There’re a lot of things that irritate me in our modern world and nothing has ‘rubbed my rhubarb’ lately more so than the ridiculing one gets when they see you turn up on a ‘mere’ electric bike. Ha! “What’s that silly little thing you’re on today Bill?”, is the sort of comment you have to get used to on the Zero SR. Yes, I agree, at first sight it does look like a ‘silly little thing’ until you leave wherever and follow the ‘fossil fuel brigade’ up the road and disappear into the distance at a ridiculous and slightly comical rate. So let me just clear one thing up here, nothing I’ve ever ridden can prepare you for the shock (excuse the pun) of the performance virtues of this amazing motorcycle – quick, you’ve no idea until you experience the voltage up your bum of the Zero SR.

What is it with this word ‘cool’ in our modern world? It seems it no longer means something that’s not hot. More like, ‘you’re so cool’, ‘that’s cool’, ‘ I feel cool’, or just simple ’cool’, which I think plainly means the forgotten English Oxford dictionary equivalent of good, or nice. Whatever the explanation is for this icy word it seems it’s here to stay, much like the engine configuration of the Moto Guzzi brand. And, if you wanted to use this word in another context use it profoundly when you ride this Audace (pronounced Orr-dach-eeh, if you don’t speak Italiano), because I haven’t ridden anything for a long time that makes you feel so damn cool – so there.

A few years ago I was sitting with my feet dangling into the edge of a fast flowing Victoria Falls, only seconds away from plunging to an imminent and very watery death – what a complete and utter ‘chop’, right? But we all know that silly antics and childish bravery seem to appear when one is on holiday, right? I’m still here though, writing this, unless I’m now sitting having tea with Charles Dickens in the clouds and the visit to the bottom of that massive waterfall was a reality.