Latest Motorbike News

Honda V5 GP bike breaks cover

08 April 2001

THESE are the world’s first action pictures of the all-new four-stroke Honda Grand Prix bike destined to start racing in 2002. The shots of the V5-engined bike were taken at Sugo in Japan today, where...

Aprilia Futura recalled

08 April 2001

APRILIA has recalled all of the first batch of Futuras in the UK because of a possible loose nut. A fault with a machine on the production line in Italy has meant that a retaining nut in the generator...

New Road safety campaign gets Foggy’s backing

08 April 2001

MOST of us look on road safety campaigns with some suspicion. We want the roads to be safe – it’s probably more in our interests than anyone else’s – but the true dangers, such as careless driving,...

Scottish Indian gears up for larger scale production

08 April 2001

The Scottish firm responsible for building just a few Indian Dakota-4s says it has been selling all of the £23,000 bikes it can make, so now is the time to go into bigger production. They plan to turn...

700 miles by scooter

08 April 2001

HONDA’s new Silver Wing is as happy touring two-up as it is dealing with the brake, swerve, squirt of urban riding in Europe’s busiest cities. The engine is new. It’s a four-stroke parallel twin with...

BMW’s updated bikes ridden 1800 miles on first test

08 April 2001

BMW’S latest bikes prove you can ride 600 miles a day without the aid of a chiropractor. Our 1800-mile round trip to the south of France included the chance to ride three updated models. And the flat...

Video action from Donington

01 April 2001

For a unique perspective of Donington, join us a foot from the ground as we bring you on-board video from a World Championship sidecar.190bhp, three wheels and plenty of rain.

New Bonnie spotted in Oz

01 April 2001

THE cruiser-style version of Triumph’s Bonneville has been spied on test in Australia. The bike, which was first reported in MCN last year, will use the same air-cooled, 790cc, four-stroke parallel...

The return of the Hesketh

01 April 2001

IT’S 22 years since Hesketh tried to bring us an all-British superbike with the benefit of breeding. Now it’s back, as a well-to-do classic. Now you can own a brand new version for £11,750. According...

Triumph is celebrating 10 years… without making profit

01 April 2001

IT’S exactly 10 years since the Triumph production line rolled out its first bike after its revival – the Trophy 1200, which was hailed as the first of a new breed of British superbikes. The firm was...

MV Agusta F5 spied on test

01 April 2001

IT’S the datalogging kit strapped to the pillion seat that gives the game away. This is no F4 1+1. It is, you can be assured, a well disguised F5, complete with that tempting 998cc engine. It’s a...

How the Cagiva Xtra Raptor could be

01 April 2001

THIS bike might be one of the only machines in the country that looks like a Cagiva Xtra-Raptor, but it’s the sound which makes it one in a million. Anything ridden through a tunnel as long as...

The most powerful BMW ever

01 April 2001

BMW is preparing to build a range-topping genuine superbike. It should be the bike that finally shrugs off any remnants of the pipe and slippers image the brand has accrued. The firm is thought to be...

Hold on tight…

01 April 2001

This is my second cigarette in ten minutes. It’s also only my second cigarette in five years. The reason for my nervousness is just a few feet away. It’s Steve Webster’s sidecar outfit. And he wants...

Now you see them

01 April 2001

THE council in Doncaster have started playing the game. They’ve joined Plymouth in starting to paint GATSO cameras eye-catching colours rather than melt-into-the-background grey. There’s been a 43 per cent reduction in accidents since one of Plymouth’s GATSOs was given dayglow yellow stripes – now all 26 cameras in the Devon city are to be given bright colourschemes. Doncaster Metropolitan Borough...

MBK adds Thunder to its scooter range

01 April 2001

Yamaha-owned scooter firm MBK has added a ninth scooter to its UK range. The Thunder 125 features front and rear disc brakes and a 12bhp, four-stroke engine which MBK claims will take it to 70mph. It...

First test of the Yamaha Maxster

01 April 2001

Taking a 125cc scooter on a race track doesn’t sound like a good idea given the lack of power, poor handling and shoddy brakes associated with the breed. But things look different if that track is...

So what's so good about your Suzuki, Karl?

