I thought long and hard, read every magazine, asked everyone I knew, found out everything I could. I considered reliability, power, simplicity to repair, cost of parts then squarely raised a two finger salute and bought an old Ducati!

Not just any old Ducati, though, I bought the cheapest on-road twin I could find, an '81 Pantah 500.

For three years I have been fixing it, adjusting it, modifying it, rebuilding it, getting it towed home, tuning it, spending vast amounts of money on almost unobtainable parts AND LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!

I've done several long trips and lots of twisty country hacking - lots of kms and eventually she has proved reliable. That is to say I've ridden out all the problems.

What I have invested in my bike is the knowledge of every part, nut and bolt, wear cycle and drama both past and future.

I think I'll buy a BMW next time but I'll probably end up with Norton Commando!

--Now you're talking !:thumbup1:

There are adventure bikes and then there are bikes that are an adventure....

If that is your bag, then you might want to try owning a Ural!!

That has been keeping me busy and broke for a while now!!!

Actually it's quite good fun making them when she is looking (am I sharing too much information about my trip to BMW here?).

I was wondering now, about starting another thread, something like "how do you feel about your bike now you've had it for a while" where everyone can say whether their accidentally bought bike is everything they hope it would be.