Funny Biking Recollections

[Beefheart]

Circa 1970 when I was 18 my mate Steve hadn't passed his test so he bought a ratty A10 combo I took him on my Matchless to pick it up a few goes up the road with guidance from the vendor off we go. Using the lanes to avoid plod (no insurance) looking back he's not in sight so I pull over to wait for him a car pulls up says if you're waiting for your mate he's had a spot of bother. I go back to find him half a mile or so there he is,no sign of the combo as get to him there is beast deep in the ditch I don't know what happened says he. I know many people like them but I found them devious beasts. Then there's the tale of when I was pillion Geoffs C15 and the nipple came of the throttle cable I 'll hold the outer and pull the inner and I'll shout when to change gear. Fun times indeed!

[g80csp11]

I had a mate who rode his matchless 1954 G3L onto a open train carriage , stopped put is foot down to stabilize the bike , when the adjoining train moved off . unfortunately his brain was as sharp as his wit and promptly fell off
to make things worse it bust the clutch level and brake lever . eventually we moved on with bust levers stopping a few miles down the road when it was obvious we need to do some emergency repairs
stopping in a sloping carpark with those big stone chippings on the surface . I parked my P11 safely on the side stand ( no center stand fitted ) only to walk over the help Nev (Spriddler) Oh thats given his name away . just as i got Nev to help fix his bike , mine toppled over snapping the center stand bracket . 500 miles from home but plenty of trees and walls to lean the bike against. Oh we had so much fun on out trips only setting a target destination the trip was often more fun that the 3 days at the event. I remember that Nev said his G3L never let him down in 40K miles after all a break down is not a break down if you don't tell anyone

[Cjay59_LAPSED]

I grew up with my mate Patrick, our motorcycle skills were honed up the woods in the gravel pits, on old Cottons, BSA's and Bultaco's, then we bought our first road bikes, he went for a blue Honda 200 and I bought my AJS Stormer, i still liked to hack up the woods. He told me you can't wear an open face helmet on the road, so he bought a full face, the arguement went on and on, but I stuck with my Centurion. On the road we used to have a bit of fun, he had a better top speed, I had the acceleration, one day he was so pleased with himself he got me on a corner and was turned around giving me the finger, suddenly he began behaving really strange as he spun his head back around to pick up the road. He screeched to a halt, dropped his bike to the road and ran up the verge trying to rip off his helmet, he had thrown up as he had suddenly turned his head .....

[pkr87]

On my ex Army Matchless in about 1959 I hit a brick in the road the bike ended up very bent against a brick wall. I stayed up for most of the night cobbling a bike together out of all sorts of bits. It was a dangerous heap but it ran. Next morning at about 7 o-clock I was waved down by a Police motorcyclist. Needless to say nothing really worked, not even the tax disc. I said "are you going to book me cos if I am late for work again I shall be in trouble" He ticked me off and admitted that he had been riding up and down the A2 all night and just wanted somebody to talk to " but don't you let me see that monster again". I rode to work by a different route till I could afford a lovely little 1933 Triumph 250 which cost £4-10. That lasted for about 6 months when I got the first of my A.J.S.s

[willowbedone]

My other mate was rebuilding his 250 for the umpteenth time after crashing it or blowing it up again.

He popped inside to use the loo.

What he didn't realise is that he's trodden on the tube of red Hermatite and walked it up the stairs carpet-his mum wasn't best pleased!

He was also the one who asked for a go on my moped, and had trodden in some dogsh*t. He's kickstarted it, then stalled it. This meant that by flicking the kickstart lever out again, he'd managed to get it all over my twistgrip and brake lever etc.

Red hermatite how many oil leaks did that stuff fix or make You still see it now all over old engine cases at any jumble you go to I personally thought it was not to good

[SPRIDDLER]

I had a mate who rode his matchless 1954 G3L onto a open train carriage , stopped put is foot down to stabilize the bike , when the adjoining train moved off . unfortunately his brain was as sharp as his wit and promptly fell off
to make things worse it bust the clutch level and brake lever . eventually we moved on with bust levers stopping a few miles down the road when it was obvious we need to do some emergency repairs.

Well just to get the facts; it was when returning from the Milan IJR and we decided it would be fun to take the Simplon Tunnel train for a couple of miles and avoid yet another climb on freezing mountain roads and it was just an open platform and a 30yds ride along it to get to the bike carriage.

Italy Jampot May 2009 (4) (640x429).jpg

Italy Jampot 2009 (2) (640x429).jpg

Oh we had so much fun on our trips only setting a target destination the trip was often more fun that the 3 days at the event. I remember that Nev said his G3L never let him down in 40K miles after all a break down is not a break down if you don't tell anyone

I may have mentioned before on here that at Vittel, on the way down to Milan your wiring loom burnt out and you had to do a rewire en route. (There was more hilarity, but maybe later ).

P11 melted wiring (640x297).jpg

[g80csp11]

i think w could fill this thread , so you could with tall stories and some facts

[Plugsnpoints]

You lot remind of Last of the Summer Wine! Funny as hell. We need a giggle.

Which one's Compo?

[56G80S]

Stoopped by police with Linda on the back of the TR6P, unless it was the Matchless. Could've been AJS 14 CSR.

We'd been shopping and she had a very large Outward Bound rucksack on her back. It was dark. It started to rain, patrolman getting wet, we're not. "Why the heck did you stop us then?" I said. He thought there were three of us on the bike. "Well, there's not, so why don't you get in the car and get dry" I said.


And he did.

Johnny B

[Pharisee]

It was 1966 I was on my first bike a 1963 Francis Barnett Falcon....

My first bike, in 1962, was also a Fanny B... a Falcon 70 from around the mid '50s. I remember the fuel filler cap, when you unscrewed it, was a measure for the oil, but I don't remember whether it was one capful per gallon of petrol or one capful per tankful of petrol.