Who's Me ?
I'm Koen, born 1969, Flanders Belgium, I've been hooked on motorcycles since my (late) dad showed me a holiday snapshot of his 1937 Ariel red hunter. 12 years of age and working holidays to buy my first 50cc met some resistance at home, luckily my dad remembered the wonderfull bikes he rode , so mum got convinced. I'm glad my parents changed their minds and let me have a go at it. My first was a Flandria with tiny wheels, the Belgian dax type, I made it a caféracer. Then a Honda MB50 followed. I kept it in a showroom condition, I even waxed the saddle, which was quite painfull doing my first unexpected stoppie. About the same time I shared a Yamaha trial 50cc with some friends , we used it off road and did many destructive tests with the poor little thing, we rode it till the frame broke. At 17(1986) my first real motorcycle, a BMW R26 with electrical problems. I pushed this one on many occasions, at this point I really got interested in motorcycle mechanics. Tired of pushing and kickstarting I bought(1988) a brandnew Yamaha virago XV 535. The Yam put a black stain on my virgin accident record. First accident had a jeep with bullbars involved, she(woman driver) hit me on the side, on my front wheel and sent me skydiving over the jeep's hood, weird how slow the world moves when you're slung over a jeep's front. Second accident was really dumbdumber. Traffic lights turned red, I stopped and waited for it to turn green when a brandnew Mercedes kicked my butt so badly that the bike and I got launched into the middle of the crossroads. The bike was repaired and eventually sold ,1991 the BMW R50/5 replaced the Yam and got me everywhere I wanted to go without accidents, even with a Stoye sidecar attached to it. 2008 got me looking for more torque, a second hand 1996 BMW R850R drew my attention, I didn't think twice when I bought this one.