Latest Motorbike News

MCN needs your help

18 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

Have you had trouble booking ferry crossings just because you’re a biker? Has a ferry company ever refused to take your booking because you’re travelling on a bike? Have you ever had your bike damaged...

No justice over friend's death

18 April 2007 by Paul Davies

Matt Bailey was a very good friend of mine and I cannot believe the sentence that was given to the person who killed him. A motorcyclist can get a custodial sentence for speeding yet a man who shows...

Brough Superior up for sale

18 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

The most famous name in motorcycling history is being sold-off at auction next month. Alec Card, 80, has decided to sell the Brough Superior name off to the highest bidder on May 5 as part of the...

Bike-friendly bull bars

18 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

4x4s are being fitted with bike friendly bull bars made from a shock absorbent plastic material. From May the sale and fitment of metal bull bars will be made illegal by the Department for Transport,...

New MCN: April 18

18 April 2007 by Sarah Carnell

This week in MCN we reveal the world’s first pictures of the new BMW Sportboxer. This new bike will feature no the racetrack soon in the Le-Man 24-hour endurance race. Also in this issue, available to...

Aprilia V-Twin Shiver first impression

18 April 2007 by Michael Neeves

We’re at a top secret test track in Italy riding a pre-production version of Aprilia’s new 750cc V-Twin Shiver. It’s due to go on sale in June and should cost less than £6,000, which means if you are...

Speed cameras for sale

18 April 2007 by Rob Cooper

The owners of speed camera manufacturer Pips Technology has put the company up for auction. The organisation supplies speed cameras to the police, Government and other local authorities. There are a...

Ducati's record sales

18 April 2007 by Rob Cooper

Ducati North America has announced record sales of its motorcycles for the first quarter of 2007. The sales were 15% up on the figures from the first quarter of 2006. The arrival of the much...

Video: Hornet, Z750 and FZ6 group test

17 April 2007 by Ian Jubb

There’s a whole new bunch of middle-weight naked bikes for 2007 so we took them all out on the road together to see which is best. Check out the video below for the first comparison test of the new...

Starting young

17 April 2007 by Graham

Here is a picture of my 18-month-old daughter, Keira, trying to ride my Honda CBR.

Scotland's three falls

17 April 2007 by dave sizzler

On a trip to Scotland last May, my mate dropped his Fireblade in a car park at very low speed. We continued on our way to Inverness and he lost it again, this time on a corner and ended up in a ditch. He was okay and the bike was a bit bent but rideable …we thought. We set off and two miles down road, just yards from a cafe stop, his front wheel locked and he went flying thru the air and hit the...

RoadLok Sniper for custom choppers

17 April 2007 by Rob Cooper

One of America’s most famous chopper designers Eddie Trotta of Thunder Cycles, Florida is now using the all new RoadLok Sniper on his choppers. The RoadLok Sniper is available for most Harley...

UK's shortest yellow line

17 April 2007 by Rob Cooper

An 18 inch yellow line has been painted between two parking bays in Highbury, North London. The line, roughly the length of one motorcycle wheel, is to separate the public parking bay from the resident’s bay. Council chiefs insist that no one has received a ticket so far.

Bad night out riding

17 April 2007 by Paul Bromham

Thought I’d share this crazy night’s riding with you… Six people thought they’d meet up at the Ace Café, on a dry warm Wednesday night. Five of them arrived on time. One lad said he’d laid his bike down while trying to get his knee down going around a roundabout earlier in the day (diesel!). He had dented a section of aftermarket exhaust but managed to wedge himself between floor and fairing to...

New BMW superbike

17 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

This is the first official image of the Sportboxer and the closest thing to a Superbike BMW has ever built. The 140bhp, 195kg (fully-fuelled) Sportboxer is leading BMW’s assault on an all out, no...

Knox V2 protectors

17 April 2007 by Chris Newbigging

These new upgrade shoulder, elbow and knee armour pads from Knox are claimed to give class leading impact protection, passing the CE standard by giving 33% more impact protection than is needed to...

Hertz unveil Spanish bike rental scheme

17 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

Hertz car rental announced last week that it will be offering BMW motorcycles for rental in Spain. The bike choice includes BMW F650GS, F800S and R1200 models from branches in Madrid, Barcelona,...

African Superbike

16 April 2007 by Gavin Foster

I spotted this beauty near Pongola in Zululand, South Africa. The owner has a roadside stall alongside the road, at the top of a steep hill. In the morning he loads his wares on the bike and pushed...

Full prisons mean killer driver goes free

16 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

A driver who caused the death of Matthew Bailey escaped a jail sentence because of overcrowded prisons. Judge Charles Kemp at Lewes Crown Court gave 59 year-old Malcolm Legrys a one year sentence suspended for two years, 200 hours of unpaid work and a 12 month driving ban, rather than imprisonment as recommended by Sentencing Advisory Panel for the crime of death by dangerous driving.

