Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2026 i BIKE

CFMoto: sport mad » CFMoto already have seven sportsbikes in its SR (Sports Racing) range: a 250, 300, two 450s, a 500, a 675 triple and a new 750 inline four. By comparison, Kawasaki have eight sportsbikes, Yamaha have six, Suzuki five and Honda four. CFMoto are also hell‑bent on winning world championships – which they managed in 2024, taking the Moto3 title with the CFMoto Aspar team. They finished third in the 2025 Moto2 and Moto3 teams’ championships, and because of their manufacturing collaboration with KTM, rumours are swirling that the company may take over KTM's factory MotoGP team in 2026, rebranding it as CFMoto. Some Chinese manufacturers have dabbled in sportsbikes, but not CFMoto. They're in up to their ears, as proved by their devotion to Moto2 and…

‘Agirder fork is a damn good construction,’ Indian's design director Ola Stenegärd tells Bike. ‘Just look at the Britten race bike, BMW K1600 or Honda Gold Wing. And it was introduced on the Indian Chief in 1946, so we thought we'd pay a little tribute to it with this concept bike.’ It's clear from the girder forks’ construction that this is far more than a spot of design studio whimsy, though. The headlight, for example, has been mounted to the yokes rather than the fork itself, so that it won't bounce around and could actually be used at night. ‘It's these little bits of design that make the bike viable,’ says Ola. ‘Concept bikes are practice, so we build them to explore ideas and inspire the team’ ‘There's no plan…

Because motorcycle engineering is beautiful Norton's rebirth will be met by a warm, fuzzy feeling by many, including yours truly who had the good fortune to work for the company in its seventh or eighth iteration (the Shenstone rotary engine years, for those keeping count). As one of Britain's great brands it's had periods of great technical leadership and innovation, including (and perhaps especially) in engines. As well as the Wankel, think of the Wulf stepped-piston two-stroke, and the Challenge (which ultimately became the Quantel – how many motorcycle engines were derived from Formula 1 mills? You've got to accept that's cool if nothing else). So, now that Norton have reimagined their V4 offering, let's look at it, do some sums, and compare it to what is perhaps currently the…

Panigale V4 R £39,171 | 998cc V4 | 215bhp Just before exiting the metaphorical stratosphere at 16,000rpm, Panigale V4 R owners will appreciate its WSB homologation-based tech: ground-effect cornering sidepods for tighter lines at extreme lean, larger wings for more downforce, a race gearbox with neutral below first (to avoid accidental selection) and a lever by the throttle to select it at rest – plus more frame flex, twin-sided swingarm, race-spec Öhlins and real-time traction info. See you on the podium at Mugello… Bike says… When Nicolò Bulega tested the new Panigale V4 R, he came back with the same comments the press had about the latest V4 S. So stand by for the friendliest, and therefore fastest, superbike Ducati has ever built. MN Diavel V4 RS £34,571 | 1103cc…

It's fair to say the big H played a couple of blinders this time last year, launching both the GB350S and CB1000 Hornet SP to widespread acclaim. Both made the shortlist for our Bike of the Year, and as value for money both were tough to beat. Twelve months on, Honda have been at it again. But rather than focusing on simplicity, they've gone all out on a fully loaded sports-tourer in the form of the CB1000GT. While the basic platform and engine have been pulled from the Hornet, the GT rolls out of the showroom with a host of electronic and ergonomic upgrades, and costs just £11,999. Is it just a Hornet with a fairing? Considering it's only a couple of grand more than the £10,099 SP, you could…

Street Triple 765 RX £12,895 | 765cc inline triple | 128bhp Once the doyen of funky road riding, the Street Triple continues its transition into a sportsbike. Get a fairing already. Available for one year (so expect a major Street Triple update for 2027), the 765 RX adds above-the-yoke clip-ons (think Honda CBR650R), Öhlins forks to match its shock, a machined top yoke, and red wheels and subframe à la 2014-2015 675 RX. An even more special special edition, the Moto2, has all the above plus carbon fibre panels, a badge indicating which of the 1000 to be built you're riding, and a dayglo yellow subframe. Yours for £2500 over the extra £900 the RX costs over the regular 765 RS. Tiger 900 & 1200 Desert & Alpine editions £14,395-£17,995…

