Hi,
I’ve been reading for while and posting for a bit, but I never actually posted in the newbies section. So here you go …
I got into bikes quite late. Only in 2003 I bought my first motorised vehicle, which was a nice red 1984 PX125. I’d been to the Isle Of Wight for a weekend, not realising there was a scooter rally (world’s largest). I always wanted a Vespa when I was younger, so I decided to get one. I loved it from the first moment and have been riding pretty much every day since.
Unfortunately some scummy bastards who I hope are no longer on this earth stole the scoot and decided it would be fun to burn it.
I replaced Rita with a “new” scoot. This was a 1983 P200 Italian import. It was treated to an engine rebuild (58,000km on the clock, could have been 158k for all I know) and after some TLC it became a very reliable bike good for some 3500miles per year and my first IoW rally 
Unfortunatly, I had an accident (http://londonbikers.com/forums/Topic292009-58-1.aspx), and the scoot is looking very sorry now:
Insurance payout is probably going to take ages, so I’m going to park her up in a garage until I can restore her completely.
So now I’m buying my first “real” bike. I’m getting a nice blue 2006 Yamaha XT660X. I went out for a ride on it with a friend a few weeks ago, and even though I was sh**ing myself to start with, I absolutely loved it. I’m hoping it’s going to be a quite “easy” first big bike and a good commuter.
Unfortunatly, I then broke my arm (no, it’s not been a good year so far), so I haven’t been able to pick it up, but I hope I will be able to next weekend, so I can come down to one of the meets one day (I will probably need a few weekends getting used to the bike before I venture out on commutes and meets though).
Anyway, that’s me …
