Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Magazine November 2018 Vorige editie

What is it that makes us bike-brand-loyal?
Me: I’ve owned many varied and different
machines, including Hondas, Yamahas, Suzukis,
Aprilias and the like – not a Ducati – yet, but
I’d love one. Maybe a 1990s 900SS or Superlight
(oh the irony…).
I have friends who (for one reason or
another) would never – and I mean never –
entertain the thought of a Honda, but they
would buy any Suzuki, Yamaha or Kawasaki
and that really confuses me. If you like Jap
bikes, surely you like Jap bikes?
Ahhh… Kawasaki. If there’s a manufacturer I
feel some form of affinity to, it would be the Big
K. All thanks to my uncle working at the local
dealership (Dave Fox in Ramsgate) but I’d see
what my uncle rode and press my nose to the
glass of the dealership and dream. Yeah, I know
you’ve heard all this before, but I don’t care.
It wasn’t an accident then that my first bike
would be a KMX125, even if my first ‘field ride’
would be Suzuki’s X-1.
Today I love the fact that – when I have some
disposable – I can look at ‘modern’ Hinckley
Triumphs from the very early 1990s, perhaps
peruse that 900SS Ducati from 1991/1992 (or
maybe an ST-2/4 from the end of that decade)
all the various Japanese machine from the
1980s-on as well as the likes of Aprilia’s Milles
and other early noughties machines…
Yup, if there’s one thing we are blessed
with at the moment in our chosen
hobby it’s this: diversity.