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Living the Dream 3/3 - New Bike!

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fire
World Chat Champion



Joined: 06 Feb 2006
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PostPosted: 18:47 - 12 Mar 2018    Post subject: Living the Dream 3/3 - New Bike! Reply with quote

I've not posted anything in a while, especially bike related.. But for good reason - I've not had a bike! (not including the gasgas collecting dust in the back of the garage.

This is going to be pretty long post, So I'm going to do it in 3 parts, I will come back and edit the original post as I add to it. It will detail my biking history in the last few years (which admittedly has been limited , but paradoxically; eventful)

4 Years ago I did the cliche thing, I sold the Z750 to finance a ring for the O/H.

Then came the house, the wedding, the honeymoon - Thailand.

For those of you that don't know this. The thing about Thailand and motorbikes is you can hire the most bad ass bikes on the planet for £30/day.

So, yes I was enjoying time with my new bride, but at the same time I was plotting my 2 wheeled affair.

I found the local ex-pat owned twist and go rental joint on the island of Phuket. A Frenchman named Steve with a cunning smile and pound signs in his eyes greeted my request - "Where can you rent the 'big' bikes" I didn't care, I was on my honeymoon and had a pocket full of money. He knew, of course he did, he had the portfolio in an album on his smartphone. I started to cycle through the saved images hungrily as saliva built up in my mouth; Gixxer, Ninja, Z1000, speed triple and so on, until I found the one that I wanted. The one I had almost traded in my z750 for the previous summer. Honda CB1000R - but this was in Repsol colours Drooling . We agreed a price, and travelled across sun drenched roads via tuk tuk to the bike shop not too far away.

As we arrived to what looked like a motorbike workshop with 6/7 bikes out front, all fitted with aftermarket exhausts. But much to my dismay, the only respsol coated bike was a CBR600RR, A formidable machine, no doubt, but not what I had in mind for travelling around the island snaking through traffic alongside many a scooter in shorts and vest with the wife on back. I was gutted. This was my honeymoon, spirits were high and everything had been falling in our favour up till now.

An american walked up to the front of the shop with his eyes on the gixxer1000, he removed his phone and typed a number on it then showed it to the shop owner. The owner made a blunt grunt of approval and the american smiled like an entitled 2 year old that had just been given candy.

That's when I spotted something in the corner. A Matt black Ducati Hypermotard with a Termignoni can (pik attached). "What about that?" Steve tried to argue it was a higher rental price, but the Shop Owner was in no mood to haggle, he accepted the orginal rental fee and went to fetch me a helmet.

I'd never ridden a V-twin before, but that's the day I found out I never wanted to ride anything else again. The Low end Grunt, the torque, the gearing and most of all; the noise! It made slow feel fun, and with the termignoni can (no baffle I assume) Coming down a road where 90% of the users were Scooters, I felt like a God amongst Men. The power to weight was baffling, when even my wife jumped on the back, I effortlessly pushed my feet to reverse the 170kilograms of bike. To you Supermoto guys - Now I get it.

A thrilling experince and As many of you would understand I could not escape the yearning for another trusty two wheeled steed upon my arrival on home soil. Then along came baby Number 1.

Still I endeavoured to save up a modest amount of money (around £2k) and decided I'll take anything to put me back on the road again.

There began the search, countless hours navigating pages on gumtree. In the morning, at the barbers, on the bog, during TV adverts. For many moons this went on, searching for that most irresistible deal for my most frugal offer.

Until it finally came in February 2016. A 2009 Yamaha FZ1 13k miles on the clock. I called the guy, he told me no one had come to view it as of yet. It was in a remote part of the country, I could see why. I went that night, brought my man in a van with me, weather was shite (as it usually is in these northern parts) and so I didn't have to organise the insurance (wasn't going to until the Spring at least)

I got there, nice old fella, transitioning into man-a-pause, had a motocross background, but due to his old knees he couldn't keep the big girl anymore. He bought her in a salvage auction, was previously the fully faired Fz1, but it has been dropped on roundabout, so was Cat D, he fixed her up as the fighter version the FZ1N - which absolutely suited me Very Happy The condition was Mint and at £2350 it was just what I was looking for, I told him shut up and take my money.

Took her home, payed the man in van with left over beer from the NY party and tucked her up the garage for the return of the spring sun.

I setup the insurance on Saturday night in March for a Sunday run I had planned the following morning.

Took her out for the first time up the motorway and.. Shocked
It was just like going from a 125 to the 750. The power was ludicrous - Why would someone take 220kg and give it 150 horses? Insane, but in the good way.

However, I was unprepared... for the cold. I didn't wear enough layers and I was really feeling the wind chill past 50mph. I decided to end my run and take the B roads back to the house. Use the opportunity to exercise slow control of the big beast if you will.

