Thought (and other) Bubbles

Disloyalty to Dilbert

Dilbert can cruise at 80mph with only minimal discomfort in light winds with his Vario screen in place. I can throw him hard into corners at close to satisfying speeds and can keep up with a boy-racer on a CBR-600 off the motorway and through town traffic for fun. Overtaking is exhilarating on a double-tap of the gears and I've got the commute time down to an hour if I work both Dilbert and I hard. We've emergency-stopped from 85mph while learning when not to overtake and also similar stopping speeds for when not to try and filter. Dilbert has kicked his but round hard on THAT Warnford corner and we've had a moment of front-wheel drift on some stones. We get on well.



We get on very well in fact but Dilbert is beginning to lag behind at times. I didn't open this relationship with an aim of ragging the poor old fella but I can see that's the way we're going. It's getting more and more like driving the Alpha and all the other V6s we've had over the years. I'm beginning to hang off rear fenders looking for the sweet-spot of vision and acceleration and I'm cursing the airflow across and around my helmet at what are already daringly stupid speeds for 2-wheels.

I'm beginning to fear falling off more than ever because I'm not slowing down to be able to stop in my vision on the corners and the bumpy old A31 is only mildly terrifying as the bumps skip us toward the central reservation. BMWs, Alphas, Volvos; they all approach from the front and disappear in the mirrors unless they're on race days. I pull back on the throttle and watch the scenery tunnel ahead the speedo climb, crest, and start to drop over the other side to alarming limits. The motorway is becoming an attractive proposition where I can keep up with the majority of the flow of the traffic (except the Winchester to Basingstoke stretch: 95mph norm for most commuters in cars along there and we're not quite up to that yet.

Success? Confidence? Maturity in the saddle? Sure, I do ride 500-miles a week, which is more than some guys manage in a month and I should be gaining experience but is this fair comment where I travel the same road day in and day out; the same road I've commuted in either direction for the best part of 10-years? What about when I go "off-piste"? I get nervous and wary, then. I'm getting just a little worried I'm pushing the envelope a little early here and it's Dilbert's that is keeping me upright, I assure you. I'm blowing bubbles out my arse where I should be chilling out.

So I'm discussing the following options placed in pictures, here.

Pan Euro ST1300 2003 (@ c£3.5K)

Hayabusa in white (blue is a 3rd the price 2000 @ c£3.5K)

Don't get me wrong. There's some frustration at my confidence being shattered by Nikki's dropping off balanced by a real fear I'm getting too big for Dilbert's boots, too soon. He's great, but 52-miles is a long way and I ache and have to work hard to pass the 40mph-55mph-convoy brigades safely. I look forward to riding each day but by half-way it all seems a long way. The weather will affect my choice to ride in the winter, I'm sure and Dilbert's debut on the motorway is going to be noisy and starkly exhilarating, I'm sure, but nothing like the performance over distance the Pan Euro can achieve without banging my head off the dash. A recent Ebay add mis-quoted a Pan owner, "sure sorts the sports riders out when, at 120mph when I'm still all comfortable and upright while they're hanging on with their legs dangling along behind them."

Just thinking.