Sheffield Advanced Motorcyclists – Weekly Newsletter 03 April 2026
Table of Contents
Editorial
The past seven days have delivered a vivid snapshot of a motorcycle industry in motion—balancing product innovation, shifting market demands, evolving racing narratives and persistent safety concerns. From new model launches to global championship developments, the sector continues to reflect both opportunity and underlying tension.
Product and market momentum
The most tangible development this week is the launch of the 2026 Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450, signalling continued momentum in the crucial mid-capacity segment. The updated model introduces a new APEX variant and revised features, with bookings already open and deliveries imminent—evidence of Royal Enfield’s aggressive strategy to dominate accessible, lifestyle-oriented motorcycles globally.
This move reinforces a broader industry trend: manufacturers are doubling down on “middleweight” bikes that appeal to younger riders and urban commuters, particularly in growth markets. Incremental updates—rather than radical redesigns—are becoming the norm, allowing brands to maintain relevance while controlling costs.
Alongside motorcycles, the aftermarket and apparel sectors are ramping up for the spring riding season. New kit releases, including touring helmets, seasonal jackets and maintenance products, highlight how manufacturers are targeting riders preparing to return to the road after winter.
Technology and industry direction
Electrification and supporting technologies continue to advance in parallel. Battery specialist GS Yuasa’s expansion into scooter battery ranges reflects growing demand for electrified urban mobility, even as full-scale electric motorcycles still face cost and infrastructure barriers.
At the top end of the sport, the strategic direction is clearer. The 2026 MotoGP season is not only underway but represents a transitional phase before sweeping regulation changes in 2027, including smaller engines and a new tyre supplier.
Perhaps more notably, MotoGP’s introduction of a Harley-Davidson “Bagger” racing class this season signals a deliberate attempt to broaden audience appeal—particularly in the lucrative North American market.
Racing: performance and spectacle
On track, competition remains fierce. The Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race saw Marc Márquez take victory for Ducati, underlining both his continued elite form and Ducati’s ongoing dominance in the premier class.
This competitive landscape reflects a deeper narrative: while technical regulations are tightening, the performance gap between manufacturers is narrowing, producing closer racing and enhancing the sport’s global entertainment value.
Safety and societal pressures
Yet, against this backdrop of progress, safety remains a sobering counterpoint. Recent fatal incidents—including single-vehicle motorcycle crashes and collisions involving emerging micromobility vehicles—highlight ongoing vulnerabilities for riders.
The rise of e-bikes and scooters is adding complexity to road safety policy, with regulators increasingly forced to address mixed-traffic environments where speed differentials, visibility and rider behaviour intersect. In several regions, calls for stricter legislation—including licensing and age limits—are intensifying.
The bigger picture
Taken together, the week’s developments point to an industry recalibrating rather than reinventing itself. Manufacturers are refining proven platforms, racing bodies are reshaping the spectacle to attract new audiences, and policymakers are grappling with a rapidly diversifying two-wheel landscape.
For riders, the message is clear: choice has never been broader, but neither have the challenges. The modern motorcycling world demands not only passion, but adaptability—on the road, on the track and in the marketplace.
Wherever you ride this week, ride safe and happy reading.
It HERE AGAIN: SAM Annual Photo Competition 2026. The subject for entries is: Motorcycles. Any image content that is motorcycle related. Send all entries by email to sam-editor@iam-sheffield.bike, in the following format:
Subject line: Photo Competition 2026 (use this exact wording)
Image Type: no AI generated images!! All images should be either: .jpg, .jpeg, .png only.
Image Title as the filename: the title of your image should be in the format: This-is-my-entry.png, i.e. rename your image file with the title of your image and put a dash, ‘-’, between each word.
The closing date for entries is midnight on the 27th April 2026 – that is 24 days time, so make sure that you get your images to us.
The winner will be announced at the SAM AGM Meeting on the 11th May 2026 and receive a framed print of their choice.
If you have any problems submitting your entry, email SAM member, Dave Whitman (Competition Coordinator) will be happy to help.
