Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78

<https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-136447/>

A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC radio
news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee bars,
and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.

--
Spike

Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid> wrote:
>
> Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78
>
> <https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-136447/>
>
> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC radio
> news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee bars,
> and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.

If you can remember the sixties you were not part of it.

--
http://www.netunix.com/

On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 09:19:43 +0000, Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid>
wrote:

>
>Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78
>
><https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-136447/>

>A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC radio
>news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee bars,
>and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.

Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
member of UKRM!

I have memories of the sixties - my dad coming home with the latest
Beatles single (Eleanor Rigby), and watching the moon landings on TV -
but I certainly wasn't old enough to go to biker caffs :-)
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old

Champ <neal@champ.org.uk> wrote in
news:8m50uglp69uvun28d420bhf7cvqq4409q6@4ax.com:

> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 09:19:43 +0000, Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78
>>
>><https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-
136
>>447/>
>
>>A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC
>>radio news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee
>>bars, and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.
>
> Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
> member of UKRM!
>
> I have memories of the sixties - my dad coming home with the latest
> Beatles single (Eleanor Rigby), and watching the moon landings on TV -
> but I certainly wasn't old enough to go to biker caffs :-)

my first musical memory is playing Paperback Writer but I think I would
have been older than 3.75 as it was released on 30 May 1966[1]. It was a
single left lying around by my teenage brother that I played a lot.
There was also one from Big Bill Broonzy which I wasn't keen on, then.

In 1968 I would have been sitting on my brother's 350cc Triumph, which
just sat in the back yard as a) he never got it running and b) he didn't
pass his test until a lot later when he had a Honda CB200. The latter
being the first bike I rode on a road so would have been after Oct 1979
but before I finished school in 1981.

[1] this album https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Threshold_of_a_Dream
that my sister bought dates the period to 1969. Sounds about right. My
introduction to prog rock...

On 13/01/2022 12:12, Champ wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 09:19:43 +0000, Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78
>>
>> <https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-136447/>
>
>> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC radio
>> news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee bars,
>> and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.
>
> Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
> member of UKRM!
>
> I have memories of the sixties - my dad coming home with the latest
> Beatles single (Eleanor Rigby), and watching the moon landings on TV -
> but I certainly wasn't old enough to go to biker caffs :-)

Ah the Ronettes, Shangri-Las etc. Sound track to my yoof.

I'm old enough to remember the very last days of biker cafes- though I
didn't frequent them. I didn't get a bike until 1967, though I could
have had one in 1964.

The 'greasy spoon' at Quatt is a modern equivalent but no jukebox.
Sometimes an eclectic mix of bikes, but Tony's Cafe across the road
often has greater variety when the start of a local VMCC run.
--
Moto Morini 2C/375, Moto Morini 2C/350
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
1937 Sunbeam Model 14 250 Sports
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

On 13/01/2022 13:53, wessie wrote:
> Champ <neal@champ.org.uk> wrote in
> news:8m50uglp69uvun28d420bhf7cvqq4409q6@4ax.com:
>
>> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 09:19:43 +0000, Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78
>>>
>>> <https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-
> 136
>>> 447/>
>>
>>> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC
>>> radio news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee
>>> bars, and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.
>>
>> Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
>> member of UKRM!
>>
>> I have memories of the sixties - my dad coming home with the latest
>> Beatles single (Eleanor Rigby), and watching the moon landings on TV -
>> but I certainly wasn't old enough to go to biker caffs :-)
>
> my first musical memory is playing Paperback Writer but I think I would
> have been older than 3.75 as it was released on 30 May 1966[1]. It was a
> single left lying around by my teenage brother that I played a lot.
> There was also one from Big Bill Broonzy which I wasn't keen on, then.
>
> In 1968 I would have been sitting on my brother's 350cc Triumph, which
> just sat in the back yard as a) he never got it running and b) he didn't
> pass his test until a lot later when he had a Honda CB200. The latter
> being the first bike I rode on a road so would have been after Oct 1979
> but before I finished school in 1981.
>
>
> [1] this album https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Threshold_of_a_Dream
> that my sister bought dates the period to 1969. Sounds about right. My
> introduction to prog rock...

