State of Play -The Bikes

Well, there has been quite a lot of activity since the last post so lets attempt to catch up. First the bike collection - we are now up to 4 if we include Sarah's KX125. Yes, 125 that is quite as big as any of my bikes, most alarming as it seems only the other day she was on that tiny but ferocious KX 65! The No Limitz Team has now dissolved, partly due to an unnecessary accident an partly due to running out of riders and families to replace those that had outgrown the activity. It was a shame but time moves on. So Sarah's riding now is on motocross tracks and somewhat spasmodic but may pick up as the weather improves.

My stable now consists of

Ducati Monster, S4Rs
Honda CBR 600 F2
Norton Dominator in Cafe Racer trim.

So, first the Duke. It has suffered the indignity of hitting the ground, the consequence of being rear ended at about 5 mph by a dozey woman driver. Not much damage all considered butteh exhausts are now not quite perfectly in line though ity would be difficult to tell if you didn't know. More expensive work was done in installing an open clutch cover which gives the slightly ridiculous but classic Ducati rattly noise. All in all I am very happy with the bike both in terms of looks and performance. It is not brilliantly smooth to ride at slow speed but then that is not what it is about; open country roads are great with over taking very straight forward.


The old Honda is something of a work horse being generally the preferred commuting bike due to ease of riding, controllability and less fear of damage, especially after the other incident. It has served me well both on track and and on road as can be seen from other posts.

The Norton is a very beautiful thing if somewhat under used. It was bought on the wave of enthusiasm for a post-No Limitz activity namely showing off one's bike in shows which has not really transpired.

It is quite entertaining to ride but hardly inspires confidence though it does definitely take yon back in time to some of the first IoM TT races, head down behind the screen like some Dunlop or other 60s hero. The bike was originally made as a standard 600cc Norton Dominator back in about 1959 but more recently, about 1990, was transformed into a Cafe Racer style of bike complete with hand made aluminium fairing, clip ons, rear set and braided hoses. It goes alright but is a very different experience from a modern bike. Its basically all rattles, no cushioning suspension and very lazy brakes! Its fun but to be honest has been polished at least as much as it has been ridden - which is not really enough to justify its presence in the gararge so may be going soon.