STAR TURN

I got my first bike when I was sixteen and used it to go to school every day, a 14 mile round trip. Quite a few lads had bikes and scooters - one memorable bike was a Vincent Black Shadow that had to be bump-started every day. When I joined the Merchant Navy three years later, I sold everything; I needed some cash and would have very little leave as a deck cadet.

After reaching the rank of captain in my fifties, I decided to get another motorcycle. I didn't want anything too fast or complicated, so an old Brit bike would be ideal. Something I could tinker with, blow off a few cobwebs, that sort of thing. I subscribed to RC to get some ideas. A few months later a neighbour mentioned that he knew someone in the village with two bikes for sale, one a 1966 BSA Firebird, the other a 1969 BSA Royal Star, a US import.

I went to see them and immediately fancied the latter. The Firebird was OK but was in black and chrome. Although it's the rarer model it just didn't click the right buttons. The clock showed 10,000 miles which turned out to be 110 when we consulted the MoTs, but that didn't bother me.

When the owner started them up, the Star started first kick while the Bird took two or three, and the Star had the more even tickover. The 500 was fitted with electronic ignition while the 650 wasn't. I recalled my youthful days by the side of the road, wrestling spark plugs and points to get a bike