Motorbike Nostalgia

[edcayton]

Found another "bookazine" in Sainsbury this morning. It is "the classic bike buyers guide-the 109 best classic buys". Whilst I don't agree with all their selections, and they have missed out a lot, it has brought back a large slice of my mis-spent youth.

Ed

[backofanenvelope]

I hope the RD350LC was in there

 

t.

[Bruciethefish]

what kind of period does it cover? I used to be British bikes only (when I could afford them..) but nowadays seem to have a collection of old Hondas, including 3 superdreams & an old CX500... any of those included?

[edcayton]

Oldest-Douglas and Brough from 1924. Honda's CB175, CB450,500&750Fours, CBX1000, CX 500, NSR250, RC30, VFR750F, Cub and Goldwing. Most of the British ones you would expect, although I'd have liked an Ariel Arrow, and the only AJS is a twin. The Panther 100 is there though, a friend of mine had a lovely yellow chopper-style one of those.

I'm sure there must be better books about, but this caught my eye as I was scanning the Mag racks in the local Sainsburys.

 

Ed

[250BOB]

Sold my Ariel Arrow last week...had it for 12 years.....not used it for the last 6.

Got ??1400 for it......sad moment, but time for someone else to have some fun with it.

Bob.

PS...Still have my 250 Aprilia though. B)

[Trainshed Terry]

Happy days for me were a Yamaha FS1-EDX and later a Honda CB 200.

 

 

 

Terry

 

 

[Adams442T]

Velocette Venom kept me on British Bikes till 1985. Then I developed a callous inside my right thigh from catching the oil tank cap every time I kick-started (which was often, especially when just warm!)

 

Bought a Honda VF500 then, which was a very under-rated machine, and wallowed in the joys of 1st time, every time starting. Then bought my all time favourite VFR750 which just ate up miles, smooth, fast and handled like a dream.

 

Sadly had to give up 4 years ago following a major shoulder op. Still miss it!

[smudgeloco]

Wow, this takes me back. I have had two Triumph Tiger Cubs, a 350 Norton with a chair. Two Honda CB175, a German DKR scooter and a 150 MZ. Oh, and a Honda Super Dream.

The Tiger Cubs were great fun. The Norton and chair wouldn't go in a straight line! No matter what we did, it was a bummer to keep straight. The Honda 175s were very reliable, but vibrated too much! The big Scooter was my first two wheeler, and great fun, built like a tank, and looked like one. The MZ was a bloody good commuter bike, very solid ride. But took ridicule. The Super Dream was more like a wet dream, worst bike of them all. It had no top end - in and out of fifth gear all the time.

Man, wouldn't I like those days again.

I only bought bikes as a machine to get me about, I had no real interest in them per-se.

[bike2steam]

Four of the 12 bikes I've had were ;-BSA Bantam D3,Ariel Leader, Velocette Viper, BSA A10, classics all.

[Sidecar Racer]

Oh those long distant days when Britain ruled the two wheel world , my list of machines , I always hankered

after an Aerial Arrow , sadly they remained out of reach price wise , so the first bike for getting to work on was

a 150cc Francis Barnett , then a long period with cars , came back to the bikes as commutor transport , worked

my way through , Honda CD 175 , then two CB 250's , a Yamaha RD 250 , Suzuki GT 500 , another bit of a break , then a Yamaha XS 400 custom . Spent some 8 years hillclimbing a couple of sidecar outfits , eventually went

back on the road with a Suzuki RF 600 , now have a Yamaha 600 Fazer .

 

I will probably give up bikes soon , getting a bit long in the tooth and hate the wet and cold , but

it was fun .

[bike2steam]

I too had a Yam XS400, for a commuter bike, but found it too slow, and cumbersome after my old reliable 1971 Suzuki T350R, which I had for years, and finally just wore out, and became uneconomical to rebuild for a third time. Then went back to Sukuki with an old plodder of a GN400,that I rebuilt to a better riding position, nice , and economical - but still better handling than the XS400, then finally to a GS400, then gave up biking because of a gammy leg.

[shortliner]

BSA C12, Fanny Barnett 150 trials, BSA 500 Gold Star Trials, Ariel Golden Arrow, Lambretta150 and SX200, Norton 350, Norton 600 Dominator, Velocette Venom and Viper, Yammy 250, Douglas Dragonfly (not necessarily in that order) The best - without a shadow of a doubt - The Gold Star. The worst - either of the two Nortons - Legendary road holding my ar$e! The Golden Arrow would out corner either of them!

[Red Devil]

I hope the RD350LC was in there

 

t.

 

 

elsie

[Russ (mines a pint)]

by the time I got my bike licence British bikes were largely old hat. At this time it was my mode of transport, and I was young so started out with small bikes, CB200, Z250 (belt drive oddity!)MZ250 I then got onto CBX550 Honda which was a lovely bike, cracking turn of speed for a middleweight, this and a CX500 I used for dispatch riding in the summer holidays whilst at college- the CX being far more suitable for this but not as much fun to ride.

 

After that I was convinced of the advantages (low maintenance) of shaft drives and have had a couple of Kawasaki GT's both the 750 & 550 version. These ought to go down in history for something! maybe not classics, but possibly one of the longest running models (and without major mods like the C90 etc!) '83- 2000ish in the case of the 550.

 

I got another of the 550's just recently, partly for old times sake (now I can afford to insure a fast bike I dont want one!)I've spent most of summer trying to sort out electrical problems- needed rewiring and a new CDI and now its running sweet as a nut- just in time for erm... winter

[Hugh Flynn]

well i think i might have misted all the true classics started in 1975 with if you remember them a Garelli Tiger Cross just loved this moped 55mph as i remember.

Then on to two Kawasaki KH250 ,then KH400 (until it got nicked about 7 years ago).

Just last year sold 2001 Triumph speed Triple (killed my bum after a 70 mile run)

So its off to Bike show in December looking at some nice cruisers (with comfort seats).

 

The bike i keep looking at as a true classic for me was Honda CB550 4

 

Hugh

[2mmMark]

The single biggest improvement that's taken place in my riding career has been in riding clothing. When I started in 1976, you had non-waterproof leather, greasy waxed cotton, leaky coated nylon or sweaty pvc. Leather gloves & boots were appalling, cold and very much non-waterproof.

 

I'm sure I've been very near to hypothermia when riding, the winter of 78/79 was particularly miserable. Not long afterwards, a range of French riding gear came into the UK and I bought my first "high-tech" riding suit from Phil Read's bike shop in Hersham. This was a revelation but unfortunately, was not very hard wearing.

 

Nowadays, there's a range of excellent material and it's poosible to get really decent riding gear for a fraction of what it would have cost 20 years ago.

 

A real leap forward was scratch resistant helmet visors. Polycarbonate visors used to have a very short life, now they can last the life of the helmet.

 

 

Strange to think that there's a whole generation for whom British bikes are an unknown experience.