2. MOTORBIKES

BIKES

My Dad always had a bike, including a Vincent, as did most of my Uncles and my Grandad, and so it came as no surprise when my 16th birthday present was a motorbike (well, sort of!) - a BSA Dandy that cost him £1.50! Ever since then, I have had a bike of some description, be it a Puch Maxi or an outfit, a Kettle or an RD350, but I have now, at 60, hung up me helmet for good. So shown here are pictures of some of the lovely and not-so-lovely bikes I have owned or been interested in between 1966 and 2009 - there have been a lot! Some of the glorious steeds not shown included a Vespa 125, an AJS 14CSR, a BSA C15, a Lambretta LD125 (cost £3!), an MZ TS250 (cost £0!) and the wife's Honda C70 - no known pictures of these bikes exist - and probably a good job too!
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B551YGP, my third CD200, a late model this one. £200 off a mate and the back mudguard broke in half on the way home! Not sure of the dates but probably bought in about 1990.
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B551YGP, my third CD200, a late model this one. £200 off a mate and the back mudguard broke in half on the way home! Not sure of the dates but probably bought in about 1990.

  • B551YGP, my third CD200, a late model this one. £200 off a mate and the back mudguard broke in half on the way home! Not sure of the dates but probably bought in about 1990.
  • B551YGP after a few months of my ownership! The original seat split and the foam was all rotten so I made one myself out of a bit of plywood, the foam from the pillion and a lump of old leather jacket.
  • B551YGP after recieving the Johnson makeover - a coat of black Hammerite! The large varnished wooden chest was the previous owner's topbox, which in no small way contributed to the destruction of the old mudguard.
  • B551YGP fitted with its new customised back mudguard, previously the front mudguard of an MZ TS250.
  • B949KPF, my Yamaha XS1100, newly purchased in June 2000 - what a beast! Nice smooth shaft drive, incredible power and about as fast as I dared go without a fairing!
  • BEW149T, my Italian import Honda CX500. People were very unkind about these bikes but I really liked mine - it only had 29000km on the clock when I got it. I gave it to my son-in-law eventually when his bike self-destructed.
  • BEW149T, my Italian import Honda CX500. People were very unkind about these bikes but I really liked mine - very smooth and easy to ride, not fast but fast enough under most conditions. I bought this in about 2000 I think.
  • Bighead! Balancing on those footrests wasn't easy and I fell off afterwards and grazed myself quite badly!
  • BROOKIE'S QUAD - My eldest daughter, Brookie's Aunt Amy, bought him this Suzuki quad when he was five. He loved it and was totally fearless! The field at the bottom of our road floods in winter and he is seen here thrashing through the flood water in February 2000.
  • CKX682X - My Suzuki GSX400F - What a waste of time! This bloke stopped me in the street, never seen him before, and asked me if I could sell his bike for him. I went round to look at it and was not impressed - he'd been down the road on it (or off it!), the seat was torn, the headlight fell out when I touched it and it wouldn't start. I flogged it up and down the road for half a day, not a peep! Then all of a sudden, it started (typical Suzuki) and I fell in love. That 4-into-1 Laser, illegal even then, had no baffles! That was it as far as I was concerned! Incidentally, look at the fabulous haircut - I just love Mullets and am regrowing mine as I write.
  • E715CVS, my RD350YPVS. This shot is on the day that I bought it off my brother and it never looked like this again. I loved it but two weeks later I smashed it up (too much front brake), waited 6 months to get it back and then it got written off by kamikaze van driver. I still have the broken screen in my shed.
  • E715CVS, my Yamaha RD350YPVS. You could scream along like a demon, handling was marvellous, excellent brakes or you could toodle along under 7000 revs and it did about 40mpg and rode like a 4 stroke.
  • FMB42B, my Honda CB160, bought for £55 in 1968. By the standards of its day it was very advanced - electric start, twin carb, ohc, 5 gears, about 75mph, unheard of then for such a small bike, but it also had skinny tyres, crappy brakes, soggy suspension and was unutterably uncomfortable. Only 4 years old but I couldn't get any spares for it. When the clutch cable broke, I had to buy a Norton one about a mile too long. I sold it about a year later for £29, with a broken stand, clapped out exhausts and a broken kickstart.
  • FMB42B, my Honda CB160, outside where I lived in Gloucester Road, South Kensington - note I am wearing the standard 1968-style safety equipment - no helmet (only worn when raining to keep hair dry), no gloves, slip-on shoes and pleated flared trousers - I survived numerous accidents wearing gear just such as this!
  • FVE 941W after about 6 months of my careful ownership in February 1985, in standard foul weather trim - a good coating of dirt and rust! Considering the abuse I gave this poor little devil, it was a very faithful workhorse and never let me down.
  • FVE941W has now had slogans added. This was my work bike and the kids at the school where I taught loved it. It said 'This Way Up' on the tank and that was their favourite, 08/88. Note Dokken T-shirt - I hear you say 'Who?'
  • FVE941W has now had slogans added. This was my work bike and the kids at the school where I taught loved it. It said 'This Way Up' on the tank and the front mudguard - I had some difficulty remembering that! - and that was their favourite, 08/88. Note Dokken T-shirt - I hear you say 'Who?' I later used it as field bike for my kids - it was really decrepit by then - and sold to their schoolmate for £50. My son-in-law-to-be then stole it, stripped it and dumped the remains in the river.
  • GBL766V, Yamaha XS400 Custom, the wife's bike. We heard from a mate about a bloke who was in deep with a drug dealer and needed to sell his bike. So we went to look and came home with it for not much money. It wasn't fast, a temperamental starter and wallowed like a torpedoed pig. When we got it, it had those awful ramshorn pull-back handlebars. I rode it home and felt like I was about to fall off any minute so down to the scrappie next day and got these lovely gold Husqvarna scrambler bars - 100% better. It got written off in an accident not long after we bought it.
  • GNN974J, my Triumph TRW, bought new in 1970 for £65 from a place in Nottingham. It was ex-RAF from Ruddington, painted dove grey with gold lining - it was lovely but not fast. I hadn't passed my test so I put a chair on it - more fun than I've ever had! The brakes were useless but it had so much engine braking that I hardly ever used 'em. It was so low geared that I never used first. I had traded my clapped out AJS 250 for it - they gave me £50 for it in p/x - I couldn't believe it, I'd have taken £15! The rider is my brother Adam, now aged 45!.
  • Here's one for you! Me taking a picture of me in the mirror of my CD200!, 09/86. I couldn't have had much to do that day!
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