TALES FROM THE SHED

Love affairs are terrifying things. Also potentially dangerous. And almost always expensive. Of course I’m talking about motorcycles here, as I’m sure you’d already worked out. And I’m still at the misguided passion phase of life with the little Triumph, the Street Scrambler I chatted about a couple of issues ago. It’s still great. It lurks in The Shed in the shade, carefully away from the old clunkers and the modern clunkers – a svelte little glamour model surrounded by great clumping heavies.

But hang on just a moment. This is not a 98cc James. This is no Flying Flea. It’s not even a Bantam. This is a 900cc motorcycle weighing in at 206kg (which is apparently 454lb in old money). When, exactly, did a 900 twin start to feel like a light bike? Curious. And very clever of Triumph – and doubtless many other bike manufacturers, who can take what is actually a fairly hefty piece of machinery and compact it somehow. And of course these things are rarely viewed in isolation.

Somewhere else in this issue you may have read about my recent excursion aboard a Sunbeam, a 500 twin which was viewed as a pretty hefty model indeed back when I was a lad, when Bantams ruled the roost and a 750 was pointlessly powerful. I’ll not repeat the Sunbeam ride here, except to say that clambering from the saddle of a modern Harley and onto a 1951 Sunbeam is a remarkable experience. The two seat heights looked much