Blast the past
Why would anyone go out and buy a new bike when the answer to that ongoing question of ‘what’s the right bike for you?’ can be answered so simply... just go back to where it all began.
I found that out years ago when I sold my VFR800 Honda and went out on a mad minute and came home with a Yamaha TZR250.
My wife thought I’d gone mad but it makes sense to me because I remember having one of these in 1987 and it was probably one of the happiest times of my life being able to just ride around without a care and riding a screamer as hard as I could.
These days I might be a bit heavier and may have lost a lot of the hair I used have in 1987(!) but every time I swing a leg over the bike I’m taken straight back to those days. The sounds and smell of that bike are magical. Put a helmet on and pull down the black visor and it really could be back then.
I could have gone and bought a new Fireblade or GSX-R and if I did I’m pretty sure that I would have ended up losing my licence or worse. What I found was that I was riding faster and faster on the road and the bikes were getting more powerful underneath me. But on the TZR250 there’s no worry about the speed because the bike’s already working hard to get up to the sorts of speed where I could lose my licence, so I don’t end up pushing it that much.
Another benefit is that I don’t feel like I have to keep up with anyone else because it’s only a 250 road bike. I can’t blast off when anyone else does and so my pace is my pace.
By going back to my youth and being out and about on the TZR250 again I’ve freed myself of any pressure to keep up with others or the new bikes, and I’ve really found myself enjoying biking again. Colin Nuttall
MCM says: Colin, we’re with you all the way, man! What you’ve found is indeed the truth to being happy with motorcycling.
Get what you love, ride it and enjoy it at the right pace for that bike. Sod anyone who tells you that what you’ve got or how you ride is no good.
If you’re happy with your bike and how you ride it then you’ll never find an excuse to ride because you won’t need one. You’ll be riding how you want to all the time. Bravo.