SOLID STATE

Well over 60 years ago, as a thirteen year old schoolboy, I was given a hand-change 225cc Royal Enfield. I can distinctly recall the magic moment when I removed the cylinder head to discover in all its glory a humpbacked piston. Thus began a lifetime obsession with internal combustion engines which are to be banned in new car production c2025, although there are no foreseeable plans to exile such engines from motorcycles. Therefore dedicated petrol addicts will still be able to ride / fettle petrolpowered motorcycles.

Although a dyed in the wool biker, I also drive cars which are to be castrated of their petrol engines in favour of battery power. This mechanical surgery in favour of electricity might well help to save the planet, but one can only wonder where it will all end? It seems so distant from my first motorcycle or car, which was fired up using a cranked starting handle!

Thankfully for us bikers the petrol engine looks likely to remain. For it would surely be a shame if future generations were denied the opportunity to engage in the world of tappets, pushrods, pistons, shims, spark plugs, camshafts, dynamos, magnetos, conrods, etc. These are but a few of the intrinsic parts of both the motorcycle and car engines of my youth. While I celebrate the retention of petrol-powered motorcycle engines, I feel sad that replacing petrol in cars with amps will remove the connectivity of spark ignited petroleum explosions which over a lifetime have kept me relatively sane.

I have always considered a petrol engine to be the very empirical heart of a vehicle. Not unlike the human heart it has valves, it historically inhales via a carburettor, and exhales via its exhaust system. Moreover, not dissimilar to a healthy human heart being kept fit by diets / fitness, internal combustion engines benefit by being mechanically tuned.

Petroleum spirit is the lifeblood of such engines, while electric cars depend on what can only be described as a sanitised or bland version of propulsion taking hours to recharge. Strange to think of miles per gallon replaced by miles per kwh! What price retrospectively a Velocette Varta, Excelsior Ever Ready or a Ducati Duracell. Hopefully never! RL Smith, member 8090

But if you’ve never tried it, how do you know you’re going to hate it? In my teens and early twenties, I’d never ridden any old Britbikes. I knew they were outdated, oily heaps of unreliable rattling scrap. Then Frank made me ride his T160… and all my prejudices were confirmed! Heh. Rowena