Bike Tests
POSTER BOY
This is how that now-iconic Susie poster came to be
LOST CAUSE: YAMAHA'S 1982 500CC GP SEASON
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Determined to win back the world 500cc title in 1982, Yamaha put its star rider onto a completely untried V4. Here’s what happened
FACTORY OUTLET: HAILWOOD'S HONDA RC181
Imagine if Marc Marquez got jack of waiting for HRC to fix the handling on his RCV213V and hired a local frame guru to improve it. That was what Mike Hailwood did in the 1960s
WIN ON SUNDAY...1970-1987 CASTROL SIX HOUR
For 18 years it was an iconic Australian institution. This is the rise and fall of the Castrol Six Hour Production Race
THE LEGEND OF YAMAHA ASIA: TREVOR DISCOMBE
If it wasn’t for a wayward wheelie off the line, Kiwi Trevor Discombe could have been a household name. This is his story.
THE FIRST AND THE LAST
It’s 45 years since Giacomo Agostini won the 1975 500cc world championship with Yamaha. It was the first premier-class title for a two-stroke and it was Ago’s last
CHRISTIAN SARRON: "I STARTED RACING BECAUSE I WAS SCARED"
Conquering his rivals wasn’t Frenchman Christian Sarron’s primary goal during his 18-year Grand Prix career. There was one other thing he needed to beat first
WORLD WAR SPEED
Fifteen years before World War II the motorcycle land-speed record changed more often than at any other time in history. A time, for a while at least, when British twins ruled the world
DEAD ON ARRIVAL: BIKES OF FUTURE PAST
In a time when out-of-the-box innovation ruled motorcycle design, here are eight motorcycles that may well have changed the course of motorcycling… had they made production
DUKES OF WELLINGTON: HANDBUILT WORD BEATERS
Nitro-burning Ducatis, a short-stroke Pantah that revved to over 14,000rpm, one of the very first 851 Superbike engines housed in a custom frame. Things got a little crazy in New Zealand in the 1980s
GENTLEMAN JOHN: JOHN WOODLEY
John Woodley was close to being thrust into the limelight in the 1970s – until he hit a cast iron fire hydrant on his RG500
1989: WE RODE ALEX CRIVILLÉ'S JJ-COBAS TB5 125 RACER
It’s been 30 years since Alex Crivillé took out the 125cc GP world title aboard the Rotax-powered JJ-Cobas. We wind back the clock to a time when two-strokes ruled the world