BMW F900R Second Glance

BMW Motorrad India has launched two new middleweight motorcycles in India, the F 900 R and the F 900 XR.

The Country Garden Tour

The day didn’t start well. With the two old legends serviced and prepped the day before, the last thing you want to do is run out of petrol in your driveway.

Suzuki's Turn 18 October - Aragon 1

These MotoGP weekends are getting far too nerve-racking! The absence of first Marquez and now Rossi has meant that many have had to choose new favorites to support on race day.

Harley-Davidson VR1000 Roadster Street Superhog

‘While I am trying to make Bike SA more relevant to the South African motorcycling scene, some stories that don’t necessarily adhere to those aims are too good to not be told. This is one of those stories, made all the better for being a small but significant and completely out-of-character blip on the normally staid and traditional Harley Davidson company. Ed.'

THE Megola

Article about engineering dead-ends in motorcycling but, in choosing the Megola

THE COLLECTORS : PART 1 Rob Coutts

There are some fantastic motorcycle collections throughout South Africa, some large, some small, most of them hidden away and rarely see the light of day. I thought it would be interesting to take a peek behind the garage doors at some of the hidden gems lying within some of these collections, talk to the people who have built them up over the decades and the stories behind them.

DARRYN'S TURN

MOTO3 - CATALUNYA, BARCELONA

Cross Country Alive & Kicking

The Emperors new clothes. For Charan Moore this was his first competitive event under the new colours of the factory KTM team and he didn’t disappoint. Third place overall and a strong win in the OR1 class to head into the National event one week later in good form

Riding Tips: He Eyes' Have It...

Whilst this might seem like a bit of an obvious topic to cover - using your eyes when riding - as always, there’s more to this than meets the eye…sorry for the pun. There are a couple of tips that it is essential to adopt if you are to be as safe as possible on our crowded roads.

Lightweight Bikes: Light On The Pocket Big On Fun

Bigger is better. Speed is everything. Fast is sexy. Only a top-of-the-range bike can generate envy; only the best is desirable.

Post-Covid Motorcycle Trading

Selling your motorcycle privately has both its dangers and its benefits. I have often suggested that you should partner with a trusted dealer and let them manage the trade-in and finance if applicable. However, there is a new business- or dealer-trend that is very worrying.

A Man With A Passion : Pierre Terblanche Interview

Pierre Terblanche needs no introduction to motorcyclists the world over. Following stints with Ducati, Royal Enfield, Confederate and our very own BST, his designs have helped shape the face of motorcycling, not without their fair share of controversy along the way.

THE Vespa

Is there anything more Italian than the Vespa? It can be mentioned in the same sentence as pasta and pizza as a definition of Italian lifestyle. Imitated a thousand times but never bettered, it got the Italian population mobile after the second world war as much as the FIAT 500 did and remains in production in virtually the same form 75 years later.

THE GARIEP DAM TOUR

“In days gone by, when De Aar was a ‘full-steam-ahead’ kind of town, the locomotive drivers would yank their whistles late at night as they approached the Karoo settlement. Each driver would have his own signature tune, and his family living in the town would know it well. They’d set out the supper dishes the minute that whistle went off.” (Karoo Keepsakes; Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit; MLM Publishers; Cradock; 2009)

THE MOTOGP ROUND-UP -23 AUGUST - AUSTRIA TWO :HOW MAD CAN IT GET?

I’m loathe to say that this season has been interesting because of the absence of Marc Marquez, but it’s a difficult assumption to refute. Without his presence, have those who would have measured their performance against him seized the opportunity to occupy the top dog position, leading to an escalation in self-belief, were it even needed?

ZONTES CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

The Art of Coming Last But Still Having Fun

DUCATI MH900E -FORM MATCHED BY FUNCTION

Our correspondent from Europe, Alan Cathcart, got the chance to ride the Ducati MH900e when it was launched at the beginning of the millennium. Here are his impressions.

