Home
Ren's Biking Blog
Back When I Almost Quit
Blog Date - 15 September 2025
The Yamaha Fazer FZS 600 is a truly impressive machine. My 2001 model had 95 hp, excellent brakes from the early R1, a reliable strong engine, good handling, blah blah blah blah. And it almost caused me to quit riding motorcycles.
Fast and trustworthy, what's not to like?
It's around 2009, give or take a year. I'm in Scotland on my new-to-me Fazer 600. I'm with friends. They all have fast bikes and this is my first time in Scotland on a bike that, well, ain't quite as fast as their Aprilia Mille RSVs, or Triumph 900s, or SV1000Rs, but it is at least capable of speeds in excess of 100mph, easily. Before then I'd been with them on my SLR650, a great bike but at 39 hp and a top end of 95 it was a given that I wouldn't be "keeping up with them".
There's one chap, Mick, mounted on an RSV. He's one of those annoyingly talented types, you know, good at sports and evidently riding motorcycles. We'd be off through a Highland road at speeds maybe just a tiny weeny little margin above the 60mph limit. He would look like he was riding calmly, a Sunday afternoon bimble, while the rest of us would be trying desperately to keep up. We'd be all over the road, cutting corners, running wide, hanging on for grim death - it's amazing none of us crashed.
Fast bikes, and only one fast rider.
What the Fazer was making clear to me is my talents are limited. Before I could blame it on the bike - of course a 39 hp single ain't gonna keep up. While I wasn't matching the actual power numbers on the Fazer I was a lot closer, I had enough speed to at least keep up. And I couldn't. It wasn't a lack of speed, it was a lack of skills and/or talent and/or bravery.
Even before I went on this trip I was becoming aware of a growing sense of unease with the Fazer. Smooth engine, reliable, handles well, not too heavy, plenty of poke, good brakes, yeah, it's a nice ride. So what's up? It felt corralled, restricted, underused, unable to breathe. Between my desire to keep my licence, a healthy fear of dying, and a lack of ability I wasn't able to explore this bike's full potential.
The trip to Scotland where I did let the engine breathe just made it ever more clear to me that a Fazer 600 was already too fast and too powerful for a man such as I. I should be enjoying the performance and relishing the bike's abilities, as it was it was subconsciously making me miserable. Why?
For a chap in his late 30s still believing he's a young, dynamic, sexy, handsome hunk of a manly man - the bike simply laughing at my abilities was something of a crushing blow to my delicate male ego. I mean really? I wasn't riding a fire breathing 150 hp monster machine, the Fazer 600 is - comparatively speaking - a middle of the road bland piece of kit that your Grandad rides because his back can't handle sports bikes any more. This wasn't just a bit upsetting, this was a real kick in the gut.
Such a manly man.
A certain Robert M Pirsig said "Any effort that has self-glorification as its final endpoint is bound to end in disaster." Read that again and let it rumble around in your head a while.
I continued with the Fazer, using it for commuting and touring. The Fazer was a great bike, it never faltered save for a battery, it was a damn good machine. And still I never fell in love with it. With the benefit of hindsight it's probably because not only did it not massage my ego, it constantly kept kicking my ego by laughing at my feeble attempts to explore its power and potential.
Alongside personal events and changes in my "scene" - motorcycling was becoming a bind. By then I'd ridden 20 odd winters, been a dispatch rider and an instructor, ridden hundreds of thousands of miles, almost been killed, and a whole lot more. I was feeling like "enough is enough". I'm never going to be a fast rider. I'm never going to be a round the world rider. I'm never going to achieve anything more than I've already achieved.
Then Sharon got her first bike, the Keeway 125. I also had my CBF125. The Fazer was barely being used because really? A 140 mph bike that was always chomping at the bit and laughing at me - now riding with a terrified learner? Nah, the Fazer languished in the shed.
Look how happy (and camp) I look next to my 125.
It was during the combination of seeing Sharon learn to ride and not using the Fazer much I started to reengage with riding. Those first few months with Sharon crawling, I mean CRAWLING along were incredibly frustrating but at least they had purpose and direction. It was blummin' slow progress, but it was progress.
I decided to sell the Fazer, and got a CBF250 instead. That, well that was a real contrast from 95 hp and a 140 mph top end to 26 hp and 90 mph if the wind was behind me. That CBF250 had not enjoyed a careful and loving owner before me and it had a lot of issues. In spite of a poor tickover (due to pitted valve seats because it was not serviced) I started to enjoy my riding more and more.
She's after me butties. The CBF can do anything a Fazer can do, just not quite as quickly.
I believe I started to accept my limitations. Not because I'm a mentally mature adult who was growing emotionally, don't be silly I'm not that smart. It's more like the only way I could live with myself as a big manly man was to accept I'm not a big manly man.
I changed my riding, and my reasons for riding. I started riding to see things and go places. This was particularly helped by Sharon who also wanted to see things and go places. I started riding to enjoy the feeling of riding. I kept on riding because I have friends who ride and I enjoy riding with them. I kept on riding because I get a strange sense of achievement from it.
I also slowed down. I stopped trying to take each corner at "MAX V". I began to enjoy bimbling along empty single track lanes at 20mph. I forced myself to not see each car or bike as a potential race. I started to look at things. I was relaxed and calm on the bike. It was all very chill maaan, perhaps even Zen.
Sometimes we all should slow down to take in the wonder of it all.
That was all some 12, 13, 14 years ago. Today? I'm still very much back in love with riding. Ideally I like to ride dry roads in cool sunshine (if that's a thing) but I'm happy enough in the cold and rain too, I get satisfaction from rising to the challenge. I would love to be able to ride 400 miles a day but another limitation I have had to come to terms with is I have a "soft arse" too.
