Surfer
Can't remember the year but long time ago; borrowed 550 Suzuki with 4 leading shoe front brake and AM4 linings (ask your grandfather). Paddy Lynn (bike owner) repeatidly warned me about the brakes - bit fierce - OK thanks for lend. Coming to lights at Kiely,s pub on old Dublin airport road (no motorway then) lights go orange and though a long way back and doing 85 (miles not those wimpy kilometers) decide to go for it; but see van creeping out and hesitate, then the hesitation thing becomes infectious cause I get it too and decide to ... what to do ... brake (this happened a bit quicker than you are reading this - I hope) So I brake and all goes well, man in van sees front suspension compress (no telelever then either) and proceds.
Give it the final gentle squeese to pin it on the rapidly approaching line, big mistake, weel locks (OK Rossi would have recovered but) I went through lights on my back watching the overhead light fittings pirouette through a few rotations wondering what am I going to hit and where is Paddy's bike (will he be cross or what). Anyway hit nothing but bike looses footrest and busts headlight as it removes hub cap from van.
Man in van jumps out and makes humanitarian enquiry (you OK); me OK what about van, f**k van as he stoops to fling hub cap into cab.
Droping your own bike is bad, droping a mates is worse, still remember giving back bike with a new headlght (Mountjoy motorcycles to the rescue) and removing footrest from pocket (Paddy was an ace welder), would you mind welding this to YOUR bike Paddy; happy days, good days but any time is good to be young, to survive it all is bliss indeed.
Can't remember the year but long time ago; borrowed 550 Suzuki with 4 leading shoe front brake and AM4 linings (ask your grandfather). Paddy Lynn (bike owner) repeatidly warned me about the brakes - bit fierce - OK thanks for lend. Coming to lights at Kiely,s pub on old Dublin airport road (no motorway then) lights go orange and though a long way back and doing 85 (miles not those wimpy kilometers) decide to go for it; but see van creeping out and hesitate, then the hesitation thing becomes infectious cause I get it too and decide to ... what to do ... brake (this happened a bit quicker than you are reading this - I hope) So I brake and all goes well, man in van sees front suspension compress (no telelever then either) and proceds.
Give it the final gentle squeese to pin it on the rapidly approaching line, big mistake, weel locks (OK Rossi would have recovered but) I went through lights on my back watching the overhead light fittings pirouette through a few rotations wondering what am I going to hit and where is Paddy's bike (will he be cross or what). Anyway hit nothing but bike looses footrest and busts headlight as it removes hub cap from van.
Man in van jumps out and makes humanitarian enquiry (you OK); me OK what about van, f**k van as he stoops to fling hub cap into cab.
Droping your own bike is bad, droping a mates is worse, still remember giving back bike with a new headlght (Mountjoy motorcycles to the rescue) and removing footrest from pocket (Paddy was an ace welder), would you mind welding this to YOUR bike Paddy; happy days, good days but any time is good to be young, to survive it all is bliss indeed.
