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First Ride: KTM 950 Adventure
By Roland Brown on 14/09/2010 10:46:49
Light, punchy, fast and capable of genuine off-road excursions, the big new KTM rocks. But there are slight question marks over comfort and vibration
in the racing-oriented sector of the off-road market, and by expanding its range to sports street bikes - hence the V-twin. Such bold statements seem rash coming from many firms, but slightly less so from this one. In the year to last September, KTM sold 61
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First Ride: Kawasaki ZX-10R
By Roland Brown on 20/09/2010 14:06:19
Last year Kawasaki bought a race circuit to sharpen up its bikes on. The first to feel the benefit is the occasionally wayward ZX-10R.
2005. It was built by an eccentric property magnate in the early '90s to host Formula 1 races but never got the gig.One of the bike's changes was obvious the moment I climbed aboard: an Öhlins steering damper, transversely arranged just as on several
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Motorcycle Radar: 1977
By Roland Brown on 16/11/2010 16:59:51
Wise road tester Roland Brown looks back at the years that changed biking.
If you’re old enough to remember 1977 it might not seem that long ago: Elvis died, Microsoft was founded, and the Space Shuttle flew into action. But the bike world was very different. Laverda’s Jota ruled the roads, Sheene was the world’s best
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Motorcycle Radar: 1980
By Roland Brown on 25/11/2010 10:57:20
Wise road tester Roland Brown looks back at the years that changed biking. What happened in 1980?
The start of the 1980s saw the Japanese firms abandon the horsepower race that culminated in the Kawasaki Z1300 six. Air-cooled engines and twin shocks still dominated, and most fairings came from aftermarket firms such as Polaris and Vetter
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First Ride: 2002 Aprilia Tuono Review
By Roland Brown on 03/04/2008 19:16:40
Aprilia's Tuono is one of the more curious of machines to come from Italy
the upmarket Mille R race rep. That means 43mm upside-down Öhlins forks with titanium nitride coating, Öhlins shock and adjustable steering damper, ultra-light forged five-spoke wheels, plus four-pot, four-piston Brembo front calipers.Despite all this race
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First Ride: 2002 Aprilia Tuono
By Roland Brown on 15/09/2010 16:36:24
Aprilia's belated entry into the big-bore naked class. Is it too little too late, or should the Ducati Monster run scared?
useless for the task. Instead they're aluminium jobs borrowed from the Mille sportsters, while the cycle parts are from the upmarket Mille R race rep. That means 43mm upside-down …hlins forks with titanium nitride coating, …hlins shock and adjustable
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Top 10 Sexiest Motorcycles of All Time
By Roland Brown on 16/03/2010 15:56:20
Definitive? We're not sure. Debatable? For sure! It's not about price, it's not about performance. It's about the feeling they give you. Pics courtesy of Bennetts
10. MV Agusta F4CCMV Agusta F4CCIf power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, then MV Agusta’s F4CC is the planet’s most sexually charged motorcycle. Not simply because of its sheer horsepower; a claimed 200bhp with the titanium race exhaust in place. Nor
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Motorcycle Radar: 1979
By Roland Brown on 25/11/2010 13:33:39
Some say it was the golden year of motorcycling. But then, they could be wearing their rose-tinted specs
-faired version of the previous year’s brilliant four. Unlike the CB900FZ, the GS was unburstable too. Kawasaki’s Z1000 Mk2 had speed and reliability, but was too wobbly to keep up on a twisty road. Suzuki’s GS850 and Kawasaki’s Z1000ST were rivals to Yamaha’s XS
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Motorcycle Radar: 1978
By Roland Brown on 21/11/2010 15:16:22
In 1798 the French army entered Rome. Who's have thought it? However in 1978 the GS1000 was born. Unlucky for Kawasaki
.But Roberts kicked everyone’s butts to win the first of a hat-trick of titles, and in the process introduced road-racing to the tail-sliding technique with which Americans would rule racing for years to come. Unimpressed to be risking his neck racing over a
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Motorcycle Radar: 1994
By Roland Brown on 24/11/2010 11:52:46
Despite falling almost in the middle of a decade, 1994 was a year of fresh starts.
The list of new bikes was headed by three that would have huge influence: Ducati’s 916, Triumph’s Speed Triple and BMW’s R1100GS. In racing, Messrs Doohan and Fogarty began their eras of dominance.STARRING ROLEFrom the moment that the 916 turned a
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