It’s all too much

I’ve been riding for over 20 years and reading Bike for at least that long, and I always enjoy the magazine. But in recent years something has dawned on me… Modern bikes are silly. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate engineering and design, but £14k plus is so far removed from what I need it’s unreal. Take the Adventure Class of 2018 bikes (Bike, May 2018). I’d love one, but there’s no way I’m spending that on a bike. Sure I could go PCP, but what happens when I take it back after three years with 35k miles on the clock? I took my NCX in for some work and the dealer said, ‘We’ve never seen a bike with that mileage,’ (48,500 at five years old). I can’t imagine the excess mileage charge on that. Most ‘PCP’ bikes won’t see the use they deserve, they’ll sit in garages with owners too afraid to use them, and the used market seems to back this up. Try to find a used Africa Twin with over 10,000 miles on it. And that’s a bike you’re meant to ride round the world. Peter Atkin, email