was a light, sweet-handling sports bike with a good rider on board. But when you’re giving away more than 50bhp to the opposition, you’ve got a problem — whether you’re riding round Misano or trying to sell expensive superbikes in a showroom.Bimota boss

Carolina, heading for the famously twisty and spectacular Blue Ridge Parkway. The Yam's kicked-out steering geometry and almost 300 kilos (fuelled-up) meant it needed a fair bit of effort in tight turns. But once onto the main road, the Star was very stable

is building.And it so happens that '12' is Claudio Castiglioni's lucky number. Yep, this is the Prez's personal bike. Better not do anything stupid...There was no doubt about who would end up with the very first off the production line. Massimo Tamburini

-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

Long hailed as one of the gorgeous motorcycles ever, MV's F4 family of bikes has suffered from a lack of cc when compared to the competition with its capacity of only 749cc. The F41000s is here to make amends.I'm tonking along near-empty roads

from being a factory MotoGP missile like Valentino's M1, incorporates a number of modifications designed to make it faster and more exciting to ride.The Yamaha flicks into the tight and tricky right turn with notable ease, and when I wind open

and ballistically fast.Chassis performance is outstanding by any standards, too. On a fast road or track you'd lose out slightly to a Mille R due to inferior aerodynamics. But on the tight mountain roads of Tuscany, where Aprilia launched the Tuono, the leverage

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

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

sold in the UK last year. Add to that all the CBRs flogged in Europe and in the two previous years, and it adds up to a convincing reason to build a serious challenger.And the YZF-R125 is exactly that. At a glance this four-stroke single looks amazingly