Sweet Sixteen...
My first real proper motorcycle was an AJSwhich probably explains a lot. I like AMC machines - real ones from AJS and Matchlessalthough Norton made a few decent machines in the AMC years too, he says, grudgingly. And although there have been very many dalliances along the path of the last half-century since that first Model 18 AJS (sobering but true) I have almost always boasted a noble product of Plumstead in whichever shed was The Shed at the time.
Thoughts like these - and many more - floated through my increasingly smiley head as I chugged for the very first time around the local lanes aboard the machine you will be able to observe pictured nearby. How is this possible, why have I bought another, given that I already have an AJS (an early 500 twin) and a couple of Matchlesses (one single, one twin) lurking around the place, dripping menacingly? Well, hang on while I spend a few more moments relishing the moment, revelling in the sheer excitement of a traditional 350 4-stroke single as we boom and bang our way home - the long way home, of course.
Boom and bang? Yes indeed, despite one of the reasons I bought this bike being the late model silly fat silencer