Your success is our success!
Advanced riders are safer road users, ride longer, rider further, meet more people and enjoy a healthier, happier life!
For Your Diary
Meetings
Next SAM Club Night
2nd February 2026
7.30pm start for meeting at 8pm. Gives you time to catch up on what you’ve missed!
Treeton Miners Welfare Club
Arundel Street
Treeton
Rotherham S60 5PW
Next SAM Committee Meeting
29th January 2026
Details to be arranged
Online Motorcycling News
General
Skunk Anansie drummer Mark Richardson discusses his love of motorcycles and Barry Sheene on this week’s episode of Full Chat.
Richardson is best known for being a drummer in rock bands such as Skunk Anansie, Little Angels and Feeder.
He sat down with Iwan Thomas and co-host David Prutton to speak about his love of all things two-wheeled and getting into enduro racing. Read more
They say pain is stupidity leaving your body.
Well, maybe that’s not what they say but I certainly hope it’s true.
Of all the rare opportunities presented in this line of work, getting the chance to test the 2026 Harley-Davidson Road Glide Bagger World Cup spec racer, and at Circuit of the Americas during the first test for the series, was one of the rarest.
The nine riders on four teams at the start of the mid-March test choose their bikes for the season, all identically prepared. The bikes even had names. The one I would ride was called Carla. Read more
Sparton was a collaboration between Barton Engineering and Spondon Engineering and for a short time in the 1970s the most powerful race bike in the world was built in a converted chapel in North Wales.
There Barry Hart built racing two-stroke engines and in 1974 he joined forces with the noted frame builder Spondon to create a race bike.
The partnership embarked on building a machine which had a 500cc square-four engine based on the Suzuki RG500. In fact, Rex White of Suzuki Great Britain was sufficiently impressed to ask Barton Engineering to develop a 350cc Suzuki for Barry Sheene. Barton then turned a Suzuki GT380 into a water-cooled engine, although still using the original crank and crankcases. The result was a very fast machine but the project came to nothing. The official story is that Suzuki Japan caught wind of what was going on and closed it down, although it may simply have been that it needed a lot more development and refinement. Read more
Rider Health & Safety
Do you ride a motorcycle or know someone who does? If so, you’ll know that riding a motorcycle has some risks. In fact, statistics show that motorcyclists are much more likely to be involved in a serious or fatal accident than car drivers. This is why it’s important to take steps to reduce the risks and the Biker I.C.E. Card is one of the most effective solutions available.
The Biker I.C.E. Card is a simple, yet vital tool. It contains your contact details and essential medical information. In the event of an accident, emergency services staff can quickly access this information to help them decide on the right treatment for you. By carrying a Biker I.C.E. Card, you can ensure that emergency services staff have the information they need to take account of any ongoing health problems you have and any current treatments that you are receiving. This can make their job easier and your emergency care safer. Read more...
Motorcycle theft remains a huge concern for riders across the UK. In fact, more than one-in-100 motorcycles are likely to be stolen according to the Motorcycle Industry Association, and one-in-five bikers surveyed reported falling victim to theft at least once.With the issue clearly unlikely to go away anytime soon – and with battery-powered angle grinders now commonplace among thieves – there was a gap in the market for someone to come along with a seriously heavy-duty bit of security kit.And that’s where the British-made TufLuck comes in. At £599 and 45kg, it’s substantial in more ways than one, but promises to be almost insurmountable – in fact, it exceeded the toughest Sold Secure testing criteria, staving off 12 five-minute attacks using pry bars, power tools and hammers, remaining undefeated throughout the lot. Read more
Trials specialist Electric Motion (EM) have lifted the lid on a new road-legal enduro prototype at the Lyon Motorcycle Show.Dubbed the EP01, the electric bike follows hot on the heels of the Yamaha YE-01 Racing Concept, unveiled at last year’s EICMA trade show in Milan. While that machine bore a Yamaha name (and was built around a YZ-F chassis), the battery, controller and motor were in fact co-developed by EM. What’s most interesting about this new EP01 concept, however, is that unlike the Yamaha, if it makes it to production, the new bike will almost certainly be road-legal. Read more
It’s no secret that Kawasaki is making plays in the go-fast side-by-side space. With the introduction of the Teryx H2, the supercharged behemoth has become the fastest, most powerful production side-by-side on the planet. And it hasn’t stopped there, as it’s also dropped a rock-crawling regular Teryx sans supercharger not too long after.
