It seems I'm to blame for this thread - so I'd better chip in.
I'm in general agreement with TC. Perhaps that's because I always rode Hondas and didn't suffer the "character" of British bikes. That's not to say the Hondas never let me down but when they did go, it was usually in a big way.
Yes I remember the Fizzies, Gilleras, Fantics, Puch's etc etc.
I reached 16 the year they brought in the moped rules for 16ers.
Problem was, my dad didn't completely understand the rules. He thought that a 50cc bike was fine and deciding that he'd like some sort of bike again, picked up a Honda C50 for him to get about on and me to learn on. The only problem was that it couldn't be propelled by pedals - a requirement for mopeds at that time.
The year waiting 'till I was 17 was purgatory.
I remember that C50 with fondness - but the things I remember are what I endured. Things like the 6v lights that stopped you seeing in the dark - resulting in ploughing into puddles at night that would soak the plug/HT lead and I'd come to a grinding halt in the middle of nowhere between Reading and the village where I lived.
I even took it on a trip from Reading to Swanage to visit my Grandad - accompanied by a mate on his Fizzie. Passed my test on that bike - and now I can ride anything!
Thing was, you didn't just jump on to a megga bike - well, there weren't many and you couldn't afford to. You worked your way up.
CB175 next - a nail that was. That was stolen while I was at work one day. It was recovered having been used as a robbery get-away vehicle. Ironic as it was the least reliable bike I ever had.
I think it was good riding low powered bikes. I sometimes think that many of today's riders miss out on learning how to get the best from what you've got by progressing to quickly to bikes with more power than you know what to do with.
I was frequently told on that I don't need a throttle just a switch - full on or off. Wasn't entirely true of course - I did develop throttle control but maybe that didn't help the reliability ....
The 175 was the only bike I fell off - did it twice. Once on oil or fuel on a bend - while a car was overtaking me (this was in a 30mph zone). The other time was on a soaking wet road, I was late, pulled out of a T-junction, grabbed a handful of throttle as I turned right and the back wheel overtook the front. Valuable learning experiences.
CB250G5 was next and then in 1977 I took out a loan for a 1 year old CB400F (which I still have .... awaiting restoration - although the loan is paid off).
Then I got married - still riding the 400 - then we got a car - but still rode the 400. Then, at the time we were moving house there was a problem with the ignition ..... but I never got time to sort it out. We moved and I was given an endless list of tasks to do on the house. Then we had the kids. The bike sat doing nothing - except slowly deteriorating.
After a few years I bought a VF750 - I'd test ridden one a year or 2 before and quite liked it. Once I'd got it, I realised I hated it. Think it was the 16" front wheel - just felt wrong. Eventually I gave it away to a friend,
After that, persuading the Mrs to let me have another bike was impossible - reminders of wasting my money on the VF that I never used (partly because the kids were still small and I could never find time to myself to ride it)
Eventually, years later, she begrudgingly allowed me the Falco .... but has never been happy about it and will never ride on it.
I love the Falco - it's a close call between that and the 400/4 as to which is my favourite.
But I look back to the early days - when me and my mates were starting out, My CB175, my mates Yam YAS1s, CD175s, T250s, BSA Starfires (my kid brother had one too), Tiger Cubs ..... We were all learning - being fast had kudos but riding well had more kudos than riding fast. We were learning how to maintain and repair on a shoestring. If something needed fixing you needed ingenuity for a serviceable and safe fix to tide you over until you could afford the proper part.
However, I do see a lot of this in my son and his friends. The newness of it all, the enjoyment of going places together, fixing the things up on a shoestring. Of course with the current moped laws, de-restriction is common. There's absolutely no way I'd ride a bike that could only reach 30mph in today's traffic - an absolutely barking regulation. De restricted they seem to get to the same sort of speeds the old 50s went at (about 40). We bought my son's scooter second hand needing a lot of work - couldn't tell you whether or not it is restricted - it's as it came.
There again I do see this "the world owes me a living" attitude as well. I get it from my kids. We never brought them up to expect things - eventually they realised that their "haul" on birthdays and Christmases was going to be somewhat less than their friends - but our attempts to teach them that money doesn't grow on trees do not seem to have been entirely successful. The grunts and their rudeness beggar belief at times.
I think that whichever generation you come from those mid to late teenage years are special (maybe into the 20s as well). Some detail changes but people are essentially the same as they were and will be.
Maybe our kids will be posting up similar stories in another 30 years or so ....
