Following on from mr previous post i thought it might be of interest to share with you my unremarkable bike history. I say unremarkable because after about 1980 i got hooked almost on a single make whose engineering and innovation was at that time 2nd to none. There were of course other makes that were superbly engineered and innovative but the boxer engined BMWs just caught my imagination. I did at the time did aspire to owning a BMW because they were considerably more expensive than the British motorcycles and the booming Japanese offerings of the day.
The engineering interest was enhanced by my being an engineering apprentice at age 16 to a Company in Ipswich called Reavells. They were manufacturers of compressors and exhausters and their biggest clients were The Royal Navy and British Rail. They had departments covering pretty much all of the engineering skills. I subsequently didn’t follow a career in engineering but retrained as a plumbing and heating engineer.
Ipswich back then was a massive engineering town employing absolutely 1000s of men, women and boys. There was the Famous agricultural engineering Co Ransomes. Famous for its ploughs. Ransomes Sims and Jeffries that made the Dragline Excavation machines, Cocksedge engineers, Cranes famous for making steel pipe fittings and of course Reavells as mentioned before. Sadly all gone now. Nearly all of that workforce went to work on cycles or motorcycles. when that hooter went off at knocking off time the town was a flood of 2 wheeled chaos.
My 1st motorbike or Autocycle aged 13 was a 98cc Excelsior with a Villiers engine. ridden in the garden or on local heathland. Transported there on the drop down boot of the family Standard 8 Car with a blanket between bike and car. I was pretty much left to tear about on the heath on my own while the rest of the family picnicked. That 2 wheeled experience lit a flame that for me has never died. I refer to motorcycling these days as a disease that I never recovered from.
There is a long list of motorcycles owned but the ,obsession with BMWs stands out as I have owned 15 of them since 1980. There have been an assortment of BSAs including 2 B33 500cc one was a 1955 in Maroon (loved that bike) and the other was a 1957 in Black and a 1959 B31 350cc in Green and of course the ubiquitous 150cc Bantam D3. A couple of Yamaha trail bikes, a big Honda 1300 Pan European, couple of Greaves 250cc one of which started life as a trials bike and ended up being a sports bike that my then girlfriend and I embarked on our 1st adventure in 1966 by travelling from Suffolk to Cornwall to stay with relatives. That bike had no lights and a very sporting stance and was quick for its time. That journey of 320miles took 13hrs well before any dual carriageways and motorways. We visit the same relatives today some 59 yrs later and can do it in 6 hours, maybe 7 with a break.
There has been an odd assortment of British things as well including a couple of small Excelsiors, a Francis Barnet, a Trojan Cyclemaster, a nice ( regret selling) Triumph T20s trials bike. in there somewhere were a couple of European bikes namely a175cc OHC Bianchi and a dreadful CZ motocross bike that just had to go before it killed me.
Ive also been privileged to ride but not own pretty much everything from the Japanese manufacturers and Italian Ducati,s.
Ive called this lot unremarkable mostly because I have been blind sided by the BMW disease. Also I have a pal who has owned just over 100 bikes and counting whereas my little tally comes to just 35 owned but have ridden countless other bikes mostly for short journeys or test riding. As I said in my 1st ever blog at 77 yrs old, again unremarkable these days I have loved every minute of it and now with a new shoulder joint can’t wait to carry on riding and fiddling about with the 6 bikes currently owned. Signing off with a big grin on my face.
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