Advantages: cheap to run, healthy way to get about, environmentally healthy
Disadvantages: heavy even with battery removed, not suitable for long distances

...We bought the bike from cedirecteast.co.uk and they delivered promptly. On the first day however my husband had a puncture and it was quite awkward to remove the back wheel to repair it and even more awkward to put it back on. However I am sure that it will get easier with practice. The wheel size is 12.5in and these are fairly easy to buy, as they are also sold for prams. The bike is quite heavy, 27k and even with the battery removed, it seems heavier than other bikes. However the up-side is that it is quite robust. It takes around 4 to 6 hours to charge up and it says on the website that you can get around 14 miles to each charge. I would say that this is very much dependent on the terrain. My husband cycles a fairly flat route to work with one big hill at the end and he reckons that he gets around 12 miles, so it... Read review

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Advantages: If you're careful you may end up with a new best friend
Disadvantages: It's a minefield out there. Be careful!

...beards. Touring bikes tend to be well built and mechanically sound, often with bent handlebars and similar tyres to road bikes, but a bit wider. The saddles tend to be designed for all day rides and there's ample luggage space (this is starting to sound like a car review... no, you can't fold the rear seats down!) If you're going to be taking fairly large loads with you, for example if you're riding around the country for a week or so, tourers are the ideal choice. Hybrids: Strange mutants? Hybrids are a sort of half-way house between road and MTB. The riding position is a lot more relaxed and upright than a road bike, with straight handlebars, mudguards and suspension for comfort with the larger wheels of a roadbike for lower rolling resistance. If your commute to work doesn't involve jumping up and down kerbs to escape... Read review

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Advantages: Good exercise that serves a purpose
Disadvantages: The helmet is hardly a fashion accessory!

...environment, and you have to PAY to go there. The school run accounts for 10% of pollution caused by cars, partly because the shorter journies, with colder engines are the worst culprits. The tyres are flat! Well, of course they are. Your car would have flat tyres too if you left it to stand for 20 years. What did you expect? Since you last mended a puncture, there have been a few innovations though. You can now get inner tubes that are a non-continuous sausage, rather than a complete loop. The ends overlap inside the tyre. The advantage of this is, that the wheel doesn’t have to be completely removed to change an inner tube, since the new tube can be fed in from one side of the rim. You can also get various “goos” reputed to make tyres leak- and puncture-proof. My Brompton folding bike even has Kevlar*-belted tyres, weighing in at a princely... Read review

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Advantages: Fun, fuel economy, the noises the engine and turbo make
Disadvantages: luggage space, transmission lag.

...Growl suck whistle. 5 times in a row. Thats what it sounds like when you floor the roadster and hold it up to a quite illegal speed. Soft top down, aviator shades, jazz fm, empty roads, turbo singing. Its rather good at this bit. So. Banishing the preconceptions first. The engine is 700cc, which is tiny, but the car is quick. No questions, complaints, jeers, it is quick. Its mid engined and rear wheel drive, but it takes a tight corner in a low gear to kick the back end out. Might do it easier with the electrickery turned off, but I have no great intention of turning it off. The car just sticks to the road, while feeling flightly. A highly rewarding drive. Everything about the driving has a somehow assisted feel. Power steering on an 800 kilo car with no weight on the front wheels, sharp brakes, i'm not sure... Read review

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Advantages: great customer service, great quality
Disadvantages: Matching accessories not available

...in a subtle steel grey with silver and black accents. Even the stabilizers and wheel rims were co-ordinated to the rest of the bike with a matching black opposed to the usual silver metal. It truly is gorgeous and my boy is so proud! One of only two suggestions I would have for Isla bikes is it would be nice to see a range of accessories such as helmets, bells etc available. Having said that, maybe that would take the focus away from just creating great bikes. ***Cost*** These are exclusive bikes and you very much get what you pay for. My 3 year old's bike cost £119 (including stabilizers) which may be more than many parents expect to pay for their kids bike. Having said that, the price tag not only comes with a safe, stylish, adaptable and sturdy bike, it also comes with a 5 year guarantee on frame and forks and a 2 year guarantee on parts... Read review

