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First Ride: 2002 Triumph Speed Four
By Bertie Simmonds on 29/03/2008 19:11:57
Picture the scene if you will. It's 2006, we're in the middle of a recession and another Government still ignores the benefits of motorcycles to the detriment of UK road users everywhere.
like the new Speed Four could be our saviours. Fun, on road, furious on track, but without the associated and inflated costs.In all honesty, initially I thought the Speed Four looked like something Ainsley Harriot had made on Ready Steady Cook
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First Ride: 2005 Ducati 999
By Jon Urry on 30/03/2008 21:50:04
Ducati's flagship sportsbike gets a new look as well as a whole load more power for 2005. Jon Urry samples the delights of the new 999
's classic has been cool.Despite the 999 actually selling more units in its first year than the 916 did, this statistic is skewed by the fact that very few 916s were actually available back then. By 2002 Ducati had sorted out its production lines and bikes
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First Ride: 2004 Ducati 999R
By Jon Urry on 30/03/2008 22:03:19
When the going gets tough, Ducati brings out a new model to beat the opposition. Cheating? No, just bending the rules...
.Fortunately, the lightweight (181kg dry) Ducati's radial Brembos were predictably sharp, as was the rest of its chassis. Set up racy with extra rear ride height, plus its steering at the steeper, 23.5° angle, the R was deliciously flickable, even through the gut
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First Ride: Honda CBR600RR (2007)
By Niall Mackenzie on 02/04/2008 11:42:59
Yamaha won the supersport 600 sales war in 2006, and Honda is out for revenge. They think the all-new CBR600RR is the tool for the job, and Niall Mackenzie reckons they might be right.
lost their way when it comes to enjoyable road riding. But I'm celebrating, because with the new CBR, Honda is the first of the Big Four to give us a new generation 600 we don't have to thrash to find road riding satisfaction.At first glance little has
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First Ride: 2007 Honda CB600F Hornet
By Roland Brown on 02/04/2008 12:56:43
Honda's top-selling naked middleweight gets a top-to-toe revamp, sharp new looks and the world's ugliest exhaust collector box
-speed manoeuvring as we left the launch-base hotel, near Faro on Portugal's Algarve coast, out onto winding roads that headed up into the hills.The motor felt sharp and responsive, and also emitted a fruity rasp from the stubby, MotoGP-style silencer near my right
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First Ride: 2007 Suzuki Bandit 650
By Jon Urry on 02/04/2008 14:49:15
Old faithful returns with a new jacket, starched braces and a spanking new motor
I remember the first time I saw my dad wearing jeans. He just looked wrong. Dad's from a generation of slack-wearers, not denim, and him in Levi's finest looked as out of place as a Casio watch in a Ben-Hur film.But progress and the passing of time
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First Ride: Ducati Hypermotard
By Jon Urry on 02/04/2008 15:59:16
Ducati enters the supermoto scene with a bang. That'll be the mirror on a car's door then...
me.Aggressive, minimalist, exciting and thrilling to ride is how Ducati is billing the Hypermotard. It may have essentially the same chassis and engine as the Multistrada but that's where the similarities end. The Hypermotard is the Mr Hyde
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Road Test: KTM 950SM
By Simon Bowen on 27/04/2008 22:13:34
Meet KTM's 942cc supermoto. The motorcycling equivalent of a man with a thousand yard stare, disturbing twitch and a worrying interest in firearms...
% average annual growth in sales. The new 950SM takes the number of road legal Supermoto models into double figures, while the Japanese have been particularly slow to catch on and are only now beginning to join the fray with their first examples
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First Ride: 2004 Triumph Daytona 650
By Niall Mackenzie on 30/03/2008 22:17:28
The Daytona 600 has always had the legs; it's one of the best-handling 600s around. With an extra 47cc - and a load more mid-range - the Daytona 650 might nearly be the perfect middleweight.
. The ZX-6R sold well, and as a road bike the extra mid-range was more than useful.For 2005 Triumph has taken note of this and followed suit with its new Daytona 650. Somewhat given away by the name the new bike is basically a Daytona 600 with a 3.1mm
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First Ride: 2005 KTM Super Duke Review
By Niall Mackenzie on 30/03/2008 22:46:45
An Austrian brute pumped full of steroids is the only way to describe the first ever-pure streetbike from KTM. If Arnold Schwarzenegger was a bike he'd be the Super Duke...
-gravelly voice of a female bodybuilder.Sitting behind the Renthal handlebars you are constantly reminded that you're riding a KTM. The bright orange digital speedo and analogue rev counter glows in your face while providing the usual information, including water
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