FEEDBACK
Here is the next installment of Feedback. This is what you have said to me! One of the really great things, for me, to have come out of doing this web-site is the fantastic response it has brought from all you readers out there! I really appreciate your emails, and it's great to be able to share your comments with other readers through this page.
The page runs from the first comments at the top, to the most recent ones at the bottom. So, as the year progresses you'll have to do a bit of scrolling to get to the latest entries. Sorry, but it kind of needs to work that way. Oh well, it doesn't take too much to get there.
You'll notice that, for convenience (it's easier for you to find where to scroll to!) I've divided the page into separate months. I've also split the year into two - one page covers January to June, while the other July to December.
For the previous feedback page, just click the button down the bottom of the page.

JANUARY 2016
Michael, who lives in USA, has just bought a Yamaha FJR1300, which he says will be better for touring at his age of 63. He had (or still has) a Suzuki GSXR, which he was finding uncomfortable to ride long distances on. Although he had made some modifications. “I have my GIXXER modified with self-fabricated ‘Hooligan-Bars’ mounted on the top of the triple tree, plus I have some other modifications that help it be a ‘Leetle’ more comfortable. I mentioned all that because most riders are not quite able to figure out exactly what it is. When they ask for clarification I tell them it is a very rare Suzuki GSXR-O.F.A.T! What?,,, Wa'ell boys, that stands for ‘Old Fart Attack Touring!’” I love it!!
And speaking Suzukis, Anthony wrote in asking for a review of the GSX-S1000 and GSX-S1000F. I’d love to test one of those Anthony, but haven’t been able to get a demo model available yet. If anyone has ridden one and would like to comment, please feel welcome to do so.
Peter wrote in with a request too, but his interest was in Victory bikes. “I'm wondering if you might consider test riding some of the Victory bikes. As you would know a lot of us retirees enjoy the cruiser bikes and it always strikes me as odd that Victory by all accounts provide an American bike that is equal to or if not better than many Harleys and yet they sell poorly when compared to Harley Davidsons. I know Victory are actually giving away weekend getaways on their bike for nothing. Would love to read your take on why they aren’t catching more of the Harley market.” I’ve seen the ads for the test-ride weekends, but apparently you have to be fairly serious about intending to buy one before they send you off for the weekend on one. It is a bit strange though isn't it, how the Victory hasn't taken off more than it has. Everyone who buys one seems to love them! Harley just has that image and name, and people buy them just because they are a Harley. But both Indian and Victory seem to be better bikes from what I've read. It's strange perhaps, but I think it's just the way it is with Harleys: people buy a name, not so much a bike. I know a lot of people would disagree with that, but I think that's what happens in a lot of cases, and is one reason that Victory and Indian struggle against Harley. I'd like to ride a Victory, but there aren't any dealers close to where I live. The other problem is that they are all big heavy bikes, and I'm a weak old bloke! Like most of these things, it's okay once you get moving, but I'd hate to over-balance with one of those big things wheeling it out the driveway, or stop-starting through Sydney traffic! Scary! That's one reason why I've tended not to ride the bigger models of Harleys.
Rod wrote in correcting a statement I made about an up-coming test on a Braaap. I’ve been trying organise this for a while now, but my available times and available test-bikes haven’t been lining up. But we’ll get there! Anyway, I described the Braaap as, “a Chinese cheapie”. Rod pointed out that that isn’t quite correct. He quoted the Braaap web-site (which I had already read): “Beginning in the small Australian state of Tasmania, Braaap is designed in house and manufactured in partnership with specialist manufacturing partners from all over the world, including Canadian suspension by ELKA, Japanese engines by DAYTONA, French frame, and European exhaust by CRD. Everything goes through our Australian quality control and metal testing before it’s given the Braaap Lifetime Warranty stamp of approval.” As Rod says, “It’s a bit of a multi-national bike really.”Indeed it is. I was told by the dealer that China is the main place of manufacture, but as he pointed out too, they are designed in Australia; and there are components made in other countries too.
