Have been cruising the site for a while now, so thought it was time to introduce myself.
I was away from bikes for about 30 years and never owned a big bike. I have been back for about 3 years now and about 75,000 km later. I started back with an RF 900 and may well have owned it still, except that my good lady discovered that she had as much fun on the back as I had on the front. We started spending quite a bit of time away on it and so I decided that I wanted hard luggage and the factory fitted stuff at that. I guess the aftermarket panniers work just fine, but they look too much like an afterthought for me. I also wanted something light and nimble enough so that I could "play" with it when the mood took me. I am of an age where the riding position on much of what I tried, just about crippled me. So we wound up with the Sprint ST.
It has had McDonald magic worked on the seat to aid Mum's bum and a Hyperpro shock fitted to aid the 2 up handling. It works just fine for me/us and has had 35,000 km added in 18 months.
I make no claims to fame in the skills department, but have done about 70 laps of Puke on it. There were 2 other groups out there with me - those who went past fast and those who went past faster. Still, I learned a heap, which was the whole point and had a ball into the bargain. I wasn't the slowest out there and don't think I got in the way too badly.
The lowpoint of biking for me so far was a "off " on the RF. Entirely my own fault - was dodging loose shingle that wasn't actually there. Got 3 busted ribs and a dislocated thumb, but the bike was almost unscathed. I learned that watching Monty Python movies with busted ribs is not a clever plan.
Biking highpoint would be (years ago, way down south - yes I'm a mainlander) throwing a leg over a Vincent Rapide that had been brought up to Black Lightning specs (the motor at least - not sure about the chassis). Amazing old beast; girder forks and friction dampers. Best part was that the owner had the original UK rego papers for it and the first name thereon was John Surtees - I shit thee not!
Years later, when we moved to Auckland and staying in the Takanini motels while we got a house sorted out, there was a classic meeting on at Puke and Surtees came out for it (as I am told he has done a few times) and was in the same motel. I met him in the office one evening and asked him about the Vincent. He said that he thought that he knew the bike, but that it was his dad's, not his. Long odds on finding that out face to face across the globe I reckon.
Will have to see if I can catch a Thursday nighter south, but not this week. I'm off with the lads on the bikes for 4 days starting Thursday night. See you out there.
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Originally Posted by Grub
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