Picked up the bike today!

I am now the proud owner of a Honda Pan European STX-1300A2E.

There was a little strangeness when I went to collect it, so please bear with me while I digress.

Honda supply the Pan in three colours: Red, Silver and Green.

(Click on here and then click on the boxes to the right of the bike to see it in the various colours.) All clear, yes?

Well, I didn't order a red one. The demonstrator was a red one and it's a horrible colour, I thought. (Apologies to those who disagree, just telling it as I see it.)

And I didn't order a silver one. I saw one on the road and it's too light in colour for me. It'll show every scratch, every speck of dirt. Now I'm not a particularly fastidious bike owner and I ride the bike a lot, so this wasn't really an option as it'd look tatty in no time at all.

So, I ordered a green one. And that's where the strangeness started...

I arrived to pick up the bike and the dealer went off to get it from the service area. Now I could see into there from the forecourt and I can see two Pans: a red one and a black one. Well, neither of those is mine, thought I, I've ordered a green one. So, I was a bit confused when the dealer starts to wrestle the black one out of the doors. Even stranger, when it came into the light of day, it turns out the bike wasn't clack at all.

Oh, no. It was blue! By now, my brain has figured that something odd is going on. After all, they only come in Red, Green and Silver, don't they? Don't they???

And the fun wasn't over. The sun chose this moment to come out and the bike turned... "Green!" I hear you cry? Well, eventually, yes, when the sun was fully out but for a little while it was, er, purple. Yes, purple.

The best way to describe the colour is that it's like the older Nokia phones (5110/6110) which have that strange "depends on the light" colour scheme.

OK, OK, enough about the colour.

I got a run through on the extras: ABS, electric screen and remote (i.e. accessible) rear suspension adjuster. Then it was a pleasant ride home, show off to the wife and child and straight to work.