The way we were…
Back in the day Send us your nostalgic snaps of you at bsimmonds@ with your steed! Either send to me page. C’mon! mortons.co.uk or via our vibrant Facebook
John Goodman says: “My introduction to two wheels was a brand-new AP50 on my 16th birthday at the start of a gloriously sunny 1976, which I spent hunting down FS1-ES. I traded up to a GT185 the following year, which I managed to wrap round a lamp-post and damaged myself rather badly. A Honda 400 Four followed, but I couldn’t leave it alone and converted it into Mocheck Harrier spec. I then bought a slightly careworn Kawasaki KH500 off a mate and again threw a lot of cash at it; it turned out far better than I had hoped and was featured in Superbike magazine, which led to photography work for them.
I then bought a new Yam XS500 (seen here with Les Dawson and Rula Lenska). I wrote it off stuffing it into a car. Then I got a Z900 off a mate. It was what I had really wanted all along; loads of my mates had them and we were all into drag racing so an enforced layoff in 1985 while the DVLA looked after my licence saw it converted for the track. Brian Johnson built a hot motor and added nitrous oxide. It ran a best of 10.4 @140, which was good for a 1075cc motor. It was whilst building it that my sprinting pal Mark Kurzeja and I talked Superbike editor Tony Middlehurst into hiring Santa Pod for a day and the Ultimate Streetbike Series was born. I had some great years with this bike, but sold it to buy a Harris Kawasaki Pro stock bike. It was never competitive but I had great fun on it, winning the Cork Drag Races in 1988.
On the road I had been through a 350LC and a 350YPVS, but I traded that in for a wobbly standard US import Z900; the single disc could be ‘challenging’ but a great bike. I then got a water-cooled GSX-R1100 which was heavy, but with a Yoshi and dyno set up it was a quick and reliable quartermiler. It was joined by something completely different, a Kawasaki VN1500 Classic, bought new for £6k. I had some great summer rides on this bike; it was like riding a massively torquey armchair.
I then had to have a hip replaced so things got a bit boring for the next 12 years, with a succession of Kawa ER5S. Over the last couple of years I’ve been doing some snapping for CMM. Journo Alan Dowds has a Yamaha 600 Fazer which I rode a few times and rather liked so the lockdown allowed me to buy one to do up! Great bikes!
At 62 I’m still riding and still knocking about with the same mates I rode with in the 1970s. Most of them still riding Z1s, some still with their original bikes; Dave ‘Buzzard’ Ennis still has his two Ult. St. bikes. It’s been a great ride.
I’ve ridden in China, the States, met some great people and had some amazing times. Only bikes give you this in my opinion!”