View Full Version : why no "Top Gear" for bikes
grecian9
02-10-06, 01:56 PM
How come there's no tv programme about motorbikes? Yes there's plenty of motorbike racing on TV but I'm not aware of any magazine type show. I am fairly to new to the scene so correct me if I'm wrong. I have all the Sky channels.
instigator
02-10-06, 01:59 PM
Bkes aren't popular enough to get:
-prime time spot
-a decent budget
The shows on m&m were really guff, very poorly presented and amateurish camerawork. UBH was a good example of this. Think m&m is now down the pan though.
There was one on Men & Motors with that blonde girl that models Oxford gear.
It was pants!
SoulKiss
02-10-06, 02:06 PM
Cos it would be crap.
It would either be boring and factual (like "old" Top Gear") or Richard Hammond would present it, it would be great but they would focus on the speed etc and it would get letters of complaint.
Best they leave alone I think
David
grecian9
02-10-06, 02:10 PM
I disagree...I think there's room for a quality bike show with road tests and bike features.
SoulKiss
02-10-06, 02:13 PM
Dont get me wrong - I would LOVE to see it.
I just think that in the post Hammond crash world, it would be under serious pressure to be sedate and boring - think Top Gear with just James.........
As opposed to Hammond's Half Hour of Biking Mayhem with a Clarkson-alike pro biker.
Best bet would be for a 15 minute slot in every edition of Top Gear.
David
Best bet would be for a 15 minute slot in every edition of Top Gear.
David
Which will not happen cos Clarkson hates motorbikes. They used to test a motorbike in the old style Top Gear.
grecian9
02-10-06, 02:16 PM
That won't happen cos Clarkson hates bikes. If you think Top Gear pre-Hammond when they focussed on serious reviews or Fifth gear pre-the current series. Like that, except without the cars. :)
nuntius
02-10-06, 10:58 PM
The format isn't really transferrable to bikes. Just think, half of the presenting on top gear is done from inside the cars, whilst they are driving. It can't work that way for a bike.
Peter Henry
03-10-06, 06:52 AM
If it is any comfort, here in Spain which is a completely bike mad country there are no magazine type tv shows either. That in a country where every Moto GP race,125 and 250's are always shown live on the equivalent of BBC1. :?
It would be boring as hell. There are much fewer bike makes/models than there are cars
I'm pretty sure the Germans have one. I say pretty sure because I couldnt understand a thing other than looking at the bikes :lol: - I was thinking the same thing you ask. There are plenty of bikes about if you mixed old with new.
The format isn't really transferrable to bikes. Just think, half of the presenting on top gear is done from inside the cars, whilst they are driving. It can't work that way for a bike.
Didn't Steve Berry used to present like that on a bike in Top gear. On board cameras and presenter miked up - shouldn't be too hard?
It would be boring as hell. There are much fewer bike makes/models than there are cars
I would love it because the majority of cars are boring as hell. And I for one don't know much about different bikes. I find the range of bikes far more bewildering than the range of cars out there.
I'm sure Top Gear once upon a time did a few small pieces on bikes, or it may have been 5th Gear, that was when I was a kid so I guess it was Top Gear...
It would be boring as hell. There are much fewer bike makes/models than there are cars
I would love it because the majority of cars are boring as hell. And I for one don't know much about different bikes. I find the range of bikes far more bewildering than the range of cars out there.They all do the same thing...go fast, and hurt when you fall off. :lol:
we have several bike shows here in the US however most of them are geared toward cruisers
TopGear did once long time ago, when I was a wee boy, sometimes did a feature on bikes, but that's long gone. I'm afraid now it M&M badly shot shows or stuff from the States.
I think the last decent show worth watchin was 'Long Way Round'.
weazelz
04-10-06, 08:04 AM
I seem to remember a 5th gear with Tiff & Vicky out on a track on cbr600rr's, so that must be 2003++. Tiff got his knee down - in the wet - & then lowsided off shortly afterwards lol
the reason they don't do bikes on TG is that there's just not the audience for it. there's a huge audience for cars - potentially *over* half the population - but if they put bikes on people would just switch off. TG is only really partly a car show, it's more like FHM or similar on the telly - lifestyle, lads having a laugh, aspirational products etc
You could get cable and watch american chopper
*I'll get my coat* :lol:
Do they have cars on Top Gear anymore? I thought it was a chatshow centred around Clarkson :?:
They have on in Holland. It's not great... They do tests + fun stuff etc but the biggest problem is that it's a cemercial channel, and the show is sponsered (a bit like Dutch car shows). So everything tested is fantastic - and if they can't find anything good to say you just get 'look it has wheels! And a seat! And a tacho!' (Again like Dutch car shows)
What's needed is a nice independent version that can give a balanced review (that I would actually watch)...
Sir Trev
06-10-06, 09:36 AM
I found one called Party Cycle on Motors TV on Wednesday night that seemed to be quite good but for the sound... This is a French channel (I think) so they have someone reading the transcript in English in a rather wooden, unenthusiastic way which spoils the reviews.
They looked at a coule of different types of scooter (including a three wheeled Piagio), a 900 KTM, ZZR14 and a Yam FJ12 with a semi-auto gearbox and hand shift. I watched it for the Yam piece out of interest but all in all it was annoying that you got no sense of what the reviewer really thought.
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