THE £35K CHALLENGE

It’s a silly amount of money, £35,000. You could buy a 1299 Panigale R FE for that, or you could furnish your garage with this eclectic collection instead…

So, Bruce spanked the 1299 Panigale R FE? That’s cute. There’s no doubt Ducati’s final Panigale hurrah is extremely sexy, an exceptional engineering masterpiece and (could be) a shrewd financial investment in the long run. But what about spending the same money on at least five bikes to cover every riding eventuality, assuming your garage is big enough? Even cuter. And far more astute.

We like to think of this as a dream garage of sorts; rather than shooting your load in one Panigale-shaped basket, we’re hypothetically buying a used bike from every corner of the (five-sided) motorcycle spectrum to satisfy all environments – seven days a week, 365 days a year. Something for the weekend, a track bike, the ultimate roadster, a mile-munching armchair and, of course, a superbike. Starting with the cheapest, you can buy a half-decent pit bike for as little as £500. And the dearest? We’ve budgeted £15k for a luxurious Gran Tourismo armchair from Bavaria.

As we continually suggest, the used market is ripe for the picking and not all of us have the minerals to afford brand-new, or even muster a finance deal. We picked one of the hottest days in July and jetted south to long-term friends of FB, Bransons Motorcycles in Yeovil. There, amid an array of spangly new Hondas, Yamahas and Kawasakis, lay an assortment of second-hand bargains to assist us, as well as calling in favours from Bahnstormer BMW and JHS Racing.

Granted, the 1299 R is superexclusive and über adept on track, but you won’t be munching miles or racing round karting tracks on one. Here’s our guide to spending £35,000 legally.