Tales of the Unexpected

Most types of shopping fill me with a stoical, yet reticent attitude - "I don't like this, but as I need X, I'll have to just get on with it". The other thing I find about shopping is when I am on a mission to buy something, I can never find what I want, but when I'm not really looking, the ideal product jumps into view. This happened following my first proper run since passing my test.

Sunday was all planned; my OH and I would go to church in the morning on our respective bikes and head out on a small run on reasonably familiar roads. As I something to return to Cupar motorcycles (the Suzuki dealer in Cupar), we planned the route on the basis of passing that way. I had already decided I would like to get a slightly bigger bike as the EN 125 is a great little bike, but show it a hill, even in town, and it'll be bouncing off the rev limiter in second gear. Great for a learner, but if I kept pushing it the engine was probably going to die. Okay, so I needed a bit more power, but what would fit; not just a novice biker, but a short one too. The best way to find out what I would be comfortable on was to sit on a few bikes.

The previous day, we had been in Glasgow. There's a Honda dealer there, so we went for a browse. The dealer didn’t have anything second hand bikes that were suitable, as they were too tall or not suitable for restriction to 33bhp. The guy at the dealer was really helpful. He explained which bikes were suitable for restriction. Apparently restricting a bike to 33bhp doesn't make a huge difference to how the machine drives and handles, but the top speed it reduced to 70-80mph (no autobahns for me at the moment!). The main issue when restricting a bike is how much torque the engine generates - the more torque, the better. My OH's line about this is "You buy horsepower, but drive torque". When a bike's restricted, it makes little or no difference to the torque.

Okay, so that cleared out that restricting a bike to 33bhp wasn't as big an issue as I thought it would be - there are kits for a large range of bikes and they are easy to fit. The next problem was what could I (excuse the phrase) "get my leg over". Again, the guy at the dealer was great. He showed me a couple of the bikes Honda make which are (as he put it) primarily aimed at the new biker, as they are easy to ride, confidence inspiring and can easily be restricted, if necessary. He encouraged me to have a seat. I tried out the CBF500, CBF600 and CB600F (no typo, they are different bikes). Although the 600 bikes have a larger engine (usually with bikes, the numbers indicate the size of the engine), they felt lighter. It's all down to how the engine's laid out and the frame etc. Anyway, they all felt very comfortable, but were brand new. I, as a general rule, don't buy brand new vehicles; I prefer someone else to take the hit on the depreciation of the vehicle. Also, it was only 4 weeks since I'd passed my test and I was only starting to look at the market…

Cupar motorcycles have an excellent reputation. The have been Ride magazine's recommended dealer, in Scotland, for 6 of the last 10 years (I think). Ride magazine is a motorbike magazine (as you may have guessed) with high standards. Also, my OH had bought his Suzuki Bandit from there and they were excellent with that. Besides, I had the item to return. Once that was dealt with, we had a browse of the bikes. The only machine below 33bhp, which wasn't a 125 was a Honda CBF250. I had thought about getting one. It wouldn’t be too big (in terms of weight and height) and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting it restricted. However, after the information I have gleaned on Saturday, my plans had changed - why not sit on a few bikes and see how to get the one I really liked restricted. Apparently one of the most popular bikes to be restricted is a Suzuki SV650. Cupar had a couple of them second hand and my OH pinned down a salesman, so I could have seat and see what I thought. I also told the salesman I am on a restricted license and enquired how much it would be to get a bike restricted (I didn't explain the height - it's quite obvious!). Shockingly, the restrictor kits cost £300ish pounds - significantly more than I had expected (I didn't expect them to be cheap, but still…). However, Suzuki is currently doing an offer where they will pay for the restrictor kits on a range of their brand new bikes. Looking at the cost of second hand unrestricted and then putting a restrictor kit in was looking less appealing, when compared to brand new with the restrictor kit fitted for free.

This led me to sit on several other Suzukis, which are part of this offer. A few of them were a little too high or the riding position wasn't comfortable. Things didn’t look great, but I was only having a look at the market and at this point had only sat on 4 bikes. Then the salesman happened to mention they had a second hand Honda Hornet (aka CB600F), which had a restrictor kit and was ready for the showroom - would I like to see it. Nothing ventured I thought.

The minute I sat on the bike, it felt a very comfortable riding position. The bike is low mileage, has a full service history and was a great price for what it was. I totally loved the feel of it, but would buying it be a rash decision. This called for a "bottle of juice" moment. This entails telling a salesman (any will do - we've done this to car, computer and camera ones) we need to have a think and go for a bottle of juice. We usually do get a bottle of juice to drink while we discuss the product.

My OH has a 3G phone, so while I went to purchase the said bottles, he did some surfing of the net. It looked like Hornet was the "perfect" machine in terms of cost, reliability etc. A quick check of our finances showed we could afford for me to trade up, so long as Cupar was willing to take the EN as a trade-in. Although the EN is a great bike for learning and pottering about in town, I was aware as a grey import, selling it privately may not be easy.

Cupar were happy to take the EN (subject to a workshop check) for a reasonable price, all things considered. So I bought the Hornet. I'm leaving early from work to pick it up today. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about riding it. It much bigger than anything I've ever ridden and is an unfamiliar machine. I just need to take it canny and I'm sure I'll be fine.