In the summer of 1975 I bought my first bike, a 1967 D14/4 BSA Bantam, for £25. It was cheap for a reason, there were starting issues. It did actually fire once, and blew the Coke can filled with wire wool out of the exhaust and smashed a hole in our plastic bin…

I found an ad in the local paper for a Bantam carb and went to have a look. The guy had a 1968 D14/4 Bantam stripped down in cardboard boxes, and let me have the entire bike for£5! I reassembled it and rode it until 1976 when I passed my test, then part-exchanged it (plus £60) for a 1957 Matchless G3LS 350 single, TYM 57, a proper motorbike!

Many hours were spent travelling by train to Happy Hamrax in Clapham Junction replacing missing or broken bits. It eventually had a problem with the (felt!) oil filter clogging up, which starved the big end, which broke, necessitating an engine stripdown and much further work.

Sold that around 1977 and bought a 1972 oil in frame BSA 650 Lightning twin. Oh the power! A friend repainted the tank black, and I repainted the side panels. Another friend worked at the police garage maintaining their bikes, and he was kind enough to give the engine a good check-over. A fair few rusty bits were replaced, and it was ready to rock. I took it to  Europe in 1979 and rode from the Hook of Holland through Belgium, Luxembourg and to Metz in France, where I stayed a night with a couple of girls from college who were working in a hotel, Elaine and I forget the name of the other one. Then on to Switzerland and over the Alps to Italy. I recall it was a blazing hot day so I only had a T-shirt on. Going through the tunnel it suddenly turned extremely cold but there was nowhere to stop! And finally to Nice where I stayed at a campsite and visited another college friend Chris, whose dad lived in Monaco, very flash!

After a few days I started back via Turin, past Lake Garda (I think!) and up the Maloja pass, which is very steep and twisty. This bit was in the dark which was a bit scary! I then went across the Engadine to Innsbruck, where I had a kip by the side of the road behind a crash barrier (I was skint). Then up through Germany visiting Cologne, then home via the Hook. I did another similar trip the following year, after that I rode the Beezer for another couple of years, then bowed to the inevitable and bought a car instead. A Morris Marina Coupe, in beige…

In January 1992 I got the urge to ride again and bought a 1974 Honda CB500/4. I traded that for a 1979 Honda CX500 in 1993, then traded that for a 1986 Yamaha FJ1200 in March 1994. Which got stolen in June 1994! Insurance payout bought a 1988 FJ1200 in August 1994, which I kept for the next seven years. What a bike that was! By March 2002 it was looking a bit dated and I traded it for a 1999 Honda Super Blackbird.

Which was indeed super! I had it for four years, then had a shoulder injury which made it uncomfortable to ride, so I flogged it and bought a BMW R1150RS with a more upright riding position.