XT Alan

There's a brilliant USA Stunt Rider who's surname is Britton.

At least XTreme, Twisted Metal and I live in a perfect country

The Last Picture Show

My mum used to commute on a Honda 90 every day, rain or shine. She was a star, seems like your's is as well axl

Fair points N-Tart. My dealer does his best and my parts were changed with no quibbles. Annoying though.

660R BHP - 48 Torque - 53 ft lbs (that's 20% more than an R6) MPG - 70 - 75 Weight - 165 kilos wet not dry. So it has adequate power for a top speed of around 95-100mph. Very good torque for good acceleration. Is very economical and its 15 litre tank gives a range of well over 200 miles. And you can wheel it around without getting a hernia.

It's an annoying fact that new bikes are usually marked, scratched or in some way damaged before they have been ridden out of the showroom. I'm fussy, I admit, but my new XT has had: 1-new side panel, 1 - new clutch cover, 1- new grab handle and if I want a new rear wheel rim. Not to mention that all the painted plastic panels have scratches. Trouble with these panels is that all the other XTs I have seen are just as bad, so replacements will probably be marked as well. This is something that all manufacturers and dealers need to sort out in my opinion. New cars are almost always delivered in pristine condition. Not that I've ever wasted money on a new car I hasten to add. :roll:

It could be your Paris to Dakar experience. I once did London to Scotland and back on a Honda 125. ............. You're only young and foolish once

V-Strom. Strange name, good bike I've heard. I considered one instead of the XT, but when all is said and done the Suzuki does nothing that many other road bikes don't do. XTs are where it's at I reckon. I would challenge anyone to ride one and NOT want one - they are THAT GOOD and SO MUCH FUN. Sales are down across the board this year, so there will be some real bargains about towards the end of the year.

Interesting Fact: At 100 mph, assuming that you have hair trigger reactions and you take 0.4 secs to react and then BEGIN responding to a situation, you will have travelled 360 feet. Even an Olympic Sprinter is deemed to have false started if he/she moves within 0.11 secs and ALL they they have to react to is a gunshot. We have to react to all sorts of situations. So, boys and girls, no wonder high speeds on public roads are extremely dangerous. 360 feet is a long way.

Nothing wrong with R1s. They are beautiful, awesome machines, as are GSXRs, CBRs and the ZXs. The problem is the old men who wobble around on them pretending to be biking Gods. Real bikers ride anything, even R1s . Biking is a mindset that these Wannabies just don't understand. Ride safe and you will live long enough to turn into your Grandad. We were all, even me and Pete, young and crazy once. I rode the fastest, maddest machines that I could afford. But, we slowly built up our skills and after many years, in my case 40, we are still alive. We were lucky. Through the 60s and 70s, bikes developed from slow (100mph downhill with a following wind, flat on the tank), non handling, skinny tyred things into the 130 mph Z1s and the like. We grew and learnt with the bikes. Nowadays, anyone with a decent credit rating can be let loose on the public road on machines that can lap the TT course at 110 mph in road trim, do 0-60 in 3 seconds and top out at 160 mph +. Crazy!!!. Within a couple of miles of where I live, there are several deaths a year. Almost always it is a middle aged biker who has lost control of a Sportsbike. It just isn't funny. If this carries on, we are going to be banned from the public roads.

PS It's not the beer gut per se that is the problem. It is the beer gut wedged into skin tight brightly coloured leathers. The "let it all hang out" beer gut is the sign of a life well lived PPS I do like those "Does my stomach look big in this" tee shirts that you can get.

Monty, You've got a few more years to go. The signs are: Rossi replica helmet, beer gut, and when you arrive on your 1000 miles a year R1 at some "biker spot" you spend your time talking about getting your knee down. Definition of Mid Life Crisis: Although you can get your knee down, you can no longer get your leg over. :wink:

