This month’s witterings
Unlike most, I like Mondays. I get to read the various club mags that have come through, I may even peek through a rival mag or two, and then start on my chores. This week was the turn of ‘Horizontal View’, the mag of the Cossack Owners’ Club, and it had some fantastic stories inside. I don’t understand some, it has to be said, but the enthusiasm and amusement I get from the mag is brilliant – and I don’t even have a Cossack!
I also like the reason behind why people have Cossacks. One journalist I know, and it has to be said, normally respect, wouldn’t be seen dead on any bike unless it was perfectly restored, well-revered and usually costly (he drives a Range Rover – get the picture?). No idea why, as all I see is that he’s missing out – but his loss.
The Cossack owners, and Bantams, CZ/ Jawas, and so on don’t ride their bikes for others to see and judge them – they ride their chosen steeds because they want to. And heavens above, they enjoy it! Whether it cost a million pounds or just looks a million dollars to you, no matter. Ride what you want to – old bikes are about fun, not social status.
A friend recently decided he wanted a change of bike, so swapped a Seventies Italian bike for a Sixties British. He just fancied a change, and the TriBSA caught his eye. I can’t wait to see how he feels the swap has gone, what his new bike is better at and what he misses from the old. A different bike can open up a whole group of people and different types of rides, and possibly bring a few issues as well.
Recently a chap collared me to ‘tell’ how I was wrong not to have my Norton tank chromed, because ‘that’s how they should be’. When I asked if he worked at the Norton factory in 1954, he said no – I then asked how he knew how the tanks were finished; to which he replied ‘because they were’. Such nonsense has always been around; Steve Cooper warns of misinformation in internet forums; well Steve, it’s been around for years – it’s down to us to decipher the truth from the rubbish. Personally, that’s why I like crash helmets – you can put them over your head to silence such cretins. And now, you can use them to protect you from the latest virus doing the rounds – at last, riding a bike is good for you!
Back in Norfolk, Neville has started a new project. The heart is a gorgeous 500cc Tiger motor, with a special frame and a BSA A65 gearbox – read more about it on page 100. Not quite sure what his plans are, but it’s bound to be good fun. I’ve been trying to focus on the Norton in between breaking cars, getting the Beeza woken up, sorting boy’s trials bike and Maria has been tweeking the Benelli. I’m thinking that just having the one bike (and one or two cars) would help get things done more easily – think of how many tools you wouldn’t need! And with some good riding weather just around the corner, we’re running out of time to get ‘stuff’ finished. Having said that, I’m off to look at a James trials bike later this week. I give up…
Quick notices – regular contributor, Stuart Urquhart, is looking for an inner primary chaincase for a 1948 Norton ES2. Anyone help? Just contact me and I’ll put you in touch.
Oh, and on a visit to one of this county’s superb motorcycle engineers, BDK, I saw a rebuild of a Kawasaki KR1, which was my first big bike. The owner managed to find a brand-new crankcase from Brazil
– so if you’re looking for that elusive part, keep looking!
Hope the mag brings some light reading and entertainment to you; enjoy what you have, take people’s ‘advice’ with a pinch of salt and get those bikes ready for riding.
Be good,