What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Sav]

New toy (Honda Benly CD200) arrived yesterday (sorry non BSA), forty years old and 500 miles on the clock, been sat under a sheet for almost all of its life after previous owner(s) died (nice knowing you!).

Small, light and electric leg I see it as the future if I want to keep riding as I turn 75 and finding kicking and moving the big BSA's more difficult.

Pretty much decided The M23 will go after Manx GP and I'll sell my ever reliable A7SS. A10SR will get an electric leg on the proceeds.

Starts on the button but will fettle and then decide if I like it. Does not have that extra something of a BSA sitting there but better than struggling in the near future and we need to enjoy riding.

[Greybeard]

New toy (Honda Benly CD200) arrived yesterday (sorry non BSA), forty years old and 500 miles on the clock..

A very attractive bike.

At 72, I can still handle my low saddle, low compression Plunger. I may have to think about a modern bike when I get decrepit. However, although I enjoy riding a motorcycle I'm not sure I'd go off on lone rides. One of my main reasons to be in the Vintage Motor Cycle Club and the BSA Owners Club is to give me a reason to ride. I love the adventure of riding to a distant location with my camping gear and then going on an intriguing ride-out on scenic routes.

[Worty]

Nice little gem there - and only 500m, barely run in I'd say.

Looks like I'm the junior of the forum at 57 this year, anyone beat this (downwards not upwards, btw)

[Rex]

I rode a bike identical to that as a Winter hack for work from 1991 to 2014 and only ever let me down once, with a dead battery. Tanks and exhausts rust for fun, but the bike was one of the best I've ever owned overall.
They really are great little bikes.
Many praise MZ's for their rugged reliability, but when I tried two, they were utter shite compared to the Honda. Like comparing sundials to Swiss watches. Crudely made, crudely engineered and 'orrible to ride. The Benley wins by a huge margin.

[Worty]

I got an MZ250 for despatch riding - absolute rubbish too.  Two stroke engine was lumpy and hard to ride, sounded awful, and seized up on the motorway cruising at 55mph.  Mixing the two stroke with the petrol was also a pain, although I did do this without any issue on my 1970s FS1-E, and that was thrashed to death.

[BagONails]

Nice little gem there - and only 500m, barely run in I'd say.

Looks like I'm the junior of the forum at 57 this year, anyone beat this (downwards not upwards, btw)

No you've beaten me Worty, I thought I might be the baby on here, just turned 60, but apparently not!
By the way I still fondly remember my Honda SS50 sixteener special, although those pesky FS1-E's were annoyingly always 5mph quicker... Those of us that survived those early years were the lucky ones eh, talk about baptism of fire...

[Worty]

Too right BoN. 

I had three FS1-Es, smashed one up (car pulled out on me, bent forks, etc).  The best was my 'sporty' Fizzy, complete with skimmed head and expansion chamber - I was king of the road on that beastie (never occurred to me that it may be illegal or that I may have needed to tell the insurers)!!  Managed to get 55mph down a hill with a tailwind, but would pull around 45-50 on the flat (especially with my head on the tank ).  I did consider putting a YB100 engine in it, which was virtually identical to the FS1-E, but thought that may be taking the (*&^ too much.

Also correct about surviving those times.  My only 'practice' was riding round our house on my mum's C90 (later changed for a Yam V90 with shaft drive - brilliant little bike).  About a week after getting on the road, I was too quick round a country lane bend and ran into gravel, although hauling the bike out of the ditch wasn't too bad.

[Greybeard]

My first powered two-wheeler was a 1948 James Autocycle. There was a cinder track around our housing estate. I used to whizz around there driving the neighbors mad.

[madsens]

Well, regarding MZ, I beg to differ.... bought a new MZ trophy sport 250 in 1973, and did a lot of driving on it until 1983, where wife and kids demanded an Austin Maxi 1750 instead

Never had any problems with the MZ, just kept running, parked in the end of my garage for a couple of years, then sold it to a guy with a fine Japanese bike that he did not want to run in winter, so wanted the MZ as a winter run about.. He paid me nearly the same amount as I paid in '73....
But I now have a Honda NTV650 from 1993 as my winter bike, cheap to buy and very reliable -  and when the BSA needs a break the Honda comes out 

I and 3 more Danes drove to the Czech Republic in 2020 for the BSA International Rally on our BSA bikes, on the way we passed by Zschopau and made a stop at the former MZ factory to pay our respect Did not stay for long as it was pouring down....

regard
Joergen

[Worty]

Joergen - maybe we had the Chinese made MZs

[berger]

a mate of mine had a 850 notrun and a bmw 600 if i remember correctly back in the 70's, he also had a 250 mz and loved it more than the others

[RDfella]

Just took my Husqvarna for a run today (it's a lawnmower).

[CheeserBeezer]

Fitted oil tank and tool box to 'Manchester Ship Canal' RGS. Oil tank is original, needed a couple of holes brazing. Tool box was beyond repair so used one of my 'shed stock'.

[ellis]

Fitted a TomTom today so I wont get lost again.   

ELLIS

[groily]

Ha! Ended up literally under the washing line of a very elderly Portuguese lady using an early-ish version of TomTom a few years back! But she was kind enough to point to where we should have been - I had the impression it had happened to her more than once and that she didn't much mind being 'on the map' as it were  . . .  Could be sat nav users were her only visitors!