Bike Post of the Week

When I started writing this blog two years ago, one of the things I wanted to do was to say something about why I love motorcycles, and why the experience of riding them is so utterly different from the experience of driving a car. I said most of what I wanted to say, albeit not very satisfactorily, and the topics moved on.

Today, I want to direct you to an excellent post by OscarIndia, here. In it, he says in a couple of paragraphs what I didn't quite get round to saying in ten or twelve posts. If you don't ride a bike, then read it and understand why the rest of us are so obsessed by two-wheeled machines. If you do ride, then read it and smile, knowing that someone, somewhere knows exactly what you are thinking.

And if that one whetted your appetite, go back a bit to his post on Why Bikes Rock for a demonstration of the practicalities.

Motorcycle Ergonomics

Or 'cycle ergos' as our American chums like to say.

Here's an interesting site. You put in the bike you are interested in and a few details about your size, and it tells you what your forward lean angle will be, and the angle of your knee, which are the two measurements crucial to comfort. You can put in two (or even more) bikes and compare them in a nifty graphic that fades between one and the other by rolling the mouse wheel. It's very clever.

I'm not too sure about how accurate it can be, based on so few parameters (height and inside leg), but it's certainly interesting. It tells me that, by moving from the Bonnie to the Sprint, I will be moving from upright (0°) to a 25° forward lean, and my knees will be bent at 81° rather than 82° - a slightly more acute angle. (That's not what it felt like while actually riding the bike, but we shall see.)

Warning: motorcyclists, especially those who have a few bikes in their history, may waste hours of precious time on this site, and learn nothing they didn't already know. You have been warned.

Here's me on the Sprint:


and the Bonnie for comparison:


The positions in the two pictures look about right, from the 'feel' of the bikes. As I don't go around looking at myself in shop windows (I don't like to mock the afflicted), that's the best I can say. I do think the Bonnie rider needs a pipe, a cardigan and possibly a trilby, though.

Why Change (Part The First)?

I tend to have a fairly busy interior life. I spend a lot of time thinking about things, and assessing things, and calculating things, telling myself stories, and 'reading up', and having arguments with my internal voices, without ever telling anyone what I am doing. It's probably the result of being an only child. You get used to doing things for yourself, without constantly batting ideas about with siblings and being persuaded this way and that. You consider, you make up your mind, and you act. But those around you may be totally unaware that you are considering anything at all, so sometimes the decision seems to be out of the blue, even to those closest to you. It isn't, but it looks that way.

So it is with cars, and of course bikes. I don't think I have ever consciously planned the purchase of a vehicle by reading reports, making the rounds of dealerships, test riding/driving several options, and saving my pennies for something I might buy next year. I can't do that. What happens is that an idea pops (or is popped) into my head, right into the middle of an ongoing train of thought, and I go through a rapid sequence of mental calculations:

• Does it excite/interest/intrigue me?
• Will it do what I need it to do?
• Have I got the resources to do it?
• Do I really, really want it?
  

• No? - forgotten about immediately.
• Yes? - right, let's do it now.
  

Regular readers will remember (wake up at the back there) that I bought the Bonneville as a reaction to the Honda Pan European. The Honda was bought (with proceeds from the sale of a fabulous Ducati) because Anna had finally agreed to do some Continental touring with me. When it became clear that this was never going to happen for reasons of her health and fitness, the Honda became just too much bike to have sitting on the drive. The daily driver, the XT, hit so many buttons (fun, utility, cheapness, 'soft spot') that the Honda was hardly ever used. So one day, apparently out of the blue, I decided to sell it and get something smaller and nimbler. It wasn't out of the blue at all, of course. I had been thinking about it for months, and the feeling of 'it's got to go' had rumbled on for a long time. But when I finally came to a decision it was lightning-quick, even though it was a hard one to make, as what was being abandoned was not so much a motorbike as a plan and a dream for two people. Nevertheless, I was having my usual mooch around the local dealership and got talking to someone about the Triumph Bonnevilles they had in. One was available at around the magic figure that I thought the Honda would fetch, and the deal, in my head, was done. I had an eBay listing up and running that night, and in the seven days of the auction I sorted out a deal on the Bonnie. Ten days after flicking a mental switch, I was riding around on a different bike.

