New MCN December 5: Bigger Better Z800

The Week 
In this week’s news; Suzuki finally build a super-naked GSX-R1000 (sort of), lots of new bikes, from the latest Roland Sands creation to a £15,000 German traillie, and the best tweets of the week.

The Perfect Balance: Z800 Ridden
The Z750 is one of Kawasaki’s most important bikes. They sell shedloads in Europe – nearly 160,000 since it was launched nearly 10 years ago. But it’s never been a favourite for us Brits. That could all change with the new Z800, as MCN discovered at the new bike’s launch on the Cote d’Azur.

Ok Commuter: Suzuki 250 Inazuma Ridden
Despite it’s slightly bland image, the all-new Inazuma 250 is a significant new bike, both for Suzuki and for the UK’s smaller bike classes, recently bouyed by the likes of KTM’s Duke 250, Kawasaki’s Ninja 300 and more. The first Chinese-built bike to be offered by Suzuki in the UK, it’s intended to be worthy and practical rather than lairy and thrilling. But has it enough to let our heads rule our hearts?

Semi-Active Suspension: Is it the Future?
The BMW HP4 is the first production bike to come with semi-active suspension. We wanted to see if this system – which constantly adjusts the suspension as you ride – really improves your day-to-day riding experience. To do it, we pitched an HP4 against a standard S1000RR on UK roads.

The James Bond of Bikes!
When Suzuki first went GP racing in 1960 their two strokes were very slow, so they used industrial espionage to get up to speed. They paid rival MZ rider Ernst Degner to defect from East Germany, bringing with him the secrets of genius engineer Walter Kaaden, who had worked on Hitler’s secret weapons programme.

The King of the Swamp
Flooded, frosty roads can only mean one thing – John Westlake banging on about how brilliant his 2011 Suzuki V-Strom 650 is in winter…

WSB Men on MotoGP Pace in Jerez
If Dorna, the firm that runs both MotoGP and WSB needed any extra ammunuition to change technical regs in the future they got it in the final round of testing in Jerez. For the first time in years the fastest WSB teams and riders in the world shared the track with a selection of MotoGP and CRT teams. And there wasn’t much in it…

The Greatest Dakar Team on Earth: Welcome to KTM
It takes 27 people one year of preparation and a multi-million pound budget to win the hardest race on earth – we visit the KTM factory and see how they do it.