My Bikes shared

[Bunkerbarge]

What a great idea for a thread Laurie. It's only when you list them all together that you realise how many you have had over the years!

Here are mine:

First up is a Raleigh Runabout. Mine cost me a tenner. I once rode it all the way from Manchester to Penrith with a broken back axle!

View attachment 96173


Next was my first proper bike, a Honda CB125. I rode one of these from Manchester to Liverpool every day, through winter to get to and from college.

View attachment 96174


Moving up the power stakes, but not by much was my much loved Honda CD175. Again this was daily transport to and from college, sometimes with a mate on the back!

View attachment 96175


Finally finished college and started to get a bit sportier, again not exactly a huge step but it seemed a lot at the time. A Honda CB 175

View attachment 96176


I then turned all british for a while and started off with an out of the box restoration of a triumph TR25W Trophy. Mine didn't look much like this one, much more road orientated. One day the rod came out of the front of the crankcases, just after I had overtaken a removal van, in the fast lane of the M62. The engine seized and the bike wheel locked up, the bike started to snake in a skid so I whipped the clutch in and threw it over onto the hard shoulder. I will never know to this day how close I was to the removal van!

View attachment 96177


I then seriously moved up the power stakes. Another half a dozen boxes of bits and I built myself a BSA 650 Lightning. Mine was very much like this one. Again though a rod out of the crankcase meant a change of engine to a 500 but I never really had much faith in it after that.

View attachment 96178


I don't know why but I suddenly fancied a bit of off road fun and ended up buying a very old bag of nails, a Suzuki TL185. Good fun over the tops of the moors, never got it legal and kept the exhaust togetehr with bandage!

View attachment 96179


The Suzuki was so bad though that it got replaced with a slightly better Kawasaki KL250. I have always preferred 4 strokes anyway so much preferred the grunt of this one.

View attachment 96180


How I could forget to include my BMW I've no idea. Here it is though in the right place. Mine was exactly as this one, same colour etc. and had a pair of hard touring panniers.

View attachment 98480


Next a much more serious road bike, my first and only Ducati. This was fitted with Yoshimura pipes and actualy set car alarms off as I went past. The handling was rubbish but the noise it made was out of this world!

View attachment 96181


Still in love with 'V' engines I went for the much more civilised and reliable Honda VFR 750. Stunning bike with loads of torque and so easy to ride.

View attachment 96182


I loved the VFR so much I bought a new one in '97, this time the VFR 800, which I still have with only around 8000 miles on it. I still love it to bits and don't have the heart to part with it. It performs beautifully and rides so perfectly the few miles I do a year on it are worth every penny of the running costs.

View attachment 96183


The missis in an attempt to get me away from the idea of a Caterham/Lotus/Morgan/kit car of somesort suggested I try a cruiser. This was the result a Suzuki 750 Intruder. The handling was apalling but it did make me realise that fun could be had on a bike without going fast. Just don't slow down!

View attachment 96184


The back end was so bad the missis picked out a much more wife friendly cruiser, a Kawasaki VN 900. Not much power but very comfortable and very easy to ride. Mind you I binned the first one, managed to flip it over a roundabout so we bought another exactly the same! I still have this one as well. Dead easy for nipping down to the shops on.

View attachment 96185


My last bike purchase and the third bike now in the stable is my return to the roots of motorcycling. This bike is exactly the same age as me, so I have such an affinity for it right from the start, a 1957 Triumph 650 Thunderbird. It doesn't handle very well, the power is apparently 'brisk', but so is tea, and the brakes are downright exiting. When I look at the three possibilities I nearly always pick the Triumph though, just for the pure grin factor. The noise is out of this world and you hold on to the revs just to enjoy listening to it! You have to think about the riding though, you have to plan everything you do and if you don't you get yourself in bother. I've had a couple of narrow scrapes already. It makes you realise just what chances were being taken all those years ago down dark twisty country roads at night, in the rain, with a skinful of Tetleys!

View attachment 96186


Next up I fancy a pre-war BSA with girder forks, a hand gear change, single cylinder with exposed valves and a twin port head. Now that will be an adventure to ride.

Well I did it. Not a BSA but an Enfield. A 1930 GL30, 350 cc OHV single sloper. It has got the hand gear change, exposed valves, twin port engine I was after and not a bad restoration but still needed some attention, and still does.

View attachment 118645

 

[Polux]

And now the car version Laurie....eh?

