On a hot, sticky summer ride there’s little to separate the top road tyres. Unless you’ve got the skills of John McGuinness, and the Isle of Man cordoned off for you and your mates, pushing them to the limit is a risky game best left to the experts. But in winter, things are very...

of the Ducati 848. And what Whitham doesn’t know about riding in the wet isn’t worth knowing. So, step forward the best all-weather performance tyres of the moment, you’re about to get properly found-out.

Keeping snugThe idea of hanging up my riding togs for winter and mothballing the bike until spring has never really occurred to me. I've just kind of got on with it, suffered, then learned to cope with and, as near as dammit, beaten the weather. For years I had no choice (or didn...

METZELER'S Z8 Interact sports-touring tyre has been classed as the best wet weather sports-touring tyre by the German Motorrad TestCenter.Metzeler decided to develop new compounds for the Roadtec Z8 Interact precisely to meet these needs, tyres

RAIN stopped play at Oulton Park on Sunday.The first races of the day were wet however the rain intensified as the afternoon continued and after several inspections of the circuit race officials decided on safety grounds that no further racing

1 START STOPPING"Most crashes on the brakes are down to the initial input. A panicked grab can result in a locked front wheel and a trip down the road. In the dry you can just slam it on, but not so in the wet. What you need do then is get some

covers are made from a composite material, featuring a non-slip surface, which offers good grip even in the wet. They're not made from metal and therefore are less likely to be stolen for scrap.Another issue with metal manhole covers is that they wear

track day rubber won't work as well as road-oriented tyres such as Pirelli Diablos, Bridgestone BT014s or Michelin's Pilot Roads. You'll need plenty of tread remaining so as to disperse water, because stopping distances will increase when it's wet. All

the race, this flag indicates that the riders are allowed to change machine. The Race Direction indicates through the white flag that the track is wet enough to justify the change of bikes and the Grand Prix becomes a wet race having originally been

, in favour of a wet slipper clutch. The options were for a wet or dry clutch; the dry costs around £1200, the wet around half that. Ouch.Any slipper is better than no slipper, so I've opted for the cheaper option.Although cheap and racing do not mix.