The glint of the copper coloured panels on the side of a neighbour’s CBR600FW springs to life in the sunshine of the morning of the Equinox in Barons Court. Not the glint of the Wagner’s Rheinmaidens’ gold in the Rhine but for me a reminder of a powerful allure.
The allure that I first saw one spring dawn on my way to a breakfast television studio in 1998, which led me to buy the exact same model and colour, then leathers to match. Not at all my first bike, that 600cc bike took me to the Swiss Alps, Tuscany and above all to discover Provence and Marseille. In between trips, the orange bike took me faithfully to studios to work on major national television programmes.
I had chosen the registration mark, that bike meant a lot to me after riding it for so many adventures. I was considering retiring it and holding on to it as a classic. But it never came back from a ride across the Northumberland Pennines in July 2013, written off by a collision.
My CBR600FW has gone, now also my red CBR600RR (in much happier circumstances), so seeing again the alluring copper colours of that bike is simple nostalgia. Isn’t it spooky that there's one so similar as mine parked on the way to my local tube station!
Rest in Peace R669HGX.
- One of the last rides out on my orange CBR600 Cotswolds biking - May 2013
- Down to Cornwall - July 2010