Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2016 i BIKE

» My month’s motorcycling has mostly involved riding on slimy English A-roads aboard a BMW R1200GS, heated grips set to toasty and the traction control light gently flickering under slip road (both senses) acceleration. Well, that and almost building an engine (page 120) and day dreaming about big foreign rides. By contrast my colleagues, the finest writers and most experienced journalists in the business, have been enjoying sunshine, dry tarmac and lavish hospitality at the exotic foreign launches of some of this year’s finest new bikes. Meet Bike’s test team on page 26 and read about the Yamaha XSR900, MV Agusta Brutale 800, Kawasaki ZX-10R, Ducati XDiavel S and Triumph Speed Triple R on the following pages. This is another great year for new bikes. We’ve also got the first…

IN A QUICK game of ‘what’s it got’ the new Titanium version of Suzuki’s V-Strom 1000 has every chance of securing victory. The list of included extras verges on epic: 39 litres of hard luggage, a tank bag and filler mount, LED fog lights, heated grips, centrestand, crash bars and hand guards, belly pan, side-stand extender, and a Garmin 590 sat-nav. Factor in the dependable ability of the V-twin, plus traction control, adjustable screen, ABS and 20-litre tank, and Suzuki’s specification impresses. Even more impressive is the price: just £11,135 on the road. There’s solidity to everything about a V-Strom. The motor has a firm thud, rather than a Ducati-style boom. The chassis turns readily, is easy to manage, yet has a weighted, sucked-down feel to its handling giving confidence…

» 5 March VMCC Autojumble, Shepton Mallet, Somerset BA4 6QN One of the few big autojumbles still run by a club rather than a commercial entity. Despite – or perhaps because – of that, it’s usually a cracker. Around 470 stalls should be squeezed into the West Showground, Shepton Mallet. vmccsomerset.co.uk » 6-8 May ASI Motoshow, Varano de Melegari Circuit, Italy A feast of track demos featuring former race aces and classic metal. Better still entry is free for spectators. Varano de Melegari is 70 miles west of Bologna and 20 miles south west of Parma. Time for that Italian tour… asifed.it…

‘The real riding takes to the Transylvanian mountains (with bears). Riders carry a flare gun just in case’ KTM’s CUMBRIAN KING Jonny Walker kicked the 2016 Extreme Enduro season off winning the ‘Ales Trem’ in France, 24 January from Sherco’s Wade Young and veteran Husqvarna rider, Graham Jarvis. Extreme Enduro’s major events start early in the year with Hell’s Gate and the Tough One in February, a time of year that seems a million miles away from the summer’s hardest Hard Enduros: Erzberg Rodeo (26-29 May) and Romaniacs (12-16 July). The Erzberg certainly has one hand on the ‘hardest of them all’ trophy – based in a dramatic Austrian quarry it’s intensely difficult. That said, Romaniacs pushes the tough-o-meter round to 11 simply because it spans four long days of…

In the sixties, we rode Nortons and Triumphs and fought with the mods. In the seventies, we were still grebos wearing black leather jackets but had migrated to two-strokes and UJMs. By the eighties, new – sometimes dead end – technology was king and we started our love affair for off-the-shelf sportsbikes; all slabby and covered in fairing panels. The nineties saw true superbikes and we (the bikes and us) were now well into wearing hideous colour schemes. In the noughties, superbikes remained supreme but we were starting to get a bit arthritic and roads became congested. This, and the bike’s new role as a European holiday tool, saw the unstoppable rise of the adventure bike. The bike magazines always reflected these changes – and they came and went accordingly…

» ‘Easy to customise’, say Yamaha. To get you going there’s a range of official warranty-protecting accessories. While not the giddying array of extras you can get for bikes such as Triumph’s Street Twin, the range still has something for everyone. Cafe racer? Go for the rearset footpeg kit, low tapered handlebar and bar-end mirrors. Practicality? There’s soft luggage, a sidestand extension plate and a GPS mount. Maybe you’d prefer crash protection, or the ‘Design Seat Ultrasuede’ (great name). Prices to be confirmed. There will also be bolt-ons from custom supremos Wrenchmonkees and Roland Sands, who’s made a fit XSR special called ‘Faster Wasp’ as part of Yamaha’s Yard Built project.…

