RealClassic MATCHLESS SINGLE
It started in spring 1973 when I, a poor student, was persuaded by a fellow motorcycle enthusiast in the university bike club to sell my CB77 Honda (I'd have another today if I had the garage space!) and replace it with a ‘cheap project bike’ that he and his brother had conjured-up. It would apparently be more suitable to my needs for my 200-mile motorway trips home and back.
A fellow from London wanted my CB77, so it was packed off in the luggage van of the Liverpool to Euston train. I had briefly a handful of notes which soon disappeared to the brothers with the Matchless, which I had bought unseen. Their scheme had been to make a road / beach / mudplugger beast from a G3 350 Matchless. This featured an up-the-side exhaust made from some right-angle bends and straight bits, which fed a short, reversed megaphone that cooked my right calf – but kept the passenger's right leg warm!
The steel mudguards had been replaced with alloy ones, fairly shiny when bought, but never the same after a winter of salted commuting. The handlebars were big, trials-type, and the number plate was nicely
