Looking for RNL 210
I’m writing in the hope that one of your readers might be able to assist with information of the whereabouts of a motorcycle that I’m trying to locate.
In the mid-1960s it was my job on a Sunday morning to clean and polish my neighbour’s Norton 600, registration number RNL 210. I remember getting paid two shillings for the cleaning which I loved doing. At the time the machine was owned by Bob Franklin who was in his early twenties and we lived in Thornton Heath in Surrey. On my garage wall I have a picture taken in November 1966 on my 13th birthday of me and Bob with me sat on the Norton.
Bob was a great influence on me and my interest in motorcycles. It was him that took me to my first motorcycle race meeting at Crystal Palace and the glorious smell of Castrol ‘R’! The pleasures of watching from North
Tower Crescent as Chris Vincent and the sidecar crews headed for that first corner and Ray Pickrell who, in years to come, I would meet as a member of the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club.
I was forbidden by my parents to ride on Bob’s bikes (prior to the Norton he had a BSA and an Ariel Leader) but I did get a quick ride up the road on the BSA and got reprimanded.
My personal motorcycling would progress over the years despite my ‘upbringing’. As a paramedic I rode as a member of the Sussex Ambulance Paramedic Motorcycle Unit and made more than 25 trips to the Isle of Man as part of the TT/MGP medical team. There were also many happy weekends officiating at circuits around the country at CRMC meetings.
I have found via the DVLA website that the machine is at present on SORN and the last change of ownership was, I believe, in 2012. I would dearly like to hear of the Norton (RNL 210) and its whereabouts. If anyone could help, I would be very much obliged, just so as to chat for old times’ sake to the new owner and possibly to revisit the machine that was so inspirational in my youth. Keith Mitchell