My main bikes since I was 17...

I have done it like a CV, with the most recent bike first and the other stuff before going back to 82 and my CB100N. I have posted this on other sites, so sorry if you have seen it before

August 09 to date
Yamaha FZ1S Fazer
Job Description: Sports Bike for old fat blokes

Do you remember that bit in the iconic film ‘The Blues Brothers’ when Elwood turns up in the new Blues mobile; an ex police cruiser, much to the disgust of his partner? He leapt to the beaten up cars defence stating coolly

"It's got a cop motor, 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks, it's a model made before catalytic convertors so it'll run good on regular gas."



He then nailed the throttle, smoking the tyres and leapt across river. My recently acquired FZ1S somehow reminds me of that ex-cop cruiser: Unassuming looks but

“it’s got R1 shocks, R1 brakes and a R1 motor” to paraphrase old Elwood

So what we have here is the proverbial ‘wolf in sheep’s’ clothing’, the ultimate sober suited assassin who looks like the nice bloke next door, but the attaché case he carries doesn’t contain his butties, but rather a dis-assembled snipers rifle and sights…in the 800 miles I have covered on the Fazer so far this is the image that is coming through strongly. With barely 1,000 miles on the bike in total I am yet to really to open the throttle right up, but I am looking forward to letting loose all 132bhp available. Some 40-50bhp shy of the frontline sports bikes but still plenty for me. Potent and arrogant are the best two words to describe the performance so far. The upright and relatively high riding position gives a feel somewhere between a Supermoto and a Range Rover Sport! I doubt however that the top-end will have the ultimate rush of a R1 or GSXR1000 etc. but wonder if the Fazer engine and gearing is generally more realistic and possibly even quicker in the give and take riding at sane (ish) speeds on bumpy, pot holed British roads.



Mention of the gearing brings me to the Fazers’ Achilles heal…the clunky gearbox. Sadly this is a bit of Yamaha characteristic and is particularly noticeable as 1st gear is engaged and when you shift from 1st to 2nd. Suzuki for example always seem to manage to design and build smooth changing boxes even on their most powerful bikes, so why Yamaha fail so consistently on this point eludes me. If it is follows my experience with other Yamahas I have owned it will ease as the miles rise.



A stiff, R1 based frame and brakes back up that potent engine 100%, and the Fazer is great fun to ride; really chuckable and the confidence inspiring. I felt really home straight away and can’t wait for next summer so I can explore the talents of this fantastic bike more in full…watch this space…


Mar 00 to date
Yamaha YZR600R Thundercat.
Job Description: Sports tourer.



This bike marked my return to the front of the pack, or at least towards the front. Blessed with a stupid name (could be worse could be a Vulcan), a strong engine and soft suspension well suited to the bumpy Worcestershire lanes that surround my home. This bike is first I have ever bought purely as a toy, my demise from day in day out biker to Sunday morning scratcher complete.
Iinitially I was restricted to “600cc squadron”, the group I ventured out with weekends. This was great fun, but the chance to build a relationship with your bike isn’t there, that only comes with constant use and care in all conditions and circumstances. That has come in the last two years as the loss of a company car has meant much more day in, day out riding too. During 2007 I used the T Cat for a stunning 2300 mile, 10 day blast across France, Italy and Switzerland. The T Cat was faultless

Nov 05 to April 07
Yamaha XJR1300SP
Job Description: Proper Bike
After years on poncy sports bikes time for some heavy metal!!!! The XJR was a real muscle bike, and the creamy torque of the big aircooled lump made the big Yam easy to ride. However for some reason the fire did not burn in quite the way I thought and I sold the beast after only 18 months.



Nov. 91 to Mar 00.
Yamaha FZ750 Genesis.
Job Description: Pure Sports (Well, that was what it said on the fairing!).



My “line in the sand”, the encroachment into my biking life that the onset of wife, mortgages and children inevitably brings stopped here. Bought initially as a good all rounder and pressed into daily service. In one glorious summer I crammed 10,000 miles into only four months as I blasted between Norfolk and Worcestershire every weekend. Rarely have I ridden so swiftly and so well, I knew every little nuance of the bikes behaviour, where the engine pulled best, how to exploit the quick steering 16” front wheel, what I could get away with basically. My route was punctuated with clock towers on churches and town halls etc. and I set myself bogie times from clock to clock that I had to match or beat. All very silly of course, but huge fun and a good way a breaking the pattern of the same run time after time.
This bike and I became old friends as I cared for her as she slipped gracefully into her dotage. New suspension, brakes, pipes etc. Gradually she fell from regular use as the pressures of working and family life grew. Even at the end she looked great, Micron pipe glinting in the sun, that iconic 20 valve engine still keen and eager to propel me into a world where troubles are sucked away in the slipstream.
But old father time is unforgiving, unrelenting foe and eventually the time had come to move on. When she slipped from view for last time a lump formed in my throat. Goodbye old friend, still crazy after all these years!

June ’89 to Nov’91.
Yamaha RD350F2.
Job Description: Budget Sports. (I think).



