Bikes that were loved and lost

[Triumph-Legend]

Having just made a reply under a previous heading, it occurs to me that with all the years of experience and motorcycling knowledge in the club. perhaps it might be interesting to hear from members their comments on the machines that they have loved and lost or hated over the years. Yes I know that we a a one marque club, but lets encourage members to come out of the closet and admit to having an affection or loathing of some other machines. Anything from a Fanny Barnett to a Sieze Up (CZ) crosser.

Yep Had both of these. The FB was that lovely dark green colour. brakes were rubbish as I found out when I T-Boned a car. Their fault, the good bit was that I did a Superman fly over the cars roof and landed back on the road on my feet with no injuries. One of the best crashes I've ever had. The bike never let me down. OK it siezed up a few times and needed to cool of before setting off again. Also it did catch fire once, but this was due to me trying to refill my Zippo lighter, having stopped for yet another cooling of period. Had gloves on so managed toturn fuel off and save the bike. Had fag, petrol pipe back on and away.
Now that's a propper bike.

[dave16mct]

I always wanted a CB400/4. Got one a couple of years ago. Lovely little bike but....I hated riding it! It was horrible. I never knew what gear I was in, couldn't find the foot levers and when I stopped at traffic lights I never knew whether it was going to stall or rev it'd head off(and boy could it rev!!). Sold it to someone who had an identical one back in the day. He's sorted it and loves it. Hey ho.
Dave.

[Eamonn]

As a teenager I always wanted a Laverda Jota - they were a real mans machine!

I recall reading an article that said the engine wasn't properly run in until it had done about 30,000 miles... Built by the same company that made combine harvesters, their bikes were over-engineered - as aspect that attracted me.

I could never afford one of course, so just had to drool over them whenever I saw one.

A couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to be offered a go on a proper orange Jota. It had a speedo in Kms/hour that I didn't notice at first and when riding along I though that it had got to 100+ very quickly and easily. After I while I realised it was just over 60 mph!

To be honest, it wasn't the "super" bike that I was expecting. There was quite a lot of vibration - comparable to a G12 - and I thought that a triple would be a bit smoother. The performance wasn't astounding, but of course I'm now comparing it against modern machinery whereas in 1980 it was one of the fastest bikes on the road.

I'd still like to have one in my virtual collection mainly for the looks and the beautiful sound of the engine when you open it up! But it wouldn't suite me as an everyday bike.

Definitely a case of a bike that was loved, never had, and probably never will have.

[Pharisee]

As a teenager I always wanted a Laverda Jota - they were a real mans machine!

I had the Jota's little sister... The Montjuic. When I bought it, new, in November, 1979, it wouldn't run cleanly below 3,000 rpm (that was 30 mph in first gear), had no power to speak of below 6,000 rpm and the racing megaphone exhaust could be heard 3 counties away. It was not the easiest bike to live with. Howling though 6 Mile Bottom in the early hours of a summer's Sunday morning, it was truly epic... I loved it. Riding it through Wimbledon on a Saturday afternoon was a nightmare... I hated it. I left it with Cropredy Motorcycles (who tuned the proddy racer Jotas) for a day and while they didn't cure all of its ills, by careful tuning, they did make it "liveable with". I only owned it for 18 months and had some of the best and the worst motorcycling of my life on it. On a dead straight minor road beside a drain somewhere in the Fens, I managed to hit the red line at 10,300rpm in 6th gear. Cropredy told me that equated to 131mph. Not bad for a 500cc parallel twin in 1980, even if it was running full race twin cams, 4 valves per cylinder and two of the biggest Dell'Orto "pumpers" you have ever seen.

[pkr87]

I must have had about 50 different bikes, I started in the days when you could buy a bike for a ' fiver'. Two machines I really regretted losing were 'one' a pre war ex Metropolitan Police Triumph Speed Twin which was pinched when I was working abroad and the other was a KTT Velocette that was all there except for the camshaft. I tried everywhere to find one, when I did the bike shop owner would not sell it but offered to buy the bike. After months of haggling I swapped the Velo for a running Thirties 250Triumph ( I'd be happy to have that now). Nowadays I could make a camshaft to fit the Velo. Ah well! seemed a good idea at the time.

