I got my full motorcycle licence in 1996, and enjoy riding a huge amount. I'm a bit crap at it, so I haven't got a bike at present. I'm very happy with riding on the back, so if anyone wants to take a pillion let me know.
This disastrous pile of cack was bought on my behalf by my ex (i.e. I paid him back). Unbelievably, he thought I couldn't handle a 125! Needless to say I was chuffed to bits to be a bike owner, and named it Pinocchio. Although it had the electrics re-done it languished in said ex's back garden after we split up (no, Pinocchio wasn't the reason) until it was thrown on my doorstep in a fit of pique. There, it spent around four months while I diligently bought a cover, new mirrors, a Haynes Manual, various spanners and allen keys until a friend of my dad's - John 'Bobby' Bishop - was volunteered to fix it. Now Bob was a speedway racer in the 1960s, and so knows a hell of a lot about two-strokes, although Pin didn't come back being able to do ninety around corners. Sadly though, Pin failed miserably at the CBT, conking out halfway through the day (I ended up having to hire a CG125). I used to call him Babe, sometimes, coz he was a right pig.
Pin ended his days (he was a little boy bike) being sold to a poor sucker from Watford. Incidentally, he bought it for his girlfriend....
Brunhilde started her life with me in a little village in Lincolnshire. We rode joyfully back to Wisbech, where I was staying with my mates Sue and Mel, and thus began a long and wonderful friendship.... Although this was a bike that suffered majorly from PMT, I loved her very dearly, hence all my TLC. I took her off the road in November 1996 because she had a major smoke problem, i.e. when I opened it up on a motorway, enough smoke came out to fill all three carriageways, and as the wind was coming from the left, it filled the other three carriageways too. I was worried I would end up on Police Camera Action! I eventually gave it away to a learner rider from Imperial College in exchange for a packet of crisps and a beer - last I heard she had got the bike running and had passed her test, but I'm still waiting on her end of the deal <drums fingers> hey ho. Last time I be nice.
Oh, and why her name? It's what my ex Stefan (of Rat Bike fame) used to call me - 'where's your rolling pin, Brunhilde? Go sing some Wagner!' - but I don't have an enormous cleavage, nor long blonde plaits, so I'm not quite sure what he means...!!
Bought very cheaply as a stop gap between my ex Andy's first and second Transalps, for us both to ride. Nice bike but horribly cramped riding position for Andy and I never really got into it. The engine was a good one though with plenty of grunt. Shaft drive is odd. Eventually sold to a friend of a friend who fettled it and sold it on.
Heh, another bid to get myself riding after a break, Olly came to me from a little old boy outside Newbury. (He was selling it because his arthritis prevented him from swinging his leg over a bike so he'd got himself a scooter. Attaboy!) I liked Olly a great deal, but he was very heavy to manouevre and I just never got along with him. Eventually I sold him to a fellow Ixie's girlfriend, for her to try to learn to ride again after a 20 year gap; should be suitable as she rode something similar back then (I believe she had the 400 version though).
I bought this off another Ixie, after researching and researching learner-friendly bikes. I fell in love with the gorgeous shape of the Monster - I've always preferred 'nakeds' (oo-er) and the frame/wheels combo is just wicked. I think in an ideal world I'd have the S2R Testastressa, but there ya go, another pipe dream... I had fun with her in Slough and then Kent before I became a student; I was waiting on my student loan and getting very strapped for cash and with a car as well I had to decide, and the bike went (to yet another Ixie)... and then the loan turned up. Hff. N.B. the Tongue of Concentration in the first pic ;-)
I may get another bike - I hope I will - or I may just try and find someone to hop on the back with. I'd love for my boyfriend to learn to ride and I'd love to get a trike (just to piss Orb off, heh) but I haven't a garage and wouldn't like to leave it on the street. In fact the parking thing is a big issue as I don't know if I could secure one round the back of my flat.
Page updated: 10/04/2008
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