Off On A Bimble

I have a lot of time to listen to podcasts, and one of my favourites is Front End Chatter, by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitzgibbons. I was listening to the FECers on my commute home in the horrible rain and darkness of the A379 and they were talking about riding a small bike fast, rather than say an S1000RR or R1 slowly (as far as the bike goes anyway) and it came to me that what would be great would be a lightweight 250 or 350cc cafe racer with a single seat and all that - really light. Best of all would be one I made myself, but an SRX250 or Suzuki Goose would fit the bill just as well. It would never replace the Breva for serious miles, but for a sunny short ride on a twisty local road - great fun.

Well, this year is a great improvement on last year as far as my personal motorcycling goes, and there have been some interesting developments in the wider motorcycle world too. Here are a few random thoughts; Big Trip - its really important (for me at least) to do at least one Big Trip a year. When I don't do such a thing the biking year definately has a "flat" feeling to it. This years trip was to Italy (as previously detailed in the blog) and was the trip of a lifetime - so far. I still think about the places we went and the things we did, months later. New foods, new roads, new countries, and new people. I learned that the Italian drivers are not mad, but they are pretty fast. That everyone rides a scooter. That the Guzzi brand is alive and well and a big deal in Mandello. That Switzerland costs a bomb. And that I really want to go back to lots of these places. British driving - I sort of doubted myself, but now having ridden overseas again, yes British drivers ar