I’ve never been much on riding other peoples’ bikes, too expensive if I do something silly with them. That’s not to say that I haven’t and the “silly” bit has also happened as you will discover.
Technically, my first ever ride was a “sampling”. As you know, Bob Holden and his wife returned to Wollongong in 1974 after a two year stint in Mt Isa where Bob had a lot of fun, earned a lot of money and returned with lots of “toys” A big caravan, A brand new Holden HQ Premier V8, a couple of expensive guitars and a motorcycle to name just a few. He had also added a daughter to the family while he was away and I’m pleased to say that I have reestablished contact with Bob’s widow, Sharyn and her daughter, now living in Queensland. Bob sadly passed away about 10 years ago after a long battle with cancer.
Of all of Bob’s toys, the one that intrigued me the most, was his motorcycle because, prior to leaving Wollongong, he had never expressed the slightest interest in bikes. We were all car and car racing fans. Heck, Bob was related to his famous namesake, winner of the Bathurst enduro in 1966 with the Finnish ace, Rauno Altonen. But he came back from Mt Isa raving about how great bikes were and it didn’t take long before I was convinced (I NEEDED some) to give it a try. The resultant sampling was captured above and represents the day I was also converted to two wheels.
As a young tyro I set about learning all that I could about this new obsession. No internet in those days so I devoured all the printed publications I could. I haunted the newsagents, waiting for the new issues of Cycle Guide and Cycle World to arrive from the USA. Later I became addicted to the local publications, Two Wheels, REVS and AMCN. Strangely I had been riding for over a year before I went to my first bike RACE meeting, continuing to attend and support car racing, especially at Oran Park, just up the road from Wollongong.
But my brother had started riding as well, without any consultation between us, it’s that twin thing, and I had a ride on his RD250 Yamaha. Strangely he never let me ride it when he converted it to a 350 cafe racer complete with expansion chambers, but I recall how different the two stroke bike was to my Honda 350/4.
I didn’t do much sampling but I did a bit and it was this that prompted me to write this article this morning. Almost within days of each other I rode the two Japanese superbikes, back-to-back.
I don’t remember who owned the 750/4 that I rode but he must have been pretty brave letting me, a rank novice, loose on it. I sure am grateful that he did, though. At first daunted by its size, I quickly found what most riders did, that the illusion of size and weight disappeared as soon as the bike was under way. The smoothness of the 4 cylinder engine was NOT a surprise, it really just felt like a bigger version of what I was already riding. But it sure did feel big, those high handlebars, the width of the seat and the engine and the astonishing power when one cracked the throttle. What I DID find most daunting, however, was the handling which became even more pronounced in retrospect. In a straight line, the stability of the thing was awesome but I wasn’t prepared for the pronounced “bump” that occurred when you tried to get the bike to deviate from straight ahead. It was like you had to “muscle” it over into the corner. Once past vertical, the handling was superb and it sat exactly where you wanted it to, it was just getting it OFF vertical that was off-putting. Overall, I loved it, the rush of power and responsiveness of the engine was super.
Only a few days later I got to ride Bob’s new Z1 Kawasaki. The ride on the Honda had prepared me for the size (I had sat on one in the shop and was amazed at how huge it was) and Bob had yet to replace the high handlebars with a lower set that improved it considerably, but what a revelation it was. It was like the Honda on steroids, the extra 150cc made such a huge difference. The power was pretty much the same from my limited sampling but the torque, my goodness, the liquid flow of acceleration from wherever you were in the rev range and whatever gear you were in was exhilarating. I know I never gave either bike even the most cursory workout compared to what a good rider could have done, but what an experience it was.
But the thing that made the Z1 stand out the most was that making it deviate from straight ahead was effortless. There WAS no “bump” that I had noted in the 750/4. Point it and that’s where it went. Amazing. I could see why it was such a successful race bike, even with my own limited exposure to it.
The following year I sampled the brand new offering from Honda, the Gold Wing. You know the story well and the sequel to it that saw me eventually keeping my promise and owning one of the things myself.
When we and Bob and his family moved to Canberra later I got the opportunity to sample a few bikes that Bob had traded in at his car yard. By far the most fun was the little Suzuki TS100 that he had traded. I don’t think he’d given the owner much for it when it was traded because Bob lent it to me just to ride around on and I kept it for months before he finally said he’d better sell it. On reflection I should have bought it off him it was so much FUN.
I can’t recall sampling any other bikes (I probably did) until many years later when I was looking for a replacement for my first VFR. I wanted another one and the MotoGp ride was coming up but I couldn’t find one. Finally, in desperation, I approached my next door neighbour and asked him of I could ride his VTR1000 to see if I liked it or not. He agreed on the proviso that, if I dropped it, I had to buy it. Guess what? I did and I did. The damage was almost imperceptible but, a deal was a deal so I did the ride to PI and back on it and became familiar with a great many petrol stations as a consequence. I didn’t keep it long, it was too thirsty, didn’t have a centrestand and it ran out of revs real quick. It was fun, though.
A little later I DID sample a glorious GSX-R750 Suzuki K8 on the old Pacific Highway. Max and I had done a ride up there and he took the opportunity to ride The Yellow Submarine in a (futile) attempt to diagnose its handling issues. I sure got the best end of that deal, what a fabulous bike it was. I also had a quick blat up the Pass on Zippa’s 954 Fireblade, THAT was a revelation, but, apart from that, with insurance costs escalating, I began knocking back offers to try out my mates’ bikes and I’m pretty glad that I have done so.
It’s hardly riding weather right now with the whole of the east coast enshrouded in cloud and monsoonal rain. Still, the roads are still there and the weather must clear eventually.
Thanks for reading, I’ll catch you next time.