Great motorcycle stories, who doesn’t have them. And above all, who doesn’t like to hear them told. That is why MotoKicX serves a strong story every Thursday, a matter of starting the day well.
A few years ago, Yamaha introduced the XSR900 Abarth version in Sardinia. Nice looking bike, but also one of the worst riding positions I can remember. Now, perhaps to limit the driving time, Abarth had provided a few Fiats with which we could explore the round that we would drive with the XSR afterwards.
I got a Fiat 595 Competizione shoved under the ass; the explanation of some ‘racy’ limited-slip differential largely passed me by as I had already gone into full ‘Colin McRae’ mode. Gifted biker by the way, that Colin McRae. As a co-pilot I got the then Yamaha importer next to me. After five bends, it hung on the passenger bar, looking for something to hold on to, with the somewhat trembling words: “I’m getting to know a completely different side of you here.”
Not much later when I saw two colleagues in another Abarth approaching in the mirror, the stopper went completely off. Phenomenal grip, with that limited slip differential. My advance was only stopped by three cars that were parked on my track just before a confusing left bend.
Cursing, I stopped, only to see a truck looming with a trailer swinging completely over our section of track. Without those parked cars it would have been a homeless 595 Spyder, including a headless Yamaha importer – the man was quite large. That doesn’t mean I’ve slowed down afterwards. It was therefore not surprising that after our arrival at the hotel two Sardinian swans (Sardines?) came to take a look at the heavily wet Abarths…
Text Pieter Ryckaert • Illustration Bruno Vackier
#Punishment #story #Abarth #Spyder #Motokicx