The beginning:

Last year after years of saying that I was going to do it, I finally went in for my bike test. A few of my mates have bikes and I always said that by the TT the following year that I would be riding properly, but the years went by and nothing occurred, so last year when I did the usual thing of saying that I was going to go for my test I got the usual rolling of eyes and sighs and such like that were the usual response for this predictable statement.

Now I had ridden before, my first bike at 16 being an RD50, and had various two strokers and scramblers subsequently, so phoned my local examiner and asked for lessons.

The first day dawned and I pootled up to Douglas (on the Isle of Man) to have my first lesson. Met the guy, a bloke called Gavin Morling (if you live on the Isle of Man and are after lessons I can heartily recommend him, he can be contacted on 01624 611302) and off we went on his TX125 for me lesson. As this is a story about me bike but suffice to say that I had a few lessons, thought I would breeze it and failed my first test. On observation no less, how typical, few more lessons later and I passed with flying colours.

The point of all this is that there is no CBT or DAS training here. You pass and then you can ride any bike that you wish (legally you should were R plates for a year, and stay below 50MPH, and of course I would never suggest to do otherwise;-))

So having passed me test at 3:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, went straight to Padgetts on the Isle of Man and bought a GSXR600K1 from them with the paperwork signed and sealed by 4:20. its in blue and white (of course) and I loved it from the moment I saw it in the shop. There is a picture of it here by the beach in my home town.

Now, I realised at the time that this was *not* the best thing to have done in the world, a few UKRM'ers at the time pointed this out for a few reasons.

* I am a very novice rider with hardly any experience of a fast sports bike and the GSXR is a little radical. * It would be too quick. * It's known to get a little out of shape handling wise in certain circumstance that may be too hard to control.

Anyway, it was ready to go on the Saturday afternoon, so got in my leathers and a mate picked me up on his ZX 9R and gave me a lift up to get it (cheers Aidy!). only at this point did I start to get a little nervous, had never ridden such a thing before, although been on the back of me mates bikes, so was a little subdued when I actually got to the showroom. But as we pulled up it was on the pavment, in its full glory all shiny and nice and warmed up ready to go. Shook the guys hand got on, and did possibly the worst pull of in the history of biking. Bike mearly stalled, so give it some gas and it kangarooed up the road with me very nearly dropping it. Recovered and slowly ventured up the road.

Turned round to meet Aidy who suggested, of all things, a lap around the track. Which I did. Slowly. Very slowly. For those not in the know the GSXR600 @ 7000RPM, in top does 95 MPH. I know this cos I dared not go over the recommended limit. And I thought that was quick. I did not know at the time that bugger all happens really until you hit 9000RPM and then all fucking hell breaks loose.

Running in:

For the first 600 miles I religiously stuck to the manufacturers guidelines for running in. No more than 7000RPM in any gear, it was a pain, but not being used to the bike it was a great way to get used to it. It had its first service (free from Padgett's) and Suzuki recommend nothing more than 10000RPM until you have reached 1000 miles. Yeh. Right. Felt a bit guilty but as the bike will be traded in three years time I did not care much (there is a good article about this exact thing on this site, that quashes the rumours of running in!)

Once you are free from restriction the bike is mental as anything, not much happens below 4500 then after that it picks up until you hit 9000 then it goes apeshit until it hits 14,500RPM limiter, then you change up and do it all again, its like a well behaved two stroke in many respects with a much larger powerband. The front wheel will lift in first, and sometimes in second on the power, and if you get it right you can get it up in third if you happen to hit a bump in the road. Great fun.

Last few months:

The bike was bought with a view to have it run in by the TT, which of course was cancelled. This put a damper on things, but managed to have a few ride outs with mates (they are all faster than me but very understanding Aidy, Les et al, you know who you are)! Took it to one of the track days with a mate on his R6 at Jurby and was keeping pace with him, not bad since he has been riding for the last 18 years, and got taught a lot about how the bike handles, it leans like crazy, but as yet I don't have any sliders and don't have the confidence to get me knee down but that's a thing to learn next year I guess. Getting better at going around corners too, but still need the confidence and the "smoothness" to do it properly.

So far only had two mishaps:

1. Going over the mountain and past the bungalow at a much too fast a rate, mistaked the left corner as a lot less sharp as it is and ran very wide on the bend trying to break, had a major wobble and the whole thing was witnessed by a motorbike policeman, who for reasons unknown never pulled me. 2. Going down the Ballamohda straight at (insert three figure number here) when a car pulled out on me without looking. Managed to stop but it gave me a brown trouser time!

Bits:

Have fitted an NWS hugger to the back which keeps the crud out (why are these not standard), and talking of crud, whoever thought that it was a good idea to paint the wheels white needs there head read, it's a bigger pain to keep clean as it is to keep the whole bike in good order.

Have an order for a Micon Beta race can in Microme, should have this by next week. Ordered from the NEC bike show over the weekend for 260quid from the Padgetts stand.

When the Carnell sales start will be buying some matching Alpine Star leathers (with sliders) so hopefully get some knee down action next year.

Summary:

I love the bike. Its all I hoped for and more. It maybe be too much for a novice but maybe I have been lucky, got through sping and summer without anything major happening. I am not sure I would recommend it for a first bike, but it worked for me. A more experienced rider might want the 750 or the thou, but for me the 600 is perfect. Light agile and fast, forgives me when I fuck things up and rewards when you get them right.

Test ride yours today!!!