We met on Gumtree in May 2011. The seller wanted way too much, so I made what I thought was a reasonable offer. It was declined, and I casually kept an eye on the ad while the weeks rolled by... until the week before my birthday. The seller contacted me out of the blue. He needed money, and counter-offered on the condition that the sale went through that weekend as he was in need of some cash.
It was late on Sunday afternoon when I finally managed to get my first look at it in the flesh: a 1976 Honda CB550F, candy presto red. Didn't look great (more like candy rusto brown), but the price was right, so I asked for a test ride. It was now mid-July, and it had been standing outdoors without any covers, and hadn't been started for about 2 months. It took a lot of tickling to get it started, and then it wouldn't idle. Once it was warmed up, I did a few circles in the parking lot of the complex where it was stored. And stalled it again. Rinse, repeat.
Eventually I worked up enough courage to venture onto the roads, and things weren't looking very rosy. It coughed and spluttered, idled either way high or not at all, and the riding position and controls were totally different to what I'm used to.
Undeterred, I pressed on, and it paid off. After about 5km, we had worked up enough steam to clear the asthmatic passageways, and I could push it between traffic lights. I ended up back at the seller's place with a big grin on my face, and seriously hoping there were no traffic cameras on the route I took.
Done deal. I collected it on Monday 11 July, rode it home in the dark, and parked it in my driveway where it immediately marked it's territory with a splattering of oil. Let the games begin!
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