Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2025 i Fast Bikes

At a time when some motorcycle manufacturers seem more obsessed with mid-capacity adventure bikes, parallel twin commuters and Euro 5+ compliant spreadsheets than with dropping our jaws, Suzuki's recently announced news that it's bringing back the GSX-R1000R for 2026 feels like a two-finger salute to the dulling of the superbike scene. I'll be honest, it's a move I didn't see coming, but one which has got me hoping other manufacturers will take note and perhaps follow suit. Of course, Honda did pretty much the same thing a little while back with the CBR600RR, and it's been fantastic to have that model rejoin the fold. Can we assume the same from the likes of Triumph with a Daytona? With Yamaha and the R1? It's way too early to say, but one…

The A4 piece of paper on the fuel tank left there by its owner contained a potted history of the bike, the knack of how to start it, and a few of its quirks to look out for, my particular favourite being: “Front brake pads are about 20 years old, so pretty f***ed, and the rear brake does little but make the wheel dusty.” I immediately thought my RC30 bubble was going to be burst due to it being so lacking in the brakes department it'd put a real downer on the ride. I need not have worried. Fuel tap on, choke pulled, start button pressed, and the V4 fired up first time and settled into a fast idle while it warmed up. There was never any doubt that this…

Guardians of greatness Meet the RC30 owners… It'll shock no one to hear the RC30 has a cult following. We lobbed a quick post onto the Honda RC30-RC45 Market and Owners Facebook group and were instantly buried under a tidal wave of V4 love. Photos, stories, rebuilds, and race bikes… you name it, they threw it at us. Turns out if you own an RC, you're not just proud - you want the whole world to know about it… Jim Cooper I have built this RC30 out of bits and pieces over a period of seven years, on my own, as I could not afford to buy a complete bike. Polished frame, carbon fairing (paint even done by me), blueprinted engine, full titanium exhaust, RC45 wheels, Ohlins suspension, RCV bearings,…

The Moto Rapido teamisone of the gems in the BSB paddock. Asmall, artisan outfit based in the cathedral city of Winchester, it's built up an impressive reputationover the past 15 years, first in the Superstock series, then Superbike and Superstock classes. Team owner and crew chief Steve ‘Wilf’ Moore is one of the most hands-on bosses in the paddock – and he gave us probably the best, most detailed tech rundown on the 2024 Ducati V4R race bike we've ever had. Enjoy the full-on geek-out… ENGINE • The motor is based on the 2024 V4R 24, modified as permitted by the rules. Moore took us through the spec. • “We are allowed to modify the internal gear ratios, but we use the road bike ratios apart from sixth gear. Cylinder…

Top speed: 136mph Lap time: 1m 42.8 IN ASSOCIATION WITH Having finished at the bottom of our rankings on the road test last issue, I was genuinely hopeful that on track the Hornet would get one over a rival or two when it came to pulling the pin around Cadwell… but that's not how things panned out. I feel bad putting the boot in and calling the bike out for the flaws that hit home like a slap to the chops, but there's no way to skirt around its many less than ideal idiosyncrasies. I'll kick things off by talking about the overly-eager ABS that rendered the bike's brilliant Brembo Stylema calipers mere trinkets and put my heart in my mouth on the very first lap when I realised the…

Big, brash, and brilliantly bonkers, the KTM is the kind of bike that fills your veins with endorphins and unapologetically encourages you to unleash your inner child. As serious as this test was, I must admit that the first few laps on this thing were pure self-indulgence, taking every opportunity going to relish the madness of this marvel, which needs no encouragement to point the front wheel skywards. It felt as daft as a Labrador, but every bit as obedient too. Having snapped out of my tomfoolery, it was soon time to get to work and to explore the virtues on tap from this larger-than-life V-twin powered reprobate. Honestly, that motor's the heart and soul of the show, and it was mesmerising how it could go from a quintessential librarian…

There's nothing quite like Cadwell Park to sort the hype from the heroes. Fast, technical, undulating and unforgiving, it proved the perfect playground for this year's array of headbangers. We say it every time we do NSBOTY… but the supernaked scene has never been so good, meaning this test was every bit a reckoning as it was a comparison. What unfolded was proof that spec sheets don't tell the full story. Yes, we had 210bhp masterpieces with carbon wheels and space-age tech. We also had much more modest machines too, built with budget in mind but still packing plenty of poke and desirability. What we didn't have was a guaranteed winner, because while power and price play a part, it's the overall package that counts on track when you're getting…

