It is sometimes very difficult to know where to start, a lot of people would suggest "the beginning" and therein lies the problem, where is the beginning? I can't put my finger on when my love affair with two wheeled transport began...was it in my early life as a kid with bicycles ? anyway lets start with my latest acquisition. A Burgundy 1999 mark 2 Yamaha XJ900 Diversion whom I have named "Doris", that would be "Doris the Divvie" I don't know if anyone else names their bikes I suspect they do all my bikes have had female names and my latest bike is a middle aged lady so Doris seems to fit.
As you can see she is in dam good nick for an 18 year old motorbike Doris has done less than 12000 miles and is fitted with a top box and lower fairings which I am told are now rarer than rocking horse sh*t, She came from Dean of "Everything Diversion" up in Goole and I have been told this bikes whole life story OK so that's the start of this bikes life with yours truly.
So what about me, yours truly? I am Russell Anthony Heaven and yes that is really my name I am heading 60 at far too fast rate of knots but that doesn't stop me having a good time.
Yep that's me, looking a bit dorky but to be honest I don't like having my photo taken as a rule so there not many pictures of me around. Yes that is a Harley logo, OK so lets get something straight right from the get go I am not a one make snob I like all bikes it just happens that over the last few years (for years substitute decades) I have had a number of bike, Goldwings, three Harleys, A Valkyrie interstate and an Aprillia Mille, So as you can see there is a theme here....touring!! I love touring on two wheels in my opinion you see so much more on a bike than being stuck inside a can. I still have my 1999 Harley Davidson Springer softail.
Harriet the Harley like Doris is also a '99 vintage and we have been through a lot together and yes that is a tow bar and yes I do tow a trailer with her and have done all over France and Spain and parts of England...
As you can see I usually travel light!
I've done a few miles over the years so why a Divvie then? well I wanted something I could work on that was simple to fix didn't have a chain wouldn't cost the earth and that would still be able to tour across the continent and still be used to nip up the shops, that narrows it down a lot doesn't it?, I have done some homework and it seems these little gems will do huge mileages without too much trouble if looked after correctly, in my youth I was always a Yamaha boy and my brother has had two of these bikes and...he wants another one, In 2015 I took my then new Harley Ultra Limited to Barcelona to the annual Barcelona Harley Days Festival, my brother Dave wanted to come on the trip with me so he spent a lot of time and money n his 900 to get her ready for the 2,500 miles we were going to do.
Brothers mark 1 900
Unfortunately a few days before we were due to leave some bast*rd fu*k wits stole it and torched it we found it later like this only a few hundred yards from his home.
So in the end we had to double up on my bike but we still had a good time and Dave has been on the lookout for another 900 ever since.
So back to the plot after reading and hearing so many good things about the 900 Divvie I went looking and came across Doris the rest is history so they say, I will be picking her up in the next 7 to 10 days. I am looking forward to my first trip on her, more on that very soon. in the meantime I am now looking for a tank cover and a tank bag I am having a taller screen fitted and fender extenders put on I will also fit a power supply to charge phones etc. and fit my sat nav.
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