Faults:

Alternator belt snapped on it.

General Comments:

Before I had this bike, I had a 1989 Honda VFR 750, which I sold to a friend. You might think bad idea. Well, I had to as I, rather we, were having a family.

A couple of years went by, and I bought myself a cheap 800 euro GPX 750R.

Here's a thing, while my GPX went on and on, my old VFR got worse and worse. I put the VFR's problems down to climate. I live in Spain, and I sold my Spanish VFR to my Scots friend. I drove it all the way up to Scotland for him, and took a plane back. Never sell a bike to a friend. The VFR caused him headaches, and although he never said it directly, he felt conned by me.

Back to the GPX 750 R. The GPX sunny days in the mountains, driving between wheat fields shrouded by deep blue sky, leaning into beautiful corners in the Pyrenees, joy after joy. A solid dependable friend. The bike has taken me to see Rossi at the circuit at Catalunya, and I've been to France, the coast. Yes, you can't tear round corners like a new 600, but with a little calculation and risk left to your teenage years gone by, you can have a magical time on this old timer. Look, it does do a genuine 140 mph or 220 kph.

Read "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", and this bike will look after you if you look after it. Sure, there are lots of cool bikes out there, but there is always one or two that go really well with you, and this one goes just fine with me.