CORROSION-VIRUS

Thinking about Mikko’s piece about the lockdown and the knock-on effect of the isolation period, my first reaction is, will the bike corrode? So, I’ve decided to give it a thorough clean and then look to using a protection coating of some sort – ideas welcome!

My reasoning is that I’ve ridden through this last winter with my local IAM RoadSmart group and looking ahead it might be autumn before I get another ride! There could be a residue of salt lying in crevices that normally get flushed post ride – now the bugger has three months plus to get working!

I’ve also got in all sorts of muddles trying to put my iPhone 6s on the Ultimateaddons Ball, which sits on the brake lever mounting bolt. So I’ve bought another bracket to fit on the handlebar cross beam (Aprilia Shiver).

Finally, I’ll tackle the Scottoiler I bought for last winter and never got round to fitting because we rode so often – all in all it means the isolation can go on for a bit longer for me…

Stay safe and get ready to ride, eh!

Chris Powdrill

As it happens, we have a little article about bike cleaning and protection in this issue (p. 74). The key message is that you can use the protective sprays all year, not just in winter, to keep the machine protected. Everyone seems to have their own favourite brand of protective spray, but I guess any of them is better than nothing at all...

Let's hope that we get many more dry and warm rides in before the winter's here again! Mikko Nieminen

CRAZY POWER

Always good to receive the latest MSL magazine in my letterbox. As usual, first thing check out

Maynard Hershon, then letters, then ‘the news’. What’s this, the latest Ducati Superleggera V4... what a bike, but hang on a bit...

Ok, I’m an old bloke who has just swapped his Multistrada for (another) BMW boxer twin – I thought a more gentle bike at my age. However, getting back the the latest Duc’ and having time on my hands because of the coronavirus lockdown I did some

checking re bike and power weight ratios. Casey Stoner’s MotoGP bike the Ducati Desmosedici GP9 had a power-toweight ratio of 1554bhp per tonne... this compared to around 1250bhp per tonne for Lewis Hamilton’s old Mclaren F1 car!

The latest Ducati Superleggera V4, which presumably anyone with a fat wallet can buy, in top spec, is 1540bhp per tonne.

Casey Stoner may have acquired the sobriquet ‘Moaner Stoner’, but he was a gifted rider of the highest order – how about Joe Soap with a wad of cash???

My point being that that kind of performance ‘off the shelf’ is just a little bit crazier than just crazy!!! Especially when 99.99% of bikes come with no worthwhile adjustment to seat height. The same applies to handlebars, foot

pegs and controls. On top of that the standard seat usually needs an upgrade to a ‘comfort seat’. Crazy when pretty much the most basic of cars arrives with all these things as standard. Regarding performance, I also discovered on Google that Geoff Duke on his Manx Norton with 51bhp managed an effective 100mph lap in the TT (actual 99.97, but who’s counting?).

Maybe I’m just getting old – or am I?

Paul Milner

Those figures are nuts, huh! I can’t imagine many road riders needing that sort of power. However, a seat that doesn’t start to feel like you’re straddling a plank after a few miles would be most welcome. But if there was big money in comfort rather than bragging rights then the manufacturers would go that way... I think we are victims of our own making. Mikko Nieminen

LIGHTNESS OF TOUCH

What a brilliant letter from Paul Roberts (March) about needing a lighter bike at the age of 85! And finding one that suits him perfectly so that he can still get the buzz that he first got in 1952. Wonderful.

I am only 66, but I agree with everything he says – so many modern, big bikes are too heavy for older riders, but you can have

huge fun on a 650 like his Honda, or a Suzuki V-Strom. Paul is an inspiration – what a fantastic thing to know that we could all keep riding to that great age, simply adjusting what bike we own to suit our weakening bodies.

Richard Taylor

Yep, I completely agree with you Richard. I recently tested a selection of 650cc bikes for our group test, and they are truly impressive machines – there are not many occasions where you really NEED any more oomph. And they are such fun to ride!

Mikko Nieminen

AIRBAGS

Firstly I am an avid reader and subscriber to MSL and Classic

Bike Guide. I was looking forward to your tests of the Air Vests as both myself and my wife and a lot of my colleagues in our Blood Bike Groups have been wearing them for a few years. I was quite amazed that in your group test you missed out Helite, who were really the pioneers of Air Vests for

Equestrian and Motorcyling way before the other companies started to produce them. Now I would agree that Helite have been selling a tether system for many years and the products featured were autonomous systems, but Helite now also have a non-tethered product in both a vest and a jacket. It would have been good to see how their latest product stood up to the competition, especially as a lot of the early adopters of Air Vests will probably be using the Helite or a variation of that product with tethers.

Robert

Fair point, Robert. I will see if we can assess a Helite vest as a separate test.

Airbags are an intriguing area of biking at the moment, and I’m sure they will become mainstream in the not-sodistant future. At the moment it’s still hard work trying to figure out the comparative merits as the standards aren’t quite keeping up with the progress of technology...

Mikko Nieminen