I'm following fellow tester Jon Urry on the Triumph as he carves down one of his favourite local roads somewhere near Oakham. The pace is warm rather than hot, and I suddenly realise I came this way a week before on an S1000R super-naked at about twice the speed. And you know what? I'm having more fun on the Bear 650. On the S1000R I was chasing a gaggle of ex-racers and every part of my brain was engaged in computing a path whereby I didn't lose them or cartwheel into Leicestershire. Adrenaline was spiking, but so was stress. This time, I'm having a ball without the peril. The sun is out, the roads are dry and between the corners we slow to enjoy the scenery. It's amazing what you…

For the first time in years, there's a hierarchy that all three of us agree without argument. In third place is the BSA Scrambler 650. It looks pukka, but its 19in front wheel and longer forks have robbed it of the Gold Star 650's clever combination of agility and steadfast cornering. Instead, the Scrambler feels nervous and unsettling – it certainly doesn't egg you on down a twisty B-road in the way a Gold Star 650 does. Of course, the six-grand price tag is tempting, but the Scrambler feels like it's built down to that number. We would much rather spend more on a more capable machine, or wait for BSA to sort the handling and niggles with the next update. At the other end of the sophistication scale is…

‘The views are staggering – we're hours from civilisation’ The stark afternoon sun beats down on the rocky, yellow two-track ahead of us, while a gusty wind off the grey mountain ridge to our right pummels both my ears and my body. It's strong enough to push the bike around, and cold enough to chill the sweat on my back. The trail is getting steeper, the rocks bigger and looser. I'm worried not just for myself, or the pristine bike I've borrowed, but also for my novice mate riding my own bike behind me. ‘Maybe this is too much,’ I mutter to myself. I glance up from the dangers of the trail, to catch a glimpse of the snow-laden clouds that are stalled on the Bosnian horizon. Those black clouds…

HIGHER GROUND Seat height can be set to 845mm or 865mm – both noticeably higher than the old Tracer 7 (835mm). Day to day I prefer the lower setting, but ahead of a long slog up to Scotland I hoiked it up in seconds (seat off, shuffle plastic bracket, reinstall seat) for more legroom. PLENTY OF PANNIER SPACE Panniers are included on this GT. Each side holds 30 litres, which is more than you get on a Kawasaki Ninja 1100SX (28 litres) or BMW's R1300RT (27 litres). Sorry, which one's the middleweight again? Easy to use, click neatly on and off the bike, and keep their contents dry. RAIN-READY RUBBER Some manufacturers love to pinch pennies by fitting cheap tyres. But not here: credit to Yamaha for choosing Spanish-made Michelin…

I'd had my R1250RT for less than a year but it bit me. It let me down in Ireland, then fell on me in France and ruined my holiday. I wanted another adventure bike – I'd done 37,000 miles on an R1250GS before the RT, and the GS had more legroom plus a better pillion seat for my wife, Pamela. I bought this R1300GS in November 2024. In the first year I've done 11,000 miles, 90 per cent two-up. We've done a few trips to Scotland, plus Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Italy. There's loads of weather protection. We've both got heated seats, Pamela's heated jacket can run off the power socket by the pillion seat, and the heated grips are roasting – I defy anyone to have them on full…

Talk about ahead of the curve. Yamaha have a habit of bringing machines to market way before people know they need them. Consider the 1988 TDR250; a wondrous dual-sport two-stroke twin no one could quite get their heads around. Yes, the ultra-rare-groove 1971 Ossa Yankee was the first of that breed, yet never intended as a mass market proposition. The 1991 TDM850 was another gem that failed to shine in the sales stakes. But the really-not-very-good 1981 TR-1, a 980cc 75° air-cooled V-twin that lived a mercifully short life until euthanised in 1982, is the bike that informs Yamaha's casual obsession with that potent, low frontal area engine format. So, to the 1670cc MT-01. A huge, yet narrow-angle 48° V-twin from the Road Star Warrior cruiser, plonked into a die-cast…

