RideFast July 2020 2

differences in handling corrupt our silly little numbers.
The motors, however, started out as identical, so
differences felt are purely down to the tuning. And
there are differences.
Go full throttle and the Fire It Up bike bucks and
weaves, sending the normally calm and collected BMW
wheelie control into hysterics. The max power output
on the dyno shows a 20hp gain over standard trim,
and this figure is substantial in the lap time crazed
world of track riding where every inch counts, but the
max power is not where the major gains are felt.
Riding the standard bike without comparison leaves
you wondering how things could be better, especially
when you open throttle on corner exit to feel wild
stallions yanking you forward in a runaway frenzy.
Then you climb aboard the Fire It Up bike, and we
discover that the world of horse-drawn carts has been
resigned to kids rides at Gold Reef City.
We are now in the age of SpaceX rocket propulsion.
On the standard bike, you approach the end of the
corner and roll on the throttle. On the fire It Up bike,
you timidly balance the motorcycle in the middle of
the corner using a minute amount throttle while you
square off the exit and get the bike pointing almost
straight towards the next corner. Then, stand the bike
upright, feed in more throttle, feel the motor spin up
and get lunged forward while the traction control light
reminds you of how lucky you are it is there.
The top speed is laudable, but the way it is able to
pick up speed is where our jaws hang open. Despite
various boasts by people in pubs, we spend very little
time at top speed, especially on racetracks. What
will make a true difference to people’s lives is what
happens at lower speeds, and how quickly they are
sped to higher speeds.
That’s where you need an Akrapovic exhaust, a
Sprint filter and a bucket load of Rapid Bike tuning.
“Then you climb
aboard the Fire It
Up bike, and we
discover that the
world of horsedrawn
carts has
been resigned to
kids rides at Gold
Reef City.”
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