roadsters

[xprof]

Hey guys n gals, I'm spending a couple of months in Europe, so no riding or farkling the Roadster. But I thought you might like to know that roadsters (little r) are really big over here, if you use the term loosely, as they do. Over here a roadster is a sit-up-and-beg "standard" bike, either naked or minimally faired, and they are over 50% of the bikes here. Over 50%!!! BMWs and Guzzis of course, but also lots of Suzuki Bandits, naked Hondas (and Transalps, which we don't have), Kawis, Yams, etc. Maybe it is that the standard bike is more practical for a mix of downtown traffic, mountain twisties, rain, cobblestones and cowflop. Kids ride 'em fast, oldsters ride 'em with dignity, but roadsters are the thing to have over here. I wish I had mine...

[redwing]

Hey xprof ...pictures please...one of each

Robert

[zei220]

Where you visiting? Anywhere near Cheshire please visit us and I'll show you the cat and fiddle pass and buy you lunch in the 2nd highest pub in England.

[nylife]

you can always rent one

[Ric]

Ha....I'm an "oldster" and I ride her fast..... .......well.....with dignity of course.....

[xprof]

No pix guys; I'm just not equipped. And I'm mostly in France, with a bit of Italy and Switz mixed in. But yesterday we saw the coolest thing: On the Col des Saissies we were stopped by "security" on bikes and asked to pull to the right to park. There was an annual bike day tour for the handicapped children of Albertville coming towards us, it seems. What then passed by was well over 200 bikes, maybe as many as 500, each with a driver and a handicapped kid on the back, or in one of the at least 50 sidecars, from Urals to sleek custom jobs. There were cruisers with cow horns, sportbikes, and dual-sports, but mostly sit-up-and beg BMWs, Guzzis, Bandits, Multistradas etc, a real parade, all on twisty alpine almost-one-lane roads, in the rain. The security guy said that it rained last year, too, but rain doesn't discourage these Europeans. There were probably 40 security bikes jumping ahead, closing side roads, just like when the Tour de France passes. What an experience for a motorcyclist!