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So, firstly we need to look at a few reasons that I decided to go take a Great Escape Tours holiday. Firstly, I'm a single Dad, so when the kids' Mum said she was taking them away for a week, I jumped at the chance to sort myself out with something that would get me away, but not sitting on a beach wonder whether they were having a good time, that I'm sure would make me miserable! More importantly, I have spare cash, and at first glance this holiday isn't cheap - £1,500 for flights, six nights accommodation and four days riding expensive bikes! Day One A late night last night, and the flight to Nimes is from Stansted, with a check in time of 5:20am! The flight, like the best of them, is a nonevent, and by 10:30am we are on the ground at Nimes. As we meet up with Martin Childs, it turns out 'we' are actually a total of six - five riders and a pillion (Carol who actually rides a Fireblade with a modified sub-frame to accommodate her short legs!). Olly Duke's partner Karen is also part of the welcoming party that will get us to Chateau de Lignan. Olly had drawn the short straw with the onerous task of running in a new Fireblade for us (by taking it down to the Moto GP at Cataluna).
Martin and Karen leave us to acclimatise in temperatures a shade under 30 degrees, and after a quick beer, it's up to my room to unpack and watch the Ireland Vs Spain game in the World Cup. The room itself is excellent. Why do 3-star hotels in the UK provide a room half this size?? After the football, a couple of hours lazing in the sun by the pool recovering after a hectic day. The whole group of us met up for the evening meal, which was of a very high standard and contemplated the days ahead. It looks like a mix of abilities and tastes in bikes. Carol's partner Mark has a new R1, plus a CBR600 for commuting. Phil rides a SV650, Keith a TRX850 and Brian a Valkyrie. By the time I've had a night cap, I think I've decided on what to ride first, the GSX-R1000. It's the one I'm least likely to buy, so I'll use it to acclimatise to riding on the right. Day Two By 9:40 we were all sat expectantly outside the garage and in true French fashion, Martin and Olly turned up at 10!
Mark's partner Carol is on the back of the Fazer with Martin Childs on the front. Apparently at this time she was unaware of Martin's stunting background. First impression of the GSX is what you would expect. This thing is fast! It sounds sweet and blipping the throttle is obligatory! I've taken a position at the back of the group and this turns out to be a bad move. The pace is painfully slow and Martin moves up the group to see what the problem is. Just after this and we come up to a small village and I get stuck behind a truck. No problems, the trip to Spain had taught me that catching up is part of the fun and Martin and Olly had made it clear that they would stop and regroup at any turns. But I seemed to have lucked out here. The truck crawls through the village and is obstructed by a fork-lift manoeuvring in the small road. We can't have done more than 7 miles and my wrists start to hurt crawling through the village. As soon as we're through I nip past the truck and start to move, only to see Martin coming back the other way and Keith and Brian pulled over a quarter of a mile up the road. A couple of miles up the road we meet Olly and the others at a junction and the decision is to split into two groups. I'm with Martin, Brian and Keith. We are now on a nice A road. I feel comfortable with the GSX. It is blatantly potent, but very tractable. Short shift up to sixth and from 50 any speed can be reached rapidly. It becomes obvious though that Brian is still getting to grips with the roads and bike and the pace is too slow for me. Taking long sweeping bends at 60 mph that I could comfortably take at 85 mph or more is frustrating and a couple of times I hang back, just so that I can open up the GSX. When we stop for a drink, I let Martin know that I think the pace is a little slow, but he wants to keep the groups the same for now. After the stop, it does change as Olly leads our group, mainly because he needs to fuel up, as does Keith on the 996. When we leave the petrol station I slot in behind Olly. The pace is much better, with Keith and Brian keeping up. As we stop lights, Olly asks how I'm finding the pace and suggests we increase it a little. He also mentions that beyond the next village is a road that is like a race track! The road goes from Bedarieux to Clermont l’Herault. How right he is! A series of fast sweeping bends the likes of which I don't think I have ever seen before, followed by some more mountainous roads. If I rode the bike to 70% of its capability I have done well. This bike is so easy to ride at this pace because I'm nowhere near its limits (though close to mine!). Correcting the line in a corner doesn't upset it at all. I think I've gone faster and leant further than before. A lesson was learnt on the mountain roads - a lot more time is needed on the bike before trying to use high revs because things just happen too quick! We stopped for lunch and Carol gets off the Fazer with adrenalin making her hands shake! She's now been faster as a pillion than she has as a rider on her Fireblade, with a few wheelies thrown in for good luck! I must take a look at the Fazer later, apparently there are big chunks taken out of the exhaust were it was grounding out! After lunch, I picked up the keys to the SP2, one of the bikes that is on my personal wish list. Minor disaster two. I'm still putting my gloves on as the others drive off. My backs to them, so I don't see which way they go. As we were parked on the pavement off a one-way street, I assume they have gone that way. Even though I can't see Martin, he has seen me go the wrong way and rounds me up. I'm sure he has me in his black book of duff customers by now! At lunch we were briefed on the roads we are to travel. The first is a 'nadgerry' road, followed by a mountain road and we're warned that as well as hairpins, there are also some dips in which oncoming cars can hide. Crossing the centre line is a no-no.
