More about Me
A lot of the people who've contacted me through this site seem to be around the same age as me with a similar biking
background - I guess 80's strokers seem to appeal on the same 'wish-I-was-18-again' nostalgic level to everyone of a certain
age. Here's my biking history so you can compare it to your own. And if anyone knows where any of my old bikes
are, please get in touch...
It all started a few weeks before my 16th birthday in July 1982 with a secondhand Yamaha DT50M (XDN192V)
bought for £140 (cheers Dad !). Is there a better bike than that first one that gives you your
independence ? Going to school was never so much fun. The DT took me everywhere and taught me a lot about bikes
(like you have to put oil in them or they seize - oops !). When I turned 17 I moved up to
a Kawasaki AR80 (WGN434W) which was sadly stolen after 18 months never to be seen
again. It was a good bike, though trying to keep up with my mates on their 125's meant a crank rebuild was needed after
a while. In March 1985 I passed my test on a borrowed RD80LC (thanks Gav) and bought
a Yamaha RD350LC (JKH304Y) a week later. The best biking experiences of my
life were all on the LC - all those long summer nights where you do a hundred miles but never really go anywhere. I wish
I'd still got it. But in October 1986 with some savings burning a hole in my pocket, I sold both the LC and DT and
bought a brand-new Suzuki GSX-R750G (D811LAT).
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I was only 20 and my mates away at university were running RD's and GSX250's etc. while I was poncing about on the superbike
of the moment ! With hindsight I'm not sure why I didn't go for the RG500 instead but I loved the GSX-R and was gutted
when some dozy twat in a Nova turned across my path and destroyed it in March 1988. Hopefully that'll be my last ride
in an ambulance. While waiting for the insurance money, I still needed to get to work so I picked up
a Kawasaki KH250 (OUB569P) out of the local paper. It never really ran properly
despite loads of fettling, a complete stripdown and some 'professional' (cough...) tuning but it had loads of style and
character. Shortly afterwards I spotted another Yamaha RD350LC (B113VAG)
for sale in the local paper - it had the proper yellow Roberts-rep paintjob so I snapped it up. It had Microns fitted
which I never really liked so my mate lent me his spare chrome Allspeeds for a while. Three months later, the LC
started making suspect noises from the bottom-end and I sold it in a panic, forgetting to swap the exhausts back
first. Sorry Dave ! By now, the insurance had finally paid out on the GSX-R so I bought a
brand-new Yamaha TDR250 (F482BAT).
I still think the TDR concept was spot-on. An LC-engined supermoto-styled hooligan machine is still my idea of the
perfect bike. But the TDR was a bit of a disappointment, being nowhere near as mental as the press made out, and with shocking build
quality that made it rust overnight and cut out badly in the wet. In January 1990 I traded it in for another new bike -
a Suzuki GSX-R750K (G161NAT). It did nothing wrong and took me everywhere
but I never really liked the way it looked so in August 1991 I traded it in for a
new Suzuki GSX-R750M (J311EAG). The same bike - more or less - but with USD
forks and much better styling in gorgeous black/purple. But by April 1993 I was getting bored again and a trip to
Padgetts in Batley to help my mate Grant replace his FZR600 saw me looking round their showroom with a twitching
wallet. I didn't really know what I wanted next but I went over to look at a GSX-R just like mine. Except it
wasn't a 750, it was a Suzuki GSX-R1100M (K11OOX) and it was
brand-new. Half an hour later and I'd swapped...
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By Autumn 1993 I still hadn't bothered learning to drive a car so whatever bike I had at the time was year-round essential
transport. The snow and salted roads had taken their toll on my previous bikes and I'd finally sold the KH, so in order
to help keep the 1100 immaculate I bought a Yamaha DT125R (G176MAT). Every
snowy day could now be looked forward to instead of dreaded, with a winter commute seeing my speedway-style powersliding
attempts get better all the time and the summer months seeing a leisurely stripdown and rebuild of the DT in an attempt to
repair the ravages of salt and snow. Work forced me to finally learn to drive in 1995 and the DT got sold a year
later when I bought my first car. The 1100 continued to provide everything I needed in a bike.
Fast-forward to May 2000 - I've still got the 1100. I still read all the bike magazines but none of the stuff in the
showrooms really appeals any more and I've grown out of the sportsbike rat-race. I start to get all misty-eyed whenever
I see an old two-stroke and decide I need to get another one. I keep an eye out in the local paper for anything
suitable, hoping to score an LC or maybe a Kawasaki 500 triple. Soon I spy an advert for
a Kawasaki S3A 400 (SDN884P) and go to have a look. It's very nice but it's
not a 500 so I make the seller a very low offer and leave.  He rings me a couple of days later and accepts
it ! He's spent some time restoring it with new parts, though it's not so perfect that I daren't ride it like it was
intended. I have great fun howling through the streets leaving nice blue clouds everywhere again. Ooh, it's good
to be back !
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Autumn 2002 sees me looking around for a 350LC to go with the triple, then my wife intervenes and
the Kawasaki KR250 magically appears instead. This website is all
about what happens after that of course, and the 'spare' Kawasaki
KR250 finds a place in the garage too. Since then, I've sold the triple in order to make room in the garage
to work on the KR's and picked up yet another Kawasaki KR250 too.
