Bike news

Can cheaper, Chinese-built machinery hold a candle to more expensive European metal?

Can cheaper, Chinese-built machinery hold a candle to more expensive European metal?

Sharing a platform of components across a bundle of different bikes is nothing new – and it makes real sense, because instead of stretching budgets, manufacturers can direct their efforts into...

Ducati timing belts due for replacement? Here’s how it’s done…

Ducati timing belts due for replacement? Here’s how it’s done…

A traditional feature of Ducati twins, cambelts use drive from the crank to turn the camshafts, which in turn activate the Desmodromic valves. With such a critical job to do, they need regular...

All change in WSB: Rider and crew chief swaps are set to dictate development direction in 2024

All change in WSB: Rider and crew chief swaps are set to dictate development direction in 2024

Next year sees a monumental shake-up to the World Superbike grid. After nine years with Kawasaki, Jonathan Rea heads to Yamaha to fill the seat vacated by BMW‑bound Toprak Razgatlioglu. Scott Redding...

Green bikes to debut in Tokyo: Firms gearing up for electric and hydrogen future at Japan Mobility Show

Green bikes to debut in Tokyo: Firms gearing up for electric and hydrogen future at Japan Mobility Show

Honda and Suzuki are preparing to reveal their latest ‘green’ two-wheeled projects, with both electric and hybrid options set to appear at the Japan Mobility Show, from 26 October to 5...

Test your skills on the Moto Trainer and pick up a bargain at Wheels Motorcycles

Test your skills on the Moto Trainer and pick up a bargain at Wheels Motorcycles

Peterborough bike dealer Wheels are offering visitors a chance to win prizes and test their riding skills at their end-of-season clearance event. Between October 7 and 14 (apart from Sunday 8)...

Honda update popular Africa Twin adventure range with new looks and revised tech

Honda update popular Africa Twin adventure range with new looks and revised tech

Honda’s best-selling adventure bike duo – the CRF1100L Africa Twin and more road-biased, touring Africa Twin Adventure Sports – are both receiving a significant makeover for 2024. We’ve ridden it:...

DesertX-tra: Ducati reveal long-anticipated rugged DesertX Rally for 2024

DesertX-tra: Ducati reveal long-anticipated rugged DesertX Rally for 2024

Ducati have pulled the covers off a brand-new DesertX Rally adventure bike model, which builds on the standard £14,795 retro adventurer to become a serious off-road rally raider and takes the price up...

New wave of safety gear: How bike-mounted airbag systems could help to keep you safe in a crash

New wave of safety gear: How bike-mounted airbag systems could help to keep you safe in a crash

The idea of mounting an airbag on a motorcycle is nothing new but the technology has never really caught on. Now that could be about to change as one of the world’s leading makers of automotive safety...

Triumph announce cheaper more accessible Scrambler 1200 X alongside updated XE

Triumph announce cheaper more accessible Scrambler 1200 X alongside updated XE

Triumph are attempting to make their Scrambler 1200 range more appealing to a wider range of customers for 2024, introducing a new lower and cheaper X model to sit alongside a revamped, more rugged XE...

Brit bike display is go: Haynes Motor Museum delve into rich British biking history

Brit bike display is go: Haynes Motor Museum delve into rich British biking history

A major new exhibition telling the story of British motorcycling from its origins to the modern day is about to open at the fabulous Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset. ‘Life on Two Wheels: The...

Drivers ‘fail to pay attention’: Accidents caused by unfocused or speeding motorists at decade high

Drivers ‘fail to pay attention’: Accidents caused by unfocused or speeding motorists at decade high

A Government report into 2022 road casualties and crashes across Great Britain has found that fatal collisions involving distracted, speeding, or careless motorists are at their highest level across...

A bike industry lifeline from PM: UK motorcycle bosses use U-turn to argue for an open source future

A bike industry lifeline from PM: UK motorcycle bosses use U-turn to argue for an open source future

Following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s shock extension of new combustion car sales to 2035, Britain’s biking bosses are once again requesting more time and an open-minded approach to petrol...

