The Malaysian government will not provide free tolls for this year’s festive season.
Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said this was because the government had decided last year would be the last year for free tolls.
He said the decision, which was made at a cabinet meeting last year, would however be replaced with a more targeted approach.
“If it follows the decision (of the cabinet), there will be none. If there are, there may be other considerations, we will announce them. (Regarding free tolls for Chinese New Year).
“The government has also coordinated subsidies for a more targeted approach for Malaysians, the details of which we will announce in the near future,” he said.
He said this when met by reporters after officiating the opening of Section 2 of the West Coast Expressway (WCE) here, today.
The Chinese New Year celebration starting on January 29 is the first festive season this year.
Meanwhile, Alexander said that an estimated 150,000 users per day will use the WCE to travel from the West Coast of Selangor to Perak and then to the North.
The government has been spending RM38 million annually on toll exemptions.
Another feature that many motorcycle buyers seek these days is the quickshifter. As in the system that allows you to change gears without pulling in the clutch lever while the motorcycle is in motion.
As with many modern motorcycle features, the quickshifter began as race application only. Now, you can even find them on adventure bikes and there are aftermarket options for retrofitting to even kapchais.
How does the clutch work – briefly!
The earliest vehicles were direct drive, meaning the engine is hooked up directly to final drive. Problem is, it can only be switched on and move, and you have to shut off the engine when you reach a junction. Plus, the engine is stressed to provide acceleration and deceleration.
Then someone applied the principle of using gears to modify torque, and the transmission was born. Still, there needs to be a device to decouple and reengage the driveline. That is the job of the clutch.
So the clutch is a device to decouple the engine’s power pulses from the transmission, to enable smoother gear shifts.
So why do we need the quickshifter?
The clutch plates are meshed together by springs during normal drive to transmit the engine’s torque to the transmission. So, in order to change gears, we pull in the clutch lever which pushes a rod to push the clutch plates apart slightly to reduce the engine’s torque, and complete our gear shift.
Try shift gears without the clutch and see what happens! The gears in the transmission are still meshing against each other and other gears that are not meshing needs to synchronise to the running speed. Changing gears without the clutch, while on the throttle will cause the gears to grind.
So, the correct way of changing gears is by rolling out the throttle and pulling in the clutch lever simultaneously, change gears, slip out the lever and opening the throttle at the same time. Lots of work, but pleasurable when done right, especially when under pressure at the track.
However, knocking off the throttle and reopening it takes time and it causes the revs to drop. The bike needs to reaccelerate. Also, the motorcycle’s balance changes when you roll off and back into the throttle. The bike pitches forward and backwards, upsetting the suspension and the tyres’ footprint, changing traction.
A quickshifter, on the other hand, provides near instantaneous gearshifts to avoid too much rev drop and shifting the bike’s balance.
How does it work?
The quickshifter system stops the engine’s ignition momentarily (that is why you get some backfire out of the exhaust sometimes), taking the load off the gearbox to let you shift up the gears without backing off the throttle. The secret lies in interrupting the engine faster than is humanly possible to operate the throttle so time spent shifting gear plummets typically to between 15 and 50 milliseconds (0.015 to 0.050 second).
The quickshifter comprises a mechanical sensor that triggers an electronic interrupt device to the bike’s ignition. On a bike fitted with old-style carbs, this box is hardwired into the ignition coil wires to interrupt the ignition’s electrical supply, while on the device interrupts the ignition via the wiring harness at the ECU. Translogic has developed a system for fuel injected bikes that interrupts the signal from the ECU to the injector hence cutting the fuel supply.
The mechanical sensor also varies. It is either positional – i.e. you adjust it to the positioning of the gear lever, and as the lever’s position moves it sends a trigger to the electronic interrupt box. Or it is a pressure sensor – i.e. shifting the lever without shutting the throttle puts pressure on the gearbox, and a pre-determined amount of pressure triggers the control box. A positional system tends to fall out of adjustment and if you need to replace the gear lever at the track (ie after a crash) you have to re-adjust the entire system, hence GP and WSB teams opt for the pressure trigger: it’s more convenient to install and is less likely to fall out of adjustment, but it puts pressure on the gearbox and because it works with greater tolerances.
