From time to time a thread will pop up on the forum asking how many kms/miles users did on their bike in the last calendar year. Most of the time I don’t take part, it’s just another “mine’s better than yours” competition and I lost interest in them a long time ago. Apart from anything else, if I were to add up how many kms I have done in my motorcycling career (and I simply COULDN’T) it would add up to a figure that most of these Johnny-come-latelys” would find either unbelievable or too much for their little brains to comprehend. Suffice it to say that I generally do 20k+ every year on my bike which is the arbitrary figure that motoring “experts” think is the average that most people do in their cars. The difference is that, I ALSO drive my car and two of my other bikes as well.
On Monday I took the VFR to get its annual Pink Slip for registration. It showed that my bike has done 94900kms since new in 1998. It had, from memory, 53000 on the clock when I bought it is January 2017 so I haven’t let the grass grow under the tyres.
Just as a matter of interest, though, I looked up last years Inspection Report and, once the calculation was done, it transpires that I have ridden only 3418kms in the last year. Now, given my intro, you could be wondering if there is something wrong here but the explanation is simple.
Almost exactly a year ago I had my “standing still tip-over” at Mt Keira that resulted in a fractured humerus in my left arm. The treatment and recovery took over 6 months and kept me from riding at all. During that recuperation period it became clear that my left shoulder had developed that debilitating condition known as “frozen shoulder” for which there is no treatment except for waiting till it gets better, a period that can be at least 12 months and possibly more. I might say that it is still present and, from my layman’s viewpoint, doesn’t seem to be getting any better at all. As usual with these things, you develop “work-arounds” and you just get on with things.
Once I felt that I could start riding again the process of seeing if the VFR was now too awkward and heavy for me to handle began and, in a classic case of “buy in haste – repent at leisure” I bought the Hornet thinking that the lighter bike, easier to handle and maneuver, would solve my problem. From that point of view it certainly did. And I gave it a good opportunity to show me its worth, putting in close to 3000kms in the latter half of last year.
However, as recorded, the bike, for all of its advantages, failed to move my soul and a couple of rides on the VFR now that the shoulder is stronger, has convinced me that character wins out over technology every time.
It will be interesting to see how many kms I will be able to do in this year, I am predicting it will be considerably more than the pathetic 3418 of 2021. A multi-day tour is in the offing so that should kick it off in the proper fashion.
MotoGP is hotting up with the first test of the year having been completed for the teams, everyone showing off new gear, tricks and gadgets on which the journalists are speculating. Honda only brought test rider, Stefan Bradl and, while the bike looked considerably different to last year’s offering, little of value could be drawn from the brief appearance. The big imponderable seems to be Suzuki who have yet to reveal their 2022 challenger and about which there is much speculation. The Suzuki was, without doubt, the big disappointment of 2021 in the factory teams, and everyone is hoping that midnight oil being burnt at the factory will result in a competitive bike for 2022. Suzuki have a history of dropping the ball in this department, let’s hope they haven’t this time.
The Summer riding weather is now starting to show itself (only 2 months late) and the roads are crowded with leather-clad warriors. Interestingly, while the last years have seen a plethora of adventure-type bikes, there seems to be many more sports bikes than in recent years. Has the adventure bike bubble burst? Stats would show if you knew how to dig them out. My experience has been that many road riders, becoming bored with riding the same roads over and over, switched to riding in the dirt as a means of exploring uncharted territory. Fair enough, too, but my experience has also been that, planting your face in the dirt on a regular basis can get pretty boring also and many of these riders are starting to drift back to road bikes. The underlying reason seems to be simply that you can go faster on the road (though that has its limits, too, obviously).
The Japanese manufacturers have either cleverly tapped into this trend with the creation of the “hooligan bike” category, the roads now being filled with naked bikes or realised that the adventure bike bubble could be just about to burst and decided to build a bike that the “returning” riders would enjoy. Interestingly, none of the Japanese manufacturers appear to have wholeheartedly embraced adventure riding, the European makers ruling the roost there. Either way, the trend does appear to be there and it will be interesting to see where it leads.
Anyway, the weather is looking good, coffee and a pie might be a good idea.
