Good Old Bandit

The Motorcycle Moves with You Forty Years of Finding Control on Two Wheels Four decades of riding reveal a simple truth: real motorcycle control begins with the rider’s body, balance, trust, and feel. A motorcycle remembers every careless input your body makes. It also rewards every moment when rider and machine finally agree. After forty years on two wheels, I believe body positioning is less about technique than conversation. Your motorcycle speaks through its bars, tyres, suspension, and seat. The best rides begin when you stop shouting back. The First Time the Motorcycle Felt Alive Control begins when a machine stops feeling like an object beneath you My earliest motorcycles never had riding modes, traction control, or colorful screens. Some barely had dependable electrics. What they offered was something far more valuable. They made every mistake painfully clear. I still remember an early morning ride on a small two-stroke many decades ago. The road was narrow, patched, and empty ...

  The Machine Will Change, but the Ride Never Will A veteran rider reflects on petrol, electric, hydrogen, and the future of motorcycling through four decades on the open road. Every generation believes it is riding through the biggest change in motorcycling. After more than forty years in the saddle, I have watched machines transform beyond recognition, yet the feeling that begins with a twist of the throttle remains untouched. The fuel may change, the technology will keep moving, but the ride has always been about something much deeper than the engine. Every Generation Meets Its Own Revolution Machines change, but the road keeps asking the same questions. When I bought my first motorcycle, nobody spoke about battery chemistry, hydrogen fuel cells, or synthetic fuels. We talked about carburetors that refused to cooperate on cold mornings, spark plugs tucked away in worn leather tool rolls, and engines that had personalities as distinct as the people riding them. Those machines dem...

The Stop That Every Rider Should Be Ready For Emergency braking is more than technique. It is calm, control, instinct, and the experience that keeps a rider moving forward. Forty years of riding teaches you something strange about motorcycles. The finest moments are rarely about speed. Sometimes, they are about stopping. A child crossing a road, gravel after a bend, or traffic freezing ahead can change everything. In those seconds, your motorcycle reveals your habits, and you discover the rider you have become. The Moment the Road Changes Every long riding life contains a few seconds that never completely leave you. My earliest motorcycles were simple machines with equally simple expectations. They started, they rattled, and they demanded your full attention. There were no electronic riding modes watching over your shoulder. Brakes required respect, tyres had limits, and roads offered regular surprises. I remember one afternoon from those early years very clearly. I was travelling alon...