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news
Yamaha TTR 125 (via Yahama).PNGBoris Johnson wanted a bicycle for Christmas – he got a dirt bike instead
Boris Johnson said he wanted a bicycle for Christmas – well, he got a two-wheeler alright but it’s an off-road dirt motorcycle.
The Mail on Sunday reports that the motorcycle, a second-hand Yamaha TTR 125 that apparently cost the Conservative politician’s girlfriend Carrie Symonds £1,000.
After winning an 80-seat majority at the general election earlier this month, Johnson said that he wanted a new bike to replace one that was given to him when he served as Mayor of London by Chris Boardman.
That bike was later stolen from outside the Palace of Westminster.
Johnson acknowledged earlier this month that he might have to pay for the bike himself – and given his Christmas gift, if he still wants something pedal-powered, he’ll have to fork out for it from his own pocket.
When he was Mayor of London, Johnson regularly commuted by bike from his Canonbury home to City Hall, but after being appointed foreign secretary by Theresa May in 2016 security concerns led to his police bodyguards banning him from riding.
As an off-road bike, Johnson’s new Yamaha, which has a top speed of around 55mph, is not street legal in the UK.
The Mail on Sunday suggests that instead, he can ride it around the 1,000-acre estate surrounding Chequers, the Buckinghamshire country house that has been the weekend retreat for UK prime ministers since 1921.
We’re sure the gardening staff there will be delighted.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- ktache 5 hours 51 min ago
The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
- mctrials23 6 hours 46 min ago
As i've said before, the police should be sued for a lot of money when someone they have knowingly ignored has gone on to commit a serious crime....
- David9694 6 hours 54 min ago
'Bad parking' blocks firefighters multiple times on same emergency call-out...
- David9694 6 hours 58 min ago
Cambridgeshire boy, 13, crashes Audi into garden wall after taking it from home...
- Adam Sutton 7 hours 43 min ago
Good stuff. Now do it on cycleway C9 through Hammersmith to Chiswick.
- mark1a 7 hours 53 min ago
It's technically allowed but it's not known as "London's Orbital Car Park" for nothing.
- Dogless 9 hours 1 min ago
You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
- mattw 11 hours 41 min ago
Used car salesman is a complete attention-seeking plank....
- tubasti 11 hours 58 min ago
I don't know if they're any better, but they's certainly become more boring.
- FionaJJ 12 hours 24 min ago
At risk of being cynical, and stereotyping the police, it's so they don't have to leave the comfort of their panda cars and pursue on foot when...
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17 comments
Why is everyone being so nice about this pr*ck? Boris, stick the bike as far up your faqqing ar*e as you can, and make sure it's uncomfortable, you w*nker. There, that's what needs to be said about this.
...and Carrie is allegedly an environmentalist, so why buy a petrol bike? Surely she'd have gone for an e-bike. I'm speaking hypothetically of course, as this story is a PR plant and has f*#k-all to do with reality.
Should have got a cr500.
That'd be way too much motorbike for him. He'd break his neck on it.
Myself, I'd rather have a classic twin shock enduro bike, a Bultaco Frontera or a Suzuki PE.
Surely the Labour Party can club together and get him it. He won't last long if he gets one. I had a go on my mates 250 stroker mx bike and that was mental enough.
That'd be a bit obvious. Maybe if he gets one from an 'anonymous donor' that'd work.
A new(ish) MX 250 stroker will be pretty wild to ride. A mate of mine had a liquid cooled Yamaha 250 MX bike for a bit and though I've been riding motorbikes for a very long time, I did find it a handful.
The older air-cooled MX and enduro bikes from the late 70s are nicer if you ask me. The Bultaco Frontera, Suzuki PE range and AJS Stormer are good ones to get as you can still get the parts and they're very simple and easy to work on. The 250s are easy to live with (the PE175 is a sweet bike too, especially the last version with the single rear shock) and if I lived in the country, I'd get one for green laning as well as the occasional sprint racing or flat track racing.
I know a few guys who race MX twin shock classic bikes and they go for Suzuki RMs and Kawasaki KXs as they're tough and simple and you can get spares. While Huskies and Maicos are very desirable, getting parts for them is like looking for gold.
This is hilarious, if Boris can’t kickstart this then he’ll have no hope kickstarting the economy. Or is this Carrie’s way of saying “on yer bike Boris”… maybe it’s for herself, a way to make a quick getaway?
Because this website is seemingly going the way of the gutter press. Many of the so called articles are now to do with cycling.
Not a cycling story, why is this even on here ffs!
I wish I'd got a dirty bike for Christmas!
A Harley Davidson Fatboy would be more appropriate. I'm curious how long it'll be before he falls off it and hurts himself. I doubt he'd use the NHS to ptch him up.
“They’re like trained seals. Toss ’em a fish, and watch ’em slap their fins together.”
homer-alone21.png
This would've been a better choice:
The advantages include:
I call BS on this story, but it would be a terrible shame if it were true and some terrible accident happened to BoJo while he was riding it...
I wonder if he'll be riding it around Mustique over new year's?
She should have got him a Pelaton bike!
It's probably me but somehow the image of portly Boris riding this thing around Checkers yelling 'I got it done!' doesn't appeal. One can always hope for a flat tyre in a remote corner, preferably when he forgot his mobile + emergency tracker and told security to sleep in.