Sports Tourer

Half elephant, half cyclops, but all-conquering when it came to the title of King of Speed in the late 1990s, the Hayabusa is still the yardstick for sheer velocity and a fantastic cult motorcycle.

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...

Ten years ago the Super Blackbird was celebrated as the fastest and most powerful thing on two wheels. Now, it's 'just' a very fast, big, sports tourer with an enviable reputation for quality.

A revelation when it first appeared: here was a proper British effort at a big sportsbike. Over the years while the competition has got wilder, the Daytona has stayed milder which makes the mature Daytona a very solid road bike

Cheaper than chips and more versatile than a Swiss Army knife, the Yamaha Fazer is one of the few bikes that really can be (nearly) all things to all men - and all for under two grand

An aesthetic and performance revolution in its day, the 916 series has guaranteed iconic status for Bologna's blood-red bullets for time immemorial. But are those stories of Desmodromic histrionics all true?

Year-on-year since its introduction in 1987, Honda's venerable CBR600F has been the undisputed king in the white-hot battle royal of the middleweight 600cc sports category. Bertie Simmonds checks out the last of the line

With looks and performance akin to a kick in the pods, Aprilia's Mille proved that not every Italian sportsbike had to be a blood-red, 90¡ V-twin from Bologna.

In the mid-90s, V-twins were red, temperamental and raced by Carl Fogarty. Until Honda brought out the Firestorm, that is. We examine Honda's first big-twin sportsbike

Aprilia's first sportsbike impressed immediately and continues to do so to this day. Good looks and macho design make this a desirable chunk of everyday exotica

Awesome brakes, really grunty motor and sharp handling make the Fazer fly

Triumph's Tiger sheds the big trailie looks, sharpens its claws and goes for a more road-inspired image. Is this the right direction for Hinckley's big cat?

With a tyre-shredding 194bhp on tap and a fully revised chassis the original Hypersports bike is refusing to grow old gracefully. Hold on tight, because the 'Busa is back and is meaner than ever...

Kawasaki enter the super-tourer class with their blistering GTR1400. Well-appointed and refined, this top-end tourer also comes with a strong helping of brutish Kawasaki performance.

Have the crazy Germans come up trumps with an entertaining, oddball parts bin special? BMW's K1200R Sport has arrived

Yamaha's breezy, breathless middleweight gets some minor updates and a slightly longer name. A dash of midrange would be nice, too. Will it be enough to rule the morning dash to work?

A resurgent Moto Guzzi unveils another new model, and at a race track ferchrissakes. Mackenzie rides the new 1200 Sport.

Ducati's sports tourer gets ABS and some flashy suspension for '06. But is it a credible alternative to similar offerings from Triumph and Honda?

The Daytona 600 has always had the legs; it's one of the best-handling 600s around. With an extra 47cc - and a load more mid-range - the Daytona 650 might nearly be the perfect middleweight.

From the Eastern Block to the East End, MZ has come a long way. But can the firm's new MZ1000S sports tourer really take on the likes of VFR, Sprint and ST3?

Heralded as the sportiest BMW motorbike ever, can the K 1200 S really rival the current hyper-sports bikes? Jon Urry travels to Munich to sample the delights of the German Autobahn and Austrian curves

Escape the rat race and get away from it all in the peace and quiet of Southern Ireland. Leave work at 5:30pm and the next day you could be here for just £82 plus a few tanks of fuel

What on earth could Aprilia do to improve their already-ace Mille-R? Not an enormous amount as I discovered at the launch of the 2003 bike in Italy.

I think it's fair to say the old ZZ-R1100 was more than a bit past its sell by date. I last rode one about three years ago, on a flat out European speed mission in the company of a Suzuki Hayabusa and Honda Blackbird.