As winter draws in a lot of riders will be mothballing their bikes until the weather improves, but if you want some two-wheeled thrills to keep you entertained in the meantime, here’s a list of some of the best motorcycle video games. They’re not as much fun as the real thing, but at least you can enjoy a few beers while you’re riding these motorbikes.

MotoGP 08 (X-Box 360, PS3, PS2, PC, Wii)

Reckon you could show Rossi a thing or two? The official game of the MotoGP franchise will let you compete against the world champion, and most of the other big name riders on some of the world’s most famous race circuits. While not the best racing game in the world, MotoGP 08 received passable reviews on most of the platforms, which means you should be able to squeeze a fair bit of enjoyment out of it.  Be warned though, the Wii version is considered to be pretty abysmal, so it’s probably best to give it a miss unless you’re really desperate.

A new version of the game is scheduled for 2010.

SBK-09 Superbike World Championship (PSP, X-Box 360, PS2, PS3)

SBK-09 brings the other main motorcycle racing series to video gamers. Unfortunately it’s been given very average reviews by most games critics, so you’ll probably struggle to find much fun here - although if you’re an obsessive fan of the series, you might be able to get more out of it than the average gamer.

MX vs ATV: Untamed (X-Box 360, Nintendo DS, PS2, PS3, Wii, PSP)

Mud lovers rejoice! MX vs ATV lets you race all manner of offroad vehicles, including motocross bikes against each other on a series of dirt-tracks. There’s plenty of value for money here, with a wide range of vehicles other than bikes to play around on, although reviews of the game are fairly mediocre, generally billing it as OK but not great.

Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, X-Box 360, PC)

Although the game isn’t specifically about motorcycles, there are plenty of opportunities for jumping on a chopper, motocross or sports bike and tearing around the beautifully realistic city streets in Grand Theft Auto IV. If you’ve got an X-Box 360, you can download an extra content pack which has a whole story line centred around a motorcycle gang, so you can live out your Sons of Anarchy fantasies. Don’t worry if you’ve only got an older console or PC which can’t handle GTA IV, all the older instalments of the game feature a wide range of motorcycles, and San Andreas is especially good since it offers lots of countryside for off-roading and long winding country roads to tear up.

MTX Mototrax (PSP)

Only available on the PSP, this motocross game provides plenty of motocross thrills across 30 different tracks. It’s even got a built in track editor so you can design your own if the pre-made ones become too boring. The game received positive reviews when it was released in 2007, so it should offer plenty of fun.

With the massive investment in the development green technology and zero-emissions vehicles over recent years, electric motorcycles are becoming a reality. While they aren’t yet ready to replace all conventionally fuelled bikes, electric motorbikes are practical enough for short journeys, which makes them ideal for commuting or recreational rides.

Zero Motorcycles

Zero Motorcycles manufactures a range of electrically powered motocross style bikes designed for highway and off-road riding. The company produces the X and MX models for off-road riding, while the Zero S is designed as a road legal street-bike and the DS (Dual Sport) is intended to be ridden on and off-road.

The Zero S (pictured) has a top speed of 55mph, with a range of 50 miles, which makes it perfectly usable around town, or for having a little off-road fun at the weekend. The bike takes less than four hours to recharge, and while this might sound inconvenient compared to the 30 seconds it takes to fill up a gas tank, the running costs of $0.01 per mile should take your mind off that.

Zero S - supermoto style street bike

The Zero S costs $9,950 (and is eligible for a 10% Federal tax credit, like all electric vehicles)

Zero Motorcycles

Brammo

You’ll either love or hate the oddball styling of the Brammo Enertia, but we think it looks pretty funky and the design certainly matches its purpose of being an urban run-around, rather than king of the open-road. This electric motorcycle is capable of over 60mph, according to the manufacturer, with a range of 42 miles and a recharge time of approximately 4 hours.

Brammo Enertia - the urban run-about

The Enertia costs $11,195 and is available through Best Buy, the website will help you to locate a dealer.

Brammo

Electric Motorsport

Electric Motorsport GPR-S

We think the EMS GPR-R is one of the better looking electric motorcycles, with its slightly more aggressive street-fighter styling. The bike has adjustable gearing, so top speed can be anywhere between 60-70mph depending on how you set it up, and likewise the range can vary between 30 and 60 miles according to how aggressively you ride.

Like most of the motorcycles in this class, recharge time is approximately 4 hours, but an optional speed-charger can bring that down to 1.5 hours.

The GPR-S costs $8,500 and can be ordered through the website.

Electric Motorsport

Mission Motors

Mission One electric superbike - expensively awesome

Unlike the other manufacturers here, Mission Motors didn’t just set out to build a practical electric motorcycle - the company went balls out to create a zero emissions motorbike that could compete with conventional gas powered superbikes. The Mission One is the result of that admirable goal. It has a top speed of 150mph, with a range of 150 miles and a recharge time of just two hours. Plus, it looks mental.

Sadly, you can’t buy one just yet, although for $5,000 you can reserve one of the first batch of 50, which will cost $69,995. You could buy an Aprilia RSV4 for a third of the price, but that’s not really the point - while the Mission One might be wildly expensive, the world needs rich loons to snap up these early models so that more money will be invested in developing the technology and, hopefully, electric motorcycles will become better and more affordable, which has got to be a god thing.

Mission Motors

The San Francisco based electric motorcycle manufacturer, Mission Motors has set a new all-electric motorcycle speed record of just over 150mph. The official record is an average of two runs, but the company claims to have clocked its zero emissions Mission One superbike at 161mph during the preparations for the official run at Bonneville Speedway earlier this month.

The record was set during the yearly BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials, where Mission One’s impressive top speed beat 70% of the conventionally fuelled entrants. Edward West, Mission Motors Founder and President, said “I give the credit for this achievement to our extraordinary engineering team. We set this record on our first visit to the Bonneville Salt Flats on poor salt conditions and in high cross-winds. And to set it with our production prototype vehicle, not a custom Bonneville bike is truly amazing.”

The record breaking Zero One zero emissions motorcycle

Earlier this year the company entered its bike in the first FIM sanctioned zero emissions motorcycle race, the TTXP at the famous Isle of Man TT where it finished in a very respectable fourth position.

Mission One plans to sell the first batch of its 150mph, 150 mile range, zero emissions superbike in 2010 - 300 of the motorcycles will be put up for sale in the first year of production. You can find out more at the company’s Ride Mission website.

Riders of Harley Davidson motorcycles have good reason to feel proud of the Milwaukee based manufacturer today. The company has announced that, along with its customers and dealers, it has raised $4.5 million for the fight against Muscular Dystrophy in 2009 alone - bringing the total raised for this cause since 1980 to over $73 million.
Fundraising activities organised by Harley Davidson riders, dealers and employees include pledge rides, motorcycle raffles, dinners, and commemorative pin sales. Harley Davidson is one of the leading corporate sponsors of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

For more information visit www.mdarides.org.

OK, it looks a little like a Meccano motorcycle, but once you get over that the latest machine from the Confederate Motor Company is a serious head-turner. You want to get noticed? Get one of these. Of course, you probably can’t afford one, unless you happen to own a couple of oil fields. I can’t be bothered to look up the pricing, if it’s even available yet, but you can rest assured that this motorcycle will cost more money than most of us average Joes will earn in a decade.

Let’s be honest, if you’re buying one of these bikes, you probably don’t care much about the performance and handling characteristics, this thing is pretty much an ornament. But in case you’re interested, the engine is a 2 litre radial twin which delivers 160hp to the rear wheel. Weighing in at a shade over 200kg, this puts the power to weight ratio in the same league as most high end superbikes, so this thing is certainly going to shift. Whether it handles like a superbike, or if anybody who owns one of these motorcycles is ever going to risk riding it on the ragged edge is a totally different question.

The P120 Fighter Combat if the Terminator rode a motorcycle, he would ride one of these. Er... wait a minute...

Did I mention they’re only going to make 120 of them? In case you’re thinking of remortgaging your house and selling your kids to raise the cash for one of these (and I certainly wouldn’t blame you for that) you can get more information and the Confederate Motor Company website.

Are you the kind of biker who likes to ride something a little different? How about an underpowered, lo-tech soviet copy of a pre-war BMW military motorcycle? The Ural Sahara is a 750cc flat twin which produces a claimed 40hp, propelling this magnificent beast to a top speed of 62Mph which we imagine it can achieve from a standing start in approximately three or four weeks.

If you like your motorcycles simple and unsophisticated, this four-gear marvel might be for you. Actually, that’s five gears, if you include reverse - you don’t get that on a Ducati!

We’re just surprised this thing doesn’t run on diesel… A steal at just under $14,000:

The Ural Sahara - retro charm, modern price...

The title says it all really. In case you’re not a fan of Joss Whedon’s TV show Dollhouse, here’s what you’re missing: the gorgeous Eliza Dushku, wearing some very flimsy clothing and draping herself all over a Ducati 1098 motorcycle.

There are few things in this world more magical than the sight a stunning young hottie sitting astride an insanely powerful superbike, although these occasions are normally treated as a perfect excuse for them to get dressed up in some skintight leather, rather than the wayward Catholic schoolgirl ensemble we see here.

Careful there, Eliza, those cute little stockings don’t look like they’d give you much protection if you flip that bike onto the tarmac!

Eliza Dushku fondling a big throbbing red monster

There are no words to adequately describe the true beauty of this image

Any fan of science fiction and awesome motorcycles must by now have seen the pictures floating around the internet of the killer robot motorcycles from the forthcoming film Terminator: Salvation.

We thought that was a great excuse to revisit some of the most iconic motorcycles from science fiction movies and TV shows - admittedly the pickings were slim, but we managed to pull together the following…

Just in case you missed the pics which have circulating on the internet for a while, this is one of the new Terminator motorcycles, and it looks both terrifying and awesome, as any good motorcycle should. Although we’re not quite sure that it would be a particularly comfortable ride…

Robotic killer motorcycle from Terminator: Salvation. This film is going to rule so hard!

Christian Bale gets to play with all the best toys. Before going head to head with the Terminator bikes, he got to ride around on the Bat Pod, a kind of two-wheeled escape pod built into the Batmobile in The Dark Knight.

The Bat-Pod from The Dark Night. Unsafe, uncomfortable, unbelievably awesome.

But we should spare a thought for the Batmen of earlier generations, who not only had to wear completely gay costumes, but also had to ride around on this piss poor excuse for a super-hero motorcycle.

The original Bat-Bike. Part motorcycle, part butt-plug.

Remember when Sylvester Stallone made that huge stinking turdburger of a Judge Dredd adaptation? The Lawmaster motorcycle from that is now part of a sci-fi movie prop exhibition somewhere in London and this is pretty much the only reasonable quality photo of it we can find.

Lawmaster motorcycle from the Judge Dredd movie. Whoever directed that piece of crap should be subjected to some Dredd style justice and executed on the spot.

For the sake of completeness, here’s how the comic’s creator imagined the original Lawmaster motorcycle.

The original Lawmaster from 2000AD

Streethawk was supposed to be a motorcycle oriented version of the popular KnightRider TV show - unfortunately the show bombed because they forgot one important element: The Hoff.

Streethawk - retarded.

Fans of Japanese manga sci-fi should immediately recognise this as Akira’s motorcycle, although to be fair it could just as easily be a road-legal machine from any of the major Japanese bike manufacturers these days.

A model of Akira's motorcycle

Here’s a picture of the original comic strip version of the same bike.

Akira on his shiny red motorcycle, wearing his shiny red jumpsuit

Finally, although there were never any motorcycles in any of the Star Trek films or TV shows, we can’t finish this article without showing you this stunning piece of work. Somebody clearly has too much time on their hands, but then so do we…

Star Trike. See what we did there?

Did we miss anything? If you can think of any sci-fi motorcycles we forgot, leave us a comment and we’ll add them to the article.

America’s Viper Motorcycle Company has announced that it has signed up a network of dealers to sell its range cruisers. Based in Hopkins, Minnesota, the company produces a range of hand-built custom motorcycles based on its own v-twin engine, including the flagship 152 cubic inch Diamondback.