Robert enjoyed the report on the Moto Guzzi V7 and said, “A much underrated bike in my opinion; one of the few bikes I would consider if not for the XJR1300.” I think I could kind of echo that same sentiment, Robert.
Aussie sent me a wonderful power-point file showing some incredibly unique 2, 3 and 4 wheelers. Unfortunately I couldn’t work out how to get it on the web-site, however if you search for “rare_vehicles PPS” you should get a link coming up that allows you to view it. Some weird and wonderful amongst this lot! Thanks, Aussie!
Vince wrote in asking what I thought of the Honda CTX1300. He wrote, “Honda are going for the bagger-cruiser-sport tourer look Very interested to see what you think.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t help much. They are certainly an unusual bike; and from the photos I'm not sure if I like the look or not.
  I do like the fact they are individual and not just doing the cruiser-thing of copying a Harley. On their web-site Honda claims, “Poised neatly between the laid back feel of a cruiser and the functionality of a touring bike, the CTX1300s handling imparts around-town usability with the ability to deal comfortably and luxuriously with long-range weekend trips.” Sounds good, doesn't it! I remember a reader telling me about the CTX700. He and a mate had both one each and went touring on them. They were very impressed. I tried to get a test of one then, but they aren't big sellers, so dealers tend not to have demos available. Anyway, they sound promising, don’t they.
FEBRUARY
Peter wrote in with what he called “A Voice For The Motor Scooterist”. It really shows the practicalities, and financial benefits of scooters. And also demonstrates that they're not just for the city – he’s taken his on some impressive rides! He writes: “Why do I ride a motor scooter. There is something special about my motor scooter with its 150cc capacity that's no bigger than a lawn mower's engine. It can carry 1 or 2 people km after km in fact so far 26000klms without a complaint. It will slice through Sydney's choked roads making lane filtering child's play. Waiting forever at traffic lights you are not being cooked alive by an exposed motor. Your left hand never suffers the agony of accommodating 30 gear changes to travel 2 kms in Sydney's peak hours. Feet can be flat on floor or put up in a cruiser position. Thick padded seat is kind to your backside. Absolute ease of mounting, dismounting and placing on or off a centre stand. 12mth CTP cost $78, Insurance cost $84 P.A. 1 litre of oil cost $12 for a lube change every 4000klms CVT belt and rollers cost $100 and easy to change every 10,000klms Pirelli tyres $65ea plus $50 to have changed It will easily sit on 90kph all day long, $6 will take you approx 250klms. With a top box and under seat storage you can lock away your helmets out of site, Carry your weekly grocery shopping. Reasonable weather protection Only a push bike is easier to park. From Parramatta I've ridden the Old Putty Road, St Albans, Newcastle by Old Pacific Hwy, Wollongong by the National Park and Bathurst Each and every one of these rides was an adventure to remember. Motor Scooters aren't for everyone but for those of us who love these truly amazing little gems we are as passionate about them as any motorcycle enthusiast could be about their own machine.” A very convincing argument for these practical machines isn’t it!  
Paul has been looking for a new bike to up-date from his Yamahaha FJR1300. He looked at a lot of different bikes, but had trouble finding one he was totally happy with. (He was looking for late model 2nd-hand). After what ended up being a frustratingly long process (it's fun for a while, but then gets frustrating!), he ended up with a low-kilometre well-priced Honda VFR1200. Hopefully he will write us a story of the bike and his search to find a worthy replacement for the FJR.
Rod sent in this link to a news item on helmet cameras. A Victorian court has thrown out charges brought against a rider for havinbg a camera attached ot his helmet. It was a bit of litmus-test-case - if they'd upheld the charge, every camera-wearing rider coule potentially be booked for wearing an unapproved helmet. A win for common sense!

MARCH
There was some good feedback from my test on the MV Agusta 1090. One reader wrote: “I was chuffed to see you getting on something with a bit of fire in its belly; and the ride report shows you definitely enjoyed it. More of that then!” I’ll try. The next test is of a more mild 750 though.
