Motorcycles 1992 to 1994
Nov 10th, 2007 by Tim Skipper
I didn’t start riding bikes on the road until 1992, when I bought a black Suzuki GS125 four-stroke. It was a great learner bike, but it seized its engine in spectacular style whilst riding flat-out (at a heady 65mph) on the Dereham bypass. I had to push it 3 miles home, before returning it to the dealer I bought it from and getting my money back.
This was replaced by another GS125, a yellow one that I bought out of the paper. The GS served me well, commuting from Dereham to Norwich on it every day, sun rain or snow, until I passed my bike test and started lusting after bigger machinery.
A brief flirtation with a Honda 400/4 (Dad had a really lovely red one when I was a kid, which is what attracted me to it) lead to the magnificence that was a red Honda VFR750.
What a cracking bike the VFR750 was, with its V4 engine it made a lovely noise, and it went like the clappers (to the tune 120 mph on the Dereham bypass one evening, result; 30 day ban £200 fine <embarrassed>). Mine was the model year prior to the introduction of the heavier and less powerful single-sided swinging arm VFR750.
Not long after buying the VFR750 I joined Norfolk Advanced Motorcyclists (NAM), the local advanced riding group affiliated to the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). A work colleague was heavily involved in NAM and extolled the virtues of learning the advanced riding techniques favoured by the Police and taking the test.
I passed my test in 1993 and over the next few years went on to join the committee, become the group Publicity Officer and later an Observer (training associate members for their advanced test).
A short stint on a Honda SS100 followed the sale of my VFR750, before I wandered into Lings of Watton one day and was totally smitten by a Candy Black & Chrome Triumph Trident 900. The Triumph 900cc triple engine was a peach, and had a very distinct sound. The Trident was a heavy bike though, and couldn’t be thrown away quite so readily as the VFR750 could.
The one and only time I’ve fallen off on the road (thankfully without injury) was on this bike, 3 days after I bought it brand new. I hit a patch of spilled diesel in Dereham town centre, and before I could realise what was happening I was on my back with 240 kg of bike on top of me. Bugger.
1992-1994
Suzuki GS125 (seized engine)
Suzuki GS125
Honda CB400/4
Honda VFR750F (pre-single sided swing-arm model)
Honda SS100
Triumph Trident 900
