Issue 131 : October - November 2003
The ACE
Take a Breva
Roland Brown
Bristol Show
Gremlins
Buell's on Test
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The ACE
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Roland Brown
Roland Brown is author of the definite illustrated book 'Superbikes of The Seventies'. ISBN 1-893618-17-x (www.bullpublishing.com) SB How did you get into motorcycle journalism? RB I was training to be an architect but chucked it in after the first year and did a one year journalism course. I'd done some racing and got a job at Bike Magazine back in '76. They put me straight on to road testing and the second bike I got to test was a Laverda Jota which was quite something to get your hands on at the age of 19. SB Did you get any formal training in riding? RB Not much, though I did an RAC-ACU course when I first got an FS1-E at age 16, and later an afternoon at the Brands Hatch racing school, which encouraged me to start racing my RD400. SB What's more important in your job, to be a top rider or a good writer? RB With no writing talent at all you're not a starter but you've got to ride the bikes pretty well to make meaningful comparisons between them. With the older stuff or the touring bikes it's not so critical but if you don't explore the potential of a sports bikes then you miss the point totally. SB Do you really have to take bikes to their limit on the track? RB You get somewhere near it but you're not trying to race, you don't want to be falling off or you won't get your pictures. Modern sports bikes are so good and so closely matched that you've got to be able to ride fast to distinguish the differences between them. You also need to be experienced in setting up the suspension to suit your weight and riding style. If you get that wrong the best bike might handle like a pig and you're not going to get a fair assessment of its potential. I'm about 6foot four and 13 and a half stone which is a lot bigger than many of the professional riders so my suspension set up is going to be a lot different from theirs. SB World Superbike champion Valentino Rossi said recently that race bikes were possibly getting too fast for the riders, what do you think? RB Well he's better placed to know than I am. I would have thought that bikes will go on getting faster and all other things being equal, then in a race, if you've got a little more than the next guy it must be some advantage. The truth is though, that given the power of modern race bikes you're unlikely to be flat out for more than a second or two on any track, there just isn't the space to use much more so I can see where he's coming from. SB How do you feel about the comment of the long-standing Isle of Man official who recently called for the races to be banned when they had a string of deaths on the Island? RB I wouldn't be for banning the races, though I was never interested in racing there myself. Today there isn't the pressure for competitors to go to the Island that there was years ago when it was a major feature of the racing scene. In those days sponsors expected riders to compete there and the prize money was serious and the sponsorship money was linked to competition on the Island. Today the emphasis has changed. SB Why wouldn't you fancy racing there? RB It's just far too dangerous and it's not really racing in the purest sense. If you go round a corner thinking, 'I could probably do this 5 mph faster but I may die if I cock it up and hit that wall,' then you're not competing at the peak of your ability. It then becomes not so much a contest of absolute skill as much as a contest of who is most prepared to risk their life. That's not really what racing should be about. On the other hand I can very much understand the appeal of riding fast on the road without traffic getting in the way. If you look at it from that point of view, TT racing is much safer than going mad on the road. SB Do you still make mistakes when you're test riding? RB Sometimes, the worst I've done was on the R1 launch when I went round three blind bends on the wrong side of the road, forgetting I was abroad, I was just thinking about the story I was going to write on the bike. SB What's the best bike you've ever ridden? RB Rossis' RC2IIV Grand Prix, just so amazingly fast! We only got five laps of the Valencia track last year, but it was a hell of a thrill. SB And the best road bike? RB The Ducati 916 stands out for performance and style. My own bike is a Yamaha TL1000 which is a great machine, which I love despite its bad reputation. I've got an old LC as well - sadly it seized last year and I still haven't got round to sorting it out. SB Do you particularly like V twins? RB yes I guess I do, though most of my bikes have been straight fours. SB How do you feel about Harley-Davidsons? RB I rode the Shovelheads years ago and they were just terrible but the company has really got its act together and the new twin cam engines are really something while still keeping the Harley-Davidson character. I've just got back from the 2004 Sportster launch and the new ones are great too. I've always loved the look of the early Sixties XLCH, and the new 1200 Roadster captures that really well. SB Flying around the world testing exotic bikes sounds like a dream job, would you call it a glamourous life? RB Yeah I suppose it is really. Being paid to ride around on other people's bikes in sunny places, yeah it's not bad. I get fed up with airports sometimes, but there's certainly nothing else I'd rather do than test bikes. SB After opening up bikes on the track do you find it difficult controlling the throttle on the road? RB No not really; (pauses and thinks) well sometimes. In this country the prevalence of speed cameras has taken a lot of the pleasure out of riding, I don't enjoy riding in the UK as much as I once did. I Have to worry about about my license and think about how many cameras I may have passed on a ride. You can go out for an afternoon, do nothing crazy and find out later that you've lost your license, which in my case means losing my livilihood. That's pretty scary.  