The world’s greatest bikes#3 MV Agusta F4

The world’s greatest bikes#3 MV Agusta F4

To design just one ground-breaking motorcycle that transforms the fortunes of a whole company is an incredible achievement. To then repeat this feat for another faltering firm is the sign of true...

Fend off thieves: Fit a Datatag kit and make your bike less attractive to criminals

Fend off thieves: Fit a Datatag kit and make your bike less attractive to criminals

Datatag is a security system that aims to make a bike less attractive to thieves by making it and its parts traceable, via hidden, unique markings. The kit contains three different types of...

Ride the divide: Global adventurers, Andy and Alissa take on Australia’s mighty mountain range

Ride the divide: Global adventurers, Andy and Alissa take on Australia’s mighty mountain range

Nah, sorry mate. Your bike failed quarantine – we found some grass on it.” With that one sentence, the shipping depot officer crushes our dreams. Failing quarantine in Australia is like failing an MoT...

Clash of the TT titans: How relevant are the 200+bhp M1000RR and Blade RR-R on the road?

Clash of the TT titans: How relevant are the 200+bhp M1000RR and Blade RR-R on the road?

With Peter Hickman and Michael Dunlop sharing the big bike spoils at this year’s ultimate road race – the TT – aboard the M1000RR and Fireblade SP respectively, these top spec, ultra-exotic versions...

Marc Marquez: People at home sitting on the sofa are saying ‘it’s time to retire’…it’s not going to happen”

Marc Marquez: People at home sitting on the sofa are saying ‘it’s time to retire’…it’s not going to happen”

Eleven years ago a 20-year-old Marc Marquez made his MotoGP debut and it’s fair to say that the racing world has never been the same since. From winning the title in his rookie year to becoming...

Kent signs for Yamaha: Danny Kent targets BSB podiums and wins with Mar-Train Yamaha in 2024

Kent signs for Yamaha: Danny Kent targets BSB podiums and wins with Mar-Train Yamaha in 2024

Danny Kent will don the blue of Yamaha for his 2024 Bennetts British Superbike Championship campaign after signing for Mar-Train Yamaha. The 2015 Moto3 world champion replaces Jack Kennedy at Tim...

Win a Suzuki GSX-8S with MCN Compare!

Win a Suzuki GSX-8S with MCN Compare!

MCN Compare Fancy a new bike for 2024? We’re giving you the chance to win a brand new Suzuki GSX-8S, simply by getting an insurance quote through MCN Compare. The competition began at 9am on Thursday, 28...

A century in the making: BMW’s all-new R1300GS is nothing short of a total transformation for one of the planet’s biggest-selling bikes

A century in the making: BMW’s all-new R1300GS is nothing short of a total transformation for one of the planet’s biggest-selling bikes

Exactly 100 years to the day since launching their very first boxer twin, BMW pulled the covers off an all-new R1300GS. With a completely new engine and frame, ground-breaking technology, and a...

The Café with a cause: The Bikers Cove recognised after decade of RNLI support

The Café with a cause: The Bikers Cove recognised after decade of RNLI support

Scottish riding destination, The Bikers Cove has been praised by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) following a decade of fundraising. The café team were awarded a certificate of thanks,...

Classic racer: 97-year-old grandfather sets new record as oldest competitive motorcycle rider

Classic racer: 97-year-old grandfather sets new record as oldest competitive motorcycle rider

A motorcycle riding grandad from New Zealand is proving that age is just a number by setting a new world record for the oldest competitive motorcycle racer.  Leslie Harris took part in the 43rd...

Brabus back for more: Final edition of KTM Super Duke R-based 1300 R ‘Masterpiece’

Brabus back for more: Final edition of KTM Super Duke R-based 1300 R ‘Masterpiece’

Brabus have announced a third and, they claim, final limited edition run of their KTM Super Duke R-based 1300 R. The 1300 R Masterpiece Edition will be restricted to just 50 individually numbered...

