For nearly 30 years, (since 1993) Ducati have been churning out big, brutish naked bikes under the Monster moniker. Since then they’ve sold over 350,000 of them. That’s averaging over 1,000 a month. Fair play. Personally though, I’ve never been much of a Monsterphile. I think it’s because growing... Read more
When Fagan threw himself off an SV 650 and onto the tarmac at Castle Combe, pulling his poor shoulder out of its socket in the process, he quickly rendered himself unable to fly to Italy to test the all-new, ever-so-fancy Aprilia RS 660 – what a bastard! But his loss, on... Read more
You’ve probably heard murmurings from last weekend’s Ducati Panigale V4 world press launch in Valencia, although you probably haven’t heard about a few of us taking some rental bikes (Valencia’s equivalent of Boris Bikes) and riding them down steps and swapping brake cables and basically imitating Mat Hoffman. Anyway,... Read more
In isolation, the Triumph Tiger Explorer was an excellent workhorse: comfy, solid with a sexy soundtrack. Against its more modern adventure bike peers, the Trumpet felt like a tired, saggy old granny that lacked some 21st century essentials. Thankfully, there are over 100 changes to the Tiger 1200 for... Read more
Being the biggest tyre manufacturer in the world, and after years of providing hoops to the world’s fastest riders MotoGP, you’d think Bridgestone would have more of a say in track rubber despite a global love for control tyres. The all-new V02 slick has proven to be both hugely... Read more
When someone offers you a spin on the hottest superbike of 2017 – one that costs over £70k and is already sold-out – you don’t say no. Bragging 215bhp, an extensive electronics suite, and weighing just over 150kg, Ducati’s 1299 Superleggera is an engineering masterpiece. Not to mention serious... Read more
Apologies for the lack of content recently. You should, by now, have realised we’ve been submersed in trackday organisation, our exclusive Summer Holiday festival at Parcmotor where we entertained 40 lucky bastards in glorious Spanish sunshine. More on the event itself another time… Baron was hell-bent on spanking his... Read more
Like it or not, BMW’s S 1000 RR has been the benchmark superbike since its inception in 2009. Not only was it the original electronics instigator, the S Thou’ ended Japanese domination and has consistently outsold every other model in the litre class. BMW made no secret of basing... Read more
There’s nowt like spanking a screaming supersports weapon in the Spanish sunshine, which is exactly what we did during the 2017 Yamaha R6 press launch at Almeria. 17 years after the original release, the class stalwart gets humble yet effective updates for this season, including bastard Euro4 compliancy and... Read more
This wasn’t just a press launch. KTM’s 1290 Super Adventure R gig in Peru was also a deeply rewarding challenge. Riding 200km in a desert on Dakar terrain, aboard a 160bhp, 240+kg adventure behemoth in 40-degree heat sounds like a job best left for Sam Sunderland, not some balding... Read more
In recent years, press launches have slowly found a consistent home in Spain, so it was nice taking a long-haul flight to sample Yamaha’s MT-10 SP. Home of some of the world’s sexiest roads and backdrops, Cape Town hosted the updated Öhlins-infested MT and a bonus chance for a... Read more
