It’s a big day at Bad Horse Bikes. Like a good dinner party, a diversity of guests makes for good conversation, so we are excited a Ducati is joining the chat in the shed.    We had already burst the BMW-only bubble when I bought a Triumph Street Twin 900 – the first ‘big bike’ I’ve owned after getting my...

  I didn’t realise I’d become addicted. Of course, I knew motorcyclists can be passionate – that hadn’t taken long to find out – but addicted…that’s almost a medical condition. We have just come home from five days on the bikes. Marcus decided he would take the R1200GS Rallye with its shiny panniers and we loaded up my little G310R...

Lucky me, I could pick up the BMW S1000XR on Saturday, one of only two of the new models in New Zealand and my one is the first one on the road. She’s simple grey and has all available specs. First time starting it at the dealer, the thought that’s going straight to my head is… . chainsaw on steroids…...

At school, it is easy to remember you’re learning. That you will be expected to prove you have been listening by passing tests – it’s all part of the day job and something to take in your stride. Growing up, reading, writing and arithmetic help set us up for adulthood so we could write shopping lists and speeches and calculate...

I had thought any relationship I’d have with motorbikes had ended in my early 20s after an unplanned and unwise pillion ride through the hilly streets of Genoa – my face felt millimetres from melting into the Italian pavement and I swore that if I survived I’d never straddle a seat again. But jump forward twenty years and along came...

If you are a well travelled rider, wanderlust may one day draw you to New Zealand – a perfect piece of paradise at the bottom of the world (several other countries want to go for the title too, but we will leave it at that for the moment). Most of New Zealand roads are a mix of compressed gravel and...

Growing up in Western Germany, I had always two wheels and when I turned 15 I was legally able to add a engine to it. Riding motorbikes in Germany and around the neighbouring countries was a fairly normal thing to do. My old friend Wini and his Buell X1 Lightning was my partner in crime when we were touring –...