The bike had just over 300 miles on the clock and in theory was being run-in (Yeah, right!). The first road was very twisty and relatively low speed. Riding the SP2 was great, but my wrists were already starting to ache after 25 miles. We started onto the mountain road, which was slightly faster and my confidence with the bike was growing, it was starting to feel fast. This conception of speed was blown away as Martin came round my outside on a bend. I ended up behind Keith on the 996 who was going a little slower than I would have liked, but the road was twisty enough to not warrant risking an overtake, so I settled in behind him. One of the problems that Martin and Olly had briefed us on was not reading the road and instead fixating on the bike in front. If they make a mistake, so do you. Coming out of one bend, the road appeared to open up in front, when in fact this was a side turning and the road really carried on to the left. All of the other bikes were pulled over round the corner and Keith and I both went up the side road and had to U-turn to pull up behind them. Martin then berated everyone for making mistakes up this road. Afterwards it felt as if this was planned. Nearly everyone had failed to read this last corner, which was hardly surprising given that the road markings were non-existent. If anyone had made any other major mistakes, they weren't readily admitting to it, apart from Brian who had screwed up a corner. But it was probably a good time to remind people of their mortality and for Martin and Olly to protect their no claims bonus! The rest of this journey was less frantic and we soon stopped for a drink. After the break, we continued down some motorway, on which there was some fast sweeping bends. For those that like to get their knee down, this would be Nirvana, but one mistake could make that literally! Perhaps the best description is a downhill mountain motorway, with very long hairpins as well as a series of left-right-left-right bends, with a concrete wall between carriageways to ensure you bounce back into traffic if you make a major mistake. I found this too intense. Worrying about cars and lorries on a very fast downhill road was beyond me, so I ended up with a comfortable 70-80 mph run. Some were quicker, but most found this piece of road too challenging on unfamiliar bikes. Once off the motorway, we were onto fast A roads. The SP2 was a joy to ride on these roads. Apart from loving it's sound, the torque from the engine meant that it was easy drive out of the corners and the power was much more manageable than the GSX (not that I really used it on the GSX!). The bike has made me more confident in corners. Whilst the GSX was very tolerant of changes in corners by my ham- ness, the SP2 is much more controllable using the throttle. By choosing the right gear and keeping the revs up coming into a corner, last minute adjustments can be made by slight increases or decreases in power. I had doubts after the first 50 miles on the SP2 as to it's usability over distance, those have nearly been wiped away with the second 50 miles I've ridden on it. The only complaint I can have with this bike is the snatchiness of the fuel injection sometimes, although this isn't much different from my own VFR800. Carol had gone on the back of Olly in the afternoon and as I followed Martin for much of the afternoon, I was entertained by his wheelies. We'd found out that sticking your right leg out after you had overtaken a car that had moved over was the accepted way of saying thank you - Martin would just pop a wheelie. The most entertaining wheelie was going through a tunnel, where his headlight illuminated the roof! Back at the Chateau we finished the day with a beer and swim in the pool. Martin joined us and I get the impression that this is a way of life now. Day Three Phil is only here for two days riding and wanted to get a crack at the V-Rod, as well as the Fazer and 996. Several others have expressed an interest, so I've volunteered to ride the V-Rod to the first drink It looks really impressive, and when started sounds extremely smooth considering it's a Harley-Davidson. For a bike with such loud styling, the exhaust note is disappointing at standstill. As expected on a cruiser, the seat height is low and the foot pegs way forward. Too far forward for me. My guess is that you would need a 31" inside leg to be relatively comfortable. Olly had told me that the engine is really strong after 6,000 RPM, what he really meant is that it goes ballistic! Perhaps not in a sports bike way, more like a hold on for grim death! Manoeuvring at low speed is a nervous affair, the front wheel is a long way away and feels remote from your input, but once on the move it's not too bad, although it did cause me great concern on a roundabout that had some subsidence in it later in the morning. The engine on the V-Rod can only be described as strong. Masses of torque means that it will pull hard from any speed in any gear and the thrust above 6000 RPM is phenomenal. In any gear above first at this sort of engine speed, wind effect is huge and you really need to hang on tight. Whenever you lift your foot off the peg to change gear, there's always the danger of the wind catching it and trying to rip your leg off, in particular when up at three figure speeds. Everything is also low, and