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Road Test: Bimota DB5
By Roland Brown on 29/04/2008 22:02:45
Back once more into the fray, Bimota splash their cash on the launch of the DB5. Are you ready with yours?
short strength-sapping sessions on track.A bike like the Bimota DB5. Sparkling with eye-catching details, it passes the drink-in-hand test with flying colours. At a claimed 165kg dry, it's the lightest open-class bike on the market. And with an output
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Road Test: MV Agusta Brutale 910
By Roland Brown on 29/04/2008 21:57:58
MV's bonkers Brutale gets a big bore motor, a midrange boost and bags of added usefulness to boot. Roland Brown blags a ride and spills the beans.
midrange punch, the extra cubes mean it has lost some of the 750's smoothness and high-revving charm. The slight high-frequency tingle through the bars wasn't a problem on my test but would combine with the exposed riding position to make motorway trips a
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Road Test: MV Agusta F4 1000 Tamburini
By Roland Brown on 27/04/2008 22:22:01
The latest and most exclusive bike in the F4 series is available - if you've got £30,000 to spare. Roland Brown rides the F4 Tamburini.
The fresh-off-the-production line MV Agusta I'm sitting on is special even by the standards of limited-edition, £30,000 superbikes. The last three digits of the frame number were 012, signifying this was the 12th of the 300 F4 1000 Tamburinis MV is building.And it so happens that...
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2010 Ducati Hypermotard 796 first ride road test
By Roland Brown on 01/06/2010 14:52:45
At a fiver under seven grand Roland Brown reckons Ducati’s revamped baby Hypermotard is worth a sniff
Click to read: Ducati Hypermotard 796 owners reviews, Ducati Hypermotard 796 specs and see the Ducati Hypermotard 796 image gallery.Calling a bike the 796 when its capacity is 803cc could be viewed as a triumph of marketing over logic, but in other respects the new Hypermotard ma...
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First ride: Bimota DB7 road test review
By Roland Brown on 19/12/2008 10:27:54
Bimota, sadly now without a UK importer, continue making some of the prettiest bikes in the world. The 1098-powered DB7 is divine...
The bike ahead was half-way down Misano’s back straight when I exited the preceding right-hand bend, but it didn’t stay that way for long. As I crouched behind the DB7’s low screen and tap-tapped through the sweet-shifting gearbox, the Bimota’s eight-valve V-twin motor punched th...
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First ride: 2010 Kawasaki Z1000 review
By Roland Brown on 14/06/2010 09:28:32
Kawasaki’s naked beast is back, not with a whimper, but with a big styling bang and an engine to back up the new look. Roland Brown gets down with the brand new Zed
-pan, and plastic fork shrouds that accentuate the low, pointy nose while protecting the stanchions.I’m not sure about the stubby, triangular silencers or the rock star colour option of dark brown with a mock snakeskin seat. But the Zed’s chunkiness up front
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First Ride: 2006 Yamaha Midnight Star
By Roland Brown on 13/05/2008 23:21:25
Packing the biggest and most powerful Yamaha cruiser engine yet, plus a bag of styling cues lifted from the 1930s, the Midnight Star is bristling with modern technology. It's even got an EXUP valve.
When Yamaha's Californian design team set out to create a new cruiser, their first plan was to style it traditionally and to make it big. Real big.But they found the prototype too tall and heavy-handling, so took the bold decision to scrap it. Instead, they built a smaller and mo...
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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.
Click to read: Kawasaki ZX-10R owners reviews, Kawasaki ZX-10R specs and to see the Kawasaki ZX-10R image gallery.FIRST, THE GOOD news about this reworked ZX-10R: it's more controllable and less scary than the original model - an outstanding bike that was perhaps a bit too mad an...
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First Ride: 2006 Moto Guzzi Griso 8V
By Roland Brown on 10/04/2008 21:59:32
Guzzi keep moving gently in the right direction with their latest 8-valve Griso streetbike. It’s got real retro charm, funky Italian looks and now another 22bhp for those who like their biking more...sophisticated
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Motorcycle Radar: 1987
By Roland Brown on 06/12/2010 14:04:17
Roland Brown is a world class swordsman, entertainer, poet, scientist, boxer, ladies' man and motorcycle journalist. Only one of those is true.
Real ClassicThe most memorable road-testing moment of 25 years in this job wasn't riding the Desmosedici or Rossi's M1, but heading through the gates of Norton's dilapidated Shenstone factory to start a scoop test of the rotary-engined Classic
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