Latest news in motorcycling
Stay informed with the very latest news in motorcycling. Our crack team of reporters cover the issues you need to know about, from new bikes to community, and the latest tech to bike crime. We apply professional rigour to our journalism and ask the key questions to the right people, to ensure our readers stay fully informed.
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Biggest dealer makes new customer service promise
29 July 2001
Europe’s biggest bike dealer network, Carnell-City, is responding to customer complaints by setting up a system that means none of the staff get to go home until all that days calls have been...
What the fans thought of Brands post Foggy
29 July 2001
MANY people thought it couldn’t possibly happen, but the crowd at Brands today was announced as being greater than the 120,900 who trooped like an army in 1999 to watch Carl Fogarty on his way to this...
Why you shouldn’t ignore your clutch
29 July 2001
The clutch, bless it, is a bit like an old aunt who comes round for a family gathering. You know it’s there, but after a while you just ignore it. Often it’s not mentioned at all in the specification...
MUNCH MAMMOTH
29 July 2001
One Munch Mammoth is probably enough for this world, and we got it in 1966 in the form of an NSU-engined behemoth known as the 1200 TTS. The air-cooled car engine was good for 88bhp and then 100bhp...
QUASAR
29 July 2001
IF you are not familiar with the term known as Feet Forward motorcycling, allow us to enlarge on it. Take a group of highly intelligent, fiercely independent engineers and inventors and leave them to...
Suzuki GSX1400
29 July 2001
1 Big motor, big bike. The GSX is unlikely to suffer from an inferiority complex 2 Who needs a headlight? They’ll see all that gleaming chrome from miles away 3 The twin shocks may be retro, but the...
BMW K1
29 July 2001
Launched at the 1988 Cologne Show, there were feelings from some quarters that it would have been better off launched off the nearest cliff. Remembering the success it enjoyed after introducing the...
British fans give thumbs up to Benelli Tornado
29 July 2001
PETER GODDARD may have picked up just three points at Brands today, but as he raced a bike only three events into its World Superbike career, British fans were lapping up their first real glimpse –...
MORBIDELLI V8
29 July 2001
IF you thought a factory that turned out trim and effective race bikes in the 1970s – winning three 125 and one 250 world championships – could make a decent-looking road bike, you’d be wrong. The...
Guess the average cost of bike insurance
29 July 2001
What do you think the average cost of a bike insurance policy with Norwich Union is these days? You might be surprised. An MCN investigation has revealed it’s actually close to £250, considerably...
Honda CX500 Custom
29 July 2001
WHEN a bike, within minutes of its 1978 launch, acquires the tag ” Plastic Maggot ” , it’s safe to assume the machine has been less than well received by the masses. But the original CX overcame this...
Professional thieves target Brands
29 July 2001
THE sneak thieves warned of by police yesterday struck again last night in the Brands Hatch campsites – and they are so good at their work that even the police are forced to admit how expert they...
We road test the Suzuki GSX1400, Kawasaki ZRX1200R and Yamaha XJR1300
22 July 2001
ARNIE might well stand out in people’s minds as the most famous and successful bodybuilder ever, but things were almost very different. Over the core of his competitive years, throughout the 1970s and...
No end yet to our Saturday Brands scenes
22 July 2001
NO words are needed to explain the build up throughout today of the fans and atmosphere at Brands Hatch. But to remind you why the event is so special on the British biking calendar, here are some...
Myth of speeding motorcyclists exposed
22 July 2001
WITH an apparently increasing number of residents in rural areas complaining about bikes speeding through their quiet villages, here’s some figures that should shut them up. After the Parish councils...
Insurance grief for 1900 Devitt customers
22 July 2001
HUNDREDS of riders insured through the brokerage firm Devitt DA have been asked to cough up for new insurance policies following the demise of underwriters Independent Insurance Company Limited. While...
Keeping the R1 legend afloat
22 July 2001
YAMAHA’S R1 may be struggling to compete with Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 on the road, but there is somewhere it will give the new class leader a sound thrashing – on water. The new Yamaha WaveRunner FX140...
