My Previous Bikes.

by Brian Atkinson

My first bike was a BSA Bantam 175 which belonged to my brother but as he had left it in his back yard for a couple of years, I asked if I could have it for me and my mate to play around with. We were both just 14 years old at the time, but we wanted a project although we had no idea what we were doing! With no manuals or assistance we stripped it down in his dad’s garage with very few tools. God knows what damage we did but after we got the pistons out we noticed there were rings broken and missing. The local dealer was marvellous...Arthur Browns in South Shields. He gave us the bits of advice we needed and replaced the rings using the old ‘Tin of Beans’ approach to get the pistons back in. We did actually get the thing running and after a couple of times around the block on it (without helmet, jacket, gloves or anything else) the local Tyne River policeman who lived on our patch raised his hand and stopped me and said “I don’t know about your mate, but I know that you’re not old enough to be riding this bike because you deliver my papers every night!” Well I was gutted and we ended up giving it to a local guy to do as he wished with it. We never saw it again and that was the end of my brief biking days until I was legal.

As I worked in our local Honda dealer (Jos Conways) after school and on Saturdays, I managed to get my first legal bike...a proper one, well a Honda SS50 in red – it was my pride and joy! All my mates had the Yamaha FS, 1E’s (Fizzy’s) and one lad had a Suzuki 50 (can’t remember the type) but they all went faster than my SS50. The lads in the workshops got wind of this predicament and decided to help me out – but as long as I didn’t tell anyone about it; thought it was about time I spilt the beans now after 33 years and there would not be any comebacks!

The lads fitted a Honda C90 carb on it and beefed it up no end, I could actually go quicker than all my mates now and you should have seen their faces when I left them behind on a run back from Hexham, yes, we actually had some good long runs out on those little bikes, well it seemed a long way back then. I remember my bike getting blown over whilst I had it parked up outside Conways – it didn’t take a lot of wind to do this and not having any crash bars, my mirror broke along with my indicator arm and lense. Mrs Conway came to the rescue and gave me the new parts and said they were a present and would not deduct it from my £15 a week wages; I can still see the smile on her face.

Well two days after my 17th birthday I borrowed my brothers Honda CB125 and went down to the test centre to take ‘The Test’ (if that’s what it was in those days). I passed with flying colours after riding down a duel carriageway and round a roundabout twice – then a couple of times around the housing estate until the examiner jumped from behind a lamp post to indicate my emergency stop was to happen; I did actually stop almost dead which wasn’t difficult riding 15-20 miles an hour! After a couple of questions on the Highway Code I was on my way straight to the local bike shops around South Shields to look for my first big bike. My step mother would not sign as guarantor for my dream bike…a Honda CB350 as she said it was too big for me – I was nearly in tears as I accepted the next best thing, a Honda CB175.

A ride straight over to the Lake District with my brother as pillion followed, and as we pulled up at the camp site, the sheer weight of us both and my brother carrying the rucksack laden with tent and all the camping gear you could get into a ‘Dormobile’ we just fell over! I was surprised we got that far without a tumble – but you know what you’re like when you’re young…invincible! Now there’s a thought; can anyone from the North East remember how many bike dealers there were in South Shields? I can remember a few – Arthur Brown on Fowler Street, Kawasaki World on Mile End Road, Jos Conways just behind Binns, Motorcycle World near Western Approach, and I’m sure there were at least one or two more.

Anyway back to the bikes. After a posting in Germany without a bike I returned to the UK and got another…a CB250 Dream (not the Superdream). I bought this from a young lady in Boston Spa and by heck I had wobbly legs after she took me on a test ride with her; she scared the living daylights out of me! Not because she couldn’t handle it, she was damn good and far better than I was, she was just too quick around the bends. I fitted a full fairing to this (don’t laugh) to keep the weather off when I was hurtling up and down the A19 at just under 70 mph downhill with the wind behind me.
Another spell of car driving when I returned to Germany but ended up getting a Honda CX500 from Bikerite in Newcastle with decent fairing already fitted…needed it for getting back and forth from Germany. This I exchanged for a Honda VF750SC which if I remember also had shaft drive.

