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Out riding again today, brand new tyres fitted yesterday - Michelin PR4s. Excellent tyres, I can highly recommend them - very very grippy! All pics shot on my Olympus E-PL5 with 17mm Oly lens

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Looking at those top photos, the theme from "Bronson" started playing in my head: "Goin' down that long lonesome highway . . ." Beautiful, and very evocative.

Cheers, Jock
 
I totally understand as I hate being a passenger. I've had passengers of both sorts—those that were good and leaned with me and the bike and those that were bad and lean against the turn. Oh, then there was my cousin, a dancer, who would look ahead and start leaning a hundred yards before the next turn. LOL

Back when God was a boy and I was in college, I owned a Lambretta scooter. One of my classmates wanted a ride on it, so I took him for a lap around the college's perimeter road. Since he was a motor racing fan, I was attempting some "spirited" driving. As we entered one bend, he leaned waaaaaay in to get a better look at the apex. That's as close as I've come to riding like Mike the Bike Hailwood, and I never, ever, want to do it again!

Cheers, Jock
 
Vespa

Taken in Santiago, Chile.
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Passengers: The Mrs has become a very good pillion over the years, but sometimes I forget what her comfort level is for leaning through turns and I get "the squeeze." Her thighs clamp down on me and I try to roll off a little. :)

Pilot Road 4's: I had 2 pairs of PR2's in years past, and got over 15k miles of GREAT handling from each set. Last time, since I'm no longer doing 12k mi a year commuting to work, I opted for the Pilot Power 2CT's, which are grippy as hell. Honestly, though, I don't feel much difference from the PR2's. Those were fantastic tires in every sense.
 
Is that an electric motycickle I see, John? Gasp!! I know it's the future but I think they're hateful things, watching them at the TT recently (on TV) it's just not right having no wailing engine sound - which is 90% the pleasure of owning a motorcycle, they sound like a Dyson! One thing's for sure - I'll never, ever own one, I'll give up riding first.
 
I'd buy one in an instant. Cash permitting . Ok the sound or lack of is a small issue. But twist and go ? That appeals to me. Instant torque from the word go. I would dearly love to take it up Hardknott and Honister or Hartside. Not having to concentrate on gear selection means a more fluid ride. The best ride ever up to Hartside was on a Yamaha MT-01. Third gear all the way. Only changing up near the end.
Electric would be great fun I reckon.
 
Is that an electric motycickle I see, John? Gasp!! I know it's the future but I think they're hateful things, watching them at the TT recently (on TV) it's just not right having no wailing engine sound - which is 90% the pleasure of owning a motorcycle, they sound like a Dyson! One thing's for sure - I'll never, ever own one, I'll give up riding first.

True it sounds like a Dyson, but a Dyson that's exiting a corner on a wave of torque that must be sampled to be believed. This is the new SR model, and by my seat of the pants dyno, it will beat any moto or car that I've ever sampled in the standing 1/8th mile. I bet I could loop the thing in Sport mode if I wanted to.

And the missing exhaust sound is replaced by the sound of a giggling schoolgirl in my helmet. How she got there I'll never know...
 
I shall remain a Luddite I'm afraid, chaps. I've been riding bikes since I was 16, I'm 63 now so that's a lot of years and I don't intend to end my biking days sitting on something that sounds like a food blender. Each to their own i guess but they're not for me - sorry. When I fire up my big boxer engined Beemer and it bursts into life with a deep rumble through the Akrapovic end can - baffles removed of course - and when I throttle off and chase down through the gears and it spits back with a pop and a crackle - that's what makes me giggle like a girly, take a that away and biking just loses too much for me, so this boy will not be putting a leg over an electric bike any time soon. Dyed in the wood petrolhead ya see - it's an affliction! :D

Proper motorbikin'

 
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