Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2026 i BIKE

Triumph say the new Trident 800 doesn’t replace the Street Triple 765 R, but it does really. The two models will be sold side by side until the 765 Rs run out, then it’ll be Trident 800s all the way. The 765 R is, effectively, history. So, what does the Trident do that the 765 R didn’t? Firstly, it doesn’t look like a watered-down 765 RS, a fact that put buyers off the R according to dealers. Secondly, it’s the next step up that Trident 660 owners were begging for. And thirdly, at £9195 it seriously undercuts Yamaha’s class-leading MT-09. The new Trident is powered by a lightly tweaked version of the wondrously versatile 798cc triple used in the Tiger Sport 800 – claimed power of 113bhp and torque (62lb·ft)…

Suzuki continue their mission to recycle every excellent engine it’s ever made with this, the new SV-7GX – an SV650-powered all-rounder with enough comfort and funky electronics to take on Yamaha’s Tracer 7 and Triumph’s Tiger Sport 660. Because the V-twin SV motor is 26 years old, it’s taken some work to fire it through all the latest emissions hoops without losing any power (old SV650: 72bhp at 8500rpm; new SV-7GX: 72.4bhp at 8000rpm). Cunningly, Suzuki achieved this without changing any of the oily bits. Instead, the engineers worked on the intake and exhaust. The throttle bodies are now electronically controlled – ie, ride-by-wire – and the airbox is all new, with shorter outlets feeding straighter throttle inlet tracts. The new two-into-one exhaust has its catalyser hidden under the engine…

It’s often said that today’s superbikes are ‘too much for the road’. Truth is, big angry sportsbikes probably crossed the ‘too much’ threshold in the Eighties, around the time of Yamaha’s FZR1000 EXUP. Maybe even earlier. But somewhere in the murky mid-ground between flogging them flat out everywhere and sticking saintlike to speed limits, there was at least once the sense that superbikes felt semi-appropriate to be sharing the streets with Ford Fiestas, HADECS cameras and potholes so huge you could find Easy Company hunkered down inside. The focus of litre(ish) bikes has narrowed considerably. For a start we’ve voted with our down payments – riders buy more rounded machines, and race reps have become niche sellers that don’t need to be as balanced as they once were. At the…

‘A land of shimmering black sand, slanted palm trees and magical sunsets’ In November, Bali sinks into monsoon season. Raindrops the size of fists crash loudly on to tin roofs, asphalt roads and the ‘Temple of Enthusiasm’, the Deus Ex Machina shop in the heart of Canggu village where I’m taking shelter. Here surfers, Russian dolls and all kinds of tourists zip around at full speed on scooters, flashing muscles and tattoos. Beyond this superficial scene, the spot is packed with places to explore – and this Temple (as Deus shops are called) is one of them. I’m here with a group of friends, sipping smoothies while waiting for the weather to calm down. For a small island Bali packs in an incredible variety of landscapes, making it an ideal…

NOT LOUIS VUITTON, BUT IT WORKS The SX’s 28-litre panniers haven’t changed since the Gen 2 model of 2014. They fit securely without any ugly external rails and don’t leak. Packing cunningly, I can just about get a week’s kit in one side – but the shape of the boxes means I can’t get my laptop in there. THAT’S A SHOCK A key difference between this SE model and the base SX is this Öhlins S46 rear shock, adjustable for rebound and preload. It’s not just there for its label – it really is more composed and refined. Within 20 miles my girlfriend commented on the improved ride quality. DON’T LOOK, JUST PRESS A nice, easy-to-use set of buttons. Pick your mode (Sport, Road, Rain or customisable Rider), select what…

What was it I predicted in the August issue? Ah yes: that my £300 Suzuki VanVan RV125, having been stood for seven years, needed just ‘a weekend’s work to get it back running’. The plan was to have it ready in time to ride at the ABR Festival. In the end neither prediction came true – but the picture below isn’t a fake… I knew little of my yellow peril’s history. Still, the balloon-tyred beauty’s modest 10,000 miles and merciful lack of winter use meant not one bolt rounded off during stripdown. Result. It did take some time to get the fuel cap off though, where I then discovered a tank half-full of stagnant fuel, and half rust. After draining the fuel I added five litres of brick and patio…