With the old tank replaced by a handmade fuel cell and the rear suspension ditched in favour of a singlesided pushrod system designed in house, this 1984 BMW K100 is like no other. But the stand-out feature has to be that slinky carbon bodywork sitting above the monolithic flat-four motor. ‘Yeah, we wanted to get away from using the standard tank because that immediately limits what you can do,’ says Auto Fabrica's Bujar Muharremi. ‘It would just look like any other K100 custom. So we built a fuel cell with an external fuel pump and filter which are hidden behind the airflow meter on top of the engine. Then we built the carbon cover that goes over the top. We wanted to build a concept bike for the road –…

In 2025, the only three Yamaha R1s competing in British Superbikes came first, second and sixth in the championship, beating herds of far newer machines with considerably more power. And the R1 is favourite to take the title again in 2026, despite facing a new factory Ducati V4 R. So, why is an underpowered 2020 superbike such a BSB weapon? Steve Rodgers, boss of title contenders Raceways Yamaha, explains… Power isn't everything ‘On a SuperFlow dyno [which pressurises the airbox to mimic the high-speed ram air effect] our R1 makes 250bhp at the rear wheel,’ says Steve. ‘But that's still 18-20bhp down on the Ducatis and BMWs, and the Hondas aren't far off that. We're not going to get much more out of the R1 – it is what it…

The Rally is the unapologetically luxurious and expensive ‘Uncle Travelling Matt’ of Ducati's Multistrada V4 line-up. It has off-road chops, of course, but most owners love it for its 30-litre fuel tank, rugged looks, cosseting comfort and the extra compliance of its long-travel suspension, especially fully loaded two-up. It's based on the all-singing V4 S, with the same spring-valved Granturismo V4 engine, chassis, brakes, electronics and semi-active suspension, but comes with a bigger screen, centrestand, bash plate, spoked wheels (19in up front), 30mm/20mm extra front/rear suspension travel, and that big tank – good for a theoretical 284-mile range. Is 168bhp a bit much? While the V4 engine only gets minor Euro5+ tweaks for 2026, Ducati's new DVO (Ducati Vehicle Observer) – first seen on the latest Panigale V4 and Multistrada…

The Z1000 quietly slipped from Kawasaki's UK line-up at the end of 2020. Its supernaked thunder had been stolen by the supercharged Z H2, while the fully faired SX had been updated into a more sophisticated Ninja. With no rider aids, no Euro5 approval and no attention-grabbing USP, the Z1000 was done for. But now it's back. In short, the 2026 Z1100 is the old Z1000 with an extra 56cc, modern electronics and microscopic visual changes. Kawasaki call it their ‘largest-displacement supernaked’ and their ‘top naturally aspirated Z’, both of which are the neat linguistic gymnastics needed to hype it up while still admitting that it isn't on the same level of loopy as the Z H2. So, what's actually new? The engine is a familiar story we know from…

Whereas the rejuvenated BSA and Royal Enfield have only just woken up to the popularity of scrambler-style middleweights, Triumph have been knocking them out for nearly two decades – the first Scrambler pitched up in 2006. That was an 865cc Bonneville with, you guessed it, high pipes, knobbly-ish tyres and a 19in front wheel. Every update followed the exact same formula, although Triumph did briefly flirt with the truth by naming the 2017 bike the Street Scrambler. Pay for your Scrambler 900 triumphmotorcycles.co.uk » CASH PRICE: From £9795 (£10,295 as tested) » PCP: £2000 deposit, 36 months £114.51, optional final payment £5533.75 (4000 miles, 9.4% APR) » HP: £2000 deposit, 36 months £247.94 (9.4% APR) Anyway, the point is that Triumph know exactly what they're doing with scramblers. And it…

Both Adventure Country Tracks (ACT) and Trans Euro Trail (TET) collate off-tarmac routes, then do their best to imprint upon their users that these trails are both beautiful but easy to lose. TET is based in the UK; ACT in Germany. Another key difference is that while the TET offers its GPX route files for free, and uses volunteer linesmen to keep the routes up to date, ACT has a tiered ‘membership’ programme for downloading its GPX routes. » Trans Euro Trail Inspired by the Trans American Trail, TET founder John Ross started piecing together an off-road route from the UK across Europe just over ten years ago. The difficulty of these routes varies as much as the landscape, countries and legalities of each country it crosses. But it's fair…

