Roland Brown's review of 2016

Motorcyclist(s) of the year

The Brough Superior duo of marque owner Mark Upham and engineering genius Thierry Henriette deserve huge credit for putting one of motorcycling’s greatest names back on the road with the new SS100. But above all, I’ll remember this motorcycling year as a sad one due to the death from cancer in May, at just 51, of Michael Czysz (pictured), the visionary American engineer whose stunning bikes won four consecutive electric-bike TTs in the Isle of Man. 

Product of the year

I’ve always found ear-plugs fiddly and not very effective, so have rarely worn them over the years, and have poor hearing and mild tinnitus as a result. Recently I discovered Isolate plugs, which are basically small, foam-capped aluminium or titanium cylinders – and far more efficient than any ear-plugs I’ve ever tried before. At £25-plus per pair (you can get them from www.flareaudio.com or www.amazon.co.uk) they’re not cheap. But if these things had been around years ago, I wouldn’t need to annoy my family by turning the TV volume up too high.

Low point of the year

I was desperate to get my old, 1977-model Triumph T140 Bonneville running right but it kept coughing and spluttering. Eventually I gave up and paid someone who knows about old British bikes to fix it. But two weeks and a substantial invoice later the old nail conked out again, its mystery ailment seemingly uncured. So it spent much of the year under a cover in the garage, while I rode around on its infinitely more reliable modern equivalent, the Street Triple R.