I found this whilst going through some old paperwork..Taken about 1971/2 it's my 1963 Rocket Gold Star cafe racer...very typical of the style at that time and one of my earlier rebuilds...Happy Days....Ian
...'I'll race you to the burger van'..
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
I still like the style..though now it's a 'classic' not 'contemporary' look!..
..The main thing then was to be a 'flash git'..You'll see everything apart from the front hub, frame and petrol tank is chrome plated.
Clip ons nice and low and close in...(what steering lock?) Riders footrests on the pillion mounts for the laid down 'racing' look...swept back exhausts, NO baffles etc. etc...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Nothing so exotic for me. It makes my arms ache just looking at those clip ons.
Here's me and my Tiger Cub in 1962. I've bought a bench now so I don't have to sit in an oil pool. Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
You're a bit more careful with the paintwork on your tanks and frames as well Ron... ...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Have you still got the Brothel Creepers Ron?
29/11d for the Wrangler jeans and 7/6d for the baseball boots. 
And yes I don't put my painted parts in an old box of clinker from the steam boiler any more. Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
Hi Ian , I've just emailed you regarding Normandy 2014. We have a nice selection of 12 bikes already !
email (option): stevehmc@hotmail.com
for a minute i thought you have found the bike at the back of your shed and you know why they called them cafe racer it's because riding down to you local cafe was as far you could ride them before your back and wrists ached nothing like a 4" raked handle bars keeping your back straight and no weight on your wrists
email (option): roger.beck@node6.com
Nice pictures!! Here another blast from the past, not my first bike, the police took that off my hands when I was 14, this is a little later.
Cheers,
Lex
ps, now everybody knows why I like to play in the mud with the Big 4 outfit!
email (option): welbike@welbike.net
Hi Lex..What year was that approximately?..and what model, c.c. and year is the bike?...I see, like me, you used to take up 50% less space in those days as well.. ..If it's true the population is ageing then Europe must have a lot less space than it used to!!...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
I was 18 years when i bougth this BSA C11 complete original with low miling for 75 gilden befot that i bougth an M20 for 50 gilden it was incomplete and not rideable bud there was no giderfork with i bougth a brand new for 75 gilden icl P&P
The original C11 was rebuilt of a beautifull Chopper fot its time And the young Man that was me. one of my last projects is again a M20 after all my 500 OHV Gr Theo
email (option): oldbikes@kpnmail.nl
Hi Theo..You looked very well dressed for a chopper rider!..I was like you, I chopped an absolutely original plunger A10...It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, standard bikes were for old men! ..Any more pics from the misspent youth of the forum members?....Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Here's another one..1989 and I had just bought the last (as it turned out) Matchless made by L.F.Harris...Nice bike with a very good Rotax 504 engine...But unfortunately niether totally 'modern' or 'old' so it struggled to find a market...
DVLA weren't too clever then either...When the logbook arrived after it was registered it detailed the bike as a 500cc Lotus.. ...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Did someone mention café racers with lots of chrome ? At least the Dresda swing-arm was English.
No stainless spokes in those days which meant paying to have 72 spokes and 72 nipples chromed individually. After losing my licence for a year due to 'totting up', I bought a Commando to slow down and promptly got caught exceeding the ton on it.
The lettering was all genuine 'Letraset'
I started off with a Fantic 50 which had passed on to my brother by the time this picture was taken. I had the 250 Benelli by then. My first green bike and the last Italian bike that I owned - the unreliability put me off forever.
The Fantic was quite quick. Surrey Constabulary alleged 56 mph and Godstone Magistrates believed 'em
Great to see a little history of the group, all cool characters. This picture was taken in 1975 in Baja, Mexico at the start of the "Los Ancianos" Baja 500, a two-day enduro. I'm on the left, my brother is on the right and we are both in awe that Bruce Brown (On Any Sunday movie)is in the middle on a BSA.
email (option): jrosson86@att.net
..If it's true the population is ageing then Europe must have a lot less space than it used to!!...Ian Hahaha, yes I used to be very thin!! Bike was a Zundapp 80cc 5 speed scrambler, frame home modified, stuff from all ages used, picture take in appx. 1976.
