The Bikes

I got my licence in 1999 and these are the bikes I’ve owned until now. I started off with Ducati Monsters: first a 600 Dark followed by a 620 and last a 695. I occasionally rode other bikes but I was a Ducatista at heart and I fully enjoyed being part of the Ducati family.

My first Ducati, a 600 Dark, it was by far my favourite
My first Ducati, a 600 Dark, was by far my favourite of the three.

I thought I had upgraded when I got myself a new 620, but it was a Monday-edition and kept failing me… I rode an entire summer bringing jumpstart cables since it didn’t charge properly and the garage couldn’t find the problem. The battery was brought in every night and I charged it in my kitchen. The same garage tightened the belt too hard during a service and it snapped and blew one cylinder… that was the end of the 620 and I got the 695.

My Monday-edition Ducati
My Monday-edition Ducati

 

My 3rd Ducati
My 3rd Ducati

Many people say that the Monster is for riding to the café but I took it further than that. I have travelled from Sweden to Germany, Switzerland and Spain on my Monsters. There were long day rides and I loved it. I started this blog when I was planning for what I called “The Grand Tour”, when I rode my Monster from Spain up to Sweden and over to England and back down, that was about 8000km and longer than I had travelled before.

However, I reached a point when I started to look for something different and the Ducati could no longer fill my needs. I wanted more comfort and the ability to bring more luggage, camping gear, take a pillion, etc. I said bye bye to the Ducati family and got the Kawasaki 650 Versys.

My Versys can take a lot of luggage confortably. This is from the immigration tour.
The Versys could take a lot of luggage comfortably. This is from the Emigration Tour.

I kept the Versys for 6 years and I got good use of it, but compared to the lighter and more torquey Monsters it was sluggish, it was a Lazy Cat. Then came a point when I wanted a lighter and more agile bike to go off the beaten track. I also needed to spend more time in Sweden with my family so bye bye Lazy Cat and hello Cool Cat and Red Fox.

Cool Cat is a BMW F650GS from 2002 which lives in Sweden
Red Fox is a BMW F650GS from 2007 which lives in Spain
Red Fox is a BMW F650GS from 2007 which lives in Spain

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