In many ways, the development and subsequent announcement of this motorcycle was an inevitability. More and more manufacturers are embracing platform sharing as a way to reduce both the costs and risks of bringing an extended range of models to market. After the tremendous critical and commercial success of the MT-09 and it’s half-faired version the Tracer 900,…
In 2009 Yamaha broke from accepted form by equipping their range-topping litre bike with a cross-plane crank, delivering the sound and power-delivery of a V4 in an inline-four package. For bikers bored with more than a decade of howling exhaust notes it was a breath of fresh air, adding a much-needed bit of aural variety. Since then, more road-oriented riders have…
So; Honda finally joined the Adventure Bike market for reals. What’s more, they’ve revived a historic name plate, the Africa Twin, to help them punch their way into the biggest, most popular, and most cut-throat competitive market motorcycling has seen in a decade. Time to see if the ADV segment has a new king, or just…
It’s been a while since I’ve ridden anything new, and that’s because I haven’t really been shopping. But the world’s motorcycle manufacturers won’t stop releasing new bikes, and while I now have my Triumph Street Triple R and Suzuki V-Strom 650 set up just the way I like them, I’m always half-heartedly scoping out…
Has it really been just over a year since I picked up my “new” Suzuki? A one-owner bike with just 7,000 miles on the clock over its previous three years, the odometer is now reading just under 31K. It’s been to the Black Forest, to the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and Moors, Peak District, Exmoor,…
Every now and again I’m reminded that the Crossrunner exists. Overlooked, it didn’t sell very well in it’s previous incarnation, being little more than a jacked-up VFR800, suffering from oddball styling and many of the same problems that plagued the 14-year-old design of its sport-touring cousin. But shortly after the VFR itself was overhauled, the…
I’ve come to the unpleasant conclusion that if you want to split motorcycling into groups, I’d very much end up in the very small category marked “other”. And while stereotypically people seem to think of motorcyclists as an “other” all on their own, motorcycling can be a very sociable experience. After all, go to a motorcycle…
As regular readers of this site will know, I rather like my Suzuki V-Strom 650. It’s comfortable, economical, practical and, most importantly, fun. Because if a motorcycle isn’t fun to ride, then we might as well all drive Toyota Priuses. But what if someone told you that there was a motorcycle that combined all the practical…
I think that Harley-Davidson might have their marketing for this bike all wrong. Sure, it’s stylish, highly fashionable amongst the young beards-and-beer set and definitely better suited to the sort of weather that you get in sunny California. But with the exception of a brief dalliance with sportiness in the 2008-2012 XR1200, Harley has been synonymous with…
Motorcycling has a problem. I’m not sure if it’s historic, or indifference, or simply acceptance that this is how things are, but when it comes to fuel efficiency, motorcycles are just terrible. In a world where many small cars can now achieve 60 miles per gallon (UK) in real-world day-to-day driving, how is 45mpg “pretty good” for a tiny,…
Boy Meets Bike 
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