from-a-distance

I’ve had over one hundred bikes go through my hands in the past sixty odd years —

From my first road bike – an all alloy Velocette 350 MAC similar to this one at the age of seventeen. I remember my first mod – I turned the handlebars upside down so I could crouch over the tank like my hero Bob Mac and scraped the pegs on every bend —

This was probably my best one – bought from Neil Tuxworth – for many years the head of racing at Honda UK. She pushed out 76bhp and had been raced by works riders Hizzie – Foggy – Phil McCallen and as the Magic Wheels Honda in 1992 she won the British Supersport Championship under Mike ‘Spike’ Edwards. During my ownership the wee bike had wins and podiums at the 1993 NW200 and British 400 Supersport Series in the hands of that very capable and successful rider – Ian Simpson. Hell – even I had the temerity to race her at our local Knockhill circuit here in Scotland. A truly wonderful wee bike – the last I heard of her she had been totally rebuilt – including that jewel of a Tony Scott tuned motor and is now tucked up warm in a collector’s stable somewhere near the Skerries Road Race Circuit north of Dublin. If ever a bike deserved a peaceful retirement it was that one —

I also had one of these along the way – a 936cc Corsa – when I spent the payout from my first thirty years of marriage buying David Jeffries’ Ducati ensemble from his dad Tony at the end of the 1994 BSB season. The package included more lightweight wheels and race fairings than you could shake a stick at – with one good engine in the bike plus the second motor that turned out to be in a thousand pieces in a box under a bench over at ex Honda Uk – Doug Holtoms’ workshop in Preston. I did get one race meeting out of her and that was a ‘biggie’ – when a young Neil Hodgson rode her to a couple of fine results at the 1995 Daytona 200 —

Many of the bikes I have owned have figured on these threads and that brings me to my current steed – a pretty little gutless wonder from Royal Enfield. The 350cc may be short of poke but she corners well enough here on my favourite roads to still give me that buzz I look for every time I swing my leg over a bike —

Bikes have been in my blood ever since I rode my grandfather’s girder forked pre-war Ariel on farm roads as a schoolboy and long may they continue 👍