But Kawasaki is apparently working on something that’s not only truly wild, but it would be the first-ever for the side-by-side market. Read more
Suzuki just dropped what sounds like a bombshell in Europe: a 10-year warranty on its motorcycles in France. On paper, that’s huge. In reality, it’s a lot more nuanced. And if you look past the marketing, you’ll see this isn’t some magical decade-long safety net. It’s a structured program with very specific conditions, designed as much to keep customers inside the dealer network as it is to provide peace of mind.
Let’s start with what’s real.
Suzuki is offering a 10-year warranty on new bikes in France starting 2026, applied retroactively to units sold from January 1 of this year. It’s made up of a standard 2-year manufacturer warranty, plus an 8-year extended coverage. There’s no mileage limit, which immediately makes it sound more generous than most programs out there. That alone is enough to grab attention, especially in a market where 2 to 4 years is the norm. Read more
Adventure & Touring
When you’re riding hard, whether it’s carving canyons or racking up miles on a long tour, your focus narrows down to lines, throttle, and feel. The gear you’re wearing fades into the background, and that’s kinda the point. A good helmet is one you can forget you’re wearing. But that also means they can be easy to overlook, even though they’re doing the most important job of all.
That’s why these days, lots of new helmets are integrating so much safety technology that they’re doing so much more than just protecting your head. Take Nolan Helmets, for example. The Italian brand has never been about hype and flashy designs like its counterparts. Instead, it leans more toward understated function over loud styling. Think clean design, practical features, and a very European approach to safety. It’s gear for riders who care more about riding than showing off, but still want something properly engineered. Read more
History & Custom
In the pantheon of motorcycling, few names carry the weight of MV Agusta. The Varese factory doesn’t just build motorcycles; they build “Motorcycle Art.” It’s a bold marketing claim, but one backed by a pedigree that is statistically unmatched. From 1956 to 1974, MV Agusta dominated the 500cc Grand Prix circuit, securing 17 consecutive world titles and winning all but one of the rider championships in that span. These machines were piloted by the gods of the sport: John Surtees, Mike Hailwood, Phil Read, and the incomparable Giacomo Agostini. Read more
Kevin Williams
Nearside Junctions on curves; a Biker Booby Trap
In our previous piece, we looked at a simple question: how much further around a left-hand bend can a rider see by moving one metre toward the centre line on a typical rural road with a 60 m radius? The geometric answer was modest — a lateral shift of one metre increases the visible distance from around 30 m to roughly 37 m but that’s on the outside of the curve. And the biggest threat is not likely to be an oncoming vehicle, but something obstructing our path on the nearside…
…such as a vehicle emerging from a blind junction in the middle of the bend.
The photo shows just such a ‘biker booby trap’ on one of my training routes. I use this specific bend to alert riders to the risks of the junction on the inside of a corner, and how what matters isn’t the ‘Limit Point’ but the blind zone on the inside of the corner, and knowing exactly where we might need to come to a very sudden halt. Read more
An inflated view of the efficiency of airbags?
[Based on an item in yesterday’s Elevenses LIVE webcast]
With motorcyclists being so frequently injured when we crash, despite the figures showing we don’t crash much more often than anyone else, there have been numerous schemes to protect the rider from the consequences.
One of the most infamous, for those who remember that far back, were the Transport and Road Research Laboratory’s leg protectors. The theory was simple. Motorcyclists crash, lower limb injuries are common. Ergo, build leg protectors into the machine to protect the legs.
