As we seem to be engaging in a bit of customary TM thread drift, I thought to join in... I owned just a couple of Jap bikes in the seventies, the beast of which was a Honda 550 4, not great compared to my old Dommie, but a good reliable commuter.

I had a Honda dealership pal for whom I ran-in what I believe was the first Gold Wing to arrive in Scotland covering quite a few m/way miles on it... Jeez it would almost get into a tank slapper changing lanes crossing over the white lines. I guess the biggest surprise I had re Jap bikes was on a day when I had a shot on a shovel head Harley "sportster", Triumph 650 and Suzuki 200cc within a few minutes of each other... Talk about culture shock... that Suzy had it`s front wheel high in the air when I took of at similar throttle openings to the others.... Yeah, for sure two strokes had come a very long way from my first bike many years before, a 197 cc Villiers 9E engined Norman, with leading link front forks... !!!