Cheers,
Lex
email (option): welbike@welbike.net
Great pictures,each one a little snapshot of the times..Every motorcyclist should see 'On any Sunday' at least once in their life, a brilliant film. RD 350?...that's the one with the on/off switch for a throttle isn't it?...It seemed very crude when the LC appeared...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Ian, what's with the pretty yellow 'Sam Brown'? Was that when you were an officer in the 'Gay Cavalieros' 
Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
My license had a few too many points at the time (speeding offences) and I thought the 'Sam Brown' might make me look more like a responsible motorcyclist and get me a bit of lee way with the Plods. That didn't work, as after fitting a flat track cam and piston and some other bits to the Matchless I got banned for six months later on for having excessive amounts of fun..... ...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
You'll be able to cut that up to use as arm bands for France
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
This picture was taken the same time as the other bud here i am together with my brother who did not even had a licents for a motorcyle
He had a BSA C11 G we bougth 2 for 75 gilders in the north off Holland and i get for free a half M20 plunger frame. Now 40 years later he owened several M20 and olso some OHV pre war M types life can go strange Gr. Theo S
email (option): oldbikes@kpnmail.nl
I've been rummaging through boxes of photos in the attic, I can't find the ones I wanted, I'll have another look. But I found these
This is 1983 an the Isle of Man TT, after the Commando's 1st rebuild, so I'm 20
This is my 1st Trident, I'm annoyed I can't find any other pictures.
This is my 2nd Trident. My mate was trying out a new filter on his camera. May 84, so about my 21st birthday.
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
Hi Horror...Nice pics..Those Commandos were nice looking bikes. I remember watching them unload new ones off the lorry at a bike shop in Plymouth..Couldn't afford one at the time though..I like the triples as well, I'll try to find one of my Mk2 Rocket 3...in the meantime here's one taken about 24-25 years ago..I was about to leave my sisters in Gloucestershire the day after boxing day for a 170 mile trip home. About an hour later it started snowing and turned out to be one of the coldest rides I've ever had...My niece is now all grown up and I still have the M20...old faithful....Ian 
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Here's the Rocket 3...a Mk2 model. Standard apart from the 'raygun' silencers. So this was before I crashed it..I rebuilt it afterwards to 'as new' ccondition with the standard exhaust. I still have the mangled speedo and a permanently dislocated collarbone as a reminder of the triple...Ian 
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
That's a lovely looking bike Ian 
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
what a lovely topic this is! here i am, aged 14, already crazy about military motorcycles and maltese camouflage! this big4 was the fitst norton i rode , a year before and the austin k2 behind is the vehcle i learned to drive on.....just like the queen!
in the other pictures are my father, his father, and his father (my great grandfather)all on british bikes !!
First bike ever. Bought it from a mate at school for £25! which was a lot of paper round money in those days. (1969-ish) My old fella was not at all impressed with me getting it . I think it was 3 weeks before he said anything to me Wish it still worked with wives. I'd buy one a month.
Nice photos, chaps. I never managed the 'hard as nails' look. This was my first proper lost on the Continent tour in about 1987.
I've still got the leathers but the wrists are too tight....
Hi Rik, That is a good look mate
Have you changed the paintwork on your Commando now or is that a different one?
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
Have you changed the paintwork on your Commando now or is that a different one?
The leathers have the Norton logo sewn across the back but I don't seem to have a photo.
It's the same old Mk3 - It's been Black & gold, Blue & silver, Red / white / blue, Tangerine, Candy red & silver (smashed that one, unfortunately) and finally Red / white / blue again. I think that it's time for a candy red (if I can withstand Fireflake Imperial Purple !
)Actually, it's been a Signal Red Long Range Fastback as well.
Most people have had lots of bikes. I've just had several fuel tanks and a good friend in a paint shop.
Here we go then, pic of me and my mate 1984 on our trials m20s i built in the 80s. Its the start of the Arbuthnot long distance trial. Both bikes are rigid WD rear frames with latter front frames and matchless forks. I got 9" of ground clearance with mine but i had to chop the frames, but parts were cheap. I latter made a chair for it and trialed it with the missis in the chair. Great fun have more pics somewhere if i have a look.
Tim W
email (option): t.j.walker@btinternet.com
My first motorcycle tour 1980 or 81, before i could afford a bike. I rode pillion on the Laverda for 2 weeks around NZ's Nth Island - we were Sth Island country boys. Me leaning on the GS.
