Sport & Race

Jan/Feb '10

2009 Ducati Monster 696

> Bologna's famous pork sausage, Mortadella, is blended with ingredients intended to make it distinctive and spicy, as well as appetizingly hot. You could say the same about the bikes from the Bologna suburb of Borgo Panigale. And while you won't find black pepper, myrtle berries,

Nov/Dec '09

2009 Aprilia SL750 Shiver

> Italian motorcycles are cool, that's hard to deny. Their sound, style, and performance have long tempted enthusiasts with an undeniable aura of exclusivity. And while riders around the globe have long coveted these qualities, the experience has traditionally come at a price. But in Aprilia's

Sep/Oct '09

Harley-Davidson Sportster® XR1200™

> With a name like Sportster, Harley-Davidson's line of smaller, stripped down motorcycles should evoke visions of curve carving or straight-line bravado. While this may have been the case many decades ago, today's Sportys have largely been relegated to filling the "lower priced and less

May/Jun '09

2009 Yamaha FZ6R

> Despite gloomy economic news, there are some bright spots to be found. As budgets tighten and used car lots fill to overflowing with once coveted gas guzzlers, two-wheel alternatives are now beginning to appeal to a much wider cross section of folks. Motorcycling as an efficient, economical form of

Mar/Apr '09

Review: 2008 Kawasaki KLR 650

> Old soldiers may never die, but sometimes they do get a makeover! Kawasaki's new KLR 650, with a host of changes, should now appeal to a wider range of buyers, from dyed-in-the-wool dirt riders to sport-touring aficionados. Kawasaki's first-generation KLR 650 had one of the

Jan/Feb '09

2008 Yamaha FZ6

> Life, as we know, is full of compromises. In a perfect world, each of us could afford a bike for going to work, one for track days, one for touring and another for carving canyons on the weekends. But then again, since Transformers would have to be real in

May/Jun '08

Review: 2006 Kawasaki Ninja ZX14

Apprehension and sheer curiosity were the sensations rattling around inside my head the first time I thumbed the starter on the Kawasaki ZX14 Ninja. Though we ride bikes of all different stripes, I was uncharacteristically anxious about this particular model. After all, this is a machine capable of sub 10-second

Sep/Oct '07

2007 Yamaha YZF-R1

> Place the tip of your thumb and forefinger three millimeters apart. That's about 1/10 of an inch, and how much Yamaha engineers raised the rear swingarm pivot on the 2007 YZF-R1. Chew on that for a second  -  not 2mm, not 4mm, but 3mm, to reduce

Jul/Aug '07

Review: 2007 Kawasaki ZX-14

> Boasting an inline four-cylinder engine that displaces 1352cc, the new ZX-14 is currently the biggest and most powerful sport bike in production. With the assistance of its ram-air system, the bike is said to produce 187 crankshaft horsepower at 9500 rpm. Even without the aid of forced air, stock

Mar/Apr '07

2007 Honda CBR600RR

> For 2007, the 20th anniversary of the Honda Hurricane, Honda is dropping the venerable, street-focused CBR600F4i and returning to their "one 600cc sportbike for all occasions" formula. The 2007 CBR600RR has been thoroughly redesigned to appeal to track addicts and roadrunners alike, and when Honda invited us

Sep/Oct '06

Kawasaki Ninja 650R

> Poised to inject serious fun into the bargain-blaster segment of the market, the new Kawasaki Ninja 650R is a street hip, super sharp, smooth operator that flashes the boulevard with a most affordable price tag. Designed with the rider in mind, the bike's comfortable ergonomics, useful wind

Jul/Aug '06

Buell Ulysses XB12X Adventure Sportbike

> Buell promotes the XB12X as an "adventure sportbike," and that's a pretty fair description. The big twin offers speed and handling approaching that of a sport bike, and it doesn't sniff at getting its paws dirty either. The Ulysses also approximates the comfort

May/Jun '06

Honda CBR1000RR

> Old habits die hard. I ride maybe 25,000 miles a year on roads that range from interstate to gravel, and I reckon I usually hold my own. But the racetrack is different. It takes me a whole day at California's Buttonwillow circuit to overcome my road-bound

May/Jun '06

Ducati 749S / Suzuki GSX-R750

> I have to be honest with you, folks. My boy-racer days are well behind me. Though I still covet a brisk pace across endless stretches of tasty twisties, there are usually packed saddlebags and often the world's greatest copilot along for the ride. Yep, these days I&

Mar/Apr '06

Let's Get It On

> No punches pulled, it's the stuff of which classic fights are made. In one corner we have the thoroughbred champion, a machine many regard as the finest road-going sport bike in the world today. Its clean, svelte bodywork transmits a menacing sense of purpose and a stylistic

Jan/Feb '06

2005 Triumph Sprint 1050ST

> I'm stuck behind a line of cars following a dawdling farm tractor along the winding A259 road between Rye and Hastings in East Sussex, England. A gap appears in the oncoming flow: time to test the new 1050 Sprint ST's acceleration. Staying in third gear,

Nov/Dec '05

Kawasaki Z750S

> Many of you who have been riding for a while may remember the UJM days. Universal Japanese Motorcycle, a term often used derisively back in the 70s and early 80s to describe those 'standard' machines that arrived on U.S. shores in droves. Though lacking the mystique

Nov/Dec '05

BMW K1200S

It's rare air up in the hyper-tourer stratosphere. You've got the Suzuki Hayabusa, the Kawasaki ZX-12R, the discontinued-stateside Blackbird, and now, the BMW K1200S has joined the fray. Never known for speed and acceleration, the K series is nonetheless my favorite line of Beemers, and the

Sep/Oct '05

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R vs. Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300R

> I felt an adrenaline rush simply from reading Christian's e-mail message, "Eric, could you do a test ride for us as soon as you return from Thailand? Hayabusa vs. ZX-12R. Please let me know." Talk about an offer I couldn't refuse! In my

May/Jun '05

Benelli TnT 1130

> The name is explosive, the design aggressive, the engine eruptive, and the sum total is the Benelli TnT 1130, one of the sharpest bikes on the market. The martial names concocted by motorcycle marketing specialists are legion. The Brutale, the thunderous Tuono and the explosive TnT are but a

Mar/Apr '05

MZ 1000S

> Sometimes you get one of those offers you just can't refuse. Here at RoadRUNNER, that happens rather frequently. But this one is different. Fabled German marque MZ has been teasing the public for several years now with the 1000S concept bike first seen at the 2000 Intermot.

Jan/Feb '05

Aprilia SL 1000 Falco

> It's a moment that all of us here at RoadRUNNER hope never happens. Any day now, our friends at Aprilia USA will be ringing us up, making the dreaded call to let us know they want their Falco back. It will be tough to part with it,

Nov/Dec '04

Six-Gun Shootout

> RoadRUNNER takes to the open road in sleek super-sporting style aboard the latest 600cc class motorcycles. The 600cc sportbike class has long been known as one of the most competitive and arguably the most popular segment of the motorcycle industry. Since its inclusion in the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)

Nov/Dec '04

Kawasaki ZRX1200R

> Naked bikes continue to grow in popularity as manufacturers from Asia and Europe jump on the bandwagon. Kawasaki was a pioneer in developing the modern standard and they have stuck to their guns by offering the ZRX1200R for another production year. As one of my daddy's favorite

Sep/Oct '04

Yamaha R1

> No doubt about it, Michelangelo was one of the greatest artists ever and a free spirit the like of few others before or since. Trendsetters in architecture, music, fashion, cars, and bikes, Italians seem born with an eye for design. And when I first saw the original YZF-R1 in