After writing my “Can You Think Back” Article, I started thinking back again. Sometimes memories get lost with time, and I am now going backmore than 50 years!.

The youth of the country at that time, really only had one chance to take to the road, it was the motor cycle. Dads buying cars for their sons never happened. Dad most probably did not have a car anyway. Walk along the street and not all drives had a car in them. So it was the day of the motorcycle and scooter rider. Getting the first motorbike was a milestone in my life. Albeit, I had an old BSA bike to start with. It was old and very temperamental not always starting on first kick. KICK? Yes the day of the electric starter was a long way off and never happened until after my motorcycling years. We stood astride the machine and kick started them. Many time an aching leg would force a stop while the carb and spark plug were adjusted and cleaned before the engine would burst into life. The engineering of the engine was after all very basic at that time.

But when it did go, we entered a different world, we were mobile, at 16 years old we could discover a new world. Places where we had never been before, and sights we had only read about. We were oblivious to danger. We screwed the throttle back to max on every gearchange, fitted silencers that didn’t silence, and showed everybody how brilliant we were. I don’t think that first BSA could reach 60mph!. But who cares, I had a bike, I was mobile, and I could show off with the lads.

There were no safety rules or laws regarding crash helmets, hardly anyone wore one, partly because of the danger of being called a wimp. A flat cap or ratting hat as they were called, was standard headgear, and you could be upmarket with MkV111 (Mark flying goggles. Many still used the gasmask goggles that were issued during the 2nd world war. They were in plentiful supply.

But we all suffered the same desire as many do today, we wanted faster, bigger and better machines. England was the choice of the world for a while. with the BSA’s, Matchless, Aerial, HRD Vincent, Norton and of course Triumph. (There were many more, but you know what my memory is like!) Japan was only at the edge of our world. It wasn’t until later that Kawsaki’s and Honda, Yamaha etc. came to the front. It was also the era of the scooter, Lambretta’s and Vespa’s led the way.

But back to my Triumph, there it was sitting in the showroom, second hand, but perfect showroom condition. It had to be mine. As a young motor mechanic earning just £3.00 per week, it was out of my money range, so it was a case of selling my soul to my father, and promising the earth, that led to him letting me have the big deposit. The total price was £150 .00 a fortune for me, (and my father), but winging prevailed and I was soon wheeling it out of the showroom. Now I could go where the old BSA could not. I had to learn to ride all over again, it was heavier, faster and so responsive, that I took a couple of weeks to really be at one with the machine. It would pass anything on the road, and it would do just 100 mph. the white line in the middle of the road was my road. (they were painted in those days so none of the thick raised ones). I could go from Basing stoke to Salisbury (50miles) in 30 minutes. It was fantastic. But remember there was not the traffic to contend with then and many miles were just clear. Motorways were not built then.

I needed to have sparks come from my footrest, otherwise I knew I had not taken the corner right, and had not impressed anyone. They were such fun days, and looking back I realise I was lucky to survive on that bike. Inevitably I got so “good” and was king of the road, when I started to fall of it!. Now performing daring stunts and riding out smiling the other end is an ego boost, but fall off, and where do you hide. I can tell you that coming off at 60 plus mph, you don’t actually remember leaving the bike and hitting the ground. Having started this silly falling off game, I believe I actually got sensible and thought for the first time about the dangers I was putting myself into. It was so bad I even thought about buying a crash helmet, but of course I couldn’t loose face on that one! Once you see all the dangers of riding a motorbike, you have that little bee in your bonnet, that says give it up before it’s to late. So a sad day for me when I advertised it.

It was a reluctant sale that saw the Triumph go out of my drive and out of my life. But a chapter in it that was worth every bruise. Michael Chalke.

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Tags: Motorcycle, Triumph