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uberthumper · # 5 22-08-13, 22:48

Started riding at 19, now 31. They're all in my sig, but in approximate order of purchase (but not of sale)...

Honda CG125 - learnt to ride on it, then sold to this girl I knew at uni. Started going out with her a couple of weeks later. Married her six years ago. Bike's still in the garage. Got nicked by local scrotes a few years back and ragged round the fields for a couple of weeks before being recovered. Will get round to putting it back on the road eventually.

Suzuki GS400 - It was cheap and about 33bhp. When the original exhaust fell apart I put an aftermarket 2-1 system on it which meant there was no ground clearance on right handers. This was a small handicap when going around roundabouts. Sold it to someone who came down from Newcastle to pick it up in a Nissan Micra. No really.

Kawasaki ZXR400 - Much looniness. Rode it everywhere. Toured Europe, trackdayed it, crashed it, rode it some more. Then just stuck it in the back of the garage for a few years. Currently in the process of breaking it because I couldn't be arsed to get it running again and prices for complete bikes seem to have tanked.

Kawasaki GPZ500S - Belonged to Mrs UT after she passed her test, ruined by me using it as a winter hack - they're not exactly built well. Traded in for her ER-6F

Suzuki DR800S - Bought when I got bored of the GPShed, and the bike which got me into big trailies and rallying. I still love the stupidity of an 800cc single. It turned out to be about as good as you'd expect for �700, and one of the gearbox bearings exploded about six months later. I gave it to tripletom in pieces. He, amazingly, managed to sell it to someone, despite every part of it with any value (engine cases, frame, bodywork, tank) being in some way knackered.

Suzuki DR-Z400E - Bought to race Hare & Hounds on. Did so for a year before replacing it with the GasGas because I wanted something lighter.

Yamaha XT660Z - I had a bit of cash, and wanted something like the DR800, but less shonky. You know the rest.

GasGas EC300 - Bought to replace the DR-Z for enduros. Was about as reliable as a 2T bike built by a small Spanish factory then owned by half a dozen muppets might be expected to be. Failed to make first race because it wouldn't start the day before. Completely rewired it. When I did eventually race it, it pissed fuel everywhere, kept stalling, I had the biggest over-the-bars crash I've ever had racing, and I had to stop every lap to zip-tie bits of bodywork back on. Despite all that, it was insanely funny, and I'd love to have a go on a less shonky example (particularly as I think I'm a much better dirt rider than I was then).

Kawasaki ER-6F - Again, belongs to Mrs UT, used by me to get to work on whenever I've broken the Tenere.

Yamaha MT-03 - Bought at the start of the year so I could swap its 4,000 mile engine with the 38,000 mile one in the Tenere before going to the US. Then I broke that engine. Was good fun for the few hundred miles I did on it before taking it apart. Need to get it back together again.