Yamaha

Yamaha has always made the best Japanese cruisers, and the XV1700 Road Star shows it’s still out in front

Delivers a mixed message – looks like a streetfighter, is in fact a boulevard cruiser. Soft core motorcycle for those that want heavy metal with manners

User friendly meets original raging bull in one super-smart package, the 2004 R1 makes you ride fast. Very fast.

Now you can get all the practicality of the XT660X, with all the good looks of a supermoto plus an extra dose of handling and braking thrown into the bargain, and the price isn’t bad either

Although it looks the part, it’s best ridden on the roads or firmer tracks. The image of the double-hard rally rider appeals, in a package that makes riding round town and country lanes a cinch

Something of a tart's handbag, the Drag Stars are enduringly popular, if shall we say, a little like Milletts: camp.

Yamaha says: Be charmed by the Majesty 400's blend of practicality and performance. The die-cast aluminium chassis and low centre of mass boosts handling at all speeds, while the twin-eye bodywork offers fuel-saving aerodynamics and weather protection.

Yamaha says: If you're looking for a smooth and efficient way to get about town, few other modes of transport come close to matching the performance of the Cygnus X.

Niall, Gus, Jon and Daryll get back to nature and dabble in a bit of group nakedness

Having resisted the urge to tear down the hotel curtains and make them into a set of lederhosen, Jon Urry braves rain and ice-rink-like Austrian roads to put Yamaha's new emissions-friendly Fazer to the test

Harriet's track day R6

Full-on desert racing looks. Capable of town commuting and huge European trips

...a long term test of the FJR1300 from Giles

Welcome to the slightly different world of the great big cruiser with Yamaha's latest (and larger) incarnation of its 1600 Wild Star. Big and shiny it certainly is, but is it any good?

600cc sportsbike in the CBR mould. Only a dodgy clutch lets it down

Europe's second best-selling 750cc to 1000cc bike from 1991-2001. Says it all really.

The new Fazer is a good bike and is a step forward in some aspects of bike design, but for me some of the bike’s soul has been taken out in the process

Personally I’m a fan of new technology, as long as it works well and enhances my life. But new technology that hinders me really pisses me off. Take digital cameras, which seem to have a 10-second delay between pressing the button and the picture being taken as an example.

IN 2003 600s took a step forward with a new ultra-sporty breed appearing rather than the all-round bikes they'd always been. This almost caught Yamaha on the hop - they were erring to the slightly more user-friendly end of the supersport 600 spectrum, but the heavily revised R6 managed to combine both

Vastly improved recently and with a few little nudges – trick bars, sticky tyres, fruity cans, suspension – could be a real scream. Maybe a full decade after its birth then, the TDM’s time has come

Cantlie goes mega fast and offends the law on his R1