I saw the BBC thing. Yep! We are seen as BAD. Why? Simple. The Nob Heads who ride sports bikes at ridiculous speeds with loud cans down to "biker friendly" meeting places and back are using the same roads as the Boring Old Farts who clog up the roads with their caravans. The Nob Heads never actually go anywhere, their reasons for biking are down to their Mid Life Crisis. At home they have boring wives, lawns to cut, IKEA furniture to polish etc,. So when they get on their bikes, which have to be the latest, fastest and coolest, and put on their replica helmets, leathers and boots, they have a point to prove. "We aren't really boring middle aged men like these caravan drivers, we are hard and fast living rebels"! Pathetic! The British magazines feed these bikers with endless articles about the same few bikes to these sad fashion victims. Real bikers, however, are everywhere where these Nob Heads aren't. They avoid caravan routes. They actually go somewhere. Shock, Horror! They travel, they go on holiday, they explore the countryside. They actually love bikes for what they represent in terms of freedom and not for their pose value. They ride everything from Tourers, to Harleys (I've never personally been able to get my head around Harleys), to Trailies: TDMs, Transalps, Goldwings, Trophys, Beemers, old, new - you name it. The Nob Heads only ride GSXRs, R1s, R6s, CB600s, Blades and ZXs. As brilliant as these bikes are, they are NOT suitable for the road. They are racers and should be ridden on a track where they belong. This is a British problem. Biking is alive and well in the USA, Europe and beyond. Here in Britain, this activity that I have loved for so many years is being ruined by a few, mainly fat, middle aged, morons. Well this should get a few people going :wink:

My worst accident was when I was 16. I was waiting to turn right at a traffic light, a car came across on Red straight into me. I broke his headlamp with my left knee - OUCH! - was flung about 50 feet and broke my little toe - OUCH! The bike - a Honda 50 was a complete write off. I still have the scars on my knee and I remember that the broken toe was extremely painful for quite a while.

Hello Froggy, I joined this forum a couple of weeks back. It's a good one.

I'm an old Jazzer: John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Miles Davis etc.

When you reach a certain age like wot Pete and I have, one of life's little perks is the ability to do what you want, when you want. So, nice day, nice ride and good company at the end of it. The bikes also got on well and didn't argue once.

Kenny Roberts jnr is OK. You don't get to be a world champion if you're a complete duffer. I reckon that on equal machinery he would regularly run in the top 5. He ain't as good as Rossi of course, but he is as quick as Gibernau, Biaggi, Melandri and Co. Hayden is no better than last year and will lose his Repsol ride if he doesn't start winning. I have a sneaky feeling that Biaggi will be champion this year. His good circuits are still to come.

Try using Hill House Hammond. I've been with them for years and their prices are always competitive and were better than Yamaha's Insurance on my new XT.

If you want to be left alone by the police, even when riding a turbo charged, nitro fuelled ZXGSXR1Hayablade with all the trimmings, wear a Sam Brown. It has always worked for me.

My Dad was a biker and I went everywhere on the back with him when I was a kid. It's in my blood. Where I was brought up, on a farm in Zimbabwe, the only way I could get to school was on a bike. The police allowed me to ride the 20 miles to school when I was 14 as long as I didn't go farther and on into town- Some chance of me sticking to that, but I never got caught. All my mates had bikes and our heroes were Gary Hocking (World Champ) and Jim Redman (World Champ). We used our bikes for unofficial road races. We used to get through the fence onto the track in Harare and we did Junior Scrambles - one of my first bikes was a Cotton with a Villiers engine. Skimmed head, no baffles etc etc. It did for everything. One of my mates' older brothers (Neville Withers) went on to become a spanner man for Agostini at MV Agusta and later worked with Kel Carruthers for King Kenny during Yamaha's golden era. With a background like this I had no choice :roll:

Following on from "What makes a real Biker". It would be fun to read of the bikes people lusted after, but never got to own at various points in their biking life. A few of mine in no particular order are: Honda 305 (late 60s), 750 Four Yamaha 80 (when I was 15), 750 triple (shaft drive) and first XJs Suzuki GS1000 and Katanas Triumph Trident (1970s) Kawasaki ZX10 Norton Commando 750 fastback The reason for not getting any of these was age or money. I have never wanted a BMW, Harley, Ducati although the Benellis in the 60s and early 70s looked the part.

I'm a composer.

I don't understand this Suzuki thing. They have some great bikes in their range and have made some of the best road bikes of all time in my opinion. The air/oil cooled GSX engine is accepted to be one of if not the greatest engine of the modern era and the basis of the current water cooled GSXR range which have been at or next to top of the performance tree for many years. Suzuki gearboxes are superb in my experience. They are all built down to a price, but in recent years build has improved. My own Bandit 12 was marginally down in all performance areas than my next bike a Honda 13, but was in real world terms a far better and more robust machine. So really the line should be: There is no excuse for Ducati ownership. Their overpriced, overhyped bikes are simply obliterated by all comparable models by all the Japanese makers. Now they have lost their 250cc advantage in BSB and WSB, even the virtually standard, underdeveloped ZX10s and R1s are comfortably up to speed. Just my opinion. PS don't tell Pete where I am :arrow: