Video may well have killed the radio star, but would too much technology stop you from buying a new motorcycle?
In 32 years of riding all manner of motorcycles I’ve yet to purchase a brand new bike, a combination of reasons have always aligned to make sure it’s not an experience that I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying.
Years ago it was basically down to finances and circumstance, then when I had the funds to consider getting my hands on a brand new machine I was too sensible to splash out on something that would be worth a hundreds of pounds less by the time I’d got home, and then thousands of pounds less by the time I was bored of it.
With three decades of riding hand me down motorcycles, I’ve sampled everything from race reps to sensible things like the odd GoldWing.
Technology evolves, performance and fuel consumption increase, all logical progress to keep the wage slaves coming back for a fresh PCP deal on the latest must have product from their local motorcycle dealer.
Euro 4 did its bit for adding eco friendly tech, along with safety lead gadgets like ABS. Euro 5 will be coming along in a few years time, with even more red tape and even bigger exhausts. The average age of motorcycling is on the up, whatever the reasons are youngsters aren’t coming through to the joy of two wheels like they used to do. They would have zero problems with understanding the dash on the latest V4 Ducati Panigale. I have watched a video on Facebook several times today, it’s footage from the launch of the latest Ducati must have motorcycle ( well until they launch a scrambler version…)
Our lucky journalist calmly talks us through the multitude of functions. I felt way out my depth, I’m the bloke that’s lived with the wrong time on my cooker for over two years. I did try to set it once, but instead managed to prime the oven to come on for three hours with nothing in it. After around five minutes in to his excellent tutorial I was totally baffled, still he spoke with authority on how if just hold this button and then scroll through the endless menu options you can do everything from change power modes, wheelie control and even set your electronic suspension. Perfect for nipping down the chippy.
It’s not just the new Ducati that comes with this whole new world, it’s been trickling in on all sorts of bikes recently.
How long before punters change their bike because the clocks on another model are funkier? It’s only a matter of time before it either goes full on heads up display, or totally goes back to basics. I know which way I’d like it go.
