As most of you know I’ve been into motorcycles my whole life. After a recent trip to Germany (thanks Ralf!) I’ve gone out and purchased my ninth (yes ninth) motorcycle, an old Suzuki GS500E. Since everything is so expensive in Norway, and the motorcycle “season” is so short, I couldn’t justify anything much better, but still, with 80km/h open road speed limits, I don’t think I’ll have much trouble, and a lot of fun! But perhaps I should rewind the clock and go though the history of my motorcycles!
The year was 1990, I’d seen Wayne Gardner win the 1987 World 500cc World Championship, win the first two Australian 500cc Grand Prix, a young and upcoming rider by the name of Michael Doohan starting to win, and my father had a 1983 Suzuki GSX750ES, so I was desperate to get a motorcycle. Luckily my father bought me an old 1980 Yamaha XT250 dirt bike. That was my first taste. We had it down at our holiday place and I could ride it around the paddock or up and down some dirt tracks.
But this bike wasn’t really good enough for the road and as I approached my 17th year and 9th month (yes that was the rules in Victoria) I wanted something I could take on the road. At the time my dad was buying some ex-Army stuff that was up for auction. Lucky for me they were selling some 1985 Suzuki DR250′s, so I got one of those and so began my on road riding! This bike was good but had one problem. When it got hot after some extended riding it would just stop, so it was time to trade up.
By this time I was sick of dirt bikes and I wanted something faster! Enter the two stroke road bike era! I was also restricted by the fact that for the first year of your licence in Victoria you are restricted to a 250cc motorcycle. Two stoke number one, was an ancient 1981 Yamaha RD250LC, but man was it fast, with a power delivery like a light switch. Great bike except the time the gearbox died and I had to ride 100 kms home in just third gear. But I fixed it up then sold it to move to a faster two stoke.
This was the first of the race replicas, the awesome 1983 Suzuki RG250 Gamma. A power delivery slightly softer than a light switch, but super light with an aluminum frame and great handling. But of course I did start to get sick of the peaky power delivery (with a tacho that started at 3000rpm!) so it was time for the next race replica.
That was one of my favorites the 1984 Kawasaki KR250! It was bright green and it was fast and fun to ride! It just had one problem it’s unique tandem twin engine meant that the rear cylinder had a tendency to over heat. Of course that happened on my bike and after I rebuilt the engine it was time to finally move up with the big boys and get something larger that 250cc in size.
Bring on the 1983 Kawasaki GPz750. Now this really wasn’t the bike I wanted. I wanted to be like Tom Cruise from Top Gun and get a Kawasaki GPz900! But my finances didn’t extend that far, so I had to settle for the GPz750. That being said it was still a great bike, and the first bike I didn’t really have any problems with. In the end I sold it because I was commuting to university and running around town so I wanted something light (and fast of course) again.
Since my 250cc limit had been removed I decided it was time to get back to the two strokes. That of course was where all the powerful and light bikes were at the time. I was desperate to get a Suzuki RG500 Gamma, the bigger brother to the RG250 I had owned earlier, but they were hard to get and expensive, so I had to settle once again. But when I say settle I ended up with what up until now is the bike I have done the most kilometers on and probably my favourite, just because of the grin factor. The mighty 1986 Yahama RZ350. Those extra 100cc’s gave the bike the extra kick and rideability that the 250′s just didn’t have, and it was just as light as a 250. I would love to have this bike again today just as a fun bike.
After having the RZ350 for a while, I decided I was sick of traveling two hours in the rain back and forward to work, and my sister was getting a new car so I bought her old car, sold my motorcycle, and my motorcycle career took a hiatus after almost 6 years of nothing but bikes.
This lack of bike riding eventually ate away at me, and I had to get something. Enter my second favourite bike the 1997 Yamaha TRX850. It was the poor man’s Ducati, and it was fun. Big, powerful (but not too powerful), and fun to ride. I was so desperate to get this bike I even too out a bank loan for the first time ever just to get it! I had this bike up until I moved to Norway, and my father kept it for a further two years after that, until I finally said “I’m not coming home, just sell it”. It was sad to see it go and everything being so expensive here I couldn’t justify a motorcycle… until now. Well I can’t really justify it, but enough is enough, time to get back on two wheels.
Come Monday I’m back on two wheels with an aging 1993 Suzuki GS500E. It was cheap, it’s cheap to run and cheap to insure. (Remember if you don’t live in Norway replace the word “cheap” with “bloody expensive”.) I hope to enjoy it at least for a few months until I have to stick it in someone’s garage to hibernate the Winter months.
See you on the road!
The Top Nine Countdown (with pictures)
#1 – 1980 Yamaha XT250
#2 – 1985 Suzuki DR250
#3 – 1981 Yamaha RD250 LC
#4 – 1983 Suzuki RG250 Gamma
#5 – 1984 Kawasaki KR250
#6 – 1983 Kawasaki GPz750
#7 – 1986 Yamaha RZ350
#8 – 1997 Yamaha TRX850
#9 – 1993 Suzuki GS500E
