Motorcycle First Ride Reviews

First Ride: 2004 Harley-Davidson Sportster Range

Harley revamp their entry-level bikes for 2004 - the first serious update since 1986. So many changes, yet they still look the same. Grant rides the new smooth torquers high on a hill in Austria

First Ride: 2004 BMW R1200C Montauk

Named after a town in New York State, the new R1200 C Montauk boasts more chrome and retro styling than a fifties diner. But it's also BMW's most successful foray into the cruiser market to date

First Ride: CCM 404DS

Our Niall has a bit of history with off-road specialists CCM - they gave him a break into racing, and he's owned one of their bikes. Before they knew it he was riding their new 404DS

First Ride: 2004 Yamaha FZ6 Fazer

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

First Ride: 2003 Yamaha XV1700 Road Star

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?

First Ride: Mondial Piega-Monza

Probably the most beautiful production bike in the world, can the Mondial Piega-Monza handle as good as it looks? Daryll sneaked through quarantine to test the bike at Monza

First Ride: 2003 Aprilia Pegaso Tibet

Despite the Tuscany-Tibet name, Aprilia says you are allowed to do Reading-Watford and several other routes too on its new Pegaso. So we found out whether the bike's a dirt monster or one for the roads

First Ride: Harris WCM GP review

British MotoGP rookie Chris Burns rides a Grand Prix bike built around the bones of a Yamaha R1 in less than 14 weeks by a British team. Niall Mackenzie tests the impressive Harris WCM GP bike.

First Ride: 2002 Vertemati S501

Alex Hearn takes the exclusive Italian supermoto for a spin

First Ride: 2002 Suzuki GSX-R600

I like this bike. We all like this bike. The GSX-R600 has stood for one thing only since it was first launched in 1997 – sports performance

First Ride: 2002 Yamaha YZF-R6

Getting back on the R6 was like getting back on an old friend. I don't normally ride my old friends, you understand, but the R6 responds like no other to a massive session of throttle abuse

First Ride: 2002 Triumph TT600

When I've mentioned the TT600, a few unkind souls have been mean to suggest it was a shame the entire remaining stock of TTs wasn't destroyed in Triumph's factory blaze. Highly out of order a suggestion as this may be, it does have a reason behind it

First Ride: 2002 Honda CBR600F

Since the dawn of time - well, since the dawn of modern sports 600s - the CBR600 has sat there on or near the top of the pile, like a very old and wise stegosaurus that's beaten off the velociraptors and sits there, gently chewing the cud

First Ride: 2002 Kawasaki ZX-6R 636

Make it bigger and better is the order of pedigree. In 2001 Kawasaki, despite the fact that their bike was probably the oldest on the grid, won the World Supersport Championship - as vindications go, it doesn't get much better than that really!

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