Rob’s Ramblings
Those were the days!
Other WAC members have often asked me the question! Why do you choose to ride a fifty year old motorcycle? When for a fraction of the purchase price of one of these relics, you could be the owner of an immaculate near new, electric starting, utterly reliable, mechanically sophisticated, low mileage second hand machine?
The chances are when I give them my answer, they still won’t understand, But I will try!
Maybe I still have a yearning for the good old days, Some of you reading this, may even remember those days; When you could pull up at a transport cafe, order a full English fry - up without worrying about your cholesterol input. Afterwards light up a Woodbine, without some vegetarian, wearing sensible shoes, flaying his or her arms around like a windmill, complaining about you polluting their air space, before they drive away in a 2CV belching out clouds of smoke. Not so long ago, you did not have listen to these people criticising you for the size of your “carbon foot print” riding your bike in a environmentally insensitive way, depleting the ozone with your unrestricted exhaust system.
Perhaps some of may recollect when you could go for a ride without having to constantly be keeping one eye on your speedo (that’s if it worked?) just in case the local sheriff is bored, ( Due to the lack of crime in the area?) and has gone out to play with his new Gatso speed gun? Then with your other eye checking the gender of the driver of that “It’s that bloody Citroen again” waiting to exit from a side road, before cruising along with the other eye on the mass of lights and gauges mounted around the handlebars, (Hang on a minute! “I have run out of eyes“)
Yes in those wonderful days, If your engine was running a bit off song and needed attention, you could simply adjust the igniton timing with a fag paper and pen knife at the side of the road, next to the remains of a fox which had been savaged by a pack of hounds that very morning, then continue the journey for a further 100 miles on a single Imperial gallon of 10 shillings worth of Regent’s Supreme ˜˜˜˜˜ leaded petrol, or perhaps it’s the thought of not having to replace my tyres every 2000 miles @ £120 each. Yes! Those old John Bull’s only needed replacing, when the side walls started to crack, at around 8000 miles! “Blast that MOT”!
It could even be, the outlay of the fully comprehensive insurance on my British classic, is possibly the same cost as a pair of those gaily coloured carbon fibre knee sliders, we see attached to the leathers of the serious riders sat in the cafe? You know the ones I am referring to, they walk in covered from head to foot in dead flies, with lumps of rubber shoved in their ears, complaining about not hearing the green sleeves chimes of the ice cream van that cut them up on in the empty bus lane!
I suppose the real reason is, I can sit in my workshop, after fettling with my tappets, using a 4lb lump hammer, then devour a fried egg & bacon sandwich with my environmentally insensitive oil stained hands, then light up my dirty old air polluting pipe, prior to taking my lube leaking, antique motorcycle out for stress free ride!
Or could it be, It’s road tax exempt (at the moment) ?
Those were the days!
Other WAC members have often asked me the question! Why do you choose to ride a fifty year old motorcycle? When for a fraction of the purchase price of one of these relics, you could be the owner of an immaculate near new, electric starting, utterly reliable, mechanically sophisticated, low mileage second hand machine?
The chances are when I give them my answer, they still won’t understand, But I will try!
Maybe I still have a yearning for the good old days, Some of you reading this, may even remember those days; When you could pull up at a transport cafe, order a full English fry -
Perhaps some of may recollect when you could go for a ride without having to constantly be keeping one eye on your speedo (that’s if it worked?) just in case the local sheriff is bored, ( Due to the lack of crime in the area?) and has gone out to play with his new Gatso speed gun? Then with your other eye checking the gender of the driver of that “It’s that bloody Citroen again” waiting to exit from a side road, before cruising along with the other eye on the mass of lights and gauges mounted around the handlebars, (Hang on a minute! “I have run out of eyes“)
Yes in those wonderful days, If your engine was running a bit off song and needed attention, you could simply adjust the igniton timing with a fag paper and pen knife at the side of the road, next to the remains of a fox which had been savaged by a pack of hounds that very morning, then continue the journey for a further 100 miles on a single Imperial gallon of 10 shillings worth of Regent’s Supreme ˜˜˜˜˜ leaded petrol, or perhaps it’s the thought of not having to replace my tyres every 2000 miles @ £120 each. Yes! Those old John Bull’s only needed replacing, when the side walls started to crack, at around 8000 miles! “Blast that MOT”!
It could even be, the outlay of the fully comprehensive insurance on my British classic, is possibly the same cost as a pair of those gaily coloured carbon fibre knee sliders, we see attached to the leathers of the serious riders sat in the cafe? You know the ones I am referring to, they walk in covered from head to foot in dead flies, with lumps of rubber shoved in their ears, complaining about not hearing the green sleeves chimes of the ice cream van that cut them up on in the empty bus lane!
I suppose the real reason is, I can sit in my workshop, after fettling with my tappets, using a 4lb lump hammer, then devour a fried egg & bacon sandwich with my environmentally insensitive oil stained hands, then light up my dirty old air polluting pipe, prior to taking my lube leaking, antique motorcycle out for stress free ride!
Or could it be, It’s road tax exempt (at the moment) ?
No, nostalgia ain’t what it used to be !
Why not Pay as you go!
Government figures state, over a million people are not paying their
road tax, costing law-
£214,000,000 a year.
Apparently the DVLA are employing costly nation-
displaying a British registration number plate.
Would it not make sense to abandon road tax altogether as with some
historical, agricultural and forestry vehicles, with the tax disc
replaced with a annual Insurance / Mot disc? Resulting in a simple a pay
as you go system!
Hence the more petrol or diesel you burn and road miles you travel =
more fuel tax to pay. The bigger your engine or faster you go, resulting
once again, more tax to pay!
I would guess many of us motorcyclist also own a car? Consequently one
of these vehicles spending the majority of the year fully taxed for the
road, without actually turning a wheel.
A large proportion of the road tax revenue lost to the exchequer could
be recouped in a massive reduction in the DVLA administration costs
associated with the ever-
being implemented and Police man-
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