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 Motorbikes As well as my mountain biking and 4x4s I have been a motorcyclist for more years than I care to remember.
Indeed motorbikes were another common factor between the three original members of Mad Cow Racing. Graham and Pete were the racing members with Graham having a background in Trail Riding, Moto Cross, Enduro and as a passenger in Side Car Cross. Pete raced as a Pasenger in Side Car Cross. I limited myself to a bit of trail riding and acting as Team Manager, Mechanic, Pit Crew, Marshal etc etc for the others. Pete and Graham both passengered in Side Car cross for a mutual friend Paul Lawrence. Paul sadly died of a stroke a few years ago at the far too young age of 60, his passion for his sport, great mechanical ability and extremely dry wit are all sadly missed.
The team have owned and riden a number of road and off road motor cycles, some of mine are featured below.
My Bike
After a year with the XT, I go rid of my Land Rover Discovery II in July 2008 and bought another "ordinary" car and a 1990 Land Rover Defender to play with. As I now had a proper vehicle to go green laning, I decided the thumper had to go! This decision was brought on particularly when I was riding flat out on a dual carriageway and had to move over to let a Ford Fiesta get past!!! It was time for a decent sports orientated bike!
So after reading loads of reviews, searching the internet and a few test rides, I finally settled on a 2003 Suzuki SV1000S. A bit of a radical departure for me after a history of Adventure/Trail bikes, tourers and "sit up and beg" street bikes.
The SV has Viper cans and a power commander, makes a glorious sound and goes like stink (there is a Subaru Impreza owner who will attest to both of those facts after we met in the Weston Hills Tunnel on the A507!
 Having secured myself a new job in August '07 after a period out of work I treated myself to a new toy, a 2006 Yamaha XT600E from Ford & Ellis in Chesham, Bucks. Although Yamaha stopped importing them in 2003, this was a parallel import brought in by TAZ Motorcycles in Peterborough. With only 2000 miles on the clock it was absolutely mint! Was a great stop gap bike and got used for a bit of green laning but to be honest was still a bit too big and heavy and really needed some decent tyres.
 I only got back into bikes in 2006 having been off
motorcycles for some years, I was "born again" as they say in June of that year when I acquired a BMW R1200GS on a personal lease plan from SBW Motorrad in Hertford.
The GS was a fantastic bike but as it was on lease it unfortunately went back to BMW after a temporary work contract ended in May 2007. I had it for only a year and never even got round to taking any photos of it. This one came from SBW's website after they put it up for sale.
To take a look at some of the bikes I've ridden in the past (with reviews) go to the motorbike archives
Annie's bikes:
Like me my wife got back into biking in 2006 and got through three different bikes in under a year. Her first was a Suzuki SV650S. Unfortunately she found the riding position a bit too extreme and so it was shortly part exchanged for a mint Suzuki 600 Bandit:
  She had the SV such a short time, this is the only picture we have! Proud owner of a a 600 Bandit (but not for long)
The Bandit was a very nice bike but was a bit on the heavy side for her and lacked the weather protection of the SV. Also being an in-line four it was not as easy to ride, requiring a lot more revs to get it going, I will admit that when I rode it I couldn't believe it had more power than the SV. To get the best out of it you really had work at it, completely unlike the broad spread of power from a twin cylinder bike. About a month later Annie spotted her ideal bike on ebay!
And this is it: a Kawasaki ER6-F
 A comfortable riding position, the protection of a full fairing, light weight and a very punchy 650cc parallel twin engine.
It was only six months old and in immaculate condition.
It is a delight to ride and I have to confess that during the summer of 2007, I used it more than she did! Largely because I didn't have a bike of my own for three months but it was no sacrifice. The only criticism I would have is that at 6 foot I feel a little bit cramped on it as the seat is fairly low but not really a criticism at all!
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