In July of 2009 my son decided to buy a motorbike. Here in Canberra (as in most Australian states) there is a requirement that, before being issued a Learner's Permit, one must attend a two-day course which introduces the new rider to the theory and practical aspects of riding a motorcycle, with a test at the end of it.

He successfully completed the weekend, and within a few weeks had bought his first bike (a Yamaha SRV250 Renaissa). When it arrived I was admiring it and mentioned something about always wanting to ride a motorcycle and doing so before I die. So he encouraged me to do the introductory course and before I could change my mind I had signed up for the following weekend.

Suffice to say, I passed and was issued with my L-plate and over the following weeks I kept an eye out for a suitable bike.

My selections were limited; I am too old and creaky to be hunched over on a modern sports bike (and I don't like their styling - reminding me as they do of Transformers!) and I also had to take into account that I was limited to a specific power-to-weight ratio, being a Learner.

Therefore I was tending to look at things like the Yamaha 250 Virago and similar cruisers from the other companies when one evening, whilst browsing the web, I spied an auction ad for a 'Honda CM400A Automatic. 17,000 miles. All original'. Hmmmm. A 1980s automatic bike. That looks interesting. A classic style, to which I can relate, and no having to co-ordinate all that clutch / throttle / brake / gearchange stuff!

We did a deal and less than a week later a truck from Melbourne pulled into my street and my CM400A was rolled into the garage.

Of course, the urge to ride the CM was at a peak, so after reading the little owner's handbook (a copy of which I had found on eBay before the bike arrived) and checking oil and tyres and familiarising myself with the controls, I readied myself for the first ride.

On with shiny new helmet, gloves, boots, jacket. Key into ignition, petrol 'on', kill-switch to centre, turn key to 'on' and press the starter-button.

Nothing. Just silence.

I checked everything again, had a look at the manual and discovered that, with the gear lever in anything other than neutral, the engine would not start. I also learned that, in addition to that safety-feature, when the side stand was kicked down with the bike in gear, the engine would cut out.

So I toed the gear selector into neutral, tried again and, with about half-choke, the engine fired and settled down to a nice idle. Once it had warmed up (remember that August down here is still winter) I released the parking brake (what would, on a manual bike, be the clutch lever), snicked the gear selector into first, gave a gentle twist to the right handgrip, trundled up the driveway and into the street for a few circuits around the block.