SV-Wolf's Bike Blog

[dr_bar]

I think you might be surprised at the power and handling of that 700+ lb baby...

[jstark47]

OK, I geddit. You're trying to scare me off, doc. Right?

1520ccs, how much weight? and a disengaged riding position!

Lol! You win! I'm getting nervous even thinking about it.

You might be surprised. Low center of gravity redeems it. It's quite nimble at speed, even pulling a trailer.

[blues2cruise]

We'll rent you a sport bike......

[sv-wolf]

OK, I geddit. You're trying to scare me off, doc. Right?

1520ccs, how much weight? and a disengaged riding position!

Lol! You win! I'm getting nervous even thinking about it.

You might be surprised. Low center of gravity redeems it. It's quite nimble at speed, even pulling a trailer.

Maybe.

[sv-wolf]

It has been a frustrating week. I've been so pressured, both at work and at home every day and every evening that I haven't had a chance to collect either of the bikes and bring them home... until today.

DrumWrecker rode over this morning on his new(ish) bike to give me a pillion to Aston Clinton where the Daytona was waiting at the dealers. I squeezed onto the back seat in front of his top box. It was the first time I'd been on a bike in about six weeks. It was a great day for a ride, a little chilly perhaps, and the roads were a bit greasy, but the air was full of sunlight. DW took the back route through Whipsnade, past the zoo and down into the Vale of Aylesbury. As we came off the Chilterns, the Herts, Beds and Bucks countryside lay spread out before us: very autumnal: russet and gold: old gold and new gold, and ruby red. Wonderful! I settled down to enjoy myself. That was easy. I was pretty exhausted from lack of sleep over the last four nights, and quite spaced out. Just sitting there watching the world go by was so relaxing, and being leaned by the bike without having to do the work made me feel like I was flying. I'm not sure, though, that I'd make a good pillion rider in the long-term. After about half-an-hour into the trip I began to recover myself; my nerves started humming and my veins began to long for a shot of adrenalin.

It was great to see the Daytona again - at first. But up close, her cracked fairings and general state of less-than-perfectness made me wince. The split in the left fairing around the front indicator looked worse than ever. It has been caving in slowly over several months.

I paid for the service and the MOT, then found Tim, the salesman and made some enquiries about a part-exchange. I wanted to know what it would cost me to swap her for another Daytona with a lower mileage - a much lower milage. This is just one idea I have (one among several). It seems that I could get the same year and model with a couple of thousand miles on the clock for about £2,800. My old girl with about 22,000 miles to her credit would have a part-exchange value of £2,000 - if she were in good condition. Which, of course, she isn't. To replace the fairings, the dealers would knock about £1,000 off the list price. Ouch! It's time to see if I can find some second-hand fairings at a breaker's yard or an auto-jumble and fit them myself.

I was nervous at the idea of piloting the Daytona home after spending such a long time trotting around on two feet. DW had advised me to take it easy and I'd nodded wisely in response. Six weeks is the longest non-riding period I've had in... it seems like forever. In those few, short weeks I'd begun to re-emerge, fresh and confused, back into a half-forgotten, non-bike world and a petrol-free identity and lifestyle. Sacrilegous thoughts had passed occasionally through my head: bikes are very over-rated, I'd thought; too expensive for my budget; more trouble than they are worth; they were taking up too much of my waking life.

LOL.

DW was on his way to see another friend who lived nearby. I waved goodbye to him as we left the dealers then turned into the road. I opened the throttle imperceptibly and headed for home.

Beauty was reborn. The Daytona's engine purred happily like whipped cream. (Mine purred too!) How could I not have remembered this? In fact, my body did remember: it was just my head that had forgotten. The Daytona drifted light as air down the High Street, gracing it with easy power. She was like a glider riding the currents - a glider with all the punch in her belly of a Lancaster bomber. She was delicate and powerful, quiet and majestic. At the edge of town I leaned her over effortlessly onto the roundabout - hard and fast - and took the near 360-degree turn onto the dual-carriageway with as much abandonment as I'd ever felt. It had happened as easy as breathing. Down the highway with the throttle open she sang sweet songs to me. Ron's advice was completely forgotten. She poured herself onwards like a kid shooting a water flume. And in that most intimate relationship between rider and machine, deep in her physical bulk, I felt the engine turning, lithe and generous, but with all the bunched muscle of a Hereford bull.

Sigh!

It was a great ride.

Back home I wheeled her happily down the alley and across the back of my neighbour's house towards the hard standing outside my rear door. (I have a legal right of way.) My neighbour was in the garden as I went by, hacking away at a huge bramble that has grown there for at least fifteen years and probably fifty. He has recently bought the property and I hadn't yet had time to say hello. He scowled mightily as he saw me, surprised and displeased. Oh f**k! This is going to need some diplomacy! He was obviously not expecting this. Perhaps he hasn't read the deeds very carefully or perhaps he just wasn't anticipating a bike. There was a load of moving-in stuff near the end of the alleyway. I manoeuvred the Daytona around it easily enough, but I knew it would block my way going out again. I'm going to have to ask him to move it. There's nothing he can do, legally. I can insist. But he could make life difficult. I don't want a difficult neighbour.

I was in too happy a mood to deal with the situation there and then. I called out a greeting and carried on. I'll knock on his door tomorrow and give him a smile...

That's the Daytona back in her place.

On Tuesday, Bob will pick me up from work in the evening and I will collect the SV (with its new shiney, blue-based brake-fluid reservoir.)

OK, it's late and I'm tired. But the clocks go back tonight - back to GMT. Summer is over, folks. Ride safe.

[blues2cruise]

Yippee! SV has a song in his heart again.

Ya know.....naked bikes are very trendy....just removed the danged fairing.....

[sv-wolf]

Yippee! SV has a song in his heart again.

Ya know.....naked bikes are very trendy....just removed the danged fairing.....

Now blues, I've seen her naked. You know that some folks just look better with their clothes on!

[Wrider]

Hey now! I resemble that remark!

[blues2cruise]

Yippee! SV has a song in his heart again.

Ya know.....naked bikes are very trendy....just removed the danged fairing.....

Now blues, I've seen her naked. You know that some folks just look better with their clothes on!

[High_Side]

Yippee! SV has a song in his heart again.

Ya know.....naked bikes are very trendy....just removed the danged fairing.....

+1 Speedtriples with clip-ons are cool. And they look great naked!