Bike news

Year: ALL

Can’t you just find a roundabout like everyone else?

06 May 2001

An unusual way to scrub your tyres in, that’s for sure

All the ladies love a biker

06 May 2001

So this is why he doesn’t get many girls on the back of his bike…

Ex-demo covered 5000 miles more than the clock showed

06 May 2001

A Triumph customer is threatening legal action after buying a TT600 which had done 5000 more miles than shown on the clock. In January, Michael Hastings travelled from his home town of Dumfries to buy...

Just like Dougie

01 May 2001

Excuse us while he kisses the sky.

Any time you want to let us off, Michael, it’s fine by us

01 May 2001

Rutter just isn’t going to stop is he?

Race tyres for the road, in a roundabout way

01 May 2001

‘WHAT we are selling to the public is a racing tyre. What the racers are using is a standard tyre. So the tyres are the same.’ Those are the words of Helmut Dahne, PR man at Metzeler and the fastest...

And he says he still doesn’t really know the course…

01 May 2001

That hasn’t stopped Michael Rutter being one of the fastest men ever round the Island.

Is this the next step for the TT… pillion racing?

01 May 2001

Michael Rutter shows why we should be glad passenger footrests are one of the first things junked from a race bike.

Bikemart arrives online

01 May 2001

WE’RE adding Bikemart TM to the range of services on offer here at motorcyclenews.com. In phase one we’ve added a whole load more dealers in new and used bikes to browse alongside the offers from...

It’s in front…for now

01 May 2001

Adam Morrissey: So what sort of challenge is this? Honda GoldWing, the ultimate touring bike, against a Yamaha R1, which until the arrival of Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 was the ultimate sports bike and is not...

Renault launch two-wheelers

01 May 2001

Renault has launched a new range of bikes developed with Benelli. Rival French car maker Peugeot is already a big player in the scooter marker and it seems Renault wants to grab a bit of the same...

Honda recalls 2001 Wing

01 May 2001

The all-new 2001 Honda GoldWing has been recalled just weeks after going on sale. There are two faults which can cause the engine to cut at speed, although they are not serious enough to lead to any...

First ride on bigger-bore C1

29 April 2001

Riding a 175cc bike from Bracknell, around the M25 then up the M1 to Kettering may not sound like a lot of fun to most people. But then, you probably haven’t tried it on one of the oddest looking ”...

Can’t tour on an on-the-edge 600? Think again

29 April 2001

THERE were some decent enough reasons for making this voyage of intense pleasure and crippling pain. My new 2001 GSX-R600, in its glorious black and yellow, needed a good thousand miles of running in...

Bonnie gets the cafe treatment

29 April 2001

German tuner LSL has taken a new Triumph Bonneville and created a real café racer called the LSL Bonneville Clubman. LSL has changed as few parts as possible to keep the price down. The most obvious...

Making a break from the norm with the BMW R1150R

22 April 2001

WHEN I mentioned to someone that I was about to take delivery of a new BMW, the first question they asked was: ” Which one? A three-series? ” The reaction is understandable. BMW cars have a strong,...

KTM reveals official sketches of LC8 Rallye

22 April 2001

KTM is planning a Rallye version of its new monster trailie, the LC8 Adventure. The bike, which will make its racing debut at Dakar 2002, will form the basis of a production race replica version which...

Why you can rely on a buy from New Bikes Direct

22 April 2001

COLIN KAY is a Scot. He is also a senior bank manager for a major High Street concern. In short, he knows a thing or two about the value of money. Perhaps that’s why he is the first person to have a...

First test of the best sports twins

22 April 2001

It’s twice the price of an SP-1. It’s six grand dearer than the RSV-R… It can’t be that much better, can it? I mean, how can you need more than the Honda or Aprilia? On the road, or anywhere? The fact...

Mugello test reveals Tornado almost ready

22 April 2001

TESTS earlier this week in Mugello reveal Benelli’s WSB hopeful, the Tornado, is almost ready for action. The Italian firm first presented their three cylindered hopeful to a receptive audience at...

Now you know why they call him "Big" Dave Jefferies

22 April 2001

Somehow, eight-stone Daijiro Katoh might not have the right physique for the rigours of The Island

Police are blind to the cause of crashes

22 April 2001

Research into the cause of bike accidents has consistently suggested that more of them are caused by car drivers than by us. So why are police forces suddenly claiming the vast majority are the result...

No lightweights, these

22 April 2001

They might call the 250 race the Lightweight, but it’s a race for the real heavyweights of The Island.

Four new bike sections now open

22 April 2001

Follow the ‘BIKES’ link at the top of the page and you’ll immerse yourself in a world of facts and figures, tests and tips on the motorcycles you own, admire and lust after. The latest additions to...

Take one Monster and add £6000 of Gallic flair

15 April 2001

DUCATI specialist Desmo Shop has employed all its engineering skill and used thousands of pounds-worth of carbon-fibre to create this year 2000 Monster 900-based special. The anodised blue frame,...

2001 BMW R1150R, K1200RS and R1150RT ridden through France

15 April 2001

SPLATT! A direct hit, smack bang in the middle of my visor. Here comes another. Splatt! This one’s even bigger. It looks like the daddy. Splatt! Again, it’s a bull’s eye and the front of my lid is...

Go Johnny, go!

15 April 2001

McGuinness winds it on through Kirkmichael

Buell to build full-on 1000cc sports bikes

15 April 2001

BUELL is finally going to make the bikes its founder has always wanted to – full-on, sports bikes. So far the Buell badge has been standing for grunt-laden bikes which are bags of fun but not quite on...

Moriwaki offers 150bhp SP-1

15 April 2001

Japanese tuner Moriwaki is launching a 150bhp version of the Honda SP-1. Called the MP101, they are hand built to order, with a range of specifications for use either on the road or track. The firm...

£50,000-worth of retro Harley

15 April 2001

THE Trakker might be a Harley under the skin, but its looks might make fans of more sporting bikes drool. Designed to resemble a Harley board-track racer of the 1920s, it harks back to a time when the...

Something to better the new GSXR1000…

15 April 2001

IF you lived in a small, remote village and had no transport or television, you probably wouldn’t have any idea what lay beyond the end of the field – until you actually crossed the fence that marked...

SV650 gets a winning makeover

15 April 2001

Suzuki’s V-twin SV650 is winning races in America against Ducati 750s, 250GP bikes and 400cc in-line fours. And all the parts that make it a winner are available to SV owners in the UK. Most of the...

KTM reveals plans for muscle bike

15 April 2001

KTM’S plans to place more focus on road bikes have taken a major step forward with proposals for a 1000cc naked musclebike. The Austrian firm’s chief executive Stefan Pierer says it will be a bike in...

First test of Ducati’s ST4S

15 April 2001

Ducati’s choice of venue for the launch of its new ST4S sports tourer seemed rather odd at first. Rather than present us with maps and a demanding long distance road route, we were instead taken to a...

You wouldn’t want to do it daily

15 April 2001

It’s a hell of a long way from Barcelona to London. About 700 miles, in fact – as the crow flies. It’s a little farther by road. For those of you who haven’t ridden the latest generation of...

The ultimate Katana specials

15 April 2001

Yoshimura has got hold of five of the last Suzuki Katanas to be built and is turning them into jaw-droppers. After 20 years of continuous production, Suzuki has finally pulled the plug on the Katana,...