Charles Dolan, personnel representative with Eli Lilly
What was your first machine and how much did it cost? A Honda 50. It was owned by a vicar in Carlow and, when I got it, I used it to travel to and from college. I bought it in 1976 for £100.
What attracted you to motorbikes? I've always enjoyed being out in the open air and a motor bike offers the advantage of being out and being able to travel around. It's fantastic particularly in the summer - you can smell so many different things, fresh grass after being cut, fuschia from the hedges. One of the negatives, of course, is the smell of slurry.
Is there any biking heritage in your family? Yes, my father had a James. I remember his last one, a 200 cc two-stroke James Captain. When I wanted to get a bike it was seen as a natural progression, rather than a major calamity in the household.
Your current machine? A BMW R100RS. I bought it in 1992 for £3,200. It had had a garage existence - it had only 1,700 miles up when I bought it.
What attracted you to this particular bike? Well, I always liked touring bikes. Prior to the BMW I had a Honda CX 500 - I fitted a Polaris full fairing to it which gave great protection from the weather and allowed for use all year round. I really like the hum from twin cylinder engines and, since the BMW also had shaft drive, I decided to buy.
Did it need any work? When I bought the bike it was running fine. I've done some upgrades to bits and pieces thanks to advice from people in the BMW motorcycle club. For general servicing I get a friend to do it - he's been at bikes for years and is a genius particularly with older bikes. No need for laptops with my BMW.
How does the BMW compare with modern Japanese bikes? Which are more fun? I have no interest in some of the modern machines such as the Fireblades and other such performance bikes. They're lovely pieces of engineering but riding them is like being attached to a rocket. They're just so quick. I prefer the BM . . . it just hums along and there's plenty of torque if you want it. It just does what I want to do.
What do you use your bike for? Sunday spins and sometimes to travel to work. With summer coming I hope to get good use from it.
How much do you spend on gear? Having gained a few pounds over the recent times, I need to buy some gear. A helmet will cost about €400 and leathers etc will cost up to €1,000. As it is, I'm using gear I bought a few years ago.
What's your next bike likely to be? Hopefully, an R1150GS. It's a road-going trail bike and extremely comfortable. When travelling on back roads, a trail bike makes it very confortable.
Your longest journey on the bike? A trip from Cork to Corsica via Roscoff in 1994. My wife Ger also has a bike and we took both down with us. We travelled down through central France, on to Marseilles, then across to Ajaccio - and then we travelled around the complete island. The roads were great with good surfaces all over and lots of sweeping corners. The only negative was a strong warm wind that made life interesting on occasions. It was brilliant.
Your dream trip? My dream trip would be around Australia - start in Brisbane or Perth and go completely around the exterior.
Ever had an accident on the bike? When you drive bikes you will have some closer shaves. The most recent was a car driver who decided to overtake - that's fine, but this one cut in so close I could see the texture of the glass in the back lights. That sort of thing brings out cold sweats in bikers because it's the height of stupidity by some car drivers. It's as if we are invisible or don't matter.
If you were Minister for Transport, what new measures would you implement to promote biking? A compulsory awareness test for car drivers concerning bikes, including bicyles, which should be accepted as road users and not seen as no more than a nuisance to be tolerated.