My love for motorcycles began in 1962 at the age of 12. A friend of my elder brother had a non-running Norton 600 sidevalve. He said that if I could get it running then I could have it. There was no spark: I cleaned the magneto and it fired up. I used the Norton fora couple of years around our allotment, minus exhaust – bet the neighbours were impressed!
At secondary school, all I could think about were motorcycles. The science teacher used to ride an old A10 Golden Flash with a double adult sidecar. In the classroom he had a cammy Velo engine: I could spend hours rotating the crank, watching how it all worked. I left school with no A or O levels, not even a spirit level! At 15, I acquired a 125 Bantam and I had a great time using it around some spare ground… until I went through some long grass and the thing stopped dead. Unfortunately, I didn't! I slid over the tank, the speedo not doing my wedding tackle any benefits! The footrests had become tangled in an old sprung mattress that was hidden in the grass.
I had ambitions of racing the Bantam and had just started as an apprentice at the local engineering works. There I padded the crankcase out andbeen about 25:1. It fired once and then went BANG!, never to run again.
