Motorcycle Sport & Leisure

Alan Cathcart has been writing about bikes for more than 30 years, and riding them for even longer. He’s regularly given the keys to factory prototypes, and being on first name terms with the bosses of bike companies around the world allows him to ba

Firstly, in my first editorial column for MSL, I’d like to make a personal thank you to Mikko for all his hard work as editor of this periodical over the six years he was in the driving seat, and wish him the best of luck in his new position – he’s s

2023 is, of course, the 100th anniversary of BMW motorcycles. It was back in the autumn of 1923 at the Paris Motor Show that the fledgling bike firm showed off the R32, a 494cc air-cooled Boxer flat twin, complete with shaft drive. BMW’s main busines

On the face of it, a European startup firm specialising in building motocross machines should have very little to offer the Indian Royal Enfield firm. The crossover between full-on dirt race bikes and sensible retro-roadsters is minimal to say the le

Batteries are one potential answer to cutting fossil fuel use. But there are serious hurdles for motorcycle use: size, weight and cost all count against them. One possible alternative is so-called e-fuels, or bio-fuels, where petrol is replaced by a

£829.99 | www.araihelmet.eu Arai has long marked its commitment to the IoM TT by releasing a special version race helmet, with paintwork designed by Drudi Performance. Beautiful and extremely collectible, the Arai IoM TT Limited Edition 2023 design i

First, I want to thank those of you who have sent notes to Mikko about my work. And those of you who have merely thought about sending notes about my work. You can’t know how welcome those letters are. I’m so far away; I write in a similar, but diffe

This one is from Motorcycle Sport, April 1964, two selections from the section called SCENE. As usual, I have not changed the punctuation of this following at all, but I have quadrupled the number of paragraph breaks. I love this bit of text and the

This month’s Star Letter wins a pair of Weise Montana 150 gloves. These waterproof gloves provide maximum warmth and minimal bulk, thanks to the 150-gram Thinsulate Supreme lining, which is secured with mcFit Technology, so it won’t pull out. Find ou

Q. Two years ago, I broke my leg after a truck ran into the side of me whilst I was riding my KTM390 (how he didn’t see me I will never know, it’s bright orange!). I needed four operations and couldn’t work (I run my own industrial cleaning company).

And, to be fair, that’s no bad thing, as long as we retain a certain level of flexibility to head off the chosen route to explore a little; to take in a favoured piece of road or scenery; or just to go and hunt down some food, drink or fuel. What can

We get about a hundred applications a year to be a Tour Leader with Motorrad Tours. We interview about 20, invite four or five to our annual training and assessment centre, send one or two on a training tour and, on average, over the last decade, we’

If you’re into riding bikes, this time of year can feel a bit grim. The days are shorter, the nights seem darker, and more often than not there’s rain falling from the sky. All that’s not exactly conducive to a good day’s riding, is it? But maybe it

During my recent trip to Hoxter in Germany, aboard my faithful ‘77 Z1000 A1, I discovered that my boots weren’t waterproof, the inners of my venerable Hein Gericke gloves were no longer attached to the fingers (making it impossible to put them on in

Tested by: Maja Kenney | Jacket £599.99, Trousers £469.99 | bikerheadz.co.uk For my trip to the Arctic Circle and Nordkapp last August, I chose Rukka’s ladies’ set, Comforina, a Gore-Tex jacket and trousers. As the name suggests, they are incredibly

I’ve just finished reading James Sheldon’s ‘The Veteran & Vintage Motor Cycle’, which reviews the evolution of the motorcycle through 1930, first published in 1961. The author makes it clear that he feels the motorcycle ought to have been better able