July 2003No sooner had I taken delivery, Yamaha asked for it back to be tested by another publication. Upon its return five weeks later, I promptly rode it over a large lump of rubble lying in the road at fairly high speed, leaving me with a very large dent in the rear rim. Aroun...

August 2004I safely returned my longterm SV1000s as the Xmas parties kicked in last year, before collecting the keys to my next longtermer, the SV650 K4. With folks in the West Country, I reckon it's nice to keep it in the family.Now, I loved the big SV and even though I put the ...

September 2004Our two-in-one CCM finally gets its clothes dirty as too-tall ad man Butcher heads off to green lane heaven. Let's off road!I'd been itching to have a go on the 404DS ever since CCM kindly lent it to us back in March. Bertie had planned to brush up on his off-road r...

November 2004Forty-seven miles isn't usually what I'd call a long way, but when you've been travelling through a particularly beautiful and equally remote part of the Scottish Highlands, and haven't come across a filling station since the fuel light came on 47 miles ago - it feel...

July 2006The KTM shed is full of mainly insane, exciting vehicles. The 950 Super Moto is undisputedly the maddest of the lot, and naturally the nuttiest thing ever to come out of Austria. I'm pretty sure that it's up there with the all-time greats - probably in the top five most ...

June 2007After the madness of a year spent misbehaving on the loopy KTM 950SM, it's time to settle down. I need a commuter, shopping trolley, distance muncher and holiday tourer. The new big Bandit is just that and also discreetly styled so shouldn't attract undue attention to it...

July 2003I shut the door gently. At last we were alone in the garage. I took a deep breath and uttered that immortal line. 'It's not you, it's me'.You see, I'd chosen the Zed thou' as my long-term bike. My choice. My shout. And I was pleased with that choice, but  now after a 200...

Summer's here and once more a motorcycling man's mind turns to thoughts of fun and frolics.Obviously not all of these thoughts will be about motorcycles, and may encompass other sunny distractions like foaming pints of ale in leafy beer gardens and the way women suddenly become m...

July 2002Whilst everyone in the office was sifting through the bike listings section in the mag to pick a long-termer for 2002, I quietly stuck my name down for a SilverWing. I had been after one since we took the three big scoots to France last year on a 'booze-crooze'For the 10...

September 2004Pull up somewhere on a sparkly new bike and there's a chance you'll get at least a look or perhaps a comment. I've now discovered that if you do it on a Triumph you're guaranteed one.There's something about certain brands that seem to exude an image without trying, ...