The Bandit in the Shed

Drove out past Innishannon on Saturday to look at a Suzuki Bandit some fella was selling out of a shed. Forty minutes each way just to look at a bike, and I still went, because that is apparently where I am at these days. Told my brother I was only going for a look and even I did not believe myself saying it.

The bike itself was grand. A bit of surface rust on the exhaust from sitting out one winter too many, but the engine turned over first go and did not sound rough at all. The fella was decent about it too, no hard sell, just talked me through what he had done to it and left me to poke around on my own. He let me take it up the road and back, out past the church and down towards the river, and for about ten minutes I actually forgot I was only there to look.

Then it started lashing rain the way it does here without any warning, and I came back soaked with the visor fogging up and my jeans stuck to my legs, and I thought, this is it, this is the hobby. Not the bike itself, the getting drenched on the way home from looking at the bike.

Did not buy it in the end. The front brake felt spongier than I would have liked, and he was not budging much on the price, and my brother who actually knows engines was not free to come have a proper look with me before I handed over money. But I sat on it in his shed for a good while after anyway, just getting used to the weight of it, working out where my feet would go, imagining the ride home instead of the drive out.

Third bike I have been to see this year. No closer to owning one, if I am honest, but I keep going, so something must be happening in the background even if I cannot see it yet. At this rate I will know every shed between here and Bandon before I actually own anything.