Anneka and I
My A10 Anneka was bought late in 1992 from a dealer for £750. It replaced a 1962 A65, which, after a lot of work, had come good enough to ride from Sweden, via Denmark and Germany, to a BSA rally in Holland in a single day. But just when it was right, I’d been persuaded to offer it as a competition prize for the magazine I then worked for.
The A10 had been cheap because it was a re-import from South Africa. Hence the export-spec chromed mudguards and Road Rocket optional tank colour; but the guards were fully valanced and the engine all iron – this was a plain, 35bhp Golden Flash. And it needed a complete rebuild.
That was undertaken by Miller Motorcycles in St Leonards, East Sussex (the premises now house Cosmo Classics) where I was then living, the shop presided over by the late Vic Miller, with his son Tony working on my bike. A near-obsessive perfectionist, it was Tony who, after checking the A10, said: “I think we’ll call her Anneka, because she’s going to be a bit of a challenge.” (‘Challenge Anneka’ was a
