I feel ya bud! couldn’t get on with the twin after being on 2 strokes and 4’s previous. Throttle had to be so precise at lower speeds and the gf at the time kept twatting my lid below 30 saved a load of brake pads tho as knock it down a cog and don’t brake dry clutch used to boil my piss as well! I’m still debating a Panagale tho. Sorely tempted but I love my blade too much Don’t think i’ll get rid and can’t justify 2 “big” bikes
Oh yes the clash of helmets from the beloved riding pillion. I had forgot about that. I considered a V4 before getting the blade but lots of conflicting reviews on different forums. Some saying best thing since sliced bread others bemoan the unreliability and other saying they (are again) just not that great on the road and too much hard work. At the time a lot of low milers available which suggested people not keeping them. I'm sure the truth is somewhere between all of my comments above but I was not dropping £20k to risk a bike I wouldn't get on with. Happy with the blade so far (280 miles to date) and it was a cracking deal too. Somehow I have become found of Japanese reliability. For me they just work day in, day out and never really had an issues.
Oh man, we had one of those. First motorcycle I ever rode, aged 6 or 7 I guess. It was my brother's and I was desperate to have a go. When I got on it all I was told was that you twisted the grip to make it go. I duly obliged and off I went, straight towards some trees. About half way there I wondered how you made it stop. A split second of terror / euphoria (delete as appropriate) later, and I thought to try the levers, as I knew these worked on my bicycle. Stopped just short of the trees, after performing a front wheel skid I would be proud of today. Been on two wheels for 40 years since. I think my father (who is now 91) still has the Puch in his garage somewhere.
Dude, you went from an RS50 to a TL1000! Are you the very reason why they changed the riding test? Back when those bikes were all the rage I had an RGV250, and lusted after an RS250. Would have given my left arm for a go on a TL1000.
To be fair I did have 5 years of no riding between them dealer I bought the TL-R from before I passed my test didn’t believe I could insure it - especially for under £500 fully comp - had to prove it before he would accept my deposit
I’ve enjoyed this thread, so I’ll give it a go. Its interesting that in general the path to a Fireblade seems to be via a direct sports bike route, either up the ladder in ccs, or just via other equivalent bikes. I started out that way initially but didn’t make it very far until I was distracted by sports tourers, and then just big BMWs. I’ve only now reconnected with sports bikes, because I can finally afford a second bike to go with my day-to-day commuter. It all started with this slice of 80s Honda magnificence, a 50cc Honda Caren moped. My first taste of freedom, and hot damn, it had a basket! So useful. I wish my GS had one. I passed my CBT on my 16th birthday on this, but I can’t really remember where I ever rode it or what I used it for. Although I remember one particular trip to another town about 10 miles away, which seemed like a Greek odyssey it was so slow. (This is not my actual bike). Soon it was time to move up to a “big” bike, and I got this for my 17th birthday - a mammoth 100cc Yamaha YB100. I recall my father told me that 125ccs was unnecessary, and that 100 was easily enough. He was wrong about that. Still, the fact that if you opened the throttle too fast the engine couldn’t cope and it just bogged down meant that I soon learnt how to feed the power in like a pro. (Again, this picture is not of my actual bike). I passed my test first go on 7 September 1993 (it says so on my license), which I was quite pleased about because it took my brother three attempts. I immediately stole my mother’s bike, a Kawasaki GPZ305, and thrashed about on it for a few months. I took it to Uni for a couple of terms, and recall a miserable 200 mile ride home at Christmas time through sleet and fog with only my basic leathers. What I remember most about the GPZ was the first time I took it out, and how unbelievably fast and powerful it felt. I remember just opening the throttle on that first ride and surfing that mind bending 33bhp. Happy days. Fed up with me stealing my Mum’s bike, my Dad bought me this for my 19th birthday - a rather knackered Yamaha LC350 YPVS (This is my actual bike, as are all the pictures from here). We got it from Keith Manning Motorcycles in Reading, which was a real dive, but my Dad was mates with him. We just went down there to see what he had, and I picked this out. Probably set us back a couple of grand. I absolutely loved it, but it was not the most reliable. The tank rusted through on both sides, and eventually I had to replace it with one from a breakers which was the wrong colour. I also don’t think the power valve worked the entire time I had it. Probably a year or so later I inherited three grand from a relative, and immediately set about looking for a bike to spend every penny of it on. What I wanted was a red Kawasaki GPZ400, but they were too much, so I settled on this beauty, a Suzuki RGV250. I knew I had finally made it, because it had the words “For Experienced Riders Only” actually written on the side of it. I got it from On Yer Bike in Aylesbury. I was so excited when I picked it up, but rather less so when it broke down on the way home. Turned out the carbs had emulsified fuel in them, which rather interfered with the fueling. I rode this thing all over place, and even took it to the TT. I now appreciate how good the handling was, but I am not sure I did back then. Managed to seize it in mid-Wales after using chainsaw oil instead of proper two-stoke oil, as that was all I could find.
