Bike news

MRS unveil stunning Vulcan 'Spirit Charger'

MRS unveil stunning Vulcan 'Spirit Charger'

While many of us Brits are charging headlong to the NEC for our annual dose of Motorcycle Live, our cousins across the Channel have their own two-wheeled soiree to enjoy this week, the Paris...

Yamaha reveal updated FJR1300

Yamaha reveal updated FJR1300

Yamaha pulled the covers off their new-for-2016 FJR1300 at Motorcycle Live today, and while it might not look very different from the outside, the firm has made some key upgrades beneath the...

Honda announce prices for 2016 Africa Twin

Honda announce prices for 2016 Africa Twin

Honda UK have announced pricing and final specification for the eagerly-awaited CRF1000L Africa Twin, which will be launched in early December (see the full first ride report in the December 9 issue...

Kawasaki announce 2016 prices

Kawasaki announce 2016 prices

Kawasaki UK have announced prices for their full 2016 range – including the brand new Ninja ZX-10R, J125, ZZR1400 and ZZR1400 Performance Sport models.  Developed directly with the Kawasaki Racing...

Honda CB400F Restoration

Honda CB400F Restoration

In 1998, Graham Hugill bought a CB400F that had been lying in bits in a mate’s garden. He spent 30 months restoring the bike, then the next 10 years and 21,500 miles developing the Honda into the bike...

My life in bikes: Steve Parrish

My life in bikes: Steve Parrish

till dodging getting a proper job, British champion bike (and truck) racer, team manager and now TV commentator, Steve Parrish talks bikes and Barry Sheene.   When did you first get into bikes? I had...

Honda go wild with crazy concepts

Honda go wild with crazy concepts

Honda have a big year ahead of them with two range-defining models finding their way to our roads in the shape of the super-exclusive RC213V-S MotoGP replica, and the much awaited return of the far...

Guy Martin’s Vulcan grip

Guy Martin’s Vulcan grip

You’ll have to have been living in a very small box, with no windows, internet or TV to have not noticed the crescendo of final flights of the much-loved Vulcan bomber XH558 this year – which flew for...

First Ride: Ducati 959 Panigale

First Ride: Ducati 959 Panigale

There are lots of questions to answer about the new £13,250 Ducati 959 Panigale. Does it now go like a superbike with its bigger engine? Why has Ducati replaced the 899, anyway? And the biggest...

Race metal special: Class of 2015 (Part 2)

Race metal special: Class of 2015 (Part 2)

These are the 10 bikes that took our breath away in a memorable year of hot race action MotoGP ‘Never have straights been so short’  HRC’s 2016 Honda RC213V-S By Michael Neeves Senior Road Tester and...

Moto Guzzi’s mad bagger

Moto Guzzi’s mad bagger

A year ago Moto Guzzi revealed the crazy MGX-21 Concept bagger and very few believed that the production bike would bear anything more than a passing resemblance to it. But fast forward 12 months and...

CB77: Honda's Brit-slayer

CB77: Honda's Brit-slayer

The CB77 started to swing the balance of biking power from Britain to Japan.  We ride a recently-built example and its brother, the CL77 off-roader. hasing Dennis Murfin along some near-deserted...

The Buyer: ‘Only a geek would know it had the wrong wheels’

The Buyer: ‘Only a geek would know it had the wrong wheels’

‘Only a geek would know it had the wrong wheels’ hat’s more enticing than a nice old bike? An airhead BMW, for example. A Honda SOHC four? An air-cooled Kawasaki four? All mechanically basic bikes...

Pierobon stuns with X80R

Pierobon stuns with X80R

Italian frame-building masters Pierobon showed their X80R at Milan, a demonstration of the frame and chassis kit it has developed to house engines from the pre-Panigale range of Ducati...

Why James Whitham wants to clean up again

Why James Whitham wants to clean up again

James Whitham has launched his own range of bike cleaning and protecting products. The former British, World Superbike and GP racer turned commentator went his own way because his couldn’t find the...

Bimota’s radical cafe racer

Bimota’s radical cafe racer

Bimota unveiled two new models at the Milan show last week – jumping firmly onto the retro bandwagon with their new hub-centre steered Tesi 3D RaceCafe, and continuing their legacy of performance...

Return of the H1

Return of the H1

After bringing back the legendary H2 name in 2015, it begged an obvious question – when, if at all, will the H1 be re-joining the line-up? That question seems to have been answered to some degree by...

Race metal special: Class of 2015 (Part 1)

Race metal special: Class of 2015 (Part 1)

These are the 10 bikes that took our breath away in a memorable year of hot race action  World Superbikes   ‘As easy as falling off a log’ Jonathan Rea’s Kawasaki ZX-10R By Adam Child Senior Road...

