(PUTTING YOU) IN THE FRAME…
It’s a bit of an unsung hero in the chassis stakes, the modern motorbike frame. Like the techs behind the scenes in a MotoGP team, or the backroom designers at a big bike firm, it just gets on with its job, while the flashier members of the team get all the plaudits. So when a new superbike comes out – like last year’s GSX-R1000R, say, we all get het up about the gas forks, the Brembo brakes and the multi-adjustable rear shock.
Even the swingarm design is far saucier than a frame, for some reason. Maybe it’s because it’s often hidden under plastic bodywork. Or maybe it’s because they’ve done such a good job for so long that we now largely take them for granted. Up until the 1970s, though, most bike frames were an afterthought at best. They were, literally, just metal brackets to hold the engine and suspension components together, with a rough stab at stability and stiffness. Most bikes made about 20bhp, and even with that asthmatic power output, they handled like clown cars which had