The only surviving shot of my first bike, rear wheel in the background, XT 250 with me leaning over it. Upgraded (??) to a Commando as soon as i was off my learners license. Hammer in the helmet on the GS rider, he bought a new helmet so tried to destroy the old one - not that easy it turns out.
Nice topic this is!
Here another one from 1984, from "The Classic Motorcycle" Bought a 1910 P&M earlier that year, and this is how I got it home! (no car or car license in those days ) still have the P&M, Panthers all gone now.
Here one from 2002, on an Indian outfit.
Have some of my father on bikes too, will have a look later,
Lex
email (option): welbike@welbike.net
These are all really great pictures..I particularly like Tim Ws M20 trialers..I wouldn't mind one of those!
Here's another from about 1981..Motoring along on the B33..I built it with the girders but changed back to teles later.It's been through various incarnations like Riks Norton (or Triggers Broom )..I've owned it for 34 years altogether... so far...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
And my first D Day tour..'somewhere in Normandy' on the way from the ferry to our campsite (as the bike is still loaded) on the 55th Anniversary..The chap in the battledress jacket in front of the lorry landed on D Day +1, he was in the Intelligence Corps. A really nice chap, sadly no longer with us.....Ian 
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
The B33 was a litle bit choped high handlebar and a gider fork My M20 the 50 gilder bike was the giderfork removed for a A7 to make a longer fork and was complete cromed so i could buy it for the We did not know where the A7 went bud the M20 give me a lot of fun for manny years Gr. Theo S
email (option): oldbikes@kpnmail.nl
Ian, glad you like the trials M20, had ace fun with it, think they cost about £400 to make, at the time you could pick a complete gearbox up for a tenner parts were cheap. The pic is me on the beach in the IOM TT week think in 1984. We used to get onto the inside of the course before racing started, then ride off road to new vantage points to watch the racing. I lifted the engine up that far to get ground clearance you had to lift the tank to get the plug out. But I had fitted a BTH TT magneto with a huge fat spark so never had a problem with the sparks.
Tim W
email (option): t.j.walker@btinternet.com
Hi Theo..The bars were higher than standard..though not as high as they appear in that photo...The picture was taken on a bend and the bike is leaning away from the camera....Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Hi Tim..I've never got seriously into trials riding but living where I do there is plenty of opportunity to 'mess about' off road for a bit of fun. To that end I've owned various trials bikes..A Matchless G3C, BSA C15T,250 Bultaco Sherpa, and a factory 350 RE Bullet...and have also battled along with less suitable bikes. The only actual trial I did was one I went to spectate at..As their Girder fork class was low on numbers they persuaded me to have a go on my WDM20...After 3 sections I was physically and mentally exhausted and had a new respect for Army Trials riders who had to compete on similarly fully equipped machines. I take both my B33 (which is now more like an early B34) and my M20 out for a bit of off road riding every now and again, particularly in the Autumn and Winter..but try not to get carried away and get them stuck too often.. ...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Even though I'm still a youngster with my 36 years, I don't want to stay behind of you guys. Here's one from my first ride......taken more than 30 years ago!
Regards,
Sven
email (option): snvosselman@gmail.com
Nice one Sven...You started riding a lot younger than I did!...Did you get round without crashing in flames?..and do you know what the bike was?...
I bought my first bike on my 16th. birthday...a 5 year old Matchless G2 CSR...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Hi Ian,
I think it is a simple 2-stroke minibike, but I think I couldn't even read the name written on the tank!
I'm still surprised my mum let me ride (on my shorts!)on this age, because she has always been very protective to me. It was somewhere in an amusement park, perhaps my dad took me silently to this small track when mum was looking after my baby sister.........
Because of Dutch law regulations 'mopeds' are the first thing on 2 wheels you think of at the age of (about) 13 yrs. My first was a ladies Peugeot, but at that time I was already dreaming about the 4 stroke 50, 70 and 90cc Honda's as I wanted to be part of this mania.
After about 30 little Hondas I sold my last one to pay for my motorcycle license at the age of 18. Obviously I went on with Hondas as these were affordable, but I always wanted a Norton (for a reason I still don't know today). After having almost all Honda motorcycles from the 60-ies I got my chance to ride british bikes at the age of 23 when I started to take part in the classic roadracing scene here in Holland.