This month: Yamaha XSR700 Other bikes ridden: Triumph Speed Triple, Honda Africa Twin Miles ridden: 1467 IMAGINE SWITCHING ON a 1970s turntable to discover it streams music off the interweb. Or donning an old gardening coat to uproot a crop of early Maris Bard, and finding it’s got a moisture-wicking waterproof membrane. The XSR700 is the MT-07 under a retro veneer. This mix of today’s tech and period dress shouldn’t work, yet each ride I become increasingly smitten. It looks fit in my shed, burbles sweetly in town, has a classy air, yet relishes hooliganism and contorted B-roads. Headlight, seat and mirrors are as good as its sportsbike brakes and 250-like nimbleness. I rate its plush ride, with floaty comfort on breezy rides yet giving feel in sloppy conditions and…

This month: H-D Shovelhead Other bikes ridden: Ducati XDiavel, CZ 175 Trail Miles ridden: 345 OH THE JOY. Still can’t really believe the lovely Shovel is behaving itself so well. Amazing what a few weeks of trouble-free riding can do for the soul. And this is after me ignoring age-old, hard-earned advice like, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ I’m a succour for a wee improvement here and there, and the Shovel lubrication system’s new split feed arrangement is going like a good ’un, the lockwired exhaust bolts are solid as little rocks and there’s not a drop of oil anywhere to be seen. This is heaven. As the engine loosens up (2600 miles now since the big rebuild) it’s flying along nicely. Well, nicely for a Shovel. It…

This month: Honda NCZ50 Motocompo Other bikes ridden: Yamaha XSR700, Ducati Scrambler Miles ridden: 84 DECEMBER 28TH AND IT was time for the seasonal silliness of the (second) Oundle Classic Sprint (OCS). The presence of my Honda NCZ50 Motocompo was requested and I selflessly donned appropriate riding apparel so’s to give the crowd a giggle as a caped twat riding a pressure washer buzzes past. This time around the motorsport health and safety overlords had set the speed limit at 20mph, and all vehicles had to be road legal for the safety of staff and visitors. Instead of cancelling the event the organisers played ball, but I’m told that the restrictions will be dropped for 2016. Anyway, the event was still a massive » success and I had a cracking…

HONDA’S GL1800 GOLD Wing is the last word in motorcycle luxury and the undisputed champion of the touring world. Introduced as an all-new replacement or the GL1500 in 2001, the mighty Wing has received only minor tweaks in its 16-year history, and now packs features like protective airbags, heated seats, integrated sat nav and entertainment system, ABS, cruise control and more, all as standard. Despite tipping the scales at a whopping 421kg Honda’s genius shines as soon as you step aboard a Gold Wing. Whether it’s selecting reverse gear to back out of a parking space, swooping through bends of an Alpine pass, or out-dragging a Lambo away from the lights in Monaco, the mighty Wing will never cease to surprise and entertain you. ELECTRONIC PRELOAD ADJUSTMENT The Gold Wing…

‘The biker will always lose so swallow your pride rather than hospital food’ One of the fairly common accident scenarios I get is when riders overtake drivers who do something peculiar when the rider is alongside. Before I became a lawyer I shared the biker folk wisdom that if a driver was doing something odd it was best to get past, but experience has taught me this is a bad plan. A better plan is to keep that driver at a safe distance in front of you. The erratic driving is likely to be caused by incompetence or tinkering about with the radio/sat nav/phone or any number of other gadgets. You coming up alongside and distracting them from the very important business of resetting their iPhone is likely to result…

IF YOU MOTHBALL your pride and joy over the winter you won’t hear me scoffing. But this can present serious problems as our winter lay off tends to manifest itself in a couple of ways when you do get back on the bike – rusty machine control and a rusty road-reading brain being two. The rustiness won’t be in basic muscle memory, so we can still manage a slick gear change, but it could present itself as tightness and tension in our body, so our elbows might be locked and we’ll feel a reluctance to lean the bike. Our brain will also be out of the groove so we won’t be looking as far ahead as we should and our timing will be off kilter, making accelerating smoothly out of…

‘I always chose the hardest routes you could take’ DYLAN SAMARAWICKRAMA GREW up in extreme poverty. But hard as his life was it didn’t stop him dreaming about travelling the world. Despite the odds Dylan made his dreams come true with a 130,000-mile, three year adventure across four continents. And now he is back to tell the tale… » Where are you now? I’m at my home in Biel, 30km north of Bern, Switzerland, after spending more than three years riding my BMW GS around the world. I’m not from here though, I grew up in Sri Lanka. » That’s a long time to spend on the road. Did you plan to be away for so long? I didn’t plan anything. I wanted to travel without prior knowledge of anything.…