I used my first ever paycheck as a deposit on a silver Kawasaki ZX6R. The first bike I earned the money to pay for. Back then I thought it was a top ride, as sports 600s were where it was at. I would never consider anything as small as that now. However, it punted out 100bhp, and was a quality item (at least for the time). It felt like a Rolls Royce to me. I did everything on that bike. Track days, TTs, tours, commuting, and a fair few Saturday afternoon thrashes in the countryside at speeds it’s probably best not to dwell on. A few years later I upgraded to the latest model, but it didn’t last that long. I remember out-growing it fairly quickly, and getting fed up with how revy it was. I can’t really remember the logic behind ditching the ZX6R for a BMW R1100 S, but I do remember loving it when I took it out for a test ride. It was probably the first time I ever really experienced genuine torque. I go the BMW from Bahnstormer in Alton, and it came with a pair of ridiculously loud Two Brother’s Racing exhausts, which probably swung the deal. I loved that thing. It was the first bike I took to the Nurburgring, and I toured around Ireland on it one time. It was definitely quirky, and just about fast enough to keep up with most things. It was eventually stolen from a parking bay in Holborn. I needed a replacement for the R1100 S quickly, and someone was selling a nearly new Honda VFR 800 nearby at a steal of a price. As soon as I saw that deep red paint and the Honda badge I was sold. I don’t think I was really convinced for the first couple of months, but I grew into it. I really used that bike hard, with tends of thousands of miles of commuting, various track days, European trips and so on. It was actually alright on track and I took it to places like the Nurburgring GP circuit, Spa and Zandsvoort. By the time I got rid of it, it was pretty well used. I think I had it for 5 years or more, and I don’t recall anything ever going wrong with it. Probably just head bearings, swing arm bearings, chains and sprockets and a lot of BT020s and BT021s. I started a new job and it came with a company vehicle. You could get whatever you liked, and the budget was £15K. That doesn’t get you much of a car, but it gets you pretty much any bike you want, and for reasons now lost in time I chose this monstrosity – a KTM 990 Adventure with a custom paint job. I loved it at first, and it was quite good fun. At the time adventure bikes were just getting established, and this was supposed to be the kind of the hill. But it kept breaking down, and its flaws as a regular every day bike were hard to ignore. It was cripplingly uncomfortable, ugly as sin, and the twin tanks were utterly pointless. It sounded nice though.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but for even more reasons I can’t recall, I then decided I needed something completely different, and sold the KTM to buy one of the best bikes I ever had, a Yamaha MT-01. It was slow, very heavy, it ground out far too easily, there was zero weather protection, and it had a range of about 100 miles. However, you could forgive it all of that because despite its flaws it put a huge smile on my face every time I rode it. Torque is a lovely thing, and when a bike engine only really has that, it becomes intoxicating. I swear you could feel