First rides & tests

Year: ALL

KTM 1290 Super Adventure R incoming from Peru

04 March 2017 by Adam Child

MCN’s Senior Road Tester Adam ‘Chad’ Child has touched-down in Peru to ride KTM’s new 1290 Super Adventure R – that’s right we’ve sent the smallest guy in the office to ride the big R version. For...

First ride: KTM 1090 Adventure

24 February 2017 by Adam Child

The now deceased 1050 was KTM’s entry point for new riders into their Adventure range. The Austrian factory deliberately restricted its LC8 engine to 95bhp while the whole package was designed to be...

Yamaha TMAX world launch incoming!

23 February 2017 by Michael Neeves

We’ll be riding Yamaha’s new £9399 TMax this weekend at its world launch in Cape Town. It’s the maxi-scooter’s first major overhaul since it was released in 2001 (and growing from 499cc to 530cc along...

Indian Ride Command system tested

21 February 2017 by Phil West

Indian’s Ride Command infotainment system is now standard equipment on the range-topping Chieftain and Roadmaster models, and is pretty big news. Ride Command is a touchscreen info and entertainment...

Video: Ducati SuperSport first ride

20 February 2017 by Michael Neeves and Liam Marsden

Update, February 14, 5:30pm After a three hour 80km road ride in wet conditions on the standard SuperSport model Neevesy reckons the bike leans much more to the sporty side of the spectrum: “I was...

Testing times for 2017 KTM adventure weapons

17 February 2017 by Adam Child

MCN’s Senior Road Tester Adam Child has packed his bags and is heading to Corsica to ride KTM’s powerful 1290 Super Adventure S and the new 1090 Adventure. The powerful Super Adventure first appeared...

Gallery: 2017 Ducati SuperSport first ride

16 February 2017 by MCN News

Ducati’s new SuperSport impressed Senior Road Tester Michael Neeves, although he was surprised by just how sporty it is. Neevesy rode the base SuperSport model on the roads surrounding the Monteblanco...

Ducati SuperSport first ride incoming

10 February 2017 by Michael Neeves

We’ll be riding the new Supersport at its world launch next Tuesday in Spain, on the road and at the Monteblanco circuit. The new 937cc V-twin machine should be the answer to many sportsbike riders’...

2017 Triumph Street Triple first ride incoming!

10 February 2017 by Michael Neeves

We’ll be riding the new 765cc Street Triple at its world launch on Monday on the road and at the magnificent Catalunya MotoGP circuit. It’s hard to believe the out-going 675cc Street Triple is a...

Gallery: Ducati Monster 1200S v Triumph Speed Triple R

04 February 2017 by MCN News

We put the Ducati Monster 1200S and the Triumph Speed Triple R head-to-head for one of our latest road tests. Check out our gallery above for our road test and buy this week’s MCN to find out the...

Video: Ducati Monster 1200S vs Triumph Speed Triple R

03 February 2017 by MCN News

Shocking as it may sound, it’s nearly a quarter of a century since the mould-breaking Ducati M900 Monster and Triumph Speed Triple 900 were launched at the end of 1993 to go on sale the following...

Kawasaki Ninja 650: 'More effective and appealing'

30 January 2017 by Phil West

MCN is currently in Spain riding the new 2017 Kawasaki Ninja 650 which replaces the firm’s popular ER-6f and is the new faired brother to the 2017 Z650 MCN tested in December. TOP STORIES Video:...

Gallery: New BMW R1200GS 'Exclusive' and 'Rallye' ridden

27 January 2017 by MCN News

Still out in sunny Spain, while we freeze in minus-degrees, is MCN’s Adam Child spending time BMW’s R1200GS ‘Exclusive’ and ‘Rallye’. Here’s what our Senior Road Tester said pre-launch. And until his...

New BMW R1200GS 'Exclusive' and 'Rallye' launch incoming!

26 January 2017 by Adam Child

MCN’s Adam Child is once again enjoying the delights of sunny Spain testing BMW’s new pair of 2017 R1200GS models – the ‘Exclusive’ and ‘Rallye’. BMW had already made the GS Euro4 compliant at the...

Gallery: MCN takes the new Blade on track

25 January 2017 by MCN News

Last weekend MCN Senior Road Tester Adam Child went out to Portugal to get the first riding impressions of the new Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade and SP version. Read what he thought here, watch the video...

New Honda Fireblade & Fireblade SP launch incoming!

20 January 2017 by Adam Child

MCN’s Senior Road tester Adam Child is the lucky one flying to Portugal to ride the new Honda Fireblade and Fireblade SP on track at Portimao this weekend. And also on test will be Dan Linfoot, Jason...

The MCN test: Corporate Customs

07 January 2017 by Jon Urry

Eventually, every trend is forced to break from its underground roots as commercialisation takes over. The anti-capitalist hippy generation soon saw their tie-dye T-shirts in mainstream shops owned by...