Much is made by Honda of the success of what they deem to be the first flat-four motorcycle engine. It was not – the first of that format was a liquid-cooled 1100cc unit created in 1899 by British soldier and engineer Colonel Capel Holden. Holden went on to design Brooklands racetrack in 1906. He also developed a chronograph for measuring the speed of artillery shells. Quite the polymath. What Honda don’t celebrate enough is that the original 1975 Gold Wing GL1000 was among the first machines to employ mass centralisation. A low centre of mass was always something to covet, but centralisation was not considered a thing until the Yamaha FZ750 appeared in 1985. With its fuel tank nestled under the seat and all sorts of lighter electrical gubbins underneath…

Honda have confirmed their electronically supercharged V3 will boast ‘performance on a par with a 1200cc engine despite its 900cc displacement’. Besides new photos of the prototype you see here, Honda revealed no more info, but this statement is rich with exciting implications. First, the ‘performance’ Honda refer to is likely to mean low and midrange torque, because that’s what they bang on about in the blurb and that’s what electric superchargers are good at. ‘It gives them options to tailor the torque curve,’ says Bike’s tame Professor of Engines, Jamie Turner, ‘which is what Ferrari do [in their 1200bhp F80 supercar].’ This is because an electric supercharger runs independent of engine speed – unlike a conventional one driven from the crank – so Honda can wind up the boost…

Honda have turned the big-selling CB1000 Hornet into a compelling-looking sports-tourer. The new CB1000GT has Showa’s latest semi-active suspension, a 148bhp motor, plush saddles front and rear, and loads of kit as standard – including panniers and high-end electronics. And it follows the pattern of the £9099 Hornet in being priced super-competitively – when it arrives in showrooms early in 2026 the GT will cost £11,999, which is on par with Suzuki’s popular GSX-S1000GT. The engine is a mildly retuned version of the CB1000 Hornet’s inline four, which itself is a heavily detuned version of the 2017 Fireblade unit. Honda say the GT makes 148bhp at 11,000rpm – 2bhp down on the Hornet – thanks to fuel injection and ride-by-wire throttle tweaks aimed at smoothing the power delivery at low…

When a company losing £36 million a year says it’s about to build ‘the world’s most desirable motorcycles’, you may well have a few questions. When that company is called Norton, things definitely deserve closer scrutiny. No name in motorcycling has climbed higher before sinking deeper. In the post-war years Norton stood for world-class handling, dominant racing glory and beloved British engineering. But in recent decades it’s been more often associated with underdeveloped (or non-existent) bikes, unfulfilled promises and shameful scandals. Norton’s myriad attempted comebacks have long been a part of motorcycling lore. By Bike’s count there have been at least a dozen different incarnations of the firm since it was originally founded by James Lansdowne Norton back in 1898. This isn’t just a recent trend either – Norton found…

If you attended one of Bike’s ‘Reclaim Our Tracks’ road-bike-only trackdays at Brands Hatch back in 2010, and got buzzed by a S1000RR laying black lines, I’m sorry. Sorry that BMW hadn’t just made a bike with 15bhp more than all its rivals, but also made it so astonishingly easy to ride. Its groundbreaking electronics were by no means perfect, but they were good enough to encourage me to start feeding in more power, earlier, safe in the knowledge the red tell-tale light would blink as power was tempered. Those six sessions gave me a thorough education in off-corner drive and grip. I get an overwhelming sense of lineage and familiarity from today’s 2025 S1000RR. This one’s wearing the BMW Motorsport paint scheme just like that 2010 bike, the new…

The Ducati Panigale V4 S is an incredible machine, but the blunt truth is that it doesn’t feel at home on the vast majority of British roads. Stunning passes in Italy, the Black Forest or Californian canyons? Sure, I can see it. But not the Yorkshire Dales, Brecon Beacons or the Highlands. It’s almost a cultural thing as much as an engineering thing – Italian motorcycling is very different. The Panigale is clearly the best on track, but even then it demands no small amount of skill and commitment to get it into its operating parameters. Beautifully built and astonishingly sophisticated it may be, but it’s a bike built for way more speed than a British B-road can offer. It’s something of a similar story when it comes to BMW’s…

