Motorcycle memories

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I have always adored motorcycles from the age of twelve or so, when we lived adjacent to some wasteland and a mate was given an old AJS to ride around on. Since those first days, when we could buy an old motorbike for a couple of quid, get it running and ride it around the fields until it packed up, then take it down the scrapyard and go find another one, I have had too many to remember, but each one that I can remember holds a memory of a time and place. Motorcycling wasn’t always glamorous when the rain poured down or when your 6 volt lights packed up on a dark country lane, but it was always nothing less than exillirating.

I gave up motorcycling riding a few years ago now, when my hips were so painful I could no longer get my leg over one, but after that I spent many a happy hour rebuilding old bikes, mainly Triumph, in the garage. My hips have been repaired now though, and I do keep looking at the classics on Ebay…

What are your motorcycling memories from your youth?

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I liked motorbikes. I bought a moped when I was 16. It cost a fiver not working. I never got it going but mechanical experience was gained. I got a Philips Gadabout moped after that (bought from Curry’s of all places) and soon upgraded that to an Ambassador that had a 250CC 2T engine. I rode it on L-plates for ages before booking a test.

A couple of days before the test, I was bombing along at around 70 MPH when the spark plug blew out of one of the cylinders. I got lots of advice from mates but the one I tried was wrapping a milk bottle top around the spark plug thread and screwing it into the cylinder.

It seemed OK until about halfway through the bike test when it blew out again. The emergency stop was a joke as I limped towards the examiner at about 15 MPH. I failed the test of course. :slightly_smiling_face:

I eventually got the repair done properly with a heliclip in the cylinder head. I always meant to get another bike test but never did. I went on to cars instead. It has always been a regret in life that I never got a motorbike licence though. I’d probably have bought a bike at sometime during the years.

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I took my CBT when I was 64 and I bought a 125 sinis max . During my CBT I fell off doing the figure 8 but the youngsters were nice kids and just smiled . I rode my motorbike for 4 years but decided I couldn’t afford that and a car .

Recently a friend took me out for a ride on his goldwing , I loved it . I love motorbikes

Edited to add I was a rocker at 15 and loved the motorbikes even then .

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I spent my teenage years yearning to be a motorcycle speedway rider but to no avail. I was about 34 or 35 when I bought my first bike, an MZ 125 for commuting to work. I kept that until I changed jobs and qualified for a company car. Haven’t had a motorbike since.

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My first one was a Francis Barnett Plover, a 150cc Villers powered machine. I used to work with my dad on a Saturday mixing cement and such, and at the end of a particularly hard shift, which happened to be my birthday, he gave me thirty Bob and an address. Luckily it wasn’t far so I was able to buy the bike and wheel it home that same day. It was great fun on the fields but I soon had the urge for more power so managed to locate a Matchless G3L 350 which was going for a fiver, which I eventually bought using all of my paper round and odd job money for £4 10s. That ended up wrapped around a tree though by my brother, who had taken it out without asking when I was at school. Took me ages to forgive him… :confounded:

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I started about 1978 with a Honda CB125T2 and eventually managed to get to a Suzuki GS750E, which was an excellent machine - not to mention extremely fast. As much fun as it was, it was becoming expensive to run. The insurance was astronomical, as was the constant tyres and chains which quickly wore out. After a rebuild, I decided it was becoming too expensive to keep and I also passed my car driving test and after one particular day, which was a blizzard, I decided I’d had enough of bikes and bought myself a car. Fun days when they lasted, but I think I just grew out of them. Of course, I still have a hankering for them when it’s a nice day, but I don’t think the wife would be too happy for me to ride again.

