22 I AUGUST 2019 More old bikes online: Real-Classic.co.uk
RIDINGRIGHT
Iwas somewhatsurprisedby StuThomson’s
letter inRC183, as his introductionto
motorcycling mirrore dmine.Istartedriding
whenIwas 15.My father had purchased
aVespa 150and hewould take meto an
unadoptedroad nearby to learnhow to
ride.Iwas 16 in November 1966 so–joy of
joys –Iappliedformyprovisional licence.
My dadaddedmy nameto the insurance
on condit ionIundertook theRAC/ACU
course.This wasrun on the cattle market
car parkbyNorthampton motorcycle club.
EverySundaymorning,Iwouldtoddle off
the seven miles into towntodothe course,
weaving in and out of bollards,slowspeed
riding,emergencystops and eventually
on-roadridingwith an instructorfollowing
us.This involved leftand rightturns ,hill
starts ,trafficlights, pedestrian crossings
but noroundaboutsTherewas also a
lectureinvolving howamotor cycle works,
maintenanceand theHighwayCode.
Shortly afterfinishing thecourse,Itook
my test whichIpassedfirst time.Littl ewas
Itor ealise thatthiswas just the startofmy
learningto ride.Att he same time,Iwas asked
by the clubto become an instructor. Ijoined
and had the privilege of being askedto run
in anew bike,aYamaha 50ccwith incredible
acceleration (tomyinexperienced body).The
acceleration ranout at about 30mph, but I
remember surprising manysports car and
bigger bikeriders at the trafficlights.Ialso
wasable to purchaseformyself the Club’s
trainingVespa 125forthe vast sum of £25.
This bike hadat some stage beenfitted bit
dualcontrols; unique,Ibelieve.
Iwentonsome club meets,helped
stewardatsome scrambles and trials.Ireally
wantedtostarttrialsriding but had neither
the bike nor the money.Ialso rode with
friends from school and from the village.The
miscellanyofmachines includedaJames
Captain,aDMW 250 andaTiger Cub. One
of the older boys boughtaSuzuki250 twin;
he wasworking while therest of uswereat
school.Icould hear it howling up and down
the road.Within six months he had burnedout his pistons.Our lesser bikes plodded
on despiteour best efforts at tuning and
maintenance.
EventuallyIwenttocollege.Northampton
to Swanse awas agood 160 miles but the
pluckylittle Vespa transportedmewell.
Afte rthree years itwasreplaced with a
HondaCubwhich becameaCD175,areal
blast.Looking back,Ican thank theRAC/
ACUcourse and Northampton motorcycle
clubforgetting merelatively safely through
thesefirst fewyears of motorcycling–and
also formaking me (I hope)arelatively safe
driver andrider. Iwonder howmanyother
RC readers alsooweour survivalto the RAC/
ACUcourse?
Chris Taylor,RCmember 12,237I’mone of them!Ilearnedto ride on one of the
‘legacy’ ACUcourses.They’d officially ended
by thetime Iturned17, butmy localcouncil
carried thetorchfor afew moreyears.The
basi ctraining in defensiveriding has definitely
stood me in good stead.RowenaFRANK’S NEWTRIUMPH
Good luck with theScrambler. Ibought
aT100, fromaTriumph main dealer.The
salesmantold me ithad carburettors and
achoke.Iqueried it,hewas adamant.
Strange, then, howIwas ableto‘re-map’
the‘carbs ’without changingasingle jet?
It came with an oil leak.The drain plug
wasleaking.Itook it back,they had itfor
aday,Itook itawayagain.It still leaked.
Itook it back.Theyhad itforanother
day. It stopped leaking.When Ichanged
the oil,Ifoundadrain pl ug‘washer’the
thickness of three beermats.
Apreviousowner hadfitted a
mudguardextender.Itf ell off.Ire-fixedit
with number-plate tape.Itr emains stuck,
but it hasn’t rained,yet.
It also hasastraight-through 2-2
exhaus t, withbaffles.Fuel consumption
wasint he low30s,and I’mnot arapid
rider these days.Tank range wasless
than 100 miles.SoIchecked the fuel
map,having downloadedTuneECU onto
my phone,and connecteditwith the
appropriate cable.Itw as runningamap
suitablefor20% ethanol.Who put that
in, Iwonder?Certainly the dealer didn’t
check it when the bikewaswhisked
through whatthey laughinglyrefer
to as a‘workshop’. Iobtainedamapsuitablefor10% ethanol,loaded it up,
and checked theconsumption. 45mpg!
Hoorah!
Then the suspension... potholes
causedmy kidneystobeliquidised.
Apair of Hagon shocks,withrider-
appropriate springs and adjustable
damping,improve dthe rear.Rising-rate
springswere put in theforks, with home-
made spacers and pre-load adjustable
fork tops.Forkoil wasguessed as 10W,
which proved abit light, so uppedto
12.5W (bymixing 10
and 15–does this
work?) It’s stillabit
wallowy so it maygo
up to 15W,but the
rising-rate springs
make it difficult to
judge,ast hey’re too
lightatt he topand too
heavy at the bottom of
theirrange.Hohum.
Andtothink thatI
boughtamodernone
to avoid the fuss and
bother of looking after
an old one...
AdeOrrom,RC
member 13,618My experience, overacouple of thousand
miles now, is ...different. Theengin e’s
mapping and injection areentirely
standard. It returned 67.8mphover700+
miles when meetingTheReaderinNorth
Wales recently .Its suspension is what it
is,Ifeel no needto change it.Thedealer
–aTriumph franchise–was excellent.
My only unhappiness is that the seat is
hardonmybonybehind.And the bike
is remarkablyversatile.Maybe I’mjust
lucky... FrankW