50 years old go and ride your 1973 bikes.

[Jo]

50 years ago, I was close to become 15. I’d acquired an old moped from the village postman for 20 DM and drove with it w/o license in the fields behind our farm. I dreamed of finally turning 16 to get a driver's license for a real 50 cc bike. Already started to buy Motorcycle Magazines and even then, fancied everything from Italy...

 

[dude]

?

 

[Jo]

?

Yes dude, that title was awesome, but it is just 48 years old. The test driver, late Ludwig "Lucke" Braun, also raced and later became the service manager for Suzuki Germany.

However, the cover photo also inspired me to reconstruct it two years ago:



All references are of course double dutch for you, they refer to my clique, everyone knows what/who was meant ...

Sorry for hijacking this thread Maurizio!

 

[Paul Marx]

?
View attachment 68989

Ils n'étaient pas en avance pour le Erste Test les cousins germains.
Paul

 

[dude]

Americans yes !

 

[Jo]

Ils n'étaient pas en avance pour le Erste Test les cousins germains.
Paul

Of course there was a test in 73 in germany:

Americans yes !

OK - one month earlier ...

 

[iis_iis]

Late 1973, brand new Suzuki GT750K, stopped the purchase of used BSA Rocket 3, as an apprentice needed transport reliable, prior flogging a Bridgestone 90 ( selectable operation rotary gear box ) learning how to ride and count gear changes.... the Kettle is still with me...will remain so into the ground...overall am lucky to be alive the way i rode, j.

 

[ozijotati]

73 I was intermittently riding my 750 Norton Interstate. Fitted with the infamous combat engine you’ll understand why the term intermittently was used . Two sets of crank bearings, two sets of pistons and a reborn. The pistons and reborn never did cure the heavy engine smoking. Wasn’t till I read about the batch of porous cylinder heads that I solved the problem. Swapped the cylinder head for a standard one and Lo and behold no more smoking. This drove me to go to my local Laverda dealer and place an order for a 3C which gave me many great memories. Unfortunately I had to sell that bike but have been lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to purchase it back , not quite in the same condition as I sold it. Basically got a bare frame with many of the brackets cut off and everything else totally pulled apart.
Am still working on it and hope to finish it this year
Tom

 

[chrisk]

50 years ago I had lots of hair, the hair loss only started happening after riding motorbikes.

I’ve gone from having ‘helmet hair’ to ‘helmet head’

 

[murphus]

50 years ago I rode my first "real" motorcycle, a Honda CL350. Went ripping across a field, hit a gully hidden by weeds and went head over heels. Amazingly, broke nothing. No helmet, of course. My 50-year-old 1973 BMW R75/5 - 84,000 miles and still original (albeit quite faded) paint - is perhaps my favorite bike.

 

[markQLD]

50 years ago, I was close to become 15. I’d acquired an old moped from the village ...

Similar story to back when I was a school kid up in the cane-fields.
Rescued a James 'Superlux' Autocycle from a trip to the mill dump and did a lot of dumb things with it. It still survived my youth and a few years back was again resurrected by Stoney in the CLQ. Was great to see it entered in the 2012 CLQ concours.
It's one very lucky James Autocycle.

 

[Tippie]

Great story Mark. Has it always run such low tyre pressures (MotoGP would be jealous)?

 

[Jo]

Rescued a James 'Superlux' Autocycle

Here in Germany we always associate the name "James" with the butler. Joke aside, I didn't know this brand until I saw a such bike on the IoM in 2014:

 

[CLEMTOG]

It is very hard to determine where on the IOM that picture was taken Jo, I am trying very hard, but cannot get it, (45 trips over and counting) do tell us if you can remember
Castletown maybe?
CLEM

 

[Jo]

Hello Clem,
yes, picture was taken in Castletown, it was a meeting of the IoM VMCC.

Cheers,
Jo

 

[sfcpiet]

Yes dude, that title was awesome, but it is just 48 years old. The test driver, late Ludwig "Lucke" Braun, also raced and later became the service manager for Suzuki Germany.

However, the cover photo also inspired me to reconstruct it two years ago:

View attachment 68992

All references are of course double dutch for you, they refer to my clique, everyone knows what/who was meant ...

Sorry for hijacking this thread Maurizio!

Somehow I missed that issue, despite a subscription...

Love the small print!

piet

 

[Jo]

Somehow I missed that issue, despite a subscription...

Love the small print!

piet

Oh you obviously could decipher it!


I just wanted to reflect the look and feel of the magazine as best as possible. So an excerpt from the "Ideal" by good old Tucholsky Kurt (this poem is even 96 years old now) came to mind as filler text...


Cheers,
Jo

 

[Luckyed]

Me in 1973 with my 1971 Norton 750, purchased used a year or so earlier. Switched the Norton 3 years later in ‘76 for a ‘74 SF2.
Currently have an early SF2, built December ‘73, so it will be 50 this year.

 

[Reunited Chris]

Here in Germany we always associate the name "James" with the butler. Joke aside, I didn't know this brand until I saw a such bike on the IoM in 2014

60 years ago my first road legal bike was the James Sports Captain no less, sportier version to Jo's photo, it had lighter weight mudguards.

 

[lavgert]

... in 1973 I was 14 years old, reading already motorcycle magazines and dreaming of a bike with loud pipes!
Today I have one from 1972 and one from 1974 but no 1973 ...