give the rider more torque at the bottom and more character overall.

The engineers found a way to add 9 BHp to the mix in comparison to the previous edition. However, the word is now out and Triumph is hunting for those GS fans, made very clear in a statement about the Tiger delivering 14 Bhp more than ‘that other big adventure with cardan in this class’ (..). Still there is a bit of work to be done in the torque department. With 130 Nm @ 7,000 rpm (8 Nm more than before), the Tiger still has less maximum torque than the BMW R 1250 GS, which boasts a 143 Nm.

But the fun is not over yet. Dieticians managed to trim an impressive 25kg off the Tiger. The lean machine now weighs a mere 240 kg (ready to drive), which is (here we go again) significantly lighter than the average weight of a GS.

This is in large part due to using an aluminum frame, which lessens to total weight with 5.4 kg. This includes the bolt-on aluminum subframe. The engineers decide to add a double swingarm. But even with adding extra steel, they managed to lower the weight of the total with another 1.5 kg.

Wheelies and stuff
The GT versions are fitted with 18-inch die-cast aluminum wheels, bot in front and rear. The Rally versions come with tubeless wire wheels (21 inches front, 18 inches rear). Showa is used for the springs, with 200 mm of travel on the GTs and 220 on the Rally version. These are semi-active ones on all versions. Stopping power is courtesy of Brembo with the Stylema monoblocs we also find on the Rocket. The ABS got an upgrade as well.

More technical stuff
Of course there are significant improvements in the cosmetic department. But there are a lot of technical improvements too:
• A double radiator (also found on the Tiger 900) making it easier to remove hot air from the engine
• Better ergonomics, very important for bikes in this segment
o both sitting and when riding while standing upright.
• Adjustable seat height (GT: 850-870 mm, Rally: 875-895 mm),
• A cockpit window which can be adjusted (while riding) with just one hand.
• Explorer versions standard fitted with blind spot radar,
• Heated grips and seats
• Tire pressure sensor.
• A new 7″ TFT display on all models including connectivity,
• Improved inclination-sensitive TC,
o (with six driving modes depending on the model
• New LED lighting on all sides with DRL and adaptive cornering lights
o Not on the base GT
• Updated quickshifter and Hill Hold
o Also not on the base GT

First reaction
Although we are fond of the Christmas season and riding a sleigh can at times be quite adventurous too, it will never be a substitute for the experience you will get on a purebred adventure bike.

The Triumph Tiger 1200 has been pretty decent from the start, but with all of the improvements it has become as strong a competitor for the world title as Max Verstappen is in Formula One. The BMW is the one to beat and the heat is on.

We hope BikeBrewers will be selected for the official press introduction in the beginning of next year. We really look forward to riding the machines as soon as they are available an will share a first hand report when we do.

For now, just continue to drool over the pictures and dream about your next adventure on two wheels.
If you want to do more than just wet your keypad check out a Triumph dealer near you.

We know for a fact that this particular Triumph dealer in the Netherlands will be happy to welcome you.

The post Release the Tigers! – 2022 Triumph Tiger 1200 appeared first on BikeBrewers.com.