They say never go back out with an old girlfriend, and this bike rather proved the point. After my first YPVS this bike was something of an anti-climax. By the time I bought it new the Powervalve legend was fading, the RGV Suzuki and KR1-S Kawasaki had adopted the mantle of the chosen tool of the lunatic fringe.
A good bike in many ways that I enjoyed riding, but it lacked the edge of the earlier models. The raw fun was gone and our time together was pretty quiet, although blowing away a local nutter on a heavily tuned YPVS engined 350LC was a highlight. To be honest the biggest thrill it provided was that only collecting a brand new bike can bring, that heady mixture of nerves and anticipation.

Sept. ’88 to Mar. ’89.
Honda VF1000FII
Job Description: Dinosaur.



Oh dear, we all make mistakes and this was mine, a huge bike in every respect and I hated it. Quite why I bought it continues to elude me. On the test ride I was pulled out on by a Nun in Transit van of all things, but did I take the hint, oh no. The handling was extremely top heavy and I had no confidence on this bike at all. A powerful, gusty engine was a highlight, but the whole added up to much less than the sum of its’ parts. So here was a bike that at time in my life I could ride at will that I actually chose to leave in the garage. Not surprisingly, it did not last long in my hands and just after we took an unplanned flight literally into the Norfolk countryside (in bid to keep up with a GPZ900 mounted friend), she was hastily sold and money spent on my wedding ~ see, I would do anything to get shot of it!

Jan. ’87 to Sep.’88.
Suzuki GS550E
Job Description: Definitive UJM.

Had a hard act to follow after the manic YPVS that proceeded it. A good solid bike that did many things well, and went about its day with a minimum of fuss. The first and to date, only bike I have taken to the IOM. At time when I was buying my first house the GS was a good tool to keep my hand in. Not the greatest bike, but hey, a bike is a bike!

Mar. ’85 to Jan.’87.
Yamaha RD350YPVS.
Job Description: Adrenaline Pump.



The absolute DB’s! This bike and I spent a roller coaster 18 months together, thrashed and ultimately perhaps inevitably, crashed. The bond between bike and rider was strong here, and at the time I owned this bike they were THE machines for the young lunatic about town!
There were so many highs and so many lows. Formation wheelies in traffic, side by side with my best mate aboard an identical bike, crazy high speed rides to nowhere just for the hell of it. The thrill of scaring your girlfriends shitless! It was not big, it was not clever, it never impressed the girlfriends, but so what!
In 18 glorious months it ate 7 tyres, countless brake pads and I generally poured money into my habit ~ everything had to be scarified to allow worship at the altar of the POWERVALVE.
It had to end in tears and sure enough on September evening I came second in an unequal fight with a Bedford lorry - boy did that hurt. The bike was put back together again, but something had gone, the feeling of invincibility that only the I high octane mix of ignorance and youth can bring. Time to move on, but the memories will linger forever.

April 1984 to March 1985.
Yamaha RD250LC.
Job Description: First Sports Bike.



My first step into “big bikes”, the LC was a great fun bike. Light, fast and furious it really was the best bike for me as a (fairly) skinny 18-year-old seeking cheap kicks. The first bike I clocked 100 mph on, the first I took touring with my mates, and this first bike I took to pieces. After my CB100 the bike seemed so fast and I felt I had the respect of my peers. The LC provided me with a year of fun, what more could I ask for?

October 1983 to April 1984.
Honda CB100N-A
Job Description: Learner legal sports.



Where the habit I can’t just kick all started. I really wanted a 125LC but could not afford the insurance! I learnt to ride on this bike wobbling around the car park of disused factory, then later passed my test too. I discovered the world of “Bikers” when I joined a local club, the bike redefined my life in a way I had not imagined possible. The joys of “going prone”, pulling my first wheelie getting my first conviction ~ all done on this little bike. I thrashed it to within an inch of its life, but somehow I never managed to fall off. We all seem to keep a special place in our affections for our first bike, and I am no different.


A have also owned a various points: FZ600, 2 Superdreams, another 2 YPVS RD350s, 2 CB250RS, RD250E, RD250LC a KH250 and a CD185

Radar kinell love that...........but I aint read any of it yet.......Will read tomorrow Christmas and a wee bit pissed up.(again).

Last picture is the best.

BTW massive effort ya made there,do you want to be MCN.......F*ck me MCN Motor Cycle Newbies Editor........you wont get this but STS thought it was a pooh name....!

Nice post Radar!

I think sts will love this......all the ode stuff...........CV is the dogs,wish I has one like that,will never be able to compare,nor do i have the photographs........
F*ckin eh radar thats really impressed me.

Wow agreed there are not many forum members with a CV like that.

Is there?

good post, i also like the fazer i had the 05 older one did everything good once the handling was sorted out but now i have the 1050 speed triple which out grunts the old fazer on the road and defo handles better , would like to see how it compares on the road against the new ones

mickster1 wrote:good post, i also like the fazer i had the 05 older one did everything good once the handling was sorted out but now i have the 1050 speed triple which out grunts the old fazer on the road and defo handles better , would like to see how it compares on the road against the new ones

I toyed with idea of a 1050, a chap on another forum I am a member of had one and raved about his. I test rode a 675 Street Triple too and I considered that...loved the engine but was not so keen on the suspension.

Happy to join a forum ride out when the weather improves, would be interested to see how the FZ1S compares to some of its' main rivals