will use it every day to commute, but should the opportunity arise it will make a track debut, will certainly assist me in some touring and I'm looking forward to unleashing it on some back roads. I hear 10bhp can be gained just by junking the stock exhaust

, which is why the ‘old school’ MotoGP riders struggled in recent seasons. This admission might make me sound like I wasn’t testing the bike properly, but given the parameters that Ducati launched the 1098R I reckon that much of the talk about the traction

them so long? First of all you have to understand what the brand Vmax means to Yamaha. Having stayed relatively unchanged over its 23-year production life the old bike established a very strong image over the whole world. As well as selling over 100

, but the new model's biggest asset is that new chassis that lets you harness it. So much so I found the GSX-R easiest on the track - quite an achievement considering it's putting out the same power as a two year-old superbike... The new chassis gives loads

live with the looks, what is so special about the 999S? Just about everything, it’s a fantastic machine.There was no way that Ducati wouldn’t make its flagship sportsbike handle well. It simply couldn’t. A company with the experience to win six World

The faint, but distinctive waft of rebellion is in the air. It's 8am, Niall, Daryll and myself are at James Whitham's house and outside looks cold. Very cold. The thought of the 250-mile ride from Huddersfield to Edinburgh on naked bikes is becoming

the element of excitement and close racing to the series. Looking back to the the series' roots, namely in hot-rodded road bikes, it was clear what needed doing. The 750cc class, in which WSB's roots were grown, had been all-but abandoned by the manufacturers

If ever a conversation is likely to spiral into a full-on argument between a bunch of riders it is the old question: ‘what’s in your dream garage?’ It’s the perfect wet Sunday-in-a-pub-topic-of-debate that will rage on like an out-of-control forest

, but meaning bigger riders do look a bit of a plum. And the suspension doesn’t care too much for larger riders. The forks and shock  are under-damped, under-sprung and underwhelming. In fact the chassis is even more olde worlde than the motor, especially

. It just looks dated, a bit old hat. Shame really, because it's really nice to ride."As I spend most of my time riding on the road I'd have to agree with them both. The Kawasaki is just too much like hard work. It's very uncomfortable and too lively