Flashback; imagine yourself back in grade school, riding your first mountain bike with the big wide handlebars and the comfy seat. Remember the ease with which it handled and how much fun you had flying down the hills. Recollect the big grin on your face, the wind in your teeth, the adrenaline you felt and…

The 2003 Aprilia Caponord is hooning along at 70kph, the front Metzler Tourance hunting though a greasy emulsification of talcum dust to which nature has added water, and logging trucks have stirred. Picking up the Caponord from Carter Motorsports I’d made all the usual utterances, “It looks to have an 80% road bias, so we’ll…