Triumph Daytona 675

It's weird how sometimes objects speak to us. The simple lines of a well cut suit can inspire you to stand better, a cocktail mixer can lure you into making more martinis when you really should go to sleep and sometimes you can see something in passing and no that it is going to be involved in your future.

I need a road bike. While the bike my dad made is wonderful and brilliant it's not really practical for riding around London. For a start it doesn't have any sort of locking system so the only security would be that you need to know the secret combination of things that have to be done to make it start. Also to convert it for road use would tame the wild charm of it. It's an off-road bike, a bike for charging over hedges and the fact that it is completely unique means it's a bit too precious to leave unattended in London.

Now lots of people have been suggesting sensible first bikes, something that can happily plod along and all that but secretly I've been dreaming of riding something a little bit, feisty. The bike that encapsulates this desire is the Triumph Daytona 675. It's a stunningly beautiful bike, agile and fast in a gentlemanly way. Or at least that is what the reviews implied.

I had a free afternoon today so I ambled over to the bike shop and asked for a test ride of the Daytona. My reasoning was that if I didn't try out riding one I might never have a go and I'd always wonder. So after signing a few forms I was left alone in charge of this beast of a bike.

I don't think I've ever been so nervous in charge of a machine before, this includes various incidents with Aston Martins, tanks and even aircraft. I was on a proper racing bike, in London traffic, and I had only passed my test a few days ago. I was starting to regret asking for the test ride but I just couldn't bring myself to go straight back to the show room defeated. It time for the stiff upper-lip.

I took a deep breath, closed my helmet and then slipped the clutch. The first sixty seconds or so of riding were a little jerky. Which we can put down to a combination of an unknown machine and nerves but very quickly I started to get the bike. It was far more responsive than the bike I trained on and one I'd realised that the turning circle was a little restricted I was away. For something that is designed for whizzing around race tracks it behaved really well in traffic. More importantly the riding position fitted me perfectly so I felt completely at home on it.

Since I don't often drive or ride in London I didn't know where I could take it to really open up so I just nipped around South West London, going along the roads I normally walk on enjoying myself. It was terribly good fun, my mouth actually hurts from smiling so much.

It was a awfully sad moment when I had to hand the bike over, my hour and a half test ride seemed to go by in a flash - although I had managed to I stop for five minutes to get the girls at my old job to give their opinion of it (big thumbs up) while making my way around London. I had sort of hoped that I would realise that this bike is completely unmanageable in traffic and I would scare myself into getting something sensible but the exact opposite has happened. It wasn't unmanageable, it was lovely and I've only seen a tiny percentage of what it can do. I don't just like it, I'm completely besotted.

I don't care what it takes, I must have that bike. It even looked good with my jacket.