Sunshine on a RAINY DAY

Times are tight for many of us, and cheap, easy, reliable transport could be the answer to saving some dosh. But we need some fun too, eh?

- WORDS: Dave Manning PHOTOGRAPHY: Simon Everett

Historically, motorcycling has always flourished in times of hardship.

When finances take a hit, when the economy takes a tumble, and when workers need a frugal way of getting to work each day, there's been an increase in sales of motorcycles.

Have you been watching the current global economic climate? Are you looking for cheap transport? And have you seen Honda's answers to your questions?

The GB350S is not the sort of bike that is going to be pushing technological boundaries, or of becoming a poster-boy dream bike that everyone yearns for and puts it on their list of Lottery win purchases. But there are plenty of reasons why it is very much a bike of these times, and I found that the way it has such a profoundly calming effect when you ride it, or even just stand alongside with it ticking over, is just one of them...

That gentle and calming bof-bof-bof on tickover, once it's warmed anyway, is much like the metronomic beat of a Bullet 350, albeit a little quieter mechanically - there's not the same rustle of valvegear or any kind of piston slap that the older Indian bikes have.

And the comparison with the 350 Bullet is apt, given that when I first saw the GB350 on the Honda stand at last year's NEC show, I thought to myself - "What's that Bullet doing on the Honda stand?..." So, obviously, the classic style and basic spec speak for themselves in proving that the GB is a traditional motorcycle for a traditional motorcycle user - ie, the sort of owner who needs it for daily transport and for some weekend leisure rides, rather than the sort of use that has become popular for bikes over the last couple of decades as being a pure leisure machine, no more and no less.