My brother has decided that it’s time to replace his beloved Honda Hornet. After 7 years of ownership and over 110000kms travelled, he reckons he’s ready for an upgrade.
The problem is that, while it was off the road having some carby work done, a well-meaning friend of ours lent him HIS bike to ride so that he could have some transport. The REAL problem is that the bike was a 954 Honda Fireblade. Paul came back from his first ride to the Pie Shop and said, “I’ll never need one of those, but, damn, I’d like one.” And that was where the problems REALLY started.
Since then he has lived on ebay, bikesales and any other online location where bikes are being bought and sold. He has moderated, shall we say, his “desirables” list to exclude straight-up sports bikes like the ‘Blade for obvious reasons, but his “possibles” have been several very nice ZX9-R Kawasakis (perhaps still a BIT too sporty for the type of riding that he does) and several Triumph 955 Sprints which would suit his style of riding perfectly, but are all holding their value a bit too well for them to be in the frame.
So, what other choices? You guessed it. In spite of him being a dyed-in-the-wool Yamaha man all his life, last time out, he bought a Honda, and it looks like he’s going to go that way again. In the same perverse set of circumstances that has me being a dyed-in-the-wool Honda man and yet being the owner of TWO Kawasakis, Paul is leaning heavily towards a VFR.
There are a number of bikes under consideration, a lovely 800 up on the far north coast and a mint 750 in Sydney. He’s reluctant to consider the 750 because it’s older than the Hornet (in terms of model year) even though it’s only got less than half the miles on it the Hornet has. The 800 seems to attract him more because it’s newer and also because of its added sophistication (EFI, DCBS, electronic dash, etc.)
So it looks like this week he’ll be having a look at the 750 (which I reckon is a peach of a bike, though I never was a huge fan of that particular shade of blue) and then, depending on how he feels about it, doing a road trip up to coast to look at the 800.
Interesting times ahead, I think.
In the BSB overnight, Brands Hatch turned on the very best of British weather, driving rain and a flooded track. Heat 1 was barely completed after several stoppages and Heat 2 was cancelled altogether. Pole man, Josh Brookes, never a fan of wet tracks, finished 10th! Ah, to be in England now that the Spring is here!!!
So, today it’s chores and then maybe a run up to TFRPS for a pie and a coffee. Yeah, that sounds nice.
Oh, and happy birthday to my gorgeous daughter, Natalie, who turns 36 today.
Oh (again). A thank you to Iain Marshall, one of my good friends on Facebook, who reminded me that the Guy Martin who I mentioned in yesterday’s post is not THE Guy Martin, star of stage, screen and the Isle of Man TT (as well as reality TV) but another Guy Martin who is a member of the British Z Owners club. As you were.