Chris Deuchar's Bike Page

It began: ...well quite along time ago really. 1969 to be precise. I was 16 and had just moved house. All my new neighbours were into bikes and, obviously I wanted to join in. The problem was lack of cash - so I ended up with (tan-tara!) a Honda C100. In spite of its model number it was only 50cc - I never worked out the logic of that. Anyway, it taught me a lot and I got the gist of what it was all about. This was still the sixties and mods and rockers still fought at the seaside. Ok, so the C100 had legshields - but it was still a bike - OK?!

Next up was another Honda - an SS50. The SS stood for 'super sport' - well it might have been with a diminutive jockey with anorexia but it was no good for someone of my size - nomatter how much I crouched forward. I kept it only a few months and traded up for yet another Honda - an S90!

Wonderful machine. It could do 45 mph more or less continuously and I loved it greatly. I loved it enough to strip it down and put in a new piston and rings after burning out one set slipstreaming to Hull and back with the GF as pillion. Later, I loved it enough to strip it down, spend days dismantling the knackered big end - only to find that I cold get a complete reconditioned unit for a tenner. Then said GF and I got engaged - the bike had to go (sob) - and that was it for over twenty years...

Commuting across M1 Junction 24 got so difficult that I suggested to Wife No2 that I might get a motorbike again. She was full of enthusiasm (!) and I decided I needed something pokier than my previous machines. 175cc seemed about right - but there were none to be had. The market had changed dramatically and, with the introduction of the CBT, everybody was passing their test on a 125 and then getting a Fireblade. So, I ended up with another Honda - what seemed to be a huge CB250 (Superdream). 'Twas very nice and it got me heavily back into biking. However, I now appreciated far more than just being a commuter. I actually enjoyed motoring again!

Suddenly, 250cc seemed totally inadequate and I went out to buy something 'comfortable and less than ten years old'. After weeks of looking, I came home with a twenty year old Suzuki GS550T. Really comfortable, and yes, it really is a 'T' not an 'ET' - it is an amerian/canadian import and will cruise as fast as I can legally go for as long as a tank lasts. And another one, and...

I have also acquired a Yamaha XV750SE from an old friend, to keep the GS company. Both bikes are in what I have learned is the 'one true colour'. I have dismantled each to a point where I could get the major parts repainted and redo the frames so they are nice and shiny again. Both have been to the TT and survived Mad Sundays. Both have carried our full set of camping gear wherever we wanted.

Latterly we have a Honda CG125 (Makes Sign of Holy Pushrods) on which No2 son passed his test (he has moved on to a Virago 535 on which he travels all over the country) and on which No1 son and SWMBO will probably follow...

Finally, all hail the Font Of All Knowledge on UKRM (newsgroup uk.rec.motorcycles ) from whom I have learnt so much...