SIR - In response to Graham Hoyle's somewhat blinkered and uninformed view of motorcycles (T&A, September 12), I would like to take him to task.

Motorcycles are reasonably fuel-efficient, safe, very social and stable. They are a partial solution to congestion as they take up less space on the road and in car parks.

Public transport costs about twice as much to travel on as a car, small-to-medium motorcycles cost about one tenth of the cost of a small car to run and are extremely quiet, do about twice as many miles per gallon and don't get stuck in traffic.

Yes some motorcycles are loud but for every loud bike there are 100 quiet ones, in fact an emerging problem is the noise of cars with tuned exhausts which actually make more noise than motorcycles.

As for his claim that motorcycles are dirty, all I can think of is that he must be going around with his eyes shut as by far the majority of motorcyclists take great pride in the upkeep of their machines.

He also needs to remember that motorcycles are not dangerous, it's the person in control who is the danger.

Ian Lee, Rosetta Drive, Bradford