Four grand off Honda CTX1300 » Based on the Pan European, the CTX is a V4-powered bagger with trimmed-back bodywork and plenty of standard fit niceties. Think ‘comfort cruiser’. It’s usually fifteen grand, however you can get a brand new pre-registered CTX for £10,999 from Bransons in Yeovil (bransonmotorcycles.co.uk). They offer a keen PCP deal on it, too. Bargain retro Moto Guzzi Racer » Perky V-twin, low weight, surprising handling, strong heritage – there’s a lot going for Guzzi’s V7. The chrome-tank Racer is £8635, but Blade Moto Guzzi (blademotorcycles.co.uk) have offers on 2013 models. Not the latest spec, but looks, feel and go are identical, and it’d take a nerd to notice. And £6999 is less than a new Street Twin or Scrambler. Can’t get cheaper Kawasaki VN900 »…

‘Smoke and mirrors only work until the riders drop the clutch and launch towards the first corner’ YAMAHA FINISHED ONE-TWO in last year’s MotoGP championship and it looks like they’ll do so again this year. But which way around: Jorge Lorenzo on top or Valentino Rossi? Preseason testing suggests Lorenzo is well on his way to MotoGP title number four, because his on-rails riding style suits the new Michelin tyres and Dorna rider aids that are compulsory for everyone. At the first tests Lorenzo was 0.957 seconds ahead of Rossi, his nearest challenger, and then he went and said this: ‘I’m not pushing so hard, the lap times are coming easily.’ Perhaps that was all smoke and mirrors, but that’s the great thing about racing, smoke and mirrors only work…

WAY BACK IN 1859 Yokohama was a fishing village. You’d hesitate to call it a sleepy fishing village because commercial fishing has never been a respecter of easy life and acceptable hours. Now the second largest city in Japan and one of its busiest ports, Yokohama’s dockside Pacifico building is host to the eastern realm of our globe’s funkiest show. OK it’s a car and bike show but the general level of outrageousness of the four-wheeled devices somehow ameliorates sharing the space with ‘other’ road users. So influential is the Mooneyes show that virtually the entire design department of H-D now decamps here for an unashamed examination of general trends and peculiar executions. Combine the tackle on display with the overall flat out wonderful oddness of Japan and it’s small…

» The ZX-10R uses Bosch’s latest IMU (Inertial Measuring Unit). This determines the bike’s movement around six axes, so it can tell how far the bike is leaning, pitching forward, sliding sideways, wheelieing etc. This information is fed into Kawasaki’s own software which merges the data with information about throttle opening, wheel speeds, engine torque etc and comes to a conclusion about rear tyre grip. Kawasaki say the clever bit is that instead of making an assumption about the tarmac’s coefficient of friction – like the R1 – the system has enough information to work it out as you go. So if you ride from a dry corner to a wet one, the traction control will let you drive majestically out of both rather than require you to change to…

‘The Africa Twin’s parallel twin has a more luxurious nature – it’s like a hot bath next to the R1200GS power-shower’ LET’S LEAVE THE bush unbeaten and just say it. Honda’s new CRF1000L Africa Twin is not as good as the BMW R1200GS. Simple. Or rather, it’s that simple if you’re looking for a bike to feel, perform and respond like a GS. Remove your GS blinkers and the Honda rapidly proves to be good. Actually, make that great. There’s togetherness about the CRF, with understated elegance only Honda can pull off. Flashing lights and look-at-me? No. The Africa Twin’s a classy, well-planned, well-executed whole: you feel as much time and effort was poured into the combined killswitch and starter as the plush long-travel suspension; that the headlight spread was…

Off-road » KTM’s Freeride E is available in enduro and supermoto spec. The Freeride appears to be similar to the Zero SR, but it’s a conceptually different. KTM chose to build a much lighter but less powerful bike. It’s also more complex, with a gear reduction and liquid cooling. The design allows the user to swap in a spare battery in minutes. KTM have eight UK dealers handling the electric Freeride, to Zero’s one. Price: £10,599. Sportsbike » The 265kg Energica Ego accelerates a lot quicker than you’d expect, thanks to a massive 100-kilowatt motor (equivalent to 144 lb.ft of continuous torque, with 134 peak horsepower). Energica Motor Company is a subsidiary of the Modena, Italy-based CRP Group. Energica’s website claims a handful of dealers from Norway to Spain, but…

