First Big Twin

This is when the clock reset; the beginning of time; my discovery of the V-Twin.


This 1980 beauty was bought at a BMW dealership in Tunbridge Wells. He did me a real favour and took the XJ650 for scrap value; 20,000 miles in under 18 months had reduced it's value by 2/3rds. Ah the joys of Jap-Crap.

The Guzzi was a revelation. For a start the faring kept the wind off the upper body. The torquey engine allowed you to be lazy with gear changes; point and squirt. It would genuinely cruise at 100mph all day long, in a time before speed cameras. The handling was superb - the only problem was the non-folding foot-pegs tended to dig in during adventurous cornering.

Ok, so the switchgear looked like lego; the gear-change action more suited a Massey Furguson, and the electrics were, well, Italian. But at the time of writing (2008) a DVLA check has shown that this baby is still taxed, meaning someone still has it on the road.

A Little Seedy

After a winter in the Midlands slithering around on my new UJM, I picked upa cheap CD175 as a general all-year-round hack. And what a great little bike.

This thing was bomb-proof. It got me to work during the foul winter of '84-'85, temperatures as low as -8°c,and thick snow full of coal dust - this was the winter of the miner's strike and I lived in a mining town. I plastered it in grease in about October, and washed it all off with Gunk® in April.

Even when the cam-chain tensioner came apart it kept running. It just rattled a little. Well, a lot actually. A routine oil change revealed the sump contained what appeared to be metallic silver paint. Since the poor bike was run on a shoestring, the replacement tensioner was second hand.

I parted with it after about 4 years to friends of a friend who wanted a field hack for their kid. Hard to beleive these are collectors items now.

Big XJ

This is where it got silly for a bit, and life beyond 21 seemed higly unlikely. I bought this Yam from Colwin Motorcycles, of Frederick Street, Sittingbourne, on New-Year's Eve 1982. I had to wait a week and a half till my 2oth birthday to insure it. And for the next 18 months rode it flat out everywhere I went.



Hard to believe now, but in the early 80's 73 bhp was a lot of power for a 650. OK, odd to see a shaft-drive, on a sports bike, but it worked; and there was no filthy chain lube to worry about.

Yamaha heralded it as the 'first in a new generation of lightweight superbikes'; it weighed a good 15kg less than the porcine Kwak Z650, had 10% more power AND twin discs. So it had a rear drum; this was launched in 1980 remember.

Mine not being the YICS model, it had a peaky motor, with an almost 2-stroke like power band. Fitting a Piper 4-into-1 exhaust added a flat-spot, but ensured I could be heard at full-on scream for 2-3 miles.

It got thrashed up and down the country, got used for commuting at a time when I lived in Birmingham, but often worked elsewhere. It even did 2,500 miles around Europe in 2 weeks; mainly at speeds over 150kph.

And after 18 months it was tired. The cam-chain rattled, the valve shims had been swapped to the largest size. Even the carb-linkages had worn the carb bodies so they leaked and couldn't be balanced.

Somehow, I had survived the lunacy; the poor old Yam hadn't quite. Time to retire her for something steadier; with a better life expectancy. For both of us.

Once upon a Dream

The photo doesn't do this old lady justice. Bought once I got a 'proper' job, on credit in January 1982 from a dealer in Stratford Upon Avon. It was four years old and, so I was told, was previously owned by a careful middle aged guy, a banker or some-such. I didn't beleive what the dealer told me, but she was a bute, so I bought her.



A couple of weeks later a middle aged pipe-smoking type of chap was walking his dog past the filling station where I was buying petrol. He came over, admired the bike and asked how it was running.

Then told me it had been his!!! He'd traded up to what was a bit of an animal at the time, an XJ650....

Good Bye Stinkies

Eventually tiring of having to decoke the engine and exhaust, snapping piston rings as I put it all back together, I discovered the four stroke engine.

BHP per litre may be down, but it was goodbye to the blue haze for ever.

This one was bought in early 1981 from a young farmer, a pal of my brother. Frankly, it was a heap of shite when I handed over the £70 for it. My dad took one look and just walked away. It was caked in mud. Mud filled the insides of the mugards. The handgrips were knackered so the handlebars were full of mud. Even voids in the frame were filled with mud. And it had no stand. But I hada little cash to spend rebuilding it; which is what I did.

The little OHC single motor was bomb proof; so required little more than a good service; new air-filter, points & plug, fresh oil & oil-filter. And a ton of mud removing from the fins.

The frame was stripped & repainted. I replaced the many broken and worn-out parts - levers, mirrors, grips, stand, cables, chain, spokets, brakes etc. Then gave it a good polish and it looked like a different bike.

It spent much of the summer, after I'd left school, thrashing around the local country lanes. Great at night with 6v electrics. Applying the brakes meant the brake-light came on. And the headlight dimmed. So best thing was to avoid braking for corners.

Oh, and applying the air horn (honest!) would stall the engine.

And of course this little bike got me through my test. First time. When I sold it as part-ex for the CB400, the dealer gave me £170 for it, which chuffed me no end. The only bike I ever made money on.

Early Daze

This is where it all started for so many spotty youths back in the late 70's and early 80's.

The one and only Yamaha Fizzie. Mine could do a ton, yeah honest.

I bought this off a mate of mine; it had belonged to his brother before him. Even though it had been thrashed in it's time, it had been lovingly cared for; new parts where needed, the frame repainted.

This was the first bike I ever rode. My mate let me have a go in his garden, and I rode it straight into his mums rose bushes. But I was hooked, and I had to have it when he said it was up for sale. When a savings policy matured, I spent the whole lot on the bike.

Which went down lik a pig in a Synagogue at home.

And never looked back since (well, except when pulling out. And the 'life-saver' of course).