SB What do you think about that case of the guys being sent to prison for doing 150mph? RB Totally over the top. In Germany there's no limit at all on many autobahns. We're actually imprisoning people in this country for something that isn't even a crime in another EU country, how can that be right? Meanwhile there are people doing really dangerous things that they don't get so much as a fine for because it's not so easy for the technology to catch them at it. Following other vehicles far too closely on the motorway springs to mind - I'm sure that causes far more accidents than breaking a speed limit on a clear road. SB Should we raise the speed limit on motorways? RB The Germans have no limit on some motorways and I'm not convinced that their casualty rate is any higher; yes we probably should. SB Are today's superbikes too fast? RB I don't think so - chassis performance has more than kept pace with engine performance. Ride an old bike and you're amazed by the inferiority of the brakes and handling. I think the manufacturers voluntary agreement to peg top speed at 186mph is fair enough, it returns the emphasis of development to more important features of usable performance and power delivery rather than chasing silly numbers. SB Chassis and brakes may have kept pace with engine technology but has human ability? RB Many modern bikes' top speeds are very high, however good their brakes and tyres are, so in one sense I guess not. But one of the great things about bikes these days is that even Hayabusas and FireBlades are so controllable and easy to ride at normal speeds. SB Why did you join MAG? RB I think it's important to have a body representing the interests of motorcycling. The campaign on the 100bhp lobby was a good example of just how important it is to have a riders lobby. More recently I was just reading that proposals for a 40mph speed limit on all rural roads has been dropped after opposition from MAG. It's scary that there are people out there who think such a limit is a good idea, and it's important that they don't get their way! SB I know you're not enthusiastic about our position on helmet compulsion, do you think it discourages some people from joining? RB It probably does, it discouraged me a bit but I see the big picture of what MAG does and I think you deserve support. SB Why do you think the mainstream press ignore us? RB I guess they feel that MAG is outside their general readership in terms of the image MAG projects and they just follow what they reckon their readership wants. SB If you were editing a magazine would you think that even if your readership wasn't interested, that you had a duty to encourage them to support us? RB Yes I probably would but then again if I was in that position I might find that editorial decisions were dictated by what was best for the magazine commercially rather than what is good for motorcycling in the long term. SB Isn't that wrong? RB I guess it is but the trouble is that most people aren't interested in bike politics or any kind of politics, I suppose I'm not the average rider in that way, it winds me up something chronic. I suppose you could say that it's a measure of the success of MAG that people don't join because they don't perceive that there are problems facing us. Part of the reason for that is that you've been so successful in fending off most of the threats. For MAG it's a bit of a Catch 22. But the 40mph rural roads limit issue, and speed cameras in general, shows the dangers are still there. Fortunately those affect car drivers too, which must help when it comes to fighting them. SB Do you think the mainstream magazines are responsible for the transfer of the race culture to the public road; should they take some of the blame for the accidents that involve no-one other than the rider? RB The magazines have to celebrate the fun and excitement of motorcycling. You can't tell people to ride slowly, you certainly can't sell magazines with that kind of message. The magazines might tell people how to wheelie and how to get knees down but at the same time they're publishing articles about good roadcraft and the value of learning how to ride properly and take bends safely. There's balance there. SB How do you feel about the idea of an advanced test before riders are allowed on high performance motorcycles? RB I'm not against that kind of idea in principle, certainly I've got an open mind on it, I wouldn't be fundamentally opposed. Maybe in return for higher speed limits and more reasonable penalties for breaking them, there's a case for demanding that riders take an advanced test, possibly including riding on a racetrack, before riding bikes with a certain power-to-weight ratio? It doesn't do anyone any favours when guys get straight off a small bike onto a FireBlade and get hurt. SB You can only have one bike what's it going to be? RB Probably a sports bike because I'd have to do some track days if I didn't ride on racetracks as part of my job. There isn't really one that stands alone, there's so much good machinery around; maybe a 999Ducati maybe an R1. SB Having ridden the quickest bikes around do you get frustrated by the limited performance of the older bikes you ride sometimes? RB No, it doesn't work like that, in fact I get more frustrated riding sports bikes on the public road because you can't really get the best out of them within the law. On British roads I generally prefer riding slower or older bikes with a bit of character. That's why I bought the RD350LC, and why I'd love to get another old Bonneville before long. SB How do you feel about the race can issue? RB It's a real shame but though we all like the sound of bikes you have to consider that there's a lot of other people besides us out there and they are not so keen on the sound and they have rights too. My TL1000S would sound brilliant with loud pipes but so far I've just about resisted the temptation to fit some... SB What do you think of Streetbiker, how would you change it ? RB I enjoy reading it, especially as it's full of bike-related stuff you don't see in other magazines. Main change would be to pay freelan ...... SB Sorry Roland, the tape's run out. Mutch 
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Roland Brown is one of the country's top freelance motorcycle journalists. A MAG member and regular contributor to Streetbiker A tall lanky and affable character, he lives in a large rambling house in St Albans house with Ione a former bike rider and racer and four children.