Is the quickshifter hard on the clutch and transmission?
There are stories of bikes’ drivelines suffering damage due to the use of quickshifters. This can be rather true for aftermarket quickshifters but we have also seen damage on factory equipped ones.
Truth is, the quickshifter is best used only at higher RPMs like 6,000 RPM and above. All the spinning parts like the crank and gears are moving at high speeds, so there is less shock when the quickshifter is activated. But let us cover this topic in another article.
You may remember that Ducati touted a counter-rotating crankshaft for the Panigale V4 was introduced. It is now a shared feature among their V4-engined family.
It is all about forces
Inside almost every motorcycle ever built the crankshaft turns in the same direction as the wheels. But in recent years a handful of exotic bikes have started spinning their cranks backwards. If you’ve heard the term ‘counter-rotating crankshaft’ but aren’t entirely sure what it means, what the advantages are or which bikes have one, read on.
(Quick point of order: we’re focusing on bikes with across-the-frame cranks here. Bikes with inline cranks, such as BMW boxers, Honda Goldwings and Moto Guzzi V-twins, can sit this one out. They’re free to spin either way.)
Spinning things like to stay spinning, called inertia, while the spinning motion causes gyroscopic and centrifugal forces.
When you’re riding along in a straight line, both wheels whizzing around beneath you, everything’s fine and dandy. But try to lean the bike over, shifting multiple spinning objects (wheels, brake discs, tyres, crankshaft) away from the plane in which they were quite happily turning, and they’ll resist.
How big this gyroscopic resistance is – which affects how much physical input you need to move the bike off line – depends on the weight of each spinning object, its diameter and the speed at which it’s spinning. One solution would be to reduce any (or all) of the above: lighter wheels (expensive), smaller wheels (wobblier), or slower wheels (boring).
Another fix is to introduce something spinning in the opposite direction. Something like, say, the crankshaft. It might be small, but it can spin really fast. At 100-110 km/h a typical 17-inch front wheel turns at just 1000 RPM; the crank, meanwhile, could be spinning ten times as fast.
Well, alrighty then. Simply spin the crank the other way and you’re reducing the bike’s total gyroscopic resistance. This means less effort is needed to get the bike turn, making for increased agility, lighter steering, nimbler handling and other great road test cliches.
But wait, there’s more! Spinning the crank backwards also gives a second benefit, in the form of an anti-wheelie effect. This is down to a torque reaction from the crankshaft accelerating. When a forwards-spinning crank accelerates, the rest of the bike rotates backwards: the nose lifts and the tail drops. With a counter-rotating crank, the nose instead drops, meaning less wheelie, allowing better acceleration.
So why don’t all bikes have it?
Spin the crank backwards and your rear wheel also turns backwards. To fix this mild inconvenience you have to add an additional shaft inside the engine (an idler gear/countershaft/jackshaft) to keep the rest of the powertrain moving the right way. This extra shaft adds weight, cost and complexity, plus it saps power due to friction.
The trade-off is worth making in MotoGP, where every bike on the 2023 grid uses a counter-rotating crank. It’s not actually an especially new idea in racing: Honda’s 1987 NSR500 had one, as did Yamaha’s first YZR-M1 in 2002, a year before the Petronas FP1 (which used a backwards-spinning crank by virtue of its completely back-to-front engine) in World Superbikes.
Who else uses it?
On the road, just two major manufacturers use counter-rotating cranks today: Ducati, in all its V4s and MV Agusta, in its triples. A tiny number of other two-wheelers have used them in the past, including – of all things – the Aprilia SRV850 maxi-scooter, which shared its 839cc V-twin and CVT with the Gilera GP800 and Aprilia Mana, both launched back in 2008. Curiously, Aprilia never thought to mention this feature until the SRV arrived in 2012.