Three months is usually enough for riders to take a bike for granted – the thrill of the new fades, gizmo settings are settled on, foibles are acclimatised to. From then on it's largely about enjoying rides. Not with the RT. It isn't flawless (we'll come to that), but I'm still wowed by it on every ride. So many seemingly minor elements are so perfectly honed I never tire of appreciating them. Take the screen – it's so good I'm about to wax lyrical about electronically adjustable perspex. I tweak it on every ride, depending on weather, temperature, the type of road and my mood. And each time the screen's just right. Rain? An inch off fully up keeps you dry with no buffeting or low pressure pulling you forward.…

Heated clothing has been used for around 100 years – extensively used by aircrew in the Second World War – but it wasn't until the 1970s that it became available for motorcycling. Until recently heated clothing generated heat in the same way as an electric blanket, by passing a current through wires sewn into the garment. That's relatively inefficient and breakages are common, so now we use panels with heat-conducting carbon fibres woven into them, which are so reliable that ours carry a lifetime warranty. Modern heated kit also fits more snugly than before, thanks to materials like UltraFlex, which has four-way stretch, moulding the garment to the wearer's body contours without restricting movement. We can now produce gloves with all the features and protection you expect from a regular…

I think I'm an addict. It's been as much as a couple of weeks since I was last in the mountains, but here I am again. In my favourite place of all, the French Alps. On my favourite bike of 2025, the Kawasaki Ninja 1100SX SE Tourer. It's all blue skies, tight turns and a howling airbox echoing off the rocks. If this is addiction, I don't want to get clean… Technically I'm here working, leading a tour (for ChickenStrips, the company I operate with Bruce ‘TeapotOne’ Smart). I'm meant to be here to share my knowledge, be the speed-camera canary as the lead rider and whatever else. But if this is what it takes to get me back to the Alps, I'll count myself very lucky indeed. Because riding…

1 John Westlake John's contacts book runneth over. How powerful is a BSB R1? Phone the team boss. What's Indian's girder concept all about? Just ask designer Ola Stenegärd. Always gets the stories behind the bikes. 5 bikes that matter this month – p10 2 Jamie Turner A former engineer at Norton (back in the rotary/Shenstone days), Professor Jamie is uniquely placed to assess the Manx R's ‘all-new’ V4 engine. Is it really all new? And how does it compare to Ducati's V4? Red or Silver? – p22 3 Greg Moss Talented photojournalist who's as happy fiddling with f-stops as asking awkward questions. This month he infiltrates the team of just 35 (plus a few dogs) building some of the planet's best bike suspension. Inside K-Tech Suspension – p87 4…

First, electric bikes proved they can beat petrol equivalents at trials. Now the whirring assassins are targeting motocross, with this concept showing Yamaha's approach. The YE-01 is essentially a cutting-edge motocross bike – in this case a 2026 YZ450F – with the 60bhp four-stroke replaced by a battery and liquid-cooled electric motor thought to make upwards of 70bhp. The bike was developed in conjunction with electric trials experts Electric Motion (EM) and features traction control, power modes and a sophisticated hydraulic clutch – all systems honed by EM over the past 10 years of competition. However, the YE-01's motor and inverter are all new – and it's liquid-cooled, unlike EM's current range. Yamaha haven't released power figures, but the motor's need for liquid-cooling and the fact it's pitched directly against…

Bike: The voice of motorcycling since 1971 In 2010 Bike was in a purple patch of pipe-dream feature ideas. Ludicrous concepts emerging from office meetings included: ‘Faster than a speeding bullet – can a bike beat an army marksman?’, ‘180mph under the sea – racing the Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel’ and ‘Kevin Schwantz does a road test at Snetterton’. But last on the impossible list was ‘Fastest car in the world versus fastest bike: S1000RR takes on a Veyron.’ The Bugatti cost a cool £1.2 million and the factory, in Molsheim, France, didn't dish out test drives to scumbag motorcycle journalists. But at least we had the bike; BMW's S1000RR had just landed that year with 182bhp at the wheel and did 188mph on the test strip, making it…