I started on this domiracer
Than on this 1939 Manx
and finally 2 laps on this 1953 long stroke 30M
1 month before the owner of these racing bikes passed away I bought my first civilian WD16H
and last year I found my army WD16H
That's my story so far..
Regards,
Sven
email (option): snvosselman@gmail.com
This is a great thread and brilliant to see people's old bikes.
Clive's pictures are fantastic and I'd love to see Sven's racing pics
I've found the one's I wanted to show you.
Here I am at 18 with my "new" bike. A ride out to Malvern 1981
This is the picture of my 1st Trident 1982, I bought it like this, a real bitsa..! Norton Dommie front end which was too short for it, Harley sportster tank which was a different colour to the mudguard, and note the position of the coils When I look at this picture I can still remember what it sounded like with that open pipe and the smell of the bike It regularly holed pistons and I got so sick of fixing it that I rode it around on 2 cylinders as a 500cc and it started and ran ok. A bit sluggish but better than walking. This was ok until the breather pipe kept blowing of with a bang. I realised the fuel was going into the cylinder with the holed piston and exploding in the crank cases..! I eventually found it was a faulty carb body that was causing the holed pistons and fixed it.
Oh dear...! this is my 2nd Trident blown up on the way to the Isle of Man TT in 1984. My mate towed me up the motorway to his auntie's place in Stoke on Trent. Note the hole in the crank case where the con rod came through 
I sold both these Tridents as 2 blown bikes for £1000 in 85 and for some unknown reason bought another in 1991 which I've still got
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
Ok, this is me after I destroyed my my first bike being a 1954 DKW 250cc. That did hurt quite a bit I must say. This must be in about 1975 making me 19 years old.
Greetings from sunny Crete.
Henk
email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl
Ouch Henk, I see the doctor has prescribed some liquid pain killers
Hi Douglas, which one's you..? The dark haired bloke looks like George Best?
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
Very cool
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
Here my Yamaha XS650, my Japanese Triumph. Not sure when this was but long ago for sure.
Henk
email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl
1972/3 and my R.E. Constellation cafe racer starts to take shape...
and a light dusting of snow on the Ariel Square Four... ..about 85 I think..I thought it would be a pig to ride in the snow but it was one of the best...The low centre of gravity and soft, torquey power delivery at low revs made it very easy to ride in slippery conditions.
...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Hi Pat, You need to pit the pictures in Photobucket, it's very easy and free to use. The copy the HTML code and paste it here.
(Ok NEWS FLASH) Photobucket has just changed to a new layout. If you are looking at 1 photo, you need to go to the right hand side and click on Image Link to get the code. If you are in "My Library" as you put cursor over picture and cog appears, move over that and go to "Get Media Link".
Hi Henk, The XS650 was a great bike, we called it a Metric Bonneville Yours looks like a good one.
Hi Ian, Do you have any pictures of the Enfield when it's finished?
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
Hi Horror...I've been sorting some old paperwork and photos...not sure quite what will turn up but I will post anything of interest and pics. of the Enfield if I find some...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
hi,here's me on my first wm20 back in 1970.
this one cost me and my friend 30/-(£1.50).i bought his half for 12/6 (£0.62.5p).
i then set about cutting the mudguards off,the handle grips,the seat arrangement
was made from dexion,that went.the levers went and i fitted ball end ones.
if only i knew then what i know now.
registered NTO 134F it came out of service in 1968,who fitted the telescopics
and later wheels is any ones guess,but these were also green before i coated them with humbrol enamel and aluminium paint.
the seat came from a honda and the steel sissy bar to hold it up i made at school metalwork class.i reluctantly sold it in 1977 for £15.00 and regretted it ever since,happy days
cheers rick
ps,if you click on the picture it will enlarge,took me ages to get this one up
so i will do some more later
email (option): richardholt@rocketmail.com
Let the chopper craze begin..!.. . Mine was demobbed in 68 as well and still has its 'F' plate..Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
My bikes registration is NTO132F, what a coincidence, only two bikes apart.....
email (option): stinkypete80@hotmail.com
Both Nottingham numbers...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Hi Sir,were you at the BSA owners club meeting at Kenilworth rugby club for the
centenery of BSA? with the trip to the National motorcycle museum and on to
Armoury road,because that registration sticks in my mind.if so i spoke to you there.
small world, cheers rick
email (option): richardholt@rocketmail.com