Watching you...

Well, as I've been laid up, I have had the opportunity to be a watcher. This has meant being able to observe bikers (and their bikes) from the passenger seat of the car on a journey through both England and France of around 900 miles. Lucky me.

Some interesting differences became apparent between the types of bikes on the road in the two countries.

Although you seem to see about the same number of bikes on the road in the two countries, the UK seems to have a much more even spread of size and type than France. On a typical day in the UK, you'll see everything from mopeds and scooters through trailies and racers to cruisers and tourers. In France, the divide seems to be much more apparent between big and small bikes. You see a lot of mopeds, very few mid-size bikes and a lot of cruisers and tourers. You very rarely see the likes of a Bandit or Diversion 600 or a big trailie over there.

Even more interesting (to me, anyway) is that the larger bikes seem to be almost exclusively Harleys and Gold Wings. And for all my looking, and in spite of the active Pan European internet community in France, mine is still the only new style Pan I've seen there.