‘No tech may be my undoing. So be it’
In Bike January you published three letters and two articles that were all related. Readers wrote about the joy of an uncomplicated superbike ridden back in 1979, the need to stop the growth in technology and the likely drawbacks of smart helmets. The articles were about the arrival of radar and the new BMW R1250RT melding with your smartphone. The reason for all this quick change is clear – the industry knows its core customer is getting old. Boomers buy a lot of litre-plus bikes but they are fearful their reflexes and their eyesight can no longer be trusted. The youngest of them is now 60. So load the bikes with tech that compensates for the nervousness and you can keep selling them.
I am 69 and ride a 2006 Guzzi Griso 1100: no ABS, cornering lights, traction control, wheelie control, active ESA, rider modes, quickshifter, hill-hold and radar monitored cruise control may be my undoing. So be it. Paul Cronin, email