Why the Bonneville, and not a similar and perhaps more capable middleweight like a Versys or a Hornet or a Diversion? I guess I liked the looks of the bike above all. I have no emotional attachment to Triumph or even to British bikes particularly, and for a long time I regarded the 'retro' twins as ersatz and rather naff. But I like naked bikes and have a bit of an aversion to body plastics (fragile, flimsy, expensive to replace and get in the way of simple maintenance), so the simple all-metal, what-you-see-is-what-you-get of the Bonnie was rather appealing. And the test ride was the deal-maker: glorious sound from the open pipes, comfy seat and perfect riding position (remember this was only a twenty-minute appraisal), and I was hooked. Or, if not hooked, convinced that the Bonnie was a worthy way to replace the gargantuan, phenomenally-capable but bland Honda. Half the cylinders, half the horsepower, half the speed, twice the fun, as I told myself.

Fifteen months and 6000 miles later, I have obviously got a much clearer view of the bike, and I have decided that it was not the keeper I had imagined it might be. Why this should be must wait until another post, as it's gone 9 pm and I have to up at quarter to sodding five tomorrow and I am sleepy.

More anon.

"Black Dog"

That is all.

More to follow in due course.

Hmmmm ...

Not convinced by that weird upright screen, although it works well.

10k miles, which means it is shortly due for a big service bill.

Goes like stink, though. And it's very clean and tidy.

Still haven't mentioned this to Anna.

Perhaps tomorrow.

Thinks ...

02 Triumph Sprint ST 955i, low miles, immaculate. Deep red, not the orangey tone of the photo.

Bonnie plus a few hundred beer tokens.

Whatcher think?

Ride To Work Day, 20 June 2011

OK, it's an American idea, but I like it.

The idea is that everyone who owns a bike or scooter rides it to work that day, to demonstrate:

• The number of motorcyclists to the general public and to politicians.


• That motorcyclists are from all occupations and all walks of life.


• That motorcyclists can reduce traffic and parking congestion in large cities.


• That motorcycles are for transportation as well as recreation.


• That motorcycling is a social good.

I wonder if it will get any support over here? I'm on the day shift that day, so I will certainly be riding to work. Anyone else?

Sweet William

I'm going to confess a secret liking for young Prince William. The lad seems OK.

I'm not a fan of the monarchy, I have to admit. Never mind all that anti-democracy crap - their greatest crime is that they are boring. If you look at the monarchs of the past, they were either wicked, mad, or the commissioners of great art, supporters of ballet, or great choral music (or even, if the rumour about Henry VIII is true, writers of a pretty tune themselves). This best this lot seem to manage is horse-racing and Elton John. I suppose I have been mildly republican, with the rider that a constitutional monarchy seems to work in practice, so I have never objected too much to the modest cost of having a Queen and a largely superfluous Royal Family.

And, of course, there are several phrases which pop into the mind which remove at an instant any thought of making Britain a proper Republic:

President Blair.
President Brown.
President Cameron.

And, worst of all:

First Lady Cherie.

No, no, please. Take it away. Make it stop. Give me back my rather dull Queen and her modestly-entertaining husband.

Prince William, on the other hand, seems made of better stuff. For one thing, he seems to have a proper job flying helicopters, and his comrades speak well of him with a genuineness that seems unforced. He and his brother seem to have a proper sense of humour, and aren't too bothered by the PC brigade. And, best of all, he has frightened the crap out of the Establishment by riding motorbikes.

Apparently, he started riding round the royal estates on a small Yamaha trailbike, and passed his test, and then moved up to a Yamaha XT600. This alone makes me warm to him, as regular readers will know that I also have one of these and love it to bits, although I doubt if his was held together with gaffer tape and chewing gum. The boy clearly has excellent taste. For his 21st birthday he bought himself a Triumph Daytona, and then progressed through a Honda Blackbird and a Yamaha R1 to his current ride, a Ducati 1198S. None of these are bikes you would buy if you were merely concerned with projecting an image of modernity and 'dahn wiv da kids': they are all rider's bikes, and a pretty decent selection too. And then, of course, he and Harry did their 1,000-mile off-road charity ride with Enduro Africa in 2008.



And his attitude is a bit of all right, too. Apparently, when he got the Blackbird (the fastest bike on the planet at the time) the Royal Family were 'concerned', and insisted that he had a 'suitably-trained' close protection officer tailing him at all times to make sure he behaved. That was surely the job of the century for some lucky bastard. William's repsonse to the hoo-ha?

"Riding a motorbike can be dangerous, but so can lots of things really," he said. "It is a risk, but as long as you've had sufficient and thorough training, you should be okay.

"My father is concerned that I'm into motorbikes, but he doesn't want to keep me all wrapped up in cotton wool. It's something I'm passionate about."

Amen to that.

A summary of William's bikes here.