Yesterday I rode 195 miles return trip from my house to my solicitors in Oxford and back. Didn't do any motorway miles but stuck to A and B roads the whole journey and just enjoyed getting lost, the unknown roads and the first feeling of spring this year.

It was my birthday the day before so I set off a little bit hungover and tired but by ten o'clock the bike and road had blown that away and I was settled into fast, road riding mode and blitzing every other vehicle in sight and just winding in the miles on roads that were really pretty blessed, dry, free from winter crap and good surfaces. SD was in the groove and the most limiting factor was definitely my ageing body and the problems I'm having with my elbows and knees. Arms and elbows are the limiting factor in how hard I can brake now, not the bike!

You should ride to Oxford more often. Always seems to be fun and leads to an enjoyable post.

Doubt the BSA will be what you expect but good luck with that anyway.

On the road you dont need anymore. My 990 SDR has the Bob Farnham head work, plus every performance extra I can get except full Akra I doubt it makes 120bhp on anyone's Dyno. It suits the roads I ride perfectly and never gets far behind the 1098's RSV4's 09 blades etc I ride with. I have to dance on the quickshifter a bit but that is what I have it for.

My RC8 had what, 140/150bhp? too much anyway. On the little country lanes I could easily just leave it in 3rd gear and use it as a twist and go scooter. That I found boring, fast, maybe dangerous but not really fun. The difference was when we got to the A roads. I could get the RC8 into 4th and it would stomp along like the SDR does in 6th. Trouble is that is deep in get banned and appear on YouTube territory. I dont need a bike that encourages me to do that.

I should imagine the 1290 makes it even easier to hit those speeds as it will be stompier (made up word) in the midrange. I dont need that. I like to ride the little roads and a 690R would probably be the only thing I would swap the SDR for.