Biking...

... freedom on two wheels

Over 30 years on I am still biking, although I must admit that my new family situation has considerably reduced my freedom to indulge myself. 
 

Over the years I've been lucky enough to get around a bit (after a relatively slow start). I've visited Ireland (many times), France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Canada and the USA (from Niagara to New Orleans via Philadephia and Iowa City - the tale of that trip is now here). My absolute ambition, which I will fulfil, is the coast - coast ride, probably Delaware to San Francisco, because that's where my best friends in the States are !  Of course in that time I've had a few bikes, sometimes more than one. My long standing love was my Laverda - we were together for 24 years until, in a moment of (in)sanity I sold it in 2005. We had been together to all the places listed above, but it is true that all things must pass. To the right, it is pictured along with my friend Mike's Ducati when both our bikes were going strong and we had time to ride them.

In July '99 the Laverda Owners Club held a major rally to celebrate 25 years of the club and 50 years of Laverda.  It was a great event, at which I recorded quite a number of the bikes present. I have created a special area of the site for this.
 

For my fortieth year I decided to go for something sensible, a nice new Triumph. After all, to be dragged kicking and screaming past that milestone on the most powerful British production bike ever must have some merits... It was a great machine, especially after it had been Dyna-jetted, increasing power all the way, up 14bhp to 128bhp the back wheel. It used to motor. I parted with it with a real tear in my eye, and still think Triumph offers the best pride of ownership available today (especially if you're a middle aged Brit !).  Pictured up near Pateley Bridge, Nidderdale - a lovely area about 20 miles north of here.

However. I didn't need something that fast, and BMW had produced the bike that I WANTED. The R1100GS. I believe in big trail bikes, this is the biggest and was awesomely good. The further I went, the more I did with it, the better it got. I personally do not believe that there was a more widely and completely accomplished bike on the market today. And I loved the Mad Max styling (mine was black with a black seat - what else). And yes. it too is gone now, a victim of common sense, married life and an income not high enough to be totally indulgent. 

So today came back down closer to earth and the BMW was replaced in March '96 by a Yamaha XT600E. A light, fun machine for blatting around on. 

However, summer 96 passed and a friend of Karen's seemed interested in the Yamaha. I thought I had an Aprilia Pegaso lined up, so waved the Yam goodbye... then discovered the Pegaso was not quite as close to my grasp as it had seemed. 

But all was not lost, as this opened up the opportunity of going for the one bike that that I really fancied at the time - an MZ Skorpion Sport. I had one major disappointment, travelling 250 miles to see a "*****, mint condition" one which turned out to be an absolute dog.  Hopefully that dealer will think twice before trying it on  again, as I successfully sued him to recover my costs !  If you see an advert for 'Motorcycle Trade Sales' of Aldershot, walk away !!!! 

But luckily not all dealers are in the same and I rapidly found my new pride & joy down in Birmingham.  One previous owner, very low mileage and in beautiful condition it is a fun machine for sunny days that seem all too few and far between.  You could hardly describe it as fast, but on the local Dales roads it's fine.  As the first step on expanding the biking section of these pages, the Skorpion has its own page.  This was a "for sale" page, then I decided to keep it, but when I realised in 2001 that it had only done 100 miles in 18 months common sense had to prevail. That was the end of one chapter but another started a couple of years later. When I visited friend Tim for his 50th he let me have a spin on his Triumph Sprint. Very enjoyable, and getting the ideas going again. Karen said "if you really want another one...". So I set off looking for my own Triumph (after all, 3 is definitely the right number of cylinders for a bike).

My additional biking pages:

The Skorpion page

Some WWW biking links that you might find useful or interesting:

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