December

Year: 2015

Month: December

Barry Sheene's Desert Island Discs

17 December 2015 by MCN Sport

It’s 1977, and Barry Sheene is choosing the eight records he’d take with him to the famous desert island y the time Barry Sheene was famous enough to be asked onto Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs he’d...

Picture story: Big bad Boris will see your Kawasaki H2 and raise you...

17 December 2015 by Classic Bike magazine

Boris Murray’s double-engined (2x750cc) Triumph ran on 92% nitro-methane, had just one tall gear and a 4in slick. With it, Murray (who built it, tuned it and rode it) set and held records with all the...

My Life in bikes: Ian Simpson

17 December 2015 by MCN

‘Doing two classes was great for prize money!’ Five-times British champion, three-times TT winner and five-times NW200 winner Have you always been into bikes? Yes, my whole life. My dad had a bike...

Campaign to get McGuinness to open new M6 link road

16 December 2015 by Andy Downes

A campaign to get Isle of Man TT star John McGuinness lined up to officially open the new M6 link road next year when it’s finished has been started on Facebook and is asking for more support. The...

Unseen Dunlop exhibition at London Show

16 December 2015 by MCN News

Joey Dunlop was the world’s most naturally talented road racer. Synonymous with the Isle of Man TT races, Dunlop clocked up 26 TT victories and 40 podiums. Across all classes, from Ultra Lightweight...

Moto Foto winners revealed

16 December 2015 by MCN News

The 2015 MCN Moto Foto competition, brought to you by Carole Nash, saw thousands of stunning biking images taken by talented amateurs pass across the judges’ desks, and the winners were revealed at...

End of the road for MCNLive!

16 December 2015 by MCN News

After 22 fantastic years MCNLive! has finally reached the end of the road. For over two decades we partied hard, danced our socks off and boozed until we dropped but it’s now time to call time. But...

Electric Superbike creates a buzz

16 December 2015 by Andy Downes

This is the first glimpse of the all-new British-designed and built Saietta NGS electric superbike, which promises blistering performance from its radical engineering and design. Beneath the...

Superprestigio 2015: Serious fun

16 December 2015 by MCN

What started out as an end-of-season flat track blow-out for Marquez and his mates has suddenly gone full factory hree years ago, when Marc Marquez rode out in front of 5000 Spanish fans for the...

9 top tools you didn’t realise you needed

15 December 2015 by MCN

Get that last-minute list off to Santa with nine cunning bits of kit that’ll transform your garage life in 2016 Electric impact gun Impact guns offer a peculiar mix of delicacy and brute force.

MCN Job opportunity - MotoGP Reporter

15 December 2015 by MCN News

If you love bike racing, love global travel and love writing for a massive brand – this is the best job in the world! Rub shoulders with Valentino Rossi, ask Marc Marquez difficult questions and get...

World Ducati Week returns for 2016

15 December 2015 by MCN News

The Ducatisti’s favourite annual event is back on for 2016, as World Ducati Week rolls into the Marco Simoncelli Misano World Circuit from July 1 to 3. The ninth running of the WDW will provide the...

New MCN December 16: 5-in-1 Christmas double issue!

15 December 2015 by Simon Patterson

In this week’s edition of MCN, available in newsagents, on iPad and Android from December 16: 5-in-1 Christmas double issue Free glossy BSB calendar* Plus three action-packed pullouts Foggy’s Biking...

Touring on a monkey bike: how hard can it be?

14 December 2015 by MCN

Monkey Bikes: Possibly fun but ultimately pointless machines which only exist because of Japan’s peculiar fascination with miniaturisation. Too slow to go on the motorway, too small to use in town...

Suzuki RG250 FG Restoration

13 December 2015 by Practical Sportsbikes

Gary Croft had his work cut out when he set about restoring this stolen/recovered Gamma uzuki’s RG250 Gamma was a landmark ’80s sportsbike. Not only was the original 1983 RG the first...

Interview: Valentino Rossi on fame, fights and the future

12 December 2015 by MCN Sport

From being a painfully shy racing prodigy, Valentino Rossi has grown into a bonafide global celebrity. So how’s he coping? n a rain-lashed Saturday afternoon in January 1998, I was standing outside...

Move over Donner and Blitzen. Bikers are here to spread Christmas cheer

12 December 2015 by Charlie Lester

Father Christmas beams down from her gleaming red Vespa. Behind her, a group of elves compare their tinsel-strewn sportsbikes while Batman adjusts the enormous Christmas tree sprouting from the...

Video: Ducati 959 Panigale first ride

11 December 2015 by MCN News

The new £13,250 Ducati 959 Panigale has the unenviable task of following up the utterly brilliant 899 Panigale, and with those exhausts the 959 was instantly on the back foot the moment the bike was...

