Automotive
Fast Bikes UK
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT...
So, there you have it… you’ve got our take on the bikes to buy, the bikes to salivate over, and the bikes to take a punt on. But before we sign off and leave you to a weekend of scrolling online ads for overlooked bargains, we thought we’d give you a bit of insight from a bloke who’s built up an impressive collection of bikes on the back of buying them at the right time and for the right price.
4 min |
August 2023
Fast Bikes UK
WORTH A PUNT...
2004 Fireblade - The 2004 Fireblade is the result of Honda deciding it wanted to go superbike racing, abandoning its ‘less is more’ approach to superbike design and going all in with a 1000cc example. It also drew heavily on Honda’s design philosophy of mass centralisation it was using to great effect on the V5 RC211V MotoGP bike. And it was the first non-Baba designed Fireblade, which, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 20 years, you’ll know is significant.
7 min |
August 2023
Fast Bikes UK
ON THE UP...
2009 Yamaha R1 - In 2008, when Yamaha released the teaser adverts for the upcoming replacement to the ever popular R1, all they did was publish a photograph of a crankshaft.
7 min |
August 2023
Fast Bikes UK
BIKES THAT HAVE BOOMED...
Ducati 916 - Like all the bikes in this category, the 916 should really not need any introduction, but as an example that in recent times has gone mad in value, this shines.
10 min |
August 2023
Fast Bikes UK
HEDGING YOUR BETS...
We all have that list – bikes we wish we still had and can’t believe we sold for what we did, because since then they’ve gone on to become icons that everyone wants... but when we owned them, they were just what we got our kicks with.
5 min |
August 2023
Fast Bikes UK
2023 KTM 890 SMT released
The first road bike that really made us sit up and take notice of KTM was the original 2005 950 SM supermoto
2 min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Lee Jackson
Interviews with Kawasaki factory BSB racers in Fast Bikes are a bit like buses. None for ages – then you get two at once… Last month we spoke to Max Cook, the new rider for the Cheshire Mouldings team about his career so far and his relationship with SHARK. And this month we’re doing the same with Lee Jackson, the senior rider in the Kawasaki UK-backed team (Team Green completists can also read about Jackson’s ZX-10R race bike on the Addiction pages this month).
3 min |
July 2023
Fast Bikes UK
WHAT THE TECH: SLIPPER CLUTCHES
Few people know more about slipper clutches than MotoGP tech guru Neil Spalding. We quizzed him on the wonder weapons.
8 min |
July 2023
Fast Bikes UK
YAMAHA R7 PROJECT
Time and tide waits for no man, and the same goes for race meetings. Up against it, the Batham’s R7 made it to the North West 200… but only just.
6 min |
July 2023
Fast Bikes UK
BAGGING A GOOD'UN
There are some things in life that just don’t make much sense, but never let that be said of baggers on a race track, banging bars and scraping panniers.
7 min |
July 2023
Fast Bikes UK
TOUR DE PHWOAR YAMAHA TRACER 9 GT+
If you’re in the market for a cracking sports-tourer, Yamaha’s Tracer 9 GT+ should be at the pointy end of your list.
9 min |
July 2023
Fast Bikes UK
REBOOTED RENEGADE KTM 890 SMT
It’s been 10 years since KTM dropped the SMT from its range, but now it’s back – with more bling, more attitude... and more reasons to own one.
10+ min |
July 2023
Fast Bikes UK
ROUNDING OFF...
So, what has this test taught us?
1 min |
July 2023
Fast Bikes UK
BMW S 1000 RR: GEN 4
So, what difference does 13 years make to a model?
8 min |
July 2023
Fast Bikes UK
OLD VERSUS NEW
BMW S 1000 RR VS S 1000 RR: GEN 1
9 min |
July 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Steve Parrish
I'm just back from a nice little break in Majorca, back for my son's wedding
3 min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Where do I start...?
You could say that nothing in life worth having comes easy – and I think I’ve experienced that first-hand just recently
3 min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Tickin' over
The 2023 British Superbike Championship is now well under way – and if you didn’t put the work in pre-season, I’m sorry to say you’ve probably missed the boat. Au revoir…
2 min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Max Cook
It's one of the great journalism clichés spotting the next hot new prospect in racing
4 min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
WHAT THE TECH: REAR SUSPENSION
It's hard to oversell the significance of your bike's rear shock. Here's what you should know about it...
10+ min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
SHED FIND TO SUPERBIKE...
Last month, they got the bike running. This month, the focus is on giving the ZX-7R a good old scrub and a bit of Love in the workshop
8 min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Used Bike Guide 2002 SUZUKI GSX-R1000 K1/2: HAVE SOME OF THAT!
In 2001, the bad boy of the litre bike class arrived - Suzuki's GSX-R1000
6 min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
MOTOGP AT THE TT
In 2019, Michael Rutter lapped the TT at 131mph on his GP-derived Honda RCV213V-S. This year, he’s back for more of the same. Here’s the bike’s story
10+ min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
SUZUKI GSX-8S
After a bit of a hiatus, Suzuki's back in the lucrative entry-level sector
10 min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
FIT FIGHTING
It’s one thing making the most powerful, exciting and perhaps brilliant supernaked to ever grace the earth, but what happens when the time comes to top it?
10+ min |
June 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Christian Iddon
That’s Spanish testing complete and I’m on the flight back home. All that remains is a couple of UK tests before the season kicks off for real.
4 min |
May 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Tim Neave
Sh*t’s about to get real and I’ve never been so excited. We are now only three weeks away (at the time of writing this) from round one of the British Superbike Championship at Silverstone, March 7-9, and my off-season is rapidly drawing to a close.
3 min |
May 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Full zero gas
Sometimes it pays to back off the intensity...but in a structured way.
2 min |
May 2023
Fast Bikes UK
Jeremy McWilliams
Bike racing – it’s a young man’s (or woman’s) game, right? Bashing fairings and heads, trekking round the world, sacrificing every spare minute in a quest to go faster. Demanding complete physical and mental effort at all times.
3 min |
May 2023
Fast Bikes UK
WHAT THE TECH: AERODYNAMICS
The black art of aerodynamics is increasingly becoming the key area of development in the search for better lap times, especially in the prototype MotoGP class.
10+ min |