I have loved motorcycles almost as long as I can remember. I broke my forefinger whilst riding a venerable BSA 500 cc scrambler when I was only 14 and riding a bike that was far heavier than I was into a tree did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm. Since that day, I have had a crooked first finger on my right hand  (I dare not tell my mother, so it had to “self heal” !) and an enduring love of all things two-wheeled.       

Since the day, in September, in 1971, when I first ventured legally out onto the road on a moped, I have owned 58 different motorised two-wheelers !  I use that term “two wheelers” as the first two were not motorcycles, per-se, both were merely mopeds. This might sound a lot and I suppose it is. When I worked in central London, to save my BMW RS from endless little scrapes, I bought a lot of well past it, “ex-dispatch rider” bikes. These were mainly little Hondas (CD175, CD185 and CD200) or other small capacity Japanese bikes and I rode them until they died completely.    

I have also had two machines on fairly long-term loan and I have hired so far, over time, ten others.      

At the time of writing this, July 2020, I have passed the 1.2 million miles mark and my next target is 2 million kilometres (1,242,743 miles).      

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Here are the ones I paid good money for.

01 – Raleigh Runabout – 1966
02 – Honda PC50 – 1970
03 – Honda C90 – 1971
04 – Honda CB350 – 1972
05 – BSA Gold Star 500 – 1959
06 – BSA Lightning 650 – 1972
07 – Triumph Bonneville T120V – 1974

08 – Norton Commando 850 – 1972

09 – Triumph Bonneville T140V – 1975
10 – Honda CB750/4 – 1975
11 – Honda CB 125 1974

12 – Honda CB 500/4 – 1976

13 – BMW R60/6 – 1974
14 – BMW R60/6 – 1976
15 – BMW R100RS – 1977
16-23 and 25-35 – Honda CD175
24 – Honda CX 500 – 1976
36 – Yamaha SR500 – 1977
38 – Suzuki GS400 – 1978
39 – Suzuki-GS750 – 1976

40-43 47, 48-52 and 54 – Honda CD185

44 – Kawasaki GPZ 550 – 1980

45 – Kawasaki GPZ 550 – 1980

46 – Moto Morini 350 – 1978
55 – Kawasaki Z250 – 1981
56 – Harley Davidson Street Bob – 2012
57 – Harley Davidson Fat Boy 91 – 2004
58 – Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail 114 – 2019

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Here are the two I borrowed long-term.

B1 – Yamaha XV 750 Virago
B2 – Kawasaki ZZR 600

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And these are the ten I have, so far, hired.

H1 – Honda CB900F – Cyprus
H2 – Yamaha Virago 535 – Majorca
H3 – Harley-Davidson Fat Boy 91 – Route 66
H4 – Honda R100 – Vietnam
H5 – Harley Davidson V-Rod – Reunion Ride to UK
H6 – Harley Davidson Ultra – Andalucia, Spain
H7 – Harley Davidson Heritage Softail 103 – Norway
H8 Harley Davidson Sport Glide – Italy
H9 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail 103 – Australia

H10 Harley Davidson Heritage Softail 103 – New Zealand