KTM once said they wouldn’t build another sportsbike after shelving the RC8, and there was a real risk of them shutting up shop completely after their recent insolvency. But we’re pleased to report they’re back… and with another sportsbike: the 990 RC R. Their sportsbike hiatus was triggered by poor race-rep sales, and they admit they didn’t have the electronics tech at the time to compete as they do now. But in 2020 one of their R&D engineers built a cobbled-together, 890 Duke-based sportsbike. KTM thought he could be on to something and it became an official prototype, as seen in spy shots at the time. So is this just a 990 Duke with a fairing? Sort of. It shares the 947cc parallel twin engine, albeit with different mapping that…

With a day off ahead, the weather map looks diabolical. The North York Moors, Lincolnshire Wolds and Cotswolds sit below a triple whammy of monsoons, and though the Peak District is a non-moist oasis, the route from my midlands gaff is barred by a band of torrential rain 60 miles wide. Darn it. My shoulders slump; I can’t face arriving in the Peaks soaked to the arse. DIY it is. Then I remember there’s an R1300RT in the shed and that usual motorcycling rules do not apply. Yay. I hit the rain almost immediately and adjust the electric screen to get the perfect angle where most water goes over my head, and my visor is blown clear of the rest. An hour of proper deluge later and I’m just south…

I’ve known of Ash Barnes for a few years. He’s one of Pete Boast’s protégés from the Champions Flat Track School. This season Ash has been riding with Raceways Yamaha, effectively Bradley Ray’s teammate, on an R7 in the National Sportbike Championship. He’d won at Thruxton last year, but they’d spent a small fortune trying to make the bike competitive and it was going through head gaskets. Sportbike wasn’t going to be his future. Ash wanted to race big bikes – he’s only 19 but he’s already done two years of British Supersport and has an R1 practice bike he races with No Limits – and he approached us about Superstock next year. He committed fully, bought a Fireblade, then asked if we’d run him for the final few rounds…

The original KLE500 was famous for being a handy commuter with rubbish brakes and a saddle fashioned from an anvil. Comfortable it was not. Thankfully the new one looks a lot more promising, with an adjustable seat and screen, plus a load of touring accessories that suggests Kawasaki have ditched the iron saddle. The new bike is powered by the same 451cc parallel twin used in the Ninja 500, which means it should make an A2-friendly 45.4bhp and 31.4lb·ft of torque. Huge power was clearly not the objective here though, because Kawasaki have barely improved on the original 34-year-old KLE’s figures – that produced 44.8bhp and 30.2lb·ft (although presumably while belching far more environmental evil). ‘KYB suspension should be leagues better than the original’s spongy old nonsense’ However, Kawasaki say…

Bike: The voice of motorcycling since 1971 It wasn’t always this way. Before The Now, we had the Age of Speed (or the Nineties for the people who didn’t participate). The Age of Speed was a golden time. Legendary beasts were at our disposal: Blades, R1s, 916s, RSVs. Machines that scrambled our minds, yet improved and reinvented themselves every few years. Faster, sharper, more intense with every generation. Coupled with the dashcam or iPhone not being in existence, it was a bloody riot. Naturally, we didn’t know how good we had it, but the Great Enforcers knew. They found ways to curtail that freedom. Toys were confiscated, permissions to ride revoked. But a few of us thought differently. The beasts got modified. First by the people, then by the companies.…

What’s in a name? Sometimes loads (BMW, Triumph and Ducati all summon to mind a rich heritage); sometimes not a lot (QJMotor, for instance). And then there’s this. Revived BSA’s new Bantam 350 may objectively (cynically even) be AN Other small-capacity, modestly powered single with retro roadster style. You may even assume it’s jumping on the bandwagon popularised recently by Triumph’s bestselling 400s, Royal Enfield’s HNTR 350 and others. But by having those two names – BSA and Bantam – it’s also tapping into a much-loved pedigree. BSA is, after all, the last of the ‘three kings’ of British heritage motorcycling to be revived, following Triumph and Norton. In its early Fifties pomp BSA were the world’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer. Their iconic Gold Star and Rocket 3 bookended the golden…

