VOL. 53 ISSUE 12 MARCH 29, 2016 P83
padded throne that's improbably
comfy—my day in the hot seat
left me fresh enough to think
this might make a neat alterna-
tive sports tourer, if you could
find anywhere to stow some
luggage! But first and foremost,
this is a radical Alabama take
not on U.S.-style feet-forward
cruising, but on European-type
sport biking, and that's thanks
not only to the truly impressive,
totally addictive legions of torque
the engine delivers, but also to
something as mundane as the
position of the footpegs, now
mounted slightly rearward of the
seat, and a big contrast with the
G1 Fighter's foot-forward cruiser
stance which compromised
both cornering and comfort.
The last new Confederate I rode
15 months ago was the Hellcat
Speedster created by Pierre
Terblanche during his brief stay
at the company, complete with a
radically different riding position
thanks to footpegs that were 18
inches further forward than the
previous Hellcat variant's rear-
sets straight out of any café rac-
er catalogue. The compromised
stance this resulted in made you
feel pretty detached from the
bike, perched atop it unnaturally
with your legs straightened out in
front of you, so that it was hard
to ride the Speedster in anything
approaching anger, as Con-
federate riders unquestionably
relish doing.
With Terblanche departed to
Royal Enfield, Chambers has re-
asserted control over the design
of his company's products, and
the P51 Fighter's back-to-the-
future riding stance is indeed
damn-near ideal. That's partly
due also to its wide new handle-
bar compared to the G1 Fighter,
which is both dropped and
pulled back further than before
in an Alabama approximation to
the Swinging '60s one-piece
Ace bars so popular back then
with the cafe racing fraternity.
Because the whole motorcycle
is essentially no wider than the
rear tire, it feels improbably
agile—nimble, even, with the
reduced gyroscopic effect of
the BST carbon front wheel and
downsized quartet of Beringer
brakes helping speed up the
steering, so that you don't need
to give the wide handlebar such
a big tug to make it switch direc-
tion from side to side.
AT ONE WITH THE P51
Even without being able to grip
the spine frame between your
knees, you feel at one with the
bike, which steers and handles
brilliantly—yes, I was surprised,
too. I honestly doubt that any-
thing else on two wheels could
have got me up the tortuous
Glendora Mountain Road in
California any faster than the
Fighter, thanks to its thunder-
ous torque and surprisingly agile
handling. Surprising, because
that's in spite of the long 62.5-
inch wheelbase and conserva-
Yes, that's the headlight. Nothing
about the P51 is conventional.
"I HONESTLY
DOUBT THAT
ANYTHING
ELSE ON TWO
WHEELS COULD
HAVE GOT ME UP
THE TORTUOUS
GLENDORA
MOUNTAIN ROAD
IN CALIFORNIA
ANY FASTER
THAN THE
FIGHTER."
