Tales of yesteryear

[M138]

Passed my test May 13 1980, as I’d wrote my own bike off I borrowed my mate’s RD200 to take my test. I passed and this allowed me to get on the back of my mates bikes even though they were still on L-plates.
How the hell was I going to supervise if the rider wanted to cane the arse off of his RD250 or X7? I survived and here to tell the tale. Boy did we get some 7 day wonders to produce our documents.

[Ghs]

I must of passed test in late 70,s , maybe 77 .
Memories
1. Eyeing the girls up on the path , showing off , car pulled away & I gave it a massive handful , straight into the back of the car that had stopped and ended up lieing across the boot of the car .
2. Pulling upto traffic lights on kh250 & collapsing in a pile on road , pissed up , mates picked me up & got me and bike home , learnt not to goto a cider house while riding a bike
3 . Leaving Fri morning from Bristol after a night shift heading for the midlands , freezing fog , went into garage to get fuel , petrol attendant , the days they filled your tank , girl lifted fuel cap , put in fuel , unzipped jacket , took out money & replaced wallet , my hands were like ice blocks , how I made the rest of the journey I’ll never know, I just went past the stage of being cold .
4. Following a learner car along road , it suddenly did a emergency stop , I hit the back of it and ended up nigh on the roof of it , instructor admitted full responsibility for accident as he’d looked in mirror , not seen me , hit dash & learner did full on emergency stop , bike totalled
That’s just a few of the many incident over the years , luckily no major injuries .

[Biker 1]

Early 80's on a Fizzy with no front brake, bald tyres, major corrosion & wonky handlebars. Rode home from a massive house party when I may have been a little intoxicated. The heavens opened & I have a vague recollection of binning it on a tight right hander next to a church. Somehow I managed to pick it up & get home without a scratch!
Worst memory was riding some 3 miles back from the pub: it was around -10c & I couldn't find my gloves. I'm amazed I didn't get life changing frostbite injuries like Ranolph Feins...
Oh, & 7 day wonders occurred on a regular basis.

[Groomio]

Your first field bike....

[SS427 Camaro]

Where do I start ??? Grew up in Chingford, at the Mount, gangs of mopeds were Everywhere. Came out of my road one eve on either my Fantic GT or early FS1E, as I got to the top of Chingford Mount hill, I see a moped being ridden very eratically coming towards me. As the bike gets to the brow of the Mount, the blue AP50 comes to a halt and the rider falls onto the tarmac ! It a pal Darren, paralytic drunk ( or stoned ) he is so gone he can t speak, I cannot reason with him, he just laughs & gets up, kicks the AP into life and then rides down the Mount, using both lanes. I follow and as he goes through the lights, I turn around. I can still see him now weaving into the distance, fortunately with only less than a mile to get home. I recall that there wasn’t another soul around, least of all Plod, who Hated us with a vengeance…..
Darren was very sadly killed on his R6 in spring 2007 whilst on his way back from the bikers tea hut in Epping Forest.

Edited by SS427 Camaro on Sunday 10th May 19:09

[M138]

Bringing back memories.
I had a set of motorbike gloves that ‘I thought’ looked the part but were useless at keeping the cold out, more often than not I couldn’t feel my fingers and then we’d all have a tea break in the local cafe and I’d get what we use to call hot ache from going cold to hot too soon.
The old 6 volt magneto on my two Italian mopeds, the front light would suddenly start working half decent but it would normally mean when I missed a gear the sudden increase in revs had blown the back light bulb.

[Biker9090]

Sunmer of 2007 about 3 of us has Aprilia RS50s, one an SR50 and a smattering of other stuff.

I distinctly remember getting ribbed by the others about me religiously warming mine up/taking it slow for the first few miles.....

Guess who the only person was who NEVER had an engine seizure/blow up!

[catso]

Must have been 1979/1980, living in Italy, I would go to school on my bike and, usually at the end of the day some of us would congregate at the local bar for an hour or so before going home.

Said bar was at the roadside at a busy roundabout and we would sit outside at some few tables on the path.

It was a nice sunny day and by the time I got there, there was quite a crowd including a few of the girls that I was keen to impress.

My master plan was to wheelie past them all followed by a loop of the roundabout, pull up and casually dismount in the hope that all the young Ladies would be so impressed that they would throw themselves at me, the biking God.

However, as I hooked the front up it came up too fast and too high, well past any balance point and I slid off the back, I tried to run behind, holding onto the bars, trying to get it under control but inevitably it went tits up and I ended up lying in the road with the bike on it's side, rear wheel spinning away, engine roaring.

I wasn't badly hurt, just a few minor scrapes/bruises and some damage to the bike, none of the girls were impressed either but it did give them all a good laugh.