Used for: two months Price: £8 Info: just trawl the internet » Stopping quickly on my Suzuki GT200 X5 involves both brakes, both feet, expletives and praying. So, on the advice of forum-dwellers, the stock front master cylinder and lever are swapped for Suzuki Bandit bits off eBay. Longer lever and different fulcrum = increased leverage and more piston pressure. No more burnt-out soles. I can even wire-in a front brake-light switch too (the X5 only has one on the rear as standard). Eight quid? Best-value modification ever.…

» Three months ago Jamie Duncan, en route to South Africa, had to temporarily park the Bike magazine Kawasaki Tengai in Cameroon with mechanic Abraham. Abe reports that it needs a new rear tyre, but everything else is ‘factory’. He’s been keeping it ‘en bon point’ by riding local errands and was wondering when the JD would reappear. There are a couple of cold ones in the fridge for the return of the interrupted wanderer. In Britain this would have been disposed of as uncollected after two months. Forward with Africa. More next month.…

This month: Kawasaki ZX-10R Other bikes ridden: Ducati Scrambler and Kawasaki Versys Miles ridden: 410 THINK OF THE important innovations we’ve seen in bikes in the last 30 years – from upside-down forks, fuel injection and traction control to ABS. We’ve now got scooters with three wheels, H2s with superchargers, and Ducatis with semi-active suspension. Bike engineers are hell-bent on solving problems we didn’t even know we had. Now think about helmets. Pinlock is good (though that wasn’t invented by a helmet company), flip front lids are popular and I’m a convert Shoei GT-Air Used for: four months Price: £479.99 Info: shoei.com » The most stable lid I’ve ever worn – dramatically reduces buffeting compared with helmets without the angular cut-outs on the top. Integral flip-down sunvisor is great for…

PRICE A low-priced suit might stop the rain getting in, but it doesn’t allow as much air transfer so creates condensation inside the supposedly protective shell. Better manufacturing leads to zips that won’t break or tear away from seams and strong Velcro on cuffs, legs and storm flaps. Materials will also probably be lighter. Expect garment weights to increase when the suit gets wet, but the lighter the materials used the quicker the garment will dry out. Some of the more expensive suits also have solid high-viz properties, which is handy, if a little lacking in style. But, the inescapable truth is, riding in rain means riding in poor visibility. ADJUSTMENT Look for a suit that has a lot of adjustment around the waist, cuffs and ankles. A suit that…

This isn’t a limp brochure-style round-up of all the bikes you can currently buy. No, your guide is far more useful as it only contains bikes that we have tested, with data, expert opinion and must-know detail gathered by fussy full-time testers. We do hundreds of thousands of miles, countless dyno runs, datalog, weigh and ask the questions that matter. Don’t buy a new bike without reading this first. ROAD TEST BACK ISSUES BACK ON TRACK Aprilia show welcome signs of growth. UK sales of the Tuono were up 15% last year, with total registrations up 7%. Admittedly it’s not as strong as sister-brand Moto Guzzi, who grew 29% thanks to demand for their cool V7, but focusing on Aprilia allows tenuous use of a picture of Loris Reggiani’s RSV500…

» 16 March Lois Pryce Wilderness Lecture, Bristol University Running since when I was a boy, this renowned series of travel lectures has featured adventurists of all kinds. Over the years, motorcycle travel has been represented by the likes of Ted Simon, Charley Boorman and Sam Manicom. Now it’s the turn of Lois Pryce, who’ll be talking about her recent solo travels in Iran. wildernesslectures.com » 9-10 April BMW Brecon Beacons Adventure, South Wales Something new from team Pavey at the BMW off-road skills centre. This is a two-day guided adventure ride along the muddy lanes, open moorland and forest trails of South Wales. The perfect chance to put the skills you learned on one of their courses into action, and you’ll need to have at least completed level 1…

