My motorcycle history

BSA C15
249 cc.
Single cylinder, chain drive. First motorcycle ridden at the age of 13. Belonged to a Sixth Former (Senior) at boarding school. How he persuaded the authorities to let him have the bike on premises I don’t know. An older fellow student, Charlie, once tried to attack me with a brick whilst I was riding on the driveway towards the paddock; I let go of the clutch by mistake, did a wheelie and nearly flattened him. He left me alone after that not realising that I had reared up by mistake. Charlie much later took part in a bank raid near London’s Heathrow airport. Was cornered by the police, shot his female accomplice dead and then successfully shot himself.

Honda Benly CS90
90cc, single cylinder, chain drive. Mine had a full fairing on which was very handy for riding to my first job at age 16. Worked for a local newsagent, had to be at work at 5.30am rain, snow or shine. This machine was used and abused. I learnt a lot about engine maintenance!!!

650cc twin
2 cylinder, chain drive. This bike belonged to a big burly biker guy who had a large double adult sidecar fitted. He parked it most days behind the local newsagents I worked at by the railway station. I eventually realised that all I had to do was turn the ignition knob to on (no key) and I could kick start the monster to get it going. Then I used to borrow it (steal to be truthful) at lunchtime and go tearing around the local country lanes. After a couple of weeks I realised that I must have had a death wish, the owner would have beaten me black and blue.

Lambretta TV175
Engine: 175cc
H.P. 8.6hp @ 6000rpm
Fuel Consumption: 123mpg
Top Speed: 56mph

Quit the newsagents and started work for a commercial grass cutting landscaping company working at the local R.A.F. base. This scooter had such tight steering that I could lay down on the seat at 60mph and it would track straight and true. Stripped the engine down once and after reassembly had about 6 pieces left over. The thing still ran!!!

Velocette LE MKII
200cc
Shaft drive, water-cooled, flat twin, hand pull start, hand gear change. Ridden by the Police in England, known affectionately as a Noddy Bike (after a storybook character – Noddy). Eventually the left hand spark plug thread stripped so I took the cylinder head off and rode the bike side saddle for a couple of weeks so as to not get petrol and oil on my left leg. Eventually sold to a mechanic who wanted an old project bike.

Honda CB 200
200cc, 2 cylinder. This bike heralded my return to 2 wheels some 5 years later. English law at the time dictated that a learner could only ride up to a 250cc bike. I wanted something bigger and borrowed this from a local dealer on the understanding that I would take my test and purchase a bike from him. At the time I was a driving instructor in Leicester so knew the test route like the back of my hand. I had a couple of adventures on the bike before taking my test. Approached a large junction on a horrendously rainy night only to have a stop light change to red in front of me, the back wheel locked up and I skidded nearly sideways through the junction. Seemed that the rear shocks were shot. Dealer was embarrassed and changed them. I rode to see some friends one night about 20 miles away on twisty country roads. Came around a bend to find about 15 large white cows in the roadway, how I swerved and weaved through them I don’t really know, I ended up as white as a milk shake.
Took my test and passed even though during the test a car drove at me the wrong way down a narrow one way street. The test examiner told me that the sight of me standing on the foot pegs yelling at the driver had made his day.

400cc, 2 cylinder, chain drive
Honda CB400T. The bike I bought and regretted after running it in. A bland, boring, gutless piece of Jap Crap. Sold it.

Laverda 1000cc, 3 cylinder, chain drive. Fast, wonderful handling brute. Pulled to 60mph in first gear. Terrible to ride around town but orgasmic on the open road. This is the bike that took me to over 150mph on the M40 early one fine summer morning – Wheeeee.
Sold so I could pursue a new job as a despatch rider in London, had to have a more suitable bike.

Honda CX500
500cc, V twin, water cooled, shaft drive, 112mph (not). Not a patch on the Laverda but a great despatch bike. Comfortable saddle (riding 1,000 miles a week), low maintenance. Had this for about 2 years. Very early one morning in the company of a friend on a Suzuki GS1000 I raced down the Edgware Road in North London. Keith got chased by a Flying Squad (police) car and was stopped doing 130mph in a 30mph zone. He didn’t get a ticket they just wanted to make sure the bike hadn’t been stolen.

Honda CB400F,
400cc, 4 cylinder, chain drive. A great mini version of the CB750. Rode quite a few of these belonging to friends. Very nimble but too small for prolonged riding. I’d see other despatch riders on the motorway riding these and they would look shaken about.

Yamaha RD400, two stroke twin, power band crazy, wheelie at 40mph.

Kawasaki GPZ550, four cylinder, chain drive, pocket rocket.
This replaced the CX500 and what a transformation. Like getting off a broken down horse and climbing into a F16. This made despatch riding even more fun. The footpegs had small balls welded on the underside of them and the footpegs also folded up about 5 degrees. I wore the balls off the underside of the footpegs. With a new set of Dunlop TT100’s this bike would handle so well. I really enjoyed roundabouts; on a dry day I had a smile wider than a Cheshire Cat.

Yamaha XS750, three cylinder, shaft drive. Rode one of these about 10 yards down a dirt road, fell off and unfortunately the owner riding pillion ripped his brand new imported Levis 501’s. Didn’t get to ride the bike again.

BMW R100RS. Flat twin, shaft drive.
Rode a friends that had cylinder head crash bars fitted and managed to chamfer off a good portion of the right hand one.

Honda Benly 200cc, 2 cylinder, chain drive.
The Kawasaki died a sudden and painful death when its rear mono suspension collapsed. This Benly became my despatch bike. Luckily the friends I worked for gave me pickups and deliveries that entailed chugging from one side of London to the other. The Benly would cruise at about 65mph all day and return about 70mpg around town. Took me to the South of France 3 times in the company of larger bikes. Never missed a beat and was eventually retired after 35,000 miles of use when I quit despatch riding. Ended up giving it to a collector of motorcycles who wanted a small project bike to work on.

Now I live in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, had a 1998 Valkyrie Honda which I bought in April of 2002. Ridden over 50,000 miles in 4 years. A very large 1500cc, 6 cylinder, six-carb behemoth that handles very well. Bit of a gas guzzler. Gets about 32mpg to the American gallon. The bike has taken me out to Colorado, Sturgis – South Dakota, western Canada and the whole length of the Blue Ridge Parkway (twice). Mostly ridden around north Georgia and the neighboring states of North and South Carolina with frequent forays into eastern Tennessee.

Picked up a lightly used (1,500 miles) Honda ST1300 on April 17th, 2006 in Fort Worth, TX. Rode it back to Atlanta, 850 miles in 14 hours of riding. 5,400 on April 12th, 2006. 27,000 miles March 12, 2007, 46,000 January 28, 2008. 54,000 miles September 22, 2008. 60,000 miles March 2nd 2009

There are other bikes I’ve ridden or owned but nothing really stands out about them. Apart from the Yamaha 90cc moped, which would stand on its rear light when you quickly engaged the foot operated clutch/gear change. A great post pub trick to amuse the onlookers.