2007

Year: 2007

Month: ALL

Masterbike Video: Day 3 - Japanese superbikes

26 April 2007 by Howard Boylan

Day three of the Masterbike supertest sees the riders out on the big four Japanese superbikes. The Masterbike test is held every year and sees every road going sports bike ridden around Jerez circuit by some of the worlds top test riders to find out which is the ultimate track machine. MCN man Michael Neeves is sending back a daily video blog to so you can see what goes on behind the scenes at...

Highway to heaven for bikers

26 April 2007 by Dave Stewart

Those wanting to cut a dash en route to their final resting place can now do so thanks to a motortrike hearse service being launched by a businesswoman. Mother-of-three Julie Gibbings’ glittering 12-foot-long motortrike will tow a £10,000 custom made black two-wheeled hearse, which can be hooked up for funerals. The 44-year-old, whose working outfit is black leathers, black crash helmet and...

Video: Derbi Mulhacen v BMW X-Country

26 April 2007 by Angus Farquhar

BMW’s newly launched X-Country sits in the middle of the new G650 range and is the bike BMW think will sell the best in the UK so we took it out for a spin against it’s closest rivals. The test...

Speed Ferries cancellation fiasco

26 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

MCN readers have contacted us to say the first they knew about their cross channel ferries tickets being cancelled is when they read it in MCN. Stuart Mathews had a crossing booked from Dover to...

Sick Brunstrom parades headless biker

26 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

North Wales Police have unveiled photographs of a decapitated biker in its latest anti-speeding campaign. The image showed the man’s head with his eyes still open lying on a grass verge. In another...

Video: Aprilia Shiver 750 first ride

25 April 2007 by Angus Farquhar

MCN got an invite to test one of only Two of the new Aprilia Shiver 750s in existence so, of course, we videoed the whole thing. Watch the clip below to see Michael Neeves’ opinion of the bike and...

Fix punctures with a quick kick

25 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

Motorcycle mechanic Dashrathi Parichha has invented a new instrument which will allow a tyre to be re-inflated at the roadside. The device, small enough to store in bike toolkit, uses the air forced...

MCN victory over 'killer' mirrors

25 April 2007 by Steve Farrell

Volvo has redesigned its truck fleet to fix a blind spot exposed by an MCN investigation. From June all large Volvo trucks will feature modified wing mirrors after we revealed existing ones could...

Forefather of North-East racing dies

25 April 2007 by Cliff Goodwin

Steve Binns – the man credited with bringing organised motorcycle racing to the North-East – has died at the age of 87. A founding member of the North-East Motorcycle Racing Club, which he helped organise after his return from the Second World War, Steve dedicated himself to race and rider safety. A Tyneside railway worker by profession, Steve devoted his spare time over three decades to acting...

Masterbike Video: Day two at the supertest

25 April 2007 by Howard Boylan

Once again MCN has been asked to help find the fastest sports bike on track at the exclusive Masterbike test in Spain and day two sees lots of posing for cameras. The test is held every year and sees...

Compensation victory in landmark case

25 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

Thousands of bikers could now be awarded compensation in accidents caused by reckless pedestrians. A landmark legal case has set a precedent for all bikers injured when a pedestrian’s recklessness is...

Safety speed camera liability

24 April 2007 by shen

In December 2006 I was en route to work that morning when it was dark and the roads were wet. It was that kind of morning when most of the trees dropped there leaves, and a speed safety camera was...

New MCN: April 25

24 April 2007 by Sarah Carnell

In this week’s MCN we ask, will your boss ban you from riding bikes? Tomorrow’s issue (April 25, 2007) looks in to thousands of companies banning their employees from riding under new health and...

BT bans bikes

24 April 2007 by Steve Farrell

BT staff are banned from riding bikes, it emerged today, April 24, 2007 A spokesman for the telecoms giant told MCN: “We don’t allow motorcycling at all.” “The ban applies during work hours. The...

Soak my nuts in petrol

24 April 2007 by James Jones

Just had a lovely, fast ride out in the April sunshine, the bike working really well despite needing a service. On the road in dry and warm weather any shortcomings in the suspension say, can be ridden around. It’s in the cold and wet that you need that finesse of control. That’s why the sunny Sunday jockeys will never quite understand what it’s all about. Anyway, full of the joys of Spring,...

Masterbike video: Introducing the world's biggest bike test

24 April 2007 by Howard Boylan

Once again MCN has been asked to help find the fastest sports bike on track at the exclusive Masterbike test in Spain. The test is held every year and sees every road going sports bike ridden around...

Twins get the biking bug

24 April 2007 by wrexxx

Here are my two-year-old twins, Lucy and Freya, getting into the biking way of life.

