“Thanks for dragging up that totally irrelevant pile of useless statistics Dave - I have bookmarked this page so that the next time I need to get off to sleep I can do so with the minimum of fuss. Quite what the qualifications of world champions has got to do with the attitude of the average rider of 'large' motorcycles I have no idea, but if it helps justify that in your mind then carry on.

I drive the A6 and A515 often enough to see the antics of these people at close hand - and when I say close, I mean exactly that; so close to my boot lid at the speed limit that the slightest touch of the brakes would have them coming over my roof, overtaking lines of traffic on blind bends, speeds far in excess of the limit, under-taking in cycle lanes - the list goes on and on. Yes, you see examples of bad and reckless driving, but the car equivalent to what I regularly see usually only turns up on Traffic Cops or Police Camera Action. And all the publicity is aimed at making car drivers make allowances for these leather louts, rather than take responsibility for their own actions.

The slogan on the posters is not quite right; they missed out the comma between Think and Bike - or perhaps they should have used 'c' instead of 'n'...”

“@Chris - You might benefit from the marketing surveys that we carried out at sporting events in the late Eighties before feeding on hype from the spoon of the British mainstream media. Motorcycle sport had the highest percentage of graduates, broadsheet readers, and senior management of all of the large spectator attended sports in the UK. The last event in which I competed was the Powerbike International at Brands Hatch attended by 118,000 spectators.

I'm told that our stats are replicated across Europe where motorcycle sport is even more popular. When was the last time you came across a car world champion who was also a qualified architect or lawyer? In Spain, when they made the mistake of having a Formula 1 World Championship car meeting on the same day as a Spanish national motorcycle championship meeting, the F1 gate receipts were 50% down...”

“Bit of a sweeping generalisation there Chris. The person who buys a Norton obviously isn't going to be a 'leather lout' as they're just not fast enough :)

By your logic all BMW drivers never indicate and use their mobiles while driving, Nissan Micron drivers sit in lane two of the motorway all day and any car flying an Engerland flag is driven by an idiot

Hang on ...... ;)”

“We both know that won't stop the leather louts from trying though, don't we Roy?”

“Oh, come on, guys! Get with the programme! It's an un-faired, push-rod-engined, stock bike being ridden at altitude. The speed in the article is correct: it's an average of 129mph.”

“Roy, an R1 has a top speed of circa 180mph and that's a 1000cc production bike. So surely it must be 229mph?”

“LMAO! Hey, guys! Next time you want to write a story about motorcycle sport, come talk to me first. 'SIr Alan' is a nick-name that Alan got in the Eighties due to his aristocratic demeanour. I raced with Alan many years ago and whilst he's certainly a 'splendid chap', he's definitely not a knight!”

“No Paul, even Valentino Rossi's GP bike would be hard pushed to hit 229mph.”

“I suppose if i got on the M1 at junction 24 and gave it the berries I might be hitting 129mph around Watford Gap services Chris ;)”

“Does the DET mean 229Mph, not 129mph?”