My first time was during the late 1980's while riding dad's 1941 Harley-Davidson WLC750 (3-speed hand gear change and foot operated clutch
) behind me was dad and my mates in his 1943 Dodge 6x6 Personnel & Cargo Carrier, when we came to a mini-roundabout in Liphook (A3) I made a mistake, I should have rode straight through but I started to turn slowly (10mph) onto the mini-roundabout, dad tooted and indicated the correct direction so while still negotiating the roundabout I decided to go full circle and take the correct road (A3 London) at was at this stage a 17 year old decided to enter the roundabout driving a Metro. Already cranked over I tried to take avoiding action and pulled the front brake, not a good thing to normally but on an old Harley I found out to my horror it doesn't matter as the front brake (cable operated drum) doesn't work!! Apparently this is a common problem on these Harleys and bikes of this age, that is why riders wore boots with platform soles.
I also used the rear brake but this didn’t slow the bike enough either so the inevitable crunch happened and unintentionally I managed to get my right knee down for the time, in fact the whole of my right leg. Minimal damage to me, bike and car. Needless to say that dad wasn’t a happy chappy.
06-Dec-2006, 21:29 
(CB175 1973 I think?)
RD
Hybrid Mode
