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The story of the Honda CBR600 (1987 to 2007)
By Bertie Simmonds on 06/02/2007 11:10:33
When doomsday comes, history will only record one motorcycle in the all-time hall of fame: the CBR600. Now in its 20th year, we chart the success of a biking icon
1987 to 1990 CBR600 (FH/FJ/FK/FL)And so it was born. The 'jelly mould' fairing hid a steel frame, an inline four of 598cc with 16 valves and 70-80bhp, good for a top speed just shy of 150mph. Around 10bhp up and, at 182 kilos, more than 10 kilos down on Kawasaki's then shit-hot G...
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Fit for purpose: The Wall of Death Motorcycle
By Bertie Simmonds on 20/10/2010 10:25:14
The average road bike does a bit of everything. But there are machines in the biking world designed to do one job only. Pure specialists if you will. These are the bikes...
BIKE:1926 Indian Scout"This machine is over 80 years old, but it's interesting to wonder what's actually original! When you first ride this bike it's awful. Rigid, uncomfortable and different to anything else you've ever ridden, but when you take it on the wall for the first time...
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Icon: Che Guevara
By Bertie Simmonds on 22/10/2010 16:52:09
A political icon from the Swinging 60s and owner of the second most famous beret in the world (after Frank Spencer's) it's little known that Che was a very keen motorcyclist and biking author. Good on him...
For one very short spell in history during the 1960s, that gay dandy of head-dress - the beret - was actually cool.Before then it had been the national headgear of the French (bad) and after in the 1970s it was to be mocked by the likes of Frank
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First Ride: 2002 Harley-Davidson VRSCA V-Rod review
By Bertie Simmonds on 27/03/2008 21:03:21
Harley-Davidson unleash their most important model for 50 years. With a watercooled, 115bhp, 60¡ V-twin motor straight out of their VR1000 racebike, it marks the start of a new direction for the Milwaukee firm. This is big.
Davidson, director of motorcycle development at the launch, "today is an historic chapter in the history of Harley-Davidson. We are very proud of this day.To pull the covers off this motorcycle is a great moment for us." When the covers finally came off
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Patriot Games - The British Grand Prix
By Bertie Simmonds on 16/06/2010 14:34:51
From the Isle of Man to Silverstone via Donington Park, the story and the thrilling races that make up the history of the British Grand Prix
The HistoryThe British Motorcycle Grand Prix has a past more chequered than the flag traditionally waved at the end of the race.From 1949 through to 1976 the ‘Tourist Trophy’ was effectively the British Motorcycle Grand Prix. Held on the 37.73 mile
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Used Review: Ducati 916, 996 & 998
By Bertie Simmonds on 05/04/2008 14:08:20
An aesthetic and performance revolution in its day, the 916 series has guaranteed iconic status for Bologna's blood-red bullets for time immemorial. But are those stories of Desmodromic histrionics all true?
since The Creation itself.It wasn't the most powerful (100bhp at the wheel for a 916), it wasn't the lightest (around 200kg) and it could be agony to ride if you were anything but the perfect size for it, but the 916 was the most beautiful motorcycle
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The story of Akrapovic
By Bertie Simmonds on 07/01/2011 13:06:52
From a shed in Slovenia, Igor Akrapovic's exhausts now dominate the world
if the bikes with our exhaust systems have won."Igor adds: "This is a big part of what makes us successful. The workers have to have a passion for what they're doing, they have to have a passion for motorcycles. That way they give 110%."At the start Igor spent
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Rocket Men - The Racing Haslam Family
By Bertie Simmonds on 26/06/2002 15:50:55
The story behind the racing Haslam family
versions of that one, but true or not, it illustrates the simple fact that a passion for racing and a thirst for what makes racing motorcycles work, battles for space in the Haslam veins alongside red and white corpuscles and haemoglobin. So much so
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Crown Jewels - AGV Helmets
By Bertie Simmonds on 05/10/2003 09:05:35
So just how do Italian helmet manufacturers AGV protect the most precious head in motorcycle racing? Bertie headed to Italy to find out making a helmet for Valentino Rossi must be akin to trying to make a crown fit for a king
- he won his first 125 GP race. The rest was history and a partnership was formed.Rossi has been happy to wear AGV's best lid, but for 2003 they wanted to make one that was even better than the old Evo and XR2 models that he'd been using. Jonny Towers
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The Honda VFR Story
By Bertie Simmonds on 30/04/2006 14:05:42
Honda's VFR has stood for two decades as a machine which owners and press alike have claimed to be the world's most perfect motorcycle. Surprising, then, that the VFR story was almost over before it had begun
It's all very strange. Some argue the V4 is the perfect layout for a motorcycle powerplant. It's more compact and narrower than an inline four, it benefits from a shorter, stiffer camshaft and, with a 90-degree V-angle, it has perfect mechanical
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