As more kiddies were coming along I had to get rid of the bike again for a car but on my return from Germany once again I needed a bike to get me along the country roads from Driffield to York where I was based, I remember telling Miriam that I had to have the bike to get past all the tractors or I wouldn’t get home until very late…it worked! It was a Honda CB750 but changed this after a short while as I didn’t get on with it. I ended up with my first non Honda, it was a BMW R100RS I purchased from Carnell’s in Doncaster; it was a great commuter for this distance and I rode it through all the seasons. I remember riding up to Dundee with my 6’8” mate on the back, by we didn’t half get some funny looks with his head looking well above mine - the sports fairing did him no good whatsoever and he really suffered with wind blast!

My next bike was another BMW – a K100LT. This took me down to Plymouth and back with ease and was a comfortable long distance tourer. I went back to a Honda and exchanged it for a CBR1000. Miriam did not like this at all and felt as though she was going to fall off the back every time I pulled away. This is when I got my first Pan – I swapped my CBR for a Green ST1100 from Alan Mountains in York where I moved to live after leaving the Army. I came in from work one Saturday lunchtime and out of the blue said to Miriam, “Do you fancy a run to Paris”? Well you can imagine her response…and so I set off on my own. I was in Paris by seven thirty the next morning and the streets were empty – honestly! Apart from policemen and military personnel on most street corners; I didn’t realise it was Bastille Day! I managed to get permission off one officer for a photograph of my bike in front of the Eiffel Tower which was cordoned off, you could just see a very small green thing below the tower on the picture and it took a lot of convincing Miriam that I had actually been there!

When I walked into the Suzuki Centre in York one Saturday morning and saw my dream bike...a wineberry red Honda GL1500 which I thought was new, was right in the middle of the showroom and I couldn’t resist the offer Gaz gave me for my Pan against this. It was in fact a used bike with only 8000 miles on it and after begging Miriam to let me get it, she was mine. I called her ‘The Wanderer’ and the following weekend in March I was on my way to Berlin with my son to show him his birthplace. We reached Düsseldorf in the freezing fog before deciding we had better wait for the warmer weather and headed for Köln and down the Mosel Valley returning to the ferry that night via Luxembourg. It was one hell of a long ride in a weekend but the bike was brilliant.

After a Goldwing Treffen in Belgium I decided that a trailer was a must for all the camping gear, I had to take turns taking one of my son’s and my daughter on my weekend jaunts. (I think Miriam was pleased to get rid of me so often). Andrew would accompany me on my European runs and Jill would come along to the UK Wingdings. Work commitments made me get rid of her and I returned to another ST1100 which was a better bike to commute on. This time it was a black one and I swapped her after a while for a Blue ST1100 with ABS TCS. On my first run out to Scarborough I hit a pheasant on the A64 just at the bottom of Whitwell Hill, that one cost me nearly £300 worth of fairing! If I remember correctly this is when I first joined the Northern Pan Riders after speaking to a guy outside Tilston’s in Stockton who explained about the Club.

Then when I changed jobs I had time to utilise a Wing and swapped my bike at David Sykes Superbikes at Horden for a Champagne GL1500, this was more comfortable than my first one as she had a lower seat. What can I say...I eventually changed her for a brand new ST1300 in 2004, my first ever new bike. One of the first runs I attended was the night run from Blackpool to Bridlington, remember that guys? I also organised a ride out from Ingleby Barwick over the North Yorkshire Moors to Goathland, Whitby and finishing at the Tees Barrage which I remember had a decent turnout; time I planned another I think. Again David Sykes gave me a good deal and I kept this bike for 2 years until my consultant said my biking days were over after a neck operation. I sold her but 5 months after the operation I was ready for another and purchased an ex Derbyshire Police ST1100 from a guy in Derby. These white bikes are absolutely fantastic for getting through traffic, it’s just like waving a magic wand and the traffic just parts for you - of course there are still the blind drivers you have to be aware of.

Two years on and I decided to go for another ST1300 and Castle Honda did the deal giving me what I paid for her two years earlier – another white bike and she is great! All I can say is that I have enjoyed all of my bikes and still enjoy biking. I don’t know how many miles I’ve ridden but it must be a good few and I do intend to do my IAM when I get the time – I’m already an IAM member as a commercial heavy goods driver, but they will not give me a discount to do the bike test!
I would just like to finish by saying a great big thank you to my wife Miriam of 30 years who has been so understanding of my biking passion, I’m sure she’s gone without so many things for me to do my thing and she does ride pillion, but I’m sure only to please me and I love her for that as well as everything else.