11
T
heaimtoproducethelightest
possiblecompetitionbikehasalways
beenhighintheprioritiesofanytrials
rider,balancedofcoursewiththe
needtomakethebikestrong.Toplineriders
suchasSammyMiller,GordonJackson,Johnny
BrittainandDonSmith,tonamebutfour
stars,recognisedthisandoftenwereatodds
withtheirteambossesovermodifications
tomachines.
Millerforinstance,isonrecordassayinghe
occasionallyhadtoparkhisArieloutofsight
incasehewasforcedtoundohishandiwork
bythefactory. GordonJacksontoowould
occasionallyhavetohandbacklightbitsin
ordertobeseentobecompetingonwhatwas
beingsold.SotoodidJohnnyBrittain,whose
RoyalEnfieldatonetimesportedallsortsof
magnesiumbitsandpieces,thenrevertedto
standard-ishspecwhentheedictfromabove
filtereddown‘wedon’tsellanythinglikethat.’
Arguably,forthebigbikeriders,onceAriel
disbandedtheirworksteamandSammy
MillercouldreallygototownontheHT5and
hiscompetitionhadtodothesame,sothe
remainingfactoriesreissuedtheirriderswith
lighterbits,orinJackson’s casebuilthim
whathebothwantedandneeded.Thecase
wasevenclearerwhenDonSmith–withthe
advantageofalreadybeingonalighttwo-
stroke–producedasuperblyworkedover
machinefortheSSDToneyear,withalloy
replacingsteelwhereverpossible,steelfilled
withholesif it hadtostay, alloytoohavingitsThewinnerandhis bike.Garyproudly
standswiththeBantamhedidsowellon.010 Pre-65_044.indd 11 01/08/201715:17: