Sports Tourer

Eagerly anticipated but horrendously expensive on its launch, the Fazer needed a price cut before gaining the popularity it deserved. But what about a used one?

Like Barbara Windsor, it hasn't been considered sexy for years. So what's kept the ZZ-R600 on Kawasaki's books all this time? It's the fastest, squashiest, flying sofa has ever seen, that's why...

With a price tag of £5549 Suzuki's new Bandit 1250 comes with a huge motor and tons of all-round potential. But is it better than a lightly-used big bore bargain?

Why let your choice of bike confine your riding experience? Expand your horizons and visit new places with the latest breed of multi-tasking bike.

BMW wants us to know their new R1200S is very much a sports bike. But by whose reckoning? Theirs or ours? Sporting all-sorts go to the Alps to find out. And not a race track in sight...

Psst... Don't tell anyone, but there's a revolution underway: proper sports bike motors wrapped in stripped-down, sharp-steering chassis. Run for the hills! The naked generation is upon us!

Why build one bike when you can have two at twice the price? Yamaha's new FZ1 naked and half-faired FZ1 Fazer emerge into the cold light of day

Would ewe believe it? You can get a 1000cc twin for less than seven grand. Should we flock to buy them or are we baa-king up the wrong tree? We go to Wales to find out.

It's every officer's duty to escape. So our four battle-weary soldiers slipped the confines of Blighty for the freedom of Germany's autobahns to stretch the legs of four very fast bikes.

Woke up. Fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup and looking up, I noticed I was late...

The East Germans strip off in the name of freedom and liberate a thumping good naked bike from beneath the wraps of their less exciting 1000S

Poking death with a stick then running away scared, our four intrepid testers take on the Nurburgring armed with four sports tourers.

It's big, it's weird looking and it doesn't have any clothes on. Oh yes, and it's very, very fast. Are BMW about to take the naked bruiser class by storm?

The rain in Spain fell mostly as snow. Jon Urry discovers it's not all glamour in this job as he tests BMW's new sports tourer.

Triumph have gone straight for Honda's sport touring jugular. Watch out VFR, here comes the new Sprint ST. Jon Urry flies to South Africa to ride it.

A weekend of wine tasting on bikes that represent the more refined side of life. We explore France's Loire Valley from the comfort of three ultimate touring machines.

Take the best 600 sportsbikes in the world to a circuit for three days, put them on identical tyres, add thirteen journalists from ten different countries and you have the most comprehensive test ever

Wozza, Gus and Tim head from London to Cannes in time for cocktails, so make it as fast as possible please, by Hayabusa, Blackbird and ZX-12R

Three different bikes, three different prices and three different ways to sports, tour and commute. These bikes are living proof that in the world of motorcycling, you can indeed have your cake, take it to the South of France and eat it...

£2,500 gets you a lot of motorbike if you use your noggin these days. We did just that and landed a trio of minto sportsbikes. Then we got a Beemer for the same miserly sum just for comparison's sake

Once a year, at Shrove-Tide, Ashbourne becomes the Wembley of the Peak District.

Looking at buying either a 600 or 1000 Fazer but can't make your mind up? Do the running and retail costs of the 1000 put it in a different league to its little budget brother? All that and more inside. Lovely.

Just a Bandit with a full fairing? TWO flies to France and discovers the new GSX650F is a bike that’s much greater than the sum of its parts.

The original Ducati spoiler is more practical and arguably more exotic too. Plus the spec'd up 'R' version can be had on the used market for as little as £3,000. But beware, she has a few issues up her skirt.