Entries closed for the 2015 Isle of Man TT Races, fuelled by by Monster Energy, at the end of February, and race organisers have confirmed a truly stellar line-up.

As in previous years, every class was oversubscribed, presenting the organisers with the huge headache of selecting who made the final start list but they have produced a world class entry suitable for the greatest motorcycle race in the world.

The RST Superbike and PokerStars Senior races will again create the most intrigue and headlines. With the top 20 seeded riders all having lapped comfortably over 127mph, it's the strongest top end of the field ever witnessed. It's no less impressive further down the order with the top 70 riders having already lapped at over 120mph and with 91 entrants targetting the 72 starting places that are up for grabs, this year's two six-lap races should be absolutely barnstorming affairs.

Honda Racing's John McGuinness, the 21-times TT race winner now back to full fitness, will lead the field off at number 1. He will be eager to reclaim his King of the Mountain title from Michael Dunlop, whose eight wins in the last two years have seen him rightfully grab the headlines. Now on board the all-new Milwaukee Yamaha R1, Dunlop goes off at number three with James Hillier, another member of the 131mph club, sandwiched between them on the Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki.

Bruce Anstey, the current outright lap record holder, will start from his customary number five position. The Kiwi is again on the Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Honda and will have that elusive first Superbike victory in his sights.

After Dunlop's feats of 2014, there are three BMW-mounted riders in the top ten. The Tyco pairing of William Dunlop and Guy Martin go off at numbers six and eight respectively with Michael Rutter starting at number four. The Midland's based rider is expected to switch to the Penz13.Com team.

Gary Johnson, last year's opening Monster Energy Supersport race winner, will again take the number seven plate, which this time will be the JG Speedfit Kawasaki, Mark Smith-Halvorsen's BSB team making their debut at the TT. The top ten is completed by 2010 hero Ian Hutchinson (PBM Kawasaki) and Conor Cummins, the Ramsey Rocket continuing in the Honda Racing set up where he'll be looking to get his first win after a second and a third last year.

Dean Harrison, riding for the Mar-Train Racing team, is onboard the second front running Yamaha at number 11 with Keith Amor, making his big bike return, lining up at number 12 on the RigDeluge BMW. Another Superbike returnee, Ryan Farquhar sets off 20 seconds later on his KMR Kawasaki, the former team-mates starting either side of 2013 TT Privateer's Champion Lee Johnston (East Coast Construction BMW) who will again assume the number 13 plate.

Dan Kneen is set to go at number 15 although the talented Manxman is still in the process of finalising his plans having seen his proposed ride with Millsport Racing fall through. David Johnson (Smiths BMW) goes at 16 followed by last year's sensational newcomer Peter Hickman (Briggs Equipment BMW), Dan Stewart (Wilcock Consulting Honda), the rasping Norton of Cameron Donald and Steve Mercer who completes the top twenty on his privateer Honda.

Dan Cooper, Ivan Lintin - set for a strong season on the RC Express Racing Kawasaki - Russ Mountford, Jamie Hamilton and consistent Italian rider Stefano Bonetti are all just outside the top twenty. Horst Saiger, who almost broke the 125mph barrier last year, will surely achieve that feat this year with regular top privateers Ben Wylie, Rob Barber, Davy Morgan and Robert Wilson back for more.

Some of last year's leading lights - James Cowton, Martin Jessopp, Michael Sweeney and Daniel Hegarty - give further proof of the strength in depth of the entry with Jamie Coward and Derek Sheils returning to the fold having both missed out on last year's meeting.

The entry has further been bolstered by a large influx of leading Manx GP competitors who are already knocking on the door of 120mph+ laps, most notably the winners of last year's Junior, Senior and Lightweight races, Andy Lawson, Andrew Soar and James Neesom, which adds further strength and means the line-up from 20th to 70th is arguably the strongest it's ever been. Others to make the step up include overseas visitors Kamil Holan, victor in the 2012 Newcomers race, Marco Pagani and Bjorn Gunnarsson and Frank Gallagher, Sam West, Anthony Redmond, Ben Rea and Matthew Rees.

The quality of entry is so high this year that just four newcomers go in the Superbike class with former World Supersport Championship contender Robbin Harms from Denmark the most notable newcomer. Current Irish Supersport champion Derek McGee, the latest rider of great potential to receive backing from Wilson Craig, former Thundersport Champion Tom McHale and Franck Petricola, the Frenchman now fully recovered from injuries sustained at last year's North West 200 meeting are all expected to perform well on their mountain course debuts.

28th & 29th March 2015, EventCity, Manchester M41 7TB

The biggest indoor bike display in the UK - over 1,000 motorcycles set to gather @ EventCity, Manchester!

