Back to the Seventies, pop-pickers….

Yesterday I was at the tyre-fitters (FWR at Kennington - highly recommended) to swap a set of Pirelli Diablos that I really haven’t got on with - but since they were brand new when I bought the bike, it seemed a bit wasteful to bin them too early. On in their place went a set of Bridgestone 023s – a brand new tyre compound. And my goodness, what a difference. I had thought there was something wrong with the suspension set up because the front end felt loose and washed out but it transpires that the bike simply needed decent tyres. Handling is now spot on and the bike now feels planted. Even though I’m still scrubbing them in the bike has been utterly transformed.

However, while I may do something in the future on tyres, that’s not the point of this piece. While I was at FWR, waiting for the tyres to be fitted, I started to flick through one of the collection of bike magazines that sit in a pile in the waiting room/office. One in particular caught my eye, which, to my eternal shame I’d never heard of before – Practical Sportsbikes. The reason it caught my eye was the Z1000 feature that adorned the front cover but turning the pages uncovered a veritable treasure trove of 70s, 80s and 90s sports/performance bikes – the bikes that I grew up admiring and wanting to own.

Many of them were tricked up restoration projects displayed by their proud owners and the models read like a who’s who of modern biking – Honda CB750 Four & CBX, Kawasaki GPZ900R & Z1000 (1974 version), Yamaha XS1100 & RD350 & 500LC (the Elsies), Suzuki RG500 & GSX1100 Katana (which doesn’t look so weird at this distance but styling-wise was revolutionary in its day), Triumph Bonneville & Hurricane, plus early Ducatis, Moto Guzzis, Laverdas etc etc – all with a variety of enhancements….superchargers, turbos, bespoke frames, custom paint schemes…..all manner of bling was on display, along with detailed spannering tips to keep your classic bike in the right shape.

What a find this magazine was – it’s a bit like a sports bike version of (the custom bike oriented) Back Street Heroes and I think it’ll have to go on subscription quick smart. As I say, these were the bikes that I grew up admiring as a spotty teenager and it got me thinking that, despite the major drawback of being fairly inept technically and mechanically, I’d really like to either own one as a second bike or (don’t tell the missus!) try a small-scale restoration project myself. My favourite bike pretty much of all time is the Honda CBX – an in-line 6 that just looked the business back in the day. And unlike many of the fairer sex, I reckon it’s held its looks pretty well as the years have advanced. What do you think?

So the question is how to get it done? We don’t have a garage so I’d need to borrow or rent one to get any project started – and then it’s about picking the right bike.

Certainly something to ponder……