Choosing wheels

Choosing or shopping for a bike can prove to be a very stressful exercise for any biker.

However, there are bikes that have more swag than the rest. The Yamaha R6 is one of my favourites not only for its looks, style and appeal but because Valentino Rossi rode it.

Rossi won the Moto GP World Champion riding a similar bike. Most bike lovers will tell you that it is one of the greatest motorcycles on the market.

Having fallen in love with the motorcycle I was already sold but I needed to find out whether the motorcycle suited who I was as a rider.

Being a first time rider, I needed a bike I'd be able to handle with ease, something light.

The Yamaha R6 offered a fairly small engine, a 600cc, which suited a first time rider adequately.

Maintenance of the bike also played a part. Were parts readily available? How long would the wait be if the bike were to be damaged in any way?

My fellow biker friends loved motorcycles ranging from 600cc, 750cc to 1000cc. So being a typical guy, even if you had the bike with the fanciest gadgets, you'd always be wondering what the next biker had.

How different his is? What capabilities his bike has? I mean it's only human nature.

So we gave each other an opportunity to test ride each other's bikes.

I started with my older brother's blue and white Birthday Edition 2006 Suzuki GSXR 750, which was rather popular amongst our peers.

I rode it on the N14 Highway. It was heavier and a bit harder to handle yet I was impressed with its aggression on the road. My brother beats me repeatedly on the track ... granted his engine is bigger than mine but he also pushes his bike to the maximum.

The next bike I rode was the Kawasaki ZX10, which belonged to my friend Mpho, who rides with the Hoodrats bikers club.

Now, the Kawasaki ZX10 has a 1000cc engine capacity.

It's a big engine. It's also a popular bike even though it's not cheap to maintain.

Even though some bikes look the same size and shape, don't let appearances fool you. Mpho's might look meek but it's a beast. It's extremely quick and much lighter than what I expected. I subsequently took it to the N14 highway and I will be a man and admit that I was scared. (I did mention that it had a 1000cc engine ...) With that much throttle power and its light weight, I didn't want to push it just in case it might "pop a wheelie."

Now my man Eddie owned a red Ducati 749 which is like the Porsche of motorcycles. I love Eddie's bike. It looks incredible and has a distinct sound.

We were riding together one afternoon but I couldn't bring myself to ride it on the open road. I could ride it on the track where it's just you and the tar.

There are no traffic lights, pedestrians, cars, potholes or any other obstruction you could come across on our roads. That's how much I respect the Ducati.

Kay bee, who was with me when I bought my bike and taught me how to ride, joined Eddie and I that afternoon on his Suzuki SV1000.

The naked Suzuki is a heavy bike to handle but extremely powerful and it's quite a looker with tailpipes on either side of the bike & WOW what a noise it makes.

The Yamaha R6 is light, easy to handle yet very aggressive on the tar. This made me realise that I made the right decision for a newbie.