Nick T. and his New Bike

Well, it all started in around October of last year ‑ after years of wanting a motorbike and never knowing where to start my local rider training school had its 30th anniversary, and held an open day. Myself and the father in law, who had also been thinking about getting his licence, went down to see what was going on. Anyway, we chatted to a few people and had a bit of a look around and I spotted, for sale, an old Suzuki GS125 ‑ one of the old school bikes. It was in fairly decent condition, one of the instructors had bought it for his wife to learn on, she'd passed her DAS and wanted a new bike… so this X plate 125 with 8000 miles on the clock and two careful owners was mine for the grand sum of £500 including a free CBT.

Fast forward a month and I was doing my CBT ‑ passed on the day and then the world of biking was mine to explore!

Now, mainly I was going to use the bike to commute to work. I only work about 7 miles from home and taking the car each day was just a waste of petrol. The 125 was ideal. 200 miles for about £10. Was all good ‑ apart from the 45mph cruising speed with a 30 year old fat bloke on the back.

So, from there I started looking at doing my lessons, passing the restricted A licence and then getting a nice, new bike and having it restricted for 2 years whilst I got a bit of experience. As a Suzuki owner I started looking at the Suzuki website and seeing what they did. I'm not a race replica type of guy, and I kind of like cruisers but I don't really have a favourite type of bike. So, just browsing down the list of bikes I spotted the GSR600. Initially the looks got me ‑ it just looked 'different'. Then I spotted the 0% finance, then I spotted the free restrictor and that was pretty much it. I'd already decided I wanted the GSR so booked my basic lessons at the school where I did the CBT and then headed out to my local dealership to 'have a chat'.

It turns out they had a 57 plate, registered November (and this was in January) GSR in my preferred colour (red). 720 miles on the clock, first service done. Previous owner traded it in because he was too short for it. Optional screen and hugger fitted, and about £1500 off the brand new price. I put the £100 deposit down there and then and had them chuck in a free restrictor.

The bike arrived at my house a week later ‑ by which time I'd started my lessons and already been cajoled into not 'fannying around with the 125's ‑ just get on with doing the DAS' by the friendly instructors!

Fast forward two more months and I've got my DAS, two minor faults on the test and the best U‑Turn I've ever done and ever likely to do. I taxed and insured the bike and took it out for my maiden voyage.

I loved it. Was so smooth, had a decent amount of power, a beautiful exhaust tone (once warmed up) ‑ just a world away from my 125.

So, I've been riding this new bike for about a week now and I'm still enjoying it. It's a bit of a head‑turner and people at work have been stopping me for a chat about it. The ride to work down a few A‑roads is good fun ‑ but until today I thought I'd been missing something. And that problem was down to the restrictor ‑ you see, the local dealer fitted a throttle stop ‑ which basically meant I was changing gear at 7000rpm and the bike redlines at 14k.

The restrictor came off today and it's like I have a completely different bike. It now scares me ‑ I'm not good enough for the bike yet ‑ it's a very capable machine and I need more practice before taking it anywhere near what its totally able to do. But, the restrictor had to come off ‑ overtaking was not as easy as it could be and it was hard to keep pace on the motorway. Not anymore.

I love the bike, it's truly brilliant ‑ I mean, I only have a 125 to compare it to but I love it.

One thing I forgot in the write‑up was the whole reason for getting it all done so quickly… Well, the father in law's mate has an old XT500 and we got talking at the cycle school open day and just said how it would be good to ride down to France in the summer… The two of them normally go down to France in the car in the summer around the time of D‑Day and pay respects to those who died in the war as well as visiting the local sights of historical interest.

So, since around November of last year the plan has been for me, the father in law and brother in law to get our licences, get bikes and join Jamie and his XT500 in a road trip to Vaux Sur Seulles in France in the first week of June.

Obviously I've done my part! The brother in law currently has an old Kawasaki AR125 that he bought from a chap at my work for £50. He's taking his lessons now and has a Kawasaki GPZ500 stashed away for the trip. As for the father in law, well he's bought a Suzuki GN250 and is currently pottering around on my old GS125 to get a bit of experience before taking his restricted A licence.

So, this year we'll do France. Next year I really like the look of Grossglockner :)