I was chatting to Anthony this morning, from whom I bought Rhonnda, and he reminded me that she was 20 years old. Of course she is, she’s a 1998 model, but I didn’t realise just HOW 20 years old she is until I went out to the garage and checked the compliance plate. There it is, for all to see, not only is she 20 years old but she is 20 years old THIS MONTH!
For the record she had 53000kms on the clock when I bought her, she now has 74000. So, in the last two years (almost exactly), I’ve put on about 20k. Most of these have been touring kilometres and they include 2 x 2000km+ trips to Queensland and back.
Averaging it out, she has done 3600kms per year for the last 20 years, hardly startling figures. BUT, Anthony has six other bikes, old Pommie ones mostly and it its these bikes that he rides the most. Actually, it was the fact that Rhonnda wasn’t being ridden as often as she should be that first planted the seed in Anthony’s mind that he should on-sell her to someone who’d use her like the manufacturer intended.
It took me a long time to bond with Rhonnda; her torques characteristics are vastly different to the 4th Gen bikes I am used to riding and I have to confess that I still miss that mellow, buttery flow of torque that the carburettored 4th Gen engines deliver. However, there are many advantages to owning a newer bike and I can’t see us parting company any time soon (unless you can offer me a VERY low-mile 4th Gen is outstanding conditions – then I would still be tempted)
In the mean time, as long as she delivers the smiles-per-mile that she is capable of, like yesterday, we might be celebrating a lot more birthdays.