2013 Honda Shadow Phantom on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Back in the day, the All Japan 500cc Championship at Tsukuba

This ‘you tube’ gem sent to me recently brought back some funny memories from the scary but incredibly exciting days of 500cc two stroke racing. This particular race was the final round of the All Japan 500cc Championship at Tsukuba Circuit where I enjoyed a head to head battle with national hero Tadahiko Taira. Yamaha’s favourite son at the time, ‘tie wrap’ as we liked to call him, was taller and better looking than most Japanese riders (maybe a war baby?) and went on to win nearly everything in Japan during his career.

The future. But we can't have it

It's no secret that we motorcyclists are getting older. We're ageing because less people are passing their bike test each year (roughly 30,000 last year compared to 50,000 for the 10 years before the new two-part test) and so not only is the pool not growing it's not even being replenished and so the average age isn't being diluted down by yoof. When the going gets tough in any situation, you really get to see who's got their shit-sorted and who's light enough on their feet to adapt to change.

2014 World Supersport Provisional Entry List

The International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) released a provisional entry list for the 2014 World Supersport Championship, with 23 riders including two to be announced at a later date. The provisional lists includes riders representing four different manufacturers: Honda, Kawasaki, MV Agusta and Yamaha. Honda is the most popular manufacturer with ten riders (though two are listed as TBA).