None of us had any say in when we were born, nor when we might subsequently enter the classic motorcycle scene. A number of us enthusiasts not only started young, say in our early teens, but are still taking an active part in motorcycling in our latter years. Back then, when we embarked on our riding careers, the most accessible (ie. cheapest) mounts dated from the mid-1930s to the late 1940s and were about 20 to 30 years old at that time. Everything moves on in temporal terms, with the cheapest old bikes probably currently being at the clapped-out end of the Chinese lightweight market.
A 1937 Rudge Special 500 came the way of the writer, then aged 15, in late 1962 for about £5. With the writer and his mates too young for a driving licence, but with farmland available, it was put to good use, supplemented by such as a James Comet, a 1934 Royal Enfield twostroke, Norton 16H, Triumph 350 single and others. Thisto develop in the writer, particularly in relation to his present product of that Coventry stable but not, happily, to the exclusion of other loves…