My first musical memory is my big sis (RIP Anne) listening to Charlie
Cracie's latest release in a booth at Cranes music shop. A 78 naturally.
<Googles>
Crikey - he's still alive (b.1936) !
Probably 'Butterfly' 1957.

We've done this before.

My first record purchase - Dave Brubeck "Take Five".

--
Moto Morini 2C/375, Moto Morini 2C/350
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
1937 Sunbeam Model 14 250 Sports
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 14:10:36 +0000, Pete Fisher
<peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>We've done this before.
We have

>My first record purchase - Dave Brubeck "Take Five".

Slade: "Gudbye t'Jane"
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old

On 13/01/2022 14:10, Pete Fisher wrote:
> My first record purchase - Dave Brubeck "Take Five".

Johnny Leyton "whirlwind" in my case but Pete is a few years older than
I and I can only remember gathering outside the Charrington Bowl at Hook
but not going into biker cafes.

On 13/01/2022 12:12, Champ wrote:
> Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid> wrote:

>> Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78

>> <https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-136447/>

>> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC radio
>> news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee bars,
>> and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.

> Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
> member of UKRM!

<gulp>

First rode a bike in our (long) back garden, I think that would be 1957
- I'd be 13 at the time. Could just get it into 2nd gear (hand change)
before braking.

Took the same bike on the road on my 16th birthday, but waited two years
'til I got a proper bike (Velocette Venom) before turning up at the
Busy Bee transport caff (Watford), a nice ride out on a summer evening.

Blimey! It has a bike club...

<http://www.busybeemcc.com/>

> I have memories of the sixties - my dad coming home with the latest
> Beatles single (Eleanor Rigby), and watching the moon landings on TV -
> but I certainly wasn't old enough to go to biker caffs :-)

:-(

--
Spike

On 13/01/2022 15:03, Champ wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 14:10:36 +0000, Pete Fisher
> <peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> We've done this before.
> We have

I remember my mum taking me to see Freddie and the Dreamers at the
Birmingham Hippodrome when I was about 7.

>> My first record purchase - Dave Brubeck "Take Five".
>
> Slade: "Gudbye t'Jane"

Single: can't remember but it's probably in the box upstairs. Actually,
thinking again, it's probably Sandie Jones, "Ceol an Ghrá"

Album: Gary Glitter, "Glitter" (in the pile upstairs)

Champ <neal@champ.org.uk> wrote in news:gkf0ug17trimg8og6pt19mqcj3ua5lt68e@
4ax.com:

> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 14:10:36 +0000, Pete Fisher
> <peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>We've done this before.
> We have
>
>>My first record purchase - Dave Brubeck "Take Five".
>
> Slade: "Gudbye t'Jane"

something by the Wombles, with my own money

I win on the first proper gig though...

On 13/01/2022 13:53, wessie wrote:
> Champ <neal@champ.org.uk> wrote in
> news:8m50uglp69uvun28d420bhf7cvqq4409q6@4ax.com:
>
>> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 09:19:43 +0000, Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78
>>>
>>> <https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-
> 136
>>> 447/>
>>
>>> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC
>>> radio news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee
>>> bars, and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.
>>
>> Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
>> member of UKRM!
>>
>> I have memories of the sixties - my dad coming home with the latest
>> Beatles single (Eleanor Rigby), and watching the moon landings on TV -
>> but I certainly wasn't old enough to go to biker caffs :-)
>
> my first musical memory is playing Paperback Writer but I think I would
> have been older than 3.75 as it was released on 30 May 1966[1]. It was a
> single left lying around by my teenage brother that I played a lot.
> There was also one from Big Bill Broonzy which I wasn't keen on, then.
>
> In 1968 I would have been sitting on my brother's 350cc Triumph, which
> just sat in the back yard as a) he never got it running and b) he didn't
> pass his test until a lot later when he had a Honda CB200. The latter
> being the first bike I rode on a road so would have been after Oct 1979
> but before I finished school in 1981.
>
>
> [1] this album https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Threshold_of_a_Dream
> that my sister bought dates the period to 1969. Sounds about right. My
> introduction to prog rock...
>
Hmmm, I never quite thought the Moddy Blues fitted the 'prog rock' idiom
- always seemed far too 'commercially aware'!

