Hi Kostas...A great clip..It shows how a motorcycle can be so much more than a 'fashion accessory'. I have had my M20 roughly half my life but I've always said I am just looking after it for the next Guy...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
I really don't get it. In fact, I nearly choked on all the sentimentality in this video. Nothing wrong with father's leaving stuff to their kids, etc. So they should. Nothing wrong with filial respect. But this was ladled on a bit thick - especially with the engraved plate on the back of the bike telling us that: For my father who taught me all the things I ever needed to know in life.
Then I see that donations are sought to pay for the Pearl Jam song rights. These kind of personal videos can work if handled right. But this one was a little too cloying for me, a little too contrived to tug at the heart strings. Father-son relationships are invariably a lot more complex.
This one put me in mind of one of those awful American country and western songs with everyone crying into their beer and waxing lyrical over some cowboy fantasy about riding the range. Don't get me wrong; I LOVE country and western - but less so when it comes at you thick and syrupy.
I did take a second look at the video, but I still don't see what the big deal is. I thought I missed something, but I don't think I did. Restoring dad's old (neglected) Beemer is fine. Keeping a family record of it is okay too. But I can live without all the saccharin.
email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com
Hi Terry, I've got no problem with restoring a bike in memory of someone. And I love BMWs and own one. All credit to him for restoring it, etc. No problem there.
I like personal videos too (and I made one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMhEDiHd69g).
But as I said, I just thought this one was laid on a little thick, that's all. It's a question of personal taste. It's like having sugar in your coffee. There comes a point where it's too much. For me, this was too much.
There was, in fact, another aspect that grated a little; it was the fact that this video invited public donations for what is essentially a very private thing. A more cynical mind might call it manipulative; tugging at people's emotions to help fund the music rights. I wouldn't quite go that far, but I think that if it didn't actually cross a line, it certainly stepped on one.
How is that people can't honestly disagree without being "negative"? It's just opinion. Isn't that what forums are for? Or do we all have to toe the same line?
Over 303,000 people watched that video. Presumably, many - if not most - liked it. I took a different view. Vive le difference, and all that.
email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com
The best way to avoid that Ron, is to wear 'em out first !
I actually thought it a shame to restore that Bee-emm. It just looked nicely patinated to me.
What a shame that he didn't get it running while the old boy was still around to see it.
My Dad used to ride a Lambretta. I hope to hell that he hasn't got it stashed away somewhere with a note in his will !
I didn't take too much notice of the presentation..the ways people would present this pretty personal tale are bound to differ.
What I liked and could empathise with is how what is basically just a machine can become part of the thread of peoples lives and an intrinsic part of their memories...much more in fact than the sum of its parts.
It's why say...£10000..won't by my M20..or more to the point the good things I associate with it...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Hi Danny,
Just had to say I don't know why you commented really if you didn't like the clip.
I don't like YOUR video especially the music.. you talk about sugar coated !!
I found your clip totally uninspiring.. It didn't even focus on the bike, what's it all about..
I did what most people would do if I didn't rate it, I don't have to watch it again full stop.
You did manage to get the magazine "Sump" mentioned yet again I suppose.
I mention this now NOT because I have some allegiance to the video mentioned in this thread,
but because I feel an overwhelming urge to do so.. now that you brought up the subject of video clips..
Hi JG, thanks for your comments. I think I'm getting the hang of life now. I can only comment when I agree with something, huh? Never mind that you commented on my video and didn't agree with the people who did like it. Does anyone smell sour grapes around here? And sugar coated? I'd disagree. And I'm certainly not asking for donations to fund tbe soundtrack.
But hey, it's your view. You can do what you like with it. And no, you definitely don't have to watch it again, full stop. That goes without saying. So rate it or don't rate it. Watch or don't watch. Like it or hate it. Makes no difference to me. And by the way, it wasn't me who brought up the subject of video clips. KOSTAS introduced the topic for viewing/discussion. I merely commented on it. But I'll remember in future; I'll only comment when I agree with, or approve of something. You just send me a long list of all the other things you want me to agree with and I'll sign it off.
You know, we used to have a culture of intellectual honesty whereby people could honestly say what they thought without fear of censure or mealy-mouthed rebuke. Some people are still fundamentally intellectually honest; they speak their mind in good faith and try to add a little perspective to the world. They try to look at the wider picture. They see things differently, and the world's a better place for it.
On the other hand, some people take the opposite view and believe that we all have to march to the same drum.
I think I already made the point that over 303,000 people watched the video, and that many if not most liked it. If you like it, fine. But here's the bottom line: I disagree.
email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com
There is some controversy about which Monday is "Blue Monday" this year, but I think the evidence is beginning to point to today. 
email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk
Thanks Danny, I haven't had such a good laugh for a while..
I honestly didn't mean to upset you everyone to their own opinions..
JG 
Think what you want and say what you think...God forbid that we should all agree about everything...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Well said Ian. If I had to agree with everyone then there is no way I'd be posting on a BSA site !
I think that I'm going to message Ron and ask if he wants to adopt me. I'd carry his photo everywhere, and commission Disney to make a tear-jerking video. Hell, I'd even play it on a DVD player built into the Big 4 chair !
There's an old saying that goes like this: Nothing makes you wonder more about what you said, than to have someone else tell you what they heard.
Look back at my original post. I'll summarise my view here: Nice cake, too much icing.
