Decision made. Buy a motorcycle. But what motorcycle? New or second-hand? Get something smaller until I get back in the groove, then trade up? Or dive straight in, somewhere along the spectrum from utility to insanity?

If you’ve done this, you’ve been here. First, the logical bit: Asked yourself the questions, What will I use it for? What can I afford to spend? What can I afford on running costs? You’ll have scoured the press, read huge numbers of road tests, shorlisted, re-shortlisted, hung around showrooms, analysing to the nth degree exactly what you needed. And then, I hope, ignored it.

That’s the important bit — ignoring the rational analysis. There’s but a single question to ask yourself: Why? Why am I really buying a motorcycle?

That’s the only one you need answer — once that’s sorted, everything else just follows.

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