Comparisons

After getting away from the daily salt mine, I went off to the local book store to take part in a couple of my weaknesses....a yuppie latte with a chocolate chip cookie/biscuit and to see if the new issue of The Classic Motorcycle had come in to see if there was anything good in it. As it hasn't come in yet, I'll have to wait until it does.

In the meantime, I went walkabout in the store looking at books to see if there was anything of interest and ran across one that I had seen before on cafe racers.

This one, written by one Mike Seate, is from an American perspective from what I gather. I skimmed through it a bit and read a little bit here and there.

Two things caught my eye; one was a picture, courtesy of Bauer Media, they who publish Classic Bike, of a bloke on a BSA Gold Star. The rider who was un-named was riding at a fair clip from the looks of it and he happened to be Rick Parkington of Edinburgh. The other was a few lines describing how the author and his mate were riding on choppers a few years back when they were joined by a pair on cafe racers who promptly left them standing.

Now stay with me here as I get to the point of this rambling; a couple of years ago I made a trip back home to England and thence on a borrowed BMW K100 up to Edinburgh in Scotchland. While there I did the touristy thing and went to the Castle. I also visited with the above Rick Parkington.

During the supping of ale we'd discuss motorcycles and during the converstions Rick asked me two things; basically how the autojumbles were here and what the motorcycle scene is like.

As far as autojumbles (or swap meets as they're locally known) I told him that in this region they're not really that impressive and that's mainly due to the British classic bike scene isn't as big in Texas as it might be in California or on the East Coast of the US.

Classic bike shows here aren't that many or big and therefore vendors aren't as many. Yes there are people selling parts and even whole motorcycles, but the stands or stalls are low in number compared to something such asStafford or Netley Marsh which have much, much more.

And due to this, I think individuals have to resort to either mail order in order to get parts and some services or to do, and I hate this word, "networking", with others to see if they have or know a bloke that may have a particular part. That's how I managed to get a spare fiberglass gs tank for my Starfire.

The other thing that Rick asked about was the motorcycle scene or to be more precise, what it is like to ride in the States.

I told him that to me it was hard to describe really. Actually I found it hard to put in the right perspective. A lot of people seem to associate riding here with either Jap crotch rockets or with Harleys and the "lifestyle" that may involve.

Depending on the location and the weather, it could actually be like riding in Europe with twisty, narrow roads or it can be as some tend to think, long straight roads bathed in sunshine.

Down here in southern Texas the latter is the norm. For myself, the commute to work involves a one way trip of 27 miles on fairly straight interstate  and same town riding. During the summer this is done sans the leather jacket due to the temps being in the 90s and HIGH humidity. On safety grounds it may sound like a bad idea but this prevents overheating.

Away from this area to the north and west is an area that's known s the "Hill Country" for obvious reasons. This to me is the closest to riding in the UK as is possible. There are hills and some very nice twisty roads.

In the vicinity of the Lone Star Motorcycle Museum that I may have mentioned in an earlier posting, there are three roads that involve some very steep hills or mountains and very twisty roads and are name the "Three Twisted Sisters".

I've ridden my Harley on one of the and this involved riding over two mountains. By the time I was done and over I felt a little exhausted and mentioned this to Allan, the owner. He commented that "Harleys ain't made for scratching." 

That is so true. But a BSA, Norton or Triumph is perfect for this type of riding.

Anyway, back to the point of all this...unless you've experienced the riding in the US or the UK or anywhere else, it's hard to compare the two in words. You have to find out first hand.

So get out there and do it!!!!!