‘Do a little digging to get the best deal for you and your bike’ IF YOU WANT a hard-nosed reason for buying/riding a classic bike, look no further than insurance costs. A number of insurance companies offer policies tailored for classic bikes – and the premiums are surprising. The only potential drawback is companies have very different definitions for what constitutes a classic machine. One of the pioneers of classic insurance are Carole Nash (carolenash.com) – still one of the leading players in the market. They operate a rolling cut-off date to determine classic status. If a bike is more than 30 years old, it qualifies. That means some serious sportsbikes – such as Suzuki’s GSX-R750 for example – are eligible for cut-price classic cover this year. We asked Carole…

» 2-3 April EventCity, Phoenix Way, Barton Dock Road, Manchester, M41 7TB It’s the size of four football pitches… so quite big then, and yet with the warmth of a traditional northern welcome and plenty to see (and haggle over). Pre-book deals for families, kids and OAPs. Adults £16 on the door on the day. manchesterbikeshow.com » 16-17 April KICKBACK national custom show, Stoneleigh Park, Warks, CV8 2LZ Good, big, early season custom shindig with camping for survivors of the Dragon Rally and other mega-hardy souls. Custom Build National Championship event, so the bar is set high. No, not that bar, it’s late and on ground level. thecustomshow.com…

» 27 February MXGP Qatar, Losail Circuit, Qatar Unbelievably the outdoor MX season is kicking off already, just as in MotoGP under the floodlights at the Losail circuit. Round one of the 18-round series promises much. Unsurprisingly, there will be sand. mxgp.com » 12 March Super Enduro, Tipsport Arena, Prague The Super Enduro world championship enters its final stretch in March. Back in Europe, the series is coming down to a Britain (Jonny Walker) versus America (Cody Webb) shootout. enduro-abc.com…

CLOCKS Monochrome digital dash is small, but clear and concise. Big gear indicator is useful, but it lacks a fuel gauge. The colourful warning lights below are tiny and difficult to see in bright sunshine. HOLE UNDER SEAT It’s a hole and it’s under the seat. It looks very nice. Erm… QUICKSHIFTER New MV EAS (Electronically Assisted Shift) 2.0 allows slick clutchless up and down shifts. Integration with engine management system blips the throttle on downshifts. Works very well at any revs, but can be disabled using dash menu. LIGHTS New lights all round. Headlight now features elegant circular LED running lights and glowing MV logo. Front LED indicators moved to headlight unit. Rear indicators moved to swingarmmounted numberplate holder, but right side needs ugly heatshield to prevent the exhaust…

» The ZX-10R’s project leader is Yoshimoto Matsuda, an engine designer who used to run Kawasaki’s MotoGP project and who developed the ZX-10R’s traction control system. Unlike many high-flying Japanese engineers, Matsuda-san isn’t cautious and guarded when talking to the press. If you ask about rivals, he tells you… ‘We tested the R1 and S1000RR at Autopolis (Kawasaki’s test track) and they were slightly faster than the old ZX-10R. But the new one is two seconds faster than both. We have taken another step. If you look at the R1, you can see that they use cheaper and lower quality brakes, forks, rear suspension, master cylinder and ABS than us. Yes, the R1’s wheels are magnesium, but they are heavier than ours – 9.5kg for the pair and the ZX-10R’s…

MIKE ARMITAGE » Bikes have divided into two distinct camps: all-singing whizz-bang fancies and direct, stripped back, traditional-style machinery. I expect top-end gizmos to become more accessible, with TC and electronic suspension reaching more affordable bikes, but I also think we’ll see the introduction of technology to what appear to be bare-bones bikes. Moto Guzzi already fit ABS and traction to the V7. Bikes like Ducati’s 1299 Panigale and KTM’s 690 Duke only exists thanks to cunning management, and such tech could allow long-stroke thumpers to remain usable once the inevitable bigger-is-better capacity increases start. Triumph’s new Thruxton is already a 1200… MARK GRAHAM » In the arcane world of the ‘cruiser’ there is a luddite tendency to air-cooling. That has to end with future Euro diktats. Indian and Ducati…

What are they like now? » Honestly? Underpowered and huge. With 87bhp and a hefty 268kg with a full tank, the GS1000S has a lower power-to-weight ratio than a Kawasaki ER-6f. But the two-valve grunt of the four still feels rich. It’s lighter and better handling than pricier Zeds and CBXs, with presence you don’t get with today’s bikes. Even the colours are cool. Minters are now £5-6000.…