That's all.
email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com
I'll take you on Rik, if no one else loves you.
Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
It's got nothing to do with love Ron...other than Riks love for your Nortons
...
..Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
I started on British bikes along with the majority of my friends..By the time I hit my mid to late Twenties most of my friends had 'moved on' to more modern bikes and were constantly (helpfully) suggesting that I 'sell that old crap' and 'get a decent bike'.
Well I plodded on through the next 20-25 years with the occasional foray into the 'wonderful world' of newer machines.
Those newer machines have come and gone..my mates newer machines came and went...I still have my M20 and my B33.
I guess what they don't get is it's about the 'long game'...I suppose in a society obsessed with the new the challenge is to get the following generations to realise there might be more to life than that and that there is some virtue and pleasure in continuity..Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Mine is already spoken for! :-)
The bike looks great..When I bought my first bike..a 250 Matchless...it was my Father who didn't have the smile on his face .Fortunately (although I didn't inherit a bike from him) I did inherit his stubborn streak. The immediate offer of a trade off for a 'free' car didn't stop me !.Initially he wouldn't have the bike on his property but the Engineer in him got the upper hand as he couldn't bear to see the bike stood out in the rain. On a particularly wet night he said..'I suppose you'd better put that thing in the garage..but keep away from my car.. and my tools!'.
Eventually my ineptitude got to him as well and he ended up helping me with repairs.'just to see it done properly' of course!..Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Sad Ron, very sad....
Although my youngest daughter rides a classic (a heavily modified 1966 Army Triumph 3TA), I sincerely hope that grandson Stan, now 9, will really like my WDM20 when he turns 18. But nothing is guaranteed
email (option): viaconsu # planet dot nl
Thanks for the compliments. Michael, The paint we had mixed up by Sherwin Williams Industrial coatings division, I can get you the codes if you like. It is matched to an NOS Universal carrier spare battery box lid that had never seen the light of day. Wether correct or not I dont know, but it is matched to something the Ford Motor Company of Canada was using. Interestingly enough, the bike looks almost O.D. in the sunlight and brown in the shade, which was I am told the idea behind this shade. Anyhow, the trick to the ultra dull finish is thinning with gasoline instead of paint thinner.
Ron, OHhhhhhh, the misery of the engine, no I still haven't gotten the thing right, I put it together and went up to Canada for Remembrance day with it, then I got home and parked it. I'll get more ambition to rip it appart again when the weather get's better, right now it's -12' F with 2 feet of snow and I'm hybernating! :-) I'm looking for an NOS engine still in the crate if you know of one.
Both my sons love the bike, which creates a problem, who do you give it to? Guess I need to get another! maybe a Honda Dream?
Sam. Probably a good idea to get an M20 now. Then when your son's become old enough they can argue over which is the best. Like what happens on here.
Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
Sam..Just get two M20s..that will prevent a long running family feud and they will BOTH have the best bike ...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Hi Pete...and I bet there's a twinge of guilt for not hanging on to it...Ian
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com
Here's a couple of my two who have both seen Daddy in the garage alot the last few years, Sebastian is still finds it a little too noisey, but Jess & I are proper biking rebels, got into a little local trouble, as she likes sitting on the tank, going up & down the very quite dead end lane outside the house, I thought it a good idea just to do a loop round the lane onto the main road for about 300 yards, the locals didnt think that was a very good idea and threatened to call the rozzers on me, as if I'd put my own daughter in danger..at my parents house we have lots of nice private roads so she's rather keen in the summer, I was teaching her throttle control, but no I didn't say to the locals "put down your copy of the Daily Mail, have you been to India, Thailand recently or nothing about how long I've been riding bikes for" anyway, it wont stop us.
Needless to say, my plan is that they get the bike if I don't make it home or when I don't, chances are there won't be any petrol left anyway for them in 20 years, so it should make a nice bit of furniture for them.
email (option): kit247@hotmail.com
Lovely kids
email (option): viaconsu # planet dot nl
Michael, I dont think I'll make the GAP this year, I always tell myself I will in the summer, then January arrives and the 13 hour drive with the weather we've been having this winter discourages me. I guess you might be the only British bike owner to slip and slide on the ice this year! :-)
As for the Norton Vs Bsa debate, most of the WWII accounts I've read from Canadian soldiers are that whenever they could ditch a BSA and grab a Norton or a G3L, they did it, so I guess 2 Nortons might be in order.
Michael, I knew I had a photo of the bike with my buddies carrier, we painted both with the same paint, and markings of the NNSH's. They look pretty sharp as a matching set. Does the 15 Recce have three carriers?? Seems like I remember them from an event in western PA several years ago.
I emailed Bill Costello direct about the film and the donation page. He did reply and below is the text of that e mail.
Just thought you might like to hear it from the 'horses mouth'....Ian
'Hi Ian,
I'm glad you liked the story. I guess you didn't get the story unfortunately, if you think a scam was involved. You would not have seen the story if I didn't pay $1000 to a greedy record company.
I don't have $1000, maybe you do. So I found a legal way for me to keep sharing my story.
About 1300 people have thanked me so far for keeping it up on You Tube. I feel I made the right choice.
Anyway, I am not sure how you saw my donation page as it is finished. The $1000 has been raised and the donations are automatically stopped once the amount reaches $1000.
I did not make a cent, nor would I want to. It is now not possible for you to donate even if you try...
Bill from New York.'
email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com