Form Milan to Millerised
Of the things I remember from my early years in youth trials was big British bikes towering over me as I sat in queues awaiting my tum to tackle sections - their riders looking down at me as my dad took last minute opportunities to suggest where the front end of my little TY80 should steer.
More than one rider, easing a throttle and reducing the deafening four-stroke noise to a twelve-year-old's ears, said: "you'll be okay sunshine, just do as your dad tells you." I never paid enough attention to such advice but I did pay attention to the handlebars on those big bikes. They had more levers than mine and I could never understand why? What did these extra levers do? Why did my bike not have them?
The fascination with these machines had started but it would be another 32 years before I would tackle a section on such machines.
Sporting a flat cap adorned with many a British-bike pin-badge, an enthusiastic TALMAG spectator pointed his cane at my Ariel "What year is it?" More 2019 than 1957 was my reply. There followed the almost standard questions of "go alright does it?", "how long did it take you to build?" and "how much did it cost?" Just before the observer flagged me into the section I shouted my replies of "yes it does, sir; five years and let's put