Victory take step towards future with Combustion

11 December 2015 by MCN News

Victory Motorcycles have revealed the final instalment in their 1200cc concept series at the International Motorcycle Show (IMS) in New York City. This concept, called ‘Combustion’, is powered by the...

9 Bits of biking advice you should ignore

11 December 2015 by MCN

When it comes to improving your bike, everyone’s an expert… but you should steer clear of these ‘helpful’ tips 1. ‘Stiffen the suspension and it’ll handle better’ When bikes were mushy, bendy old...

Pro-Am: “We didn’t really care if we died”

10 December 2015 by MCN Sport

Flicking kill switches. Kicking rivals. Hanging on to grab rails. Pushing riders off the track. It’s 1981, so it must be the Yamaha 350LC Pro-Am race series ndy Smith Then: marketing man for TW...

Two-stroke aftershave could be a reality

10 December 2015 by Liam Marsden

For those of you who love the smell of two-stroke fumes, a company in the US is trying to put their two-stroke aftershave into production via crowdfunding website Kickstarter. The creators of 2 STROKE...

Miles Apart

10 December 2015 by MCN

You no longer need a tourer to take you on the trip-of-a-lifetime. Here are three different sides to the long-distance coin or years, BMW’s R1200RT was the definitive distance weapon. But these days...

RC213V-S for sale while stocks last

10 December 2015 by Andy Downes

Honda are still sifting through hundreds of customer orders for the road-going RC213V-S launched this year – and the UK boasts the largest number of orders taken in any single country, with more than...

Scrambler has big ideas

10 December 2015 by Andy Downes

The storming success of the 803cc Scrambler model has already spawned a smaller-capacity 400cc version that was unveiled three weeks ago at the Milan show, and it seems that the rumoured 1100cc...

BMW target the TT with e-superbike

09 December 2015 by Andy Downes

BMW are thought to be prepping a bike for the 2016 TT Zero electric race at the Isle of Man TT with the awesome electric S1000eRR the firm showed last month. BMW are remaining resolutely tight-lipped...

Honda plan superbike double

09 December 2015 by Andy Downes

Honda are planning to unleash two new sportsbikes with a heavily updated CBR1000RR Fireblade and an all-new RVF1000 V4, which will draw much of its inspiration from the RC213V-S MotoGP replica. If...

Unforgettable ride: what happened when we rode a YZR 500 on the road

08 December 2015 by Kevin Ash

‘WHAT THE **** WAS THAT?’ was how we originally headlined this unforgettable story from August 1994, when Kevin Ash unleashed a pukka GP 500 on the roads – hiding behind the legal figleaf of headlamp...

BSB legends get ready to rumble at the MCN Motorcycle Show!

08 December 2015 by MCN News

Slide, the fast-paced, handlebar-bashing, celebrity-packed race series at the Carole Nash MCN London Motorcycle Show is back for 2016 with an impressive line-up of star riders from BSB and road...

New MCN December 9: World first test of Africa Twin

08 December 2015 by Simon Patterson

In this week’s edition of MCN, available in newsagents, on iPad and Android from December 9: World first test: Honda’s new Africa Twin! Free 16-page Sports Review supplement Exclusive interview:...

My life in bikes: Cristiano Silei

08 December 2015 by MCN

‘I wanted a racy bike but got a 125 custom’ ainese CEO and former Ducati marketing boss talks about his helmetless youth and lust for a custom Scrambler Where did get your love of bikes? My father...

7 bikes with Africa twin cred on the cheap

07 December 2015 by MCN

Want Dakar styling without breaking the bank? Try one of these rugged beauties Honda XRV650 (RD03) Africa Twin (1988-1989) The original 650 Africa Twin was never officially imported to the UK and is...

The best race weekend you’ve never heard of

07 December 2015 by MCN Sport

Four hours from Calais is a jewel of a road circuit with three beer stations, and a mouth-watering range of old bikes e’re up in the woods, high above the start line. It’s so quiet you can hear a...

Triumph Street Twin launch

07 December 2015 by Michael Neeves

Triumph has announced more facts and figures for the Street Twin today: The 900cc ‘high torque’ motor makes a claimed 54bhp@5900rpm. It has 22% more power and 18% more torque than the old air-cooled...

Tory Bayliss: flat-out, even in retirement

06 December 2015 by MCN Sport

Troy Bayliss is retired. Trouble is, he still loves racing. So, after dabbling with a WSB return, he decides to try US flat track. It doesn’t go to plan… blur of yellow flashes, like a comet,...

ROAD TEST: Yamaha’s classic TZR street racer

05 December 2015 by Performance Bikes

A pair of classic road tests from the Performance Bikes vaults, as Yamaha’s classic TZR street racer is joined by a street mutant. ach day the Yuppie Hordes descend from boroughs such as Dulwich...