Honda UK is aiming to get 500 non-riders into the seat of a motorcycle this summer, in a new test ride programme which it hopes will lead to more life-long bikers. The Ride Free Experience is offering no-pressure test rides on the CB125F, Grom and MSX125, off the road, and is run by Honda dealers and the Honda School of Motorcycling. There is no test involved – the idea is just to have a go – but the two-hour session includes a safety briefing as well as the ride. As a further inducement, riders taking up the scheme are offered £50 towards their CBT costs (if they choose to take a CBT later on) and £500 off the price of a

Heading to Austria this summer, and have a liking for biking acrobatics? Then beware, because the Austrian government is cracking down on wheelies, stoppies and other vehicle shenanigans – fines go up to 10,000 euros and your bike could be impounded for three days. The Austrian Motor Vehicles Act has been amended to outlaw boy racerish games such as drifting, tyre squealing and backfiring. “Non-situational use of the motor vehicle in which there is not contact between the road surface and all wheels at all times," is also outlawed – in other words, wheelies and stoppies. Wheelspins, wheel locking and doughnuts join the banned list as well. The rules apply to quiet areas such as private car parks just as much as

Norton, now revived under ownership of Indian giant TVS, and with a new factory in Solihull up and running, is underlining its long heritage by buying up key historic models. A total of 55 bikes have been bought from Norton collector Ian Loram, who had built up the collection since the 1990s. Stretching from 1916 to 1992, they include some of the rarest Nortons ever made, including a Model 1 Big Four, a rare speedway bike from 1930 and an example of the rotary-engined Norton F1, road going version of the RCW588 race bike from the early '90s. There's also a 1968 Norton Atlas which was used for royal escort duties when new. Some of the bikes will go on display in

For this year the FIM Mototour of Nations will be based at the 5* Hotel Lucy in Kavala, on the North Eastern coast of Greece. Kavala is a port town looking out to the island of Thasos. This is not the first time that Mototour has taken place in Greece, as in 2017 we had an excellent event based on Ioannina in North Western Greece run by the same organising team. Riders will have a programme of chosen itineraries on a variety of tarmacked roads in escorted groups travelling at a steady “tourist” speeds. All routes will be based on Hotel Lucy where, included in the entry fee, participants will receive: 1st day: dinner 2nd day: breakfast, light lunch, dinner 3rd day: breakfast, light

The Japanese big four – Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha – are setting up a new company, Gachaco, Inc, to offer standardised swappable batteries for electric motorcycles and scooters. For smaller machines it could address the biggest drawback of battery-powered bikes – lack of range, and slow charging. The Japanese manufacturers agreed standards for such a system back in 2019, but are now teaming up with Japanese energy company Eneos to offer a network of battery swap stations across Japan. The first stations will be in Tokyo, with other Japanese cities following in autumn 2022. The 'Gachaco' network will use Honda's existing Mobile Power Pack. Being small and light enough to be swapped by hand, the batteries clearly wouldn't suit a big

Triumph is to make many more bikes in the UK this year, only two years after moving much of its production to Thailand. Booming demand across Europe and successful launches of the marque in new markets such as China are said to be behind the decision. Production had been progressively been moving to the company's three South East Asian plant since they were set up in 2002-2007 and 2020 saw Speed Triple and Tiger 1200 – the final mainstream models built at Hinckley – move there too, spelling the end of mainstream assembly in Britain. The Hinckley plant has since focused on R&D and limited production bikes, building around 4,500 machines a year. Soaring demand for new Triumphs, particularly the Trident 660

Concerned about your bike's security? We all know that disc locks, ground anchors and chains can be cut through, given a battery-powered angle grinder and the bike's owner away at work or on holiday. Even inside a locked garage, it may not be safe. Bault (it stands for Bike Vault) reckons it has the answer – hide your bike underground. It all sounds a bit James Bond, but the Bault a serious business offer by a British start-up, which will start selling the unit from April 2022. The Bault is an hydraulic lift enclosed in a steel and concrete box, built under the floor of your garage. Installing it takes three days, starting with a mini-excavator digging a 5.4 cubic metre hole,