Chris

--
The Deuchars BBB#40 COFF#14
Yamaha XV750SE & Suzuki GS550t
http://www.Deuchars.org.uk

On 1/13/2022 2:53 AM, crn@nospam.com wrote:
> Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78
>>
>> <https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-136447/>
>>
>> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC radio
>> news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee bars,
>> and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.
>
> If you can remember the sixties you were not part of it.
>
I first dropped LSD on March 17, 1967 in Monterey, California. Three
months later I went to the Monterey Pop Festival and watched Jimi
Hendrix masturbate his guitar, then set it on fire in his first concert
in the US. He was followed by the Who, who trashed their instruments,
too. Good memories.

--
The erstwhile Thomas
FJR1300, R1200GS, ST1100 (in memoriam)

On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 15:52:23 +0000, Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid>
wrote:

>>> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC radio
>>> news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee bars,
>>> and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.

>> Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
>> member of UKRM!

><gulp>
>
>First rode a bike in our (long) back garden, I think that would be 1957
>- I'd be 13 at the time. Could just get it into 2nd gear (hand change)
>before braking.

<sums> So you turn 78 this year? You're 2 or 3 ahead of Pete Fisher,
then. Might be the same age as crn

>Took the same bike on the road on my 16th birthday, but waited two years
>'til I got a proper bike (Velocette Venom) before turning up at the
>Busy Bee transport caff (Watford), a nice ride out on a summer evening.

I was 16 annahalf before I got on any powered 2-wheeler. And wasn't
exactly a natural - I crashed within the first hour, and I remember it
being a couple of weeks before I could reliably pull away without
stalling it. But I got there in the end :-)
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old

On 13/01/2022 17:40, Champ wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 15:52:23 +0000, Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>>>> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC radio
>>>> news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee bars,
>>>> and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.
>
>>> Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
>>> member of UKRM!
>
>> <gulp>
>>
>> First rode a bike in our (long) back garden, I think that would be 1957
>> - I'd be 13 at the time. Could just get it into 2nd gear (hand change)
>> before braking.
>
> <sums> So you turn 78 this year? You're 2 or 3 ahead of Pete Fisher,
> then. Might be the same age as crn

A full four years thank you! Not my 3/4 century until December.

>
>> Took the same bike on the road on my 16th birthday, but waited two years
>> 'til I got a proper bike (Velocette Venom) before turning up at the
>> Busy Bee transport caff (Watford), a nice ride out on a summer evening.
>
> I was 16 annahalf before I got on any powered 2-wheeler. And wasn't
> exactly a natural - I crashed within the first hour, and I remember it
> being a couple of weeks before I could reliably pull away without
> stalling it. But I got there in the end :-)

Ah - clutch control. The lad's weak spot when he first moved from a 50
auto to a KX65 when he was around 8. At 'the chateau' the ground was so
loose that wheel spin was a great help in that respect. They sorted him
out at a day at the Wheeldon Off Road experience in Devon. Remedial
coaching on a Honda 100 4T.

--
Moto Morini 2C/375, Moto Morini 2C/350
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
1937 Sunbeam Model 14 250 Sports
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

"ChrisND @UKRM" <chrisnd@privacy.net> wrote in
news:j4b16kFdlldU1@mid.individual.net:

> On 13/01/2022 13:53, wessie wrote:
>> [1] this album
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Threshold_of_a_Dream that my
>> sister bought dates the period to 1969. Sounds about right. My
>> introduction to prog rock...
>>
> Hmmm, I never quite thought the Moddy Blues fitted the 'prog rock'
> idiom - always seemed far too 'commercially aware'!
>

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-best-prog-rock-bands-of-all-time-17276/2-pink-floyd-12221/

the top 10 in that list would suggest there is considerable overlap
in the Venn diagram of bands fitting those two criteria.

