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‘Life in the old dog yet!’
Just got back from the North West 200 and what a day of racing we had on the Saturday. Beautiful weather, massive crowds and Irwin and Todd providing superb racing in the Superbike class. Not forgetting Hicky and Cooper in the smaller classes. But the highlight for me, and I guess thousands more, was seeing John McGuinness taking a podium in the Stockers race.
Yes, I realise Harrison pulled up, Dunlop didn’t start, but even so, to be on the box 12 years after his last podium is something special. We were in a campervan park between Mathers chicane and Magherabuoy chicane and the cheering as John pipped Hillier for third place was the loudest and most enthusiastic of the day. Just proves there’s life in the old dog yet! Superb.
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More tech, Gromit?
Comparing the Royal Enfield HNTR 350 with a couple of water-cooled four-valve tech-laden retros (MCN, May 15) is missing the point of the Enfield’s charm: its air cooled long-stroke, two-valve engine is a joy, its fuelling is creamy smooth. That large flywheel old-school feel puts a smile on your face every time it’s started up. My wife says I come home in a Wallace and Gromit frame of mind when I’ve been for a chug on my 350... other bikes perform other functions but for a sheer chillpill machine it’s hard to match.
Hornet’s sting
I’ve just bought a new CB750 Hornet and I am over the moon with it, most of the time. But at low speeds on a closed throttle, especially in traffic and 20mph here in Wales, the fuelling is terrible. The bike jerks and jumps and as I have arthritis in my wrists, it is actually painful. Has anyone else had this problem?
400 hits the spot
You are so right suggesting the likes of the Speed 400 are perfect for dormant bikers. But there is another group, like me at 82, who have had to move from a Sprint ST and Tiger 800 because age makes handling them difficult.
Modesty’s the policy
I have no doubt that Glenn Irwin is a top-class rider, albeit in the races he decides to contest, which at the North West 200 seems only to be Superbike – so when he overexuberantly celebrates with the crowd like some kind of rockstar for winning another race in the same class he is always in, something doesn’t feel quite right. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance and cockiness – unfortunately, I think Glenn has crossed it, especially insinuating that the event would not be the
