A FLASH IN BLUE
How can a Golden Flash be blue, I asked myself? Isn’t it remarkable how irrelevant thoughts can descend when we’re out and about on a rather grand motorcycle? When borrowing a bike which proves to be - how can I put this? - difficult, my mind is usually filled with worries about my ability to actually ride the thing, whether it will expire before I can return it, and whether I’d have the courage to write up its story once I’d returned to the bosom of sanity that is RCHQ.
This blue Beezer was just great. The A10 range of 650 twins is right up there with my own favourite old Brit 650s, alongside their AMC rivals, and ahead of Triumphs and Nortons. Mostly. There’s something reassuringly solid about them. They feel dependable, planted on the road, capable of great mileages and great reliability. Which is true. Mostly.
Back when we were all of us younger and most of us were a lot less comfortable in financial terms, I rode and even owned several 650 Beezers. In fact, the first really bitsa bike I built (with a little help from my friends) was a 650 BSA. Those were very different days. Days when it was possible to go to one of several bike breakers within a few miles of home (which was Norwich in this case, and the breaker’s I frequented was run by
