1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Sunday 17 January 2010

The Queen is dead...Long live the Queen!

After a hairy winter spell trying to ride around on the VX, I've taken the decision to go back to my first true love... Thumpers!
I loved cruising around in the summer and cannot deny it was good to arrive at a campsite with all my fillings in still place, but the fact remains the VX is one serious lump of a bike. 470lbs in wieght and as long as a barge, she is a nightmare to ride in grim conditions and that's most of the time in the UK. I thought I'd be taking the boys out more and a bigger bike would make that easier, but that didn't happen either. The fact is most of my miles are to and from work a trip of some 40 miles a day. Camping trips are limited to 2 or 3 a year and if I want to take my boys...well... we can all go by car.

So, I hear you ask, what have I bought?? Well Ive gone and got myself a XT600E!

Big enough to haul my sorry arse to work every day, but slight enough for a bit of green laning should I take a fancy. I'll need to sort out some kind of luggage rack on the back and something to stop the panniers touching the exhaust, but apart from that she's good to go!

Her first major trip will be the Dragon rally in about 3 weeks time and that's when I'll find out how I cope with the bike/rider interface.