SPORTSBIKE SURPRISE FROM SUZUKI… 2026 GSX-R1000R Sometimes, when you see a ‘new’ bike in the mag, we've known about it for ages. Maybe not all the precise details, but it's been pretty obvious what's on the way and what it's likely to be all about. But this one was a surprise - and a beautiful, brilliant, banging one at that. Because all the received wisdom about sportsbikes was against us ever writing the words ‘new Suzuki GSX-R1000R’ ever again. Yamaha's dumped its R1 in roadbike form, the Kawasaki ZX-10R is getting a bit long in the tooth, and with the rest of the litre bike class moving ever upwards into a niche stratosphere, we seemed to be heading into a mainstream sporty roadbike future defined by the likes of Suzuki's…

If the RC30 is the epitome of smoothness and refinement, the Panigale is the very definition of violence and overwhelming levels of performance. But that doesn't mean it isn't refined or unsophisticated because it is all of those things, which - on the road, at least - is one of its greatest tricks… out of many. It's hard to know exactly where to start with the Ducati because it's such a vast motorcycle in terms of tech and performance reserves. It goes without saying that the experience of riding one alongside the RC30 is a contrast, so I guess I'll start with the one and only thing that they have in common: the V4 engine. As well as being of a larger capacity, the Panigale's engine has more traditional chain…

As I said at the beginning, this isn't a comparison, but it's impossible to ride both these bikes and not make comparisons. The curious thing is that despite the gulf between them in terms of performance, both bikes fully engaged me, but in different ways. The RC30 managed a fabulous blend of nostalgia and actual ability, whereas the Panigale is utterly dominant yet doesn't leave you feeling pathetic. The other interesting thought that the bikes provoked was this: there are 37 years between them, and the step in performance and tech during those years is big, so what will a superbike look like 37 years from now? Equally, if you go back 37 years before the RC30, a snazzy superbike then would have been a BSA, Ariel, Triumph or Vincent.…

It is hard to imagine where Yamaha would be nowadays if it hadn't had the balls to invest heavily in R&D during the financial crisis of 2008 rather than batten down the hatches and hunker out the storm. In fact, it's not hard - it would be where many others are nowadays, desperately trying to play catch-up with a fairly outdated model range. But, thankfully for Yamaha, it had someone at the helm who understood the benefits of investing in the future and getting the right product out to the market. Kunihiko Miwa, the man who headed up the R1, R7 and R6 projects in the 1990s. By the 2000s Miwa was in charge of the whole company, and he spearheaded a new generation of Yamaha models powered by crossplane…

It's been a while since I last threw an MT 10 around a track, but it's something I was really looking forward to despite knowing it had little chance of being up at the pointy end… at least as far as lap time was concerned. As for character, wheelies, and planting a big smile on my fach, this thing was always going to be on the money. Needless to say, it didn't disappoint. The best thing about this bike is the CP4 motor, which is far from the most powerful of this lot on test, but the potency on tap with every twist of the throttle is nothing short of insatiable. Honestly, out of the slower corners, the zest from the crossplane motor feels torquey enough to rip the bars…

Top speed: 143mph Lap time: 1m 39.1 IN ASSOCIATION WITH BIG MAC ON TRACK By far the most at home on track. All of that power, all of the agility, and all of those electronics really made the BMW a total weapon. I don't need a stopwatch to know I was easily faster on the BMW than I was on anything else, and it felt well within what it had to offer. I was passing riders on track day-spec litre bikes including S1000RRs, which had been passing me while on other bikes during the day. But it's not just that. It's got so much power that on one occasion an extended wayward low-level wheelie out of Barn had me heading for the pitwall on the main straight, necessitating some hefty…

The Fast Bikes Legal Clinic is compiled by Gavin Grewal, and his bike-riding barristers and solicitors at White Dalton Motorcycle Solicitors. They deal with personal injury claims and their sister company, Motor Defence Team, deal with any motoring offences. All the White Dalton lawyers are qualified barristers, or solicitors, or both - and they all ride motorcycles. They don't act for insurance companies or car drivers. They are Britain's most specialist law practice and if they don't know the answer to your question, there probably isn't one. Don't rely on the advice from your insurance appointed solicitor - get proper independent advice.…