We have written about fuel octane, or more specifically, what it does and why do we have different RON ratings at the pump. Fuel octane is directly tied to the engine’s compression ratio.
What is compression ratio?
A ratio means something divided by another thing. Firstly, take the cylinder’s volume when the piston is fully at the bottom of its stroke (bottom dead centre/BDC), and add the combustion chamber’s volume. Secondly, take the volume of the cylinder when the piston is fully at the top of its stroke (top dead centre/TDC). Now take the BDC volume and divide against the TDC volume. This is why compression is expressed as 10:1. 11:1. 13:1 and so forth.
The higher the ratio means the fuel air mixture that enters the cylinder is squeezed into a much tighter space. Higher compression is good for making more power as more of the heat from combustion is transferred to kinetic energy in pushing the piston down.
Whichever way we go about it boosting the compression ratio is an easy route to more power. High compression pistons are in essence “bolt-on horsepower”. Modern bike engines tend to run compression ratios in the 10:1 to 12:1 region.
However, there is a limit
But there are limits to how high the compression ratio can go.
Any medium, whether is it just air or the fuel air mixture will get hot as it is compressed more and more. The higher the compression, the higher heat the medium will achieve. And, when the heat becomes too high, the fuel air mixture will self ignite before the spark plug ignites it at the correct timing.
This self-ignition sends shockwaves around the combustion chamber that can cause catastrophic failure. These shockwaves can be audibly heard and has a metallic knocking sound, hence called “knocking” or “pinging.”
In fact, diesel engines work this way. They employ very high compression ratios and compressed air alone until it gets really hot before diesel is injected into the combustion chamber. This mix causes instantaneous ignition. It is also why diesel engines produce that signature clacking sound.
So, how do we stop self-ignition? There are three methods: Lowering the compression ratio, retarding the ignition timing, or using fuels with higher octane rating. We shall explore this in another article.
BMW Motorrad sales broke records again in 2024, with the German marque claiming to sell a total of 210,408 new bikes.
The biggest seller was of course, and without doubt, the new R 1300 GS and the previous R 1250 GS. Their biggest market was once again in their homeland.
Top sales region and countries:
118,727 new bikes were sold in Europe, making making it the most valuable region.
Sales in Germany were up eight per cent with 26,177 bikes.
France was the next best-performing country, with 20,693 units.
Followed by Italy, with 16,617 units.
Central Europe, which includes countries like Poland, Romania, Switzerland and Serbia collectively sold 11,411 new bike sales. It was a 12 per cent increase from the previous year.
Best-seling models:
As mentioned ealier, R1300 GS and R1250 GS were the most popular, selling 68,000 worldwide.
The S 1000 RR was the best-selling four-cylinder model, with 11,610 shifted
The entire four-cylinder family (S 1000 RR, M 1000 RR, S 1000 R, M 1000 R, S 1000 XR, and M 1000 XR) sold 27,147 units worldwide.
Markus Flasch, head of BMW Motorrad, said, “I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to our customers and community around the world for the tremendous trust they have placed in us once again in 2024. With the strongest sales result in company history, BMW Motorrad remarkably claims the 1st Place in the global Premium Motorcycle segment. Our market leadership in numerous segments and markets in based on our claim to innovation leadership, our highly attractive product offering as well as the consistent strategic focus on brand strength. Based on these success drivers, BMW Motorrad is well-positioned for the future and so I approach the year 2025 with a very positive outlook.”
We were treated to an all-new Yamaha YZF-R1 for this year. Poring over the specification sheet we found that the engine’s bore and stroke has changed i.e. larger bores and shorter strokes. And yes, it revs higher.
What is bore and stroke?
To put it simply, the bore is the hole the piston sits in. Stroke, on the other hand, is the length that the piston needs to travel between its highest and lowest points.
But why is that?
