I love it when you’re out on a trip out with your biking friend and someone asks a question that gets the group really thinking.

This week, the question was asked: What was your favourite motorbike you’ve ever owned?

The guys went quiet for a moment. You could almost hear memories being sifted through. Some answers came quickly. Others took a bit more thought.

When it came to me, my immediate response felt obvious: my BMW R9T. It’s a stunning machine. Smooth, refined, beautifully built and full of character. The sort of bike you still glance back at after parking because it simply looks right. The reason I picked this as more about emotion, it was the bike that got me back into motorcycling after a long period without a bike.

For a moment, the BMW – R Nine T felt like the correct answer.

But as the conversation carried on, we weren’t talking about specifications or performance figures, we were talking about the emotions, the experiences – first rides, first breakdowns, first road trips and the motorbikes that meant something deeper.

That is when my answer began to change, after a bit of soul-searching, I realised my favourite bike wasn’t the most powerful or the most impressive machine I have owned.

It was my Kawasaki AR50 – the first bike I owned!

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The AR50 was tiny 49cc two-stroke produced from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. Built as a sporty learner-friendly machine, complete with a front disc brake, five-speed gearbox in the UK and Kawasaki’s Uni-Trak rear suspension – features that made it feel like a shrunken version of a “proper” motorcycle rather than a simple moped.

At the time, though, none of the technical details mattered to me.

What mattered was what it represented – As I’ve written about previously, that little Kawasaki AR50 gave me independence for the first time. It delivered the nervous excitement of early rides, the thrill of venturing further from home and the realisation that the world feels significantly bigger when explored on two wheels.

It was freedom in its simplest form.

Looking back now, it is funny how perspective shifts. The BMW R9T is objectively the better bike in almost every measurable way. More power, better brakes, more comfort, more presence and just a bit faster, yet the AR50 is the one that changed everything. It was the beginning of the journey.

As we finished our drinks and walked back out to the car park, I kept thinking about that answer. But no mater how much I thought about it nothing could ever replace the feeling of that first bike. Because the truth is simple, you never forget your first love.