June

Cool calipers take the heat out of the hardest braking

23 June 2000

YOU can expect to see them on the front forks of a bike in a pub car park near you very soon: Radially-mounted brake calipers. If you have eagle eyes and an anorak attention to detail, you’ll have...

It’s gonna get you

23 June 2000

UNRELENTING rain smacks off my visor. Somewhere in the pitch-blackness, in the turbulent air behind me, something evil has picked up my scent. I hear the unmistakable sound of a V-twin engine...

This thing has grown bigger than all of us

16 June 2000

IT’S official. Ducati is not just a motorcycle maker, it’s a cult brand, like Harley-Davidson or Caterpillar. They’ve reached a stage in their relatively short career where the name Ducati has become...

It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it

16 June 2000

IT’S Sunday morning. You were due to go for a ride, but the weather’s naff and you’ve got a hangover. So what are you going to do to spend some quality time with your baby? Clean the thing. Most of...

Welcome back to the playground

16 June 2000

LIFE is hard. There are those who can amble through it not worrying about the next big bill, but they are a privileged few. The rest of us have long forgotten that happy, simple land where children...

Big on the Island

09 June 2000

GETTING noticed at the TT gets harder every year. There are about 15,000 bikes parked along Douglas promenade on any given day and so many specials and rare exotica on display that your average...

Change your scenery

09 June 2000

SOME bikes create dilemmas. And this is one of them. You know you’re just nipping across town, so you put on your best trainers, polish your black visor and leave on your best going-out jeans. After...

It’s been a hard day’s fortnight

09 June 2000

ROLL off the ferry for the start of your Isle of Man experience and it comes as no great surprise that everything is laid on for you. The racing goes off when it’s meant to (weather permitting) the...

Dunlop and Michelin are castaways on the Island

02 June 2000

WHEN you’re talking about GPs and WSB, Michelin and Dunlop are the only names that matter in tyres. The two firms enjoy a monopoly in world championship racing, and no-one uses anything else. But...

And on the seventh day… we all go on a large one

02 June 2000

IT is quite conceivable that you will have seen a piano used as a sidecar before – in your wildest dreams. If you pinch yourself and the tinkling of the ivories continues to get louder, you’re almost...