the pistons moving up and down and actually making the rear wheel turn. It was like operating a winch rather than riding a bike. Rode it all year round for two years, which did rather dull its luster. Eventually time came round for a new company vehicle, and after four years on the KTM and MT-01 I decided a more appropriate long distance bike was needed, so I went for a new BMW R1200 RT, which I got from Vines in Guildford. I really liked that bike, and I rode it around like a lunatic most of the time. It had plenty of go, and great handling for its size. It even had a radio, which I played at full blast all the time. Took it on a wonderful tour of the Alps, for which it was eminently suited. Eventually wrote it off in a TA with a van, my first proper crash. Smashed my collar bone and all my ribs and spent a week in hospital. The bike didn’t look too bad to me, but fixing BMWs is expensive, and they can be written off relatively easily. I wasn’t finished with RTs, so with the insurance money just got another one. Then real life interrupted, and I got divorced. It was expensive and the RT had to go. With half the money I made I bought a fairly used BMW K1200S. That bike had issues, but thinking back I did love riding it. Up to that point it was easily the most powerful bike I had had, and it went like stink. It made a wonderful howl at full chat, and with that massive engine was a match for almost anything. Wasn’t so good in the turns though. Toured France a couple of times on it two-up (with new partner), and it performed flawlessly. We did a memorable dash from Le Mans to the ferry in one hit.
Eventually I grew rather weary of the K’s various foibles and looked to upgrade. Vines had a nearly new R1200 GS TS Alpine so I went for that. Everything written about the GS is true, and it was great. Didn’t miss a beat for three years. However, after a while I found myself rather disillusioned with biking, and in particular with the fact that I had turned into a middle-aged pipe and slippers merchant. I had a hankering to get back to my roots as a socially irresponsible headcase, so walked into my local dealer and bought a Yamaha MT10. That was just over a year ago, and the MT10 was certainly the tonic I needed. Took it on a couple of track days, which were my first for probably 15 years or more, and loved every moment. I don’t prescribe to the idea that its “mental” or “nuts”. It is exceptionally fast and possesses an astonishing rate of acceleration, but its all doable. What I actually liked most about it is that you could ride it really rapidly on the road but still well within its performance envelope. Bikes like this have an effortless grace to them in that respect. And that cross-plane engine is a masterpiece. I had turned my back on inline fours many years earlier, and never thought I would like one, but this one is a beauty. I bought the MT as a summer plaything, and intended to sell it in the autumn, but no one would buy it, so I mothballed it for the winter. In the meantime I chopped the R1200 GS in for an R1250 GS in October. It’s a whole other level of great. It’s astonishing how quick it is, and it has every trinket you could imagine. So, that leads us to today. In about 15 minutes a van will arrive to pick up the MT10, and leave me with this. A new chapter begins.