Early versions resembled looped steel crash bars around the lower half of the bike. Later designs became more substantial, forming a rigid but crude ‘leg box’ intended to keep the leg from being trapped between bike and car. The UK actually got quite close to mandating them in the 1980s via a ‘UK Draft Specification’ but full-scale crash testing killed the idea. Read more
It’s hard to believe that it was back in 2024 I was putting the finishing touches to a new book called ‘Crash Scene: MOTORCYCLE’ – a collection of essays, anecdotes and observations, plus a look at some of the research on motorcycling, all connected by a common theme; crashing. The aim was to take a fresh and honest new look at the darker side of motorcycling for one very simple reason; looking at how, where and why other riders crash can give us an opportunity to avoid making those same mistakes ourselves.
Over the next fifteen months or so, I added three companion books in the ‘Crash Scene’ series each of which looks at one of the three ‘standard’ motorcycle crashes:
‘Crash Scene: JUNCTION’ – A deep dive into the most common motorcycle collision of all: the SMIDSY. Why drivers look but don’t see, why riders get caught out and how to break the cycle.
‘Crash Scene: CORNER’ – an unflinching look at the most frequent solo-rider crash: running wide in a bend. What goes wrong, why it goes wrong. and how riders can avoid the errors and stay in control.
‘Crash Scene: OVERTAKE’ – just finished, pull back the curtain on one of the most misunderstood and hight-risk manoeuvres in motorcycling, exposing the hidden traps that catch out even experienced riders.
All three of these books – CS: JUNCTION, CS: CORNER and CS: OVERTAKE are short and concise – well under 100 pages – and they are easy to read too, as well as inexpensive. Each of the three eBook versions are just £7 or less than five litres of petrol – for the very simple reason I actually want them to be read, so riders can learn from them. Read more
When is a deterrent not a deterrent?
When you don’t know you’re being deterred!
A hi-tech and stealthy new type of speed camera that doesn’t flash when it detects speeding motorists, doesn’t need road markings and produces higher-quality images of offending motorists is about to be introduced in London.
Back to the speed cameras being introduced in London.
TfL says speeding was a contributing factor in around half of the fatal collisions in London in 2024, and new statistics from the Home Office revealed that, in the same year, more than 2.5 million people across the UK were caught speeding – the highest number since 2011.
These hi-tech cameras are part of city-wide efforts to prevent deaths and serious injuries on London’s roads over the next five years through the new ‘Vision Zero Action Plan 2’, and they’re not the only new technology being introduced to crackdown on motoring offences. Read more
Running out of Road
Many of the clips I feature in this ‘Video Nasty’ series have a pretty clear cause and effect, but every now and again I watch a video of a rider crashing, and I think “what on earth went wrong here?”
This is one of those clips.
First the rider seems to run wide on a gentle left-hand bend and crosses into the hatched area protecting turning vehicles from the oncoming lane, then having regained her proper position, she repeats the error on the next right-hander.
Crash investigators will usually blame ‘inappropriate speed’ in a crash like this – 104 km/h is 65 mph, but it’s not too fast for the corners because lean angle’s not an issue – the bike is leaning at rather less than 25 degrees.
But maybe it was too fast for the rider, who struggled to steer. Maybe some target fixation too. She barely missed this street light. Read more
‘Too Long, Didn’t Read’ & what link you followed
Over the last three weeks, I’ve been looking at just why some people think my Facebook articles are ‘too long, didn’t read’. Sometimes it’s simply not what they expected to see, but I discovered that there are some very subtle chemical changes going on in the brain which predispose ‘swipers’ to move on because it delivers a Dopamine hit, and then again it turns out that a small phone screen displaying even a few hundred words hard to read because we lose the broader context around the particular words we’re reading and the scrolling nature of the text requires more effort to keep our place.
Today, I want to look at another issue; research has specifically shown that it’s how people arrive at long-form articles that matters. The referral source affects not just attention span but how we read and share stories. Read more
Whiteknights Blood Bikes
South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership
Every death and serious injury on the road is a preventable tragedy. Yet, on average, five people die every day on the road in the UK and 82 are seriously injured (10-year average from 2013-2022). This has to change. Help us by sticking to the rules of the road. Brake, the road safety charity
Motorcycling Organisations
IAM RoadSmart
Has it been a while since you passed your Advanced test? 
