+ Smooth engine ; great brakes ; Sharp handling – Rear suspension action ( mainly ) is compromised by poor road surfaces
The ‘ 22 is a more polished machine , it has the same heart - the specs state 123 horses – and certainly I had no complaints about the engine , it ’ s a free revving powerplant that is a joy to run , particularly in Sport mode . They ’ ve tweaked it and it ’ s definitely smoother in the early rev range . However , there are other changes that make it different . There ’ s lower suspension travel with a direct connection at the rear , made visible by the bright rear spring located under the right thigh ( no linkage ) and , occasionally , on B road holes and bumps , that could be quite firm to the spine . But this is a bike engineered for sport riding fun , and to my mind they ’ ve got it right , but it took a moment or two to get there .
Both wheels have been reduced to 17-inch rims and that makes quite a difference , and they ’ ve fitted the bike with meaty Metzeler Sportec tyres and the grip and cornering is superb . The new ‘ 22 feels quite different at first , and it ’ s not immediately clear that it is the rim diameters . I think it ’ s the massive change they ’ ve made to the steering angle , already short at 26.3 degrees they ’ ve taken a full degree out of it to 25.3 . That has the effect of making the front even snubbier and reinforces that flat track feel dramatically , and the head of the bike almost completely disappears from view when riding . The wheelbase however remains the same at 60-inches ( 1524mm ) and I wondered if they ’ d changed the rake angle to keep it the
46 KIWI RIDER