Wallace Tricketts BLOGG SPOT--19-"On yer bike pal".
Monday, 28 July 2008
How many of us as young men grew up
with the dream of owning a motorbike? At the age of 18 I bought my first
one, it was a James 250 cc single , but turned out to be a lemon, and although
advertised in the NW Evening Mail classifieds as "tidy , needs a little
attention" I collected it as a 'runner' only to find it more as "running
out" It was a bad deal and efforts to return the bike and get my money
back were fruitless with the original owner getting very agitated and somewhat
aggressive. However I soon found a James enthusiast who wanted it and the sale
allowed me to get a Honda 175 cob twin which had been in a scrape with the forks
slightly bowed but it ran well and gave me my first taste of the joys of
motorcycling around Furness.
Japanese bikes were now starting to
take a hold of the market, though British bikes still held the most respect,
dealers in Barrow were starting to sell bran new Japanese bikes, Yamaha;s
from Roberts in Rawlinson Street, Suzuki from Eddie Crooks in Crellin Street and
Thomas Honda in Rawlinson Street. How many remember those
dealers?
At age 20 I had saved enough to
purchase a bran new bike. I choose a two stroke -no idea why looking back , but
it was Yamaha RD 250 twin. At this stage in my life I had made friends
with several bikers in Barrow and enjoyed rides up the lakes, Blackpool , and
further afield. The Yamaha was certainly reliable, but as a two stroke had a
nasty habit of smoking badly . On one occasion whilst riding with a pillion
passenger down the coast road on a still evening I decided to take on a
Morris car driven by a elderly lady , as we overtook and headed away I left such
a vapour trail behind it covered her car and most of the road , almost like a
Mad Max or James Bond movie , my friend was in hysterics laughing so much. On
another occasion we were travelling to Lancaster on the A590 when I saw a brick
lying on the road , fortunately avoiding it with the front wheel but striking it
with the impact sending my friend off the pillion seat into space for a few
seconds before landing back on the seat. Again he could hardly contain himself
for laughing. The back wheel survived quite amazingly.
I took the Yamaha to Scotland in
1974 causing the same smokescreens around Loch Ness, today one would be had up
for excessive emissions, but back then one thought it quite humorous leaving
cars behind in a smokescreen.
In 1976 -now a Merchant Navy
Engineer, I upgraded to my first and only British made motorcycle which became
my pride and joy. A Norton Commando 850cc Twin Electric start. These were the
last production bikes made by Norton Villiers as the industry slid away to
Japanese made machines. The 850 was in fact 828 cc and was the largest Norton
ever made at that time but the 750 cc was considered a faster machine . As
the Japanese brought out faster and more sophisticated bikes , the Brit bikes
were certainly a nostalgia machine to own.
The Bike was with the help of my
good friends, George, Steve , Neil and Brian, all Barrow lads eventfully dressed
with fly screen , panniers , top box and crash bars. Several of us went on tour
into Western Europe and I will recall some the humorous episodes in future
blogs. The attached photo was taken at Greenodd in 1977 by my friend George
who still resides in Barrow and has remained a close friend for
almost 40 years.
Looking back It was a magical time ,
the bike offered freedom and also a sense of pride as it carried 'Barrow in
Furness' stickers, a nameplate related to Barrow and various other emblems.
Its been a busy week and looks like
August will be equally so .
Another wonderful blogg Wallace and one which brought back memories of the 4 bikes I owned which where brought from Eddie Crooks one of which my TS 250 reg no WEO 238T turned me into a stunt rider on the junction of Blake St /Hartington St while hitting the side of an old Morris Traveller .
I rode my 100cc Suzuki TS 100 (TRIALS BIKE ) from Barrow to Gretna must have been bonkers .Great days ended in 1981 when my Dad crashed my 3 month old Suzuki GS550E Reg WEO 882W on the A65 on that bad bend by the LITTLE CHEF nr Skipton .I saw some bad injuries in Lancaster Royal where dad was taken with a suspected broken back --(-LUCKLY HE GOT AWAY WITH IT ) which made my mind up Time to get a car which we did with the insurance compensation so Mk 3 Cortina GXL Reg LEO 421P was purchased from Stokers for £1.300
H wallace that was brilliant the Blue Star line,my late Nephew he joined the merch at a tender age of 15 or16 went to the naval school in Anglesey he then joined Pacific and Orient line,i think thats what it was called, then joined the Royal Navy was made up to fourth Lieutenant at 26yrs and died shortly after. Regards Doris
Me again Wallace, my Dad Wilf was brought up with the Roberts Brothers in Rawlinson St, he lived with my Grandparents at No. 257, an address that I also lived at in my days as a young married man. The house itself had an amusing incident related to me by Dad, and corroborated by the late Ernie Hutton, the retired butcher lower down Rollo. My nanna was a fresh air fiend, and had the front door open at every opportunity, and in those days they drove the cattle down Rollo to the slaughterhouse in Cavendish St. One day there was a commotion in the lobby, and nanna opened the door to find a cow on its way to meet her. The drover offered to take it into the parlour and turn it round, she roundly refused, saying "you're taking no cow into my parlour - our piano's in there!" He was made to take it through the living room into the back kitchen, then down the back yard to rejoin the herd. There was evidently so much manure left on the lobby walls that the smell drove my dad, home from s...
This is the home of the WALLACE TRICKETT /LRU Print Collection
The Collection relives The old LANCASHIRE bus fleets
,Railway Locos ,Commercial Company Vans(Inc HOLLANDS PIES )
and Wagons of Days gone bye.
Click on the tab on the main menu to view and purchase via PAYPAL