Just what is it about a motorbike with a V4 engine that gets us all frothy and aroused in a way that any bike with an inline four-cylinder engine can't? It's a question I've often mused on over the years and I've never really come up with an answer - probably because it's a two-part answer that itself isn't as straight forward as it could be. I suppose at the heart of it is the fact that riding motorbikes is so much more than just sitting on top of whatever bike you have and going through the motions… that's what cars are for. Riding bikes is so much more involving and when all is said and done, in most cases it's a hobby. Riding a bike is by default a…

There are very few motorcycles that make me laugh quite like a supermoto. This most underrated form of riding has been forgotten by all but a few mainstream manufacturers, but thank goodness there are some with the balls to put a factory-built 17in dirt bike on the street for us to buy, rather than have to convert an off-road machine ourselves and suffer the pitfalls of our own shoddy workmanship. Suzuki has been in the street supermoto game (on and off in the UK) for an impressive 20 years with the DR-Z4SM, beginning life way back in 2005. It may have vanished from the UK scene with the onset of Euro3, but it's remained a hit in many other parts of the world, and in that time the model has…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH Having given this six-pack of reprobates a good seeing to on the roads last issue, we decided to step things up a gear and push them to their limits on one of the UK's most demanding circuits. For those who don't know it, Cadwell Park is jam-packed with tight, technical and fast-flowing sections and has enough undulations to make a rollercoaster jealous. Easy to ride it is not - and this is why it's so suited to showcasing a bike's bad bits… as well as its strengths. So, with a day of pre-ordered sunshine at our behest and plenty of track time on the cards, we descended on this picture-perfect tarmac paradise with the simple goal of establishing which of our scantily clad headbangers offered the best…

Top speed: 140mph Lap time: 1m 38.5 IN ASSOCIATION WITH Abit surprised to see the Aprilia land in fourth place? Yeah, me too. This V4-powered missile has long been one of our top picks, always up there when the flag drops and the proverbial stops. And looking at lap times alone, it's still very much a weapon; I clocked the second fastest lap of the day on it, but doing so maybe wasn't as easy as I'd have hoped. While the 2025 machine has benefited from some worthy updates, such as the enhanced aero package, bettered electronics and a larger, more powerful motor, it continues along the line of its previous DNA… which is no bad thing. It was good before, and it's still very good. It's just that in…

Top speed: 142mph Lap time: 1m 37.9 IN ASSOCIATION WITH BIG MAC ON TRACK Yet again, I was having a word with myself for taking what feels like huge liberties, especially on corner entry. There's always a point when you feel your confidence levels rising, when you begin to doubt yourself, and start to question if you're reading it right and wonder if it really can be that good. There are few bikes which take you to that place where self-doubt begins the creep in, but the RX is one of them. The other thing that really surprised me was just how potent the engine is. Wheelies on the exit of Barn, Gooseneck and Charlies is the behaviour of very powerful bikes with a lot of grip - and the…

If you've been a naughty biker, you need some decent legal advice, get it from mail@vuhitedalton.co.uk This is not a legal Q&A but a legal lesson about biking abroad. Last week, I was away touring with my good friend Mr Gomez (aka Gogo Gomez) and some other pals. Some of you will know Gogo from being on track with his R1 and his legendary dreadlocks. We were touring Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. Sadly, Gogo died when he hit a piece of road furniture in Slovenia. Despite our best efforts, he passed, and we were left with the unenviable position of having to bring Gogo home, as well as his motorcycle. This is the legal lesson. We couldn't find any travel insurance, but we did find an ultimate bank account…

STAR LETTER FORGETTING SOMETHING? Hi guys, Great magazine. I have bought since the very first one and always enjoy it - great content. Regarding Naked Sportsbike Of The Year in the latest issue, again, really enjoyed, very well done as always - apart from one huge glaring issue. Where was the Ducati Streetfighter V4s? I expect you will have had this question asked of you many times, as you can't seriously do a test like this without including the one that started the whole supernaked thing off. Just wondered why? I am sure there is a reason, although I really can't think of what it might be. Cheers, Dick Langton FB: Hi Dick, Thanks for dropping us a line and for all your kind words. It really does mean a…