BUM POSITION If you want to turn tight at slow speed you’ve got to let the bike lean into the turn. The common mistake is to fall with it and people do that because their body weight goes to the inside. Do the opposite and get your bum (and bodyweight) across to the outside to counterbalance the bike. WEIGHT ON THE FOOTRESTS Your inside foot initiates the turn in but immediately all your bodyweight should transfer to the outside footrest to counter-balance the bike. Your inside should almost be floating, doing nothing at all as you ‘weight the outside peg’. LOOKING Look where you want to go and you’ll get there. It’s such a basic technique in many situations but crucial here. So turn off that part of your brain…

This month: Aprilia Falco Bikes ridden: BMW R1200GS, Honda Africa Twin, Herald 250 Miles ridden: 303 Our old bikes » Honda CR250 Supermoto » Honda XR650R » KTM 300EXC » Suzuki RM250 » Gas Gas 321 trials bike » Honda FireBlade » Ducati Monster M900 » Honda NCZ50 Motocompo » Mobylette V50 » H-D FXR Shovelhead » H-D FXR Evo » Hodaka Wombat » CZ 175 Trail » Suzuki GT200 X5 » Mobylette AV33 » Morini 3 ½ Sport » Morini 500 Camels » Matchless 350 » Mobylette AV42 » Aprilia Falco » Yamaha FZ1 Fazer AFTER JUST TWO days on winter commuting duties the battery on my 2003 Aprilia Falco died. The original Aprilia wiring has too much resistance so not enough of the charge from the alternator makes…

This month: 1981 Morini Camel Other bikes ridden: Yamaha XSR700, BMW R1200GS, Triumph Tiger 800XCx Miles ridden: 329 MAIN BEARING Right hand case with main bearing fitted. It should fit snugly onto crankshaft. It didn’t. CRANKSHAFT JOURNAL Main bearing journal has now been ground down by one thousandth of an inch. It now fits. ‘What I am dreaming about is...’ Ducati Multistrada 1000. Some people reckon series one Multistradas are ugly, but they’re wrong. In silver they are gorgeous. That air-cooled, two-valve Ducati engine is a beauty, the riding position is good and now you can get a decent one for under £2000. It’ll pass. Probably... Hugo Wilson hugo@bikemagazine.co.uk NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION; get my Morini Camel fixed. Fortunately my accomplice in this mission, my friend Benjy Straw, is…

‘My bike is a Suzuki B120… owning one of these in the UK was tantamount to saying you’d given up’ THE INTERNET HAS A LOT TO ANSWER FOR. Back in the summer and on the cusp of a trip down to the French Alps, I come across a reference to the Stella Alpina on a website and one or two neurons started sparking. On a whim I rummage through a box of old magazines in the loft, eventually finding two dust covered issues of Motorcycle Sport from the ’80s that mention it. I learn that each year thousands of bikers descend, flash mob style, on Bardonecchia, a small town in northern Italy on the second Sunday in July. They then attempt to make their way as far as possible up…

» Tasmania is like your favourite road joined with your mate’s favourite road, joined with somebody else’s favourite road. In fact, there’s only one stretch of tarmac on the island I wouldn’t recommend to people, and that’s Highway 1, from Hobart to Launceston. Every other road is great motorcycle riding. Take the B23 that runs from Waratah to Savage River. It’s a fantastic ride: wonderful corners on good tarmac that then turns to gravel after Savage River. You’d only do this road if you had lots of time. » Many people miss out on great roads in the south. Ride the B64 from Hobart to Longley. This 20-minute section meanders away from the state’s capital through dense rainforest. From Longley head down the A6 to Geeveston. This part of the…

» Oxford Rain Seal – £40 Available in black or fluro yellow, this one-piece has elasticated ankles and cuffs with Velcro fasteners. The entry zip is diagonal. Be warned though, don’t order over your normal size as there’s plenty of room in this one for leathers. » Spada 410 – £35 Elasticated ankles are wide enough to allow boots through. Cuffs are a manic threesome of zipping, elastic and Velcro fasteners. Integral bag for carrying, or lugging in a pannier. Available in grey only. » Alpinestars El Nino–£105 Pricey one-piece with central front zip and neck/waist/cuff adjustments. Waist belt doubles as a bum-bag for the suit. Mesh inner makes it a little difficult to put on if you’re in a hurry. But at 2kg it’s light, which is always a…