The retrospection and nostalgia loop…

It’s a strange thing, but getting on the same model of bike you spent a lot of saddle time in/ on decades ago is a fascinating experience.

I’ve had that this month with the Y2K Honda CBR900RR – better known as the ‘929’. I spent many a happy year on mine back in 2001 and did more than 10,000 miles on it in about nine months. I didn’t care that it wasn’t a Yamaha R1; it helped me commute 200 miles-plus a day, four days a week, and helped me enjoy a track day or three. Of course, like we do with newer bikes when we’re lucky enough to have them, I moved on. I think I moved on to an Aprilia RSV-R Mille. Not quite as practical and certainly not as reliable as the Blade.

Then, over the intervening years, I’ve written about the 929 and (away from having one in the garage) you start to be a little more objective in your assessment of it – because your bottom isn’t gracing the seat anymore. Subjectivity comes with seat time, so it was great to ride one again and be able to re-evaluate the bike, but this time with added nostalgia. It’s nice how quickly you get back into the groove with a bike and recall its nuances. I guess the ultimate would be to find the very bike I had. I wonder what that would feel like? I know Y174NLO is out there somewhere – currently SORN’D and its last MOT was May 2022. I wonder how many miles it has on it now?

Do we get so dewy-eyed over cars? Well, maybe a few (our first perhaps) but not many. I, for one, would love to saddle up on a bike I once owned – although knowing nostalgic old me, it would probably lead to a daft cash offer for it…