A further dabble into the world of cruisers

As some of you will doubtless know I'm a mad keen motorcyclist - Have been since the age of 9 when, growing up in South Africa, we were bought a small 50cc Italjet off-road bike to ride in the nearby fields whilst living in a place called Ngodwana (More on that in future blogs) . That soon led to a small motocross bike, a Yamaha YZ80, being bought and many an enjoyable ride during the 1983 season before we moved to a place called Springs owing to Dad moving jobs once more and the riding was put on hold for some years.

Fast forward to 1990, my final year in high school (Blimey that ages me...) and we were active in off-road riding once more, doing one-day-long enduro events and generally having a ball even if I was never the fastest person out there.

Since the late 1990s I've been able to own my own bikes - I've being employed as a Royal Navy Officer to thank for that - And one genre of bike that has always puzzled me is cruisers.

You know the thing - Big engines, lots of chrome, pulled back handlebars and feet forward riding positions. I've owned a few over the years but never fully 'clicked' with them for one reason or another. Either they're good looking but too wheezy. Or they just don't sound suitably enticing to have any sort of visceral appeal, vital if a cruiser is going to really tug at your heartstrings.

I don't really know why it hasn't happened for me. I've owned sports bikes, adventure bikes and most types inbetween and with all of them I now have a good idea of what works for me and what doesn't.

To be clear - I enjoy riding in pretty much all its forms. The sensation of opening up that throttle and feeling a bike respond is simply special and one of life's truly memorable experiences. However doing it in a cruiser-type context has simply never made total sense.

So - In one of my regular moments of considering which bike to sell/trade/modify next I was struck with the idea of getting a big, bad and memorable cruiser to finally see whether I can make this genre work for me or not. Enter the Suzuki M109R2 which you see in the photos above. To explain that is 109 cubic inches of engine or, almost 1800cc in metric speaking. It has a 240 size rear tyre - That's as wide as many car tyres - And it weighs over 315Kg when fuelled and ready to go. To help pay for this my Harley-Davidson Sportster has been sold. Indeed I've actually made a small amount of money of the deal, something of a rarity for me in such transactions, and I am now the proud owner of this M109R2, or Zebedee as it is now known.

I'll let you know how things progress in due course but I'm loving it thus far. The name comes from the fact that it's something of a daft concept for a bike and as such the name came to mind (Well it made sense to me at the time!).

In other news Hannah (Pictured above), the oldest of our three Greyhounds and turning 11 this year has been turning on the charm lately. This is no mean feat as she isn't very demonstrative and she only really bothers you when she wants a walk (Which is doubtless my fault as I walk her most mornings when home) or when it's feeding time. Still I guess after a life of being raced and then used for breeding what can one expect? Humans aren't the most trustworthy of things for her are they? The three of them enrich our lives hugely though and we wouldn't be without them now.

Finally I'm off back to Wellington to start the new school term on Monday 11 Jan. Wish me luck as this could be a significant year work-wise (More to follow on that once I get to know you all better).

In the meantime please do post comments below if you have a question or just something to say.

Until then stay safe and if you aren't in NZ - Then good luck with the latest lockdown/measures being put n place to try and stop COVID from doing what it seems to do best.

Thanks for reading.