Andrew wrote in response to the question about laying-down a bike to lessen the effects of an impending crash. He wrote: “I had an at-fault accident in Dec 2013 where I ran into the back of a car that suddenly stopped in front of me at a T intersection. Whilst I could claim that it wasn’t entirely my fault (the woman had proceeded through the intersection and stopped as I was proceeding slowly but was looking for traffic to my right – funny enough, there was a car a couple of hundred metres down the road, so plenty of time to go, but she decided not to), I should have been watching her first, rather than following her through the intersection. My 2003 Honda ST1300 was not an ABS model, and when I looked back in front of me and saw that she had stopped suddenly, I purposely grabbed the brakes as hard as I could, knowing that I’d lock the front and go down. I hit the car on the LHS rear, and the front of the bike hit the RHS of the rear of the car, but unfortunately, the back of the bike followed me into the car. The topbox hit me in the back as I hit the car and broke 4 ribs. Now I’m not saying that I purposely laid the bike down, but I’m glad I locked the brakes and went down, as hitting the rear of the car upright would probably have caused me a lot more damage, as well as the bike and the car.” He estimates he would’ve been doing about 35-40kph as he hit the car. He continues, “Now I’m not advocating non-ABS bikes are safer than ABS equipped bikes, but I think that in the above situation, I was probably better off hitting the back of the car whilst sliding on the road rather than hitting it upright.” He adds that his replacement ST1300 does have ABS, and he isn’t planning a comparison test by hitting a car again! Thanks for the comments Andrew.
Rod sent in this link to an incredible machine called a Lazareth LM847. It’s powered by a Maseratti V8 engine. Amazing! And scary! Check it out!
Aussie wrote in response to the item in my Blog on February 14, describing an article by Mick Matheson in Australian Road Rider about how the outlaw movement in the US basically saved Harley Davidson as a manufacturer. Aussie had some interesting insights into this too. He described a couple of encounters he’d had back in the 1980s with outlaw gangs on the road. (His Suzuki GS1000 was capable of running away from the Harleys before he got into too much trouble). He also remembers test-riding a Harley back in the day.
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“In 1986 I test rode an '85 Heritage Classic Soft Tail with the 1340cc ‘Evolution’ engine. It impressed me so much that I rode it home to Cranbourne and took selfies of myself on it.
“The salesman from Peter Stevens Dandenong wasn't very happy when I finally got back. He told me he was inches away from reporting it stolen! Unfortunately the upright riding position made my back a ram rod over bumps compared to the relative forward posture of the Suzie. I sure felt cool riding it though and I reckon it would even have given the Suzuki a run for its money in a stop-light drag! Torque-wise the Suzi wasn't in the race of course. However even second hand, the price of the Harley was still rather prohibitive.” 
APRIL / MAY
Chris wrote in response to my tumble on the Aprilia Shiver. “I feel your pain. I think dropping a bike like that is often more embarrassing than throwing it down the road, albeit less expensive and painful. So I shall relate my experience from a few years ago. Rumbled off one morning on the Electraglide to the local Pet Shop for some odds and sods. Quite early and pleased to find nothing parked out the front. If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Little Shop of Horrors’, you may recall Steve Martin rocking up on some enormous chopper and in one fluid motion he slows, kicks out the side stand, stops and steps off onto the footpath as cool as a cucumber. Pretty neat I thought, and I had been honing the same procedure over the years to what I believed was perfection. Only this morning I got it horribly wrong. As I stepped off, the side stand flicked back up, and over she went, all 350kgs, fortunately onto the crash bars and I managed to scramble out, with little dignity. But the worst part was then having to go into the shop and ask two strong young blokes to come out and help me get the old girl back to vertical. It takes three, as something that heavy can go right over the other way if you push too hard. They tried their best not to snicker, but even so I could feel my cheeks burning with humiliation. I learned my lesson and now look down to see that sidestand is firmly planted, no longer interested in mimicking Steve Martin or his stunt double.”
Dave wrote in response to the Aprilia test too. “Good read, and I agree with you re lack of steering lock. It’s pretty much universal with more modern bikes and I think it’s only us old guys who notice it. (We've had years of riding bikes with decent lock) My boy never seems to notice a problem on his sports bike which U-turns like a b-double! Three-point turn? Nah, thirty-point!” I think you’re right: and I’ll know not to rely on there being decent lock at the bars next time! 
