Bikes I've Owned

Things a bit slack up here as I am off sick again with this undiagnosed thing and the weather is so foul I cannot get out at all. So I thought I would post some pics of the bikes I've owned. Some are my own pics but I've had to trawl the internet for some others, hope I've not trodden on too many toes vis a vis copyright; still it is not for pecuniary gain so perhaps I will not be clapped in irons and shipped to Australia, ooh that sounds rather good actually.

This was the first embarrassing bike my parents got for me.

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After much tantrums, screaming, scowling, foot stamping, door slammings and I hate you's they relented and consigned the second hand Tina to the scrappy and let me have my first proper bike. £260 quid on the drip got me.A brand new Triumph Trailblazer 250cc
I really loved it, Dad hated the oil on his drive. To be honest it was horribly unreliable, a bugger to start and was often in a pile of bits in the garage. Rebuilt a gearbox one new years eve instead of going out on the lash. Triumph warranties were parts only then and couldn't afford to have The Bee fix it in their workshops.


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Think I bought this for about £30 and sold it for £50. Wish I had kept it now it was a cracker, even leakier than the Triumph but a sweet little bike.

Still think they look lovely now.










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Reed Titan Honda 351. The one shown is not mine but mine was almost the same but all black.
Ended up in hospital after drinking Colt 45 and thinking I could still ride my bike. Lesson well learnt, could so easily have been fatal for either me or someone I hit. The sandstone wall came off best, bike was trashed Think a mate rebuilt it in later years but there were lumps of engine casing missing.


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Don't remember much about this un, Just a doer upper I sold on

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Had a break for a few years whilst being married and the likes but came back on this Honda. Love the lines of this bike even today but it was horribly unreliable. Chocolate camshafts, very dodgy electronics. Still, it got me to Spain where my Niece and Nephew had to sit on it. Loved the way it rode and my first shaft drive experience didn't put me off em.

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This Yam is a nice looking bike, it was comfy and the shaft was OK, (I hate oiling chains). It is my last shafty to date but I don't rule em out.

I had two accidents on this, one hit and run meant the bike needed rebuilding and the other put me in intensive care for a month and the bike in the scrappy. Sure it was jinxed. Got to Italy on it but had to rush back half way through hols as my Mum became terminally ill.
Not happy memories of this un.
When I first got it I went to the pub and Peter Brierley looked at the reg and said the three letters (CFY) stood for C$%T of a F%$£%&"G YAMAHA; and it was






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Can't really remember the order I got the next lot in but they were all after the Yam and I had up to seven at any one time.
Nice little CB 175, bit rare twin carb version. Sold it to a friends daughter and she still showers it with love and affection I think

This 750 was a good bike. Dead reliable, comfy, fastish for it's day. Had a nice Holiday in Cornwall and it never missed a beat. Used it to commute to Tamworth and sold it for more than I paid.

Had a 400 x 4 Kwacker and cannot find a pic of one. Very boring bike but did the job I spose. Just didn't light my fire.










Perhaps the Kwacker was faster, handled better, stopped quicker and was more reliable (moot point) but these little Hondas had soul. Just loved mine and wished I had still got it.












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Another £50 find in a garage.  Bloke wanted a Daytona but saw it leaking oil in the showroom and changed his mind when he saw the Honda next to it. He used it to commute to Uni some way away so wanted reliability. If it had been the Daytona I might not of got it for £50. It had been laid up for over 10 years; put in some fresh fuel borrowed a battery of another bike and it fired up on the kick start so changed the oil and ran it for a few years. It was a good little bike, sold it to a mate who sold it on and the bloke ran it out of oil or something and blew it up big time.

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This isn' mine as mine was missing the bathtubs Had the Nacelle and the testicle slicer on the tank and was this colour.
Cracking little bike and one I really wish I'd kept. Engine was so smooth and powerful for a little un. Edward Turners best twin I reckon.



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Still got this Beeza; in bits now being slowly restored, need to get on the case. Got it as it is the same model (only a Beeza) as my first real bike.
Nice bike to ride; Boyer electronic ignition got rid of most of the Triumph problems starting. Dad long gone so no moans about the oil on the drive.Not a drop under it there.





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Trumpet
My Tiger 750; had him 20 odd years and will never let him go. He is in need of fettling again and thinking of turning him into a Tiger Trail. I' not a stickler for originality and concourse bikes as you can probably see, "Ooh no Sidney, we should mark this one down because the mudguard bolts should be nickel plated not chrome for this year".
I once saw a 1000 BSA at classic bike show with all the engine internals polished and stuck on a pegboard by the side of the bike. Numpty! That is not a motorbike if the motor is on the outside!

When I first got him, on the way to the Dragon I think.

How he looks now. Think this is at the TT TOMCC meet.. He went on a TOGA do to Spa Francorchamps and never missed a beat. Think a footrest fell off though.







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Kwacker 900. lovely bike even if it did need 2 lanes of the motorway if over 120mph. The lady on the back was a lovely person who wanted to go on the Wirral Egg run once before she died from cancer. She had her wish and this is us starting off. Another keeper, finances decreed otherwise at the time though





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Trumpy:
Don't know why I started naming my Triumphs, none of the Jap things had names nor the 3TA The Trailblazer was the only female one and was usually called
F^*%$£*G start you F^*%$£*G Bitch
Trumpy has been to Spain and Portugal, commuted to London regularly, been to Scotland and done the TT/GP a few times. He's got a bit of a titty lip at the moment because of the next fellow but I've got some medicine for him if only I can get out and use up the tank of fuel in there, far too mean to pour it away.

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Tigger
Got him in May, Brilliant bike. Triumph have now sold me the best I have ever owned and the worst (Trailblazer).

If only they had invented electronic ignition in 1971 I might've voted the 400 Kwack the worst for outright lack of character





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Never owned one of these but can only dream. Def my dream bike.