the first thing to touch down is your heels. It was very concerning the first time, but after that it became a gauge of how far I had the bike over. Getting it over was another matter. At speed you couldn't just counter-steer. As well as pushing with one hand, the other had to give a good tug of the bars. Handling can best be described as interesting. There was a need to set the bike up early for a corner because you were unlikely to be able to change direction once in the corner. Going in with the engine at 5-6000 RPM meant you could rocket out of the corner though. The V-Rod could be hustled along at relatively high speeds and only really lost out with long straights and very twisty roads (So I thought until I saw Olly ride it later in the afternoon). Martin's skill and knowledge of biking showed up for me this morning. Having come out of some mountain twisties I became stuck behind several lorries and cars with very few overtaking opportunities, which allowed everyone else to get a long way ahead. Martin came back to check up on me and I followed him for several miles trying to keep up. He kept increasing the pace until I couldn't (115mph on the straights was enough on this bike) and would slow down for corners to a pace that I found challenging on the V-Rod, but not dangerous. No real moments on the V-Rod, but one that was close to being embarrassing. Martin, on the Mille, had stopped just off a roundabout to allow myself and Brian to catch up. As I came off the roundabout I started to brake and pull to the side of the road to avoid the following traffic. It was only at this point I found that the brakes weren't up to expectations and stopping the bike quickly was proving a challenge. Unfortunately with 5m to Martin, the front of the bike hit some gravel and began to skid. Somehow I managed to point the front of the V-Rod between the Mille and the kerb and come to a stop without hitting it. Don't ask me how, because I don't know, I'm just thankful I never hit him. It was fun whilst it lasted. Fun in the 10-pinter on a Friday night sort of way - you wouldn't want your mates to know because you know they'd take the piss.
After riding the SP2 and V-Rod, the 636 felt lifeless. I kept opening the throttle and the engine screamed, but there was no real kick from the motor. Wind it up above 10,000 RPM and there was a little bit of extra go, but not a lot. We hit a bumpy, twisty road, not unlike a B-road we might find at home (but longer, quieter and more corners!) and Martin led myself, Mark (ZX12-R) and Keith (SP2) into it. On a long straight Mark opened up the ZX12 and slotted in behind Martin - but that was probably the last time he enjoyed the bike on this bit of road. The roads really tightened up and found the weight and power of the ZX12 uncomfortable and the 636 was able to keep up easily. After 7 or 8 miles, we came across Martin pulled over to one side and he warned us of gravel in the road on a couple of corners (just like GB then!). As we pulled away, Mark took the tail and I slotted in behind Martin. If your idea of fun is wringing the neck of a 600 inline four, then this was fun. The roads got really twisty and the only way to keep up a fast pace was to keep the revs continuously over 10,000. It was tremendous fun, but I felt sorry for the little Kawasaki motor when we stopped for lunch! After lunch, I jumped onto the Aprillia. The seat was very high and as with the SP2, a lot of weight was placed on the wrists. Once on the move, I found the pegs a little too high. There's no red line on the tacho, but a little red light flashes for maximum revs. Annoyingly this came on at about 6,500 RPM, just as the power kicked in. I think everyone ignored it and changed up when the power dropped off at about 9,000 RPM. There's not a lot I can say about the Aprillia. I lasted about 25 miles on it. It was just too cramped for my ample frame and my time ended on it shortly after Olly overtook me, going very fast on the 636, as I took position behind him, he braked for a corner. I backed off and braked. At this point I realised he wasn't scrubbing off speed, he was BRAKING!!!! I'm not sure I have ever braked so hard and long into a corner. I'll give the Aprillia a pat on the tank for getting me round there, but it was just about the end of my ride on it, because as soon as my body untensed, my left hip locked and I had to take my foot of the peg and stick my leg out for a few miles until flexibility had been restored and I could ride with both feet on the pegs. I caught up with the rest of them at a junction a few miles further on, at which point I asked Martin if we could swap bikes. Ahh, bliss - back on the SP2. Brian had taken the V-Rod after lunch and had also swapped bikes, because he didn't like it. Olly was now on the V-Rod and leading the group. Any inadequacies in its handling or performance certainly weren't evident now, both on twisty roads and motorways. I don't think any of us would be brave enough to say that being led by a V-Rod was detrimental to the pace that was set. At one point, I was tucked as far behind the screen of the SP2 as I could get doing 135 mph, thinking “I'm not sure I want to go any faster” and “how the hell is Olly managing to hold on, let alone get the bike over for these bends”. We eventually ended up on the route back to the Chateau that