The new 2015 Technic sets are in the shops now and I’ve made my customary annual pilgrimage to the temple of Mammon…

I returned with a very nice green and white Le Mans style racer (about which more soon) and this:

Looks very racy dontchathink? It is of course set 42036, the Sports Motorbike, and it might be LEGO’s most handsome bike yet. 375 pieces of Technic goodness for 30 quid. Decent value, then, if not outstanding.

New element news! This comes with some very handy ‘technic single bush with pin’ pieces that’ll get moccers salivating. They have appeared in a few 2014 sets, including the big Tumbler, but 2015 is their first appearance in Technic sets. There’s also a piece that’s a 1L smooth sided bush – imagine half a pin joiner and you’re there. 42036 comes with just two of those, one of which is a spare.

What else have we got? Well, after you’ve destroyed the box, you’ll find two instruction books, a worryingly large sticker sheet and a few bags of bits. You’ll enjoy the build well enough over a leisurely hour or so, ten minutes of which will be c.a.r.e.f.u.l.l.y. placing stickers over curved panels.

The bike itself looks ace, in a Japanese suzhonda firebusa kind of way, while functionally it’s a mixed bag…

The engine’s pretty neat. It’s a V4 (NOT A TWIN!!) that takes its drive from the centre of the crankshaft, it’s mounted across the bike and canted forward. Not being an expert on bikes, I have no idea how realistic this is but I find it does make a nice change from the usual set-up in Technic bikes. Still turns too slowly, though…

Suspension, on the other hand, is pretty bog standard with no surprises; wobble-strut front forks and all. Because of the thicker tyres, the front one will foul the springs too easily when it’s compressed, and I really would have thought a wider rear tyre shouldn’t be too much to ask on a bike like this… maybe they can mount the primary chain inside the swingarm while they’re at it. Some things never change…

Colours change sometimes, and this time for the better. The medium blue and red combination is very attractive with the dark grey wheels. I was hoping it’d look so nice I needn’t bother with the stickers, but alas without them it does look a bit underdressed. With the stickers on it looks great, until they start to peel…

Which leads me to LEGO’s treatment of the seat. It’s a pair of stickers on the frame! This is. Just. Not. Good. Enough. At least with the exhaust underneath the rider can keep warm.

In other news, the B-model looks pretty cool:

…makes a change from the endless sea of choppers and dragsters doesn’t it? I like this drag-bike type thing very much, mostly because the front end doesn’t wobble so much. There’s an instruction book for it as well.

Overall, this is a bit style-over-substance (engine excepted) and, while it looked like it might be an outstanding bike, it’s really rather… average. It’s saved by its good looks and that B-model. 7/10