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| Track-day tool can slug it out with the best |
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Which just about sums it up: it feels better than it looks (body off Baywatch, face off Crimewatch). But, necessity might bring some welcome changes. To pass the MSVA (Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval) test, the SportCycle needs multiple front lights, which, if we're lucky, might mean an end to the current single square headlight. And it wasn't just exhaust noise which scuppered Mackenzie's plans to track-test his other two demonstrators (powered by either a 600cc Honda Hornet or Kawazaki ZX9-R): reverberations around the rear of the bodywork near the engine caused more noise than the exhausts, so maybe some bodywork modifications, or a part-enclosed rear-end, might be the answer. Certainly something has to be done to reduce noise, given this is primarily a track-day tool, albeit a road-legal one.
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| Single front light needs to go |
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If it doesn't get better-looking, it's hard to see the SportCycle taking off in the UK, especially given that it's available in built-form only as yet. Mackenzie will take your donor bike and £11,690 for the privilege of turning into a SportCycle. All you have to do to tell is the DVLA that it's now a trike, not a bike; and if you ever want to convert the bike back to a two-wheeler, you can, although a couple of small holes will have been drilled in the chassis to locate some supporting rods.
Good news, though, is that when production gets underway proper, Mackenzie will do the SportCycle as a kit, which might mean you could put a tidy one together, we'd estimate, for under £10,000. Handily, that would save about five grand, and mean you get to spend quite a lot of time with it behind closed doors, getting used to the idea of being seen together in public.
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