Suzuki VStrom DL1000.

The ultimate motorway commuter?

       Damn! Another bike broken (No! Not the BMW) I'm getting twitchy now. I broke my BMW F650, can't blame it I suppose.

       Doing 75 miles a day commuting to work on a bike all year round can be hard on it.

       So I now have a bike with a bigger engine, all 1,000cc of it, that can stand being ridden constantly on a motorway.

       This bike can be ridden at 90mph with the engine just ticking over and lots of power still in reserve.

       Top speed is about 140mph and I have already had it up to 130mph and it felt comfortable.

       It has a good windscreen on it that keeps the wind off, plus a confortable seat, so I can ride this bike for hours at a time.

       Nice bright twin headlights so the car drivers can see me in their mirrors and get out the way when I'm lane splitting.

       So this bike had better last, all I want at the end of the day is something that will get me to work on the famously crowded M6 motorway

       and then through the gaps in the gridlock of the city. As I do for two hours every day.

       Through the wind and the rain, then through the cold and ice of the winter and do it for a 100,000 miles without letting me down, ever.

       Is that too much to ask for?...

I will take a better picture when I get time, honest!

       While riding to work in the start of May 2009 I spotted a guy filming off one of the bridges over the M6 motorway.

       Sure enough a couple of days later the BBC Politics show did a feature about the traffic on the M6.

       See if you can spot me in this screen grab...

Those twin headlights are very distinctive and there are no other VStrom riders on this part of the motorway.