Coolz

It looked innocent enought, sitting there in the blokes driveway with a for sale sign on it. Shiny green tank, upswept pipe,badges all over it. Suzuki Stinger they proclaimed so I asked if I could take it for a ride. "Ever riden a two stroke?'' he asked. "Sure" I replied "Just sold my B.S.A Bantam. 175" I emphasized looking disdainfully at the 125 badge. "Okay, take it easy" he said and wheeled it to the road, started it and pointed me in the right direction. With youthful confidence I cracked the throttle open and dropped the clutch. It howled like a cat in a blender and the front wheel shot straight for the sky,a trait I had never encounted on a motorbike before. It was a full lampost length before the tyre hit tar again. All crossed up, throttle still wide open she bounced, sending that front wheel skyward once more. This time I was taken across the centreline before the wheel came down all crossed up the other way. I can still rember the look of terror in the old gentlemans eyes and the big shiny grill of his mk10 Jaguar before I was looking skyward once more and miraculusly back on the left side of the road.The third time the front came down I had the handlebars straight and managed to relax my terror grip on the throttle and brought the devil to a halt unscathed but seriously shaken It was ten years before I went near a Jap bike again, and during those years I would tell all who would listen about the terrible handling of those bikes from Japan. After having a Triumph stolen and been driven to near bankruptsy and despair by a shovelhead sportster I was near ready to giveup my riding days. Then I read an article in Two Wheels magazine by the great guru of motorcycling Mr Smith and he was saying good things about Japanise bikes. Surely thet must have "their" problems sorted by now, I thought and took myself down to the local bike shop. I looked the bikes over,made my selection and asked for a ride. "Ever ridden a big bike like this before? "the salesman asked "Sure, just sold my Harley Davidson" I replied looking Disdainfully at the XS1100 badge.