RiDE

‘We should keep calm and carry on biking’ Welcome to a celebration of escapism. There is no getting away from the fact that there are plenty of things in the world right now trying to spoil our biking fun - there’s wars, there’s inflation, there’s rising interest rates, but more than ever, now is the time to continue biking - and continue to plan for a great biking year in 2023. This issue of RiDE is packed with great suggestions for this year’s best biking holidays. Hand-picked by Simon Hargreaves, our resident globetrotter, there are trips for every budget, from great UK weekend escapes to epic European tours. We know that money doesn’t go as far as it used to, so we’ve costed each one out to make sure they offer the…

I've just spent the week visiting my son, daughter-in-law and grand-daughter in Dubai. As part of that week we rode out to Jebel Jais, a favourite mountain road with bikers from Dubai as it sits about 45 minutes out from the city. The reward when you get there is a twisty technical mountain road that had my jaw aching from grinning so much. The photos are of me and my son Daniel at the top of the mountain. Such a great ride, day and memory. Tony Garbutt Jebel Jais, Dubai I've just spent the week visiting my son, daughter-in-law and grand-daughter in Dubai. As part of that week we rode out to Jebel Jais, a favourite mountain road with bikers from Dubai as it sits about 45 minutes out from the city.…

SHOW US YOUR ROUTE GET A GREAT PRIZE! Email rida@rida.co.uk and tall us about your favourite rids and if published, you’ll get a great prize to say thanks. The Metzeler Roadtec 01 SE - winner of RiDE’s 2020 touringtyre test - is a great tyre that works in all conditions, www.m3tzeier.co.uk I MEET CHRIS AT the Food Stop Café, at Quatford on the A442 between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster. I’ve not been here before but I’ve heard it’s good, and I’m not disappointed. Chris has taken time out from his job to show me round his back yard. “There’s many a good route around these parts but recently, I came up with the Severn Valley Sixty, a 60mile trip around the area (mostly in Shropshire), following the river as much as possible.” Sounds…

Fancy the Severn Valley Sixty? Chris’ll see you right Best time to ride “Spring and Summer are great, with more of a chance to see the steam trains on the Severn Valley Railway and more tea rooms open. But a lovely autumn day is hard to beat!” Best bit “The road north of Stourport to Bewdley is fun, but then so is the forest section between Bewdley and Kinlet. But it’s not all about the twisties - it’s just a lovely part of the world.” Be careful at… “The junction of the A442 where you turn right coming from Coalport. It's the worst junction due to traffic. It’s not an issue if you do the run anticlockwise but, if you've had brekkie at the Food Stop Cafe, you’ll be early for your pork pie in Ironbridge;…

WITH POLITICAL MOVES afoot to kill the internal combustion engine and force manufacturers into adopting electric power for all new bikes in little more than a decade's time, we may be entering the last chapter of ICE development. Yet the basics of the engines in most of today's bikes would be familiar to riders from the dawn of the motorcycle era. So what's happened to all the new ideas that have emerged over the years, with bold promises to revolutionise motorcycle powertrains? Different stroke For a long time, the two-stroke was a dream ticket for motorcycles. Lighter, more compact, and offering more power-per-litre than a four-stroke design, what's not to like? Two-strokes made lots of sense for exactly those reasons. With each stroke of the piston doing double-duty (the exhaust stroke is also…

The CEO of Norton Motorcycles, Dr Robert Hentschel, has given further hints about the Midlands brand's future electric plans. He has said the firm will build high-end performance bikes as well as smallcapacity scooters. Back in June 2022, the firm announced a 30-month project to build electric-powered bikes in the UK. This is to be co-funded by a Government scheme; Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) 19. Speaking at Motorcycle Live, he said: "If you look at the high-performance, or standard motorcycle configurations in EV, you still have the problems with weight and range, I think that there will be, for the next ten years or so, a strong tendency to go for internal combustion engines. "But the commuting segment and lowerperformance electric segment is catching up very fast,” he added. "We are working on…