Phil West – författare

While BMW motorcycles remain mostly associated with its R-series shaft-drive boxer twins, it’s the K-series liquid-cooled ‘multis’ that have been – and remain – the German firm’s most advanced, radical and downright wacky bikes of all. Launched in 1983 to propel BMW into a whole new era, the K-series has included some of the world’s most innovative and interesting motorcycles. From the original liquid-cooled, fuel-injected K100, to the radically aerodynamic K1 of the 1980s; the ultra-powerful K1200RS and space age K1200LT of the 1990s; and the ‘Duolever’ K1200S and 6-cylinder K1600 of the 2000s and beyond, BMW’s ‘Ks’ have always been special, but also so advanced and pioneering that they’ve helped shape the whole of modern motorcycling. BMW expert Phil West, author of BMW Airhead Twins and BMW GS, also published by Crowood, has again painstakingly researched their complete history, found pictures never published before and recounts the whole K-Series story in a comprehensive and engaging tale.

With stunning bikes, technical advancements and pivotal milestones, the 1980s was a vibrant period for motorcycling in Britain. Accelerating sales saw the decade begin with the old, twin-shock Universal Japanese Motorcycles and end with race replicas, fully-faired tourers and screaming strokers. Bike sport grew and had a bigger influence on what was being ridden on the road. Learners became restricted to 125s, and the Paris–Dakar Rally spawned a new class of road-going replicas such as the Africa Twin, the precursors of today’s popular adventure bikes. And on the street, hooligan ‘LC Johnnys’ evolved into Simpson Bandit-wearing ‘streetfighters’ and day-glo-bedecked road racers on GSX-Rs.Having ridden and written about virtually every new bike since the 1970s, Phil West looks back at fifty motorcycles that were all hugely loved and lusted over during the decade that inspired a generation of bikers.

Few decades are as momentous, and memorable, as the 1970s. The years 1970–79 were rich, exciting and, for today’s fifty and sixty-somethings, a formative period of motorcycling in Britain.It was an era that saw the passing of the baton from British to Japanese manufacturers: Norton, BSA and Triumph were overtaken by Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki. Before long, multi-cylinder ‘superbikes’, such as the GT750, the XS750 and the GS1000, became the bikes idolised on many bedroom walls.In bike sport, Barry Sheene surpassed the old guard of Mike Hailwood and Phil Read, while heroes such as Evel Knievel secured motorcycling’s place in popular culture. Celebrating fifty of the decade’s best bikes, journalist Phil West remembers all of this and more in this fascinating book.

The 1990s was the last ‘golden era’ of motorcycling in Britain – particularly for today’s nostalgia-driven, 50-something bikers. Ground-breaking sports bikes included the likes of Honda’s original FireBlade, Yamaha’s R1 and Ducati’s iconic 916, with Britain’s Carl ‘Foggy’ Fogarty taking the latter to glory in the new World Superbike championship. A new breed of ‘hyperbike’, first led by Kawasaki’s 178mph ZZR1100 then Honda’s CBR1100XX Super Blackbird and Suzuki’s Hayabusa, took performance higher than ever before.It was also the decade that saw the return of historic British brand Triumph, Ducati’s novel Monster 900, Honda’s oval-pistoned NR750 and Yamaha’s wacky hub-centre GTS1000. All of these and many more are remembered and celebrated in Motorcycles We Loved in the 1990s.