It's slowly approaching, I've owned the old '93 Monnie nearly five years, well on December 23rd it will be five years. Do I regret buying her back in the heady days of 2006, no. Do I regret spending nearly the price of a brand new 1100 Evo on her, no. I always wanted a 900 Monster since they came out, and now I've got one, I am not about to let her go. No matter how many cars decide to try and kill her (and the rider as well!).
Back to the quality time, well after failing her MOT twice and then passing third time (it's always the lucky time third time!) with the aid of a near rear wheel, the weather gods were being kind, my other commitments were scrapped. They can wait until Monday! Sunday is bike day!
A drive over to the secret workshop (in Hayes, it's the noisy one), to be greeted with the lovely sight of a fully functioning, oiled up, half a tank of petrol Monster, sitting on her carpet just waiting to go out and annoy, sorry, enjoy and embrace the locals of the south east of England. Car parked up, bike wheeled out, leathers on, lid cleaned, alarm set and shutter door closed. It was time to head off in no particular direction, just point the front end, watch out for the numpty car drivers and have fun.
I managed to wheel the bike across the industrial estate yard before noticing something was not quite right. The bike felt heavy! On closer inspection the rear tyre was flat! Now, I will only push the bike across the yard due to broken pallets leaving nice pointy shiny nails strewn across the yard and I was not looking forward to paying out another £140 for a Diablo two weeks after buying the one on the wheel! Shutter reopened, alarm unset and air compressor grabbed. Tyre pumping up, no hissing, no nails or other objects in the tyre, strange phenomenon (I know a song about that)!
Finally, off out on the bike. Well, I haven't used her in anger for a long time. It must be nearly 3 years since I gave the old girl a spirited blast along the country roads. The first 20 or so miles I still was worrying about the rear tyre. In the end I just decided to head for P&H and if it goes flat, well I'll just get it back to the workshop in some daring and cunning fashion! The ride to P&H wasn't really inspiring, just a boring point and go ride around the traffic hotspots of Surrey. After a quick browse at the bikes (I do like the new ZX6R, but I still can't see the point of a sports bikes in a country where the speed limit is 70mph if you're lucky and have a clear run on the M25!).
Leaving some learners and P&H in my noise laden wake, the learners were not impressed as they couldn't hear their instructor barking out instructions! I headed for the A272, via Findon. Now I was feeling more comfortable on the bike, relaxing more, chucking it around but not quite in a Casey Stoner fashion. Not on the stupid resurfaced roads of Surrey and Sussex, "lets chuck a pile of stones down on some wet tarmac and see how many bikes we can get off the road" resurfacing.
After a brief stop in The Village Shop in Findon for a quick and quiet sarnie, the A283 from Shoreham was calling me to come and play, only because it's nicer than heading back up the A24 to the A272. Now the silly grin was coming on. The temperamental teenager was beginning to strut her stuff, shouting down any opposition, not putting a foot wrong and actually running smoothly. Did I manage to fix something properly? Without the aid of gaffa tape and cable ties! No surely, the bike is going to do something daft and break down! Nope, everything was fine, better than fine. She was in a fine mood!
Riding some of the nicest roads sarf side of London, enjoying the scenery of West Sussex and Hampshire. Even heading through the walled market town of Petworth still makes me smile. Houses one side, big tall wall the other side of the road, Monster with Termis in the middle. I hope the residents have decent windows!
Finally, we got to Loomies for last orders, just in time for a quick refuel of black sugary fizzy pop and some petrol (I think I put the right liquids in the right holes), and it was time to head back to the secret workshop. Well, the long way of course! From Loomies, snaking across to Henley on Thames just intime to see the posh knobs packing up from a day at the Regatta, then out of Henley back towards the safety of Heathrow and Hayes. Day done, silly grin still on face mission completed.
After 8 hours of bike riding, over 200 glorious miles of grinning madness, a bug covered headlight and visor, life with the 18 year old Nessie is good again! She isn't the prettiest Monster in the neighbourhood, she certainly has her moments in not being the most reliable, she throws tantrums when she wants to but these are becoming rarer, and she wants to prove to my mate that the original, classic M900 is a far better bike than his new shiny 1100S ABS.
As for the flat rear tyre situation at the beginning of the day, I have checked the CCTV at the workshop and caught one of the sub contractor drivers we use to take freight down to Gibraltar letting my tyre down. All because I woke him up at 845am on Friday. Oh well, someone has just lost a haulage contract now!
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