CHAPTER 40
SLUGS
1997 and 2011
HONDA N.T.V REVERE
In January 1997 I owned a Blue 600 cc Honda Revere, I still had my kawa z1000 which was still on the road, and I still rode on a regular on a daily basis.
The Z1000 is a big bike, but was getting old, I had already put 155,000 miles on clock, I had no intention of ever getting rid of her ( she still lives in my garage, the only thing she does nowa days is dream of electric sheep ).
I have never even thought of ever getting rid of her as we have been together for such a long time, since 1983 in fact, my wife Sheryl say’s that, when I snuff it, the Kwaka is going into the ground with me
That would make me happy.
Well anyway back to the Honda, I bought the Honda to travel back and forth to work, it was much lighter than the Z1000, it was very good on petrol and had a shaft drive and very reliable, but to be honest really boring as fuck to ride.
( Photo 1 ) . My Honda cooling off, after the long solo ride to North Wales, that I decided to do one weekend, a totally random thing, I went out for a ride, and did not stop until I ran out of Wales.
The Honda NTV 600 Revere was a high-tech successor to the Honda TX and CX.
It was highly priced for the type of bike that had a very unexciting performance, it was a good reliable bike for the work run, and that is all that can be said of this Honda model.
The new price was far too high when it was first launched on the bike market by Honda, and because of its low performance, the second hand market had a massive devaluation of the used price once the word was out that the bike was more boring and mundane than watching paint dry or playing golf or fishing ( the golf and fishing bit is a personal view ) the bike became a white elephant and was difficult to sell, so the second had value plummeted.
You can pick one up now in 2019 for less than £100.
I had the chance to buy two in 2017 at an Auto-jumble for less than £100 each, I knew that if I had bought them they would just sit in my garage as no-one else would be interested in having one, so I said thanks, but no thanks.
If you are thinking of buying one, think twice as you may never get rid of it again, until a gypsy collecting scrap comes knocking your door.
Honda states that the Revere had a 111 mph top speed, which I found unattainable, and believe me I tried on a number of occasions, I only just managed to hit the just under the 100 mph mark, and that was with me laying on the tank and that took forever to get there.
Honda NTV 600cc Revere.
Ohc ( over head cam ).
V twin engine.
Shaft drive.
41hp ( horse power ).
4141 lb , ( weight ).
111 mph ( top speed ).
After riding a 1000 cc bike for years anything smaller would never match the same kind of power or experience of ridding a larger bike.
By the way my kawa`s name is Ceinwyn, she would start better when you talked to her using her name first, in soft tones of course.
At the time I was working in the huge Sony plant in Bridgend, working 12-hour continental shifts and I hated ever Nano second I was there, I disliked working there with a passion, but it was good money, and money makes the world go round, and more importantly lets you buy motorcycles.
The Honda like I say was boring to ride, but I still managed to fall of her twice.
Well, I fell over once which doesn’t really count as I was only going less than one mile an hour and the second time I fell off in a big way, and killing a large German Sheppard dog and hurting myself in the process.
I still feel sad about the dog, all these years later.
The first time I fell over was more embarrassing than anything else.
I had just finished my 12-hour day shift, it was already dark has the time was 18:30, it was dark going to work and dark when you left in the winter months, I was walking out of the Sony plant with some of my workmates, I sat on my Honda and was still talking to one of the guys I work with, going by the name of Simon Howells from Ton-Pentra and because of this distraction I had totally forgotten about the bright yellow wheel clamp that was fixed to my front wheel, and the springy bright yellow lead that was attached to my throttle grip, which is there to remind the rider there is a wheel clamp in place, the lock was the type that you slot into the holes on the disc brake.
Still talking, I put my helmet on and then my gloves and said “ alright then, see you tomorrow “ and then pulled the clutch leaver in and clicked the bike into first gear, and then pulled off.
I moved no more the one foot, and the front wheel locked up with the bright yellow wheel lock stopping me going any further, the lock made contact with the front forks and stopped me dead in my tracks, with the result of me laying the bike down on its side and with me rolling about on my back with my arms and legs dangling in the air acting like a Dying fly from the Saturday kids program Tiswas.
I instantly rolled back onto my feet faster than any ninja and hit the kill switch on the handlebars to stop the engine and then in one motion I picked the bike up.
I had the bike upright and immediately lent over the seat and flicked the side stand out with my hand and pulled the bike backwards a little to stop the bike rolling forward.
The bike was secure and then I looked up and around the large car park that lay directly outside the Sony plant to see if anyone had noticed me rolling around on the car park tarmac.
