IN COMING!
DANGER UXB
When we were young – apprenticeship age – transport work and for pleasure at weekends was essential. All my buddies seemed to be on two wheels. My introduction to two wheelers started in 1968 when I was old enough to get a licence and pass my test. I took the RAC/ACU training course on a local airfield, which was very comprehensive, even riding across a seesaw. After several days of training I was followed by an observer for an extended run of about 10 miles. This was all done on a Bantam 125 with three gears.
But when it came to buy a two wheeler, my parents decided a motorcycle was too dangerous and said it should be a scooter. So a Lambretta GT200 was bought for the princely sum of £130, with the help of the bank of dad (I can’t remember if I paid him back!) This was the ‘high powered’ version of the Lambretta with a cable-operated front disc brake, all of 11bhp and about 70mph top speed… if the Veglia speedo needle could be believed. Apparently they are now sought after and fetch upwards of £10,000 – I can’t really understand why, as they were a bit fragile.
The scooter was used for commuting, weekends away, holidays and having really good fun. Protective clothing consisted of stout work shoes, jeans and a blue RAF greatcoat from the Army and Navy Stores (it was a little warm in summer). Working in the front garden, I fitted a very unsuitable 30mm Amal carb along with an Ancillotti expansion chamber silencer which sounded great. It annoyed the neighbours and probably didn’t do much for the performance. Mum said she could hear me coming from a mile away.
My friends rode scooters and motorbikes of all sorts, small to large British twins, Greeves, Franny-Barnetts, Triumph, AJS, and I remember someone having a Norton Navigator 350 which at the time looked very flash in its blue and white livery when compared to the more sober colours of the other bikes. There was no animosity between the scooterists and motorcyclists in our group, we just loved
