Kyle Ryde

Every now and then, it seems like there’s a bit of a changing of the guard in the top race series. The big names you’ve grown accustomed to begin to drift down the results sheets and new, less familiar names start to rise to the top.

THE FINALE - ROAD TO THE TT YAMAHA R7 PROJECT

Now the dust has settled, it’s time to tell the tale of how Rutter’s R7 cut it around the 2023 Isle of Man TT.

MID-SIZED MAESTRO 2023 KTM RC 8C

The second-generation KTM RC 8C took all of two minutes to sell out its 200-unit production run. Cathcart was not lucky enough to have bought one, but he bagged another golden ticket – to try one out for size around Valencia.

HIDDEN TREASURE

Remember the 2005 YZF-R6? This one-hit wonder is worth searching out...

THE Fairy-tale TT

The dust might only just be settling on this year’s epic TT, but we want to take you back to 2017 and one of the most magical wins around the Island ever. To a Senior TT victory that could, and maybe even should, have gone very differently. It’s time to talk about Michael Dunlop and the Hawk Suzuki GSX-R1000R…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ROUNDING OFF...

So, what has this test taught us?

BMW S 1000 RR: GEN 4

So, what difference does 13 years make to a model?

OLD VERSUS NEW

BMW S 1000 RR VS S 1000 RR: GEN 1

Steve Parrish

I'm just back from a nice little break in Majorca, back for my son's wedding

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

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…

Max Cook

It's one of the great journalism clichés spotting the next hot new prospect in racing

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...

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

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

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

SUZUKI GSX-8S

After a bit of a hiatus, Suzuki's back in the lucrative entry-level sector

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?