Biking did not come easily to me! – Mind you that might have been because I didn’t learn to ride even a bicycle until I was 30 :-). So how comes I got into bikes? Well it’s a bit of a sad story really – my former grandad-in-law, George, was ill for some time before he died and during that period spent a fair amount of time talking about his life. It made me realise that things can pass you by simply because you haven’t taken the time to do something, or like me, have usually taken the sensible option and just said no.
Well no more! My thanks must go to my Grandad George, as I began to seize the day – within a year I’d completed a bungee jump off Chelsea Bridge, learnt the basics of playing golf (got a hole in one on a practice shot but never in a game!), and got myself booked into CBT. Anyone who knows my biking history knows it took me at least four days to pass through CBT (I never said I was any good at it!) and in the history of the bike school I am still the one and only student who had to be on headphones on one to one instruction in the CARPARK – oooohh the shame 😛
Anyways to cut a very long story short I did eventually make it past the Yamaha SR125cc stage, albeit via the A2 licence simply because I just couldn’t get the hang of a u-turn and kept dropping the ER5. At least back then, with an A2 test you could do it on the 125cc and then have the option of riding a restricted bike for two years before automatically qualifying for the full bike licence. In my case, I had a restricted GPZ500 for eight months during which I did countless u-turns before taking my big bike test and passing with flying colours. That was almost 20 years ago and despite the odd kissing of tarmac, I’m in relatively one piece and still biking.
I started off with a Kawasaki GPZ 500, moved on to a Yamaha FZ6s and then a Triumph Sprint ST 955i after he who shall remain nameless decided to pull out – and then stop – directly across my path resulting in me becoming airborne and my beloved Fazer being relegated to the scrapheap. (You can bet the police had a fair few words to say to him!) After a bit of time with the Triumph, which I loved, I had to admit defeat from old age, or rather injury, and chose a bike with a more upright riding position and that’s why I’ve been riding an MT09 Tracer since 2015. (I think this model became the Tracer 900 after they jazzed up the bike which then became the MT-09). I’m also contemplating adding a second bike to my collection – as I don’t see why the hubby gets to have several and I only have one. (Mind you he does have less shoes than I do!) So I’ll be doing some test rides when I can find the time to fit them in!!
If you follow the links you’ll see my thoughts on each bike, including the (£££) amendments made. The highs (French Mountains) the lows (that means the dropping bit) and the bits in between!
Prendy x
Bike No. 1 – Kawasaki GPZ500
A bird's eye view to biking! 