Love it, just love that. It would definitely have made me buy it as a youngster. In fact I would probably have had the Lettering enlarged
June 2014, a 2010 Yamaha YBR 125 after passing an extended CBT. I dropped this less than 100 metres out of the dealer’s A mere 5 weeks after I got my first YBR, I decided I wanted something a bit more retro/chopper-y (don’t judge) so I chopped in the YBR 125 for a 2010 YBR 125 Custom which looked a bit more retro-y. It had 10,000 more miles and had been dropped a fair few time’s. I ended up adding £200 on top of the YBR I PX’d - that dealer must’ve been laughing their arses off when I left.... I started doing my DAS in early 2015. I had saved money up to buy an MT07 for when I passed. In April 2015 I had a near fatal crash coming home on the YBR where a driver turned right into my lane of traffic. Whilst I only had 12 BHP or so, I was still doing 60. I ended up with a fractured and dislocated hip, fractured fibula and traumatic brain injury. For the first two days after surgery, I vowed never to get back on a bike again to which my parents were very happy. They then bought some of my home comforts into hospital for me, including my iPad. After catching up with social media etc I ended up looking at.....bikes..... the reason I started riding bikes was because I was tired of public transport. To get to work it would cost £20+ a day and take 3+ hours as opposed to the 125’s petrol bill of £15 a week and 2 hours a day journey. Using that as reasoning, my parents reluctantly agreed that getting back on the bike was the most cost effective option to travel to work (helps that I was in the process of saving for a flat deposit at the time!) I told them I’d stick with a 125 and therefore couldn’t do silly speed. I ended up blowing my entire MT07 budget on a Yamaha MT 125 I did 9000 glorious miles on this before I passed my DAS, I went and put a deposit on an MT07 that same day. tbc
2016 Yamaha MT07 4 days after I passed my test. Spent a ton on accessories for it and I loved it. 18,000 drama free miles and I could not have asked for a better first bike, although I hankered first more power. I got a settlement as part of an injury claim and ended up with..... 2015 BMW S1000R Sports. This was my dream bike at the time, I loved the looks and features of it. I bought it in April 2017 and the MT10 hadn’t been released long. But I had initially decided on the S1000R. Unfortunately it lasted all of 162 miles, I broke down twice on it with expansion pump issues. I was so disappointed with it that I returned it and put a deposit down straight away for a new MT10 SP tbc
It’s my all year round commuter and is coming up to 50,000 miles. There’s nothing out there on the market that I want to change to or think “ooh I’m having that next”. April 2018, my injury settlement had concluded, I had decided how to spend it and I had a £6k budget that I could afford to spend fortunately. I’d always fancied a sports bike, they just look cool and the lines and shapes of them are classic. So just going through what was available and the price range and the Fireblade won by a country mile. My favourite looking bike out of them all and they were all on a pretty equal footing on the tech side. I won’t be changing any of these for years now, I’m skint! I’ll ride the MT10 till it dies or becomes uneconomical to maintain. One day I’d like to PX the blade for a R1M to match the MT10 SP, and because I do love the R1 2CR....but I’m a long way away from that and very happy with my blade
I like this thread, though I don’t have many to contribute! Started off with the little TY80 to razz around the fields, learnt how to ride on this devil: I was a bit late to the party getting started riding on the roads, but got my CBT done and rode this fine machine, a 1977 Suzuki B120, for a couple of years. It needed a bit of fettling when I bought it but was great fun: I’m a pretty lanky chap and used to ride in an ancient belstaff wax jacket that was my old man’s when he was in his 20’s and an open face helmet. Felt awesome, But pretty sure I looked a tit.... Next up I was planning on a modern classic type jobby, having got fed up of the 70’s Suzuki dodgy wiring and not starting when I wanted it to... Then this came up for sale, I gave it a punt for a few hundred quid and got hooked on sportsbikes... my 1989 Honda CBR600F: Did some good miles on that bike - though I owned it for an embarrassingly long time before I realised it was only firing properly on 3 cylinders. A2 restricted, went All round the country, Europe trips, great fun. eventually did my next test and decided I’m definitely qualified for a litre bike... and now we have the blade!
I haven't got pictures of most of them and some of these overlap but basically the list goes... Yamaha TZR125 Yamaha RD350YPVS Kawasaki ZXR750J1 Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat Kawasaki ZX-6R G1 - awful Kawasaki GPZ1100 E1 Honda CBR900RR 929 Fireblade Ducati 748S - slow Triumph Trophy 900 98MY Kawasaki 500KX - current bike, project Yamaha R1 5VY BMW1150GS - awful KTM Superduke 990 Yamaha TTR250 Honda CBR1000RR (2007) - current bike Honda CBR1100XX KTM1190 Adventure - current bike Kawasaki ZXR750L1 - current bike, project Current bikes... The above honda in track clothes... The zxr project (not nice aftermarket fairings and oil leaks. Will become classic track bike)... Cheers, Mark
