Your letters & funky first bikes
Not so smart motorways
Just read your article on smart motorways (MCN, February 24). So Grant Shapps reckons it’s not feasible to remove them, if he and the head of Highways England were made to sit in a broken-down Nissan Micra and wait for assistance it might concentrate their thinking!
Phil Bentick, email
Just thinking of No1
Much as I don’t want to risk upsetting McPint, I was very surprised by his comments on running the No1 plate and even more surprised by his thoughts on the TT starting order (MCN, February 24). Many world champions don’t run the No1 plate, while others do. Joey won five world titles on the bounce and didn’t run No1. Starting at No3 at the TT never did him any harm and he went to be the most successful rider of all time on the Island. I normally agree with McPint, but on this occasion I’m going to have to disagree with the great man.
Gerry, Kent
Join the fight for CBTs
I just wanted to make you aware of this petition on extending CBTs: https://bit.ly/3bBTZo6
We need to keep motorcyclists coming through the system. As it stands my youngest will be off the road come March and no doubt many more are in the same position. Bill Peacock, email
Like a dentist for the road
Further to the letter ‘How about pothole radar?’ (MCN, February 17), at JCB we understand the concerns of motorcyclists and have unveiled the PotholePro - a machine that can fill a pothole in eight minutes for half the cost of traditional methods. Our repairs stand the test of time and will save councils millions of pounds in compensation claims and short-term fixes. The PotholePro gets to the root of the problem in the same way a dentist repairs a tooth cavity; the hole in your tooth isn’t just filled immediately, it is cleared of all decay so a firm foundation can be laid for the filling.
Paul Murray, Product Director, JCB
Say no to restrictors
I read with dismay that from 2022 new cars will have speed limiters setting the max speed to 112 mph, and other speed adjusting tech to make the vehicle stick to the various limits. My question is simple: will new bikes be similarly affected? Liam, Hants
Hunt for grandad’s BSA
I have recently unearthed my grandad’s BSA Pocket Motorcycle Book from the late 1930s (he and I are the only known bikers in our immediate family). Among other things recorded in this amazing piece of family history is the registration number of his bike of the time: BNN472. Via the help of a friend and the BSA Owners Club we have identified that the bike was a Nottingham registration issued between March and June 1935. There were 14 models in this period with different variants and the Owners Club have no way of knowing which one it was from the registration alone. There appears no DVLA record. I appreciate the chances of finding the actual bike are probably nil but I have a romantic notion to own the model my grandad rode before the war. I was wondering if readers might be able to suggest a way forward?
Karl Marriott, email
Ice cream, you scream…
Can’t see what the problem is about obtaining a carnet (MCN, February 17.) I bought one from an ice-cream van in New Brighton last week. It only cost £1.50 and it had a Flake in it. All I have to do now is work out how to prevent it from melting before I reach my port of departure.
Michael Wray, Wirral
Snow fear about riding
Richard Newland’s article on riding in the snow brought back memories. I’ve ridden 12 months of the year since 1960. This came about because our gang at the steelworks expected you to turn up on your bike whatever. We went to the first Dragon Rally on a BSA M21 with a tin bath fastened to the sidecar chassis. Real mistake, talk about cold. Before retiring I was site nurse at a construction site in Buxton, Derbyshire and rode from Rotherham to there every day. Often getting through when car owners could not.
Keith (Hoppy) Hopkins, email
Mountain pioneers
I was told many times that in 1923 my grandparents climbed Skiddaw in a motorbike sidecar combination. I have no reason to doubt that they did this but I would like to find evidence for it. In a recent conversation with a number of my cousins and an aunt we were told there had been an article in a magazine in 1923. My grandparents were Bob (Robert) and Mamie (May) Walkden from Preston. I’m not totally sure it was in 1923 but apparently my grandmother was expecting at the time and my aunt was born in late 1923. Does it ring any bells with anyone? Elizabeth Robinson, email