25 March 2001

Supersport star Muggeridge tells you why he’s in with a shout of a title this year

The BMW’s in its elements

25 March 2001

Some friends of mine are Americans born and bred. They can’t believe the way us Brits are obsessed by the weather. But it’s easy for them, riding their sports bikes in the sunshine on dry roads.

Enfield Clubman takes you back

25 March 2001

” What year is it mate? ” ” Err, 2000 actually. ” This innocent question, asked by a passer-by just seconds after I parked the Clubman, demonstrates exactly what this bike is about. A 1950’s bike,...

Free recovery doesn’t always mean free

25 March 2001

When is free recovery not really free? Apparently, when you’re a member of the AA or RAC and you’ve had an accident. Most of us assume when we join such an association that our membership fee will...

Falling like nine pins

25 March 2001

It was tempting fate to invite a load of bike journalists to a go-kart track in Kent to ride a scooter that Yamaha said was designed to handle. Rain, on top of a track laced with oil and rubber,...

Reshaping exhaust design

25 March 2001

Exhaust downpipes may not be as sexy as the cans themselves, but their design is vital if you want the most power from your engine. Until now, they’ve largely been produced in the same way – using...

Get your ears around this competition…

25 March 2001

RECKON your ears are sharper than Spock’s? Have a crack at our first “Name That Bike!” competition then. If you reckon you know the bike being “warmed up” in these sound clips, you can win a Motorcyclenews.com T-shirt, and feel suitably smug. Post your suggestions as to which bike it is in the Talk Bikes section. Head for the message board entitled “Name That Bike Competition, Number One”. Next...

Raptor special is a big noise in the city

25 March 2001

FROM their bike emporium in North London Moto-Casoli are used to adding extra special touches to their customers’ already special bikes. Their’s is an Aladdin’s cave of Italian exotica; MV Agustas...

The shape of the R1 to come

25 March 2001

YOU’LL have to wait the best part of a year before this will be in our showrooms, but if the ultimate in sports performance is what you’re after, you might find it’s worth the wait. The current R1 is...

Best roads in the world are right on your doorstep

25 March 2001

EVERY year thousands of us flock to Spain, Switzerland and France for our riding kicks. We take our bikes across the channel, trap them on ferries and go seeking the ultimate roads because we’ve all...

People stare. They point. They laugh. But you don’t care

25 March 2001

MOTORCYCLES attract attention. Few people can resist turning their head when a bike goes past, even if they’ve never been on two wheels in their life. So it’s not surprising that the sound of four...

Sensible? Only if you want it to be

18 March 2001

AS I straighten out of the left-hander, a VW Golf appears a few hundred yards ahead of me, going at a rate of knots. Just before the next bend, its brake lights flash, then its bodywork squats on one...

Haslam’s hairy tales

18 March 2001

The world’s fastest sideburns… Rocket Ron speaks and rides

Hailwood memorial run this Sunday

18 March 2001

JOIN a ride-out to mark the 20th anniversary of Mike Hailwood’s death on Sunday, March 25. The run goes from Fort Dunlop, Birmingham to Portway Motor Centre, to the spot where Mike and his daughter...

Be a video star and win £100

18 March 2001

If you’ve got star quality, we want to know about it. Be it funny, serious, or just plain daft, we want to see your homemade biking videos. And if fellow users of motorcyclenews.com reckon it’s good,...

And they say speeding is dangerous

18 March 2001

If certain so-called authorities on road safety are to be believed, the only thing we need to do to avoid accidents is slow down. Of course, anyone who has ever had some idiot driver pull out in front of him – in other words, all of us – will know that’s not true. Inconsiderate, careless, incompetent and downright dangerous driving is much more hazardous. Unfortunately, not everyone sees things...

Pierre Terblanche in his own words

18 March 2001

Pierre Terblanche is Ducati’s top designer. He is in charge of the project to create a bike to replace the 996. He joined us in the VIP Lounge in the TALK BIKES area of the site on Friday, March 23 and answered your questions for an hour-and-a-half. In a frank interview he talked about the pressures he’s under, how the " new 996 " is shaping up and how he hasn’t taken a break from work in a...

Get on board the world's fastest race bikes

18 March 2001

Wonder no more at what it’s like to ride everything from an NSR500 to a GSX-R600

A legend in his own road sign

18 March 2001

German 250 legend Anton Mang, so famous they still name streets after him back home

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