Ben Cope

Massive improvement in both style and performance over outgoing model. A genuine contender for the VFR’s crown

Supreme top speed tourer that will impress with its performance and civility.

Not a bad bike if you are looking for something a bit different that isn’t Japanese

The 500cc parallel-twin motor from the discontinued GPZ500 finds its way into a new Kwak trailie for '05. Should make a cracking first bike.

If ever there’s been a bike that reflects the way motorcyclists have changed over the last couple of decades, it’s Yamaha’s Tenere. The original XT600Z Ténéré, launched in 1983, was a direct descendent of the XT500 that had won the first two Paris-Dakar rallies a few years earlier.

The K1300S doesn’t need to cover as many bases as the R model to succeed in the market it’s intended for. Competition in the hypertourer league is limited to the Suzuki Hayabusa and the Kawasaki ZZR1400, both of which have a long line of evolution, sales success and loyal followers.

Just a few years ago the very idea of serious enduro riding on something with BMW on the tank would have been preposterous. Huge trans-globe adventure busters, absolutely. Rounded commuters with off-road style, brilliant. But a serious, sharp-edged dirtbike to take the fight to KTM and the Japanese? BMW? Don’t think so.

Considering the state of the economy, Yamaha couldn’t have picked a more appropriate year to launch these two entry-level 600s. With my favourite of the two, the XJ6, costing just four and a half grand, you get a cracking bike, but more importantly, a whole load of fun for your money.

A peach from triumph, made peachier

It’s chucking it down. I can’t really see where I’m going as yet another errant Fiat Punto rental car appears out of the low cloud halfway across my side of the road. I’m soaked to the skin, I’m on an unfamiliar road high in the mountains and I’m not too sure of the way back to the hotel.

One man’s beauty is another man’s toad, or some such proverb is often quoted when referring to a visually challenged offspring. Usually behind the proud parent’s backs.

Ducati have added another fantastic bike to their already very good range. Replacing the S2R1000 the new 1100 has made use of the trellis frame and sub-frame from the 696 and the 1078cc air cooled DS engine from the existing range. Hypermotard heads mean 95bhp and 73ft lbs in a bike with a claimed dry weight of just 169kg.

While doodling a sketch for a potential drag race bike back in 1992, Ducati designer Miguel Angel Galuzzi unknowingly created the basic principle of a new streetbike. A year later Ducati released the Monster, so called because of an apparent dispute over its name.

If you’ve only really been into bikes for the past three years, your perception of BMW is probably exactly as the marketing types in Munich would like it.

�� Let’s cut to the chase. The DN-01 looks like nothing else on Earth. I like it. A lot. It will get you noticed and it is a vision of the future, with its organic, sweeping lines, pull back bars, single-sided swingarm, chunky rear hoop, and chilled-to-the-bone riding position.

The 2002 R1 can be ridden harder, more easily than before - it's an awesome road bike and a more predictable track performer too.

There are at least 1,843 good reasons why Yamaha have taken the trouble to develop the YZF-R125. That’s the number of CBR125Rs that Honda 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.