For a guy who gets his kicks from riding on two wheels the past ten months has been quite a trial. But – I can now give the podium placings for my three bikes in order of comfort.

In third place and likely to be locked in the shed for a long time to come after today’s pain-filled ride over our bumpy local streets – she may have fat tyres and an air-cushioned seat but she is no fun and my ancient Raliegh Hybrid deserves to be bottom of the pile —

‘bottom of the pile’ – did I really write that? Quite apt!

and in second place despite it’s long-travel suspension and gel padded seat comes the Tenere. There’s just something between the interface of butt and seat that doesn’t work for me and has been a source of irritation since the early months of our acquaintance when we spent much of our time on big throttle openings on German autobahns. It wasn’t unusual for me to be stood on the pegs at 100mph as I attempted to ease the pain. The question is – why has she survived so long in my tender care?

The answer to that question is probably because she has taken me to some fabulous places and never missed a beat.

Hard to believe that what started off as a cutting edge sports bike is the winner in comfort stakes but this could probably be because the other two are so cruel. T’wasn’t always thus with the Gixxer but lowering the pegs by 24mm and replacing the forkleg mounted clip-ons with higher bars has made all the difference and even with my creaking joints I have put in 400 mile days on this baby without having to soak in a hot bath for hours afterwards to ease the pain —

I will probably give the Raliegh away to a charity shop but I still can’t persuade myself to put the Tenere up for sale on ebay. I live in hope that the medics get my butt sorted out sometime soon and the Tall Tenere and I will visit more fab places before too long 🙂

Butthead and his Bikes