Our Bikes: KTM Duke 890 R

Getting old is a bugger. The only thing that is worse is the alternative. Some years back I realised I was getting too old (read: scared) for proper sports bikes. They were simply too fast, my reactions too slow, and it was increasingly embarrassing to rarely get out of third gear, or to hardly ever twist their throttles all the way to the stop.

It finally hit home when I went to look over a used Yamaha R1 (for the non-bike folk out there, this is a proper 1000cc fully-faired, full-fat sports bike – what I believe some might refer to as a ‘crotch rocket’). The bike was ridden to the agreed meeting point by a very young chap indeed, who was bringing it along as his dad was coming in the car, just in case we did the deal. I asked the son why pops was selling the bike – his explanation was simple: ‘Oh my dad is a real old guy – he’s way too old now for a bike like this.’

Dad turned up a few minutes later and was, to my chagrin, probably a few years younger than me. To add to the general cringe-factor, at the time my back was giving me a lot of gyp – so I could barely swing a leg over the R1’s quite high saddle. Needless to say, I bought it – and rode it home in quite a lot of pain, with the son probably and rightly shaking his head at the foolishness of old fellas who just don’t know when to quit.