CATEGORIES

PEUGEOT 508 PSE SW

Revisions bring welcome new infotainment to this characterful, feisty PHEV

Test fleet: Kawasaki Versys 650 GT

This month it's a case of 'two's company' for our Bert (who counts as a crowd all on his own). Will the 'little' Versys version cut it?

Grin and Tear it!

Yamaha's three-cylinder sports tourer middleweight receives an influx of technology for 2023

THREE BIKES ONE ENGINE

Honda's largest parallel-twin engine manages to cater for an incredibly varied trio of platforms, with the Rebel, NT and Africa Twin being just about as diverse as they come. We ride the Japanese firm's cruiser, adventure bike and commuter/tourer models to find out just how one powerplant can be suitable for all three.

Left field adventures

The adventure bike class has never been more popular. As a result, the range of bikes available is broader than ever. But within the large selection of machinery of very different shapes, sizes, specs and performance, sits something more left field

To the Alps and back

Mankind has always had a hankering to head for the hills. No doubt psychologists and historians would be able to give us a decent explanation why this is so. We don't need one, except to know that travel is good

ABSOLUTELY BATURED

Do you find a standard Bentley a bit mass produced? Well, meet the very exclusive (and very purple] new Batur

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Porsche's 75th birthday surprise is an EV successor to the 918 Spyder hypercar. It'll be faster, sure, but more of an event? That's the million dollar question...

HISTORICS HIT SILVERSTONE

There was plenty of action on Silverstone's Grand Prix circuit for the Historic Sports Car Club's International Trophy meeting on 27-28 May

SMALL, BUT PERFECTLY FORMED

The story of how a small-scale toy maker bridged the class divide and brought model cars to the masses, as Matchbox turns 70

RETURNED TO SENDER

Starting life as a coupé, this unique Ferrari went back to meet its makers for a factory-sanctioned roof chop and a hot new V12

THE FIRST SILVER ABROW

In 1932, a rebodied SSKL arrived at Avus and beat all comers. Now Mercedes-Benz Classic has built an exact recreation of this streamlined racing pioneer, and tested it in the wind tunnel for the first time

Coachbuilt Legacy

Meeting the committed few still flying the flag for Harrington, the coachbuilder that created distinctive bodies for buses and made classy coupés out of British roadsters

Excellence at all costs

The Phantom III embodied all that Rolls-Royce had to offer in terms of both luxury and technical sophistication, but it came at a price

60 years of FORD PERFORMANCE

From RS to ST, Ford's sporting sub-brands have been delivering high-speed thrills to British enthusiasts ever since the Lotus-tweaked Cortina appeared in 1963

INDUCTION CEREMONY

The BMW 2002 turbo was a poorly timed but appealing statement of intent that heralded a new wave of mid-'70s performance motoring

UP FRONT DOWN UNDER

The National Motor Racing Museum at Bathurst celebrates Australia’s rich motorsport history

Mick WALSH

FROM THE COCKPIT

The Grand Tour

These modern-classic luxury super-GTs from Bentley, Aston Martin and Ferrari each uphold their brand values in subtly different ways

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.

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.

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.

HIDDEN TREASURE

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

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.

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…

Christian Iddon

Iddon's one tough cookie, as we're sure you'll agree after reading this.

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.

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.

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.