Practical Sportsbikes

Practical Sportsbikes magazine is about buying, fixing, restoring and riding sportsbikes from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. Every issue of PS – the magazine home of new-wave Japanese and Italian classics – is packed with: - The most inspiring and ingenious reader restorations - The most in-depth road tests and buyers’ guides - Unmissable workshop tips and how-to features Practical Sportsbikes gets under the skin of the bikes that really matter to our readers and explains how best to maintain, rebuild and enjoy them. So if you’re in to sportsbikes from the 1970-1990s, PS is essential reading.

Welcome

The Dream Team • Freaks (of speed, and in more general terms too)

Contributor of the month

YPVS TREATMENT FOR XSR700 • NEW Hag Hughes’ kit transforms Yam retro into saucy 31K tribute

specials we like • ★ From Hungary in Central Europe, and from Japan way out East

Movie makers make it cool

ps mail • Write a letter to The PS and if it’s Star Letter material you win a grey T-shirt ‘designed’ by Damo. Who has that?

PS social club • The editor asks: “What’s the fastest you’ve gone on a bike? On a closed course, obviously…”

IN YOUR SHED • Part way through a restoration? Just completed a trick special? Send us your pics, and details

A TRICKER GIXXER • Festooned with all the right bits in all the right places, and packing 152bhp, this must be close to the zenith of big oil-boilers. And if it’s not, we’d like to know what is

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT • Just when you thought streetfighters were now confined to the town museum (along with muscle pants and shoulder pads) along comes a fresh blast from the past

THE NUMBERS GAME • The development of sportsbikes as we know them truly began in the 1970s. Your PS tests the boss bikes from every decade since to see how far we’ve come – or not

ON THE RUN-IN • Current thinking on engine break-in (or not) is as widely varied as it ever was. But there are still some hard and fast rules – depending on who you talk to

BURIED TREASURE • Beneath your fave PS magazine lie more than 60 years of archive material... that mostly goes unseen, unused. Until now

POSTER

ps SELECTOR 80’S SPORTS TOURERS • Load ’em up with gear and head faraway, or use their litre (plus) stomp to put some manners on more modern tackle. Nor will an FJ11, CBR1000 or ZX-10 cost you a small fortune

HONDA CB750F/CB900F • Realistic resto entry values, very decent parts availability, vast expert network... yes... maybe? Why not?

What’s the problem? • Bike not running right? Our expert have the answers to the toughest questions

Chris Jones Honda VTR1000F • Only off the road once in 13 years, Chris’s sensibly modified Firestorm has been a paragon of reliability. So much so he wants it back

LIVING WITH A HONDA VTR1000F FIRESTORM

ZX990 TURBO ONLY CONNECT • Wiring whiz Ferret is handed the freako-hybrid, and told to make sparks happen. He doesn’t seem at all fazed

BARGAINS TO BIMOTA • Alan’s trade-up dream is barely alive as his first buy ZXR400 becomes a scarcely polishable turd. But the PS tech ed is made of stern stuff

GREAT BRITISH GARAGES • The nation’s home mechanics and bike industry pros reveal their workshop set-ups, their best gear, and top tips their

Huge advances for Medium-G • A new ignition system could be just the thing for Alan and Gary as they hit the strip again

Facing some serious charges • A new, improved electrical system forces urgent restoration of huge chunks of manky Mirage

It helps to have the right kit... • An episode in which a man buys a cheap rebuild kit – that turns out to be wrong anyway. Jeez...

It’s win, win, win, win for him • PS man scorches to a convincing...