See the Hypermotard 1100 and 1100S on video

24 April 2007 by Dan Thornton

See the new Ducati Hypermotard 1100 and 1100S in this video, shot by the Italian firm. The two bikes were taken from a studio photo shoot to various locations around Milan, ridden by professional...

Speed cameras: "More harm than good"

24 April 2007 by Steve Farrell

Speed cameras may have done more harm than good by replacing real traffic police, according to the organisation that does transport research for the Government. Jeremy Broughton of the Transport...

Detour outrage

24 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

Thousands of motorists were left fuming last week when a 20-mile diversion brought them right back round to where they started. The detour was set up by contractor Amey as part of a £25million...

Super breathalyser on the way

24 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

A new road-side breathalyser that provides results accurate enough to convict drink-drivers is set to be introduced next year. The Home Office is currently looking for a company to produce the breath tester which is accurate enough to act as evidence, unlike the devices currently in use which are only suitable for screening purposes.

90 killed or seriously injured on roads each day

24 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

A report released this week revealed that 90 people are killed or seriously injured each day on UK roads. The report from road safety campaigners Brake also showed that 30 of the deaths are victim...

Zero tolerance in North Yorkshire

24 April 2007 by Anonymous

Anyone who visits or lives close to Sherburn in Elmet near Leeds just be aware that till the end of May ish (and this comes from a good source) the oh so bike friendly(not) North Yorkshire Police will be out in force every Sunday with their Zero Tolerence for bike’s policy. If you take notice of their hunting habits you’ll see them from about 11am to 5pm so set off earlier and come home...

Crashed because of a bad road

23 April 2007 by Rob jupp

Driving to work along the A2 southbound from Chatham, Kent on April 12, 2007 at abuot 3.30 in the morning. The weather conditions were good, but as the time suggests it was dark. I left the A2 at the...

New bike test trial

23 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

The Motorcycle Rider Trainers Association is giving the public a first opportunity to get a feel of the new motorcycle test on July 1 at their annual events day. Held in conjunction with the Driving...

Terrorists target U.K petrol stations

23 April 2007 by Chris Newbigging

Thousands of motorists in the UK who buy petrol using bank cards are thought to have lost millions of pounds in an international criminal operation. Details are thought to have been taken from bank...

Pepsi-rep RGV

23 April 2007 by bryanrgv

My Pepsi-rep RGV250!

MCN speeding advice helped me

20 April 2007 by alford

In June of last year (2006) I received a notice of intended prosecution for speeding (89mph in a 70mph limit). After reading MCN advice, and forwarding the suggested letter and heeding the advice given, I received a further letter threatening to prosecute me for failing to give requested details (name and address etc.) On MCN’s advice I forwarded copies of my previous correspondence ,and since...

Worst road in Sussex

20 April 2007 by Dave Cleaver

Here is a copy of an email sent to West Sussex county council about the state of our roads: Dear Ms Scarratt, Thank you for your reply. With respect, this whole issue is about what can be considered acceptable and what can actually be described as disgraceful. No other road in any county would be permitted to remain in such an appalling condition for such a great length of time without causing...

New BMW Sportenduro

20 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

BMW has officially unveiled its Sportenduro 450 and has confirmed it will be racing it in Spain at Puerto Lumbreras next weekend, April 28-29. This 450cc single-cylinder off road race bike broke cover...

Mini-crosser copper crash

20 April 2007 by Rob Hull

This short clip of a female police officer careering into a filing cabinet only hit YouTube a month ago and has already had over 37,000 hits. The video, claimed to be of a Belgian police force by the...

Legal eagles raise spinal cash

19 April 2007 by Tom Rayner

Cash raised by specialist bike law firm Fletchers Solicitors (also known as Bike Legal) has enabled Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust’s Regional Spinal Injuries Centre to help with the...

Former Triumph top man takes on Victory

19 April 2007 by Rob Cooper

Ross Clifford, better known for his steering of a host of Triumph motorcycles including the Rocket III, Speed Triple and Daytona 600, has been appointed as General Manager of Polaris Britain Ltd.,...

New rider triples limit

19 April 2007 by Rob Cooper

After having his motorcycle for just one week a teenager aged 19 has been caught speeding at 112mph (181km/h) in a 37mph (60km/h) zone in Perth, Australia. Police charged the male with dangerous driving and he is due to appear in court this week.

Our first gold-rated website user

19 April 2007 by Dan Thornton

The first registered user of motorcyclenews.com has just been awarded Gold status for contributions to the website. Our new badge system is displayed on forum posts to give other users a guide to who...

Trip to Scotland

19 April 2007 by golach808

I went to Scotland last year (2006) at the start of July for the BSB round at Knockhill the travelled north to Forres to see my old mates. The weather was fantastic, the riding was great. The only bummer was leaving to ride my gixxer 530 miles home. By the way I’m doing it again this year.