Giacomo Agostini's Sala Trofei: Ago's Artefacts

I make no apologies for publishing this long story about the man who is arguably the greatest rider of all time. Whether your vote goes instead to Hailwood or Rossi or even Marquez, there can be no doubt that Giacomo Agostini stands shoulder to shoulder with them. Here, Alan Cathcart visits Agostini’s new Sala Dei Trofeo and hears some wonderful reminiscences from the man himself.

Triumph Tiger 800 XCA, 2020, 1635KM, R169,888

Last month, you read about the new Triumph Tiger 900. I told you that it is a step forward from the outgoing Tiger 800 but that didn’t necessarily mean that the 800 is a bad bike. Far from it. The Tiger 800 remains a brilliant road bike, with a fantastic engine, good comfort and good looks. In short there’s nothing wrong with it at all and only a hardened off-road rider could criticise its lack of lowdown torque in off-road riding. But, how often are you likely to be doing that?

BMW GS Turns 40

Little did BMW engineers realise that, 40 years ago this year, they conceived a motorcycle that was to shape future motorcycling so fundamentally. In 1980, it would have been impossible to predict that the R80G/S and its successors would become the best-selling motorcycle range in the company’s history.

Suzuki V-Strom 1050XT

When there is an acknowledged market leader in a given category of motorcycle, it does tend to blinker people to alternatives that are, in all likelihood, just as good. Often the market leader is there simply because of a better marketing campaign or fortuitous exposure in some form of media. I’m not saying that they’re no good and don’t deserve to be at the top of the pile, but let’s get things in perspective.

Workshop Tips

If there’s one thing that you have do yourself, regularly, it is to lubricate your chain. The advent of the ‘O-ring’ chain has made this less essential than previously, or maybe it would be more accurate to say that intervals between lubrications has been extended, even if the need to has not.

Historic Racer Test Mike Hailwood's NSU Sportmax 251rs Racer The Start Of It All.

Landmark ride at Germany’s Oschersleben circuit on one of the two West German-built NSU Sportmax 250s on which Mike Hailwood first made his name in international racing

The MotoGP Round-Up 16 August - Austria

You have to be kidding me!

Oh, For Goodness Sake More New 2-Stroke Tech!

I’m thinking about re-naming the magazine, ‘2-Stroke Bike SA’, given the amount of news there is coming out about the engine. It seems we can’t publish an issue without there being some new development that someone, somewhere is working on.

THE MELTON WOLD

Melton Wold Guest Farm (40 km west of Victoria West) is one of those rare old Karoo institutions which should be on the bucket list of all itinerant motorcyclists. It’s ten years since I last visited it and I decide to explore some long-awaited virgin dirt tracks en route.

Fired Blade

HONDA CBR 1000 RR-R

BMW F900R, F900XR, S1000XR

When BMW Motorrad South Africa announced a day-long introduction to the F900R, F900XR and S1000XR, we weren’t about to let the fact that we had published the story of the international launch only a few months ago stop us trying them out on home soil. We may not have the roads of Spain as our playground but we weren’t going to let a small detail like that put us off; I had to see for myself what these bikes were like.

KTM Duke 890R: Stay Sharper

It’s been a busy start to the year for KTM. In the last four months, we have featured two significant new KTM models; the 390 Adventure and the 1290 Super Duke R. Now the 890 Duke R has arrived on our shores, slotting in between the middle of the other two and completing the family line-up. You’ll all doubtless be relieved to hear that I’ll resist the temptation to use the analogy of the Three Bears again (see July issue); even I’m bored of that one!

The Roggeveld Tour

There’s really only one time of year to cross the dry husk of earth that is the Tankwa Karoo, and that’s mid-winter. And, for me, there’s also only one road to do it on, the Rietfonteinpad (east from Tankwa Padstal) which later joins the R356 (‘the forgotten highway’) to Sutherland. At least this is what I’m thinking as I smugly enjoy a cup of flask coffee in the windless and sunwarmed conditions in the middle of nowhere.