Police warn Brands campers to be on their guard
22 July 2001
POLICE patrolling the Brands Hatch campsites have warned anyone who plans to camp there tonight to be on the look out for so-called “slash and grab” thieves. There have been four or five cases of...
Mighty Dot security markings to arrive in the UK
22 July 2001
PEOPLE have been marking their territory for millions of years. Fortunately, things have moved on a bit since the days of dried dung piles, and the latest marking techniques are much more advanced. Security systems such as Datatag, Alphadot and Smartwater have cut thefts and reduced the cost of insurance. And now there’s a new name entering the fray – that of Mighty Dot. It uses a spray to apply...
Want some advice? Take your own drinks to Brands!
22 July 2001
SUPERMARKET giant Sainsbury’s may have come up trumps with a temporary marquee-cum-store on-site at Brands Hatch, but that doesn’t mean there will be unlimited supplies of drink and food tomorrow – so...
Video: The FireBlade to take on the TT
22 July 2001
This was the FireBlade Honda had built specially for the TT. Desperate to claw back ground against the Yamahas and hold off the threat from Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 this 180bhp stunner weighs as little as a...
Ducati to launch Hodgson rep 996
22 July 2001
WSB star Neil Hodgson is having a limited edition Ducati 996 made in his honour. Hodgson, a hot tip for success at the Brands Hatch WSB round on July29, rides a 996S in the championship. Unlike either...
British bike land speed record goes… and we've got video
22 July 2001
THE British motorcycle land speed record has been shattered after Jarrod ” Jack ” Frost ran his turbo Suzuki Hayabusa through the timing lights at an average of 222.19 mph. The record was broken at...
Sensational TT FireBlade tested
22 July 2001
This is the bike Honda hoped would reclaim their TT glory this year. Featuring internals engineered by the FireBlade’s progenitor Tadao Baba himself, this is a very, very special machine indeed. We...
More help to beat thieving scum
22 July 2001
IF your bike ever gets nicked, the first reaction is often to tell as many people as possible, so they can keep an eye out for you. And now the ACU, British bikesport’s governing body, is providing a...
Bring on the bends
22 July 2001
Iain Duffus shows us the lines on the Isle of Man’s famous TT circuit
Ducati Monster M620ie first test
22 July 2001
HAS there ever been a bike that deserves its name less than the middleweight of the Monster family? Far from being ” grotesque ” or ” gigantic ” , which is how the dictionary defines the word, the...
Send us your Brands snaps and win a WSB video
22 July 2001
We’ve got 10 copies of The History of the Word Superbike Championship video to give away. All you have to do is send us your pictures from Brands Hatch World Superbikes, and the ones voted the best,...
168mph… on skates!
22 July 2001
WHILE you’d expect a FireBlade to hit 168mph, you’d have to look twice if a bloke on Rollerblades came past at that speed. But that’s exactly what German Dirk Auer managed – with a little help from...
Spare a thought for the fans who CAN'T watch the racing
22 July 2001
WHILE the excitement of Superpole engulfs the circuit, there are some people who just can’t afford to stop and watch the stars in action… like the police making sure thieves don’t take advantage of...
The fans and what they love – and hate – about Brands
22 July 2001
THE sun is shining and the crowds are sweating and with the second qualifying session over, we follow the crowds back to the campsite, for all the world a mass Spanish siesta as every man, woman and...
Twisting through town
22 July 2001
Where in the world could you expect to ride like this through town and get away with it? Yup, it’s the Isle of Man during the TT.
First test of CCM’s R30
22 July 2001
The new CCM R30 draws more head-turning glances than Jordan in a moist T-shirt. To the clean-slated mind of your average non-biking man on the street, the new CCM appears to be a great-looking...
Too sexy for my scooter
22 July 2001
WITH their classic design and distinctive looks no one could ever accuse Vespas of being visually boring. But just in case they fail to catch the eye of the beautiful people in the West End, you will...