Are you aware of the OAP framework when out riding? 
ACEM
New motorcycle registrations in five of the largest European markets (i.e. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) reached 1.002.848 units during 2025. This represents a variation of approximately -12,9 % compared to the same period in 2024 (1.150.852 units). Motorcycle registration volumes increase in Spain (242.580 units, +8,3 % year-on-year) while in other markets, results remain negative for the current year with for Italy (331.634 units, -6 %), for France (179.225 units, -16,4 %), for UK (89.645 units, -19,3%) and for Germany (159.764 units, -35,7 %).
Moped registrations reached a total volume of 142.060 units in the six European moped markets monitored by ACEM (i.e. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain). This registration volume represents a reduction of -20,7 % in comparison to last year at the same period (179.231units). Leaves for Germany, which is experiencing slight growth (15.512 units, 4,9 %), the decline is widespread in all other monitored countries: Spain (13.594 units, -0,8 %), Belgium (26.195 units, -14,9 %), Netherlands (24.069 units, -25,3 %), France (48.526 units -26,4 %), and Italy (14.164 units, -35,1 %). Read more
Motorcycle Industries Association
February 2026 L-Category (Scooters, Motorcycles & other light vehicles) New Vehicle Registrations
MCIA has today published the new vehicle registrations for the month of February 2026.
This includes Mopeds, Scooters, Motorcycles and other vehicles within the wider L-Category (L1 to L7).
The month of February closed with welcome market growth of 14.7% compared to the same month in 2025 and year to date growth of 15.5%, with the main segments of Motorcycles improving by +17.3% and Scooters by +9.2%. Read more
National Motorcycle Dealers Association
“It is encouraging to see the motorcycle market showing signs of recovery in the first two months of 2026,” said Symon Cook, Head of the National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA), in response to the latest L-Category vehicle registration figures released by the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA).
Motorcycle registrations in February increased by 17.3% compared with the same month last year, contributing to a year-to-date increase of 14.7%. The wider L-Category vehicle market, which includes mopeds, scooters and other light vehicles, has also shown positive momentum following a challenging period for the sector. Read more
National Motorcyclists Council
As the European Union accelerates its work on mobility, climate policy, and road safety, these documents ensure that the voice of Europe’s riders is not only heard but taken seriously in the EU legislative process.
The position papers present clear, evidence‑based recommendations on issues currently ‘active’ in Brussels for EU decision‑makers. They address issues, from sustainable transport strategies and infrastructure design to licensing, training, and emerging technologies; they translate the concerns of millions of riders into concrete political wishes. Read more
FEMA
Motorcyclists’ organisations FEMA, FIM Europe and NMC unveil a new set of joint position papers designed as powerful lobbying tools for the European motorcycling community.
Click to view the position papers.
As the EU accelerates its work on mobility, climate policy, and road safety, these documents ensure that the voice of Europe’s riders is not only heard but taken seriously in the legislative process.
The position papers present clear, evidence‑based recommendations for EU decision‑makers. They address the most pressing issues affecting motorcycling, from sustainable transport strategies and infrastructure design to licensing, training, and emerging technologies; they translate the concerns of millions of riders into concrete political wishes. Read more
British Motorcyclists Federation
Motorcycle Action Group
New Rider Hub
What is Ridefree?
Ridefree is an award-winning enhancement to compulsory basic training (CBT), consisting of pre-course eLearning modules. Its aim is to help you prepare for your CBT and riding on the road.
How can it help me?
CBT should be an enjoyable experience. But there’s a lot to learn, and it’s normal to feel anxious about your first bike ride. The good news is that Ridefree will help you become a better and more confident rider…Read more.
Look after your bike/moped and it will look after you. Carrying out a few simple checks before each ride could save your life. Use POWDERS
Petrol
- Do you have enough for your journey?
- Is the reserve tap off?
- Check there are no leaks Read more…
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