Honda CB250RS
Once funds allowed after working for 2 years I bought myself a brand new Honda CB250RS, my 3rd Motor Vehicle (trading in the Honda CJ250T). This was quite an advanced machine in its day, a modern lightweight sports 250 cc single cylinder 4-Stroke motorbike. The twin exit silencers produced an awesome sound once the bike was well run in.
The handling on this bike was a revelation with a very keen change of direction. The bike was practically brand new when I went around a slow corner & I’m sure that the angle of lean was nearer 30 degrees from the road surface than 45 degrees & it just tracked effortlessly around the corner. Due to the much lower weight & lower centre of gravity it was very much a nimble sports bike. Going through the gears was a great pleasure & the balancing of engine braking & throttle control when changing down made this a very satisfying ride. Commuting was much more fun on the CB250RS.
The bike at speed was very stable & the brakes way way better than the CJ250T. I probably spent over 3 1/2 years riding continuously & never once was stopped by the Police for a chat (there will be more of these chats later on in my motoring history timeline). Looking back that seems a little strange as at the time there were many high profile motorbike safety campaigns.
Did I ever fall off – well yes just the once! riding home from a long day at work & not concentrating, the front end just washed away & down the bike went. It was a small spill of diesel. It was a very slow speed accident, but my bike ended up with twisted front forks & a small dent in the petrol tank. Oh yeah I was seeing proper stars for 1/2 hour or so. Luckily I could free wheel the bike back home. I thought it was a major disaster, once again my Dad got some spanners & we adjusted the forks back to their correct alignment. My pride in riding was in reality the biggest issue I had at the time.
I guess after several years of biking, having frozen hands on icy days, frozen seats, wet patches on your work clothes after removing all your waterproof gear (and wet leather gloves & boots) I suppose I drifted towards the 4 wheeled vehicles. Looking back & considering that I rode in all weathers – ice, snow, blizzards, floods, I never for once missed the actual thrill & freedom of riding a motorbike.
At the time of switching to 4 wheels I did momentarily consider the following motorbikes – Yamaha RD350LC & the Kawasaki GPZ550 & even the Honda ATC250R (a Two-Stroke 3 wheeled off roader). I guess I carried on being an armchair motorcyclist from that point, my current favourite motorbikes being the Kawasaki H2 & Kawasaki H2R, although there are many others from the 1970’s to present time.