2016 MV Brutale is a beast

2016 MV Brutale is a beast

MV Agusta have given the Brutale 800 a hefty makeover as part of a move to make it more practical, and also to differentiate it more from the Dragster. The Brutale name has been a big success for MV...

Mondial has a new pair of Hipsters

Mondial has a new pair of Hipsters

Italian firm Mondial have returned with a pair of naked street bikes called the Hipster 125 and Hipster 250. Mondial have bet all their chips on the trendy retro market with two street-scrambler-style...

Picture story: So you think you know every type of bike engine?

Picture story: So you think you know every type of bike engine?

And then you come across Wooler, a firm which lasted from 1911 to 1956. It was a time during which highlights included bikes powered by a two-stroke horizontal single-cylinder with a double-ended...

New Vertigo goes on trial

New Vertigo goes on trial

This crazy-looking Vertigo scooter/trials bike hybrid is being lined up to compete in the ultra-tough Erzberg Iron Road Prologue according to Vertigo boss Manel Jane, who has ploughed millions of...

CCM GP450 hits the road

CCM GP450 hits the road

CCM unveiled a second version of their GP450 Adventure bike in Milan last week, which comes on 17in laced road wheels for those customers who never stray off the tarmac. Christofer Ratcliffe, Chief...

World class motorcycle auction debuts at London Motorcycle Show

World class motorcycle auction debuts at London Motorcycle Show

Coys, one of the UK’s leading historic automobile valuers and auctioneers, have lined up over 100 motorcycles to be auctioned off at the Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show on February 13. A large...

Kenny Roberts to headline Motorcycle Live

Kenny Roberts to headline Motorcycle Live

Three-time 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts has been added to the impressive list of racing stars confirmed to attend Motorcycle Live, which kicks off at The NEC, Birmingham this Saturday (28...

New MCN November 25: 2015 best bikes test

New MCN November 25: 2015 best bikes test

In this week’s edition of MCN, available in newsagents, on iPad and Android from November 25: 2015 best sellers: our verdict Kawasaki’s supercharged 675 Indian Scout Sixty first ride Danny Kent: How...

7 bikes that didn’t make it

7 bikes that didn’t make it

ll seven of these were ditched before they went into production. Neil Murray finds out why    1. Norton Cosworth Challenge (1973) A classic Brit bike screw-up. In 1973 Norton desperately needed a new...

BMW recall Sport helmet

BMW recall Sport helmet

BMW Motorrad are recalling their ‘Sport’ helmet because it does not fully meet the approval test requirements according to the European standard UNECE R 22.05. The helmets in question can be...

9 ways to keep your shed tidy

9 ways to keep your shed tidy

Decorating Paint the walls, and the concrete floor if you have one in your shed or garage. A light colour – white, or magnolia if you don’t want it to feel like a dentist’s surgery, will maximise the...

Ducati 959 Panigale first ride incoming

Ducati 959 Panigale first ride incoming

MCN will be riding Ducati’s new 959 Panigale at its world launch at Valencia on Wednesday. The new machine replaces the 899 Panigale, which is MCN’s 2015 and 2014 ’Best Sportsbike (Middleweight)’...

Inside the ultimate 70s man cave. Help yourself to fondue

Inside the ultimate 70s man cave. Help yourself to fondue

A dream lineup of mould-shattering Japanese superbikes live in this ultimate seventies man-cave, hidden somewhere in rural south-eastern England. It’s the two-wheeled version of the dream pads...

First Ride: Indian Scout Sixty

First Ride: Indian Scout Sixty

This is the new entry-level Indian Scout Sixty which is already heading for dealers and will cost £8999. The bike is heavily based on the existing 1133cc Indian Scout model but has a new 999cc engine,...

18 bike gifs that say it better than you ever could

18 bike gifs that say it better than you ever could

Do you find the demands on your emotional range a bit much in today’s modern touchy-feely world? Do you sometimes struggle for the words to express what you’re feeling? Give up! here’s simply no point...

Read, watch, wonder: Norton has a surprise in store for Japanese rivals

Read, watch, wonder: Norton has a surprise in store for Japanese rivals

With one defining moment, the now legendary JPS Norton era began and for five straight years British race fans had something very special to cheer about: home-built bikes that could blow the Japanese...

New adventure travel book: Don't think, ride.

New adventure travel book: Don't think, ride.

Acclaimed adventure travel writer and thoroughly nice bloke Nathan Millward has just released his latest book; Don’t think, Ride. A short ride across America. Unlike his previous two books, where...

7 bikes to buy before they die

7 bikes to buy before they die

These machines are all set to be superseded in 2016. Here’s why you should grab one while you still can… Kawasaki ZX-10R (2011-2015) Universally accepted as the best, most extreme and...