we had taken Monday. First the long sweeping motorway bends - again I bottled out - then the stonking A road. It felt faster this time, perhaps the SP2 is growing on me, it certainly inspires confidence. We stop about 20 miles out to allow Mark to climb onto the V-Rod. One of the guys wants to try the SP2, so I do the last leg on the ZX12-R. The first impression is that everything fits! Legs in a comfortable position and not a stretch to the bars. Like the GSX-R, the motor is turbine-like, but it exudes much more character, in particular once the RAM air cuts in at around 6,500 RPM and shouts 'THRASH ME'. The 20 miles disappears too quickly, so the ZX12-R will have to be my first bike on Thursday. Discussion at the garage was solely about the V-Rod. Mark hated it, and wouldn't even stand next to it to have a picture taken. Brian found it uncoformtable. Phil just laughed all the time, but he wasn't sure if it was because it was fun or because he thought he was about to die! Martin believes to own one you need to wear leather with frills on and frequent bars called the 'Blue Oyster'. Looks like it was just me and Olly that like it then! Day Four
I'm not sure how far the canoeing actually covered, but we guessed around 12 kms. Mark swam most of it and any rapids we covered that Mark did not fall out in were reclassified as rough water! An entertaining afternoon, but hardly conducive to rest!
Has anyone seen my canoe??? Day Five Today we are going up to the Pyrenees. Martin and Olly have warned us that the journey there, via Narbonne and Perpignan, is boring (for them maybe!), followed by some tremendous mountain roads. After riding the ZX12R on Tuesday, I was looking forward to starting on it. A lot of the journey to the mountains is on fast A roads and motorways, the sort of roads that the ZX12 is made for. At a stop at lights I dismount because I have a problem with my leathers rucking up. The rest disappear with the exception of Martin. At this point the traffic is heavy with quite a few lorries blocking the view for overtakes. I get separated from Martin, so when the road opens up and the worst of the traffic is left behind, I try to see what I can get out of the ZX12. On a long straight, it's up to 200 kph before you know it. As I try to get up to 240 kph (150 mph), the road suddenly deteriorates with lots of undulations and my bottle disappears. Fun whilst it lasted, but there were to be more opportunities to push it later on some motorway stretches, when we were cruising at at 240kph. It's amazing how tight the motorway bends are when you're doing that sort of speed. As we reach the foothills of the mountains, we stop for a drink break in a walled city. Again we're briefed on the pitfalls of the road we're about to tackle, in particular for cars and lorries taking the 'racing-line' up and down the mountain. Mark thinks I'm mad wanting to take the ZX12 up the twisty mountain roads, but having done what I expect are similar roads on my own VFR in Spain, I don't think it will be much different. As we progress up the mountain, I start to feel really good about the ZX12. Masses of torque and power to help with overtaking and powering out of corners. As the bends start to tighten and more frequently , using low down grunt becomes more difficult. I thought at first that it would be more relaxed, but I found that all too often the power would be coming in hard just as you needed to brake. By dropping down one or two gears, there was much more audible feedback and general feel to let you know how you were progressing. Despite it's size, the ZX12 was easier to flick from side-to-side than the VFR and by the time we got to the top, I was really enjoying myself. The induction roar on the ZX12-R gives the bike some character that the GSX-R lacks. We collect at a roundabout at the top and from there it's a ten mile run to the lunch stop. I follow Olly who is on the ZX636 with Carol as pillion. Have I ever said how fast he is?? I'm following him riding on my limit and he hardly seems to be expending any effort. Carol commented later that the ride was really smooth. I get caught behind a couple of cars and loose site of them. There's nobody behind me now and I still can catch site of Olly. At about the 10 mile mark I pass through a couple of of villages and I start to worry about where they are. Out in the open countryside I pull up at a junction and within a few seconds of killing the engine, Martin and the others come into view. The biggest pain with the ZX is the amount of time it takes the bile to self test before you can actually start it. They're well gone before I can pull out! A mile down the road Olly is pulled up outside of the resteraunt. A great mornings ride and the only aches are from my wrists from the heavy braking into corners. The afternoon is the reverse run of this morning. I'm back on the SP2, but it's had problems with overheating coming up the mountain (we later found that the air temperature had been 41 degrees). The SP2 handled and performed as expected down the mountain, although it was excruciatingly painful on the wrists. The temperature gradually crept up to 104 degrees and stayed there for most of the ride down. We met up near the cafe we had drunk at in the morning. I was painfully hot and assumed we were stopping for a drink, so stripped off my