Another weekend, another trip down to Somerset to catch-up with friends and family. It was also another weekend when the heavens have opened and I’ve had to ride the F800GT down in the pouring rain. And hailstones. Come to think of it, I don’t think that there has been a time when I have had a ride where I have ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 16 May 2013
Lap time: 1:47.7Top speed at end of straight: 167.7mphMax braking (g): 1.29Max lean: 46.85 Why it’s so specialIt’s the first sports bike to be produced with semi-active suspension. The damping inside the HP4’s Sachs forks and rear shock adjusts as you ride, based on your road speed, throttle position, lean angle, shock movement and intervention from the traction control and ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 16 May 2013
My week of riding has begun, destination Northern Italy. Sitting in the sunshine at Folkstone waiting for my slot on the Chunnel makes me realise what biking is all about. This years seemly endless winter made me forget the appeal of the two wheeled lifestyle, it's ok now, I definitely remember. Only 450 more miles to go today, accompanied by ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 13 May 2013
With the sun threatening to finally breakthrough and bring back some semblance of normality to the spring climate, now is the time that most riders come out of their enforced hibernation and return to the road. But rusty riders on defrosting roads don’t always make for the best of combinations and it’s these riders that the California Superbike School are ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 22 April 2013
After a month of ownership and a few emails and messages coming in from people who’ve read my longterm reports in the MCN paper I thought it would be a good start to this blog if I responded to these queries here – mainly because I am sure that the questions asked and their answers would be of interest to ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 17 April 2013
The new BMW F800GT aims to be a daily commuter, load-lugging tourer and weekend fun ride. The GT replaces the F800ST, which has been a decent seller in the middleweight touring bracket since 2006. The new bike has a new fairing, more power, changed riding position and updated parts to reposition it as a true touring machine rather than a ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 15 March 2013
BMW’s new middleweight tourer, the F800GT, is currently being put through its paces for the first time by MCN’s Andy Downes. These are his first impressions: “We’ve done around 100 miles so far through Hertfordshire and into Suffolk on mostly wet and slimy roads but the new BMW is proving perfect for the conditions. It has ABS as standard and ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 08 March 2013
The BMW Race Camp at Almeria, Spain is heaven on earth for S1000RR racers and trackday riders. It’s backed by BMW, and attended by the technicians who actually developed the S1000RR. Senior Road Tester Michael Neeves went along on his BMW Park Lane S1000RR and discovered it’s the fastest trackday in the world. Check out the video to see the ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 06 March 2013
You either love the idea of trying to make a twin-cylinder air-cooled engine that's based on an old 1923 knocker go like the clappers, or you don’t. If you don’t, life is simple: you buy a Fireblade or an R1 and go zooming about. If you do you kiss goodbye to normality and sign up to the fringes of mainstream ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 15 January 2013
A few months ago I was lucky enough to ride the new BMW HP4 at its world launch at Jerez, southern Spain. With perfect track conditions and slick tyres to play on, it was a dream. More impressive still was the HP4. BMW has taken its already class-leading S1000RR and made it even better: 9kg lighter, more agile, smoother and ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 04 January 2013