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Advantages: Best fun you'll ever have on four wheels
Disadvantages: Potentially dangerous if not handled responsibly

...the legal driving age to get behind the wheel, pestering her old dad constantly on how to drive a car. (I don’t mind really) So what did she discover that was so appealing? Quad Biking, or tearing around the glens, mountainsides, lochs, and rivers at a massive rate of knots on an adapted scooter. (four wheels) ~ ~ The Alvie and Dalraddy Estate is located a couple of miles outside Aviemore on the Kingussie road, and is an old Scottish country estate that has been converted into a holiday park and outdoor adventure centre. Among the many activities they offer is quad biking, of which my previous experience was limited to computer games. Even on a small computer screen it looks fairly hair-raising, so it was with some trepidation that I lifted the phone to find out the cost and availability. I was half hoping that they were going... Read review

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Advantages: Enjoyable way to keep fit and get yourself from A to B
Disadvantages: A myriad of different products out there

...want your bike to be secure, you're going to have to carry a lot of extra weight. Most people recommend D-locks. These look like very large padlocks and have a shackle that fits through the frame and around some immovable object. A D-lock will keep all but the most determined theives off your frame and your rear wheel, but leaves your front wheel open to attack. This is where cable locks come in, looping a cable through the front wheel means that it's no longer open to the opportunist thief. There's no point in locking the entire bike up with just a cable lock. That's a mistake I've made myself, and come back to find my lock in two halves and no bike. Whatever happens, at the end of the day, if the thief is determined enough, they're going to nick your bike. It's just a matter of making it hard enough that most thieves won't bother... Read review

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Advantages: lots of fun to ride, great handling, funky looks
Disadvantages: slow, requires lots of modifications to get the best performance (but it's worth it!)

...I'll be honest here, I bought this bike on its looks alone. I saw it in the dealers and it made me smile. There's just no other bike that has the TDR's looks! The TDR shares many components with Yamaha's other 2 stroke 125's: the DT dirtbike and the TZR race replica. The engine and gearing are exactly the same as the DT - a watercooled 2 stroke with crankcase reed valve induction. The TDR accelerates quickly like a dirt bike but doesn't have a very high top end. The frame is the super stiff steel deltabox variety and this combined with the suspension and wheels makes for great handling. The frame is so stiff it could easily handle an engine kicking out 2 or 3 times the power of the TDR's. The seat is high up off the ground, again similar to the DT. The wheels sizes are 18" front and 17" rear. If you are under 5"7 you might want... Read review

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Advantages: Prices, post-free, quick delivery, good e-mail query service
Disadvantages: None so far, unless it all falls apart again!

...is quite a lot of chain! The CR site has all this detail, making on-line purchasing as near to ‘right-first-time’ as you can get. Everything that I’ve bought so far, that’s the ‘rear mech’, a ‘cassette’ of seven gear cogs for sliding onto the rear axle and the handlebar controls have been spot on. What’s more, it’s all been delivered in about 24 hours, post-free. On one of their parcels, they were even half-an-hour early! I ‘complained’ about this in a light hearted way via their e-mail and got an equally light-hearted reply almost by return. They don’t shy away from on-line advice too. I asked them about the compatibility of certain items before buying and they were back like a flash with a useful reply. They even saved the day just as I was about to install the new gears on the new wheels I’d bought from Halfords (‘oh yes Sir... Read review

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Advantages: Speed, comfort, handling, reliability, economy, class
Disadvantages: None

...not modify the bike at all for the FH 87 model year, the first modifications coming in 1988 when 17" wheels front and rear were brought in, along with updated colours (red, white, or black) and some minor changes to the plastics. Again this model sold for two years, the first major revamp taking place in 1990. The early VFR was so successful that Honda themselevs made a copy! The NSR125 mimicked the styling and colour schemes of the original VFRs so that aspiring learners restricted to 125cc could get in on the VFR act. During 1988 the VFR became the basis for the most successful race bike of all time, the VFR750R, internally designated the RC30. Based closely on the VFR's engine, the RC30 was an out and out race bike that was road legal for homologation purposes. On a fast uncrowded road the RC30 is simply magical, on a crowded one it... Read review

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