First rides & tests

Year: ALL

Video: Aprilia RSV4 v Nissan GT-R: Battle of the computers

20 October 2011 by MCN

Electronic rider aids are where it’s at right now, love ’em or loathe ’em, and the Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC (Aprilia Performance Ride Control) has the smoothest, most sophisticated system of any...

Staff bikes: Suzuki GSX-R750 - Viva el Gixer!

20 October 2011 by Michael Neeves

Now that’s what I call a summer trip. 3397.6 miles in two weeks, on a bike designed for the track, but absolutely perfect for everything else too. From the monotonous motorways of France to the...

Michael Neeves blog – Off Road Skills

18 October 2011 by Michael Neeves

I’ve just returned from two days in Wales with Paris Dakar legend Simon Pavey, at his off-road school, or the ‘Odd Road Skills, powered by World of BMW and Husqvarna’, to give it its full name. It was...

Maximum muscle, minimum cost: GSX1400 v XJR1300 v CB1300

17 October 2011 by MCN

How times change. In the late 1970s and early ’80s, bikes with silhouettes the same as these machines would have been called superbikes. Capacity was king and the bigger the cubes the better.

Staff bikes: BMW G650GS - Bye-bye Beemer

13 October 2011 by Steve Farrell

Like many motorcyclists I’m sure, every day I’m watched through my window by my little lad as I get on my bike and ride off to work. So I’m not the only one who will be a little sad that BMW has asked...

Staff bikes: Ducati Diavel - No pain, no gain

13 October 2011 by Ian Jubb

As with all my motorcycle adventures, it started with poor timing and a torrential downpour. The panic to make the 8.15pm Brittany Ferries sailing from Portsmouth to St Malo meant I had to average...

Staff bikes: MV Agusta Brutale - Brutale turns storm chaser

13 October 2011 by Andy Downes

The plan was simple enough. The reality turned out to be a tiny bit different thanks to the howling gales that affected the North of England courtesy of Hurricane Katia. It was supposed to be a...

Gilsons Type 1: New Brit café racer

13 October 2011 by Michael Neeves

Owned by a trio of die-hard biking enthusiasts, this is Gilson’s first creation: the Type 1 Café Racer, yours for £12,500. Jules and Mike Gilson and Mark Robbins have based the retro custom on an...

2012 Kawasaki ER-6n - first impressions

13 October 2011 by MCN

MCN’s Senior Road Tester, Adam Child, is putting the new Kawasaki ER-6n through its paces at its European launch in Faro, Portugal. The latest variant of Kawasaki’s popular middleweight has been...

2012 Yamaha R1 - first impressions

12 October 2011 by Michael Neeves

We’re in Spain riding the 2012 Yamaha R1 at the Valencia MotoGP circuit. Aside from a few very minor tweaks the main change to the Yamaha is its new six-stage traction control. We’ve just done our...

Suzuki Hayabusa ride

10 October 2011 by Reismotor

After years of waiting I at last rode a Suzuki Hayabusa. I thought it was very impressive. No way to take it to top speed in Holland, though.

Aprilia SR Max 300: Taken to the Max

07 October 2011 by Trevor Franklin

Aprilia’s new SR Max 300 fits neatly into the overcrowded maxi-scooter class, but with a less than subtle difference from its rivals – the Aprilia actually looks exciting to ride. With styling...

Staff bikes: Ducati Monster 1100 Evo - Monster's hot in the city

05 October 2011 by Marc Abbott

The first Thursday of each month is Italian night at London’s Ace Cafe, so before the 160-mile round trip becomes a teeth-grittingly sub-zero affair, I made the effort to head down after work a few...

Staff bikes: Honda VFR800X Crossrunner - It's time to retyre

05 October 2011 by Phil West

Time for a change. The turning of three-thousand-odd miles has seen both the fading of Crossrunner’s OE Pirelli Scorpions’ ability and my faith in them. Don’t get me wrong: the Scorps aren’t a bad...

Staff bikes: KTM 990 SMT ABS - Retuned to perfection

05 October 2011 by Trevor Franklin

Although the KTM 990 SM-T looks the same black and white bike I’d left at BSD Performance for a dyno run and fuelling check, the bike I got back now runs like a completely different machine. The KTM’s...

First Triumph Tiger 800 Supermoto

03 October 2011 by MCN

Straight bars, 17in wheels, upside down forks, fox-eye headlights and an 800cc inline triple – could this be a secret, pre-production Triumph Street Triple 800? We wish. In fact this isn’t a big-bore...

Video: Long term KTM 990 SMT ABS

29 September 2011 by MCN

Trevor Franklin talks through the finer details of his KTM 990 SMT ABS long term test bike, his plans for the bike and explains why it’s helping him to ‘still feel like a teenager’. We suspect it...

Michael Neeves MRO Powerbike Blog – Final round, Brands.

28 September 2011 by Michael Neeves

It wasn’t quite the perfect end to a perfect season, but it was damn close. After the chequered flag was waved for the final race of the MRO Powerbike season last Sunday at Brands, I lost the...

