I passed my motorcycle exam on April 30, 2015. So, pretty late in my life, I discovered the joy of riding.

It all started with a birthday present from my wife. I got a one-hour-driving-lesson as a surprise. I enjoyed the lesson but nothing special came from that, I did not continue at that time. Only after a year or so I picked the lessons up again and took the exam.

There is a lot you can find on the internet about what people motivate to start riding. For me, it was something new. Something related to adventure and trying new things in life. It got me hooked.

I started riding together with a friend and we rode some nice routes together abroad. Being out in nature and in the mountains together was great. Hope to still do some more of that together with my wife when time is right.

I also always loved the adrenalin rush released after a fast ride. So, I started to look into faster bikes and ended up experiencing a few race bikes as well. I even visited the Isle of Man TT races a few times. That race is just insane. I loved it and it made a big impression on me.

Bikes I owned / own:

  1. My first bike was a Suzuki V-Strom DL 1000 from 2014.
    • I did a lot of km on this one. Out abroad, riding in the mountains together with a friend. This was an awesome bike to start with. It had a lot of power due to the 1000 CC two-cylinder engine (100 pk and 100 Nm torque). It was a second-hand bike, and yet it only had 4000 km on it. When I bought it, it came with a nice skid plate and it had crash bars on the side of the engine. Because of my height, I replaced the windscreen with a larger one.
  2. While I still owned the V-Strom I couldn’t resist trying out a Honda CBR900RR Fireblade (929) from 2002.
    • This one got me into race-bikes. It had a lot of km on it (I believe it was 60.000) but it was really well maintained. I had to get used to a pretty aggressive seating position, and the seat itself was remarkably slippery. Because of that, I started wearing leather pants instead of textiles. 
  3. I started to look more into race bikes and I wanted more speed, so I bought the Ducati Panigale 959 in 2017
    • This bike was the first brand-new bike I owned. The sound and the looks of it were amazing. It was much better than the Honda. Now I owned three bikes but I actually only rode the Ducati. The V-Strom was still a lovely bike but not as exciting as the Ducati or the Honda. For the little time that was available for riding, I preferred the exciting-high-adrenaline-ride over the comfortable but somewhat ‘boring’ ride on the V-Strom. Don’t get me wrong, I would still buy the V-Strom again depending on how much time is available for adventure touring.
  4. Next, I fell in love with the Aprilia RSV4 RF from 2017
    • It was the color scheme, the handling, the seating position, the options, the sound, the power, and the reputation that made me want to own the Aprilia. I have to admit when I first noticed it, I wanted to know more about it. Unfortunately, in terms of price, it was out of range at that time. But, I figured, since I was only riding the Ducati -> why not sell the Honda, and trade in the V-Strom and the Ducati for the Aprilia? And so I did.
  5. The Suzuki GSX-R 750 from 2005
    • I motivated my wife to also get her motorcycle driving license. So, even before she passed the exam I bought her a race bike too. This was also a high km second-hand bike (it had 50K on the odometer). Same as with the Honda it drove fantastic. The handling and shifting were smoother than butter. And yet it was pretty soon clear that the seating position was not for my wife. Already after some short trips together she experienced pain in her wrists and hands. The racy position is not the best for touring and so we sold her again after only a few months.
  6. We needed a comfy bike and so we bought a new Harley Davidson Iron 1200 XT from 2019
    • For my wife, the seating position needs to be as low as possible. The other requirement would be to have no pressure on the wrists and as little as possible on the hands. And finally, it has to look badass. The Harley is perfect for that. And, I have to admit, I love it too. For every mood a different ride you could say 🙂
  7. And finally, I bought the Moto Guzzi V85tt from 2020
    • Driving together with my wife on the Aprilia and her on the Harley was possible, but very difficult for both of us to keep up with each other. Everything on the Aprilia is built for speed and racing while the Harley is a rather slow cruiser. I wasn’t ready to sell the Aprilia because I still love everything about that bike. Yet I longed for the time that I owned the V-Strom. That adventure-riding was an awesome time. It seemed to make sense to me to search for a reasonably priced adventure bike to be able to tour again (and to be able to drive together with my wife).

[UPDATE: December 2022]
As time passed by, our needs changed again (as always).

I was starting to reflect on the great time that I had on the previously owned Suzuki V-Strom DL 1000. I did a lot of kilometers on that bike in the past, and it was lots of fun and good times on that bike. When the new version hit the market I was hooked again. I wanted it very badly.

  1. And so, I traded in the Harley and bought a brand new Suzuki V-Strom 1050 XT
    • The Moto Guzi V85tt went to my wife as she tagged along in the “adventure-riding” mindset. Unfortunately, the V85tt was too tall for my wife, so we ended up swapping it for a lower bike for her.
  2.  We ordered the new Kawasaki Z900 SE
    • This bike was ordered during the pandemic, and we had to wait for a long, long time for it to arrive. Eventually, the dealer told us that we were one of the 31 lucky few that received a Z900 SE in the Netherlands (as every Kawasaki dealership in the Netherlands only received 1 of the special SE version).
    • We decided to sell the RSV4 RF race bike and swap the V-Strom 1050 XT again, as I got hooked on the adventure riding more and more. A more serious adventure-riding bike was desired for me.
  3. That is when we finally ordered the KTM 1290 Super Adventure R.
    • To date, I am still very happy with the KTM, and my wife with the Z900. But guess what? Something was missing…
    • Sometimes you are just in a different mood. And so we decided to buy a bike for a different mood as well:
  4. We bought a second-hand custom Harley Davidson FLS 107 Slim.
    • After undoing a few of the (uncomfortable) customizations, we are now very happy with this bike as well. The bike was lowered to the point where it had close to no suspension at all. Also, the steering wheel was 1 meter wide. We basically changed the bike back to fit the original suspension and the original steering wheel.

[UPDATE: September 2024]
The last update was from December 2022, meanwhile, we swapped out a few bikes to be able to add some exciting new bikes to the fleet 🙂

  1. We sold the Kawasaki Z900 SE and we also sold the Harley Davidson FLS 107 Slim to be able to buy and customize the new KTM 1390 Super Duke R. As said: this one is now customized for performance. We installed the full Akrapovic exhaust system, including the race mapping (+ magic box to be still able to drive it on the road).
  2. I again wanted a (cheaper) racer, so we bought a Suzuki GSX-R 750 K2 with only 9.000 km on the odometer.
  3. My dear friend Michel Akkers passed away very suddenly at the age of 52 years, and I felt a strong desire to own his almost new KTM Duke 890 GP. We bought it and now both my wife and I are riding this bike as well.
  4. Due to Michel’s sudden passing, and the associated difficult mourning period in the life of his partner, we also ‘inherited’ her Triumph Trident 660. We drove it for half a year and decided to give it back to her as she found new energy in her life.
  5. The only bike I kept from the story above is the KTM 1290 Super Adventure R. I still love riding this one. It is the ultimate travel machine, and it is my go-to bike when doing a somewhat longer trip.

Updated photos of the fleet are below.