Had a quick butcher's at some of the bikes in Lisburn this afternoon and found the legendary Joe Ryan tuned Manx.
This thing went like shyte off a shovel and beat semi-works teams on the Irish and IOM roads in the 60s and 70s. I remember it as a RAF bike (Rough As Fuck
) and things haven't changed. Joe Ryan built fireplaces for a living and probably used the same tools to tune the bike 
Dick Creith won the Ulster GP on it and beat regular GP stars like Paddy Driver and Chris Conn that year. Some factory or other protested it at the TT and when measured by scrutineers it was found to be 499cc as advertised. Despite its looks, it was a formidable piece of machinery and I'm glad that Creith now owns it and shows it
This thing went like shyte off a shovel and beat semi-works teams on the Irish and IOM roads in the 60s and 70s. I remember it as a RAF bike (Rough As Fuck
) and things haven't changed. Joe Ryan built fireplaces for a living and probably used the same tools to tune the bike Dick Creith won the Ulster GP on it and beat regular GP stars like Paddy Driver and Chris Conn that year. Some factory or other protested it at the TT and when measured by scrutineers it was found to be 499cc as advertised. Despite its looks, it was a formidable piece of machinery and I'm glad that Creith now owns it and shows it
