White Motorcycle Concepts (WMC) has opened the order book for its Yamaha Tricity 300-based WMC300AE, a hybrid three-wheeler which claims to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% with fuel efficiency of 104mpg. But if you want one you’ll have to be quick (they’re only planning to make 10) and probably well-heeled (it’s ‘price on application’). The hybrid trike is basically a production version of the WMC300FR, which has been trialled by Northamptonshire Police. Starting with the 298cc tilting three-wheel Tricity, WMC has added a 5Kw electric motor and two rechargeable batteries, which charge through a standard three-pin plug. The electric power train takes over below 30mph, and its contribution tails off up to 40mph. In theory, this should give the best of

The Government is still considering what to do about the date for ending new sales of petrol motorcycles. Currently, the proposed end dates are 2030 for mopeds and 125s, and 2035 for all bigger bikes, but the recent pushback of the end date for petrol/diesel cars (from 2030 to 2035) has put these in doubt. In response to a query from the BMF, a spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “The consultation on when to end the sale of new non-zero emission motorcycles (and other L-category vehicles) has been supported by a thorough programme of stakeholder engagement with manufacturers and the wider industry, including a positive Ministerial roundtable. We are now analysing the responses and will bring forward the Government’s

‘Box of bits’ restorations can cause no end of heartbreak, but this Brough Superior SS80 – coming up for auction on 26th October– could make a happy ending for its owner, who after buying the ‘basket case’ Brough in the 1990s, took 20 years to restore it to its current pristine condition. Charterhouse Auctions, which is putting the Brough under the hammer at the Haynes Motor Museum, along with 100 or so other bikes, expects it to make £65,000-£70,000 on the day. However, get two determined bidders in the same room, and maybe it really could get to six figures... Broughs – the British superbikes of the 1920s and ‘30s – are highly sought after today, and not just because of

An electric motorcycle has completed the 200-mile Edinburgh Trial for the first time, unsupported and using only public charge points. It’s thought to be the first time an electric bike has finished any of the major long-distance trials – run by the Motorcycling Club (MCC) these consist of off-road special sections linked by road mileage. Engineer Fred Spaven is no stranger to battery bikes, having converted an Enfield Bullet to electric in 2015. An experienced MCC competitor (on a BSA Bantam) he was inspired to take the electric route while working on his PhD with University College London – UCL offered to part-fund a suitable bike out of its motorsports fund. Calculating he needed a 100-mile range between charges, Fred settled

If you get bombarded by emails and offers from your local motorcycle dealer this winter, then be sympathetic, because they may just be taking advice. The motorcycle trade has become increasingly seasonal, as leisure riders put their bikes away in the garage for the winter, hook them up to the Optimate and head indoors – consequently, sales of bikes, tyres, clothing and consumables all plummet. Some dealers struggle to survive this lean period, but motorcycle marketing man Dan Sagar, writing in trade paper British Dealer News, suggests that they take a leaf from the books of businesses which weathered the Covid lockdown well. The key, says Dan, is to keep in touch with customers via email newsletters and social media, with

What’s the most common scenario for a motorcycle crash? Common wisdom suggests junctions, which are certainly high on the list for road crashes in general, but when it comes to which vehicle types top which type of crash location, a different picture emerges. According to a study from Forbes Advisor, using Department for Transport road casualty data for 2012-2021, motorcycles were the most common vehicle type to crash in five different scenarios. These were: failing to make a left-hand bend (ie going straight on), the same for a right-hander and three different overtaking scenarios – overtaking on the nearside, and overtaking a moving or static vehicle on the offside. Most common of these for bikes was offside overtaking when the other vehicle

The International Laverda Owners Club (ILOC) is to mark its 50th birthday in advance by launching a book which celebrates the iconic Italian machines. Founded in 1974, the club has since been a must-join for fans of the well known triples, 650/750 twins and the earlier singles. The book is a history of the club, its members and their experiences, so includes articles about their life on bikes and their love of Laverdas, plus contributions from key people in the Laverda UK story. ILOC Chairman Keith Prentice commented “We thought long and hard about how best to mark such an historic event and decided the ILOC Anniversary Book is a fitting record and memento of 50 incredible years of the Owners’

An airless tyre, using memory alloys as the load bearing component, is the claim of the Los Angeles based SMART Tire Company. It’s been working with NASA to develop a tyre from the experience of an exploration vehicle used on the Moon. The result is the SMART (Shape Memory Alloy Radial Technology) which has a non-pneumatic tyre shape comprising a mesh or radial bands, mainly of the memory alloy NiTinol. Memory alloys are capable of “undergoing phase transitions at the molecular level with significant reversible strain (up to 10%) an order of magnitude more than ordinary materials.” In other words, it can deform significantly and will always spring back into shape – SMART claims the result is has the elastic qualities

In a dramatic move, BMW Motorrad has issued a temporary sales ban on all of its petrol-powered bikes in North America. This applies not only to new bikes, but also to used ones at dealers. Effectively, it leaves BMW as an electric-only brand in the USA and Canada for the time being, with only the CE 04 scooter on sale, though the smaller CE 02 is on the way. The problem is a component in the fuel vapour retention system that, “may not have been manufactured according to the material specifications.” BMW gives no more details than that, but it’s likely to be an emissions compliance issue for the North American markets. The company has emphasised that the sales stop is voluntary, temporary

ARC, the Coventry-based builder of the Vector electric hyperbike, is getting UK Government funding to develop a new motor system, giving a glimpse of the technology its next generation of battery bikes will use. the new dual motor set up, with integrated inverter, will debut on new motorcycles due for launch in 2026. ARC says that the new system will offer more performance and lower weight than the existing system while also, crucially on a motorcycle, taking weight out of the battery. Named HiPERMOD, the new system is being developed in conjunction with Talos Techology, an electric drivetrain specialist which is based just down the road from ARC, in Warwick. The project is Government-funded through the Department for Business, Energy and

Petrol prices leapt up in August, rising by 6.68p per litre, one of the largest monthly price increases in over 20 years. According to the RAC, only the effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and a one-off increase in October 2021, caused sharper price hikes. According to the RAC, the main cause of the latest increase was a decision by the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries deciding to lower production, which increased the price of a barrel of oil by nearly $12 to almost $87 – the average forecourt price for a litre of petrol rose to 152.25p in August. RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said that the increase could have been even more. “While the increase is clearly

Ever suffered from a misted-up visor? Of course, we all have in colder weather, though mitigated by the growing use of visor inserts such as the Pinlock. Now a British firm has gone one step further with a heated insert powered by an external rechargeable battery pack. There’s nothing new about heated visors, which up until now have used fine elements to provide the heat. The ‘VISIN’ has been designed by West Midlands-based Diamond Coatings, which supplies aerospace, medical, military and automotive sectors with specialist coating technology. In this case, the transparent insert coating can conduct electricity and thus heating across the entire area, working down to -20 degrees C, according to the manufacturer. It was developed by Jason Elite of Diamond