helmet, gloves and jacket. Wrong! There was to be a stop for a drink and fuel 30 miles down the road. Kit back on and I'm last away by a good minute or so, Olly is waiting before the first roundabout. A fast run back to the motorway, and no sign of the rest of the group. Onto the motorway and tucked as best as I can behind the screen of the SP2 I see 157 mph on the clock as I follow Olly. It’s only a little later as we slow down for traffic that I realise I never actually got into sixth! The blat down the motorway has allowed us to catch up with the others though. The fuel light comes on just as we pull into the services for fuel, drinks and ice cream. The SP2 was still running hot, and so was I. Not long after we get going we leave the motorway. I’m taking it easy at the back, with Olly behind me, to see if I can get the temperature to drop below 100 degrees C. Sticking the bike in sixth sees the temperature gradually drop to below 90 degrees C. Having been caught behind some traffic, Olly takes the lead as we’ve been separated from the rest. It’s still an easy pace and we don’t go above 100mph. Of course at this point, things are all very relaxed, the heat’s got at me and mentally I’ve slowed down. Another corner looms, a left hander. Back off the throttle. It’s a bit tighter than I thought. Change down several gears from SIXTH (that’ll be why there’s not much engine braking then!). Brake hard. The bend’s not tight, it’s a 90 degree corner, followed by the same to the right. Turn in whilst braking still - the front starts to slide. Fortunately for me there is a nice run off. Brakes off, haul the bike up right and panic brake to the edge of the tarmac and hit the gravel at about 20 mph - slow enough to make sure that no-one has seen what I have done and manoeuvre back onto the road and round the corner. Obviously not quite unnoticed as Olly is just pulling over a little way up the road. When we talked about it later, he mentioned that the corner catches a lot of people out and that not long back they had an MCN journalist do exactly the same. The rest of the journey back is uneventful and after the off-road incident, I remain somewhat more focussed for the rest of the journey. Day Six The last and final day. Two bikes for me to ride today - the Ducati 996 and Honda Fireblade. But that had to wait, because after a unanimous vote, we had decided that the England Vs Brazil game needed to be watched first, so the days riding is delayed until 11 o’clock. Anyway, not much to say about the football, apart from we lost.
So, out onto the road. Not much twist grip to play with - closed to full open throttle doesn’t take too much action. We’re doing the reverse of Monday’s route. I didn’t really notice how bumpy the last road was on Monday, but the 996 made it blatantly apparent. A very hard ride combined with bumps in the road and quick action on the throttle meant that I was nearly kangarooing down this slow bumpy road. At this point I was hardly feeling inspired. Onto some A roads and things start to get a bit better. The bike turns into corners much quicker than any of the others and I found myself regularly correcting myself mid corner because I had turned in too early (which Olly commented on later). And as with any sports bike, once your speed has increased enough, you loose the problem of weight being placed onto your wrists. Just as I thought I was coming to terms with the bike and its quirks, we found ourselves on a tight downhill section, with lots of tight curves and hairpins. This is where the agony started! Turn after turn on the brakes with all of my (ample) weight on my wrists was a killer. To make it worse, the 996 wouldn’t turn in with even a small amount of brake going into a corner without a huge fight. Whilst with any of the other bikes (with the exception of the V-Rod), I would have powered out of the corners and hard onto the brakes for the next, I found it too hard on body and mind on the 996 and in the end cruised relatively sedately down until we hit some faster roads with less turns. I was glad when we eventually stopped for a drink, as it gave me the chance to snatch the keys for the ZX12-R off of Martin - I needed a comfy chair for the next session. Martin tried to convince me that the next session was a fast one, so the 996 would be better, but no thank you, I’d ridden a 996 and wouldn’t need to try one again for a while! Drinks over and we’re heading for a motorway and going to ride up the fast sweeping bends and hairpins that we had travelled down on Monday and Tuesday. The 996 and ZX12 are chalk and cheese and it takes me a while to adapt back to the comfort and smooth, effortless power delivery of the ZX12. I was starting to feel comfortable just as we hit the bottom of the motorway twisties, when the front and rear both slid on over-banding. Even though my sphincter had held everything solid in check, my confidence had managed to disappear through it. By the time I get to the top, my confidence is gradually returning despite spending too much effort searching for over-banding rather than reading the road, and even though I open the ZX12 right up the others have stopped at the junction we’re turning off on for fuel. The rest of the ride is uneventful and we stop for lunch at the same plaza that we stopped on Monday, but eat at a different resteraunt.
