July

Suzuki GSX750F

29 July 2001

THE 1989–1997 model was almost instantly dubbed ” The Teapot ” when its overly-organic styling was revealed to a categorically nonplussed public. When a bike is not only named after a hot beverage,...

BIMOTA MANTRA

29 July 2001

IT seems a little cruel to come down hard on the Bimota Mantra, now that the Rimini firm has closed its factory gates for the last time. But with a motorcycle so astonishingly odd-looking as this...

Brands Hatch Sunday road and weather report

29 July 2001

THE roads near Brands Hatch are busy, but not as bad as last year. That’s the report from the Kent police, who have learned lessons from last year to manage the traffic and hopefully avoid the worst...

MOTO GUZZI CENTAURO

29 July 2001

A duck-billed platypus of a bike. Named after a mythical beast that was half-horse/half-human, the Centauro was more half Quasimodo, half Pat Butcher. The bulky one-piece tank/body device cloaked a...

TT pubs open all hours

29 July 2001

If you want more reasons to go back to the TT after this year’s cancellation, how does 24-hour drinking grab you? After years of experimenting with longer opening hours at weekends, the concept of...

BIMOTA TESI

29 July 2001

Strange that a firm capable of building some of the most highly regarded and downright beautiful machines of the 1970s and ’80s could have wobbled so royally in the ’90s. But it was the trip down the...

Whit drums up support at Brands

29 July 2001

THE usual “Saturday night at Brands” drunken revelry was kicked off last evening with a marathon gig by Jamie Whitham’s band the Po Boys. Playing a two and a half hour set to a crowd of nearly 5000...

NORTON COMMANDER

29 July 2001

THE British motorcycle industry’s broad expanse of flesh has long been pock-marked by the scars of many a cosmetic disaster. Who would want to remember, yet who can possibly forget the Norton Hi-rider...

More Sunday scenes from Brands

29 July 2001

COULDN’T get along to Brands today to sample some of its legendary atmosphere? Here’s a few pictures to let you know what was going on off (and above) the track. Don’t forget you can send us your own...

Ugly bikes – an anthology

29 July 2001

A wise man, quite possibly Jesus, once said: ” One man’s meat is another man’s poison. ” And he wasn’t just talking about lunch. He was talking about differences in taste. Most of us have a rough...

For sale: 8000 cheap air-horns

29 July 2001

THE man who turned up at Brands Hatch World Superbikes with 10,000 boating-spec fog horns for sale seemed to have the world at his feet… With a crowd of over 100,000 predicted and a monopoly on the...

Kawasaki ZRX1200R

29 July 2001

1 All it needs is Eddie Lawson on board to match that classic colour scheme 2 The screen is about as aerodynamic as a house, but it keeps some wind off 3 The suspension is the stiffest of the three –...

How good is your bike’s security?

29 July 2001

Got a good alarm? A dodgy disc lock? A u-lock that fits under the seat of a CBR?Fellow riders need your advice and here’s an easy way can share it:Click on the ” PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ” link in the...

Aprilia MOTO 6.5

29 July 2001

IN the 1990s, when designers became demi-gods, it was no surprise that adventurous Aprilia should commission the pre-eminent doodler of that decade, Philippe Starck, to design a bike. The result...

Honda CBX550

29 July 2001

THIS thing was the unwitting precursor of the acclaimed CBR600. It was the cutting-edge tool of its day, which was probably August 30, 1980, before the Kawasaki GPz550 appeared and wiped the floor...

BMW R1200C

29 July 2001

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) rode one of these so they must be cool – right? But then James Bond (Roger Moore) also had a mini-sub with a plastic crocodile’s head on it and it didn’t exactly open up the market for reptilian-lamped off-roaders. This bauble of a bike is some sort of tribute to the great American cars of the 1950s and ’60s, which is where its inherent problems lie. The thing looks...

BMW reinvents the F650 and brings in bigger-bore RS

29 July 2001

BMW is launching two new models, the F650CS and the R1150RS, as our scoop pictures show. The F650 CS is the most road-focused of the F650s yet and will be sold alongside the slightly more trail-biased...