On the way back, traffic had built up on the road, and I was using the bus lane to move past almost stand still traffic in the lane to my right (which is fine on a Sunday) This wasn't part of my original plan to slow control, but i was really cold, my riding position was tucked up and low so I didn't foresee what was going to happen next.

As I approached the opening to a side street, I didn't see the really tiny car travelling the opposite direction move through the stand still traffic until it was directly in my path. I gasped and prayed for a split second that the driver would look in my direction. (I learned later, A driver flashed her through) but she didn't, I swerved to the left to not make an impact into her side and then she saw me; when I was directly in front of her. She braked, but it was too late, she hit me with the front of her car. the bike was knocked away from under me and I landed with out reached hand on to the road.

Part 2


It was fairly low speed impact (20mph) I immediately got up from the road. My bike was on the pavement, and natural instinct was to pick it up, but the pain in my wrist was too much, even with the adrenaline in full flow. People got out there cars to come and check on me. "Are you ok? Do you want us to call an ambulance?" My injuries were not critical, I declined their offer. Unprompted, witnesses began to write details onto paper and hand them to me assuring me they had seen everything.

Seen what? I wasn't sure, I doubted myself. Undertaking traffic in a bus lane I thought. A Jogger was adamant to help me lift the Fazer, so once the impact pain settled, We upturned the bike.

Have I just totalled a 1000cc motorbike on my first ride? - Another cliché.

Once the dust settled, all the witnesses left and It was just me and the driver (+her passenger bf) I said, "are we going to address the elephant in the room?.. Are you accepting liabilty for this?" her reply was instantaneous - "NO" and then came the kicker.. "You were going too fast.. I didn't see you" *Cha Ching* Two contradictory statements indeed, with the latter sealing the deal. I said, "Fine, we will let the insurance companies deal with it"

My shifter was all bent up, but that was no problem, I could get all the way home in 2nd gear. As I arrived, my phone rang, It was the third party insurance company: 'Were accepting liability" - Easy!

My wife took me to minor injuries dept at the hospital; best to get everything on record. Turned out i'd broken my wrist in two places. There was a gash on my knee and a sprain to my foot where the car hit me. Sidi Vertigo's did their Job however, so it was a minor.

I was in a cast for 6 weeks, My first born was 5 months at this time. So I couldn't change nappies, and I couldn't do baths .. Dammit Shifty

To fix up the bike was gonna cost £5500, and it was written off as an uneconomical repair. As soon as the V5 arrived, I was filling it out to send it away again, now that was a sad day!

They offered me £3550 - So I could feel good about something.

Along came the summer and the dreaded feeling of no bike again! Some biker mates had been planning a 3 day tour round the top of Scotland. The famous North Coast 500. I was not going to miss this. I decided I would hire a bike to make the trip.

There was an MV dealership in town not too far away. So I decided to take the family out for a day trip, for a spot of afternoon tea to one of these ‘bend you over’ grocery farm shop cafes out in the sticks. Via MV of course.

They Hired the bikes, obviously at 4/5 times the price of what you pay in Thailand. Having made a nice little turn from the accident, I decided it was worth it. Plus the guys I was gonna go on the trip with were either riding £15k Harleys or brand new adventure bikes. I didn’t want to feel inadequate.

Rivale, Stradale, Veloce – These are not the names of posh pastry, these are the most beautifully crafted Italian bikes of our time and the guys at MV were going to let me sit on every one! With the Hypermotard fresh in my memory I had my sights on the Rivale. I read about it in a bike magazine, A machine I would never choose to own because it just. Looks. Too. Good – maybe I’m superstitious that way.

What an Anti-climax, The riding position was just not for me; it felt small and cramped compared to the Hypermotard. This was my first tour, and I wanted to be comfortable. He suggested the Veloce, with its big adventure looks and riding position I felt out of touch with the road and it definitely was not as nice as the other two. In the end I kept it goldilocks. The Stradale.

We booked one day the before trip to allow me to get use to it before I had to join the 10 bike group ride. A few weeks later, I picked her up. The MV guy took me through the controls. 8 Levels of traction control, heated grip, Electronic quick shifter, 4 engine modes. He recommended not playing around with the latter as ‘the bike should have enough power in normal mode’‘- What a lie that turned out to be.

(attached is the route we followed round the coast of scotland, except we didn't travel to inverness first, we snaked through loch lomond to isle of skye on the west coast)

Part 3

I took the stradale down to the local motorbike clothing shop to get something trivial like ear plugs (It was my first tour, I was over preparing) When I came back out to the MV, all the guys from the Ducati store next door had come out to check her out. Felt like I'd walked into a Gucci fashion show with Miss Italy on my arm. I don't usually like attention, but this I'll take.

The tour was 3 days, Left on a friday afternoon for an overnight at Isle of Skye, then ride all the way to near John-o-groats (most northerly point of the island) Over night there, and back to Glasgow. 800+ miles in 3 days.

