‘We’ve got the height stuff’
May I start by congratulating you on a great article named
The Height Stuff in January’s issue. It is a subject dear to my heart. The list of places to go to get help was very useful indeed, especially as I don’t know one end of a spanner from the other and couldn’t follow the babble telling me how to do it myself!
I connected with all of the contributors to that article and I really admire the lengths they have gone to in order to pursue their love of this noble art. Alas, however, it is a subject that appears to fall on deaf ears amongst most of the manufacturers, as the vertically challenged amongst us have very limited choice when it comes to pursuing our passion safely.
I have recently passed my test and in the process of selecting my first ‘big bike’, I am definitely old and grey enough for a Harley but they just don’t float my boat yet. So I find myself favouring Triumph and its Tiger, which does cater for us shorties.
A Tiger is hardly a dilemma but I just wish I had more damn choice.
Peter Eblett
I ride all year round but have a bike I want to keep a long time. On previous bikes, corrosion has been an expensive problem, with full exhaust system and fastener replacement required. Like, I suspect, many people, I’m not the best at regularly washing any of my vehicles.
I am trying to identify a rule of thumb for when I can be sure that roads are free of grit and salt treatments. Many councils are shy of declaring what temperatures they first consider treating roads and in any case, tend to focus on road-surface temperature measurements rather than the ambient air temperature predictions that are available in public weather forecasts.
I have, to date, been guessing that I am safe to take the bike out at forecast air temperatures of 4°C or above but have been caught out a few times. Is there a better rule of thumb to use?
Perhaps this would make a good winter-riding investigation article?
Craig Sewell
It’s an interesting thought, Craig. Though the time of year seems to have as much to do with it as weather: am I the only one always frustrated by those needless late-march gritting of dry roads that never get below zero as much as when they don’t grit in November when they should? MW