There is one now on e-bay - current price £2,342, but the seller is really looking for £4k. I am seriously tempted…
Yeah if you had a spill you just stood it back up and kicked things back into place. I once towed a mk1 transit about 1/2 a mile to a local garage for a mate
Those were the days:joy:
My first bike was a James Captain 197cc villiers engine, took my test on that then bought a Norton 750
Atlas.
I think I would be to
First two wheeler for me was a NSU quick 50! Don’t know where they got that name from as it certainly wasn’t! Passed test on a BSA C15, then got a 850cc Norton Commando (interstate version) 1976 that was
Barrie
Didn’t Norton bring out a Jubilee edition In 77 ?
As a teenager I bought my first bike in 76, a Suzuki GT250A , had a go on a KH750 , scared the cr*p out of me at the time.
My Dad restored an old Norton 16H with girder forks etc, bought it as a basket case in the 60s finally got it going in the early 2000s but was past riding it by then, so he sold it to a collector, and a year later it appeared in Classic bike magazine! I had never seen him look so happy, which I’m glad about as he died not long after , and I’ve kept the photo if him with it in the garden, and the magazine .
Triumph definitely did I remember well, the Queen visiting Leeds in ‘77 Norton had a smaller engine Jubilee in the 60’s though.
Apologies to OP as it’s very easy to go off piste when recollecting things from the past!
Barrie
When it come to old Motorcycles it always sparks a passionate debate, my brother and I spent our younger years in a 2 adult Watsonian sidecar pulled by an old Vincent Rapide , and it rubbed off in all us four kids, they were happy days
Anybody ever fancied a Harley, so you and your ole lady could go for a cruise
I have been riding since I was 16 & my thoughts are just the opposite from anybody else’s it would seem. Nowadays when looking at old bikes, jap ones in particular I think how did we get away with riding around on that pile of junk, hardly any brakes, skinny tyres & frames made from a very rare wibbly wobbly metal. Give me modern tyres, suspension & brakes etc anytime.
I once owned a 1200cc sportster, Liberty edition paint. Totally impractical (tiny peanut style tank) ran like a tractor but certainly had character! Sadly, no pics, even sadder, my ‘old lady’ would not be seen dead on it!
Barrie
Our Dad ran a Panther sloper with a hand built (by him) double adult sidecar, complete with roll back vinyl sunroof! It was a ‘sports’ model with twin exhaust valve head it was great at the time and was probably only about 40 years out of date at the time
My Dad was small and about 10st wet through but could start it first time every time! It had manual advance/retard, air/fuel adjust, valve lifter and decompressor via a little poppet valve. He used to set it all, wind it onto compression stroke, stand on the Kickstarter and it always jumped into life! Happy days
Barrie
I was at a conference at the
Motorcycle Museum in South Birmingham a couple of years ago and had an opportunity to have a walk around. I found the below picture of the bike my dad rode in WW2 as he was a despatch rider. I also have a B&W picture of my dad on the bike, which is how I knew what he had…What make is it. My Grandfather road a Matchless in North Africa, during the war, he was in the 8th Army.
My Dad road BSAs during national service in Cypress.
My Dad always took us to Pride and Clarke in Brixton always remember the whole street was full of their red shops, with different departments In each Bikes, cars, spares, camping gear, clothing, tools and army surplus they had everything, what a place.
I am not sure of the model - but it was a Matchless… This one in the museum was immaculate. It was interesting to see it after my dad telling me about all the stories of him going all around Europe on his. He spent a lot of time in Austria and ended up marrying an Austrian lady, who is still alive (my dad died 19 years ago) and in her mid 90’s now. The other interesting thing he told me was the death rate for despatch riders. He was the only one of his group of about 20 that managed to survive the war, but he did say in a lot of cases it was their own fault…
I believe it was a Matchless G3/L - a 16hp 350…
Yeah, my Grandfather, told me how dicey it could be as they were on their own a lot of the time. The Arabs would chase them for bounty from the Germans. He said they were usually on horse back and just as fast as them if not faster.