www.motorcyclenews.com
tHe WeeK 04-05
What is the best quality bike brand? 24% 22%
Honda Triumph BMW
13%
Ducati
11%
Yamaha
9%
Kawasaki
5% 4%
Suzuki
4%
KTM
3%
Aprilia
2%
Harley-Davidson
1%
Moto Guzzi
1%
MV Agusta
1%
Husqvarna
Will Rossi win a MotoGP race again?
74% YES
26% nO
Will Rossi win a MotoGP title again?
42% YES
58% nO
take part this week: motorcyclenews.com/comment
04.04.2012
How adventure bikes won me over
F
BIKe LIFe 48-71
SPoRt 92-104
04.04.2012 Wednesday
45
yOUR VIEW
MARC POTTER EDITOR
IVE YEARS ago if you showed up at a bike dealership on a Sunday morning without shards of rubber hanging off your tyres and worn knee sliders, people sniggered. Excitable chat was of wild lean angles on roundabouts, top speed, power figures, the stickiest tyres and the most uncomfortable bikes possible. And then it all changed. Changed to the point where sports bikes are almost seen as a guilty pleasure and their sales are plummeting – down 32 per cent between 2010 and 2011. Of course plenty of us are still running around on four or five year old sports bikes, but as more of us choose nakeds and bikes with beaks, you can see where the British market is going. Having ridden adventure bikes, a couple of nakeds, two classics and a Suzuki GSX-R1000 this week I can see why. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe you can never have too much horsepower, and the 197bhp BMW S1000RR is one of my favourite bikes. But I also want comfort, fun, and to feel part of the ride without being terrified. I want to feel comfortable at my own pace. And it’s not just me. Honda have pretty much diverted all their attention into all-rounders and commuter bikes with their 2012 range and are chasing the Indonesian pound, announcing last week they are building another factory there. Sunday morning chat over a bacon roll is now more about miles to the gallon and tank range than how much power your bike makes on the dyno.
Comment 44-47
And most of us are spending more time in Cordura kit than leather: ‘What, rather than sweating in all weathers and being cold and wet when it rains, I can be warm, my suit will breathe when it’s hot and I won’t get soaked?’ Biking’s changing beyond belief and there are now more types of bikes than at any point in motorcycling’s history. A bike for all occasions, a bike for all tastes, for all abilities. For all surfaces? Yes, even if all most of us do is ride up a gravel driveway or park up in a field at the BMF once a year, we can do it standing up off-road style now. Try that on your GSX-R. Right now it’s adventure bikes that are top of many shopping lists. Allrounders with the right image, tourers without the associated Sam Browne belts and beards that do the same job but don’t make it feel like you’ve grown up too much. Adventure bikes are here to stay and I’m glad. Just as long as I can blag a go on my mate’s Blade occasionally.
British Superbikes all set So, BSB kicks off this weekend, with Shakey Byrne on a Kawasaki, Michael Laverty setting the fastest times in testing, and Ducati bringing Panigales and factory technicians. But after the departure of John Hopkins to WSB, BSB needed a new face and 39-yearold Noriyuki Haga is that man. The Samurai of Slide is capable of beating anyone on his day and we know his Swan Yamaha is fast. Let’s hope he’ll take the fight to our boys. See you at Brands Hatch this weekend!
‘i’m hooked on riding’
‘i’ve drawn a moustache’
April I took my CBT and @ Last have been hooked on riding ever since! I’m hoping to take my restricted licence in the next few months and I’m currently riding a 2010 YZF-R125. My dad’s been riding bikes since he was 16 and I’m always tinkering with bits and bobs on the bike and it’s very much my pride and joy! I live out in the sticks so the sharp twisty roads are ideal for the balance of the bike and now it’s getting into summer there’s nothing better than donning my helmet and taking the bike out!
Just got round to getting @MCNnews and reading the feature on me and the team. I’ve now drawn a moustache on me and look good! Thanks MCN.
Jack Wellby, email
not so low CofG scoots to see your tests of the @ Good new – and very expensive – BMW C series scooters but they cannot possibly have a ‘low centre of gravity’ as Steve Farrell suggests (MCN, March 21). Scooters like this with 15in wheels and a seat height way above the axels make for a high centre of gravity, which is why scooters don’t handle as well as conventional motorcycles. Chris Myers, email
the Ducati is just better I see the other manufacturers are having a moan about Ducati’s ‘unfair’ advantage in WSB. Year after year its the slowest bike down the straight and has the least power, but they still can’t beat it. OK so it has 200cc extra, but it’s only a twin, with great big slow pistons. Look at Aprilia, they bent the rules with gear-driven cams and got away with it and the thing’s a rocketship with Biaggi on board. The others are just not as clever as Ducati and they don’t like it. Md Goldwings, via Facebook
@SI_ANDREWS17, via Twitter
Spread the joy of BSB I guess it’s been said already but why have we lost Mallory Park and now Croft making it more difficult for people from the north to get to BSB? Why three at Brands Hatch and Assen? With people having to tighten their belts, BSB should be spread a bit more evenly across the country. Linda Watson, via Facebook
lids off for mrs Bie… Please could all you fellow bikers do my wife a favour and remove your helmets at Morrisons petrol station in Rhyl, North Wales? A day doesn’t go by where she has to put up with abuse and foul language from a biker complaining about removing their helmet before the pump is turned on (even I remove my helmet before I fill up, and she knows my bike). Steve Bie, North Wales
MyKeL nICOLaOU
READER POLL RESULTS
FoCUS 06-43
Very rapid and surprisingly sweet handling: BMW’s C-series scooter