What did he ride before? Perhaps it would be an interesting suggestion for him to get the bike he like most when he did ride, back when. Shouldn't cost a lot of money, unless he likes the inline 6 Honda jobbie, or an NSU racer or something daft. Then he could feel the difference in technologies when his Street triple comes along - even write a nice little dissertation on the subject and we could all slather over it and rhyme whimsically in a sophistic manner.... or not!