The relationship between an engine’s bore and stroke determine, to an extent, how it makes its power. For a given capacity, ‘long stroke’ engines – ie those with a relatively long stroke in relation to the bore size – will tend to be relatively low revving but with strong low down power, while ‘short stroke’ or ‘oversquare’ motors – short stroke with a wide bore – will be able to rev higher. And, because more revs equal more horsepower (horsepower = torque x rpm divided by 5252, so increase the revs and the bhp increases too), manufacturers are always looking at ways of safely increasing the upper rev limit of their motors.
One of the major factors determining an engine’s upper rev limit is piston speed. For every revolution of an engine, the piston moves up from the bottom of its stroke (bottom dead centre or BDC) to the top of its stroke (top dead centre or TDC) and back again. So in the case of the ’04 R1, the 77mm wide piston goes from a standstill, travels 53.6mm up, stops, and comes back down again. At 10,000rpm it makes this journey just over 166 times each way every single second, at an average speed of 17.9 metres a second.
The stresses on a piston and conrod at high revs are massive. If the piston is forced to travel too quickly something’s going to break. Put very simply, if you reduce the distance the piston has to travel – ie its stroke – it doesn’t have to travel as fast and can make that journey more often. So that’s what Yamaha chose to do with their new R1, reducing the stroke by 4.4mm and adding 3mm to the bore. Last year’s R1 redlined at 11,750rpm, while this year’s redlines at 13,750, and makes its peak power 2000rpm further up the RPM scale.
Another way of reducing driveline stresses
Another way of reducing stresses is by using lighter materials for the pistons and connecting rods. Every moving part has momentum, and momentum is calculated by acceleration multiplied by mass. So, the more mass a moving object has, or/and the faster it moves, the higher its momentum. Lightening these parts will reduce stresses and also lets the engine rev faster.
We have covered the subject of the slipper clutch, now let us look at the assist clutch function. The assist function is an evolution of the slipper clutch and is fitted to an increasing number of motorcycles these days.
Why do we need the assist function?
Previously, harder clutch springs are required for high powered motorcycle engines in order to force the clutch plates and friction plates together, in order to maximise power transfer. Cutch springs that are too light can cause the plates to slip past each other, especially under hard acceleration.
Problem is, the clutch lever will feel very stiff as we need more finger pressure to overcome the springs’ force. It becomes even worse when the bike is accelerating hard and at speed, as the clutch’s centrifugal force pushes the plates in. Not only that, the gear lever can also feel really when using a quickshifter.
So how does the assist function work?
As with the slipper clutch, there are also ramps on the clutch’s pressure plate. However, these ramps face the other way, which cause the pressure plate to push inside onto the clutch plates for more positive engagement. In other words, less of the engine’s power is wasted from clutch slippage.
The takeaway from this is we can now use lighter clutch springs, allowing for a lighter pull on the clutch lever. It is especially useful when your motorcycle does not have a quickshifter. Additionally, shifting with the quickshifter can be potentially faster and the gear lever feels softer.
The slipper clutch is a common feature in road motorcycles nowadays, compared to when it was used in racing exclusively. Even some “performance” kapchais are equipped with it.
Why do we need a slipper clutch?
We are familiar with that deceleration when we shut off the throttle, or when we downshift. That is called engine braking or back torque. It is especially strong on four-stroke motorcycles with bigger engines that produce higher torque. The higher the engine’s torque, the higher its back torque too.
This engine braking can become intrusive, especially when we downshift to aggressively or we accidentally downshift to a gear that is too low. It can cause the rear wheel to hop, or even lock up momentarily. It is not something we want as we are tipping the bike into a corner, and certainly when the road is wet.
How does it work?
That is exactly why the slipper clutch was developed for: To reduce the engine’s back torque through the clutch plates to the transmission and to the final drive.
Slipper clutches usually consists of ramps that would cause the clutch basket to disengage or in other words, “slip” when the rear wheel tries to drive the engine faster above a certain deceleration threshold.