 

[Dave W]

Got my first bike when I was 19 (1977).a Honda CB125s,Then it was a Honda 400-4,Z900,Laverda Jota,GS1000.Gsx750ESD,GSXR750,Fj1100,FZ750,FZR750,CBR600 ,ZX600and finally an Aprillia RSV1000 .Gave up bikes in 2000 after a bad track day accident on the Aprilia.

 

[Laurie]

97502[/ATTACH] so I have such an affinity for it right from the start, a 1957 Triumph 650 Thunderbird.

.

Richard you are motor bike greedy what a catalogue.

Thunderbird about the same age as mine. Mine was the metallic Blue. That boom boom exhaust was something else. Not loud but very distinctive.

But the Shooting star was/is favourite. Went to have a look at a renovated one in the Island a few years back. But expensive not suprising.

Laurie

 

[Stevekir]

OK. Now lets lower the macho tone a bit. I forgot to post my Puch Maxi:

View attachment 96223


I commuted from Surry into central London every day for a year or so in the early 1980s on this bone-rattler. The front brake did not work and the seat was so uncomfortable I used a cushion from the sofa under me. I must have looked a real sight. It was noisy, and especially ear-splitting when the silencer fell off as it did.

After that I had a Honda C70 with a huge top box.

View attachment 96224


I stopped commuting to London when an artic passed me on a dual carriageway near the river and pulled in too soon. I wobbled left then right then left and when I scraped to a stop the front wheel and forks were as flat as a pancake, and I was still in the saddle!! If I had wobbled right again I would also have been paper-thin. He stopped and came back. I said a few words and he said "You were on my blind side". I added some more words. Several people at a bus stop 20 feet away just looked on. I hobbled across the bridge to Westminster Hospital. My shoulder healed and I was lucky to avoid a frozen shoulder (not to mention death). Train for me after that.

 

[john i am]

OK. Now lets lower the macho tone a bit. I forgot to post my Puch Maxi:View attachment 97539

I commuted from Surry into central London every day for a year or so in the early 1980s on this bone-rattler. The front brake did not work and the seat was so uncomfortable I used a cushion from the sofa under me. I must have looked a real sight. It was noisy, and especially ear-splitting when the silencer fell off as it did.

After that I had a Honda C70 with a huge top box.

View attachment 97540

I stopped commuting to London when an artic passed me on a dual carriageway near the river and pulled in too soon. I wobbled left then right then left and when I scraped to a stop the front wheel and forks were as flat as a pancake, and I was still in the saddle!! If I had wobbled right again I would also have been paper-thin. He stopped and came back. I said a few words and he said "You were on my blind side". I added some more words. Several people at a bus stop 20 feet away just looked on. I hobbled across the bridge to Westminster Hospital. My shoulder healed and I was lucky to avoid a frozen shoulder (not to mention death). Train for me after that.

Back in the late seventies our gang (7 14yr olds) were gifted a honda 70 by one of the dad's. we had loads of fun scrambling this stripped down machine in the school holidays unfortunately the inevitable happened and both bike and rider ended up in the river thankfully rider recovered but never saw the bike again

 

[Polux]

There are some lovely bikes there Richard

 

[Bunkerbarge]

There are some lovely bikes there Richard

I wish I still had them all!

 

[Laurie]

I wish I still had them all!

Yes a dream come true. But the dream is still there. A really golden moment in my life. 4 years from 18 until 22.

6 motor bikes, played cricket Saturday morning for school, adult cricket Saturday afternoon. Cricket all day Sunday. Cricket practice 4 days a week. Ballroom dancing to meet the girls and then engaged. That was four years of wear and tear and immense, totally immense pleasure

A cloth full of Solvalautosol shining up the aluminium casings to chrome bright. A razor blade to scrape the cricket bat and to feed it a cloth with linseed oil. A bath slosh on the smellies hair immaculate and off to the dance.

Laurie

Forgot. Radio Luxumberg top 20 Sunday night 11:00 to 12:00pm

 

[Bunkerbarge]

I can't believe I actually forgot one! I had one of these for a couple of years after purchasing from an unscrupulous dealer. The engine blew itself up after only a few miles so I replaced all the broken bits with parts from an R65. I kept the side panels though so everyone still thought it was a 450 cc bike

I'll stick it in the appropriate place in the post above as well. I covered a lot of miles on this bike as well. I had an American girlfreind at the time and we toured a lot of the UK on it but did get fed up of stopping regularly to take pictures of dry stone walls and sheep! A great touring bike though, they really will go forever.

