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2010 Kawasaki Versys launch test review
By Mark Forsyth on 02/08/2010 10:50:20
Dependable do-it-all gets a facelift and a suspension twaeak. Mark Forsyth rode the new version to bring you chapter and verse
Click to read: Kawasaki Versys owners reviews, Kawasaki Versys specs and see the Kawasaki Versys image gallery.The 2010 Versys has had a lick of paint, a wash and scrub up. The model’s been around since 2006 and has proved to be a hit with riders who want a do-it-all runabout. Th...
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Test-riding the old-school way
By mark forsyth on 19/08/2011 20:01:22
Tweed is due a comeback, I think
Love this old cine film of how Avon used to conduct their R+D around their Melksham HQ. Flat-out on a Vincent with only hair oil and utter faith as protection.Wonder how many test riders Avon used to get through?
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Ducati 1098 Bayliss Mallory Park track test
By Mark Forsyth on 24/06/2010 14:45:43
Angry, stiff, unforgiving and verging on the unmanageable in inexperienced hands. BUT with a super-strong engine, amazing brakes and a soundtrack to savour. Hard work
EngineNuts is the first adjective that springs to mind when I recall what the Ducati 1098 Bayliss engine is like. It produces a barely controllable explosion of power. Everywhere. Subtlety is not its ace card.And while it may not trump the BMW in terms of outright power it trounc...
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2010 Honda VFR1200F world launch test
By Mark Forsyth on 04/06/2010 12:34:57
One of motorcycling’s worst kept secrets - Honda’s top-secret VFR1200F. Visordown were among the chosen few to ride it at the Sugo circuit in Japan
of those embarrassing falling-in-over-in-petrol-forecourt incidents. And because the heavily sculpted tank swoops around your knees, when you’re on the bike it really does feel like you’re in it – part of it. Our track and road test ride was dry but you
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2011 Triumph 1050 Sprint GT road test review
By Mark Forsyth on 11/08/2010 10:19:29
More powerful (but a bit too revvy), longer wheelbase with single-sided swingarm, very stable, geared more for touring than its predecessor and overall a very decent tour bus
? In this market the emphasis can lie clearly at either end of the sports tourer spectrum. We tested both these extremes last issue and, for us, the niftier handling VFR won it for us.Triumph’s new Sprint GT is a tourer-fied version of the existing Sprint
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2010 BMW S1000RR Mallory Park track test
By Mark Forsyth on 24/06/2010 15:50:52
Technically superior to the opposition, kind and considerate to all grades of rider and ridiculously fast. A bike so well-behaved it makes ultra-scary speeds things of joy
the strongest of the lot, especially at the top. As you fire out onto the straight and the revs build, it just keeps pulling and pulling. I’m fairly sure it had the best top speed of the bikes on test, but because the chassis is so settled and stable
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2010 MV Agusta F4 1000 Mallory Park track test
By Mark Forsyth on 24/06/2010 12:07:49
Categorically better than its predecessor and properly in contention in the exalted company of the other European exotics. It filled Whit with confidence – and that is quite some recommendation
on the bars. The MV and the BMW were noticeably better in this area in terms of stability than either the Duke or the Aprilia.“The MV’s motor feels to have the least grunt of all the bikes on test, but the way it delivers is easy to understand
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2010 Aprilia RSV4 Factory Mallory Park track test
By Mark Forsyth on 24/06/2010 15:17:54
Small, feisty and peaky, but raw, basic and flawed in some respects. Aside from all that, a beautiful creation and a most lusted after machine. And very, very fast too
EngineAprilia’s 998cc V4 motor is a jewel. Not only is it almost comically small and compact, it’s uncannily smooth, massively flexible and it sounds gorgeous.The shape and duration of the power curve speak volumes about real life behaviour of the motor. Linear, elastic and contr...
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Maxxis Supermaxx Diamond road test
By mark forsyth on 10/03/2011 15:42:32
First the track, now the road...
less than the previous day's track test and I was right. The biggest problem with evaluating a tyre on the road is that you're never sure what you're testing: the road surface or the tyre itself. That's why consistent race track tarmac is always much
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Tested: Mick Extance Trials School
By mark forsyth on 14/02/2012 11:46:48
Fun at Four mph
of our comfort zones and pushing us to do things that would test our skills. Not a beasting, as such, more of a gentle shove.Just before lunchtime we rode a couple of miles across fields and up onto the summit of the farm’s open moorland. Here we
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