Nobody was looking in my direction, so nobody seemed to have seen anything except for my workmate.
Simon said “ what did you do that for “.
I looked at him and said “ really, you think I did that on purpose “.
I left my helmet on which helped to hide my embarrassment, and then wheeled the Honda backward to completely dislodge the yellow disc lock away from the fork legs.
My workmate just said “ ok, see you in the morning “ and left to go home.
So, the bike was ok, it just kind of fell over and received no damage.
This time I unlocked the clamp, and put it into my Bellstaff jacket, I just sat on the bike started the bike up and thought “ what a Prat “, in all my years of biking, I had never done anything as stupid as trying to pull off with a wheel lock still on the front wheel in front of 100 plus people.
Oddly enough on the next day shift at the shift meeting in the morning, no-one mentioned a thing about me rolling around on the ground in the car park, maybe they were all to tired to notice, our Japanese’s masters did expect their monies worth from us and 12 hours is a long work day.
Even writing this story now in 2019, I know this happened 32 years or so ago, and I’m thinking “ what a dick “.
The second time I fell off the bike, I did a proper job of it, with coloured sparks and broken bits on the bike and hurting myself, and sadly ending the life of a dog, which I still feel sad about all these years later.
It was late winter.
The latter part of November.
I had once again worked a 12-hour day shift in Sony’s and was heading home, I was a little later than normal as one of the other techs that I worked with called Mark Opie from Pontypridd asked if he could try my bike out around the Sony’s car park as he was thinking of getting similar bike.
So I said “ yes why not, it will give you an idea if you like this type of bike “, so that is what he did.
Because I was a later than I would normally have been getting home, I have often wondered if I had left for home at the normal time, would I have missed hitting the dog and arrived home in one piece.
Never mind, what is done, is done, shit happens.
( Photo 2 ) . The junction on the right side was where the dog came out at me, and caused me to drop the bike, it looks a lot different in the dark, I ended up where the shadow of the trees covers the road, if you take a closer look at the photo you can see a streetlight directly above the thick hedge on the left, all this light did was cast a huge shadow over the road.
It was a very dark night, with a cold thin mist hanging in the cold air.
I was almost home, I rode through Bryncethin and banked around a corner.
I was not going very fast maybe 25-30 mph, the road I was on was badly lite with shadows being cast in all directions, creating dark areas at the side of the road, there was no sign of anyone or any other vehicles.
It was too cold and damp for any activity outside, most likely everyone were at home having their evening tea.
Everything was fine just riding home with no issues, like I did most days and then suddenly as I banked into the corner to round the bend, a dog came out of the darkness, from a dark junction on the right-hand side of the road.
It came at me like a missile.
All I could see was flash of a large dog in my headlight, and heard the dog barking at me and then the world turned into a miniature bonfire night, with bright coloured sparks everywhere mainly directed at me.
It all happened so fast, there was nothing I could do.
The dog ran straight in front of my front wheel knocking it sideways, which in turn made the front end twitch to one side, and the bike dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Myself and the Honda went sliding up the road sending sparks in all directions, and then just as suddenly as it started, it all stopped.
All I could hear was a dog running off back into the darkness from which it came, yelping in pain.
I was laying in the middle of the road, trying to make sense of what just happened.
The bike stalled, and the engine died, and then there was silence.
The dog had gone and I could hear nothing, I was a little dazed, it took me a little while to get my bearings again, I was not sure why I was sitting in the middle of the road, and then like I had switch a light on, I realized what had happened to me, and where I was, it is quite possible my brain have bounced around a little in my skull, but to be honest I don't remember hitting head on the road.
I sat upright and stretched myself to see what was going to hurt, my right wrist and shoulder were not feeling to good, this was on the side of my body that took all the impact, as I nose dived into the road surface.
I stood up and nearly fell over in doing so, I moved my neck from side to side to see if I had any serious injuries, I did this because my helmet had taken an impact on the road, it took me a little while to realize my helmet had saved me once again.
So the helmet law had saved me from a serious injury, again.
I then tried to lift the bike up off the road, I did not know what I had done to my right wrist at the time, but I could not use it, so I tucked into my pocket to stop it moving around, it hurt a lot less if I did not move it.
It was impossible for me to pick up the bike with one hand.
I left the bike on its side, and took my helmet off with my good left hand and sat down by the side of the curb alongside the bike, and watched helplessly as the petrol leaked out of the petrol cap of the tank onto the tarmac road.
I sat in the dark shadow and thought “ what the fuck just happened “.
At this point my body started to hurt all over, it was more like a dull ache, very similar to how your body would feel if you were rolled down a hillside in a large wooden barrel, which I know from personal experience.