It was my first time going north of Inverness, despite living in Scotland for the last 15 years. In a nut shell, the trip was Kerazy good! North Scotland is so beautiful, we don't know what were missing right on our doorstep. Actually most of the number plates we passed were Scandinavian or Dutch. The coffee on route was tourist trap prices. I can see why its such a popular route.

There’s a lot of single track road, but all the passing places are at convenient well thought out places like bends and before blind crescents. You cant always carry the same speed of an nice fast A road, but you’re not caring, because its narrow and bendy which keeps your attention and I found incredibly enjoyable. And the scenery is not only breath taking, but changes dramatically every 5minutes. You could easily stop every 20 minutes at a nice parking spot and take in picturesque new views.

Doing it on the MV was a privilege, but I would have happily done it on Ped, At least that way you would have a chance to see more of it. Sure I was with guys on Harleys, but they don't go slow by any means. Felt a shame to zip by everything so quickly.

So the ride, At first I was like 'meh, its alright, but don't get what all the fuss was about' The electronic shifter was a dream, kinda hard to go back to a normal on. We all blip up, but blipping down was a new experience.

On the third day I was really comfortable on the bike, so I decided ill play around with the engine settings. Put it into Sport mode and pinned the throttle and felt like someone had just booted it up the arse. It went from being pretty tame, to wild stallion on steroids. The engine note changed and I realised what the fuss was all about 'So this. Is a triple'
That was my last experience on a bike up until now. I said at the beginning of this post, I’ve not had a bike, so the only plausible reason I would decide to share these tales now is because I have bought a bike.

Not just any bike, but my dream bike. A bike that has been my macbook wallpaper for close to 8 years.
Around 6 months ago, I agreed to meet a friend for coffee, he was riding and has one of these ridiculous looking Harleys that has a bigger engine than your car and everyone who walks by it takes pictures of it. So he wanted to go for a coffee where he could keep an eye on it. We agreed on the Glasgow Hillington bike district which is home to triumph, Harley, Ducati and onsite coffee shop. This was the day I would go for the most expensive coffee of my life.
I walked through the ducati store checking out the inventory and there it was. A Ducati Streetfighter 848, Absolute Mint condition, 7000miles and I could not believe the price. I’d seen private sales going for more. I excitedly told my mate when he arrived and his response was typical – Go for it! So I did.

I arranged collection for my 30th Birthdayin February and here she is

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j76/Haseeb_172/DSC05166_zpsscyg5cib.jpg

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j76/Haseeb_172/DSC05164_zpsoxojqixt.jpg

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j76/Haseeb_172/DSC05163_zpszwsuzz52.jpg

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j76/Haseeb_172/DSC05159_zpsch96cway.jpg

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j76/Haseeb_172/DSC05160_zps0qhwpbcb.jpg

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j76/Haseeb_172/DSC05158_zpsdtibujqs.jpg
____________________
Write off! Honda NSR150 RR ('01) - Sold Cagiva Mito Evolution ('00) - Sold Honda NSR125 ('01) - Current Gasgas TXT 250 ('98) - Sold Kawasaki Z750 ('10) - Write off! Yamaha FZ1 ('09) - Current Ducati Streetfighter 848 ('14)


Last edited by fire on 15:03 - 19 Mar 2018; edited 4 times in total
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Tracey Suntan-King
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Joined: 10 Nov 2012
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PostPosted: 20:06 - 12 Mar 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can't stop there!

Need moar..........

Thank you!
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Last edited by Tracey Suntan-King on 12:39 - 20 Mar 2018; edited 1 time in total
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TheMadRatter
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Joined: 26 Dec 2017
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PostPosted: 22:37 - 12 Mar 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cue pt 2?
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Rogerborg
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Joined: 26 Oct 2010
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PostPosted: 22:40 - 12 Mar 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Come on, did you died or not?

Dibs on missus and bike if you did.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike
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fire
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Joined: 06 Feb 2006
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PostPosted: 14:58 - 19 Mar 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Had a work deadline on Friday.. But finished my post eventually.
____________________
Write off! Honda NSR150 RR ('01) - Sold Cagiva Mito Evolution ('00) - Sold Honda NSR125 ('01) - Current Gasgas TXT 250 ('98) - Sold Kawasaki Z750 ('10) - Write off! Yamaha FZ1 ('09) - Current Ducati Streetfighter 848 ('14)
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Adrian82
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Joined: 12 Mar 2018
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PostPosted: 11:51 - 20 Mar 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beautiful beast!! Very Happy Very Happy
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Rogerborg
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PostPosted: 14:43 - 20 Mar 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Adrian82 wrote:
Beautiful beast!! Very Happy Very Happy

We haven't even seen pictures of his missus. Eh?
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike
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Adrian82
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PostPosted: 12:14 - 21 Mar 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rogerborg wrote:
Adrian82 wrote:
Beautiful beast!! Very Happy Very Happy

We haven't even seen pictures of his missus. Eh?


The ducati Wink
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