Many Many Motorcycles

Here's a great story of a life in motorcycles from a reader and rider called Spence

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1977 starters orders...
In 1977, my first learner motorcycle at the age of 17, was a 1964 Yamaha YG1F 80cc single cylinder 2 stroke which I rode back & forth from Eccles in Manchester to Wilmslow Cheshire virtually every day of the week, as I worked in Wilmslow & did most of my dating there too. This poor little bike was a real workhorse which rarely let me down. I rode that little Yamaha in all weathers, and, as a teenager I really didn't have much of a brain to work out the hazards of that either, or to know any better!  Sure, I dropped it a few times in ice and snow, but nothing major.  I even had a skirmish with a milk float of all things, one morning during the winter at about 6am while it was still dark, I was using the A roads, (as that's all I could use, being on L plates,). The milk float moved over to the right side, straddling the centre of the road as it approached a bend. It looked as though he was going to continue and deliver to a house on the right hand side. Little did I know, he was just making a wide curve into someone's drive on the left, but by then it was too late, I was beside the float passing at 30mph with he and me ending up in the driveway, with my Yamaha under the float. Haha ! Anyway...
1978 moving swiftly on...
In 1978, I traded the Yamaha for a New Honda CB250T Dream Twin cylinder 4 stroke ( I think I remember someone, a girl at Wemoto having one of these) which at the time I thought was an upgrade from the Yamaha YG1F. They were just a comfortable large good looking 250cc town cruiser which you could squeeze 80+ MPH out of it in the right conditions. Yes, I crashed that as well. With a date as pillion on the back, both wearing ridiculous clothing that did little to protect me or her from the injuries we sustained. The bike suffered a bent fork and crash bars with a buckled front wheel and the usual mud and stuff crammed into all the orifices. But it was easily repaired, as we were in the following days, after we had ridden home that night both bleeding into our clothing. Yep, still no Brains !
1979 first really enjoyable bike...
In 1979, I was 19 and sold my Honda Dream replacing it with a New 1979 Honda CX500 in black, for £1150. This was the first bike I really enjoyed, a V twin that had more go than the CB250 but was a further upgrade on comfort. My girlfriend (nearly my wife to be) and I rode that bike everywhere including holidays in Scotland. I was finding that I had more brain capacity as I got older and she was so comfortable as pillion and she often fell asleep (that's a lot of trust)! After just 6 months though the CX500 ended up damaged due to the Jaguar 4.2 litre guy. He didn't bother to check his door mirror before changing lanes to accelerate past drivers turning left at traffic lights, and didn't realise that  I was also accelerating and staying in the same lane, as he moved into it. By the time he joined the lane I occupied I was, travelling a lot faster than him, resulting in me crashing into the back of his Jag. In court I was awarded the repairs at his cost plus damages. The bike again was repaired at not too much cost.
1980 onwards and upwards...
At the time the crash in the previous episode happened, I was working in Cheshire for a fast fit company supplying Exhausts/Shock absorbers Brakes etc, but the company wanted me to assist a branch of theirs down in Fareham, Portsmouth for a couple of weeks. As fate would have it, the garage I was working at for my company in Fareham, was temptingly close to motorbike retailer, Rafferty Newman's Bike showroom. As I didn't have my CX with me due to the crash, (although I would have really enjoyed the ride down to Portsmouth), I very easily persuaded myself to buy a New Suzuki SB200 in cherry red. This was a brilliant little twin 2 stroke 198cc bike and my work colleague from the CX500 crash also bought one in red. What a cracking little 2 stroke bike that was, with reasonable performance too for back in the day. Once it was dressed in low slung panniers, with a rear rack and a front screen and crash bars with spotlights fitted, it almost resembled a small version of the "Chips" American TV show motorcycles Poncherello & Baker. (Loosely I mean, you will need a bit of artistic licence here, as it was actually only an SB200 and not the Kawasaki's they used) That little two stroke was carefully stripped once a month to de-carbon for maximum performance and it worked like a dream right up to the day I sold it. For the cost of, I think, £485.00 NEW ! Great value brilliant two stroker.
It was also still 1980 when I married my Honda CX500 pillion sleeper in the following year although we got divorced in 1995, but luckily I am again with her now, clocking up another 18 years since 2003. She is just a brilliant cool partner to be with and not to be without. As a result of our relationship from 1977 to when we married in 1980, we had a daughter too in 1980 which meant that the bike would have to go and be replaced by a car for our new addition.
1984 and it's back to biking...
In 1984 I found myself with a Honda CB200, which was a bit nasty looking due to neglect. I cleaned it up and made it respectable and re-sold it quite soon after. Nothing much to say here about these, as they weren't very iconic in any way. Later the same year I bought a cracking 1978/79 Suzuki X7 in white. This was one of the better 250 two strokes at the time, and a real race machine. I had loads of fun racing around the place not straying too far from my young family, but testing my new found sensibility too by not forgetting that people now depended on me. I kept that for about a year.
1985 improving skills...
In 1985, I picked up a Honda CB400/4, I think it was 1976 registered if memory serves me, again a bit tatty but with my improving skills (or developing OCD if you prefer), at the age of 25, I made it look a proper gem. Again, didn't keep it too long. In 1986 we bought a brand-new home, so bikes were off the Christmas list again. It's a real hard trip when you just have no motorcycle and it's summer and you're cutting the lawn because you have to, while you can hear motorbikes ripping up the tarmac everywhere but you  haven't got one !! It's really hard!
1992 back on the bike scene...
In 1992 I was back on the bike scene again, with permission from my then wife, and at a local bike shop near to where we were living in the new house, I bought a 1981 Honda CBX1000 Pro-link in graphite grey for just £1000.00. This too needed some work which consisted of a new OEM spec 6 into two exhaust and a lot of polish. but it was a stunning looking bike. Although it was unbelievably slow for that massive engine slung under the tank. I used that for my commutes to work from Wigan to Wilmslow again virtually every day. Cars were still in our grasps though for transporting us as a family, so it wasn't all about bikes.
Sadly, approaching a couple of years later our relationship was getting tough for us both, mainly due to me, I think, wanting too much from marriage a little bit of stupidity from my younger brainless years. Don't know why? So, that period saw me without bikes and my Wife.
Thanks so much for that great story and the pictures Spence, what a brilliant job you've done on all your bikes over the years – a true enthusiast and not afraid to get your hands dirty fixing and fettling to very high standards!
If anyone else wants to share their motorcycle purchases and stories we'd love to hear about anything you've worked on or ridden...and is there anyone else out there who loves a two stroke? Let us know if you have any stories by dropping us a line at:  [email protected] or drop us a message on Facebook
Check out the other instalments of Spence's story: