Michael Neeves
Road Tester
Where does the time go?
It’s been 24 years since I began my journey as a road tester for MCN. In that time there have been more ‘pinch me’ moments than I could have ever dreamed of. Since 2002 I’ve tested just about every new bike and more, travelled the world, met my biking heroes and written hundreds of road tests and features for MCN, Bike and Ride. I’ve also produced MCN You Tube videos since 2006, when they were first filmed on potatoes.
I was also lucky enough to take part in factory racer tests when they were still a thing. I got to ride everything from Jonny Rea’s Kawasaki ZX-10R to Tito Rabat’s Moto2 racer and Dani Pedrosa’s Honda RS250 - all title winners. I’ve ridden Kevin Schwantz’s Pepsi RGV500 up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Valentino Rossi’s YZR-M1 MotoGP bike at Valencia. It’s been a fairytale ride.
Racer
Going round in circles
My first race meeting was way back in the spring of 1988. It was at Brands Hatch and was also my first taste of many more hospital meals to come. I crashed my Suzuki GSX-R750 J road bike when the exhaust ground out through Clearways. It sent me to the moon and I broke my hand and ankle when I landed. My claim to fame was I had the same bed in the track medical centre as Joey Dunlop, who’d been there the week before after crashing at the Transatlantic Match Races.
I made it to the grid the following year on my Suzuki RGV250 at Snetterton and never looked back. I had to stop for a good chunk of time in ’94 after a road bike accident beat me badly - the resulting ‘drop foot’ stopped me changing gears for a few years, until I recovered.
Despite thinking I could ride like Schwantz I was lapped by the leaders in that first race, but soon started to get the hang of it. From there I finished third in the KRC Supersport 600 championship in 1993 on a Yamaha FZR600, won the MRO Powerbike Championship in 2012 and was third in the Thundersport GP1 Elite Championship in 2015, on my Park Lane and Prime Factors BMW S1000RRs. I’ve also been lucky enough to win races at the Phillip Island Classic on the Carl Cox Motorsport Suzuki GSX-R7/11 and XR69. I’ve also podiumed at the Goodwood Revival on a Manx Norton and the Barber Vintage Festival on a Mike Hailwood replica Ducati.
Instructor
Back to school
It wasn’t until I spent time with ex-500cc GP winner Simon Crafar, as he was developing his Motovudu riding technique book and video in 2011/12, that track riding properly clicked for me. I went from scraping top 10 results to battling at the front and winning races. That gave me the confidence to work at the Honda Ron Haslam Race School at Donington, where I was an Elite Instructor for eight years, spending time one-on-one with customers on datalogged Fireblades. I was also a race instructor at the British Motorcycle Racing Club, produced countless road and track instruction videos and print articles for Motorcycle News… and now my own one-to-one track coaching. I enjoy it as much as road testing and it’s always nice to see the smile on people’s faces when a riding technique ‘clicks’ and they improve their lap times and safety.