View attachment 98479

 

[PaulTRose]

interesting thread

ive always been around bikes......youngest of 4, was brought up surrounded by triumphs and bsa and nortons etc so it was sort of natural that at 17 (end of the 70s) and in first job i would have a bike

had one of these to learn on Yamaha RS 100

progressed onto a Honda CD185 which was a great hack for going to work on

after a near death experience my dad lent me the money to learn to drive and buy my first car......later got into kit cars and owned three

mid 2000s and i wanted a bike again, finally took my test lol and bought a suzuki bandit.....and no i never ever rode like that!...was out of the shed for a clean

got divorced and had to sell would love another bike but got no where to keep one

 

[Laurie]

Very nice Richard it looks a mean machine.

This is my last fling probably around about 55 years old. Nice 250cc . Very quiet and smooth drive with the belt drive in place of a chain. Good fun but the max in Jersey is 40mph. Of course I always kept to that limit.

Laurie

 

[Laurie]

Very nice Paul. That last one looks sporty.

Laurie

 

[Peej]

Started with a Suzuki GP100. Passed my test and had a Suzuki GSX250, Suzuki GSX 550, Honda CD 175 (while GSX550 was off the road), Honda CB 400 Superdream, Honda CB 550 chop, another Suzuki GSX250, Kawasaki 200, Kawasaki 400 chop, Honda VT500 (sadly written off by a car, nearly wrote me & mrs off. Only had the bike 12 days). Kawasaki GT750 and finally Yamaha XJ 750 US import. Managed to remember them in the right order. Would love another sometime, maybe a Goldwing or a bike engine trike.

 

[Laurie]

Started with a Suzuki GP100. Passed my test and had a Suzuki GSX250, Suzuki GSX 550, Honda CD 175 (while GSX550 was off the road), Honda CB 400 Superdream, Honda CB 550 chop, another Suzuki GSX250, Kawasaki 200, Kawasaki 400 chop, Honda VT500 (sadly written off by a car, nearly wrote me & mrs off. Only had the bike 12 days). Kawasaki GT750 and finally Yamaha XJ 750 US import. Managed to remember them in the right order. Would love another sometime, maybe a Goldwing or a bike engine trike.

Not had to much experienced then in bikes Paul :oops:

Laurie

 

[rickoshea52]

I had a GT100 when I was 18. I was working as a cycle courier in London when I bought it 'cos the motorbike couriers made more money due to their higher range (as a cycle courier I was limited to West End/City jobs). I never earned a single penny with it after frightening the life out of myself when I pulled a wheely down the Old Kent Road on the way to work! The next winter was really bad and none of the motorbikes were out in the snow and ice so me and the other cycle boys made a fortune!

 

[rickoshea52]

I had a GT100 when I was 18. I was working as a cycle courier in London when I bought it 'cos the motorbike couriers made more money due to their higher range (as a cycle courier I was limited to West End/City jobs). I never earned a single penny with it after frightening the life out of myself when I pulled a wheely down the Old Kent Road on the way to work! The next winter was really bad and none of the motorbikes were out in the snow and ice so me and the other cycle boys made a fortune!

 

[Laurie]

I had a GT100 when I was 18. I was working as a cycle courier in London when I bought it 'cos the motorbike couriers made more money due to their higher range (as a cycle courier I was limited to West End/City jobs). I never earned a single penny with it after frightening the life out of myself when I pulled a wheely down the Old Kent Road on the way to work! The next winter was really bad and none of the motorbikes were out in the snow and ice so me and the other cycle boys made a fortune!

Used to work in Victoria behind the station. Lived in Surbiton about 14 miles away.

Got my BSA Bantam on the Friday night never ridden a bike before. Saturday, we worked 6 days a week, and took the bike up to London. Mother gave me a scolding Father said nothing but I bet he had a chuckle as he always gave me full rein.

BSA Shooting Star I went every where during the snow and ice. Both feet out never came off. Barbour suit fur boots, silk scarf (oh yes) and the half fairing. always warm the heat of the engine warmed my legs and feet. I was as happy as Larry (despite being Laurie) any weather rain wind snow or sun.

Why is it that women come along and you cannot resist their advances and give up that exciting period. They say it is love :eek:

Laurie

 

[PaulTRose]

And now the car version Laurie....eh?

that would be interesting :P

 

[Laurie]

that would be interesting :P

Yes in here goes Paul. Done it.

Laurie