Went to the NEC yesterday for the bike show with a few friends (which I thoroughly enjoyed), and thought I'd share a couple of observations wiv ya,
Firstly, I spent around 4 hours looking at what everybody had to offer re new bikes and I can honestly say I never saw anything that persuaded my to get rid of my 9er. In my opinion the only bike that came close was the Honda VFR800 Crossrunner, but I didn't think it was £10,000 worth better than me TDM!
Secondly, I've got a grumble about the MV stand. Now I reckon most people go to a bike show to have a little prod and a poke at bikes you're not likely to come across in your local Tesco car park. After all it's £25 to get in, and £12 to park your car so I reckon for that you've bought the right to sit on the bikes, feel the clutch, and twist the throttle. Well not on the MV stand. Oh no. Nearly all of 'em had 'DO NOT TOUCH' signs attached. To me it doesn't say much about the bikes if they can't be sat on!
Next there was a small stand showing off a prototype electric bike called an E.Twin. The ads said it would be governed to 70mph. Took 3 1/2 hours to charge and had a range of 100 miles between charges. Oh and it costs £40,000. Yep in case you didn't hear it £40,000. So yesterday our journey from Hull to Brum and back was around 280 miles and in my car I easily did it on a tankful (Jag XF 3 litre petrol). Now had I been on this forty grand wonder bike I'd have spent 7 hours waiting for it to charge IF I could have found charging points at just the right time. I think things are gonna have to become a lot better and cheaper before we all give up our green house gas creators.
And finally. I just loved the Triumph Bonneville 900 T100, the Thruxton 1200 (but could never ride it sadly due to the riding position), the Norton Commandos, and the Enfield Interceptors. All these fantastic retro bikes take me back to the originals I rode 40 odd years ago and make me wish they'd been as good then as they are now!
Great show.
Riggers.