I started every early on bikes.....about 1955 at a guess. Trying to decide if I wanted a Brough Superior or a Vincent Black Shadow. Just got ready to create hell at Clacton-on-Sea. And then into 1974.......Look at the stupid helmet.....and those jeans Had enough of two strokes for a while.....this is my first dose of Kawasaki disease...and second dose of huge trousers Later, when I had grown up....... .....and even older......
That's why it soon went and a 750LTD was obtained, which got changed to a KH500 for a very short while; but a Guzzi LeMansII did away with that. After that, a 1000RX, ZXR750, ZX10, ZZR1100.
1984 550 unitrak First bike I did over 100 on. Then came the GSX and we saw 150 on the clock with some help from V+M in the engine dept. But the 550 handled much better and had a healthy appetite for Metzler 33 + 99s.
What more could a young boy want but a tin truck for Christmas! Self and sister, one of my early x-dressing experiments... First taste of two wheels. On holiday with family friends in Germany, the German father dragged this out of a barn intending it to be amusement for me for an hour or two... we were there for 4 days which I spent riding up and down the farm drive probably much to the annoyance of everyone. My dad had to take a Jerry can (probably not called that in Germany...) to the petrol station for more pre-mix I think you can see that I'm as happy as a dog with two dicks here... every 16 year old lad's dream at the time. Spent a long time working at a local hotel to save the cash to pay for half of the £395 asking price. My dad fronted me the rest. LAD 796P, where are you now? The riding gear, well the helmet... was found in my mate's (below) dad's garage. Unknown age, leather lining. I painted it with Humbrol Enamel... Happy days! Me on the left, we're at a campsite in Chamonix. Vin rouge, baguette, saucisson sec and Camembert our staple diet when in France... My ideal, at the time, touring machine behind... Best mate, who now has a 996, to the right. We tour in Europe every year... though maybe not this one.
1981, my first race bike, a very much modified Suzuki GT250 road bike which when running could keep up with older TZs, only trouble was the crank couldn't handle the extra power and it regularly shat itself every 100 to 150 miles and sometimes less so it had to be replaced by a proper TZ.
As I remember it was GT250B, definately was an earlier model than X7. Evil powerband came in between 7&8k and then revved its nuts off to nearly 11. I think as standard they redlined at about 8 and a half, little wonder it kept breaking.
No Gary Watson from Consett. I knew a guy called mad George as well who used to wheelie his Moto Guzzi Le Mans up the hill on a Saturday afternoon. Everyone went up to Tranwell airfield on Sunday’s for the crack.
I knew a lad from Darlo called Steve Peck with a CBX. Same area and era We were all on 250’s and he had a CBX at 18 years old!! His dad was into haulage so could wangle the insurance. The jammy bastard
No unfortunately but I do have a happy memory of my mate overtaking me on his cb900 just outside Ponteland and disappearing into the distance. I gave him a toot when I went past him speaking to the local constabulary a short while later. Ticket was only £24 then but no offer of a speed awareness course !
Doesn’t ring any bells but I’m sure our paths will have crossed at some point if he went to Croft. I’m not sure Gary bothered with such trivia as insurance !
Remember flares & kickstarts being a recipe for disaster. Who dropped their bike cause of flaeres? Me for sure with my fizzy
