SCOOPERMAN!

Everyone has a nit-picker in their psyche somewhere. It’s that little voice inside your head, which always tries to dispute the real, the obvious and the here-and-now. It tries to find faults with something that looks perfectly good or acceptable. Whether it’s a bag of carrots at the supermarket or a classic motorcycle at an event, human nature just has to find faults. How does this apply to classic motorcycles? Well, outside of obvious ringers, lash-ups, a Z900 made to resemble a Z1, and similar shenanigans, the vast majority of machines are as they left the factory or supplying dealer. Sadly, for some this just isn’t accurate enough, even though it is almost certainly the inimitable truth. Attend any event or even park up during a ride-out and, sadly, Peter Pedant will often appear from nowhere. Whether you want his input or not you’re going to get it, and more likely than not from both barrels. Although his intentions are no doubt genuine, he actually doesn’t care whether you are interested, offended or positively incandescent as he points out the countless discrepancies of your machine. His input is informative at best or irritating at worst. yet if you have the misfortune to encounter said expert at a major show, on a forum or. heaven help you. via social media. then good luck! He’s very likely to behave like a dog with a bone. He knows you’re wrong, he is right ,and the chances are he will be annoying others. Self-appointed experts please note… all Japanese motorcycles were made as commercial items to a factory schedule. There were always, and without exception, bikes that use up old components from previous models, or began using revised or updated components that would appear on the next year’s machine. This is the nature of commercial manufacturing. Imagine the scene: you are making a motorcycle for global sales and certain markets require a different-sized rear light for legal reasons. Suddenly, one of your importers goes bust and you have 200 machines on the high seas with no obvious buyer. Do you scrap them? No, obviously not. You move them on to the next available country, which will be able to use them with the minimum of modification and thereby minimise your losses. If the market-specific rear light is ok for the new destination, then why on earth would you change it? Three decades on, Peter Pedant has no knowledge of this yet, but will still tell you that your bike is not correct for this country. Just take a deep breath and resist the urge to argue with him. He will never listen...

The sunny side of the classic world, with the VJMC’S Steve Cooper