My heart wanted a Suzuki T250J, but back in those far off days £350 for a new sports 250 was far too much for my wallet. There were plenty of British motorcycles at affordable prices, from £5 and up. I was offered an immaculate Royal Enfield 250 Continental GT (bright red tank and five gears) for £60, which was too much in view of my past experiences (what a cynical seventeen year old I was) which indicated they were as fragile as glass.
I could have had a Norton ES2 for £80 or a Jubilee for £25 but wasn't impressed with either machine. I did travel about 25 miles to look at a 500 Velo, it looked quite tatty and the owner had the audacity to tell me that I didn't look up to handling the power of the heap. Leaving the girlfriend as insurance that I would return, I went for a test ride, finding to my disappointment that it wouldn't do the oft claimed 70mph in first (it made 35mph then went slower), so I didn't buy it.
Instead of buying a British Crapic, er, Classic, I lashed out £100 for a CB160 Supersport, G reg. I bought the bike from a lad who used the Honda for commuting home at weekends. There were 11000 miles on the clock, which had left the paintwork a little faded. Still, I had something half decent to race round Northumberland in company with my mates.
After returning home on the CB160 I changed the oil, no 10W40 in those days, Castrol XL 20W50 was the business then. Of course, all the cross point screws were chewed up, but were soon replaced with Allen bolts. No spray on chain lube then, either boil the chain in grease or smear the chain with a handful of thick grease, lovely! I still remember the first real ride the following Saturday. It was the usual thing, a race down the M1 to Croft. Compared to the A10, a bike I'd more or less inherited, the CB160 was the zenith of motorcycle excellence. It held an indicated 80mph for the full length of the M1 and showed 90mph on some of the descents. I was really chuffed when I looked at the motor after such a long and hard run - there weren't any oil leaks.
There is a road in Northumberland where we used to go sunny nights after work. It's a long downhill road followed by a real hump backed bridge, followed by a small straight and then a severe bend. After checking that there were no chaps in uniform there, we used to race down the hill, seeing who could leap the highest. My friend on a T250J once did it at 70mph, a speed sufficient to miss the bend out completely; removing his bike from the trees did the chrome no good at all.
One particular night sticks in the mind. We were having the usual race when someone on a CB125 Supersport accelerated past at about fifty. I was second in line, going airborne I rapidly went a deathly shade of white - not one but two jam sarnies parked on the other side of the bridge. You should have seen their faces as five bikes flew over the bridge. Once round the bend we thrashed the balls off the bikes to get away, but they must have been too stunned or impressed because they didn't chase after us.
Another favourite road was the military road from Hedon On The Wall to Cholleford.
Like being on a roller coaster. Long sweeping bends, tight bends and long fast downhill straights and flat out in third climbs. My favourite trick on the CB160 was to reach 75mph in top and drop a cog, it used to accelerate, great fun! How come Honda could make good reliable bikes then and can't now? The CB160 stood all this, used every day and night and all weekends, it never used or leaked any oil. It wasn't perfect though, the handling was quite dreadful, thanks to throwaway forks and shocks, questionable steering geometry and an unimpressive frame. And the vibes when the thing was screwed along flat out were brain tingling, but not as bad as something like an A10.
One Friday night we were riding our bikes round the coast when we decided to pull into a car park. Someone revved their engine, so we all started to show off. A sports car driver joined in, everyone trying to impress everyone else. Suddenly, there was an even noisier C-R-U-N-C-H and a sudden silence. The car had leapt into gear. He reversed out minus bumper and two headlamps. Another favourite run at weekends was to ride from Newcastle to Carlisle then race down the M6 to Sedburgh, then from there to Darlington and then home. We used to come back from those runs with the motors steaming; if the CB dropped to seventy for any reason, I just dropped a cog to keep it on the boil.
The bike came fitted with a rear Avon Speedmaster and a front Bridgestone, in an effort to improve the handling I fitted two Dunlop K70 tyres and filled the front forks with oil until they were solid (well, I was seventeen), but it made no difference to the handling. The thing would dive and bounce around corners with so little aplomb that it discouraged the other mad nutters from overtaking. In a straight line it used to weave. On very flat, smooth roads it was just about OK. Luckily, it only weighed around 300lbs, so there was never much chance of it getting really out of control, whilst the brakes were powerful enough to pull the bike back from danger.
The SOHC vertical twin engine was remarkably reliable. I changed the oil every 1000 miles, swapped plugs at 3000 miles, did the tappets and camchain tensioner at 5000 miles and only had to buy a new set of points and a clutch cable at 20,000 miles. After I'd owned the bike a few months we started playing at drag racers. Find a quiet road, line up the bikes and GO. I used to hold the throttle wide open and just drop the clutch. Once the clutch cable broke, the CB160 stood up and threw me off. To teach it a lesson I screwed along at max revs in third for five miles.
We used to have loads of fun on our bikes back then. With 27000 miles up the Honda slowed to 70mph and was very noisy. I sold it for £50 and it blew up 1000 miles later.
William Gould