May

Made you look, made you stare

26 May 2000

THE family of Mexicans sitting to my left in their old Ford pick-up are just plain staring. In fact, from the look on their faces you would think I had just pulled a gun on them. The bloke to my right...

John Wayne would be turning in his grave

26 May 2000

I’M at the top of a 10,000ft mountain, the equivalent of a third of the way up Everest. It’s May, but there are deep snow drifts all around and miles of narrow, rocky trails bordered by sheer drops.

Seven days, seven events, one emotion

26 May 2000

THEY say you can have too much of a good thing. I disagree. Maybe I’ve just got an addictive personality, but when I find something I love doing, I just want to keep doing it. Riding bikes is one...

Why half an inch matters

19 May 2000

TYRE size is one of the burning issues in 500 GPs this year. If you’ve watched any of the recent rounds on TV you’ll have heard commentators going on about 16.5 and 17-inch rear wheels. So what’s the...

Beat them off with a filthy stick

19 May 2000

IT’S important to look good in the city. For those who frequent the best bars and restaurants, a battered old CX500 is a bit of a no-no. The Ducati badge says all the right things to the...

Silver dream racer

19 May 2000

IT’S back in May 1979 and I’m rushing to my local newsagents to pick up the latest copy of American bike magazine Cycle World. As I walk into the shop I glimpse the front cover and there, in glorious...

New name, old style

19 May 2000

AS the bike in my mirrors drew nearer I got my head down, cracked open the throttle and went for it, but in no time it was on my tail. The narrow, twisty road allowed me to hold it off, but as soon as...

So how do you like yours?

12 May 2000

HOW do you want your bike to feel? Racy and quick into turns or steady and stable? It’s all down to suspension. Top racers spend more time working on suspension settings than anything else. The ad...

American psycho

05 May 2000

BRUTAL, that’s the only word for it. The X1 Lightning has always been a bit of an animal, but this carbon-clad version has taken things to a new extreme. I can’t remember the last time I had a bike...

How a slipper stops a slide...

05 May 2000

WE’VE been hearing a lot about slipper clutches recently – they’re fitted to exotica like Aprilia’s RSV and anyone watching the TV coverage of the Phillip Island WSB will have seen what can happen if...

Rocket Ron shows you how it’s done

05 May 2000

HANDS up if you don’t know how half the functions on your video recorder work and therefore never use them. If it records at the appropriate time and on the right channel, you’re more than...

An opportunity to get your brain into gears

01 May 2000

HOWLING along your favourite stretch of road, you snick down two gears as you brake into a corner, turn on a well-planned line, open the throttle, change up and surge away. Your memories of the road...

It’s a car killer

01 May 2000

Piaggio, like BMW with its C1 scoot-with-a-roof, has realised the future lies in targeting people who wouldn’t normally consider buying a scooter rather than just poaching customers from rival firms.

It’s not how much weight you lose, it’s where you lose it

01 May 2000

AT the launch of the TT600, one of the features Triumph’s engineers were keen to highlight was the bike’s exceptionally light wheels. They are the lightest in the 600 supersport class. Triumph even...

Ready for a riot

01 May 2000

MOTORCYCLING is speckled with legendary machines. Ducati’s 900SS and 916, Honda’s RC30 and the original CB750, Norton’s Manx single and, more recently, Yamaha’s R1 all have their places in history.