RIDING Life
My first cafe racer was a 1948 350 AJ5 which I bought with help from the bank of mum for £30 sometime in 1957, when I was earning about £9.1 passed my test on it but had trouble keeping up with my two mates on Triumph Tiger 1 OOsIt smoked and burned oil, so I took off the head and barrel; the piston was barrel-shaped as there was so much side-play in the crank. It was re-shimmed with a new piston and run-in carefully. It took me to the TI and Manx GP from London and around the race circuits, and was my main transport to work.
