On Throttle New Zealand

Supersport bikes are an interesting breed. Managing to strike a balance of performance, comfort, and looks while also being rideable every day is the Holy Grail for sport bike manufacturers. MV Agusta is one manufacturer that has the performance side nailed. With plenty of motorsport success in its history it knows its stuff when it comes to making bikes go fast, and now — thanks to MV’s latest updates in the electronics package — MV’s bikes are more rideable than ever. With a beautiful trellis frame and lightweight building materials the F3 weighs in at a featherweight 173kg. Compared with my daily ride, when I pushed the bike into the safety of the garage at home the F3 felt closer to a push bike than a motorcycle. Where the stereotype of a supersport tends to be a bike with peaky power all in the top of the rev range, the F3’s 798cc inline triple cylinder produces 88 Nm of torque helping to propel the bike forward rapidly, even at low RPMs. Match th...

Seriously, there is one thing I have known from a young age, I am a bona fide petrol head. But Harley-Davidson of all the manufacturers out there has suddenly made me challenge my whole world view on some of my deepest held beliefs. Am I still a petrol head if I LOVE an electric vehicle? Standing in the paddock of the Sepang GP track in Malaysia with the scream of Moto3 bikes racing around the track there was something missing with the Harley-Davidson next to me. The Project Livewire bike was emitting a ferocious… dead silence, you see Project Livewire is an electric motorcycle and the good ol’ boys at Harley surprised everyone by being the first major manufacturer to show off a production ready EV bike. The history of electric motorcycles has been a varied and almost forgotten aspect to the history of the motorcycle, predating the internal combustion engine and then disappearing for roughly a hundred years. Of all the big name brands to give electric bikes a revival, nobody ...