Any other bikers on here ??

[sunny-dave]

Current pride and joy at sunny-dave towers is my Honda XL1000 Varadero - mainly for summer touring (although it does get the odd outing on sunny winter days) - North Wales & the Peak District are my favourite haunts.

Hoping for a trip to the continent next year - applications for the pillion seat opening soon :=)

[sunny-dave]

Hold AB front page - JJ lost for words ...

<sorry> <mea culpa>

[Slapshot]

That's a first on here....;-) There is something superb about seeing a woman ....no I'm going to stop before I incriminate myself ;-)

[sunny-dave]

Lucky you - love that area but have a tedious slog up the M6 and/or A5 to get into striking distance. Some of the roads out to and around Bala Lake are really good fun :)

[joggerjayne]

Well, just chugging along the coast road is also quite nice.

(I'm not a speed freak ... I just like LOUD noise)

I need a Harley.

=0)

Except they're a bit heavy.

Ducatis sound nice, too.

Maybe I should go up to the Bike Show this weekend.

[sunny-dave]

I'm going sometime - easy for me just 5 mins on train :)

Fancy a pint/coffee/wine/whatever ?

[RATTER15]

I hate that horrible screaming sound that all the Jap bikes make, give me a Harley any time!

Im old school biker, the sound and the look of the bike is far more important than the top end speed.

The Harley just looks the business, sounds so nice as well.

In my biking days just after the Jap bikes came here in vast numbers, I used to wear a T shirt that stated:

"I would rather eat worms than be seen on a Japanese motorcycle" :)

I just like a motorcycle to sound like a motorcycle, not all revs and screaming.

[joggerjayne]

I agree, RATTER ... growly is so much better than screamy.

Dave ... at one of those dodgy cafes around the inside of the NEC? he he

I wonder how they manage to keep the NEC food down to such an impressively low standard???

[flip_flop]

I agree that Jap bikes sound whiney - their aesthetic appeal is pretty low as well.

Not a fan of Harleys either.

As far as I'm concerned motorbikes have to be Italian.

I've had a number of Ducatis over the years, and currently have a 1098 - their V Twins sound better than anything the Japanese bikes can produce and they are just drop dead gorgeous looking.

Add Benellis, Bimotas, MVs, Guzzis, Aprillias - I mean really, come on, the Italians are by far the best.

[RATTER15]

I remember some of the old bikes that would apparently do one stroke per lampost compared to a thousand strokes per metre on modern bikes lol

I remember a mate of mine having a BSA 650 single cylinder (I think) it just had one huge long cylinder that was just begging for a backfire so it could snap your ankle like a carrot while you kicked yourself on the top of you own head :)

We all loved the bike but everybody was afraid to kick it over (Electric start was still a thing of the future).

[sunny-dave]

@Ratter - quite agree - that's why my bike is a Varadero - it may be a Honda, but it's a big old twin and it 'growls' nicely :)

@JJ - yes - they must have taken courses in "achieving the optimum price/quality mix to totally p*ss off anyone with functioning taste-buds"

- the Wetherspoons is just about tolerable if you close your eyes, turn off your critical faculties & think of england ;)

[joggerjayne]

Richard Hammond, the guy from Top Gear ... he has a Ducati, I think it's a 1098, and I think he also has/had a Harley Sportster.

[joggerjayne]

Love this ...

http://www.google.co....21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

[RATTER15]

What a dreadful thing to do to a lovely bike, it looks horrid!!!