Toad Hancocks' review of 2016

By Simon Hancocks

A former insurance agent, Simon (or 'Toad', as he prefers to be known) looked after the uploads at BikeSocial, before leaving to work on a more commercially-focussed website.

Posted 28/12/2016 08:57 UK

As 2016 comes to an end, the BikeSocial team has been taking a look back at our personal year in motorcycling. Today it's the turn of our KTM Duke riding reporter Toad Hancocks...

Best bike I rode

The KTM RC125 (below) from the wet track test at Rockingham. I own a KTM Duke already so found it easier to build an affinity with the RC125. Had the weather been better that would have been an awesome day instead of a frightening one!

Best sporting moment

Ian Hutchinson and Michael Dunlop decimating the field at the TT (top) was amazing to see. The way that Dunlop was so brutally quick around the course and Hutchy’s comeback from injury made this year’s TT unmissable. It’s another thing added to my list of 'must go to' events.

Scariest moment

Popped to town one lunchtime to grab a bite to eat, walked back to find my bike missing from where I would normally park it. Completely thought it had been pinched, it hadn’t of course, somebody had parked a Gold Wing in front of it! Those things must have their own gravity.

Best moment

Cal Crutchlow’s win at Brno. Love him or loathe him, the turnaround in form Cal showed in the past 12 months has been meteoric. Winning at a wet and miserable Brno was one thing, to follow that up with a dry weather flattening of the best riders in the world was stunning.

Love him or loathe him, the turnaround in form Cal showed in the past 12 months has been meteoric

Toad Hancocks

Product of the year

My RST R-16 leathers. They are so comfy and surprisingly warm that I have even managed a few winter commutes from my home in Coventry to the BikeSocial offices in Peterborough.

Looking forward to…

More tests, reviews, and write ups.

Ambition for 2017

Passing my full test. It’s bad form I know and I have endless excuses for not doing it, ultimately it just come down to me not making the time to get it done. Hopefully 2017 will be the year for it. I can feel a feature coming on…