On an uphill section of one of the roads, a couple of us get left behind. As I crest the brow of the hill into a straight that’s a couple of miles long, I see Martin (on the GSX-R1000) pulled over in the distance. He pulls out once he sees us coming. I back off at just under 200 kph and slot in behind him and for effect he lofts the front wheel for a two hundred yards before accelerating (Note to self - must book wheelie school!). And that was about the end of the weeks riding, apart from a quick stop on the road into Lignan to take a couple of pictures of Martin stunting. To top the weeks entertainment off, we went for a couple of sessions of early evening go-karting, followed by several drinks and a meal in the village where Martin and Olly live, enjoying the cultural event that is a French music night. I’m told that French music will be entering the 21st Century around the time that England next win the World Cup - sometime never! Day Seven What can I say. Got up early, packed, Olly drove us to the airport, flew home! Summary Did I enjoy myself? Most definitely. Value for money? Absolutely. If you can find the money, you won’t regret it! Would I go again? Yes, but I would want to see a few different bikes/models there before going a second time (That’s to try different bikes, not because the ones that are there aren’t good) What Next After the trip to Spain, I came away feeling that a new bike was on the cards once I had been on this holiday. And that’s probably the case, but I don’t just know what it should be - so it looks like the VFR 800 is safe for a few months yet. The SP2 is full off character, but I think I’d worry about doing long distances on it day after day. The seat’s a little hard and the riding position puts a lot of weight on the wrists. The Fireblade is a great bike, but the seat is hard on it as well and whilst the riding position is better than the SP2, maybe the character of the SP2 outweighs the extra pain? Then there’s the ZX12-R - full of character, powerful and really comfortable. But does anyone really need a 1200cc bike? Wish they had a ZX9-R to ride! Maybe I’ll just have to go again to help decide! Ohh, this looks interesting!
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The 
I maintained by bottle and plumped for the GSX-R1000. Also out today are the SP2, Fireblade, ZX636R, 996, Mille-R and Fazer.
Having ridden a Ducati ST4 before, the engine of the SP2 is everything I expected of a V-twin - lumpy at low revs but loads of torque. The position is extreme with a lot of weight on the wrists and the the seat pad firm, to say the least.
s stop.
After the first break it was Phil's turn to sample the delights of the V-Rod and I got the ZX636-R.
A day of rest. Lounged around the pool and terrace during the morning and Martin had arranged for us to go canoeing in the afternoon.
We’ve conveniently forgotten about the MV Augusta F4, which came back on Wednesday. Martin and Olly both don’t like riding it, and having sat on it I can see why. It’s cramped and turning the bars lock to lock traps your thumbs between the bars and fairing. Brian and Keith both would like to ride it, but don’t want to commit the whole day to it, so it stays tucked in the garage. The good news apparently is that the F4 won’t break down today then!
I was surprised when I first sat on the Ducati. OK it’s a bit small for me, but not as uncomfortable as I expected. Start the thing and it does literally clatter into life, hardly giving inspiration of race bred performance!
So, the last afternoons riding and I’ve got the 2002 Fireblade - if only I wasn’t so tired and damned hot! The ride sees us do the reverse of ‘race track’ from Clermont l’Herault to Bedarieux and the Fireblade does what it says on the tin. Its riding position isn’t as full on as the SP2, but only just and the engine makes a wonderful noise, but unless wound up feels a little gutless - I’ve been spoilt with the ZX12 over the last couple of days.