Other people's bikes tried at the End of Summer Meet. I was very restrained. I only tried three. Presented here in order.

Marc's R1150GS
Get on. Start. Stall. BRC takes piss. Dammit! Pull away from pub. Hmmm this seems to pull nicely. The whole thing felt very small, high and narrow; my CX is wide and long. That's more a comment on what I'm used to than the bike itself though. That telelever suspension thingy works a charm, very little dive under braking (actually couldn't feel any but there might be a little). Marc had warned me that it's easy to overdo the braking because of that, he was right. Got up to 90 easily enough, and that little windscreen
works. Most of the windblast was at my stomach for some reason. Felt very stable going round long corners; a real case of 'pick an angle and sit at that'. A bit of vibration at 90 coming from the back of the seat, which I think would annoy me after a couple of hours.

Dodger's Wing
What can I say that no-one has said before? The stereo is a gimmick, and if I was keeping the CX I'd put one on/in that ;-)  Actually feels very similar to the CX in width and length. Feels really heavy and  nasty at carpark speeds, esp. two-up. Gets up to crusing speed without any problems, and then is stable. Gear selection is unimportant apart from keeping it away from the redline! Claire thought it was a laugh. When asked if the seat was comfortable: "God yes, it was like sitting in an armchair".

Dr Giles' Bandit 12
A slight contrast from the 'wing. Thin and short with narrow 'bars and a seat that tilts forward. Getting out onto the road and it's obvious why the seat tilts forward. Lots of power in every gear, and lots of engine braking as well; kicking down a cog without a lot of throttle gave an entertaining chirp from the rear as it locked... Quickest steering of the three, easily the most kick from  the engine of the three. The windblast was not at all unpleasant; at 90 *all* the weight on my wrists disappeared which was nice. Lovely exhaust note which was loud everywhere :-)

Did I wheelie or stoppie it? Are you quite, quite mad? It wasn't my bike. I'm not going to start teaching myself to wheelie on someone else's bike when they need it to get home! But I will have one, oh yes. And it will have wider bars, oh yes. And it will be black.

Thank you to all three of you.