Barn find

It is a fact that once the new season’s machines are available, last year’s mount becomes history, and its journey to the barn begins.

Perhaps a successful competitor will sell his machine to a club member wanting to move up from the old nail he was on, then as this rider improves and wants a newer model again, the once proud machine is moved on to its third, fourth or 27th owner, or it ends up being used as a runabout on a farm.

Maybe there is an attempt to tidy the machine up at some point, usually with a brush and a pot of paint but this is not generally done well – in my youth I actually saw a Bantam which had been painted with emulsion and the owner was proud of his handiwork… Then the machine is shoved into the back of a barn, hidden by bales, machinery and whatever else.

Such had