johcar
20th September 2015, 11:36
(That's L-a-p-s-e-d, not L-a-p-p-e-d)...
Hi people - after 23 years of not owning a bike, I am overjoyed to now be back on one.
The last bike I owned was a Yamaha XJ900, so it's a bit of a change to now be riding a Sertao!
I bought the Sertao from a seller in Christchurch in August, flew down to pick it up (after kitting myself out with some good gear) and rode it back to Auckland over three days.
Within 100km of picking it up, I was kicking myself that I hadn't returned to motorcycling 22 years ago!! All the old skills were still there, and apart from a bit of a sore bum from sitting for hours at a time, the return to Auckland was uneventful.
First bike was a Suzuki GT185 (Ram-Air!!!) when I was at school, then graduated to a Honda XL250 (the silver tank model)
Did my OE (early to mid eighties), and became a motorcycle courier initially for two years in London, riding a CB250N (twin), followed by a CB250 (single - but with a full Rickmansworth fibreglass fairing and top box), then a Kawasaki 250 (belt drive - same fairing setup) and a short stint on a CB200 and a Yamaha XJ650.
When I came home to NZ, I continued my motorcycle courier work, and bought a Suzuki 650 Katana (shaft-drive), followed by a couple of 80cc Honda Leads and a Honda 250 scooter, then saw the light and bought the XJ900. I did this over a 5 year period in Auckland. When on the bikes (rather than the scooters) I was averaging around 300km a day around the city and going through a back tyre every 6 weeks (at $300 a pop - interestingly, it seems that tyre prices haven't changed a lot in the last 30 years!). This was in the bad old days of City Council Traffic Cops, who loved motorcycle couriers to bits - we were an easy source of revenue for them!
Then kids came along - bikes are not particularly kid-friendly and finances were tight, so we had to do the 'practical' thing and get a car....
But I'm baa-acck!!!! :)
Hi people - after 23 years of not owning a bike, I am overjoyed to now be back on one.
The last bike I owned was a Yamaha XJ900, so it's a bit of a change to now be riding a Sertao!
I bought the Sertao from a seller in Christchurch in August, flew down to pick it up (after kitting myself out with some good gear) and rode it back to Auckland over three days.
Within 100km of picking it up, I was kicking myself that I hadn't returned to motorcycling 22 years ago!! All the old skills were still there, and apart from a bit of a sore bum from sitting for hours at a time, the return to Auckland was uneventful.
First bike was a Suzuki GT185 (Ram-Air!!!) when I was at school, then graduated to a Honda XL250 (the silver tank model)
Did my OE (early to mid eighties), and became a motorcycle courier initially for two years in London, riding a CB250N (twin), followed by a CB250 (single - but with a full Rickmansworth fibreglass fairing and top box), then a Kawasaki 250 (belt drive - same fairing setup) and a short stint on a CB200 and a Yamaha XJ650.
When I came home to NZ, I continued my motorcycle courier work, and bought a Suzuki 650 Katana (shaft-drive), followed by a couple of 80cc Honda Leads and a Honda 250 scooter, then saw the light and bought the XJ900. I did this over a 5 year period in Auckland. When on the bikes (rather than the scooters) I was averaging around 300km a day around the city and going through a back tyre every 6 weeks (at $300 a pop - interestingly, it seems that tyre prices haven't changed a lot in the last 30 years!). This was in the bad old days of City Council Traffic Cops, who loved motorcycle couriers to bits - we were an easy source of revenue for them!
Then kids came along - bikes are not particularly kid-friendly and finances were tight, so we had to do the 'practical' thing and get a car....
But I'm baa-acck!!!! :)