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Letter of the week
ROUND LOGIC
I used to ride a Kawasaki W800, best described, perhaps, as a Japanese take on the classic British twin, Bonneville, BSA etc (without the oil leaks). It was a wonderful bike for a Sunday morning spin, but one thing I never understood was why Kawasaki had fitted this piece of Japanese engineering with wobbly Dunlop TT tyres.
It got me thinking about the old saying in the culinary world that ‘what grows together goes together’, meaning that a dish from, say, Tuscany is typically well served with a wine from the same region, since they are created by the same culture, land and tradition.
In the end, I got Bridgestones for my W800 – great tyres that looked perfect on the bike, and just the knowledge that my Japanese bike had Japanese tyres was actually quite satisfying.
This year I needed new rubber for my Volkswagen California, and that same thought came back to me. I got a quote for a set of Michelins but instantly felt uncomfortable with the idea. Why French tyres on a German car? Would you put Goodyears on an Alfa Romeo? I don’t think so. Pirellis on a Kia? Hankooks on a BMW? I realised that a set of Continentals was actually the only thing that made sense, and they looked and drove great.