02-01-2016, 12:47 AM
A few days ago one of the threads mentioned Peter Egens trilogy of books named Leanings. Even though I ordered it from NY during their snow storms the book still arrived within four days. The danger with reading Egan is that during his long motorcycling journalistic career he has touched on most topics and there is a danger of using his wit to answer questions on the Forum so I'll restrict myself to this one time. I've just read an article entitled, "Too much bike, not enough road" in which he discusses the problems associated with large trail bikes on challenging terrain and after a couple of days in Copper Canyon he comes to the conclusion that even a 650cc is too big for the tough stuff? The Africa Twin will be a roaring success in Europe because riders over here like the road comfort of big trail bikes but very few of them will ever leave the Tarmac. Also, in England we don't have the freedom to venture off road without trespassing on private land. Recently I spent a weekend at an off road centre where they had 450cc & 250cc bikes. I grabbed a 450 in the morning but after lunch I swopped it for a 250 and enjoyed the afternoon.