Motorbike

IT WAS FAIR to say this was not the most glamorous of launches. There was no hot and cold running champagne, no business class flight to a far-flung land, and nor was there anyone offering me gifts and trinketry at every available opportunity.

WHEN TWO TESTED an early prototype of the Moto Morini Corsaro a few issues ago it impressed, but was by no means perfect.

Kawasaki prefers not to mess around.

It’s increasingly difficult for manufacturers to come up with really individual bikes. Especially big bike manufacturers. One designer decides underseat exhausts are the way forward for example, and suddenly so do all the others. But CCM is a company more able to plough its own furrow.

The Ducati Monster 695 (2006-2008) fills a niche for a more powerful but well-priced bike that retains the legendary design touches of the marque

No two ways about it, Ducati’s Sport 1000 isn’t a comfy bike. It stretches you out like a rack and breaks both your wrists at anything less than 70mph with harsh suspension and aggressive clip-ons.

The latest incarnation of the Monster gets a 999 130bhp engine and a chassis to match any superbike. Wide bars, wide attitude, wide grin

Thirty-three years in the planning and Ducati's Sportclassics are finally here. But you'd better be quick if you want one

Too fast, too furious? Niall Mackenzie takes a walk on the wild side onboard Aprilia's Tuono 1000R

A bike with tremendous ability, attitude and character. Very pricey but has the specs to match.

KTM 690 Supermoto

BMW are best known for tourers, and here we have the K1200GT, the more touring-oriented version of the sporty K1200S launched 18 months ago. The K1200GT has slimline, slab-sided, challenging looks but it's not the most unattractive sports tourer around by a long shot.

The Deauville has been quietly going about its business since the late 90s and there are over 5000 of them pottering about our roads.

Claudio Castiglioni, big boss of MV Agusta, would like to put everyone’s minds at rest regarding the future of MV Agusta. During the Misano launch of the MV F4 1000R he gave a personal

I KNOW I’M NOT as young as I was. I run a ‘sensible’ car, my hair is starting to recede, and the passage of time seems to have been compressed somehow. But it really isn’t so long ago since the best sportsbikes were of 750cc capacity.

For 2005 Kawasaki turned it down from 11, and in the process produced an almost perfect package.

Yamaha jumps the gun and launches the 2006 R1 before the competition. Over-confidence, or are the small changes enough to make a big difference?

More power, less weight, and all wrapped in a GSX-R1000 looky-likey form. The 2006 Suzuki GSX-R600 K6 is bound to kick butt on-track - but can it deliver on the road?

Perhaps it has lost just a fraction of the craziness that made the original such scary fun, but the 2006 ZX-10R has plenty of bad-ass character left.

You don’t have to be fat with a big beard to look good on a Harley. In fact, Harley is taking as many personal physical attributes out of the equation as possible to include everyone in the great American alternative lifestyle. The Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 Low is a new model.

The 2006 Rocket III Classic may appear to be yet further Americanised, but does it still do the business in terms of performance?

Voxan has struggled to put the French motorcycle industry back on the map since the firm began building its quirky V-twins 10 years ago. But things are looking up under current boss Didier Cazeaux, a multi-millionaire who, like Triumph’s John Bloor, made his fortune in construction.

Packing the biggest and most powerful Yamaha cruiser engine yet, plus a bag of styling cues lifted from the 1930s, the Midnight Star is bristling with modern technology. It's even got an EXUP valve

In a bid to leave no touring cruiser micro-niche unfilled, Harley-Davidson serves up an Electra Glide with a twist