A bit of RG bargy

16 April 2007 by Paul Snowsill

It was 1986 and, having just got married and I bought a house, I grudgingly agreed to tuck my trusty 8 year old XS750 away in the garage (just for a year or two to concentrate on home improvements and...

Firm bans thousands of staff from riding bikes

16 April 2007 by Steve Farrell

Thousands of employees of a multinational company have been banned from riding motorcycles under threat of disciplinary action, it emerged today. Johnson Controls Ltd has banned motorcycles as a form...

Video: Bimota Tesi 3D in the factory

16 April 2007 by Ian Jubb

IN a recent visit to the Bimota factory we managed to get an excluasinve ride on the development version of the New Tesi 3D and sneak a peak inside their workshop. Check out the video to see the...

Bikers banned from Speed Ferries

16 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

Bikers have been told by Speed Ferries, operating from Dover to Boulogne, they can no longer travel with their bikes. Speed Ferries operates a high-speed service across the Channel but claims it is no longer able to accommodate motorcyclists. In a cancellation letter sent to customers by Speed Ferries it blames high turnaround time due to loading and discharging bikes and high claims for...

Buy a bike with help from the BBC

16 April 2007 by Dan Thornton

If you’re in the market to buy a new bike or scooter, the BBC is looking to help you. The television channel is looking for motorcyclists to appear on the daytime consumer affairs programme “Don’t Get...

Is it my turn now dad?

15 April 2007 by Mac Drew

I’m hoping that one day, my three-month-old son, Bailey, will share my passion for biking. I can’t wait to buy him his first lid and leathers!

Honda hareem

13 April 2007 by blade101gs

How do you like my Honda harreem?

Biking in Spain

13 April 2007 by ducatis4rman

Here are a few shots of where we ride and quad in Spain. All these bends to ride round! Poor old us!

AMD Euro Custom Championships: P-Tang bike

13 April 2007 by Chris Newbgging

The overall top-rated bikes from the 2007 AMD European Championship might be grabbing all the attention, but in the smaller classes there’s still some hot metal to ogle. The P-Tang from Young Choppers...

Video: Backstage with the Bennetts Babes

13 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

MCN can exclusively take you backstage with this year’s stunning Bennetts Babes. The footage was taken at the first official photo shoot as the twelve girls got to know each other. You’ll be seeing a...

Hours left to save bikes from road pricing

13 April 2007 by Steve Farrell

Today is your last chance to sign MCN’s petition against road pricing before it is given to Tony Blair. As this was written, the list of names had reached 4,411 and was still growing by the minute,...

Worst roads

13 April 2007 by sidestand01

I think that the worst roads are in Swansea, South Wales. The potholes, surface corrosion, and general state of the roads is a disgrace. All the council have to say is that due to a high number of damage and injury claims they haven’t got enough money to repair all the roads. So what is our road tax for? I thought it was to pay for the upkeep of the roads so there won’t be any claims!

Nightmare Gloucestershire roads

12 April 2007 by RockmeisterG

I agree with Richard whole heartedly. Having been out for the first long run of the year today, I can quite honestly say that the county’s roads are absouloutly atrocious. This is unless you happen to go through the Forest of Dean where there seems to have been a major resurfacing scheme going on along the A 4136 to Monmouth. But get into Wales and you might as well be in a different continent.

Win a CBR6 with Spring Spectacular

12 April 2007 by Rob Hull

Honda is running a special promotion campaign throughout April where you can win loads of great prizes, including an HM Plant replica CBR600RR7. All you have to do is go to your local dealer, fill in the form and drop it in the Spring Spectacular box. And anyone who test rides a Honda over 125cc gets entered into a free prize drawer to win a CBR600, Hornet or a VT750DC Shadow Sprint.

McGregor jacket raises £2600

12 April 2007 by Rob Hull

A jacket worn by Ewan McGregor on his documented Long Way Round journey was sold at auction last month for £2600. The auction was held by Edinburgh University to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support and the Students Supporting Street Kids charity.

MX rider killed by barbed wire

12 April 2007 by Rob Hull

An Italian farmer is under investigation for manslaughter after a motocross rider was killed by a piece of barbed wire stretched across a country track. Marco Badiali, 48, was out riding with seven friends in Pavullo in the Appenines to celebrate his birthday when he was virtually decapitated by the wire that was stretched five feet high across the path. Reports said there was a history of...

Prison for minimoto-riding dad

12 April 2007 by Rob Hull

An Edinburgh man has been jailed for three months after police caught him riding his 10-year-old son’s minimoto while he was serving a driving disqualification. Gordon Grant, 27, was stopped riding the 39cc bike on the roads last month whilst serving a driving ban that ends in 2013. Grant was jailed for three months and fined £300.

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