Motorbike

If you want an R, make sure it's this one and not the underpowered smaller brother. Not a bad bike all things considered

A sexy little black number from the Austrian veterans, but performance is likely to be lower than the competition

The best of both worlds: power and handling combined with long distance comfort, but somehow it’s less than the sum of its parts

Not exactly cutting edge, but who cares when it sounds as good as this

Designed to put Bimota back on the map and they used many inovitive ideas never seen on a road bike. It's ultra rare. But believe it or not Bimota made an even rarer version, the SB8-RS made only to order.

Yamaha managed the same trick with the R6 as with the R1, caught everyone by surprise and redefined the 600 class.

The Yamaha YZF-R7 OW02 is a race homologation motorcycle of limited production run of only 500 units. It was designed to compete in the Superbike World Championship and Suzuka 8 Hours endurance races.

Peugeot says:

was at the launch of the Sprint RS in southern Spain in 1999. Some muppet in the office thought it would be a good idea to ride back from there to the Midlands, in late December.

De-tuned Blackbird engine in fine-handling muscle chassis. Weird looks

Serious track tackle for the 748 aficionado. For the committed only

A bike that is simply so capable it refuses to lie down and die, even when superceded by the 1200 variant. Awesome

Updated version of S1 Lightning, occasional fuel injection glitches

Anyone remember Kawasaki's ill-fated ZR-7, which got panned from day one and never really recovered? The half faired ZR-7S, which appeared a year later in 2001 also came in for some stick.

The SV650S is a blinding little bike that packs more punch for your pound than many other more expensive tools out there

The ‘busa isn’t finished yet but it is starting to soften around the edges. Still a quality act packing an awesome punch, but refined and classy rather than one of the rat pack

Considerably more expensive than the Marauder, the Intruder remains the better machine that may just serve you beyond passing your test

Taken with tongue firmly in cheek, the Shadow could be a fun way into the whole cruiser thang

A good retro if the name doesn’t bother you

Tamburini designed slice of Italian exotica, the F4-750 radiates class.

Redesigned ZX-6R with rounded bodywork and classic induction noise.

Yamaha launched the YZF-R1 after redesigning the Genesis engine to offset the crankshaft, gearbox input and output shafts. This "compacting" of the engine yielded a huge dividend in that the total engine length was now much shorter.