Triumph Street Twin – 2017

My third motorbike is Ruby, a Street Twin. After my Italian stallion experience, I decided to go for a well experienced pony. A motorbike that would respond well to me but not get too carried away. I am told that the parallel twin engine makes the response to the throttle input smoother, all I can say is that it works for me.

I also like that I have not had to buy a lower seat and my feet sit nicely on the ground although that might be helped by the 6 cm lifts in my Daytona boots.

For this bike I went with a few accessories. For protection, I added dressers bars and an engine cover (btw dresser bars also make a great place to attach your Go Pro). For rider comfort, I added a touring windscreen, adjustable levers and heated handgrips (love, love love!) and for convenience, I added a centre stand.

 

Ducati Monster 821 – 2015

My second bike was Rita, the Monster. I’m not usually one for naming inanimate objects but somehow I felt that she needed a name.

I decided in the Monster for a variety of reasons, this is an exciting naked sports bike that is built with women in mind, not that it’s any more gentle or feminine that other bikes, just that it has the option of an adjustable seat height and lower seats – low and very low. I went for very low, which cut 40mm off the bike height plus I had the suspension lowered 10mm. All in all I believe the seat height is around 735mm which allows me to put the front section of my feet flat in the ground, a small hip adjustment either way allows me to go flat footed on one foot while being tip toes on the other side.

Once I had the bike, I fitted it with Pazzo levers, which shortened the distance between the handlebar and levers, which helps with my hand comfort while riding i.e. I am not having stretch my fingers to pull in the clutch and front brake.

For a time I was very happy with Rita, she handled beautifully at high speed, and was very comfortable to ride. On top of that, she looked amazing and frequently got admired when I am out and about. All that said, I never mastered her; found her difficult to control at low speed, her high centre of gravity and twitchy throttle did not suit me.

I did also have a couple of niggles; I really struggled to get her into neutral sometimes. The Ninja almost jumped into it when I need it to, but Rita just loved to resist me, I am sure there is a knack, I just didn’t find it. The other niggle was the lack of petrol gauge; this is very odd and the first time I have come across a vehicle without one. That said, she did have a light that came on around 50km before I need to fill up but it does require me to pay extra special attention to when I last filled up, and to make sure I am topped up when there is any chance I might be 50km from a petrol station, which is very possible in Australia.

Ninja 250r 2011

My first bike was a Ninja 250r 2011, bought second hand at a dealer in Castle Hill called Moto Hub for AU$4,400 in January 2015.

This bike was a perfect bike for a shorter lady on her L’s. It was fitted with Palzo levers, so enabling my small hands to work the clutch and brakes easily. I also arranged for the dealer to fit Oggie knobs to the bike, after a couple of bike drops this made me feel more comfortable, although I never did drop the bike.

I put away something like 10,000km during the time I owned this bike