In 2005, after 12 faithful years service, I finally sold the 1100. I'd thought about swapping it for something several times over the years but never found anything else I wanted badly enough. Well, it's the perfect bike - it starts on the button and you can just stick it in top gear and cruise to work getting 45mpg if you want. But if you suddenly find you need to be at the other end of the country in an hour, you can switch your brain off and go nuts. It deserves it's reputation for evil handling but that's just part of the fun. Drag-strip hero (11.08 secs at the PB GSX-R Day at Santa Pod), two-up tourer or stunt tool - it'll do it all. But a mate kept begging me to sell it to him and eventually I gave in.
In February 2006, having convinced myself that I still needed another 350LC, a
lovely Yamaha TZR250 (H773YGP) turned up nearby and I couldn't resist it. It's the Reverse Cylinder (3MA) model, and the SP (Sport Production) variant which means it's got a dry clutch, close-ratio gearbox and various other little trick bits.
November 2007. I'd been thinking about getting another GSX-R. I wasn't really missing the 1100 but I kept seeing 'Slabbies' and feeling nostalgic. I came very close to buying a nice original 1100G but then I spotted a
Suzuki GSX-R750RK and snapped it up. Like the TZR, it's a homologation special. And in May 2008 I bought it's little brother, a Suzuki RB50.
October 2008. Almost 6 years after acquiring my first one, I've just bought my
fourth Kawasaki KR250. Can't fit any more in the garage now though...
...not unless they're really small anyway. So in June 2012 I buy a Kawasaki KS-II 80. And in April 2013
I sell the TZR. In Oct 2014 I finally buy another Yamaha RD350LC and manage to squeeze it into the
garage by relegating three to the shed.
Until July 2019, when a long-overdue house move takes place, enabling all 12 bikes (as it was at the time) to be stored safely in one garage without
having to lean on each other. Sadly, various factors relegated motorbikes a long way down the list of important parts of my life, and Edna
(the KS-II) was sold in August 2024 in a small step towards getting some control of my life back. That makes it 21 bikes then, 7 of which I still own
for now.
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Keeping my bikes company in the garage is my wife Sara's Honda 250 Hornet, yet another grey-import 250, utilising the inline-4 motor from the CBR250RR that redlines at 16000rpm and the 180/55 rear tyre from the
FireBlade ! Lovely to ride and so much better looking than the watered-down 600 and 900 Hornets Honda UK eventually brought in. It's since been joined by her other toys, a pair of 'Gag' bikes :
a Honda NSR50 (repainted in Rossi/Nastro colours) and
a Yamaha TDR80 (completely stripped and restored), plus a Yamaha SDR200 although
that was sold in August 2023. She needs to sell the NSR and maybe get a Grom to replace it with.
Her Suzuki GSX-R400 and Honda H100 are long gone now though, and the Kawasaki ZL250 Eliminator was never hers - the bike shop lent it to her while the Hornet was being shipped over from Japan.
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Oh yeah, I'm also in the world's crappiest rock band - check
out The Bastards From Hell...
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I was never really that bothered about cars. I didn't learn to drive until I was 29 and only did it then because
it was holding me back at work. I bought my first car in September 1996, a 2.9 litre
Ford Sierra XR4x4 (J95OBA). It had a lovely grunty V6 motor and all the toys. Unfortunately it also
had loads of problems that the previous owner had bodged. I spent £2000 over 10 months fixing it, culminating in a
complete engine rebuild. After that, it was the great car that it should always have been but I quit while I was
ahead and traded it in August 1997 for a brand new Renault Laguna 2.0
RT (R350HAT). I kept that almost 9 years as it did everything I needed but eventually it reached the point
in its life where it was needing regular repairs and I decided to replace it with something newer. So in June 2006 I got
a 2-year old Ford Focus ST170 (VX54VLE), which provided mostly-reliable practical transport for 7 years
whilst also being fun to drive. But in June 2013 I swapped that for a VW T5 Kombi which functions as
both 5-seat hatchback, bike transporter and trackday support vehicle...
I also co-own a 1991 Rover Mini Cooper. 'Charlie' was bought in 2002 especially to do the Italian Job Rally. He
is 1275cc, has a single carb, 2" stainless centre exhaust system (no cat), K&N air-filter and electronic
ignition. Rover Sportspack arches barely cover the 175/50 R13 Bridgestone tyres on Minilite-style
alloys - also present are halogen headlights, 4 spotlights, twin airhorns, an upgraded stereo and a one-off airbrushed roof
mural. Creeping rust means that he is fresh out of a very expensive 6-month restoration by a local Mini specialist. Check
out The Italian
Job for details of our Mini adventure...
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So what next ? Well obviously my first KR will be buried with me, and the special is a keeper too (just so I can get it finished). I'd love a mint red/black KR250S too but three KR's is enough - I'm not trying to collect them
all. I can't see either of the Suzuki's going anywhere, nor the LC.
Did you notice that I've never owned a Honda ? There's something about them and the people that own them that turns me off somehow. Everything I've owned so far has been either a Yamaha/Kawasaki 2-stroke or a GSX-R.
Given a big enough garage and bank balance, I've always said I'd be wanting more Suzuki's : '89 GSX-R400RRSP, Mk1 Gamma 250, 250 Katana, 750 'pop-up',
GSX1400 and another GSX-R slabbie. But the way my life is now, I think the correct number of bikes anyone should own is 4 : something usable that will
always start and enable us to go out for the day (like we used to on my 1100M), something more exotic/unusual for bike meets and shows, a long-term project,
and a toy/ornament. Looks like I need to get rid of a lot then.