I mentioned a friend of mine, Phil Hall, displaying his Shadowfax racer at the Berry Bike Show. Phil runs a web-site focusing on his motoring life (especially bikes), and I have featured his writings before. He wrote a report on the Berry Dislay day, and it is very comprehensive, and much more detailed than my fairly brief item in my Blog. Check it out. Here’s the link.
Rod also rode the Aprilia Shiver. He said, “Good bike! I’d own one.”
Possum contributed a bit to the site over the years – many well-informed comments, and even a road-test. But then he moved overseas for a while and lost touch with the site. But he’s back in Australia and found the site again. And he has a new bike. “Currently on a F800GSA - best BMW I've owned. 500 km on a tank of fuel, excellent luggage carrying, and handles like a good thing. I put Avon RoadRider tyres on it which made a noticeable improvement to how it points.” Nice to have you back, Possum! The new BMW sounds like a good bike. One of my music pupils has just bought one too, and he like sit – much easier to ride than his old R100RT!
Possum had just come back from a rally when he wrote. He added, “Just back from the Loaded Dog Rally at Tarago. It could have been the last Dog Rally, but a bloke seems keen to pick it up, so we'll see what happens. Always sad to see a good rally go toes-up.” Yes, let’s hope it continues! Although not a follower of rallys myself (not really into this camping lark!), rallys are a big part of the motorcycling scene, so it is sad when one fails.
Bushy took a group of riders from the CMA in his area for a ride to lunch at the Ettamogah Pub. Looks cool with all the bikes parked out front!
JUNE 2106
Writing in response to the item on the Isle Of Man, (See my Blog page) Trevor on Facebook said, “180 MPH, no place for an excursion through town, buildings have no give in them if you decide to leave the bike and go it alone.” Sadly the don’t!
Darren, also on Facebook, wrote, “It's a great race but 250 now killed doing it. Could it be done safer? Probably not unfortunately.” No, probably not. And with 250 being killed, maybe they should consider stopping it. As I indicated in my post, it's breath-takingly exciting to watch, and no-one forces the riders to compete there, but ... 250 riders killed? Too many!
There were sympathetic comments regarding me swapping the opportunity for a ride to have two teeth extracted, but all agreed it was the best decision.
David, who doesn’t ride now, but says he enjoys reading the web-site her (thank you!) commented on the item on the motorcycle group who visited the school of the little autistic boy who was being bullied. “Thank you and those involved in helping the little boy that gets bullied at school as I know all too well what that feels like. Although it was many years ago and a different time, the last six years of school I was bullied physically and mentally everyday till I ended up taking an over dose but didn't change anything except it shot my confidence to this day. The group that rode to the school to help that one little has probably changed that boy's life and deserve a huge thank you. I only pray that they all get good karma back as they have my heart-felt thank you for doing a great deed. Thank you Elwyn for sharing and caring.” I can take no credit for that David, but I agree entirely with what you say – they could well have changed the little boy’s life forever! And thank you for sharing your experiences – it goes to show just how devastating bullying can be!
Ivor also wrote about that wonderful gesture. “What a great thing that was to see the group making a fuss about the little autistic fella. He was being bullied for being different, now he’ll be envied for being different , with his cool motorbike mates! They’ve done a great thing!” Yes, I totally agree, Ivor.
Con wrote about changing attitudes with bikers. “There was time whenever you saw another bike you got a wave or a nod of the head, but now it seems no-one much does that. Mainly older riders. And if you were stopped on the side of the road, other bikes would always stop to make sure you were okay, but today they just whiz past with no thought for you. Mostly young blokes on sports-bikes, or the usual bikie types on Harleys, who stop for no-one. The scene has changed, it seems.” Yes, I’ve read a few comments along these lines, and I think I’ve mentioned it somewhere myself. I’ve experienced the same thing myself too, with regard to stopping. I’ve stopped to take a photo, or even adjust my clothing or something and had bikes go straight past. In times gone by, everyone stopped.