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I have always ridden Motorbikes. However, in Denver, CO you only get about 3 months a year when the weather permits it. Unless you like riding in the snow and cold. I just can’t see spending the money for only 3 months a year. I do miss it though. :cry: :cry:

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I think we have compared bikes on the OLD forum a while ago Barry ??
I started out cycling but got tired of peddling uphill, so l bought a mates. 3T 350cc triumph twin.
And from then l was hooked, and went on to acquire a series of interesting and sometimes
impractical machines, and even took one off to brands hatch on open days to belt around the
track, but as l was just an apprentice then it became unaffordable!!
My last bike was a Vincent. 1000 Rapids with a matching Jet 80 sports side car which l drove to
Greece on my “honeymoon” !!
Donkeyman! :+1::+1:

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Yes we have DM. Regarding your Rapide though, I don’t know when you parted with it but they are hitting 30 plus grand these days. My BIL had one for years with Black Shadow tuning, but sold it a couple of years ago for 37 grand and change! I look back at some of the machines I used and abused though over the years and could weep, not just because they would be worth tens of thousands these days, but the sheer waste of such wonderful machines, criminal really… :thinking:

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My first motorcycle was a 16H Norton. I was in the army at the time and stationed at Castlemartin in South Wales. I needed transport to get home when I had a week-end pass. From that I went to Matchless. I was hooked!! Matchless and nothing else would do me. Then I got married and my wife to be hated motorcycles so she who must be obeyed got her way. From then on it was cars.

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Truly a sad end to a beautiful relationship Ben, my heart goes out to you… :disappointed:

Strangely though a Norton is one machine that I never owned although I always fancied one. I was once offered a Jubilee but it really didn’t look like a proper Norton so I let it pass.

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The first motorcycle I had was one that a neighbour sold to me, just a few £s as it needed work. My father, also a motorcyclist, he had a Francis-Barnett motorcycle and taught me all about how to strip one down completely and rebuild it. That motorcycle was a BSA Bantam, in a pale green with, if I recall correctly, a 125cc engine.

I graduated from that to a Triumph Tiger Cub, 200cc, a nice motorcycle which soon had racing drop handlebars and various other ‘go faster’ items. That was also the motorcycle on which I had my first accident, when a car pulled out of a line of parked cars and obviously hadn’t seen me. The same thing happened some months’ later when it was all repaired. That time was worse, in those days a crash helmet was not compulsory by law but fortunately I wore one. I hit the front of a Triumph Herald parked the wrong way and pulling out of a line of cars. Over the top of the bonnet I went, after the headlamp smashed into my knee, taking the cartilage out, then across the road and up a kerb and into a brick wall, all on the side of my head. The crash helmet was worn through at the point it went along the road!

After getting over that I was earning better money as an apprentice so in 1963 bought a brand new Triumph Twin 350cc, a really nice motorcycle that was. Those were the days of riding to Southend and back in a certain time, madness really but that was what we did. Also frequenting well known motorcycle cafés including the Ace on the north Circular road.

Then came the day when it was cars as the preferred transport, I’ve never ridden another motorcycle since. Today the roads are just so busy and far too dangerous, as much as I would like another motorcycle. Good old days they were though and a good introduction to driving cars too, nobody who’s ridden a motorcycle messes with poor maintenance and tyres with an inadequate tread. We know what keeps us on the road, even if it’s four wheels rather than two! :grinning:

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I must ave bin a bit earlier than you Baz??
I was riding bikes back in the early 1950s !!
As you say, not much traffic then cos most people never had cars did they??
I also had a couple of car smashes in the late 60s as well, both with no helmet on !
The only time l wore a helmet was when l went to Brands on open days with a 7R AJS l had at the time,
they wouldn’t let you go round without one !!
I think l sold the ACU helmet when l sold the AJS when l went in the army ??
Good old days eh!!
Donkeyman! :+1::hugs::hugs::+1:

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Yes, it does sound that way. I left school at 15 in 1961 and started a six-year trade apprenticeship, possibly just missing the services call-up. In those days money was rather short, around £1 7/6 for a full weeks’ wage! That meant using a push bike to get to work, eight miles each way. Then it was motorcycles as described. You were very lucky to get away with not wearing a crash helmet in those smashes. I feel sure that had I not worn a crash helmet in those days I wouldn’t be here now! It was only when moving house some 15 years’ ago that I threw out that crash helmet, leather jacket, boots and gloves. The helmet was worn right through to the lining so I know it did what it was supposed to.

