Bike Show

I visited the bike show on Tuesday. All the shiny new machines seducing me with their curves and angles. Me, Limby, Simon and my Dad went and Simon drove. We were there at about 11 ish, parked and shuttled into the halls. The glitz was all there and all the big manufacturers were showing off their latest releases. We moved like a pack each person honing in on their favourite style of machine on each stand. My Dad with the cruisers, Simon with the nakeds, Paul with the supersports and me with the quirky sports.

The biggest surprise for me of the show was the general direction most of the big manufacturers have gone in with the 2008 bikes styling. The big 4 have just made each of their bikes quicker/lighter/sharper/less memorable. Why? None of the current crop will be remembered as great looking bikes. I can’t imagine in 10 years a 2008 Blade being as desirable as, for example, a 1998 R1 is today. The bikes are just getting too generic, merging into each other. Change the paint on most of the current crop and it’ll take a while to work out which manufacturer has built it.

There are exceptions, the latest Ducatis are quite individual with the single sided swing arms and aggressive front end. Although I don’t like the styling, the new KTM RC8 also stands out from the crowd and I applaud KTM for not making their first “traditional” sports bike easier to digest.

Maybe because of this current trend or maybe because I’m a nostalgic MF, I have fallen in love with the Honda VTR SP2. I’ve always loved the bike but I seem to be being forced further towards it by the more clinical style of the current crop. I don’t care that I can get a litre sports bike with 60 more brake cheaper or that they don’t handle as well as the current super sports. I don’t care that the last major styling update on the bike was 10 years ago. I don’t care that they are more expensive to run than the quicker, better handling machine. The bike has a passion and a heritage that makes just sitting on it a more involving experience and more of an occasion.

All I need now is a big fat tax free cheque.

Road Trip withdrawl

It was nearly 2 weeks since I last rode my Viffer. I felt bad. A combination of moving into a new flat and some cold weather meant that it stayed in the garage unused and unloved. I had been borrowing either the Rover or the Focus for the last 2 weeks for the move and I had settled back into easy option of using the car to go to work and run around town in.

Last winter, not having a car was a pain but bearable as work was only a 12 minute walk away. The real test will be this winter when rain, snow, sleet or shine I’ll have to take the bike every morning.

Then I picked up the bike from the garage and used the bike for a few days to commute on. -4DegC was not fun. Despite it being less than 3.5 miles at the end of the ride I could barely pull in the clutch. Not fun.

After one very wet ride to work which resulted in my desk area looking like a laundry whilst I dried my clothes out, my Dad offered me the Rover to use for a few more weeks. I accepted. My hardcore biker status slips a little further away.

In an attempt to put a few more miles on the viffer and edge back closer to being a hardcore biker I'm going to take a ride up to see Ming at the weekend. 400 miles should keep me going for a few more weeks of winter. Now where did I put my waterproofs and thermal undercrackers?

Midnight Run

Last weekend included a first. After going out to the pub on Friday night and getting home at about 11, I decided to set the alarm for 2:30 and get up and go for an early morning ride. I got up as planned and hopped on the Viffer and headed out. I decided to ride into London, 60+ miles away.



A quick ride up the empty M3 and I was riding through Richmond and towards Westminster. The place felt surreal, not completed empty but riding around Parliament Square with very few people around was an unusual feeling. I stopped on Westminster Bridge and soaked in the weirdness for a few minutes. After a quick blat past Waterloo towards Southwark stopping at the London Eye I went back across the river, I then headed back towards Knightsbridge and then Piccadilly Circus. The Neons were accompanied by buses and Taxis and it appeared to be the busiest part of the city at 4:30am. I opened the viffer up on the run towards Hyde Park corner and after being followed by a rozzer on another lap of Piccadilly/Park lane I started heading through the West end. I cut north up onto the North Circular and then picked up the M4 towards home. Even the M4 felt strange at that time of day on a Saturday morning. There was next to nothing on the road until Reading. It gave me a chance to sit and cruise at a ridiculously high pace for a while, the adrenalin keeping me warm. I left the M4 at Reading and cut through to Basingstoke and then home for about 7 ish.



After 190 miles I was shattered but was left buzzing. It was such a bizarre ride that it felt alien to what I was used to. Country roads and rural twistys were my more natural home. The urban assault was more stressful for me because of my lack of experience but I was left hungry for more.



Another LondonUrbanBadgerExperience will be organised soon.