For 10 years now Honda's Pan European has been one of the sharpest touring tools in the box. But a decade without development is a long time in the motorcycle world, so for 2002 the ST1100 becomes the ST1300 and a full set of new clothes to go with it. Sonic does the launch in So...

May 2009Now look here. There comes a time in a man’s life when he knows what he likes and likes what he knows. At this point, to divert from this path of knowingness is to err and will only make that man (in this case, me) unhappy, angry, or both.And so it is that when the select...

July 2002After copping loads of flak for enjoying an alternative lifestyle last year on the Honda GoldWing, I figured it was time to go back to my roots and get back on a sportsbike. The new Yamaha R1 in silver and black is the smartest damn thing to ever come out of Japan, so af...

Kawasaki prefers not to mess around. Other manufacturers might make lighter bikes, prettier bikes, or bikes that are easier to ride, but Kawasaki - quite rightly - sticks two fingers up at such sentimental softness and consistently delivers red-blooded motorcycles with more power...

Age is a curious thing. You can't hear it, and you can't see it, but one day you wake up and realise all breakfast show DJs are wankers and the country's gone to pot because New Labour are a bunch of low-class liars.I also came to the staggering conclusion that, at 34, I rather l...

Without a back-to-back test of last year's ZX-6R and this 36cc larger one, it's hard to tell. The ZX-6R was always a cracking sportsbike tool anyway, so anyone expecting a midrange-laden super middleweight can walk away now and go buy a 750 instead. However, those wanting a brand...

Anyone who knows anything about off-road bikes knows Honda's CRF450 motocrosser is horrifically fast and entirely frightening to ride. Two laps of a track on one is enough to pump your forearms solid and turn your legs to jelly, and the slightest twitch of throttle at the wrong t...

To this day I still don’t know if Honda know where their Pan European is. I stole this bike after the lads had finished using it for a test before Christmas, and then simply decided that I couldn’t give it back.Three months later and the Pan (booked for a one-week test) has re-co...

We set out to have the best riding experience it's possible to have in one day for under £300.Just recently, we've had several conversations with manufacturers whereby the user-friendliness of a 1,000cc sportsbike was deemed paramount to successful sales. User friendly, a 1,000cc...

Rain like you can’t believe. Horizontal slabs of thick, juicy water, drops as big as Subbuteo footballs, rain so heavy that it makes you laugh out loud at the insanity of it all and you can’t see 30ft in front of you. It’s pitch dark at 6pm and the traffic on the M4 is sloshing t...