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by Mike Turner
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I kept the Honda for nearly two years and then got suckered into the purchase of my next road bike, a Yamaha R6. The story goes like this. I went to visit a mate, Graham, who manages a motorbike shop. Before I could sit down he threw a set of keys at me saying “Try this one out then, just don’t rev it over 10,000r.p.m”. “Which one is it?” I replied. “You have just parked next to it” answered Graham.
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So there it was, sitting outside in the forecourt, next to my Honda, a brand spanking new red, white and black R6.
I decided on a tried and trusted route in order to get the most out of this test run, the first five miles or so being fairly straight to give me a chance to get the feel for the bike. The next couple of miles is pretty much biking heaven, with just about every type of corner you can think of.
After the first set of twisties I realized I had an ear to ear smile underneath my crash helmet and thought to myself “This is a pretty cool bike”. After a few more corners I was besotted and knew I had to have one.
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And here we have my next bike, probably the best road bike I have ever owned, a brand new Yamaha R1. This was the 2002 version, the first R1 to have fuel injection. It really was state of the art, at the time it was probably the best sports bike on the market.This photo was taken at a track day at Oulton Park, that was when I realized just what a manic bike it was, I was easily able to lap much faster than a lot of bigger capacity bikes. The main problem I had was the fear of crashing my bike on a track day where you are not covered by insurance, so I took it pretty easy.
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Due to a trip back to Australia the R1 had to be sold, what a sad day that was.
On my return from Australia the first thing I wanted was to get yet another road bike. I did not want the out and out sports nature of the R1 and, what with my intention to experience some European touring, I decided to have a more sedate machine, something that would be very capable of being a good all rounder.
So it was back to a Honda VFR, but this time it was a VFR 800. I bought the bike locally in a private sale, I negotiated quite a good deal. This bike took me to Europe on three separate occasions, never once missing a beat. It was also very capable of holding it’s own against much more powerful sport bikes that visited my local roads on their regular weekend blast. As you can see, the bike was in stunning condition, quite amazing for a six year old when this photo was taken.
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There is no doubt that my VFR 800 was a totally immaculate machine. In this photo here you may not believe that the bike was actually six years old and hardly a single mark to be found on it anywhere.The bike is pretty much standard except for the K&N air filter and the exquisitely made Fuel Performance Exhaust after market silencer that I fitted. Both of these items were fitted to help the motor to breathe a little easier and to eradicate a couple of flat spots in the rev range.It was a very sad day indeed to watch another biker ride off on my pride and joy, but if the new owner, Steve, has as much pleasure and reliability out of the bike as I had, then he will be happy.
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Now we come up to date with my current bike, a beautiful Honda Super Blackbird XX. It has an 1137c.c. in line four cylinder, four valves per cylinder, engine. The paint scheme has been carried out by the previous owner who wanted the Honda 50th Anniversary colours. The bike has had Ohlins suspension upgrades and a few tuning parts. I have added the touring gear, i.e., tank cover and expanding bag, rear rack and top-box. and Melboy custom seat. It all adds up to a bike with mind boggling performance that is comfortable to be riding all day with no aches or pains whatsoever. This photo of the bike, with all it’s touring luggage on, was taken outside a bikers B&B in the Ardennes region of Belgium.
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