These angled ramps let the clutch faces which are normally meshed together under acceleration and normal riding to pull apart and disengaging the plates when there is too much back torque. Consequently, the rear tyre continue to rotate. It also decreases wear and tear on other transmission and engine parts due to the engine overrevving.
However, on some more sophisticated bikes (read: expensive), the slipper clutch works in conjunction with an electronic feature called engine braking control which regulates the engine speed to avoid clutch hop altogether. But that is a story for another day.
Following the news of an upcoming Triumph Thruxton 400 to replace the Bonneville Thruxton R 1200, let us take a look at the origin of the Thruxton name.
The Thruxton name plays a significant part in the marque’s history, just like the Daytona, Bonneville, Speedmaster, Trophy, Speed Twin. This is why Triumph decided to keep the name running albeit in the 400cc range, after stopping production of the 1200cc model.
What is Thruxton?
More like where, actually. It is the name of the Thruxton Circuit, in Hampshire, England.
It began as a military airbase, known as RAF Thruxton in 1942, and was home to troop carrying aircraft of both the RAF and USAAF. In fact, some of the airborne troops who took part in D-Day, 1944, took off from from this airbase.
The circuit was laid out along the perimeter of the runway since the 1950s, but the longer and present track was only fully established in 1968. History, it has since hosted the Thruxton 500 endurance race (1960-1964, 1969-1977), British Formula 3, British Formula 2, and many more. The circuit remains part of the British Superbike Championship (BSB) and British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) calendar until today.
The Thruxton 500
However, the most relevant and important race in this story was the Thruxton 500.
It all began as a 9-hour endurance race for motorcycles in 1955, followed by another two in 1956 and 1957. This 9-hour race evolved into the famous Thruxton 500 mile (800km) race from 1958.
The Thruxton 500 was a production motorcycle race, meaning the motorcycles being raced must be available to the public, not unlike the current day FIM Endurance World Championship. Each bike entered will be ridden by two riders on rotation.
Anyway, Triumph entered the inaugural endurance race in 1958 with a Bonneville T120, entered with Mike “The Bike” Hailwood and Dan Shorey as riders. They won.
The race soon caught the attention of the public. As such, motorcycle manufacturers were keen to win it to showcase their products’ performance. “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday,” even before Soichiro Honda made those words famous.
Triumph won again in 1961 with Tony Godfrey and John Holder after being runner ups to the BMW and AJS in 1959 and 1960. It was this win that spurred the Triumph factory to build the T120R Thruxton, which was hand-built by a team of Triumph technicians using specially picked components and precision-machined cylinder heads and crankcases. Peak power was increased and each ‘Thruxton’ engine was bench tested to deliver around 53 bhp (40 kW) at 6,800 rpm with a safe rev ceiling of 7,200 rpm. Only 52 of the Thruxton T120Rs were built in 1964/5 to meet homologation requirements for production racing. About 100 more machines were subsequently manufactured and supplied to selected dealers and riders.
It was one of the rarest Triumph motorcycles.
Rise of the modern Triumph Thruxton
In 2004, the new Triumph factory based in Hinckley, England introduced the Thruxton 900. The engine was derived from the Bonneville lineup, but has new cams and pistons 90mm pistons, taking capacity to 865 cc and power up to 70 bhp. The crank was a 360°, which meant both pistons rose and fell together. Triumph was smart to sell the Thruxton 900 as the café racer of the Bonneville lineup. (Tom Cruise rode it in The Edge of Tomorrow, by the way.)
The company then introduced the new Thruxton in 2016. It used the new 1200cc, 270º, liquid-cooled engine. There were two variants, one the standard while the “R” got Ohlins shocks, Showa forks, and Brembo brakes.
The Thruxton has since enjoyed good sales the world over, although the later-launched Boneville Bobber pipped it as the best selling Triumph.
Then, in 2024, Triumph announced the Thruxton Final Edition as they moved the performance Bonneville to the Speed Twin.
