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.

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.