Serial Number 6218.

Illustrations by Kathy Kaiser

Via: michelle duff

"Serial Number 6218 is a true story about Michelle Duff's personal motorcycle. Everything in the book really happened all from the motorcycle's point of view, with an abundance of imagination. The last four digits of the actual serial number of Michelle's FZR 600 Yamaha, are 6218.

Back in her youth, Michelle saw a cartoon at the movies that showed the conversion of a Model "A" Ford into a hotrod, and transformed the sad, used Ford, into a happy, spiritied automobile once again. Since then, Michelle has believed that all things mechanical have animation, feelings, and personal goals, especially cars and motorcycles.

The model that 6218 is, was made in his year of manufacture more as a racing motorycle for production machine racing than as a road bike. Rules dictated that the model must be street legal to qualify for production class racing. Most models like 6218, were sold for racing, and few actually saw use on the street.


And, so it was when Michelle first bought 6218, she was riding out on the bus to collect him from the dealership, and she thought how annoyed he was going to be when he found out that he was going to be just another road bike, and not an important racing motorcycle. And, to make matters worse, he was going to be ridden by a WOMAN, and not a race rider. In Michelle's mind, the story grew from their first ride together to the growing respect and love they developed for each other, to the moving end to this chapter in 6218's life."