At 14 I lusted over an RM80..I mowed a zillion lawns and managed to get myself one
At 15 I wanted a PE250 or a PE175 more than anything. 1 of my best school mates and myself had grand plans and shared visions of us riding across Oz on shiney new PE's without a care in the world....no idea where the money was going to come from but the plan in principle was good
At 16 I bought a new RM400C on inflated HP at the reduced price of $1199. My desires for any other model or make vanished over night and was never to return. I still love my old 400 and it still puts the fear of God into me if I choose to crank that little bit extra
when I think seriously, apart from an RN370 there are very few bikes I'd even consider if it meant I had to trade or sell off my old RM as part of the deal.
I'm also regressing as it's the pre'75 era that does it for me nowdays
back then (late 70's) if it wasn't made after '76 it was simply an old outdated shitheap
a friend of mine, Mark Sudgen, had an RH250 when I had my RM80B, at the time he could have offered me the RH + $350 and I still wouldn't have considered a swap..a flogged out RH back then wasn't worth $100!...how times change eh!
the bike (RH) finally came to live with many other abandoned wrecks at the bottom of CabbageTree Ck at Nudgee Beach..but I still have the RM80