Since its inception in 2012 The Manchester Bike Show sponsored by accident advice solicitors and held at @ EventCity has grown exponentially is size and popularity until this year the venue is about to host the largest indoor bike display currently on offer at any modern motorcycle show in the UK.

Taking place on 28th & 29th March at this popular venue situated just minutes from the M60 motorway and next to the intu Trafford Centre the show will take over Halls 3 & 4 at EventCity covering a total of 22,000 sq m of floor space. This is sufficient to house 650 motorcycles privately entered and on club stands ranging from the earliest cycle motors through the British classics of the 1950’s and 1960’s; the Japanese classics of the 1970’s and 1980’s; the modern classics of the 1990’s not to mention cruisers, custom bikes, street fighters, racing and off road bikes and much, much more.

In addition The Auto Cycle Union have organised for race trucks from a variety of WSB and BSB teams to be in attendance along with grass roots racing and off road teams all of whom will be bringing star riders to meet the crowds. All this is in addition to the brand new 2015 models from Triumph, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, Victory and Indian plus many more that you would expect to see at a modern motorcycle show. As well as the 1,000 plus display motorcycles the show also features an extensive retail village where you can buy everything needed to keep your bike where it should be ..... on the road. A full list of exhibitors in now available on the dedicated show website www.manchesterbikeshow.com where you can also purchase advanced tickets at reduced prices. 

* Advanced ticket sales are currently 240% up on the same time last year so we are expecting a bumper crowd over the weekend.

Do you want to be the envy of all your mates?

Well look no further - Simply order at least one full weekend ticket (Fri - Sun) for each of the 3 events (ITV, FYP & YPR) in a single transaction, on-line or over the phone  (0800 988 3199) before 20/4/15 and it’s yours. The more sets of tickets you order the more Limited Edition T-shirts you can claim.

You will be contacted within a couple of days of ordering the tickets to get your size(s) and inform you of how and where to collect your T-shirt(s).

We are always trying to pass on valuable information to our clients and contacts and we are also very aware that there are many unscrupulous companies out there trying to con you out of your hard earned money with various sales ploys and incorrect information.

With years of experience in the publishing world we are to expose below various common scenarios which may happen when you are contacted to advertise either on-line or in-print...

In fact much as Penn & Teller exposed the secrets of magic tricks, we are going to do the same with sales techniques...

Never trust a sales person who quotes Hits rather than Visitors!

The most common statistic which is quoted by a dodgy sales person to fool you is hits rather than visitors. An example of this may be "We have 470,000 hits a month". When this sales person was asked how many visitors they had, they reluctantly quoted 28,000. Why the difference you may ask, well a hit is not a visitor, in fact it is a figure which is found from the amount of images and pieces of text a page has. To give you an idea, we @ THE BIKER GUIDE have an average of 54,800 hits a day and 3,250 visitors.

Read more on the difference between Hits and Visitors here

It is also worth noting that some companies may have a website which covers a variety of publications and/or titles and so the figure quoted to you may actually be referring to the main website rather than the specific section they are trying to sell you into. So in this case the quoted 28,000 a month is spread across 15 titles, meaning the daily visit is greatly reduced to more in the region of 60 a day!

The original quote made you think the website had 15,000 visitors a day whereas the reality is more likely to be 60... As we are sure you will agree these two figures are very different.

What to always ask when contemplating advertising onto a website

In this order...

How many visitors does the website have? How many daily visitors in the last month?
How many daily visitors in the last month compared to last year?
How many pages does each visitor look at? How many visitors return?
From how many countries? How do you get your visitors?

These questions should give you the correct information for you to base your decision of whether or not the website is worth you spending any money on.

You should also check that the website is user friendly (i.e. could you find your business in 3 clicks if it was on there?), that it is not overloaded with lots of people doing the same thing and that it is found on search engines with a relevant search to your business.

A honest company and sales person should have these figures and information to hand, if they do not it is generally because they do not want you to know the truth of their lack of visitors, lack of growth, lack of self-promotion and a basic lack of interest from the www of their web-site - AVOID them.

Print advertising scams

A common sales ploy is "We have a last minute cancellation as the client cannot get the copy to us in time, the usual price is £1,500, would you like it for £150!" Sounds good doesn't it? Well if that person makes 100 call that day and 15% of the people believe them, are tempted by the savings and ask no questions, hand over their card details then its a good day on the sales floor.

Unless a publication is ABC audited (an in-depth examination of a publisher's records that assures buyers that a publication's circulation claims are accurate and verifiable), which is usually larger media companies such as Associated Newspapers, Trinity Mirror, Condé Nast, Bauer Media, etc..., it is hard to establish how many publications are actually being produced and circulated and to be honest many people simply trust the sales person as to what they are told rather than ask for evidence.

