Withdrawal. . .

I'd love to get an MT-10 but I just don't have the money and reality is I don't really see the point in anything that quick on the road. I'm actually trading in my Daytona for a Street Twin so I can have something a bit more interesting about town. 

Cool little bikes. So you're going for it then? When you looking at swapping? 

This just popped up on my Twitter feed, looks a beast http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-02/ducati-xdiavel-review-a-techno-cruiser-aimed-squarely-at-harley

struggling to add links via iPhone. The pop up box is all over the place.

You wanna watch this mate:

Andy - the Twin isn't out for another couple of weeks, I'm going to MCN Motorcycle Live in London where they're first letting people have a go, then booking a test ride. I'm just bored with fast bikes on the road where you never get out of second gear, I really enjoy my little 200cc Honda because you actually get to use the gears and worry about carrying momentum through corners rather than just knowing you can blast out at silly speed. 

So we'll see how I get on with it, but I want to get it by the summer really. 

Never heard of cruise control on a bike, until now that is! 😆 Need to get me a ride on one for the crack.

I can imagine if you're doing a lot of motorway miles it must be amazing. Even a lot of the smaller roads in Europe it'd be nice to be able to rest your right hand for a bit without slowing to a crawl in a few seconds. 

I was questioning the practicality of it for daily use and it's likely minimal, but as you say on a nice long country road cruise, sun beating down and the V-Twin playing a mighty soundtrack, would be ace to ride it with little right hand input. I've always hankered after a cruiser/Harley as a second bike but can't afford both yet!

Yeah day-to-day it's useless, would be a nice thing to have though. 

Harley?! What the fuck is wrong with you?

I could really see myself on something like that. This is another case of "I definitely need more than one bike, probably three" 

And, talking of Harleys, my ex's uncle is in the Outlaws and he rides one. If it's good enough for the Outlaws, it's good enough for me. 

Harleys are terrible in every way. 

I'm totally going to get shot now. 

So today I rode an 07/08 spec Yamaha R1. Holy shizzle, what a beast that was. Maybe as I'm used to a inline 4 with my RR but this was a step up in power that I really enjoyed. Still very easy to ride, not that I rode it on the ragged edge of course, but the steering felt responsive and the bike puts the power down in a way I seriously like. Ideally I want to ride an 09 onwards model with the cross plane crank shaft as they are meant to be rather special. At least I'm narrowing down and honing in on what I really want, then I'll need to sell my RR to fund the purchase.

I had no idea Harley's were shite, shows what I know....

You NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED the cross-plane crank. Just Google for the noise and you'll be sold. The noiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise

Oh yeah I have already done the mandatory YouTube research into how that 09-11 R1 sounds, sensational with an aftermarket exhaust. Ideally I want to have a closer look at one in the flesh now, see how the riding position feels, although I've accepted I'm never going to find a comfortable sports bike, it's the compromise I guess for wanting that look.

Next step is to tidy my bike up, new tyres, MOT and perhaps change exhaust back to standard and sell the Akrapovic separately.

That's exactly it - you're not going to find a comfortable sports bike because they're built for speed not comfort. 

This is why I'm ditching my Daytona. I absolutely love it, IMO it's the best looking sports bike out there by far. Reality is though I can't ride it to within 25% of what it's capable of and it's just not comfortable. I don't like riding it in the rain because (whilst it's clearly capable) I'm just not comfortable with the lack of steering control and the amount of power it puts out. My Tracer on the other hand, I actively go out for fun rides in the rain because it's so good. 

If I had the money I'd keep it purely for posing purposes, but I do not so alas it makes no sense to keep it. 

I get a lot more satisfaction from ragging the nuts off my little 200, having to constantly change gear to get up to speed and the feeling of how light the thing is; it gives you confidence that if it ever slips, you can just stick your leg out and kick it back up. It's an absolute hoot. 

I'll keep the GSXR for track because I've put so much money into it now, but my sportsbike on roads days are over.