All our yesterdays...

[nigelb]

Very impressive Mike. You haven't changed a bit!

Nigel²

[petermcleland]

This was my motorcycle:-

Federation/Federal England, The Co-operative Wholesale Society was founded in 1869 by a group of retailers and manufacturers as a way to buy large amounts of goods at a lower price. Around 1920 they started making motorcycles that were called Federation and Federal using JAP and Villiers engines.

Mine was a 1932 Federation with a Villiers 197cc engine...My Dad bought it for my 16th birthday and it was one year older than me It had a lovely dumpy shaped fuel tank like a smaller version of the Brough Superior tank...It had the same TWO filler caps (one on each side) and the same manual gear change lever on the right side. I loved that little bike and have never seen another. I wish I had a photograph of it

BTW...My Dad's first motor bike was a Belt Drive Levis...It had a replacement carb float which Dad made out of a pickle jar cork...The bike caught fire one day and dad threw it down and siezed a nearby dustbin which was full of ash dust and he threw it all over his bike to put the fire out! In later life he had a Brough Superior SS80 Combination.

[J0hn]

I too had a 'Baby Bonnie'. Mine had the forks, headlight and brake from a 350cc T90. I've got a proper Bonnie now, although it's been sitting in the back of the garage looking sad for the last two years whilst I ride a Yamaha MT03.

Jon, I hope my next will be a modern Bonnie - I've been eyeing them up for a few years now, there are some very nice custom jobs around (my last was a Tiger 900). I'm restricted to a large bore scooter at the moment, though, until my wife gets used to riding on the back again.

[Jon.M]

Hi John,

Sorry for not replying earlier. My Bonnie is a Harris one. One of the last of the old Bonnies assembled in Devon in 1987 with Brembo brakes and Lanfranconi exausts.

I've ridden a modern one and it's very pleasant. It will certainly be much more reliable than mine.

Personally I like the look of the new scrambler.

Jon

[DaveB]

I'd love a Bonnie to replace my Daytona. Had one as a 'loaner' and it was a nice ride. Seat was dangerously uncomfortable for the 19mile ride from the store but I don't care now as I don't plan going that far on one Also.. I can cock my leg over the seat without needing urgent medical assistance as is the case with the Daytona.

The only thing stopping me is a lack of funds.. compounded by the imminent outlay of almost £3k for a new boiler

ATB
DaveB

[DaveB]

Re the Dyatona..

There I was minding my own business.. thanking my lucky stars I was indoor rather than outdoor in the wind when the wife shouted 'the bikes over' It was indeed over. One of the loop attachments on the cover came off at the beginning of the year and I'd not secured it. The wind must have got underneath and where the ground is sloping up (making the bike more upright than it would otherwise be on the sidestand).. it pulled the bike over. Little damage done so I moved it slightly and secured the cover. Bless my soul but less than half an hour later, SWMBO shouts 'the bike is over again'. This time, the front brake lever is bent (£46.50 for a genuine replacement) and the rear subframe assy which holds the rear indicators and number plate are bent to bu99ery I've managed to pull the subframe assy straight but the lever is k-nackered. Also got a few minor scratches on the RH side. Looking closely at the RH handlebar.. it looks like that's bent too

Plan 'C' (plan B had already been used up) was to dig the ABBA stand out and put the bike on that which I've now done. IF the wind manages to blow the bike over again, I've no doubt the house will have gone too!

While this was going on, I could hear someone banging on the front door. It was a neighbour from around the corner to tell me my dog was in their back garden! How can that be.. she's in MY back garden Well.. their back garden backs onto my back garden and the wind had broken one of their fence panels. The labrador had simply walked from one garden through to another

I had to laugh but this has really pee'd me off. Hope you're all fairing better where you are

ATB
DaveB

[dfarrow]

Dave , sorry to hear of your storm damage . We heard of Scotland , the North and East Anglia ; but had not heard of much damage in the Midlands . Down here in Wessex it blew 40 kts on the hilltops but calmish down in the valleys where most villages are . Bad news on the bike , can only hope the fence is your neighbours and not yours !

ATB dave f .

[J0hn]

Well, I had to make a snap decision today, having sold the scoot that SWMBO had 'made' me buy (by saying she wasn't ready to go back onto a proper bike just yet) rather than the bike I wanted, I saw a GPZ500S in the showroom for £1300.

Too much for this bike, of course, but when I saw the gleam in the dealer's eye, I spent half an hour persuading him to accept £1,000. Unfortunately he just wasn't going to budge down to the £800 I was trying to give him. Oh well.

So tomorrow I pick it up:



I know, it's not a Trumpet - but it'll do for now - the Trumpet can wait until I have a bit more spare cash. I actually bought one of these (correction - SWMBO bought it for me ) just after passing my test and we went touring Eastern England with it - great fun!

Cop this - I just paid the princely sum of £82 fully comp, on a single year's NCB

Altogether, it's what I call cheap biking. It might be a 500cc, but I can assure you, when you get to about 8,000rpm it's like a turbo kicks in and it suddenly leaps forward into licence-losing territory! Mind you - if I do that when She is on the back, it's into potential wife-losing territory!

Sorry to hear of your bike damage, Dave - just be pleased you didn't suffer the fate of my friend's sons's brand new FireBlade, when said friend 'nudged' it over on his drive. Oops!

[DaveB]

They're decent bikes John and to be honest.. I'd swap the Trumpet for one today (with cash adjustment of course). Good on gas, cheap to run and go forever. Pretty much bullet-proof in the best Kwak traditions

I picked up an aftermarket brake lever for a smidge over £18 incl p+p which is a lot easier to swallow than Triumph's £46.50 (ex vat I might add) . The fairing has a few scratches now albeit light ones as does the RH engine cover. Not been able to pick up a new (or secondhand) RH handlebar yet. It can wait now as it's not going anywhere until daylight is back for at least 8hrs a day The b1oody thing needs new boots too. Gad.. it never ends

ATB
DaveB

[J0hn]

Gad.. it never ends

Ain't that the truth!

But then, nor does the fun, when all is going well