-Ralph-

Riding in Mexico was good fun if sometimes a bit hairy! There is no system of priority, the guy with the biggest balls, biggest truck, or most money, just steams through junctions and everyone else stops!

My friend who lives there says the system works, 'cos in the UK you have accidents where people dont use any caution because they have priority, then another vehicle pulls out or does something he's not supposed to do and bang. In Mexico that doesn't happen, everyone except the most arrogant slows down at every junction, until they have seen what the other drivers are going to do, because nobody has priority.

Having said that the police are not your friends, they're only there to extract bribes from you. The police will ignore any road traffic office, even really blatent stuff like riding without a helmet in states that require one, or riding through red traffic lights, or down the wrong side of the road. Unless they think they can make money out of it! So the roads are lawless, you can't predict anything and a driver won't care about knocking you off the bike, there is no consequence for him, your just another bit of road kill (the road kill included cattle hit by trucks!). The truck drivers take drugs such as speed to allow them to drive greater distances!

On a bike in the city you just need to have eyes in the back of your head and GO GO GO! Get away in front of any traffic and find empty road. You almost need to be as reckless as all the other drivers. Be careful, steady (and hence slow) and you'll have cars whizzing past you and cutting you up left and right. You have to move as fast, or quicker than the traffic around you, it's easier to see what you are catching, than see what's catching you. Don't let anything approach from behind if you want to stay safe. At junctions and traffic lights you have to filter quickly (too fast!) through the tightest gaps and in the shortest time, and get away in front. You really don't want to be left in the close combat when things start moving again, you'll get sandwiched! In the countryside you just need to be observant and cautious, live animals, dead animals, road surface, trucks and drunk drivers.

I had an Honda NX400 Falcon for two weeks, the South American little brother of the NX650 Dominator. I didn't like it to start with. I felt vulnerable in the chaos with only 30bhp at my disposal and the suspension and handling was too soft and bouncy, really gentle with the front brakes to avoid the excessive fork dive, etc etc. After two weeks and a 1000 miles though I had fallen in love with it. If they sold them here I'd have one as a second bike for everyday commuter stuff that could greenlane at weekends. We did the off road stuff, not too heavy. Sat on the motorways at 80mph for hours, comfy seat. Zipped through town and got rid of the chicken strips on the twisty roads. That bike really is a jack of all trades and does everything you ask of it really well for such a small cheap bike. Just need to wring it's neck as it has no power, but you get used to that as your expectations change.

Fell off doing the off road stuff, front wheel fell off a rock and landed in a rut, throwing me over the bars, but you have to expect that kind of thing off road. I'm just glad with the way I landed on a rocky surface that I had my back protector! Bruises and a bit of a sprained wrist, nothing more.

There are two types of bikers over there, enduro riders who go like a bat out of hell and race rep riders with 2 inch chicken strips that can't ride for toffee.

As you'll see from the videos though, when the roads are good, they are perfect.

I can't understand why the sportsbike riders don't ride their bikes, I told my friend that if those roads existed in the UK they'd be swarming in sportsbike riders all weekend, with scores on tarmac on every corner from the footpegs and knee slider plastic dragged round every corner. They were dream biking roads!