Bike magazines, YouTube, Google and local bike dealers where my new friends for the period of about a month. I looked at the top four bikes in the litre class that I would put to the test.

They were, as you may have even guessed :

1) Yamaha YZF-R1,         2) Honda Fireblade, 3) Kawasaki ZX-10R

1) 2) 3)

Where is the Gixxer you may ask ? Well I only like the K6+ shape, and my budget was never going to get me one, so rather than dreaming I kept my purchasing dreams more realistic.

So, first of all I started off by doing the sensible thing, so I decided that insurance quotes would be the best thing to start with. Having previously been insured with Bennetts I decided to stick with them, as they generally proved to be the cheapest all round.

So, being 25 years old with 1 Years NCB, and 0 Points (woohoo), bike locked overnight in a brick built garage, then kept at a secure work car park during the day, I put the bikes to the insurance test.

1) Yamaha YZF-R1 = £540 2) Honda Fireblade = £1,050 3) Kawasaki ZX-10R = £504

So, unless you have more money than common sense, the obvious two winners to enter the next stage of the competition was the Yamaha YZF-R1 and Kawasaki ZX-10R. Yes, I knowthat Honda’s are bullet proof and all that, but it also dents my pocket more!

So, down to two bikes I decided to look at the reliability side of things, both are Japanese so both were going to be fairly bullet proof! Having previously owned the Yamaha R6 I had a head start on the Yamaha reliability, now I’m not saying it was completely trouble free but it was certainly good :-) – But I still kept researching about the Ninja. Can’t really find any major problems with it, not that I was surprised with that!

Next, running costs ….. ok let’s be honest, you are buying a litre bike, why would you be worried about the fuel consumption? If that bothers you get a scooter, or better still ride a push bike :-) In an age where we can take our fun by both hands and do everything from paintball to Cheeky Bingo for a low price, we can have some extravagance on behalf of our motoring habits, surely?

Next, what you get for your money? Well this was a tough one. The Ninja came with an Ohlins Damper, Drilled and Grooved Discs, and various other goodies. The R1? Well that just came with, erm – nothing exciting! OK it comes with some engine trickery, and the slipper clutch (06+) but I thought, am I really going to notice those things? I may have an Italian sounding surname, but I am in no way related to Valentino Rossi :-)

So anyway, test ride I thought but what dealer just gives you the keys to a 1,000cc bike when you look so young? Exactly, none of them really they all think you are just going to open up the throttle and bring it back in the shape of a lemon. Just so happened, a mate of mine had a 2005 R1 in Silver – “Here, take the keys and go for a blast” he said, so naturally I couldn’t say no! Lid, Leathers, Jacket and gloves on and off I was. Down the A12 near Chelmsford took this beast out for a ride, ended up getting lost then headed back to his house. Boring ride? Yes I thought, it didn’t really excite me as it wasn’t my bike to ride how I wanted, the fear of dropping it just put me off! “Thanks” I said to my mate, but I’m gonna get a test ride of one that I don’t mind dropping in the worse case scenario!

The hunt continued for a bike, I went along to the Kawasaki dealer in Rayleigh which I must say was about the only dealer I knew existed for Kawasaki’s. That put me off before I even got there, thinking well if something happened to my bike I didn’t want to have to lumber it all the way to Rayleigh, Essex all the time!

Walks into the dealership and there was this ’06 Black Kawasaki, twin Akrapovic carbon fibre cans, tinted screen and single seat cowl. “Wow” I thought, I’d never seen a Ninja look so sexy. Walked around it and again, and again and again. I just couldn’t help but think that this bike looked like a Tank on two wheels, or more like a Cow with two tails? It was fat, chunky looking and just ugly round the sides. Off I went out the dealership and back home ….. good ol’ eBay would help me find my bike, I just knew it.

After a few days of searching I saw one advertised. ’2006 Yamaha R1 Lava Red’ so I instantly clicked on this one as Lava Red was the colour I wanted.

4,500 miles on the clock, twin scorpion carbon fibre cans, tinted double bubble screen, k&n air filter, carbon fibre yoke cover, carbon fibre here carbon fibre there ….. it was love at first sight. I instantly clicked on ‘email seller’ to my surprise a very nice chap from Portsmouth rang me later that evening, after a conversation that lasted about 45 minutes I just could sleep. We arranged to meet up the next day in Bristol to hopefully purchase the bike.

Get a lift down to Bristol, pull into the services as planned ….. and there she was. Just purring, Lava Red, glistening in the early morning sunrise, those Satan eyes just looking at me square on and saying “please buy me and take me home, I need a good thrashing” After I had shook my head and popped out of fantasy world I spoke to the owner, a Royal Marine from Portsmouth. Only selling his pride and joy as he was being posted to Canada for 3 years. He had every single spare / original part for the bike, all boxed up and sealed. The bike still had just under a year warranty and you could tell came from a very loving home. “Want to hear it running?” he said whilst poking my arm ensuring I was in the real world. “Oh yes please, that would be nice” I said. Bleep, alarm off, key in the ignition. Push the start button and this loud burble from the twin cans at the rear awake the birds in the trees near by …… motorists instantly looking around thinking “what the fcuk was that!”.

Before the guy turned back around to me to ask what I thought of the sound, I was standing there with my cash in my hand saying “Just take it and give me the keys” There was no confusion, Gixxer, Fireblade, Ninja ….. there were all a thing of the past. This bike just looked like it was a supermodel waiting to be entertained. I took another look at it and thought, ride boy here we go …………. we fill out all the boring paper work, and off I go. Starts her up, 1st gear …. clutch out and ….. poooooop. Ooops I stalled it. Not forgetting to mention that Satan came with a pair of short race levers I was not used to them, after about 5 minutes however we got on well.

The ride home, all two hours of it was done with a grin from one cheek to another, the power, handling and sheer looks the bike was getting on the ride back was enough to make any biker excited about what was going on.

Home I arrived, in the garage she goes ……. growling away at me as I turn her off.

She is resting in he garage now, but not for long ……… this is only that start. Of a website full of images, videos and interactive stuff about Satan R1.

Stay Tuned.