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| #11  23-Sep-2004, 10:33 | ||||
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| #12 23-Sep-2004, 10:41 | ||||
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| Here is a pic of my first ever bike. The Suzuki Across (GSX-250) It had a 12L fuel tank that ran under the seat and the filler cap was at the rear above the license plate. The 'tank' was actually a pop open compartment that you could store your helmet in. You can also fit half a carton of beer, a bottle of port and a bag of ice in there  or so I'm told .... |
| #14 23-Sep-2004, 12:36 | ||||
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| Ancient BSA Bantam 175 (yes, it was even ancient when I was 19). It had electrics that were more prima donna than Naomi Campbell, and they would flounce out at the merest excuse. It used premix (of course), can't remember what ratio it needed so as not to seize but it was enough to kick up a right old smokescreen behind me. In fact it could have been designed for James Bond because as well as the smokescreen it's favourite trick was to spit it's exhaust baffles out at the following traffic. As far as I can remember into the dim distant past the baffles were held in by a long rod that passed through the middle of the baffles. It was like a foot long bolt with a hex head on one end and a bit of thread on the other. On mine the thread was completely cross threaded, so you would just be riding down the road (60 mph flat on the tank) and there would be a sort of "Puuuhh - BWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" sound as the baffles let go and let the raw power of 175 two-stroke cc's go completely unsilenced. When you looked in the mirror, you would see the baffles bouncing down the road behind you. If you were lucky, there would be no traffic following so you'ld be able to walk back and nail them back in. If you were unlucky, as you looked in the mirror there would be a car swerving about trying to stop the baffles smacking their paintwork. I once got chased all round Luton by a gorilla in a jacked up 3 litre Capri, cos the baffles had belted his spotlights. I got away with it by diving down an alleyway, but I never saw the baffles again. I was going to take my test on it, but a problem with the front brake meant it was easier to put the lighting kit back on to my Ossa 250 trials bike and take the test on that. That was fun though, U-turn? On a trials bike? How tight do you want it? and doing the slow speed test was a laugh. Those were the days when you just rode around the block and the examiner just watched from the side of the road. The slow speed control test you had to demonstrate that you could ride in control at walking pace beside the examiner. First gear at tick over on a trials bike and as the examiner strolled along, he was leaving me standing  |
| #16 23-Sep-2004, 13:00 | ||||
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| Honda XL100 when I was 14. Exhaust kept falling off leaving just the header. Had to carry a set of mole-grips around to refit it when it was hot. It was also  slow compared to everyone elses' RXS100s and GP100s so I had to thrash the pants off it to keep up, a habit that never left me.....Cheers, Ali |
| #18 23-Sep-2004, 20:38 | ||||
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| 1955 T110 Triumph, went like a rocket, had a rubber frame, highsided me twice long before anyone had invented the term. How about an 83cc MV sport?, wonderful little bike but with VERY Italian electrics. The lights never did work and if you pressed the horn button the wiring would catch fire-I never did work out what was wrong. John |
| #20 23-Sep-2004, 21:13 | |||
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| Well if you can call it a bike a Vepa ss 180 Hey it was the mid sixties |
Jools
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