Company president, Terry Nesbitt, said “The Diamondback is our second generation Super Cruiser that continues to enhance the numerous industry leading features proprietary to Viper Products. The Viper all billet 152 cubic inch short stroke engine is the heart of this motorcycle. Producing 144 ft lbs of torque at the rear wheel and a smooth ride, the Diamondback is in a league of its own.”

The new network includes the following motorcycle dealers: Rick Fairless’ Strokers Dallas in Dallas, Texas, Bikers Custom in El Paso, Texas; Bikers Dream in Alpharetta, Georgia; and Rainbow Cycles in Rogers, Arkansas; Minnesota Viper in Hopkins, Minnesota; Xtreme Customs and Cycles in Simpsonville, South Carolina; Rodney’s Cycle House in Little Rock, Arkansas; Smokey Mountain Ironhorse in Knoxville, Tennessee; Cycle City in Kingsport, Tennessee and Chix Custom Cycles in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Viper Motorcycle Diamondback

Concept motorcycles - we love them. The fevered imaginings of some raving lunatic who spends his entire life locked away in the product development department of a motorcycle factory, and get lets out once a decade to share the fruits of his labours with the rest of the world.

Most of the loopy machines they come up with never even make it past the initial sketches, but just occasionally the manufacturers decide to build a one-off prototype of some ridiculous bike to show the world what kind of awesomeness we could enjoy if it wasn’t for stupid things like practicality, economy and safety forcing them to stick with more conservative designs.

Here are ten examples of our favourite concept bikes, all of them as awesome as they are insane - which is pretty much the essence of what motorbikes are all about, if you ask us.

BRV EMBRIO Concept unicycle

BRV EMBRIO

This futuristic motor-unicycle is a concept bike from Bombardier Recreational Vehicles. It’s electrically powered using hydrogen fuel cells, and keeps its balance with gyroscopes like a Segway - although it leans into corners like a conventional motorcycle.

Suzuki G Strider

Suzuki G-Strider

This concept bike was unveiled to the world back in 2003, and still looks pretty awesome today. Although the bike was never put into production in this form, any visitor to Japan will notice a lot of similarly styled super-scooters on the roads, so it clearly had a strong influence on the country’s motorcycle designers.

Suzuki Biplane

Suzuki Biplane

Another belter from Suzuki. This brutal looking cruiser may have the turning circle of an oil tanker, but who needs to go round corners when you look this awesome?

Indian Motorcycle Speed Racer

Indian Speed Racer

This is about as ‘concept’ as concept motorcycles get - its outlandish styling (by designer Dan Bailey, for the Indian Motorcycle company) takes cues from the Alien films, and while it may look amazing, there are few clues as to how the rider actually sits on the bike (where are the footpegs?) never mind control the thing.

Ram1000

RAM1000

This nuts concept bike looks more like a buffalo than a motorcycle, and the vertical handlebars are barking mad, but it does look like a lot of fun to ride. Shame it never got built - the idea came from Finnish design student, Heikki Naulapää, who chose to brand it as an Aprilia (it certainly does look like the kind of thing they might do).

Confederate Wraith

Confederate Wraith

This might look like an insane, drug induced steampunk hallucination, but unlike most of the motorcycles on this page, there’s an outside chance that you could actually own and ride one of these machines. Yup, give the Confederate Motor Company a call, and if you’ve got enough cash they’ll probably build you a road legal Wraith of your own - just don’t expect it to be cheap.

Norton M28

Norton M28

This project by design student Arron Rogers takes a lot of inspiration from the classic British manufacturer’s cafe-racer heritage.

Victory Vision 800

Victory Vision 800

Half motorcycle, half locomotive train, the Victory Vision 800 looks like the kind of bike you could go ram-raiding on.

Monotracer

Monotracer

Another machine that looks like it should have stayed in the concept phase, but is actually a (very expensive) production motorcycle. You can buy one of these bubble-rocket things from Swiss company Peraves.

Jaguar Concept Motorcycle

Jaguar Concept

No. Just no. Stick to making cars, please, Jaguar.