Our CMM expert Steve Cooper answers YOUR questions!
Q: With reference to Steve Cooper’s article on petrol tanks he regards the off-centre mounting of the filler neck as an illogical Honda quirk. Now correct me if I’m wrong but I always thought it was placed off-centre to enable the tank to be filled while the bike was on the sidestand, which is why you don’t see them biased to the left!
Steve says: Have I missed something? If that’s the logic why not just fill up your tank on the centrestand or would that have been too challenging for Americans?
About the Author
As a child Bertie (well, Robert back then… blame his sister for the nickname) was exposed to motorcycles thanks to his uncles. They would show up at his house with a lovely lady as pillion throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
After a naughty time on field bikes (it’s what we did back then) Bertie passed his test in the early 1990s and became a reporter for MCN in 1995, moving to the sports desk and covering World Superbikes in 1996.
With a change to Bike Magazine in 1997, he stayed until 2000 as news, features and road test editor. Moving into PR with Cosworth, Bert was bored with cars and returned to bikes in 2001 with Two Wheels Only, becoming editor in 2002 and leaving to be freelance at the end of 2004.
With almost a decade freelancing, Bertie joined Mortons in 2013 and became editor of Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, a post he’s desperately clung to, to this day. And no, he’s never had a pretty girl on the back of his bike.
BSimmonds@mortons.co.uk