I sat there for a little while, and then around the corner came a boy of around 20 years old.
I stood up to meet him.
He looked at me and said “ what happened butt, you fell off your bike did you “.
I resisted giving him a sarcastic answer to his question.
And just said “ yeah, can you give me a hand, I can't pick my bike up “.
He looked at me and said “ hurt your hand have you “.
I answered “ yes, I hit a dog, I think it was a large German Sheppard and then came off the bike, I don’t know where the dog is now “.
So we both pulled the bike upright, and I flicked the side stand out with my foot.
I said “ thanks, couldn’t have done it on my own “.
The boy said “ your bikes looks a bit bent “.
For the first time, I looked closer at the bike, the right side of the tank and been chamfered away near to the handle bars, the tank had taken some of the impact as it slid along the road.
The right hand handlebar had completely snapped off, it hung down dangling at the side of the tank.
This bike did not have normal steel tube`d handle bars like most bikes, but had two separate aluminium bars that fitted into their very own slots at the top of the yoke.
The broken handle bar was only held on by the brake cable.
I asked the young guy if he would help me push the bike up the hill to my house, which was only around a 1000 yards from the corner that I was presently at, as it was impossible for me to push the bike that far with only one hand available, my right hand was still tucked into my pocket, and hurting like hell.
I had basically fallen off around 60 seconds from my house, which I’m not sure is good or bad luck.
He said “ yes, no problem “ to helping me, which was very good of him.
So that is what we did, we both pushed the bike onto the pavement, and I was very thankful for his help, he pushed and I guided the bike with one hand, holding onto the left handlebar which was a little awkward holding onto the left handlebar with my left hand as I walked alongside the bike.
We managed to get the bike home without to much of a problem, I guided the bike along in a very wobbly fashion, when we arrived at our destination, I gave him what I had on me at the time for helping me, I only had a £5 note, but he seemed very happy with it, and in a different way, I was happy that I walked away from another accident without to much damage to me or the bike, walking away is always a good thing.
I wheeled the bike slowly around to the back of the house and decided to sort the damage on the bike out by myself.
I was covered by full comp insurance which meant that I could claim for any damage on the Honda, but I knew I would lose my no-claim bonus, and they would put the price up on my next insurance policy, so I decided to pay for the damage myself, in the long run it would work out cheaper.
I phoned a workmate who lived near me, and arranged a lift for work in the morning as the bike was in no fit state to ride.
The next day in work, I was aching all over, I felt has if I had been in the boxing ring and just boxed 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, it was a very long 12-hour shift.
I had my wrist strapped up by the nurse in work which helped, ( I told her that I had dropped a Faraday Cage on my hand while I was rebuilding it, in work ), so I was given light duties for a couple of weeks until it healed enough that I could use it again.
I ordered a new right hand handle bar from Thunder Road on Tremains road in Bridgend, which cost me £70.91, ( which was a lot of money for a handlebar in 1997), I always wondered how Dai Moberly could afford that mansion on hill.
The handlebar was all that was needed to put the bike back onto the road, I rubbed down the scratched tank with some p120 and p1000 wet & dry paper and a touch of P38 plastic padding and a slight spray of Honda’s ( N.T.V. blue ) spray, from a can and the scratch could hardly be seen except for the chamfered bit, well it looked better.
I did hear though the grapevine that the dog die a few hours later, which I found very sad, I don’t like animals to suffer as they do not understand what is happening to them.
This was, to date the very last time I came off a bike, but not saying it’s the last time, you never know what's around the corner.
( small joke there).
The Honda was stolen some months later, by some bottom feeding tow-rags.
It is the only bike that I have ever had stolen, I was on a night shift, and I had a lift to work, because the roads were too icy to ride safely, so I left the bike around the back of the house in the back garden.
The bike thieves could not break their way into my back fence, I had made the fence strong enough just in case this kind of thing could happen ( there was a small hedge covered lane behind my house that only ran to a big house in the woods ) so it was very quite behind there, and at 03:00 in the morning no-one was going to disturb them in any case.
Because the thieves had no success that way, the rear fence had defeated them, they cut through my neighbour`s chain fence with bolt cutters, and then came though my side chain fence and took the bike out that way, they came prepared and broke the steering lock and used the bolt cutters to cut the chain that was wrapped around the rear wheel, and knocked the bright yellow wheel lock off with a heavy hammer, the thieves had come prepared, it was obvious this was not their first time they had done this kind of thing.
( Photo 3 ) . The Honda resting in Bryncethin.
