Mike Armitage

Editor, Bike Magazine

Mike trained as a mechanical engineer (got qualifications and everything) and understands how oily bits work.

His riding career started on a field bike, annoying local farmers on a battered Honda C90 with a straight-through pipe and XL185 shocks. He hit the road at 16 on a Honda MT-5 which was pulled apart and ‘tuned’ every weekend – it had a Fresco pipe, Hy-Tech carbon reeds and a home-ported barrel, and regularly jettisoned its piston rings via the oversize exhaust port.

Mike has been a full-time motorcycle journalist since 2001, with roles including road test editor on Performance Bikes magazine and executive editor for Classic Bike. He’s currently editor for our sister publication Bike, the UK’s best-selling motorcycle magazine – https://www.bikemagazine.co.uk – but occasionally still contributes to MCN. He’s far more interested in what a bike is like to ride, the way it’s built and how it makes you feel than its number of riding modes and whether there’s connectivity.

Over the years he’s ridden everything from tank-shift 1920s pioneer bikes to a Honda NR750 and championship-winning race bikes. Has an unhealthy desire for two-strokes and a tedious ability to recite facts about modern classics from the ’80s and ’90s. Currently the keeper of a 1973 Honda C50, 1990 Yamaha TDR250, 1998 Suzuki GSX-R750, 2006 Royal Enfield Bullet Electra and a small collection of old MZ parts. He’s also a rubbish drummer.

Contact Mike here.

Follow Mike on Twitter here.