Buying a 30-year-old motorcycle from Facebook marketplace for £600 doesn’t sound like the start of a romance, does it?
But three months after buying it, this CBR600F-N holds my heart. Why? Well, successfully covering 975 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats in under a day, without using motorways, and with a burgeoning mechanical issue – that was when this bike stopped being just a bike and became something more…
On the shortest day of last year I’d thrown my hat into the ring to do something special on the longest day of this one. The Longest Day Challenge is a charity ride which demands use of a bike that cost no more than £600, excluding expenditure to get it safe and through an MoT. After an aborted flirtation with a £300 Deauville (which leaked fuel like a sieve) I revisited FB marketplace.
This CBR was originally up at a grand. I’d seen it and passed it by – it felt a bit cheeky to bid £600