A common scam is to only print enough of the publication to send out to the advertisers and potential advertisers, rather than print the specified figure. Imagine this scenario "We have a circulation of 20,000, sold at WH Smiths, at over 15,000 independent retailers, via Amazon and we also give some out for free at events that we attend". So you go into your local WH Smiths and there is no magazine, you look on Amazon and there is no magazine, you ask people if they have heard of the magazine - They have not. When you next speak to the sales person they will no doubt tell you "That's because it was so popular it sold out". You ask for them to send you one "Sorry all gone" You ask which shows they have a stand at, they tell you "We don't have a stand we just go to them" - The Alarm Bells should now be ringing loud and clear...

Always ask, in this order:

If it is sold, ask for a list of where and then ask where in your area (If you are interested check with the retailer) If they distribute the publication for free ask where they do this and how many at a specified establishment (If you are interested check with the establishment)

How many do they print?
Are they ABC audited?
Who reads the publication?
Which of my competitors are in?
If they sell it, how much for?

* Note, many people will not pay for any form of information anymore as it is readily available for free on the www. If you are being sold into a publication which is not ABC audited and it has a purchase price, we would presume that not many people get to see it.

Are they honest and professional?

In this day and age the publication should be for sale on their website. They should also have photographic evidence of any free distribution.

It is common practice for publishing companies to employ a Sales and Distribution person who will have extensive data of distribution outlets, sales and returns and in specific postcoded areas, which will be available to sales teams to use to inform potential clients. If they do not have this to hand, they are usually trying to fool you with a lack of relevant figures.

Never, never agree on the first telephone call...

Most sales people simply do not give two hoots about you or your business and simply want your cash. They want to make a quick call to you, tempt you with a price and get the booking.

They do not ask you anything about your business to check if it is suited to what they are selling you into, they do not care if your competitor is next to you on the page or if you get a response, they simply want the sale.
We would advise to never agree to any form of advertising without either looking at the website yourself or the publication and to check that the person and company are professional, ask them to send you an e-mail with the details and if it is a printed publication, that in the post along with the rates.

A lazy sales person will not even bother to send you anything as they were hoping you would be charmed out of your advertising budget with their sales tricks.

What do their visitors/customers say?

In this day and age reviews and guest-books should be the norm - If they do not have a review or guest-book section, ask yourself why not?

Help others and report them

If you feel that you have been mis-sold any form of advertising from information which is in print or on-line there is the independant regulator of ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) and there is also Ofcom, where you can report any such unscrupulous companies.

THE BIKER GUIDE summing up...

We hope this article will help you in dealing with sales people who are basically trying to misguide you with incorrect information and hopefully to help you choose wisely where you place any print advertising or your business on the World Wide Web!

If you would like any further advise of anything included in this information, do not hesitate to ask.

If you already knew all of the above, please accept our apologies and welcome to our world!

THE BIKER GUIDE

Bringing the Biker Community together!

www.thebikerguide.co.uk

follow and join us on www.facebook.com/bikerguide

After all of the closed door pre-season deals and negotiations have been completed, fans can now enjoy the star-studded Official Launch of the 2015 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy, which this year takes place on Tuesday 17th March 2015

As has now become tradition, the launch event will take place on the Isle of Man at the Villa Marina, hosted by TT TV commentators James Whitham and Steve Parrish who will tease and probe indiscreet answers out of the riders.

This year's evening will see a number of riders with new teams and manufacturers. Leading the way, as he does on the track, will be Michael Dunlop, who will be discussing his third manufacturer deal in three years as he explains his switch to the factory backed Milwaukee Yamaha effort.

Michael's old team-mate at Honda Racing John McGuinness, now firmly back on the road to full fitness after last year's injury will be revealing his ambitions for 2015 while Conor Cummins will be outlining how he plans to make the final step up to a TT race win after last year's double podium. Also with a new machine, Michael's brother William will be talking about TAS Racing's high profile switch from Suzuki to BMW.

TT winners Gary Johnson and Dean Harrison also have new rides this year while outright lap record holder Bruce Anstey and will be talking about how he will be looking to add to his list of titles in 2015.

In the sidecar class Dave Molyneux will be introducing new passenger and fellow Manxman Ben Binns while fellow race winners Ben Birchall/Tom Birchall and Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance, Conrad Harrison/Mike Aylott and John Holden will also outline their plans on attempting to return to the top step.

High profile TT newcomers who will be introduced for the first time on the Isle of Man include former World Supersport rider Robbin Harms and Ireland's Derek McGee, who will be able to pick up tips from last year's sensation Peter Hickman, the fastest ever newcomer, who will share his thoughts on building on last year's success.

Doors open at 7.30pm with tickets priced at £5 available from the Villa Marina box office.

Fans unable to see the event live can still tune in to the TT's Official YouTube channel (Official Isle of Man TT) with a live stream of the event available worldwide. You can also tweet your questions to your favourite riders via the TT official twitter account @ iom_tt