Fashions change at a phenomenal rate. Cast an eye over a woman’s magazine (alongside my piles of bike mags I like to keep abreast of things with Closer and Glamour) and what was hot last month is now just polishing rags under the sink. And don’t think bikes are free from trends. Look at modern sportsbikes. Buy the latest, greatest 600 or 1000cc sportsbike one year and two years later it will be a has-been. Are the Japanese leaping forward with such giant steps year on year in terms of performance? Of course not, but fashion is.
But not every bike falls into the fashion trap. Some bikes set their stand up when it comes to looks and adopt a stance of ‘like it or loathe it, this is me.’ Bikes such as the four we have gathered in this secondhand test. Together Kawasaki’s ZZR600, Yamaha’s Thundercat, Ducati’s 900 Monster and Suzuki’s Bandit 1200 have pooled over 20 years of virtually unchanged glory. Which makes them fantastic secondhand buys. No matter what your budget is, one of these bikes will fit it, and because they’ve remained unchanged any one of these bikes will look newer than it actually is. Keep it clean, add a few extras and it will look like a model years younger. What a shame the same doesn’t work for the missus…