Get ready. Get set. Let’s go to Motorcycle Live

Get ready. Get set. Let’s go to Motorcycle Live

MOTORCYCLE LIVE PROMOTION Britain’s biggest motorcycle and scooter show, Motorcycle Live in association with Bikesure Insurance, is revving-up to be the best ever. And advance tickets are on sale now to this nine-day...

Triumph debut 250 motocross racer and confirm full November reveal

Triumph debut 250 motocross racer and confirm full November reveal

The SuperMotocross World Championship final at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in California played host to the first public reveal of Triumph’s incoming 250cc motocross bike. Taking place on...

Notts Police call for public support against antisocial riding

Notts Police call for public support against antisocial riding

Police officers in Mansfield are calling on the support of the public to cut down on the dangerous, antisocial, and illegal use of off-road motorcycles in the area.  “Residents have been telling us...

Sons team up with National Motorcycle Museum and BSA to complete late father’s classic bike restoration

Sons team up with National Motorcycle Museum and BSA to complete late father’s classic bike restoration

Determined biker, Richard George has teamed up with BSA and the National Motorcycle Museum (NMM) to complete a restoration of his late father’s 1957 BSA A10, which began 66 years ago. The twin...

New police scheme aims to improve safety for motorcyclists

New police scheme aims to improve safety for motorcyclists

Bikers of all ages and skillsets are being encouraged to refresh and improve their road safety with additional training as part of a new national police-backed plan. The initiative comes in...

Kawasaki share further details on 2024 Eliminator 500 twin range

Kawasaki share further details on 2024 Eliminator 500 twin range

Kawasaki have now revealed further details on their Honda CMX500 Rebel-rivalling Eliminator 500 cruiser range, which was first seen in June 2023 and will join the Japanese firm’s line-up for 2024.

New 20mph limit creates ‘confusion, irritation and… apathy’ according to Welsh bikers

New 20mph limit creates ‘confusion, irritation and… apathy’ according to Welsh bikers

The latest blanket 20mph speed limit across Wales has not only sparked an opposition petition with over 463,000 signatories, but it’s also now damaging biking businesses and causing confusion and...

Vastly Superior auction: Birmingham classic show to sell off 1938 Brough SS100

Vastly Superior auction: Birmingham classic show to sell off 1938 Brough SS100

This UK-registered 1938 Brough Superior SS100 is expected to fetch £240,000-£260,000 when it goes under the hammer at the NEC Classic Motor Show this coming November. The historic machine is being...

Ducati go hyper… Spyshots reveal single-cylinder supermoto in development

Ducati go hyper… Spyshots reveal single-cylinder supermoto in development

Ducati look set to be gearing up for a supermoto revolution, with a beaky new single-cylinder Hypermotard spotted in testing on the firm’s development track in Italy. We’ve ridden it: Ducati...

Biking Legends: Barry Sheene

Biking Legends: Barry Sheene

Last week would have seen Britain’s last premier class champion celebrate his 73rd birthday. Instead, 2023 marks 20 years since we lost the great Barry Sheene – arguably this country’s most...

MCN Workshop: Oil and filter service

MCN Workshop: Oil and filter service

Treat your bike to an oil and filter change to keep it running sweet… Gather your parts One of the easiest service tasks that you can do. Before you start make sure you have a high quality...

Dream Ride: Touring America

Dream Ride: Touring America

Sturgis had been a blast but it was time to leave our lodgings in the Black Hills of South Dakota and head west. We’d taken in everything we could in the area during Sturgis week including Needles...

The MCN Test: Middleweight adventure sports bikes

The MCN Test: Middleweight adventure sports bikes

Without getting too Darwin on you, evolution isn’t confined to the animal kingdom – motorcycles have to evolve to survive. Traditionally, sports-tourers were sporty bikes that could cover serious...