Sachs Roadster 650

After processing the available data, the word "Slow" pings into your brain's out-tray: slow handling, slow performance. You therefore tend to be fully loaded with preconceptions by the time you stretch over the long petrol tank and press the starter button.

But wait. This bumper bag of bigotry completely overlooks one important factor. Contrary to a myth created by bike magazines, not all motorcyclists spend their entire lives doing wheelies and pivoting round corners on smouldering knees. Some commute. Some enjoy pottering through the countryside on a sunny day wearing a smile and an open-face helmet. Some even go touring at less than 120mph. For them, a big soft single is ideal. I know this is true because I've owned one myself for 18 years.

While 50 horsepower isn't much by bike standards, it's enough to out-accelerate most cars up to 80mph, when the upright riding position starts to become a drag. As this speed also coincides with the point at which a thrum of vibration intrudes, it's really as fast as you'll want to go for long anyway, even in a Gatso-free world.

The engine is happiest in the 4,000-6,500rpm bracket. Although the huge 100mm piston can be persuaded to move at up to about 8,000rpm, the power curve is on a downward slope by then. At the other end of the scale, the price you pay for squeezing more horses out of a single becomes apparent. Trad Brits of the glory days pulled smoothly from low revs, a quality commonly referred to as "plonk". To do this they needed heavy flywheels and a mild state of tune. Modern high-tech singles aspire to be multis, with the side-effect that if you attempt to accelerate at less than 4,000rpm in the higher gears it feels as if the engine is jumping out of the frame. Sorry, they're all like that, sir.

Egli's chassis acquits itself well. While the wheelbase is long, the steering geometry is quite sharp, so the handling strikes a nice balance between stability and twitchiness. Sneers directed at the outmoded rear suspension seem uncalled for (I have a suspicion that twin-shock swinging arms will one day be re-invented as a fashionable solution to some of the problems created by monoshocks). It's actually easier to find fault with the lightly sprung and damped forks, which dive and pitch more than is desirable. Comfortable ride, though. The Grimeca brakes are fine, but those expecting two-finger "stoppies" will find the single front a bit heavy.

So what sort of motorcyclist will buy a Roadster 650? Well, a mature one. Be honest, do you really need a machine capable of lapping the Isle of Man TT course at 120mph? There are plenty of dual-purpose big singles on the market, but nothing else exactly comparable. Ironically, the bike that comes closest is the BSA Gold SF, built by the vestiges of the firm that was once the biggest plonker producer in the world.

Source telegraph.co.uk