Tuesday 20th January 2009, 12 noon EST., Barak Obama takes the oath of office on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. The world seemed to get a little brighter as he made his inaugural speech and I can't think of any other person that has both the brain and the balls required to turn the sows ear that he's inherited into the silk purse that's needed. Good luck Barak Obama,...... and well done America.
On Wednesday, I received the email that I'd been waiting for. It was from the new magazine that's hitting the newsagents shelves in April, ..... it was Christmas all over again at Maison Blue88. Triumph, Moto Morini, Royal Enfield and other new models from Aprilia, KTM and Yamaha, most that I'd never even heard of,.... all new bikes that need testing over the next few weeks. To be honest, I've never objectively tested a bike in my life, I've destroyed one or two but I've never had to report my views on how they've performed,.... or in my case survived, the various ordeals that I've put them through. I've absolutely no idea, and even less interest, in the subtle differences between a group of similarly cloned sportsbikes; CBR, R6, GSXR, and I doubt that most regular owners would be able to spot the difference on UK roads anyway. What I read in Motor Cycle News and other eMap 'Group Tests' is little more than fodder for the bragging rights of folks who seem to always ride spotlessly clean bikes.
If anybody reading this can think of any things that they'd like to see included in bikes tests,..... then don't be shy, drop me a line or a comment and I'll be more than happy to plagiarize your work. What I can say is that whatever I do with the bikes, it'll be fun, relevant and very hernia friendly. Unfortunately I've been invited to wait another ten weeks before my body's finally restored to it's former glory,... so if this cold spell continues,..... I'll be using an awful lot of strategically placed hot-packs to help me along the way.
It's been quite a week and I'm not entirely sure which prospect excites me the most. It ought to be Obama's rise to President,....... but the Moto Morini is a beautiful looking motorbike. As for the NHS, it's not their fault, it's just the way that things work and at least I don't have to worry about paying for it.
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2 comments:
one thing I never seem to see in test rides, or on the advertising bumf is how fast the top end is, how quick it can get there, in comparison with similar bikes, how far to a tankfull, is it easy on the bum long distance, relative cost of spares, best sort of tyre to have on it (or sorts, depending on use) how much it costs on the road, are custom bit's available yet.....what's it's best purpose of use, will it be a classic ? any nifty ideas or usefull bits nobody else has fitted or thought about (no, not an ashtray)....
Duke.
Thanks Duke, .. I'll see what I can do. Thankfully it seems that I can do whatever I like, which could be dangerous. The problem is, I kind of love all bikes no matter what they are and sometimes it's the less accomplished models that are the most interesting. It's less about how well a bike does something and more about how good it feels when your doing it. Not sure about 'added extras', I think most of the bikes will be new models, so probably very little to add beyond the manufacturing brochure, .. the often over-priced bling that shold have been included in the first place, ... or stuff that you'd never actually want. But whatever, .. I'll keep it fun and real. Geoff
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