FLATTERING RAM
It’s mid-1973 and I’m about to sign away my wages for the next few years on a hire purchase agreement buying my first proper motorcycle.
Sitting in the windows at Clarks of St Albans either side of the entrance door are a Yamaha RD200 and a Suzuki GT250K. My heart is set on the orange RD but my dad, who will act as guarantor for the HP, takes a shine to the GT. “Are you sure boy?” he asks, “the Suzuki looks like a more substantial machine!” My mind is made up: I’ve read a report by our own John Nutting raving about the Yamaha and I’ve also convinced myself that the Suzuki with its blue pin striping looks naff. Such are the illogical prejudices of impressionable teenagers.
Despite its smaller engine the RD200 is purchased and my life from there on becomes irrationally focused on the tuning fork brand. Yet my choice doesn’t reflect that of the rest of the 1970s L-plate mob. By 1976-1977
