I recently met someone that is about to get a motorcycle driving license, so it’s a good time to tell how I became interested in motorcycling. It was late and unexpected.
Until 2006, I really had no interest in motorbikes. I never had one, watched races or even knew the models in the market. I just decided to give it a try, so I searched for one that I could drive with my car’s license. I also wanted one with manual gears, to be prepared in case I wanted to take the exam. I was very lucky to find a bargain of Honda CG 125 bought by someone that also gave it a try but hardly used it.
At first, I felt very unsecure. I started driving it inside my building’s garage. Then I dared to go around in Sanchinarro (Madrid), the new area with wide streets and little traffic where I lived. And, finally, I started going to work and back. As I became experienced and confident, I enjoyed it more and more. It became my main mean of transportation. I used it to commute in Madrid’s rush traffic. I used it during the winter with near-zero temperatures and during the summer with 30 degrees Celsius. I used it when it rained heavily. I had a car but I didn’t miss a chance of riding the motorcycle.
The next summer I went to a driving school to prepare the exam, which for people with a car licence was a test with only questions related to motorcycles and a circuit of cones in a closed area. I passed the test easily and when I started training for the circuit I missed many cones but the teacher told me I was well prepared. The last day I did it all right every time. When I went to the examination circuit, I was surprised to see it was twice as ample as the replica in which I had been training, meaning it was easier and I passed it with no penalties. So I got my motorcycle licence, with a power limitation that got automatically removed after two years. Nowadays it’s way more difficult, one must drive in the traffic and after a while take another exam with a bigger motorbike to get rid of the power limitation.
I really take in easy in traffic, but it soon became evident that the CG 125 was underpowered for Madrid’s highways. I had a bad experience being tailgated by a truck that couldn’t overtake me, neither I could get away from it. I started looking for something better within the power limitation of my license.
The school’s driving and examination motorbike was a Suzuki TU250X, which I hated because it felt heavy, clumsy and ugly to me (that year’s model). Due to the good experience I had with the brand I looked for a Honda CBF 250, and again I got a good deal from someone that didn’t use it much.
I used to joke that the CG looked like an Asian chicken transporter. Compared to it, the CBF looked and felt like a real motorbike. I loved the looks and color, it had all the power I needed, it was still cheap to run and mantain… I couldn’t be happier. When the power limitation period ended I considered upgrading to a CBF 600, Yamaha FZ6, Suzuki Gladius, Yamaha XJ6, Kawasaki ER-6… but then I always decided that, as a city commuter, I didn’t need more. I drove it for more than 5 years and 20.000 kilometers until I had to sell it because I was moving to Finland. Unfortunatelly at the end it had an unusual problem with the gearbox and I sold it really cheap to a mechanic that could fix it.
What happened next, I told you in the post about Vacaburra.