There have been many rumours about an upcoming café racer for the Triumph 400 range. It looks like it is true, after all, as a Triumph Thruxton 400 prototype had been spotted undergoing road tests in India.
Triumph had stopped production of the Thruxton 1200 (Final Edition in the main picture), and instead moved the high performance Bonneville ‘task’ to the Speed Twin. That leaves the company without a model with the Thruxton name in their lineup. To us, the Thruxton 1200 was the best Bonneville. Ever!
However, it now seems confirmed that the name will live on, albeit in the 400 range. We have ridden both the Speed 400 and Scrambler 400X, and they were just amazing. On top of it, they are sold at very competitive prices. It is why both models are selling like hotcakes.
So, over to the Thruxton 400 prototype. The pictures show a café racer clad in a half-fairing, although it was an accessory for the Thruxton 1200. The handlebar or clip ons are also placed lower than the Speed 400. The rest of the bike appears the same apart from these two details.
The engine will of course be the 398cc, single-cylinder unit built together with Bajaj Auto. It produces 39.5hp and 37.5Nm of torque, channeled through a 5-speed transmission. While it does not seem high on paper, it is entertaining enough.
Well, we cannot wait for more news about this bike. The Thruxton 1200 and its Final Edition were out of our financial reach, so maybe the Triumph Thruxton 400 could be the one!
Continuing this series, let us check out another brand, the world-renowned RS Taichi.
To recap, we wanted to know how the makers of motorcycle riding gear take steps to ensure that you and I buy are genuine. These major manufacturers have put in much effort and cost to ensure that their products conform to safety standards in order to protect us.
However, the advent of online shopping platforms have created the problem of dishonest sellers parading copied and fake wares. And these shopping platforms are doing nothing to stop them.
Thus the onus falls back on our shoulders to ensure that we are spending our hard-earned money on genuine products.
Courtesy of Hodaka Motoworld Singapore
Who is RS Taichi?
The brand was founded my a professional motocross racer, Taichi Yoshimura in 1975, in Osaka, Japan. Yoshimura was raced for the Suzuki and Honda factory teams in motocross, and had the distinction of giving Honda their very first win in motocross racing.
The first RS Taichi product was a gear bag, before going on to making racing leather suits in 1978. Now, RS Taichi makes the complete range of motorcycle rider gear and accessories, from helmets to jackets, gloves, pants, shoes, inner wear, leather suits, bags, protectors, and more.
How can you detect a genuine RS Taichi product?
1. Look for the yellow Taichi tag in your jacket, gloves, pants, and bag.
2. Use a torchlight or your phone’s flashlight and shine through the tag.
3. You should see many Taichi logos.
Counterfeit RS Taichi products may have the tag, but the hologram will not show.
Conclusion
Alright, we have covered Komine and now RS Taichi, and we shall continue to cover other brands. Again, buy your riding gear from official channels. It is not worth saving a few bucks but compromising your safety.
Hong Leong Yamaha Motor has introduced a new colourway for the 2025 Yamaha R15M, called Signature Black.
The Yamaha R15 was first launched way back in 2018 in Malaysia, before the R15M reached Malaysia in 2022. Following its bigger brother, the YZF-R1M, the “M” means the variant has better features. As such, the R15M has a quickshifter, traction control, Yamaha Y-Connect, LED lights with DRL.
Additionally, the R15M’s design and colourways are inspired by the R1M, including this year’s edition.
However, the 2025 Yamaha R15M retains the same 155cc, single-cylinder, SOHC with VVA engine capable of producing 19hp (14.2kW) peak power at 10,000rpm and 14.7Nm of peak torque at 8,500rpm. The engine power is sent through a assist and slipper clutch, and a six speed gearbox.
To reiterate, the fuel tank capacity is 11 litres and Yamaha claims a kerb weight of 140kg.
The recommended selling price remains at RM14,988. Buyers will receive a Yamaha disc lock worth RM100.