Staff bikes: Suzuki GSX-R750: The surprise tourer

26 September 2011 by Michael Neeves

It’s fair to say my GSX-R750 has lived most of its short life with the rev needle pinging against the redline on track. It’s a sensational-handling bit of kit, devilishly fast and intoxicatingly...

Staff bikes: Yamaha Super Tenere - Here we go again

26 September 2011 by Michael Guy

Having clocked 4500 miles on the big Super Tenere so far this year, life is good. It’s not the sharpest-handling or most exciting big adventure bike out there, but as an all-round package it’s...

Video: Suzuki V-Strom takes on rivals

23 September 2011 by MCN

The new Suzuki V-Strom already impressed MCN when we rode it at the launch. The replacement of the bike’s old SV650 motor with a new Gladius-derived unit, a full restyle and lashings of extra...

Video: Ducati Diavel longterm report

16 September 2011 by Ian Jubb

This year has flown by and with it 3000 miles have been covered on my Ducati Diavel long termer. Being a true Brit at heart I’d love to moan about it, pick holes and say grumpy things but I really...

Exotic European superbikes for £6000: 999S v RSV1000R v F4

15 September 2011 by MCN

Time flies so fast, it’s easy to forget these mouthwatering European superbikes are getting on a bit. In your mind’s eye it’s still easy to think of ‘exotica’ like the Aprilia RSV1000R, Ducati 999S...

Staff bikes: Victory Cross Country - Chelsea tensioner

14 September 2011 by Mark Holmes

So we’re hanging around outside the Ace Café, waiting to head out on the run down to the Autolegends Show at Chelsea’s Royal Hospital. The Victory is lined up with 30 or so other bikes, waiting for...

Staff bikes: BMW K1600GT - Turning up the volume

14 September 2011 by Simon Relph

I recently picked up the first pair of Remus Hexacone slip on silencers in the country (www.performanceparts-ltd.com) to go on the BMW K1600GT and decided it might be fun to time just how long it...

Husqvarna SMS4 125: Teenage kicks - Husky style

12 September 2011 by Trevor Franklin

While we await the arrival of the Nuda 900, Husqvarna’s new F800-powered supermoto, two other equally important models from the now BMW-owned but Italian-based company have gone on sale. The SMS4 125...

Video: New MV F4RR v Kawasaki ZX-10R v BMW S1000RR

08 September 2011 by MCN

MV Agusta claiming its new F4RR is the most powerful Superbike to date is a brave, bold, statement. Its claimed 201bhp makes it the most powerful Superbike you can buy, pipping the ZX-10’s 200.1bhp. ...

Staff bikes: BMW G650GS - Who needs the badge?

07 September 2011 by Steve Farrell

In a recent update I highlighted the disappointingly early beginnings of corrosion on my G650GS’s frame, a development that has left me dreading winter. Now I’ve got a BMW cover, which should...

Staff bikes: Triumph Tiger 800 - Tiger hits Spain

07 September 2011 by Ped Baker

After being enthralled by the round-the-world tales in our free Adventure supplement a couple of weeks ago I was inspired to do something similar on the Tiger 800. The journey needed to be epic and...

MRO Powerbike blog: Snetterton 200 3/4th September

05 September 2011 by Michael Neeves

For the penultimate round of the MRO Powerbike championship, we raced on the new two-mile-long Snetterton 200, the first ever meeting to be held on this mid-layout version of the new track. It’s the...

New MV F4RR – does it pack the punch?

02 September 2011 by Richard Mellor

We’ve just been testing MV’s brand new, and supposedly 201bhp, F4RR Corsacorta against its main rivals on road and at our speed testing track at Bruntingthorpe to which is the fastest. Chief Road...

Staff bikes - Honda Crossrunner: You never stop learning

31 August 2011 by Phil West

Two thousand, three hundred and forty-seven miles can reveal a lot about a bike. Even about one you thought you already knew. Such has been my first couple of months with the Crossrunner. I picked it...

Scoop first ride! New KTM 690 Duke prototype

31 August 2011 by Andy Downes

The world’s most powerful single-cylinder bike will get more refined and yet more powerful next year, an MCN world first ride has revealed. MCN rode a prototype version of the 2012 KTM 690 Duke months...

Video: Which superbike for under £5000?

26 August 2011 by MCN

With the advent of electronics and near-200bhp power outputs, it’s easy to forget just how good the sports bikes of 2005 were. They had huge power – up to 160bhp – yet were tractable in the midrange,...

Hooligan Triumph Street Triple R café racer special

26 August 2011 by Michael Neeves

This Street Triple R is the latest in the line of brilliantly-executed specials created by Triumph dealer Jack Lilley. Designed to mimic the café racer style, it actually looks uncannily like any...

Staff bikes: Moto Guzzi Griso SE - V7 Classic snaffled by actress

25 August 2011 by John Westlake

Just when I was learning to love the V7 Classic and its gentle take on motorcycling life, it has been snatched away from me. Moto Guzzi have reclaimed it, and sent it on a far more glamourous mission:...