On Throttle New Zealand

Harley-Davidson's Fat Boy Lo S was a gorgeous bike to spent an extended time with. Photos / Harley-Davidson On the list of worst bike names, the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy is up near the top. Yes, I know I’ve put on a bit of weight over the summer, but I don’t need everyone to know it! Apart from having a bad name the Fat Boy is actually a pretty cool bike. This year sees some pretty wild changes for the Fat Boy, with the introduction of this bike, the Fat Boy Lo S to the range. Channeling that iconic Harley’ silhouette there is no mistaking the Fat Boy Lo S’ lineage. The fuel tank is borrowed from the Fat Bob (another terrible name) with Fat Boy Lo tank medallion and gloss black console adorning it. Chunky 17 inch tyres wrap the solid looking wheels while the lines of the whole bike ooze with unmistakable Harley character. One massive change, and the most important, is the 1801cc air-cooled, twin Cam Screamin’ Eagle engine. That’s up 111cc on the 1690cc on the regular Fat...

  We all know that superbikes such as the ZX-10R are speed demons on the track from their many outings in racing series around the world. But how does such a bike handle the mundane and everyday commute? With no track access to speak of, that was the plan for my week long ownership of the 30th Anniversary Edition of the 2015 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. On tap from the 998cc inline four is a slightly insane max power of 154.4kW (207Hp) with 114.3 Nm of torque, enough to propel the ZX-10R to warp speed in less time than it takes to blink. Transferring that astonishing amount of power to the rear wheel is Kawasaki’s fantastic cassette style gearbox. While not matched with a quick shifter from the factory like newer bikes in the class, the 6-speed ‘box is quick to shift  and clutchless shifts are incredibly smooth when gripping the clutch gets tiring after sitting in traffic too long. Helping to control all that power and keep the rubber on the road is three power maps a...

When you think Subaru WRX the first picture that comes to mind is of a sedan adorned with scoops in the iconic World Rally Blue. I know I do and I still believe WR Blue is one of the best colours to ever adorn a Subaru, but it’s no longer my favourite. Hyper Blue as it is officially known, or Smurf Blue to my twisted mind is the latest and greatest colour to come out of the Subaru factory. Here’s the catch though. There will only be 10 WRX and 10 STI in New Zealand with the limited edition Hyper Blue spec. The colour isn’t the only change for the latest limited edition WRX, the interior has gained a few desirable extras too. The first eye-popping difference to the ordinary WRX is the rows upon rows of blue stitching, carefully colour-matched to the Hyper Blue exterior. A gentle stroke of the finger down any of the multitude of stitched seams and you can feel a certain quality to the stitching. The next big difference to the interior over the standard WRX is the seats, ...

2015 was an incredible year for the motorcycling industry and the public has really benefited from a huge range of bikes being introduced. Unfortunately for me there were so many bikes released this year I simply didn’t get a chance to ride them all, with some incredible bikes like Yamaha’s all-new R1 and every dirt bike on the planet still on my ‘must ride’ list. With that in mind my top bike of the year is picked out of the ones I’ve swung a leg over this year, and boy there have been some highlights! Yamaha R3 Yamaha finally returned to the sub 400cc sportsbike market this year with the sporty little R3. With the biggest engine in the Japanese 300cc class (at 320cc) a wicked handling frame and ABS all for under $8,000 it stood out of the increasingly competitive LAMS crowd this year. Triumph Scrambler Who says newer is better? Triumph’s capable classic has the cool factor and isn’t afraid of gravel roads. With its Bonneville derived siblings all getting a major ...