Do you have more than one bike in your garage? Tell us about them below...
There is of course no definition of a second bike. It is merely a statement of fact; a second bike is just that, a second bike. Implicit, though, is that there's a first bike too. Only you have to ask: which is the first and which is the second? How can you qualify it? Truth is you can't. But the owner can. Only he can say, "this is my first bike, this my second."
And only the owner can explain the basis of his ranking. Yet in compiling this feature one thing we have consistently found is that to be identified as a second bike is not to infer secondary importance or inferiority. Far from it. In fact from our interviews we found the contrary to be the reality. Second bikes attract all manner of responses from the spectrum of emotional attachment, from being objects of desire through to being lifestyle choices or statements. And on more than one occasion we found the second bike brings with it friendships or attachments. More than just being a mere motorcycle, an object, the second bikes were typically catalysts to activities or relationships that would help define their owners.
Not all second bikes start life as second bikes, of course. Mike Jones's 1975 CB750 was once his first bike. Bought when he was 19, the CB then nine years old, it would for a decade be his first bike. Having started his biking life with an RD250 the CB750 seemed a huge bike at the time, "a monster", but with the passing years it appears to have shrunk somewhat, as Jones admitted. His current first bike, a CB1300, stands far taller, weighs much heavier. Currently the CB750 is off the road, as it has been for three or four years now.
"Nothing's going to happen to it in the near future either, until I get a house with a garage," says Jones, the CB750 currently residing in his dad's shed alongside the mower and barbeque.
"But I love the old thing, I'll never sell it. And I'd like to restore it given half the chance. I've replaced the rims with ally ones and laced them up with stainless spokes, and done little bits as the need has come along. I'd love to get a set of original pipes for it as well, but the cost is prohibitive. I'd like it to look original, it's such an iconic bike."
It was also, before being his, his mate's late father's bike, and so the attachment with it is shared by more than the one household. Jones spoke of the two mates maybe one day sitting down with the CB and restoring it to its former glory.
Nick Manning's attachment to his Yamaha R1 track bike is also shared. In fact the bike was first bought by his good mate Daniel Barge, who recalls a slightly fraught run last winter up to Scotch Corner to meet a Scots vendor in a lay-by, whereupon a deal was done for the 1998 sports bike turned track hack.
"It was an eBay find, although I didn't bid. I just called the man, arranged a price, doing a deal for cash," says Barge. "And I wanted it to have a V5 as well, for the occasional road ride."
Manning, Barge and another mate had previously discussed the idea of sharing a track bike, only there could be no agreement as to what they should buy aside from it being a litre bike - as that's what the group were all riding on the road. So Barge took the initiative, laid down his own money and then offered the thirds shares to his mates. Nick and another mate took him up, £750 apiece had the trio a slice of serious track action.
Having been track riding on their immaculate Suzuki GSX-R1000 and Benelli Tornado, Barge and Manning, respectively, found the R1 took their track enjoyment to a new level.
"We've got the spares, clip-ons, levers, fairing panels, and it's fairly heavily crash-mushroomed up, so it can take a slide up the track without too much drama. Whereas before we always rode with crash concerns in mind, now we're enjoying the riding more.
"And the bike's set up for the track as well. It really is so much better than our road bikes on track - although it's too lively on the road. The funny thing is it's pretty standard. But it has got Öhlins fork springs and a race shock and we buy second-hand race tyres for it. It's surprising the difference that makes."
Continue the Second Bike Options 2/2
