A blast from the past

Whilst rummaging around for my copy of Fitter, Fitter & Blamey, I happened to take a quick look inside the large wooden trunk on the landing.  It is filled to the brim with old photographs and, for some reason, I selected a wallet at random and thumbed through the snaps.  I was delighted to come across a couple of photos of my first "big bike".

It was a Honda VF500 FII and I can still remember the registration; C124 UWP.*  I have many fond recollections of her and she was quite special in her day.  This was one of the early incarnations of the Honda V4 motorcycle engine that was massively successful on both road and race track.  According to Wikipedia it is regarded as one of the finest handling bikes of the 1980s.  I occasionally search eBay ... just on the off chance of being reunited.

I bought her from Skellerns in Worcester, shortly after passing my motorcycle test, in July 1987 and can still recall the excitement and trepidation as I wobbled off up the London Road.  She was my only form of transport for a good few years and, when I moved down to South West London later that year, she made my daily commute from Motspur Park to Hinchley Wood an adventure and delight. 

It was a few minutes work to scan the photos and it's really nice to see her again ... She's still very pretty!

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*  A check of the DVLA website shows that she was last MOT tested in 2006 and had nearly 55,000 miles on the clock.  It also strangely records her colour as yellow?