ALONG-TIME CAREER ENGAGED AS AN ALLEGED motorcycling journalist inevitably produces a selection of remarkable motorcycles – and their owners are often equally remarkable, which should come as no surprise. I can reveal – steady now – that a remarkable number of seriously enthusiastic fans of a particular make or model of motorcycle keep a bike inside their homes. The living space of their home, that is, not an integral garage of some kind. After only a few years of being invited into folks’ homes, observing a large motorcycle occupying a large proportion of, say, a living room becomes less of a surprise, somehow. ‘Nice bike’, is the appropriate response, along with ‘White, no sugar, thank you.’
The very first time I set foot inside Chris Read’s rural retreat in Cornwall I observed a large and shiny and indeed red motorcycle occupying pride of place in his living room. And as Chris strolled off to his kitchen to fire up some sort of fearsome engine (red, shiny, Italian) which brewed coffee, his parting comment was, ‘Do you know what that is?’
‘A Matchless,’ I replied, glibly. Am I not a Noted Expert? ‘Looks like a G11CS,’ I added, further cementing that expertise. Chris just laughed. ‘Look again,’ he suggested, kindly. And so I did.
There are several common misconceptions among students of the decline