[spookefoote1956]

One of my favourite bikes was an SP370 Suzuki. It started my love affair with singles. It would go anywhere and without slacking too. Unfortunately she got stolen. I've always had a theory as to who it was but never been able to prove it. Not that I would wish anything to happen to them of course.

[Stan Palmer]

Hesitant to post with all the exotic bikes being mentioned. My first bike, one i think of a lot, was a hand change 125 Francis Barnet. It was given to me complete but in pieces when I was 14. Quickly ditched the mudguards in favour of Pride & Clark alloys, painted it with Valspar British racing green and rode it round our quite small garden until I was legal on the road, including the turn at the end through a compost heap. Rode it to school for a while until my first trials bike came along. A friend from school came to buy it, and next day came back to see my sister. They have been married for 58 years now. In all 4 people from the school owned the bike, I still see three of them. The thing we all remember was that when selecting top gear your knuckles came close to the spark plug. In the rain you got a shock ! For some reason we all tolerated it rather than replacing the knurled nut with a proper plug cap. It was post war but had girder forks and twin exhausts I have never seen one since.
Stan

[SPRIDDLER]

Two machines I really regretted losing were 'one' a pre war ex Metropolitan Police Triumph Speed Twin ……..

Chairman Roy has an ex Police bike with siren and working Bakelite telephone which I think is a Speed Twin..... (Edit: No, it's a G12 )

I regret selling my two-smoke 250cc Excelsior Talisman Twin back in the 60's. It's the only twin I've ever owned. The 'engineering' fascinated me and it made a lovely noise when being given the beans through the narrow backstreets of Tudor flint cottages in Lewes.

Most of us did the same thing later with our Minis complete with 4" copper Peco tail pipes, accelerating to warp speed in 2nd then foot off and shatter the peace with the resonating overrun racket. Luvverly.

[Triumph-Legend]

My BSA B25-SS. after owning a Starfire I wanted the dirt bike version. Bought the B25SS model and set about making it a usable off road bike.
High level exhaust with stubby B40 silencer, polished and matched inlet and head. Preston Petty enduro rear mudguard and Stadium front Mudguard. folding foot pegs, short all chain guard, custom made fibreglass one piece seat and side panel unit, (was working for a company making body panels). Duplicated charging system located under seat tray. Revised wiring loom, A bit of up rating the front forks and Koni rear shocks. Up-rated clutch with Cheney pressure plate and springs. folding g/lever and shortened gear lever. 21inch front rim laced onto a small conical hub. Magura H/bar controls. All set up and usually running on Dunlop trials, or somtimes MX tires.

I tell you, that bike was ridden every day rain shine and snow. Incredibally reliable machine. I would enter any event that I could get and entry for including the Edinburgh trial, (finished OK). Got a pleasing result at the Chiltern Classic Motorcycle Club 4 stroke trial. Just beaten by a Honda RLS trials bike. Even got a ride in the local Matchless AJS Club trial. I only went along to spectate and blagged a ride for the entry fee. An interesting ride as the throttle stuck open at one point. Them spectators can't half shift fast with a bike heading their way.

OK the bike was still a bit heavy but it would go anywhere. Rode Ridgeway Risborough down to Marleborough more times than I can recall. Ridden to work every day and off road at week ends. Yep it did get chucked away a few times, but never seemed to get any serious damage.

Practicing in the woods with Laury Sauders, top local trials rider, him on a Bult Sherpa and me on my BSA. Swapped bikes and playing follow my lead through ever more tricky sections. Stopping after a while for a rest. Comment from Laury was, "how the hell do you ride this bloody thing". He could not get on with it at all. The strange thing was that my comment was the same. I just could not get the Bultaco to do what I wanted. He could make the bloody thing go up some crazy climbs. (Almost as good as a BSA ).

PS: Keep the tales coming, there must be a thousand out there and they are a fun to read.

[1608]

My first buke was a BSA M21 ( 600 sv). All my mates had scooters , but needing to carry a chippy's tool box about I needed a sidecar. Looked pretty cool in stayprest trousers and Bensherman shirt et al. Had two more 21's since and prted with them, wish I had one now to add to the stable. One of the most under rated brit bikes in my opinion. There, I've started something now!