The police were not interested, and just gave me a crime number and said “ see if I could find things out locally myself “.
Well I did do some detective work, and I believe the main guy involved in having the bike stolen, walks with a limp nowa days.
I know I have said it a couple of times already, but I still feel sad about the dog suffering and it’s untimely end.
Suzuki GS500 K2
In 2006 I bought a Suzuki GS500k2, which was another boring bike, a twin cylinder, again this bike was reliable, good on petrol and had the performance of a slug.
Ok, I can hear you say why did I buy it then.
In 2006 I was 50 years old, so I thought that a slower bike would suit me better, and possibly let me live a little bit longer.
Did it suit me, did it fuck, I was board with it within a couple of weeks.
The most interesting thing I can say about this bike was that one day I took the bike out of the garage and put it on the main stand, ready to take it for an M.O.T at J.T`s. Motorcycles on north road in Bridgend industrial estate.
( Photo 4 ) . My Suzuki GS 500 k2.
For some unknown reason it decided to fall over on to my gravel drive, and managed to snap the brake lever off when it hit the ground.
The lever broken off with only leaving less than an inch of the actual leaver on the handlebar, so I phoned J.T.`s and luckily they had a replacement leaver in stock.
It would have not passed the M.O.T. with the leaver broken like it was, so I had that put right by the same guys who were doing the M.O.T.
It would have only taken a minute or so, so I left to them to swap the broken leaver over for the new one, so it would pass the M.O.T.
I could have done it myself, but thought the mechanics were working on the bike in a garage so they could change it over at the same time that they do the m.o.t., The m.o.t. cost £27.40 excluding the cost of the new brake lever and the mechanics time ( fixing the bike ).
( There is another story relating to this lever and the M.O.T., I will write about this another time, all I can say now is that the spirit of Merve the swerve will never die, and I’m not allowed back in J.T`s or they will call the police ).
And wait for it, the second interesting thing that happened with this bike was that I was riding over stormy down one morning going to work at Kimball electronics in Bridgend where I was now working as a electronic technician after everyone was made redundant from Sony’s Bridgend tube plant in 2005.
As I was riding over the top of stormy down, accelerating up the hill from Pyle roundabout Suddenly my right hand mirror disc fell off or should I say flew off at speed, and bounced off the top of my tank, leaving behind it a three-inch-long white scratch on top of the tank, the mirror took all the paint off down to the undercoat, down to the bare metal near to the petrol cap, it then proceeded to bounce up and hit me full in the face, and fly off into the morning light, luckily I had my visor down on my full face helmet.
And that is all I can say that was interesting about this bike and these two examples should explain why I refer to this Suzuki as a boring bike, like I have said the Suzuki is a good all-round commuter bike, excellent on petrol, and very reliable, but I did find the front end a little on the soft side, but generally bulletproof, but boring has hell to ride.
After my none bike related accident in 2011, my surgeon ( Mr. Martin ) has he liked to be called, informed me that after my operation, I would never be able to ride a bike again safely, I did tell him that he should have told me that 40 years ago, he didn’t get my joke, someone must have removed his funny bone.
Because of this advice from the overpaid experts, I sold the bike very cheaply, and also to make space in my garage.
The resale value was very low but it was the best price I could get, there were to many of this type of commuter bike on the market.
On reflection, I should have kept the bike, because even thou this happened in 2011, I am determined to ride a bike again even if it is the last thing I do.
The only time I have been on a moving bike since 2011 was being a pillion on the back of my friend Brain's Suzuki 600 bandit in 2019, this was when he gave me a lift up to the club for our bi-monthly biker meeting.
I have to admit, I do miss riding a bike.
I had ridden a bike almost every day for nearly 50 years, and then suddenly it all stopped over night, but like I have said before, shit happens.
I’m still having withdrawal symptoms.
Suzuki GS 500k2
Air cooled in-line twin.
372 lb ( curb weight ).
42hp ( horse power ).
115mph ( top speed ).
56mpg ( miles per gallon ).
( Photo 5 ) . My Suzuki in at my house in Penybryn.
Just for curious interest the cost of insurance for the Suzuki back then in 2006, plus a few years was :-
The insurance was with AVIVA, fully comp and for over 50 years old with a clean licence.
2006-07, £295.84 and the m.o.t. £27.15.
2007-08, I have no record of this year.
2008-09, £231.59.
2009-2010, £228.92.
2010-2011, £224.48.
2011-2012, £222.41.
In November 2019, on E-bay a Suzuki GS 500 k2 was up for sale, the asking price was £5 Ono ( or nearest offer ), spares or repair for the complete bike, looks like you can't even give them away.