audiomick

You might be right there. It is a long time ago now, but for a year or so I drove regularly in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and a couple of times in Perth. Thinking about it, I remember having the impression that the drivers in Melbourne were the least likely to give you some slack.

The only way to find out is to test ride one.

Did you get the T-shirt? Only if it is a cheap Prosecco, please. Good bubbly doesn't deserve to be desecrated.

How could you.

And moving to Germany, there is this: http://www.cafe36-online.de/ A cafe/restaurant with a grill kiosk in front of it, it is at the north end of this stretch. https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/3736190#map=12/51.3963/11.0639 Actually not that pleasant on summer weekends. Too many people with too loud motorcycles, all trying to prove they are at least as fast as Valentino Rossi. But on a week day when the weather is good, a good stop.

Mate, we're all grown-ups here. Put it out there, and assume the rest of us are capable of making responsible decisions. I don't see any need to apologise. Great idea for a thread. I went to a couple of pubs in the course of a ride with mates in Australia, but can only definitely place this one. https://www.flowerdalehotel.com.au/ It is here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/-37.320049/145.287041 Follow the road initially south, then across to Kinglake and down to Hurstbrige, and you're heading for where @Lucky Phil lives. I'd put money on him having been out that way more than a couple of times. This picture from their website speaks volumes, I reckon.

I believe there isn't. I reckon you just have to think about where you park it. Very carefully... EDIT: one does get used to it, though. That was an issue with the Kawasaki GTR 1000. 290 kg or so with the luggage empty, and relatively long and high. One really does "plan the entries and exits", but it becomes half automatic.

And this, of course.

Has anyone put this up yet? If not, it's about time. If they have, it's about time it came up again.

@docc the picture in your post was called MGX-21 Flying Fortress here, or at least something very like the picture. It looked like this, I believe. I've never seen one https://www.1000ps.de/testbericht-3002519-moto-guzzi-mgx-21-flying-fortress-test-2016-mit-video The "Audace" tag went on this one. I know someone from the German forum who has one. It is a fat bike, but that is appropriate for the rider.... Was the thing with the "Batman" Fairing called "Audace" in the USA, or was there an error in translation? @p6x I reckon you're right there, and I personally would love to see that happen.

Indeed. I'm sure, if it ever became reality, it would be a lovely toy.

That is something imagined. It is a study from Oberdan Bezzi that I have seen a number of times elsewhere, and maybe here as well. Look here: https://oberdanbezzi.artstation.com/albums/1117762 He turns out dozens, maybe hundreds, of design studies. I don't know if he has ever actually been paid by a manufacturer for a design. Maybe he has, I just don't know. Anyway, he has been pumping out design studies based on the V100 ever since it came out. Some of them are quite pretty, but it is anyone's guess whether Piaggio will ever do anything that even remotely resembles one of Bezzi's proposals. PS: where it to actually be released, and should I be in a position to consider buying such a thing, I would be very tempted.

Unfortunately, I didn't see this myself, but anyway... When I was a kid, probably about 12, my dad bought himself a Yamaha AG 100. I, as a kid, thought it was really big. What he used before that around the paddock was a Honda CT 90. Dad was pretty chuffed with the Yamaha, and even bought a helmet and got a license, so he could ride it the 7 or so km. into town. (that didn't last long...). So he's ridden the bike into town to the Cobram Agricultural Show, where the Victoria Police trick motorcycle riding squad was present. He got into a conversation with one of them. This is the Cobram Showgrounds https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=Cobram%2C Victoria%2C Australia#map=18/-35.920689/145.653144 The building in the top left corner is, or at least used to be, the scout hall, and there was a tree trunk lying on the ground in front of it. Maybe 3 feet high, maybe only 2 1/2, but a serious tree trunk. I can envision the situation; my dad (no idea about motorcycles, actually) with his new toy engaging the professional rider in conversation about motorbikes and such. The end of the story: the police rider got on the Yamaha AG 100 and rode it over the tree trunk. To this day, I am still impressed by that.

I'm reminded of an anecdote from a bloke in the Kawasai Z owner's club in my Z900 days. The man had a Z1000 in the police version with foot-boards. He lived near this bit of road https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1314554571#map=13/-37.60777/145.61863 His story was how he went up there one day, followed by two young blokes on the then new Kawasaki ZXR 750s. At the top end, there was (and probably still is) a pub. He pulled in, and the young blokes did too. They were absolutely astonished at how fast and relaxed he rode up there on that bike. It's the man, not the machine.

I believe that might be the case. In one direction, I saw some videos from a German bloke (and his mates) from the black forest region. There are some really great roads there. Their theme seemed to be "safe" lines, i.e. staying in the middle of the lane, and getting as much lean angle as possible. Wankers, in my opinion. I'm more interested in a clean line from one corner to the next, and positioning my body weight so that the bike "hangs" in the corner. I developed the habit of hanging off a bit, firstly, in the eighties and early nineties, when, amongst others, a certain K. Schwantz was riding a two-stroke Suzuki with the number 34 on the front. If one watches him for a while, it is obvious that your bum has to be anywhere but on the seat to get throught the corners "properly". Secondly, I was doing it on a 1976 Z 900. That thing really did benefit from getting the rider's weight down beside the bike a bit. Middle '70s japanese frames and suspension where, shall we say, sub-optimal, and creating a "counterweight" was a good idea. On top of that, my vision. I think I mentioned here recently that I don't have 3D vision. Over the last several years, I have come to the conclusion that I personally can "see the line" better if I am looking past the handlebares into the corner a bit from the side. Parallax, or something. I lost the habit of moving in the seat through not riding for about 10 years, then a Honda CBX 650 E soft-chopper, followed by two full-dress Kawasaki GTR 1000s. I'm currently working on getting back into the habit, and have established that, for me, it is better when I hang off a bit. Doesn't have to work for everyone, though. And yes, the Police are fast. They are professionals, what do you expect.