Suzuki M800 Intruder
First bike after a layoff of about 15 years
I was so glad I got back onto a bike, I was nervous when I went to test ride this one as it had been so long, is the clutch on the left or right? Which side is the rear brake? but there was no need, I just threw my leg over, selected first gear and off I went. I did manage to scrape the foot peg on the first corner though…
My first real trip out on this one I decided to go do a couple of IT jobs for my previous employer. Three day, two night trip. First stop, east to Kings Lynn then north up to Goole, and then north west to Irvine and then the mammoth trip back home. According to Google Maps, 1027miles. It was when I got to Irvine I was beginning to regret my decision. Never mind though, no pain no gain.
I certainly put the miles on this bike, it really was a nice ride despite the V twin engine.
I’ve rode to Guernsey quite a few times usually for work as it was so cheap to take a bike on the ferry it made more sense than taking the car, I usually fully loaded and sometimes took my son Liam, we would have an overnighter in a hotel or just get a day return ticket and blast back home in the early hours.
A trip to Guernsey wasn’t the idyllic trip most people thought, it starts off with a 2am start to get to the ferry terminal in time for the 6am crossing, usually if I was on my own I would get a day return, so that meant catching the 6am out and 8pm ferry back to the UK then riding home and getting through the back door at about 3am…urgh!
On the “old” fast ferries you could always find a spot on the floor somewhere to catch a couple of hours sleep, I always found that that was also a good way to stop the inevitable sea sickness I would suffer. No such luxuries on the new one though, just row upon row of forward facing seats.
When they introduced the latest fast ferry it wasn’t really geared up for bikes, the crew member strapped the bikes down but during the crossing I’m guessing the wheels slipped out from under the bikes and they all fell over onto each other, not too much damage fortunately. The floor got a coating of gritty paint and bike clamps sometime after that.