Eighty new bikes. Depending on how you count the many variants, it could be closer to 100. From affordable 125s to hand-built exotica, superlative superbikes to electric commuters, and welcome returns to names you've never heard of. There's something for every rider over the next 31 pages. To help make sense of it all we've distilled down the endless marketing guff to the important stuff you need to know – then mixed in a dash of informed opinion from Bike's experienced testers. Aprilia RS457 GP Replica £7000 (est) | 457cc parallel twin | 47bhp While others are going all-out for 2026, Aprilia seem to have put their loafers up. Aside from jazzy colours on their Factory models and a 400cc scooter, the closest thing to a new model is this…

SRK 921 £9000 (est) | 921cc inline four | 126bhp If you're a long-time Bike reader with a decent back catalogue, dig out your January 2012 issue and flip it open to page 49. You'll find a test of something called an MV Agusta Brutale 920. At just £9999, it was intended as an affordable MV, using a smaller-bore version of the engine from the 990 and 1090 Brutales. Then, in September 2020, MV and QJMotor announced a ‘strategic partnership’. Rumours emerged that QJ would use MV's inline four in a Benelli-branded bike. Instead, today that 921cc engine powers QJMotor's SRK 921 RR sportsbike – its MV-esque steel trellis/cast aluminium frame, single-sided swingarm and red-and-silver colours mere coincidence, of course. The RR is already on sale in the UK for…

Back in the day, proper blokes would ride out to a bumpy field at the weekend, clamp their fag between pursed lips, adopt a 1000-yard stare and compete in scrambling races on their commuters. Collarbones were cracked, off-road stars were born and – eventually – the manufacturers cottoned on and started making achingly cool dirt bikes. Which – 60 years later – brings us to these three. Triumph, Royal Enfield and BSA all made scramblers from their road bikes in those heady black-and-white days, and are now doing much the same thing. The only difference – admittedly quite a big one – is that the modern scramblers are not designed to scramble. Yes, they have dirt-friendly 19in wheels, pseudo-knobbly tyres and more ground clearance than the models that spawned them,…

The Marc Márquez MotoGP story began on Christmas Day 1997, when dad Julià and mum Roser gave their four-year-old son a Yamaha PW50. This little dirt bike has launched hundreds of great careers, including MotoGP champions Fabio Quartararo, Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden. Márquez made his competition debut in a Moto Club Segre kids’ enduro event in the summer of 1998: nervous eyes, dad by his side, the Pee Wee still wearing stabilisers, its rider barely able to touch the ground in his miniature motocross boots. Never mind, the spark had been lit and the fire would rage. And rage and rage and rage. Soon the PW50 was replaced by a KTM SX50 motocross bike. By now Marc had learned how to balance and the signs of his future greatness…

Proworks bead buddy £14.99 As a young DIY mechanic, I assumed changing a dirt bike tyre wouldn't be that hard. Like a bicycle tyre, but bigger? Er… no. Years of skinned knuckles, swearing, sweating and pinch punctures taught me that. However, I'm now vaguely proficient, largely thanks to this little device which holds the tyre in the wheel's drop centre while I get busy with the levers (and gallons of Fairy Liquid) on the other side. Two minutes of careful levering and the tyre's back on – with no pinch punctures. Halle-bloody-lujah. 24mx.co.uk…

My DesertX Rally's first birthday passed a couple of months ago. The pre-purchase test ride – all three miles of it – revealed uncanny balance and silky control feel. It's been a happy relief to learn over the next 9000 miles that it does the other stuff, too. Like go round corners on big suspension and nonsensically knobbly tyres, consume 600-mile days, and masochistically teeter through enduro parks. It's a tall bike with tall suspension and a tall seat, so bleating about the Rally being tall seems churlish. However, there have been occasional balance incompatibilities. Sometimes there's a yelp, at others a muttered ‘bugger’. Or the one time when I was so knackered after a day's riding I climbed up onto the bike, rocked it off its sidestand and wordlessly…

The last time the Team Bike RC30s turned a wheel was at Spa, when British Superbike champ Kyle Ryde smoked 90 per cent of the modern bikes we were up against [Ryde of a lifetime, Bike December]. That six-hour was our last race of the season, so now we're back in the workshop getting ready for next year. We're going over the two 840cc bikes we ran most of the season. One of them caught fire after we got taken out by a slower rider at Paul Ricard. We got it out on track at Spa, but it needs stripping down and a bit more work. I've sent the one good wiring loom to Rupert Paul (rupesrewires.com) for him to copy and make two more. On top of going through…