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First Ride: 2006 Honda Fireblade
By Niall Mackenzie on 20/09/2010 22:47:05
It wasn't broken but Honda fixed it anyway. Niall plays 'spot the difference' with a freshly honed 2006 Fireblade
thrash in safety without the fear of spilling Werther's Originals all over the road.So why fix it if it's not broken? Honda says Fireblade owners complained of a lack of midrange grunt, losing out to the competition accelerating from 70mph and above
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KTM 690 Duke R vs. Yorkshire Dales
By James Whitham on 04/11/2010 15:26:20
Highway to Heaven: Six bikes, six roads, six twats, six stories. Ben Bardon was forced to take photos of someone called James Whitham. Perhaps, more worryingly, he also had to listen to him for the best part of a Thursday afternoon
. For track riding or going for a blast with your mates on wide, fast open roads any of the modern one-litre or 600cc sports bikes would be the go. For dodging about locally and everyday A-B riding through traffic something like a Street Triple would be good
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First Ride: KTM 990SMT ABS
By Jon Urry on 27/01/2011 16:56:44
KTM add ABS to their all-rounder, so, the big question: is it any good?
) which is very impressive, but most importantly of all it works very well.On the wet Spanish roads we had more than enough opportunity to test the ABS and it was hard to fault. To me an ideal ABS system is one that you have no idea is fitted until you
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Ducati Streetfighter 848 road test review
By Ben Cope on 10/10/2011 10:29:06
Ducati's baby Streetfighter. Smiles like your Nan, punches like a pub doorman
's bearable. Above 100mph - for any sustained distance - and you'll soon find it harder to do your shirt's top button up.For the first half of the road ride I kept the traction control on and worked hard to get it to kick in but it never did. So for the second
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First Ride: 2006 BMW K1200GT
By Niall Mackenzie on 20/09/2010 23:26:18
The new K1200GT adds a dash of touring elan to the existing K1200S, allowing you to cross continents with Teutonic efficiency and comfort
and sizes.Where this bike is less able is on twisty roads that require lots of on/off throttle riding. While the mid-range response is fine, there is always a flat spot before the engine picks up, no matter how smoothly you try to accelerate from a closed
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First Ride: KTM 1190 Adventure review
By Ben Cope on 07/02/2013 00:25:13
Two-thirds of KTM's 260 technicians had a hand in the 1190 Adventure project. It's a big deal for KTM but will it be a bigger deal for the opposition?
of traction.There are four riding modes, Sport, Street and Rain and Off-Road. The first two deliver 150bhp while the others cap power at 100bhp, the levels of traction control intervention are also adjusted. Delivery too is softened off from Sport down to Off-Road
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First UK Ride: 2012 Yamaha YZF-R1 review
By Ben Cope on 05/12/2011 21:04:59
We're granted exclusive first UK ride. Yamaha enters the traction control club, revising its flagship sportsbike for 2012. Does it move the game on?
. For me, traction control is what's exciting in sportsbikes right now. I'm glad the R1's finally got it.Who would want a sun-drenched Spanish circuit to test the new bike's traction control, when you can have the greasy winter roads of England, territory
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First ride: Ducati 1098R
By Jon Urry on 06/11/2008 13:03:10
Thinking of buying a 1098R Ducati? Check out our first ride report of the ultimate factory superbike for the road
of over 15 years of riding bikes. Mid-corner isn’t time to give it the ‘big one’, especially when this involves unleashing 180bhp on the rear tyre. But if they can put a man on the moon with less computing power than a TV remote control surely Ducati could
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First Ride: Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa
By Jon Urry on 02/04/2008 18:24:39
With a tyre-shredding 194bhp on tap and a fully revised chassis the original Hypersports bike is refusing to grow old gracefully. Hold on tight, because the 'Busa is back and is meaner than ever...
'90s when it was withdrawn from the GP calendar due to organisers deciding that its sheer speed, not to mention the proximity of Armco barriers, were a safety issue. Sounds like the perfect spot to test out the world's fastest production bike to me
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Ducati Streetfighter 848: Track review
By Ben Cope on 30/09/2011 13:41:17
Ducati's smaller-engined Streetfighter. What's it like on track?
but it probably helped slow me down enough to make the first apex.Leaning on the wide bars, the Streetfighter 848 is eager to turn in. It's got the same rake as the 848 EVO but trail is up from 97mm to 103mm to give the Streetfighter slightly better road manners
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