Well, hello Alan...

There's been a change here at Visordown today. The name above the door remains the same – but the licensee holders' details have been tweaked a little. The erstwhile holder of this esteemed post, Mr Steve Farrell, has left us, for 'pastures new', as it were. And in his place, you now have me – Alan Dowds. I've been helping out round here for a year or so now, as a freelance tester and writer. Now though, I'll be stopping all the bucks (not those ones), rather than swanning about doing the easy stuff. I'm looking forward to it.

But who the fuck is Alan Dowds? It's a good question. I've been riding and writing about bikes for more than 23 years now, and worked as a staffer at MCN, RiDE and SuperBike magazines. Since 2010 I've been working as a freelancer, for many more websites and mags. I've got a turbocharged ZRX1100 in bits, a Burgman 650 for carting the kids about in that London, and my current favourite bike is Ducati's Multistrada. That will probably change by teatime though.

I'd love to hear from you folks out there in internet land. Don't be shy in telling me what you want more – and less – of from Visordown. That means in here, on the Facebooks and the Twitters too of course. We'll be making a few changes, and it would be great to hear what you think as we go along.

You can get hold of me via Twitter (@alandowds), or direct via email (alan dot dowds @ visordown dot com). I look forward to relentless piss-taking about my accent, hairstyle, BMI, and poor choice in free T-shirts.

Al