MotorCycles

Riding fast (or even slow) motorbikes is a sensation which, once experienced, is never forgotten. It all started quite a while ago for me, but I still really can't imagine not having a bike waiting in the garage.

I meet up and ride with a lot of people from the usenet news group uk.rec.motorcycles.  People here talk about everything, occasionally including bikes.  Dip in and see what's going on. I would direct you to the FAQ, but that's long gone, sadly along with it's author Windy.

I've got a scanned and kept a collection of Shobba cartoons - to my my mind the cartoonist who best understands biking as it was in the UK.

I passed my test on 7th February 1980.  So, on (or near) the 7th February 2000, I threw a party to celebrate 20 Years on the Road

Bikes I've owned

It all began at the age of 16 in 1979, and one thing just led to another

• 1979 - Honda SS50 moped - first bike
• 1980 - Kawasaki Z200 - first 'proper' bike
• 1981 - Kawasaki Z400D (twin) - pretty cool for the sixth form
• 1982 - Kawasaki Z650B2 - just arrived at University
• 1983 - Kawasaki Z750E1 - Z650 died after dispatch riding all summer
• 1984 - Kawasaki GPZ750 turbo - first job, first pay packet - yee haw!. See my End to End Run article. 36 years later, I even made the Daily Telegraph
• 1986 - Harris Magnum 3 (with Kawasaki 750 turbo engine) - I fancied a special. Pictures here.
• 1987 - Kawasaki GT750 - as well as the Harris, for holidays and two-up trips
• 1988 - Kawsaki GPX750 - I fancied a bit of racing. Some (rather poor) racing photos are here
• 1989 - Kawasaki ZXR750 (first in the UK) - try racing on something competitive
• 1989 - Kawasaki ZX10 - ooh, this racing is a bit expensive, so back to road bikes
• 1989 - Yamaha FJ1100 - 6 months riding round Australia
• 1990 - Kawasaki ZX10 - for when I got back to the UK
• 1991 - Kawasaki ZZR1100 (C2) - faster than a ZX10. Picture from the Bol d'Or here
• 1994 - Kawasaki ZZR1100 (D1) - and now it's got a fuel gauge
• 1999 - Kawasaki ZX9R (c2) - enough of practicality - let's go crazy! (Here's a picture)
• 2001 - Suzuki GSX-R 1000 - early mid-life crisis made me do it. A mad, bad machine.  And, even when two years old and with over 20k miles on the clock, good enough to win the street class at Ramsey Sprint
• 2002 - Kawasaki ZX7R - racing again.  We raced in the KRC Endurance series for 4 years, and had some great times.  And only a few lousy ones.
• 2003 - Kawasaki GPz750 turbo - For old times sake, and still got it.  .
• 2005 - Kawasaki ZX10R.  The Suzuki was a little long in the tooth, and I've always been a Kawasaki man at heart.  And this thing is a monster.
• 2010 - Suzuki Hayabusa. Still got this one.
• 2014 - Kawasaki ZX10R (gen 4) - bought it, raced it at the TT, sold it.
• 2014 - Kawasaki ZXR750J2 - nut and bolt rebuild and conversion to Classic TT bike. Still got this one, too.
• 2015 - Kawasaki H2 (supercharged). When big K announced a limited edition supercharged bike, it coincided with me having a redundancy cheque in my hand. Oh dear.
• 2016 - Yamaha TZ 250 - when the Classic TT opened a class for GP250s, I had to get one of these. A very steep learning curve.
• 2018 - Kawasaki H2 SX. The H2 was a one-trick poney, but this one does everything.
• 2021 - Kawasaki GOz550 unitrac. My mate needed to move his on, so I said yes.

Other Stuff

• Went to the TT in 2002 after a ten year break (I first went in 1984 - eh, them were't days...), and then again in 2003, where I won my class in Ramsey Sprint, as did my mate Keith on his Jota.  See the grinning fools here, and a rather dull picture of me leaving the line here.   Oh, and Keith let me do a lap on his Jota - a boyhood dream come true.
• In 2004, 20 years after first visiting the Isle of Man, I raced at the Manx Grand Prix.  Read my Manx diary here.
• In 2006 and 2007, I raced at the Manx again, on better machinery each year, and getting faster each time.  Diaries for both years are here.
• In 2013 and 2014 I raced in the TT. Won a replica in the Lightweight class in 2013. Put myself in Nobles in 2014. And then from 2015 to 2018, I raced in the Classic TT.