The bikes that leave us shaking with adrenalin

02 January 2017 by Michael Neeves

These are three of the most exciting bikes on planet Earth. The growling RSV4 RF, screaming GSX-R600 and bonkers Hypermotard 939 SP all leave you shaking with adrenalin and breathless with lust after...

25 years of Akrapovic exhausts

31 December 2016 by MCN News

If you’re in the market for an exhaust, chances are the name at the top of your wish list is Akrapovic. The company started out in a tiny workshop in Slovenia in 1991, the brainchild of racer Igor...

Battle of the Boxer twins

31 December 2016 by Jon Urry

BMW’s flat-twin boxer engine has to be one of the most versatile motorcycle powerplants in production. The German firm has used it to power everything from tourers to sportsbikes, nakeds to retros,...

Video: Kawasaki Z1000SX launch

20 December 2016 by MCN News

We were in the South of France recently enjoying some very English weather aboard Kawasaki’s Z1000SX that has been updated for 2017. Kawasaki got the mixture right with the original Z1000SX back in...

A week with the Ducati Multistrada Pikes Peak: Part four

11 December 2016 by Simon Hargreaves

Built to commemorate Ducati’s dominance at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Simon Hargreaves takes the Ducati Multistrada 1200 Pikes Peak on the longest hill climb of them all… Part three:...

Triumph Bonneville Bobber Madrid launch incoming

09 December 2016 by Michael Neeves

We’ll be riding the new Triumph Bonneville Bobber at its world launch in Madrid on Monday. The Hinckley firm unveiled the latest addition to the Bonneville family at the trendy Printworks venue in...

A week with the Ducati Multistrada Pikes Peak: Part three

04 December 2016 by Michael Neeves

The busy week for the Ducati Multistrada 1200 Pikes Peak continues with a trip upto Cheshire and Oulton Park. Can the big touring bike hang with sportsbikes? Part two: Peterborough to the Peak...

What’s it like to ride a championship winning British Supersport Kawasaki ZX-6RR?

03 December 2016 by Adam Child

The British championship winning ZX-6RR as ridden by Tarran Mackenzie shows a glimpse of how good a 600 could be. 16,000rpm, fast-handling, 145bhp… if only you could buy a 600 like this for the...

2017 Yamaha MT-09 launch - we're leaving on a jet plane

02 December 2016 by Emma Franklin

Today we’re flying out to the Spanish island of Mallorca for the world press launch of the 2017 Yamaha MT-09. Now three years old, Yamaha have decided to give the popular 850cc triple-cylinder naked a...

We ride Dan Linfoot’s BSB Honda Fireblade

01 December 2016 by Adam Child

The Honda BSB bike we’re riding is the last of the line for this model Fireblade, and the best it’s ever been. Despite being one of the oldest bikes on the grid, riders Dan Linfoot and Jason...

First ride of KTM’s new 1290 Super Duke R next week

01 December 2016 by MCN News

MCN Senior Road Tester Michael Neeves will be riding the new, second-generation KTM 1290 Super Duke R at its world launch in Qatar on Monday. It’s hard to believe, but the current model has been...

First ride: Kawasaki ZX-10RR

30 November 2016 by Michael Neeves

Next year will feel like the early 1990s all over again because the Japanese are back in force with limited-edition Rs, double Rs and SPs. All hail the return of the homologation special. Yamaha...

A week with the Ducati Multistrada Pikes Peak: Part two

27 November 2016 by Liam Marsden

Part one of our week with the Ducati Multistrada Pikes Peak saw Andy Davidson late for work as he spiced his Monday morning commute up with a bit of off-road action. For the second installment the...

Hutchy's Superstock S1000RR ridden

24 November 2016 by Michael Neeves and Adam Child

We are in a very privileged position; after weeks of begging phone calls to race teams and manufacturers, they finally gave in and allowed us to ride the hottest race bikes this side of...

First ride: Jonathan Rea's Kawasaki ZX-10R

23 November 2016 by Michael Neeves

There are three very distinct differences between a full-factory, WSB-winning machine and any bike with lights and indicators you’ve tried before, no matter how good. Jonathan Rea’s Kawasaki...

A week with the Ducati Multistrada Pikes Peak: Part one

20 November 2016 by Andy Davidson

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is America’s version of our Isle of Man TT. It’s a race to the clouds, 14,115 feet above sea level to be exact, where a bunch of lunatics with motorcycles,...

Old Empire Motorcycles ‘Triumph’

18 November 2016 by Phil West

Customs don’t come much more exclusive than this one-off commissioned by Triumph from UK-based Old Empire Motorcycles and built around the T120 Bonneville. Called, simply, ‘Triumph’, it’s based on a...

First ride: Motoinno TS3

06 November 2016 by Jeff Ware

Bikes have worn telescopic forks for more than 100 years, and although they have evolved to the point that they work pretty well, they remain theoretically inferior to alternative front-end designs...

World first test: Motus MST

30 October 2016 by John Westlake

Tucked away in an industrial unit in Birmingham, Alabama is America’s most intriguing motorcycle manufacturer. Instead of building their new bike around a V-twin like Harley, Indian, Buell, Victory...