In those days I could fill the tank on the Triumph 350cc, buy a pack of 20 Senior Service cigarettes and still get change. How things have changed now! :grinning:

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Yes, l always fancied a Norton Dominator 500 twin Barry?
But some how never managed it !
Once married l got car, although
the missus was ok on the pillion ??
Donkeyman! :+1::+1:

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One of the crowd I used to hang around with had a Norton, not sure which one though. In those days they were all big motorcycles with the sound of exhausts to go with that. Nowadays there is no recognisable exhaust note as there used to be with those, it’s all very quiet although they do go like rockets and cost a small fortune to run, probably more than a car I understand! :grinning:

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All the boys had bikes in our village.One of them won the Manx twice.
I had a Triumph Tiger Cub,BSA C15 and when I passed my test Bonneville 650.
All second hand but I only got a girl when I got a car.

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My first ever bike on the road was a BSA C15. I had been rebuilding a Sunbeam S8 up until my 16th birthday, but then without a sidecar it was no good to me as I couldn’t ride it on a provisional so I did a straight exchange with a bloke. After I passed my test I upgraded to a Triumph 5ta for a while before progressing up to a BSA A10. I found the A10 a little heavy on the handling though so I went back to Triumph after that with a Tiger 100 which was much better on the corners.

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Thanks for the thread. I remember the A10 being easily capable of doing well over a ton-ten.

I was 18 when I got my first bike which was a Honda C100. It was actually a 50cc model. Somehow I managed to wreck the gearbox pulling away from a filling station. I have no idea how. It had some form of centrifugal clutch and I think I managed to over rev it before putting it in gear.
I got another one but had a head-on argument with a Wartburg that decided to turn across me as I went home form college. The car was a write-off but I managed to find a set of forks and front wheel and get the nifty fifty back on the road.

I fell off it once when I braked in the wet. I was riding over a white turn-left arrow in the road and the back wheel just locked up and I skidded on the slick surface.

I passed my test on a BSA C15, the old model with the distributer that stuck out the top of the gearbox. 'Twas a pile of pants.
I did a dragon impersonation on it a couple of times, as in, I was dragon along the road with the bike on its side.

I rode pillion with my mates a few times. One of them had a Yamaha 350 that did nought to brown trouserings in about three seconds. Nearly fifty years later, we are both still alive to tell the tale.

Next came a Royal Oilfield 700cc Constellation. It would do a ton in a straight line cough allegedly, but didn’t handle well. The clutch was abysmal and the generator didn’t work. Despite a re-bore and new seals, it pumped oil out the breather, so I fitted a pipe to carry the oil and vapour to dump it by the bottom of the rear mudguard.

After that came an Ariel Huntmaster (really a BSA 650 with an Ariel badge). I found it quietly rotting in a friend’s garden, and eventually got it back on the road. Not a bad bike, very suitable for my mild temperament.
The big-end seized up one sunny afternoon, threw a rod, and smashed the bottom of the cylinder casing. I ended up pushing it for several miles until I got to my Uncle’s place.

The best bike I ever had was a Panther 100, 600cc single. I would get people to play the “Start the Panther” parlour game, but neglected to tell anyone about the decompression lever and manual advance/retard lever.
Without a chair it still handled remarkably well, with a nice sedate top speed of around 65 - 70 that it would do all day.
It had a shot big end when I bought it and I had to rebuild the engine.
My Lovely Cousin was not best pleased when she found the side casings being heated in the oven, and the bearings in the freezer.

Sadly she was not a Biker Chick, and never wanted to ride pillion. I didn’t see the point of riding without her, so I got rid of it and bought an old classic car instead.

She did once tell me I could buy a “Mid-Life Crisis” if I wanted to go for rides, but again, I didn’t see the point in doing it alone.

Nowadays my balance is shot from my heart neds. I have enough trouble staying upright at the best of times, so I think my days of riding a howling two-wheeled missile are over.

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Ah Fruitcake I remember the Panther sloper very well, such a long stroke didn’t they used to say that it only fired every second lampost?
My dad’s mate had one with a big Watsonian sidecar and all us kids used to pile in on a Sunday trip into Derbyshire with my dad and mum on his AJS 500 single, Happy days indeed!

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