Still looking for that perfect one

Paul Hebden, 39, from Cambridgeshire has owned 50 bikes. He currently rides a Kawasaki w650

Paul Hebden has owned nearly as many bikes than the rest of the people in the feature combined. An incredible 50 have had his name of the logbook. Some of them bargain basement beauties just to keep him on the road while money was tight, others bought brand new. The variety of Paul’s bikes is incredible. Virtually every engine configuration on sale in the last 30 years; four-strokes, two-strokes, singles, V-twins, inline-fours, even sixes. The style of the bikes alters wildly from one purchase to the next including race reps, retros, dual-sports and trail bikes.

” It was 1980 and I was 19 when I bought my first bike. I bought it because my friends were getting into them and I needed transport to get to work. Then I bought a crash-damaged GT250, did it up and rode that around for a while before I got a GS400. It wasn’t anything special, but with rose-tinted specs on, the GS400 is the one I remember most because it’s the bike I had when I met the missus and we used go all over the place.

” There were a group of us who had bikes and there was always a pool of bikes for sale, either a mate’s or a mate of a mate’s. It wasn’t ‘ooh, I’ve got to have one of those’, it was just a case of if a bike came up at the right price I’d have it. Back then everything was done on a budget.

” At one point I had a pretty scabby Z900. It’s a cult bike now, but I didn’t think it was very quick and it didn’t handle. I knew a guy who wanted a Z9 and he had RD350LC. The Z9 didn’t stand me at much and he was desperate for it so we traded. I rode the LC and didn’t know what everyone was raving about until it got to about 6000 and the power kicked in and it was awesome. The sound was excellent even with standard pipes. ”

Bikes came in and out of Paul’s life with incredible regularity. Reasons for changes ranged from moving to Cyprus with the air force, being made redundant, not being able to fit on the GPZ600R he bought or the fact that it took three hours to change the plugs of his Super Tenere.

” I do 300 miles a week to work and back, plus weekend rides so I tend to change bikes a lot so I don’t put too many miles on them and affect the resale. Also, I get fed up with bikes quickly. I’m always after something with character. Unfortunately what I found is the bikes with character tend to blow up and the bland, ‘do nothing for you bikes’ go on and on.

” The most embarrassing bikes I’ve owned are a couple of Jawa 350s I bought as winter hacks the other week. I never actually got them running, but the amount of stick I got from lads at work was too much to bear. No-one had even seen them, it was just the mere mention of them. People even designated an area of the bike park at work ‘For Jawa owners only’.

The worst bike was probably one of the early Honda V4s, a VF750. It had a reputation for having chocolate cams, so I rode everywhere with one ear cocked to the engine listening for the cams wearing out. It had this really complicated air suspension so I thought ‘I’ll pump that up’, then shot off down the road and it was like riding on ice.

” The most characterful bike I’ve had is probably the one I’ve got now, a Kawasaki W650, the model that looks like a Sixties Triumph. I think it looks better than the new Bonneville and it was cheaper because they were selling them off. Until recently I also had a ZX-6R for doing track days on, but I’ve sold that and put the money towards my next bike, a BMW 1150GS. I’m treating myself to it for my 40th birthday. When I was considering it I took other bikes for test rides before I decided on the BM, but they did nothing for me. Even when you just start up the BMW the whole thing rocks and it sounds like a Spitfire. It’s just full of character and the handling’s superb. Just everything about it said ‘Buy me.’ So I did.

” I don’t think my taste of bikes has changed over the years. If I could get an RD350YPVS cheap enough I’d have one tomorrow. I keep looking for a bike that I love so much I never want to get rid of it and I’m hoping the BMW will be it. Every bike I’ve owned I hoped would be like that, but I just seem to go off them. In ten years time the intention is to be clocking up 200,000 on the BMW, because if I sell it the wife will have my balls for earrings. She always says, ‘This is the last bike, you’re not having another one.’ When did she start saying that? About 20 bikes ago. ”

Paul’s Old Bikes

Yam DT 100

Suzuki GT 250

2x Suzuki GS400

Suzuki GSX400

Kawasaki KX400

Suzuki GS1000

Suzuki GS850

Honda CX500 Euro Sport

Honda VF750C

2x Suzuki TS250

Honda XL 250

Suzuki TS 185

3x Yamaha RD350LC

2x Yamaha RD350 YPVS

Kawasaki Z900

2x Suzuki GT380

Suzuki GT550

Suzuki GS650

Suzuki GSX550

Suzuki GS550

2x Suzuki GT750

Unidentified Matchless

Kawasaki Z650

Kawasaki GPZ750

Kawasaki GPZ600R

Kawasaki Z750

Honda CBX1000

2x Honda CX500

Yamaha TZR250

2x Yamaha DT175

Maico 400

Suzuki Bandit 600

Yamaha YZF750R

Honda CBR400R

Honda VTR1000 Firestorm

Honda XR400R

Honda Africa Twin

Kawasaki ZX-6R

2x Jawa 350

Kawasaki W650