Q What was the bike like to ride?
A Well, the first time I got on it and twisted the throttle, it just made no noise, a little bit of a whirl, and just pretty much shoots out of the corner. I mean, to the point where it'll spin the tire. But not so easily, because there is just so much weight. It's a real smooth, torquey delivery, so it's not a high-horsepower spinning type thing. So it really promotes it hooking up, in a sense, also. We've got a few software issues that, from what I understand, need to be addressed, and it's pretty simple. There's some electrical deal that modulating the power through the controller of some sort, that needs to be refined a little bit, but they seem to have a grasp on it. But the power of the bike was the most impressive, and the handling and ground clearance and weight of the bike was the least impressive. As we know, a lighter bike goes around a corner faster, so this bike being over 525 pounds made it a little bit of a challenge, not to mention the ground clearance. I want to lean it over more, but maybe I didn't want to lean it over more. I don't know.
Q On the current DMG grid today, you have the most experience of anyone out there. You've ridden a vast aarray of motorcycles that you've ridden. I can recall you on 125s, two-stroke 250s, VR1000 Superbike, Macau bikes, et cetera. You seem to have gone into this with pretty open feelings about riding a battery bike.
A Absolutely. Absolutely. If I get the opportunity to ride a motorcycle, I'm most likely going to ride it. I've wanted to get compensated a little bit more in the more recent days, but I'll still hop on it and ride it, even if there's no money involved. But that's the toughest part about these times right now, is making money riding motorcycles. It's become more and more difficult, and I'm hoping that'll turn around some time soon. Who knows, it may be through the eco-friendly, zero-emission bikes.
Read the whole interview at Superbike Planet...
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2010/May/100419mikebarneselec.htm
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Topic: Great Interview With Michael "Barney" Barnes Lightning Motors Rider (Read 1319 times)