Bikes that were loved and lost

[Andy51]

My first 'proper' ride was a Triumph TRW - 500cc side valve twin MoD machine. I was in 233 Sqn RCT TA in Pompey in 1971, and was convoy outrider for the 3 tonners that equipped the unit. It was a b****y awful machine - tele forks and rigid rear end, about as much poke as my mother's washing machine. Saddle was (or certainly felt like) cast iron painted to look like leather. I remember banking hard on a corner near Portsdown Hill and hit a pothole, the jarring went right up my spine - if it happened today I would be crippled for weeks, but at 18 I got over the backache in a couple of hours. It was a very undistinguished machine with no redeeming features and I note the regulars all had Beeza B40s - how Triumph foisted it on the MoD I'll never know. Happy days?! I joined the regulars myself shortly after and subsequently got my first ('54) G80S which I rode in UK and BAOR for some years - a revelation compared to the TRW which was actually made several years later. Andy

[Pharisee]

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!

The first bike I ever rode was my dad's M21 sidecar outfit. I started riding (driving?) it when I was about 12. He said I could drive it if I could start it... Took me a while to figure out the "technique" but eventually managed it. He still had it when I turned 16 hand bought my own bike... a 197cc Fanny Bee.

[Brad]

The first big bike I had was a G80S that I built up from about four other bikes. Ace bars, ally guards, straight through goldie silencer, and I loved it. DVLA or whatever it was called in 1965, decided it would need to have a new registration, hence EKJ 37C was born and stayed with me until I was offered a RE Constellation which sure could move. Dozens of bikes followed over the years and all had their good points but I guess the one that sticks out for the most thrills was a Kawasaki GPZ900R. Smooth, brilliant handling, relatively good on fuel and very fast. Did get me my only speeding ticket though. Just got another G80S for old time sake and an M21 now to keep me young(ish).

[SPRIDDLER]

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.

Or, according to the 1949 G80 Owners Manual:

Carb fire 1949 Owners Manual 2 (550x162).jpg

and risk...….

JLL.jpg

[Mollbhan]

Most forgetable bike ever was a Royal Enfield clipper, a mobile oil well ( on the few occasions when it was mobile), most memorable would be my Suzuki Stingray five, a 200cc two stroke that left the local 500 Triumphs trailing behind in its smoke screen,this was followed by a Suzuki T500 another good bike but a let down after the 200, then the T100R, vibration far worse than my current G12 it never impressed me, and an H1 Kawasaki a brute, it seemed determined to kill me. Nowadays I am quite content to trundle along on my G12.

[Groily]

Think my most forgettable bike (good title for a fresh thread!?) was a C15. Very unhappy time I had with that, with big end trouble, electrical gremlins, sticky forks and a host of other stuff. Penalty of trying to run things in ignorance and penniless as a kid I guess.
But I'd been lulled into a ridiculous sense that motorcycles were reliable, because my first one never broke down, cost me nothing and was utterly charming besides - a '57 Mk 2 LE Velocette out of a Hampshire cellar. Ran it for 18 months, starting on my 16th birthday when I got it MOT'd after a period of sorting it out with help from my old Dad. Hand change, hand start, dead slow of course, but what did I know at that age? It was better than a pushbike, if not all that much quicker!

I so liked it that 40+ years later I got myself another one (4-speed foot-change Mk 3) out of another barn, a French one this time. Which I still have and intend to retain, unrestored but in perfectly sound working order, even if it struggles to haul my bulk up hills or into the wind. Many unlikely people accustomed to far more excitement like it as much as I do.

And thus I bypassed completely Sprid's and others' joys of the 2-smoke, which I reserve for chain saws and other garden tools.

[Dave T_LAPSED]

Loved and lost! My Ducati Sebring! After passing my test on my faithful old C15 (never let me down, riding "technique"full throttle everywhere) I had to have a "big bike", I was looking for a 350 or 500 brit single but oh, it was a DUCATI 350!
Utter love affair, the handling got me out of more scrapes than it got me into, still rode flat out but with a lot more care and all at 80mpg and oh, the exhaust note with the reverse cone mega I put on it, it used to chirp on the overrun like a Commando.Went to the Island on it in '75, great memories.
Then I had a ride on my mates 400 four, just out, had to have one and bought it new, the only new bike I ever owned! Sold the Ducati. Got next to nothing for it and regretted it since
The Honda's handling was never up to the Ducati's but the motor more than compensated, smoooth, lively and so quiet!
Now I must confess that whenever I rode my G80 I kept thinking "I would rather be on a 400 Honda!" so I sold it and bought just that, a shiny red 400/4 and got it on the road two days before the lockdown here! So I am now fraudulently in the club as I won't be able to afford another AMC bike what with the prices going ballistic nowadays but we will have to see......
Cheers, Dave.

[56G80S]

Close call between the B40 with an RRT2 box and the TR6P. well it'd be the latter really. Bought for £500 from Pride & Clarke.

Johnny B

Tell you what, I would have another pig nose Earles fork MZ two smoke. It was very comfortable if slowand easier to wheel about.

PPS - the Velo looks great. Bet that's comfy too.

[ajscomboman]

Loved and lost! My Ducati Sebring! After passing my test on my faithful old C15 (never let me down, riding "technique"full throttle everywhere) I had to have a "big bike", I was looking for a 350 or 500 brit single but oh, it was a DUCATI 350!
Utter love affair, the handling got me out of more scrapes than it got me into, still rode flat out but with a lot more care and all at 80mpg and oh, the exhaust note with the reverse cone mega I put on it, it used to chirp on the overrun like a Commando.Went to the Island on it in '75, great memories.
Then I had a ride on my mates 400 four, just out, had to have one and bought it new, the only new bike I ever owned! Sold the Ducati. Got next to nothing for it and regretted it since
The Honda's handling was never up to the Ducati's but the motor more than compensated, smoooth, lively and so quiet!
Now I must confess that whenever I rode my G80 I kept thinking "I would rather be on a 400 Honda!" so I sold it and bought just that, a shiny red 400/4 and got it on the road two days before the lockdown here! So I am now fraudulently in the club as I won't be able to afford another AMC bike what with the prices going ballistic nowadays but we will have to see......
Cheers, Dave.

Biggest improvement to be made to a 400/4 is convert to electronic ignition and remove the points and condensers. No more faffing with individual components and really makes the little devils sweet revving. Also the front caliper pivot is prone to seizing.

[Dave T_LAPSED]

Biggest improvement to be made to a 400/4 is convert to electronic ignition and remove the points and condensers. No more faffing with individual components and really makes the little devils sweet revving. Also the front caliper pivot is prone to seizing.

"Points taken", electronic as soon as the postal services recover! Brake pivot, been there, done that!