Bring it all back

Yes strada or Rimto in Europe I think

when it was to wet to ride our bikes we would take  my mates dads yellow 126 out and the choke and start lever used to be by the handbrake and he would shout for Turbo boost and I would pull the choke lever up and shout that's all we've got ! The things u do at 17   His own car was a red Citroen gs another crap car but I must admit the little flat 4 engine used to rev well as everything did when u were you Young  

Pete I remember as a 10 year old going to a scrap yard with my dad to get new rear leaf springs for his victor 101 he used to us it for getting logs and one snapped with overloading it and the car in question was 3 cars high and upside down ! Can you imagine a father and his 10 year old boy climbing up a pile of cars nowadays to remove parts from a car they would get child services involved

Will I ever experience such highs on 2 wheels again ? Unlikely!

Age 16 on an RD50, then 17 on a 250SD, followed soon after by a 400 four was freedom. My best mates were bikers. All we had were our bikes and our vinyl records and we ate, slept & breathed bikes, bands, beers and birds. Carefree and occasionally (slightly) reckless, I was immortal, and the world was mine! As an only child, my biker mates were my brothers. It was our rite of passage. I was defined by my status as a biker and a rocker - Still am, but now I am also a husband and a Dad, with a mortgage and commitments.

I have been lucky enough to own and drive many fine,fast cars from my 30's onwards, and have caned a succession of XKR Jags, a 911 and an Aston DB9 as well as countless other Jags, Beemers, Mercs and (currently) Range Rovers. None, and I mean NONE of them has given me the buzz of those first 3 bikes.

I can say that performing live and recording with many bands has given me some huge highs, but there is reason why every bike I now own dates from the 70's or early 80's, something most of us here will recognise - we are hanging on to, or at least rekindling, a part of the most exciting stage in our lives - our coming of age. No longer immortal, but still sheltering that teenage version of ourselves deep inside. May we always be that way.

Echo CTB.

Brilliant post Martin.