Fast Bikes

Every issue of Fast Bikes is fuelled with high-octane definitive sportsbike tests, hardcore riding and invaluable 'regulars' too.

In depth insider news, behind the scenes race features, practical and usable advice in the Riding, Bike and Legal Masterclass sections, and exclusive columns from current MotoGP, World and British Superbike racers. It’s an unmissable package

Fast enough for you?

Upfront • PLANET FAST BIKES - NEW METAL, NEWS & REVIEWS

WORLD SUPERBIKES SLAYER: TOPRAK’S Bullet • It’s not every day you get to knock around with the World Superbike champ, let alone head out for a spin on his title defending M 1000 RR, but that’s how Rennie passed the time at Cremona recently, getting under the skin of BMW’s Bullet before trying it out for size…

A CHAT WITH THE CHAMP… • Toprak Razgatlioglu has endeared himself to fans across the world for his happy, relaxed persona, one that’s often in contrast to some of his competitors. He has a magnetic personality that makes people warm to him, but all that would be for nothing in a professional sense if he weren’t equally good on a racing motorcycle. His move to BMW brought instant success, but the 2025 season hasn’t been smooth sailing following the late FIM ruling that he and the BMW team had to revert to the full production chassis for 2025. We sat down with him at Cremona for a brief chat to see how the 2025 season is going.

OLD SKOOL-COOL • Two decades on from its launch, we take a blast down memory lane with Suzuki’s game-changing K5 Gixer.

BUYING ONE? THEN YOU’LL WANT TO KNOW THIS…

THE WILD CHILD • Having waxed lyrical about Suzuki’s game-changing GSX-R1000 K5, it’s only right to look at the rivals it was up against. As it happens, just the year before, the major players from Japan decided to unleash a fresh raft of firepower onto the market, with the ZX-10R stealing the limelight for being the new wild child of the scene.

A cut ABOVE • Honda totally rewrote the Fireblade’s direction when it launched the RCV-inspired CBR1000RR in 2004. It was, and still is, a very capable and pleasurable litre bike.

BEST OF BOTH

THE SAME, BUT DIFFERENT… • BMW’s not reinventing the wheel with its ever more popular mid-weight naked F 900 R… but it has changed them, plus a few other bits, for this latest iteration.

WHAT ABOUT THE F 900 XR?

TEN KATE RACING: YAMAHA WORLD SUPERSPORT R9

WHO NEEDS WINGS? • If you want a top-rate supersport bike, an older generation of the Honda CBR600RR is a hard act to beat.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW…

THREE of a KIND • These three might represent the same genre, but they could not be more different if they tried. The question is, which size of sports-tourer ticks more boxes?

SMALL BUT MIGHTY: TRIUMPH TIGER SPORT 660

RATED RUBBER: ROADTEC 02 • We love a control tyre, but choosing the right one for a test of this nature is not always easy… a ride covering 1000 miles, suiting different-sized bikes, on a trip covering everything from motorways to goat trails - and perhaps the odd bit of precipitation, too. After all, we were heading to Scotland, and in all my years of visiting that wonderous spot on earth, I’ve never not known it rain. Yep, tyres that gripped in the wet would be a necessity, plus hoops that would hack being hammered from cold to fulfil the demands of our overexcited riding styles, across ever-changing surface types. As you’re undoubtedly beginning to appreciate, we were just a bit needy with our request to Metzeler for a wonder-tyre. Its reply: the Roadtec 02 - a tyre that hit the market just last year, building on the solid foundations of the Roadtec 01, and is dubbed by the brand as a super-sport-touring product.

MID-SIZED: YAMAHA TRACER 9GT

NOMAD MODULAR LIGHTWEIGHT LUGGAGE

THE...