Motor Biking: What to do !!

I’ve had loads of comments this week about giving up riding. “fall down 7 times, get up 8”, “don’t be a T**T Moxy”, “don’t do it”, “you can give up once you’re dead”. All encouraging stuff, thanks lads.

I really don’t know what to do for the best. I’ve been riding since I was 16 and in that time I’ve only ever had a year off and that was when I broke my back. The common denominator in all my crashes has been speed. Maybe I’m not as good as I think I am or maybe I should leave the track speed on the track.

Thiers something very special about the biking world and I don’t just mean the thousands of great bikes out there. But the people who ride them, it’s a universal language that spans the globe. I have friends up and down the country, in Germany and Holland. It doesn’t matter where you go someone will talk to you about your ride or past experiences. You don’t even have to be on your machine, just wearing an IOM TT T-shirt is enough to make a perfect stranger buy you a pint. Hours later and war stories exchanged you’re the best of friends.

I have 3 choices to choose from:

1. Buy a road bike that will suit my needs, good looking, handles well, but not a racer.

2. Buy a track bike and fulfil my need for speed.

3. Hang my helmet up for good.

In my heart I know I’d love another bike but what do I choose, a racer is defiantly out of the question. I’d like to stay with the big 1000, that’s just a personal thing and a dream I had as a kid, owning a big thousand. But what bike, I like the Aprilia Tuono, a great looking bike with great add ons as standard. The new Norton is a great looking bike with all the heritage and soul of the good old days. I still like the V Max, a big muscle big with great styling. Or do I get something totally different like the BMW R1200GS ? One thing is for certain, I won’t be getting a Hog !!

I’ve looked into getting a track bike this past week and there are some great deals. Anything from £2,500-£10,000. I was looking more around the £3,000 mark to start me off. OK there’s no insurance or tax required and the benefits to a track bike are appealing. No police, clean lines (no manhole covers), everyone is going in the same direction (usually) and best of all no speed limits. Having said that, track days can be costly, so are tyres if you’re going to rip them up. I need a trailer or a van and somewhere to keep all this.

Then again I could just call it quits and put my leathers away for good. I don’t think I’ll be making any plans this year, I need to treat my lovely wife to a well deserved holiday and then the season will be over. Next year however may well be a different story when the sun is out and my son disappears out of sight on his Aprilia, leaving me on the drive with an aching heart.

But before all of that I need to fix my collar bone and get fit again, as quickly as possible but that’s another blog. See you all soon.

To all that do ride, good luck and stay safe, remember, keep it rubber side down.

"All men die, not all men really live"

Ed.