Wasn't really interested in bikes at school. Wasn't until I started work and seeing all the bike in the workshop that I thought wow I've got do my bike test. Did my test in 2007 at 18 and bought at cbr 125. Great little bike but way too small for me. Got bored of struggling to reach 70mph (proberly down to rider weight) so a year later bought a suzuki gsxr 600 k3 with a restrictor kit . Did the Ron haslam at silverstone and immediately stripped the road fairing and started doing trackdays in 2010 and the big fat gixxer is still going strong. It keeps me entertained on track so won't be sold just yet. I then missed going out on ride outs so in 2012 I bought a honda fireblade rr6 and got addicted to touring side of biking. Going to the Nurburgring, the Isle of Man (great week at the Manx!) and of course loads of ride outs with you lot But now the problem is I want to do a trackday on a litre bike.
Mate of mine was big into off rode biking,quite fancied it but could only afford a c90,it didn't last long off roading,got an RD250 for the road,wrote that off within three months so decided to focus on my first love,flying aeroplanes,got back into biking about seven years ago with a Honda Hornet,then Kawasaki z750,then ZX6r and now the blade,still do the flying which is still my biggest buzz,closely followed by bikes and morris dancing.
My dad had bikes up until I was born and would speak about them constantly when I was a kid, I was also obsessed with watching world superbikes on the telly etc but much as I tried to convince my mum I would be ok on a bike she wasnt having it AT ALL! I moved out at 23 with the then bird and touted the idea of getting a bike and that was poo-pooed by her too, so in 2012 I binned her, got my own place and got to it. Did my CBT, DAS training, MOD 1 & 2 in 5 days, felt completely comfortable passing and was still obsessed with sports bikes. Went straight to the local Honda dealer and bought a CBR600RR9 in Black & Green (best colour scheme) for cash (didnt want outstanding hp as the chances were high I would throw it down the road). Scared myself shitless on it numerous times but also was completely hooked, I did 10k miles in 18 months and got to grips with the bike to the point I felt it was time for a step up. On 1st March this year I took delivery of my Fireblade SP. Put 6k miles on her already, been to Europe etc and I can never see myself not having a bike for the rest of my days.
It's good to read you're doing loads of miles of the SP and not keeping it locked up. How did you get on with it touring in Europe?
When I first bought it people said keep it packed away and it will be worth something but I wanted to ride it and I have done that. Trip to Europe was amazing 99% of the time, the bike developed a major fault whilst in the South of France which I won't go into serious detail about as I'm still in dispute with Honda over this. But the vineyard B roads and mountain roads through the Pyrenees it just tore it up and never missed a beat.
Spent too much time in traffic queues and always wanted to give it a go. My mum strictly forbade it, but got to 40 and did DAS. First bike was an old CBR1000 forerunner to the blackbird, mum couldn't wait to get on the back of it when I told her.
I decided that a getaway bike was faster than a getaway car so took the plunge and did my test, now after many years of successful bank jobs I'm pleased with my initial decision to switch...
I've always been a petrol head. Love Motorsport and at the ripe age of 29 (and hearing the DAS was going to change) I took my CBT on a Sunday. I have never ridden a bike before then. And got my licence after doing my DAS on the Mon to Thurs test day. My Dad was killed on a Bike about 3 months before I was born so the family was always against it. but they see I enjoy it so just put up with it now.
First sat my arse on a bike at 10yrs my big brothers FS1E before long I was riding up my Parents front door steps in to the hall obviously when they were out! The following year my brother got a RD250E he would give me a go up our local garages! Once when everyone was out at 11yrs I put his leather jacket and lid on and took it out for a hour or so you could have spun his lid on my head and the sleeves on his jacket were 3-4" to long! At 17yrs I got a 81 Suzi Gp125 my own bike at last I had that for 2yrs before the big end went! I passed my car test, met a lass got married, had my eldest 16yrs later I got divorced! Penniless paying CSA had to work two jobs to makes ends meet! I met my lovely wife 2006, married 2008! In 2009 told her how I would love a big bike! Two weeks later I had a 06 CBR125RR In 2010 I Passed my DAS got a 03 CBR600F and CB1400 for the winter I sold the CBR6 in 2011 and got me Blade! Also had a wee boy in 2008 and another in 2010! And I've never been happier luvin it Dudes