MUNCH MAMMOTH

29 July 2001

One Munch Mammoth is probably enough for this world, and we got it in 1966 in the form of an NSU-engined behemoth known as the 1200 TTS. The air-cooled car engine was good for 88bhp and then 100bhp...

MORBIDELLI V8

29 July 2001

IF you thought a factory that turned out trim and effective race bikes in the 1970s – winning three 125 and one 250 world championships – could make a decent-looking road bike, you’d be wrong. The...

Why you shouldn’t ignore your clutch

29 July 2001

The clutch, bless it, is a bit like an old aunt who comes round for a family gathering. You know it’s there, but after a while you just ignore it. Often it’s not mentioned at all in the specification...

What the fans thought of Brands post Foggy

29 July 2001

MANY people thought it couldn’t possibly happen, but the crowd at Brands today was announced as being greater than the 120,900 who trooped like an army in 1999 to watch Carl Fogarty on his way to this...

Biggest dealer makes new customer service promise

29 July 2001

Europe’s biggest bike dealer network, Carnell-City, is responding to customer complaints by setting up a system that means none of the staff get to go home until all that days calls have been...

Suzuki GSX1400

29 July 2001

1 Big motor, big bike. The GSX is unlikely to suffer from an inferiority complex 2 Who needs a headlight? They’ll see all that gleaming chrome from miles away 3 The twin shocks may be retro, but the...

BMW K1

29 July 2001

Launched at the 1988 Cologne Show, there were feelings from some quarters that it would have been better off launched off the nearest cliff. Remembering the success it enjoyed after introducing the...

British fans give thumbs up to Benelli Tornado

29 July 2001

PETER GODDARD may have picked up just three points at Brands today, but as he raced a bike only three events into its World Superbike career, British fans were lapping up their first real glimpse –...

QUASAR

29 July 2001

IF you are not familiar with the term known as Feet Forward motorcycling, allow us to enlarge on it. Take a group of highly intelligent, fiercely independent engineers and inventors and leave them to...

Guess the average cost of bike insurance

29 July 2001

What do you think the average cost of a bike insurance policy with Norwich Union is these days? You might be surprised. An MCN investigation has revealed it’s actually close to £250, considerably...

Professional thieves target Brands

29 July 2001

THE sneak thieves warned of by police yesterday struck again last night in the Brands Hatch campsites – and they are so good at their work that even the police are forced to admit how expert they...

Honda CX500 Custom

29 July 2001

WHEN a bike, within minutes of its 1978 launch, acquires the tag ” Plastic Maggot ” , it’s safe to assume the machine has been less than well received by the masses. But the original CX overcame this...

No end yet to our Saturday Brands scenes

22 July 2001

NO words are needed to explain the build up throughout today of the fans and atmosphere at Brands Hatch. But to remind you why the event is so special on the British biking calendar, here are some...

We road test the Suzuki GSX1400, Kawasaki ZRX1200R and Yamaha XJR1300

22 July 2001

ARNIE might well stand out in people’s minds as the most famous and successful bodybuilder ever, but things were almost very different. Over the core of his competitive years, throughout the 1970s and...

Insurance grief for 1900 Devitt customers

22 July 2001

HUNDREDS of riders insured through the brokerage firm Devitt DA have been asked to cough up for new insurance policies following the demise of underwriters Independent Insurance Company Limited. While...

Police warn Brands campers to be on their guard

22 July 2001

POLICE patrolling the Brands Hatch campsites have warned anyone who plans to camp there tonight to be on the look out for so-called “slash and grab” thieves. There have been four or five cases of...

Myth of speeding motorcyclists exposed

22 July 2001

WITH an apparently increasing number of residents in rural areas complaining about bikes speeding through their quiet villages, here’s some figures that should shut them up. After the Parish councils...

Want some advice? Take your own drinks to Brands!

22 July 2001

SUPERMARKET giant Sainsbury’s may have come up trumps with a temporary marquee-cum-store on-site at Brands Hatch, but that doesn’t mean there will be unlimited supplies of drink and food tomorrow – so...

More help to beat thieving scum

22 July 2001

IF your bike ever gets nicked, the first reaction is often to tell as many people as possible, so they can keep an eye out for you. And now the ACU, British bikesport’s governing body, is providing a...