Nearly spring and BMW has had a busy year already. Last year a new family of funky single-cylinder 650cc bikes, the G-series, and now, at the other end of the performance scale, we get this, the BMW K1200R Sport.

BMW's latest K-series 1157cc inline, liquid-cooled, four is refreshingly indefinable . Is it a naked bike with half the fairing taken away? And does it matter?

Ask BMW and they say the BMW K1200R Sport is a naked BMW K1200R with a top fairing, seemingly one nicked from a R1200S. It works a treat too, both functionally and aesthetically, but could do with the BMW R1200S's fairing mounted mirrors, not the bar-mounted ones it's stuck with.

I've almost reached the apex of a turn when suddenly a loud, high-pitched screech cuts through the rumble of the Ducati Hypermotard's V-twin engine. The Ducati Hypermotard is the brainchild of Ducati designer Pierre Terblanche, who saw the potential for the Bologna firm to join the supermoto set with a leaner, racier bike based on the versatile Multistrada.

At the heart of the Ducati Hypermotard is the familiar 1078cc, air-cooled Desmo engine, with its SOHC, two valves and two plugs per cylinder. The motor's top end is mechanically unchanged but the Hypermotard also comes with a new high-level exhaust system. Twin aluminum-tipped silencers just from beneath the high seat of a tall, sharply styled and imaginatively detailed machine whose swooping bodywork is cut back to show off the engine and the trellis frame, from which hangs a single-sided swingarm and a bolt-on rear sub-frame.

With its keeper still out of the country, I nicked the brand new 2008 Suzuki DR-Z400sm's keys two nights ago. Since then we've done around 130 joyful kilometers on bumpy B-roads, long enough for me to wish I were keeping the K8 Suzuki DR-Z400sm, SuperMotard style motorcycle, all year round.

I spent 10 minutes lubing the chain and adjusting the controls, then softening the fork compression by three clicks to stop the front kicking off bumps so much. It's more stoppie-prone now, but my main concern is its stability over bumps. A bit more rear preload should help too, the sail-tail riding position always compresses the rear of bikes like this at speed.

The Aprilia Superbike, the bike which from 2009 will bring the Noale based company back to four-stroke racing, has been unveiled for the first time during the Piaggio Group Convention in Milan.

After the success in the 2007 World Championships with Aprilia riders and bikes dominating the 125 and 250 classes (winning all four titles, a repeat of the 2006 performance), the Veneto company gave a preview of the eagerly awaited Aprilia RSV 4 "Race Machine".

An extraordinary preview to a privileged audience of more than 1,200 dealers attending the International Piaggio Group Convention.

Torn between small and agile and big and brutal, just as the sportsbike riding world is split between 600cc's and 1000cc's, so the enduro rider has a simple choice of 250cc or 450cc. The perceived wisdom is comparable too: 600cc sportsbike pilots, like off-road 250cc riders, talk of supreme agility, the 'Ëœright' amount of power and of listen, secretly admit the little guys may have a point, but feel vindicated every time they put the throttle on the stop.

I bought a Honda CRF450X a few months back and apparently it's a classic mistake: road-rider, new to the dirt, buys a nuclear 450 and spends his time pulling hedge and shattered bones from his riding gear.

Yamaha Thailand has upgraded the engine of the popular Yamaha Nouvo model line. The Yamaha Nouvo Elegance, as the new Yamaha underbone bodied motorcycle is named, the biggest changes for this new model can be found in the 4-stroke 2-valve SOHC liquid-cooled 135cc engine.

The new Yamaha Nouvo Elegance uses Mikuni BS26x1 type carburetor to ensure good response, performance and combustion efficiency of the engine. The new 135cc engine features an aluminum DiASiL cylinder with a 54mm bore and 57.9mm stroke and a compression ratio of 10.8:1 that puts out about 11 horsepower. These performance specs ensure a comfortable ride and lively performance in stop-and-go urban traffic conditions.

A weekend at Korea, Soul turned out more interesting the expected. Korean friends had arranged a rental motorcycle, I have to amid that I was a bit shocked when seeing a Hyosung GT650S motorcycle waiting for me. I tried, uselessly to explain that I wanted a Honda CBR-600RR or something similar.

My Korean friends, two of them, did not stopped laughing and to me 'Give it a chance', as I get my first look at this Hyosung GT650S. But the cheap and cheerful mid-size-all-rounder really does nothing for my riding in Korean dreams. I always tend to buy the fastest, scariest thing I can afford, with no compromise, okay this change a bit after I meet the wife.

When our Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom arrived some five months ago, I immediately made comparisons to BMW's esteemed R1200GS. At a spec-sheet level the Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom is a pretty close match for the BMW Boxer, and this Grand Touring version comes with topbox, panniers, heated grips and center-stand for more than 200,000 Baht less than a similarly equipped BMW GS.

What 5400 kilometer have shown is that while the perky, comfortable V-twin hasn't quite the composure, abilities and overall performance of the German market leader, it's certainly not 200,000 Baht worse.

Yes, the brakes are lacking and the handling isn't as sure-footed, but the Suzuki V-Strom has made covering 160 kilometers a days on all types of road effortlessly brisk and ache free, and it has enough of a naughty side to pander to my silly side.

Last month was all about the daily grind for the Harley Spotster 1200 and I. Bad weather, traffic congestion, boring motorway kilometers... Not that the Harley couldn't cope, on the contrary, it took just about everything thrown at it, but neither of us felt quite at home. It's a bit like that Pamela Anderson movie 'Barb Wire' where the girl is rock climbing in high heels; it's doable, but you look a bit daft and you'd be much better off with a proper pair of boots.

It felt the same way with the Harley Sportster 1200. Like I said before, it's a surprisingly capable bike, but it's just not designed for wet weather on the Bangkok outer-ring. It felt like I was making it do things it didn't really want to do. So, I decided it might be a good idea to put it back in its natural habitat and go for a spot of cruising.

Cruisers are evolving. Often berated by those of a sportbike persuasion for using ancient design and basic parts, the laid back side of biking has seen an injection of technology of late, a new twist to the design, instigated by the arrival of the Harley-Davidson V-Rod in 2001. Four-valve heads, liquid-cooling, over 215km/h and fresh lines? From Harley? Shocking...

It sparked a revival among the bustling ranks of Japanese competitors, one of the newest of which is this Suzuki M1800R Intruder: 1783cc and a third of a ton of radial brakes, exhaust valves, chrome and fresh modern looks. And lurking menacingly next to it a Harley Night Road Special, the latest V-rod variant, here to fight the corner of the increasingly popular American brand. Both impress with enormous presence and steamroller rear wheels, which have a big effect on the handling.