My New Diversion

My motorcycling has been dogged by problems of late. It began when someone following me to the 1999 BMF Rally said that my '91 Suzuki VX800 was smoking under power. During that summer I kept an eye on things, and sure enough, it was using more oil than formerly; and what was worse, both the oil consumption and the smoke were slowly but definitely increasing.

I deferred doing anything for lack of cash, but in February 2000, just after the Dragon Rally, I sent it in for repair. The tale of that disaster I have told in Death of a VX800, and I won't repeat it here. Suffice to say that by January 2001 the plan was to give up on the VX and give up motorcycling. Time to grow up! After all, I'd celebrated my half-centenary the previous October.

When it came to the point I couldn't do it. (Still young at heart, I hear you say. Thank you.) At the same time, I felt that it was the end of an era, and I didn't want to look for another VX. During the "year out" I had bought a car, and an effect of that would be to reduce my motorcycle mileage and change the pattern of my biking journeys, especially in foul weather; and that in turn enabled me to broaden my choices by not requiring shaft drive. So I drew up a shortlist of bikes in the 500-750cc bracket which were faired, and of a touring or sports-touring character, rather than outright sports bikes.

I first called at BMC Motorcycles, in Whitchurch, out of curiosity when passing. They were very helpful, and prepared to spend time with me, and showed me a GSX750 that looked very attractive. When I said I couldn't decide straight away, they offered to hold it for me. They did not seem in the least put out, a full fortnight later, when I rang and said that I had decided against it.

By this time I had refined my shortlist, and head of the list was the faired Yamaha Diversion 600. Well, they said, we have one coming it. So I went to see it - and by the time I did so, they had two to choose form, and we did a deal. The bike I bought was in pretty good condition, but they put it through the workshop, fitted two new tires and a battery, got a new MoT, and hung on to it until March 1st so that it could be taxed for the new month.

I nearly crashed it riding home! I went up some back lanes between the Wrekin and the Ercall (small mountains, extinct volcanos from millions of years ago and some of the oldest rock in Britain). It was cold, and of course it had been a very wet winter, and I came round a bend to find a sheet of rutted ice across the road where surface water ran across it. It was a case of get the bike upright, steer straight and pray.

There is a God. I crossed the area with nothing worse than a pounding heart-in-the-throat.

I'm pleased with the bike. It revs freely, but has no noticeable power band and pulls right through the rev range from 3000rpm. It's well balanced and corners accurately, and I've ridden for eight hours in a day without saddle-soreness. I'm getting 60mpg (better than anything I've had for a while) and it cruises easily at 80mph - the bike will go faster but it becomes just a little buzzy and the fairing doesn't keep the wind blast off as well as the enormour Acrybre Products version I had on the VX. It will overtake most traffic without changing down, and if you do, there's power enough for anything reasonable. That's fast enough for me, in this era of anti-speed politics and speed cameras on every lamp post. (A couple of Fireblades did overtake me on the A44 near Aberystwyth, using their greater acceleration to beat the traffic on that winding road, but I doubt I'd have followed them if I could: I like more margin for error than they were leaving themselves.)

So to celebrate the new partnership, I plan to write an account of my voyages this year and post them here. If you want to know more of what I think of the Diversion - come again soon!

10th May 2001