The Fireblade’s long-standing dominance (or competitiveness at least) ended when Honda fumbled their efforts to get with the digital programme in 2017. Their next try in 2020 was closer, but clearly geared towards racing. We were not convinced… The last time I rode a Blade from this generation, I handed it back pronto. Its long gearing, top-endy power and ultra-composed handling meant large helpings of speed, but little drama. Any sense of engagement could only be found in the upper reaches of the higher gears. Pay for your Fireblade SP honda.co.uk/motorcycles » CASH PRICE: £23,699 » PCP: £5000 deposit, 36 monthly payments £205.50, optional final payment £12,688.19 (4000 miles, 2.9% APR) » HP: £5000 deposit, 36 months £542.39 (2.9% APR) This time, however, we get on far better. The 2024…

If you’re lucky enough to have strapped yourself onboard a 1000cc superbike in full flow, you’ll know the incredible experience they offer. The braking power that feels like hitting a brick wall, the brutal acceleration from the slightest twist of the throttle, and a level of cornering agility and poise that it feels like cheating. Yet a road-going superbike only scratches the surface of what is truly possible on two wheels; lose 30kg, give it an extra 50bhp and throw on some of the finest electronics and components that money can’t buy, and you’ll be at the sharp end of what a superbike can really do. To find out how that feels, we managed to bag some laps on Toprak Razgatlioglu’s World Superbike Championship-winning BMW M1000RR around the Cremona circuit…

The king is dead, long live the king! Or something like that. It seemed certain Suzuki was discontinuing the V-Strom 650 due to the ‘increasing difficulty and cost of meeting new emissions regulations’ – then came the SV-7GX, so who knows what’s going on. But while we wait to find out, QJMotor has already built a ‘new’ V-Strom 650 – and it’s better and more affordable than the original. The SVT650 is one (well, two, but we’ll get to that) of 16 QJ models being brought to the UK by Moto73, a spin-off of importer MotoGB, who also bring in Voge, Benelli and others. QJMotor, though, is a little different. Dating back to 1985, it’s the ‘own brand’ of Qianjiang Automotive, who until now was best known for owning Benelli…

Putoline Fuel Stabilizer £7.96 Every November I go through the same routine: syphon out my SV650’s tank, refill it using freshly drawn E5 mixed with this magical potion of antioxidants and corrosion inhibitors, then ride it round the block to get it into the carbs. Some popular YouTuber types claim fuel stabiliser is little more than snake oil that can KILL YOUR MOTORCYCLE, and who am I to argue with millions of clicks. What I can say is that it’s worked for me for years: every spring the SV fires into life just as fit and healthy as before. putoline.com…

I arrive at London Blackfriars station after a long day only to find dreaded ‘cancelled’ notices scrolling across my ruined evening. Fed up, I decide it’s time to start commuting on a bike again. I start browsing: simple, cheap, something I won’t cry over if it gets nicked – this is London after all. But the algorithm does that dastardly thing and drops a pristine, tricked-out Triumph Bonneville T120 in front of me. I’ve always wanted a modern retro; all the ’60s style with none of the leaks. I file it under ‘don’t be an idiot’, but it’s still there a week later. I kick the tyres and try to look disinterested but my heart says yes the moment I see it. I buy bikes with my head – a…

As with all love affairs, there are ups and downs to owning a 1993 Ducati M900 Monster. The ups are plentiful. There’s the release of endorphins as I swing open the garage door and take in its voluptuous form. There’s feeling the warmth of the sun on my back as I’m catapulted towards the horizon at a speed I know is well beyond the control of the suspension and brakes. And there’s the intoxicating joy of catching my reflection in a shop window, then being comprehensively absorbed by how mesmerisingly cool I look… before realising the traffic lights went green 30 seconds ago and I’ve brought Oakham High Street to a standstill. The downsides are infrequent, yet predictably regular. In fact, they’re marked on my calendar with three little letters…