My current CB500X puts out a manageable 47 hp which it seems for my limited abilities is "about right". There's enough bant there to excite me without terrifying me. I can given the right road and the right conditions "give it large" and let the engine breathe without risking my licence... too much. Many folks (the Yanks in particular) see the CB500X as a beginner's bike, alas it seems I'll always be a beginner then.
And you know what? Since relaxing and chilling out on my beginner's bike... in the right circumstances I'm riding a lot quicker than I ever did on the Fazer - through the bends of course. You can read all of the above and think I've grown up, but I'm still a little boy inside, I wanna play with my toy.
"Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you're no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here's where things grow. But of course, without the top you can't have any sides. It's the top that defines the sides". Wise chap that Pirsig.
Advertise here - contact ren@bikesandtravels.com
Reader's Comments
Bogger said :-
Wow, we really have gone all filosofical, philosofficel, err thoughtful haven't we.
But you know what, I agree with you entirely. But don't mislead yourself. It is an age thing (muffled laugh).
I've got two big BMWs. Don't use them. What I do use, is a 30yr old 250 Yamaha Majesty, all the time. The other two bikes I use on a very regular basis, are my Honda super Cub125 and the SH Mode 125. Says it all I suppose.
The only thing I'm toying with is getting another scooter with a slightly larger engine displacement. Hmm?
Bogger
16/09/2025 08:34:39 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
I think we all go through moments of realisation in our riding journey.
I remember a police motorcyclist telling me I was riding like a predator, and on a motorcycle I was always the prey.
I remember riding with a mate who a few years later was Barry Sheen's team mate.
I remember the day I changed my KR1 for a GTR 1000 and realising that power is much more important for my riding pleasure than speed.
As long as our chosen ride does what we need as a rider, then the bike is the correct bike.
If the bike remains in the shed, as the Fazer did, it's the wrong bike.
16/09/2025 09:11:07 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Good to see some positive Pirsig comments. I've always had at least one bike in the shed for the last 50+ years but during that time have definitely had fallow periods. Currently I'm as engaged with restoring / modifying / fixing bikes as I am with riding. There have been times in the past when a month has gone by without a bike turning a wheel, and since I no longer "need" to get anywhere much winters don't see the shed door opening very often. Over the decades I've done extensive continental touring, commuted year round in snow and ice, "competed" in pre-65 trials as well as just going out for a ride. All have been fun but some have fallen by the wayside.
It certainly isn't about speed for me, as I've only ever had one bike that would easily do a ton, and on which I tried it just to see. It felt no different to 70 except the road furniture seemed to be appearing rather suddenly. It's about enjoying whatever it is at the time. At the moment I have 2 bikes which do much the same - the Norton and the B'Zuki - hence partly why I'm researching the idea of fitting a chair to the latter. My current restoration project - a 1048 BSA 250 is a charming little machine and I see it being useful for popping down to the shops and other local trips. Or maybe I'll hate it and it will have to go.
16/09/2025 10:36:42 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
It is spelt "philosophical" Bogger. I'm not cleva I has a spill chucker.
It is an age thing I suppose. When you're young the hormones are raging and being competitive is actually quite natural. It would also be healthy in a stone age tribe, necessary even for survival and getting the chance to pass on your genes. In our modern world though with fast bikes (and cars and guns and and and...) raging hormones seem more likely to permanently prevent survival and the passing on of genes.
I reckon that 350ADV that Rev. Mick! hired in Spain would be right up your street Bogger.
It took me quite some time to realise that for some folks tinkering with a bike is equally if not MORE important than riding it. I think like me, Ren and while I do take pleasure in fiddling with the oily bits it seems less so than some. For me it's a means to an end - ie keeping the bike on the road rather than the end itself - the pleasure of tinkering. To each their own.
ROD said "I remember the day I changed my KR1 for a GTR 1000 and realising that power is much more important for my riding pleasure than speed." Explain more ROD please. Is it the "oooomph" you like or the under stressed purr of the big motor at legal speeds?
17/09/2025 08:39:37 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
I think we are all shaped to a certain extent by our experience though life.
My first bike, a BSA C15 I was told by my ACU instructor that the bike would be reliable if I did not thrash it. I respected this guy very much and I looked after that bike. My next bike was a 650 BSA with high lift cams flowed head close ratio gear box swept back high flow exhausts ect. This bike was riden hard and I eventually wrecked the engine.
I then had a few changes in my life when I lost my mother at the age of 16 and moved to a car at 17.
At 18 I purchased a Norton Commando 750 this was also thrashed, and eventually I knocked out the bottom end. So to cut a long story short. Suzuki GT 380 crank shaft failure. Yamaha RD 250 seized engine. Suzuki GS 250 seized engine. I could see the KR1 going the same way!
At this time I had also owned a Kawasaki Z1000 and a GS 850 Suzuki. These larger engine bikes I did not have any trouble.
The KR1 was fast enough, but you did have to thrash it to get the performance and it was not in its power band until it was doing 70mph in top gear. This type of engine characteristic encourages fast riding.
When I purchased the Kawasaki GTR the ride was totally different to the KR1. My first touring bike was a detuned lazy bike with lots of mid range power and would pull cleanly from under 30mph in top gear. It never felt stressed, and I did not need to work at getting the power,
I no longer needed to play a tune on the gearbox for a rapid overtake, just twist the throttle in top gear and go, and I was no longer worried about wrecking the engine.
I had found my bike, and kept this bike for 19 years.
I hope this explains and I have not gone on too much.
It is probably for these same reasons I am enjoying the K1600 now.
17/09/2025 16:43:48 UTC
Name
Comment
Add a RELEVANT link (not required)
Upload an image (not required) -
Uploading...
Home
Ren's Biking Blog