My Hornet's forks - which are actually used forks from a breakers, following a crash a couple of years ago - were pitted badly on the stanchions. The suspension is so tired that I want to get it looked at by a professional, but it's not worth doing this until that’s fixed. I considered everything from biting the bullet and ordering new OE parts ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 18 January 2011
Before you start, the soft finish of the engine paint marks easily so remove watches, rings etc. When you reach the point of removing/replacing the header pipes use rags/bubble wrap to protect engine cases. Removing the stock pipes1. Unclip and disconnect the lambda wiring from both downpipes.2. Remove seat (press in the two tags underneath the seat pan front) and ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 29 July 2010
The first 1000 miles of riding the Street Triple was a real bonding experience between myself and the bike. Feeling the engine develop from a tightly-wound, tense machine into something more fluid and smooth gave me a real sense of understanding its potential. As a new-ish rider (full license last July), this left me excited at the prospect of growing ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 07 July 2010
The Victory Hammer S continues to be a pleasure as I rack up miles in the sun, and I’ve yet to run in to any problems. It also continues to draw praise. A week spent road testing meant the Hammer was sat idle, so I lent it to web producer Liam Marsden while his Kawasaki Versys was being repaired following ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 28 May 2010
It’s the words you learn to dread while working at MCN – “Can I borrow your bike please?” In this case there was no way out. MCN Chief Road Tester Trevor Franklin needed to get to Marseille in the South of France for the launch of the new Yamaha FZ8 and because of the Icelandic volcano and no flights riding ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 26 April 2010
Wednesday 2pm, this shiny red Ducati 848 was sitting innocently in Moto Rapido Ducati’s showroom in Winchester. One short day later and it’s been transformed into a race bike, ready for round one of the Ducati 848 Challenge at Silverstone on Sunday. This is going to be my race bike for 2010 in a new team, which is a collaboration ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 23 April 2010
In terms of timing, weather and traffic, the day I hitched a lift to Vines in Guildford to pick up my BMW R1200RT long term test bike couldn’t have been any worse. Around 20 miles away from the arrival at the dealership it started to rain and it got worse by the minute. I got there just after 3pm, by ...
- Motorcycle News
- First rides & tests
- 25 March 2010
