My CB750 K1, which I had when I was 18. Bought for £500 second hand with only about 5k on the clock. Wish I still had it now. In showroom condition they sell for around 18-20k now.
Occasionally in ones life there are events that shape and influence us. They carve a mark, indelible, and to the end of days. The birth of a child, the death of a parent. Milestones perhaps? Yes, most definitely milestones.Memories to carry to the grave, unless wicked dementia steals them first. I have stumbled through these for myself from the giddy height of my daughter's birth, to the devastating death of my beloved father. Each bringing unique flavours of wretchedness and joy. One such event for me that started me on my motorcycling career was way back in 1987. Myself and my kin had just turned 16, and with that came those first steps into a scary and complicated adult world. Chiefly this particular step was motorised transport. A friend of mine had a Tomos. You remember? Those mopeds that could be bought from a catalogue for, if memory serves, £395, brand new and delivered to your door. The sheer decadence of a freely functioning capitalist society. Marvellous. This example was not new, but serviceable none the less. Having echoed the views of my parents to Mr Tomos concerning his inevitable demise on the roads I had never taken the trouble to ride it. And then I did. Not that I consider myself either easily led or impressionable (I am both) but I was stunned. A twist and go, with a two speed automatic gearbox it felt incredible. Having always had to sweat for my momentum this was of course, a revelation of religious proportion. Watching the needle sweep round to an indicated and hugely optimistic forty miles per hour, was intoxicatingly exiting and for me utterly exotic. The brakes were shocking, even by bicycle standards, but I cared not a jot. I was hooked. My parents initially took a different view. But logistics played a valuable helping hand in my quest for powered two wheel transport. You see they lived in the sticks, the boonies, the arse end. I had to cycle three miles to get to the bus stop for school and for reasons I still don't fully understand I was allowed a moped. My pet theory is that as the last of four children they decided the family could stand some natural wastage.What to buy? Oh the agony of choice and not having the first clue. A local dealer had a Yamaha RD50MX up for £450. It was a 1985 model, in black with gold mag wheels, rev counter and a hydraulic disc brake. Simply stunning. It seized less than three miles into the homeward journey. Not a promising start but it pretty much set the tone for my relationship with that bike, echoing the prophetic words of Bob Dylan's how many roads must a man walk down. If you ride a Yamaha two stroke it turns out you will be walking down a few. Every time it rained. Every time it didn't rain. Soggy HT lead? Yes Sir! Whiskered plug? No problemo! Full on, wheel locking seizures? Can do! But I didn't care. When it ran, it was awesome. It was transport. It was independence and it was mine. I'd green lane on it. I'd ride around the town centre on it, eyeballing the bus stop girls I was too scared to talk to. I'd cunningly steal the fuel for the lawn mower to top it off, although in hindsight I'm pretty sure my father knew of my petty petrol pilfering. I put 3000 miles on that creaky, unreliable machine. Realistically a significant proportion would have been at the behest of my sweaty pushing rather than internally combusted momentum in the conventional sense. It was the start of an adventure, one that is still playing out as the chapters roll by. Dammit it is thirty years ago give or take and yet it is all as clear as if it were yesterday. Asking a stranger cutting his hedge for a plug key as I wheezed past, pushing my stricken steed (he did not have one). Falling off in the pub car park after pulling a wheelie (hold at 6k, drop clutch, nearly fall off the back, lock the front wheel after brutal landing in an attempt not to run into the fence and crumple, bike and all, to the floor). Stupid, marvellous misspent youth. I can not remember what happened to my RD. I suspect it was sold when I had my driving license, I then had a break from biking until 1993 when circumstances once again came to see a return to two fewer wheels, this time in the form of a GS125.
Owned a lot of bikes but some of my favourite ones are: Yamaha XS 750 Honda CB 750 K6 Kawasaki Z1000 MK2 Moto Guzzi 850 T3 Ian Dyson Kawasaki 1000 BMW K100LT Buell Ulysses XB1200 X
I ticked everything apart from Ducati and Royal Enfield. I feel the need to rectify one of those shortcomings
In order from 1981.... Road bikes: Z1300A1 Harris Magnum 2 (1105 Kawasaki) GPZ1000RX ZX10 GSXR1100L FZR1000RU GSXR1100L (2nd hand) Fireblade (RRP) Fireblade (RRS) Thunderace Fireblade (RRV) R1 (1998 first model) GRXR1000 (2001 first model) R1 (new 2004 model) Ducati 1198SP ZZR1400 Street Scrambler........Yippeeee!!! Offroad: DT250 MX (1981 learner bike) TY250 (twin shock) TS250X TY250R Mono Honda XR650R Husaberg FE570 For those that have never seen one this is a Harris Magnum 2 circa 1985 After passing the test on the 250 Yam, the Z13 was a real eye opener and a pant filler on occasion. The Harris was the answer to the Z's very limited scratching ability. Bought the rolling chassis from Harris, then a used Z1000 engine from a breakers which I rebuilt with welded crank, 1105 Wiseco pistons, oversize in/ex valves, titanium retainers, high lift cams, 33mm Mini flat slide carbs. The whole thing came to just under £6k when the latest GPZ1100 was around £3 1/2k. Every so often a bike is released which sets a new benchmark and hence leaves the biggest impression. The first Fireblade and the first R1 did that for me. Biggest disappointment was the Ducati. Only kept it 3 months and lost £4k on resale into the bargain. The Z14 ticked all my boxes when new in 2012 and still does for a long distance mile cruncher but it's hardly turned a wheel since I got the SS in June!! Offroading is another "must have" for me.
Too many to list the number is around the 60 mark currently have 12 Ducati 900 ss 1996 Triumph Bonneville 2011 Triumph speed triple 2000 Triton 750 1974 Cb600 f 1998 BMW Rockster 2003 Aprilia Tuono 2008 Yamaha Mt01 2006 Bsa A10 1959 Suzuki Gt 380 1978 Yamaha tdm 1994 Ducati S4 2001
Fecking I phone tries to double guess what you write highlights some numbers in red as phone numbers I wish it would feck off doing that
It was not so bad @Dartplayer the engine was the Thunderstorm so was produced by Buell as opposed to a stock Harley the bikes where better than anything Harley produced they went, handled ,and braked they had Japanese electric's and shocks and the comfiest seat you could imagine BUT it was not a Japanese bike that you could just start and ride and you had to have some faith in it for a long run but it ran okay with maintaining it myself and the front wheel would come up in every gear if you where too throttle happy, the problem for me was even at 6FT 4" I was on tip toe and with a gammy knee I would have hated to have dropped it.
Cheers Don, I had meant with the law rather than reliability. They perform pretty good. Mate has had one for years and lives it.
Started with a modest 250cc Suzi, moved to Tiger, then RGA. Then hiatus with Porsche and racing. Back to 650 Suzi, and then hard turn to Triumph. Never look back.
Nice bike @Dartplayer yes I see what you mean they prefer to be used and the cop's certainly don't like it if you have that front wheel of the ground
Well, I had these when I was younger... And I've just sold this one... I'm definitely a Triumph man at heart, though.
When i had my GSX11 my mates were running a 180 jota and an RGS. Classics that deserve the label, i like Laverdas