“The advantage of the rain is that, if you have a quick bike, there’s no advantage.”

They were ridiculous times. After I won my World Championship in 1976, I went to Japan.

I thought: This is not racing, it’s a suicide mission.

I race in two or three classic races a year and I may carry on for 10 more years or I may stop tomorrow.

Endless motorbike talk can and does bore me.

I vowed I would do everything I could to stop the Isle of Man counting towards the World Championship. And it was stopped, so they love me in the Isle of Man.

Nobody within motorcycling has or deserves any respect.

Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out and meet the bloody thing.

I have a lot of intention behind what I put out there. The reason all this stuff I do works together, the environmental and social, collaborating with ballet companies to score a show, the bike tour – all of that stuff comes together through community building with music.

I learned to ride a ten-speed when I was 4 or 5. My uncle gave me the bike, hand-me-down, and everyone used to stare at me riding up and down this block. I was too short to reach the pedals, so I put my legs through the V of the frame. I was famous. The little kid who could ride the ten-speed.

Wow. Nice bike, i said. Which was a lie. It looked like a glossy black death trap.

From Brompton bikes in Australia to Bentleys in the US – the world wants what Britain has to sell.

Maybe the bike is more dangerous, but the passion for the car for me is second to the bike.

Bike is the most democratic transport vehicle. Bike is the most daring, challenging as it gives its owner the tempting feeling of freedom, that is why one can say without any exaggeration, bike is a symbol of freedom.