Ian Anderson owns the half of Western Scotland not owned by McCartney
and Gilmour owns, well, everyone.

Champ <neal@champ.org.uk> wrote:

> I was 16 annahalf before I got on any powered 2-wheeler. And wasn't
> exactly a natural - I crashed within the first hour, and I remember it
> being a couple of weeks before I could reliably pull away without
> stalling it. But I got there in the end :-)

Late bloomer, eh?

[I may have already related parts of this story here]

I was ~ 12 when my dad and I built an 8 hp 2T Rotax powered doodle-bug.
The frame was welded up from 1 inch angle iron. I bought the plans
from an advert in the back pages of Boy's Life magazine, by saving
up my 35 cent/week allowance. Ex-professional welder dad (during
WWII he welded Liberty ships in Superior WI, and a was master A&P
mechanic at Northwest Airlines) was somewhat less than impressed,
expecting the plans to use round tubing. But we pressed ahead.

It had a variator clutch pulley on the engine + a fixed pulley on a
jackshaft with an idler pulley to maintain the belt tension, and 4.80
x 8 Cushman scooter wheels, final drive was #35 chain. The engine was
sourced from a miniature snowmobile. It went like the proverbial bat
out of hell, and was far too fast for what it was[1].

I remember having to pull the engine apart to replace the piston. I
laid the bike on its side and unbolted the head and the barrel,
literally under a shade tree in our unpaved driveway. Somehow,
one of the screws attaching the air cleaner to the carbureter came
loose and got sucked into the cylinder. The piston caught the screw
on the downstroke and it cut about a 3/4" long groove in the piston
skirt. That's when I found out about Loctite.

I loved it but since the other kids I occasionally rode with had "real"
bikes (with kick start levers an' all) like the Yamaha Mini-Trail and
a Honda QA50 (AKA Monkey), I couldn't wait to graduate to my 1st real
bike, a 1966 Honda S65. I think I was 13 when I paid all the money
I had in the world, $135, for it.

[1] It put my dad in hospital by shaking his kidneys loose. There
was no suspension other than the tires' fairly stiff sidewalls.

--
FJR1300A, GL1000, KLR650A6F, EX250J9A, DR200SE, Vespa Ciao

On 13/01/2022 14:05, Pete Fisher wrote:

Wotcha.

> The 'greasy spoon' at Quatt is a modern equivalent but no jukebox.
> Sometimes an eclectic mix of bikes, but Tony's Cafe across the road
> often has greater variety when  the start of a local VMCC run.

Ah, the "Food Stop Café" - my usual Sunday dinner haunt.
I remember many moons ago when it was "Allens" - named after the caravan
site just behind it.

I keep saying I'll try Tony's Café, but so far I never have. I also
remember Tony's when it was a Little Chef, or sunnat similar.

Maybe this Sunday ? ? ?

On 13/01/2022 22:05 Pete Fisher penned these words:
> I'm old enough to remember the very last days of biker cafes- though I
> didn't frequent them. I didn't get a bike until 1967, though I could
> have had one in 1964.

TBF some carried on well into the 70s with their frothy coffee and limp bacon
sarnies. The one in the town I grew up in had an egg machine outside of all the
possible oddities, I don't recall it working but it is now in a museum
URL:https://www.destinationsdetoursdreams.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/british-rural-life-eggs.jpg

--
Ian

"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of
the last priest"

On 13/01/2022 22:10 Pete Fisher penned these words:
> My first record purchase - Dave Brubeck "Take Five".

Paper Dolls Something Here in My Heart and I have no idea why.

--
Ian

"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of
the last priest"

On 13/01/2022 23:50, Lone Wolf wrote:
> On 13/01/2022 14:05, Pete Fisher wrote:
>
> Wotcha.
>
>> The 'greasy spoon' at Quatt is a modern equivalent but no jukebox.
>> Sometimes an eclectic mix of bikes, but Tony's Cafe across the road
>> often has greater variety when  the start of a local VMCC run.
>
> Ah, the "Food Stop Café" - my usual Sunday dinner haunt.
> I remember many moons ago when it was "Allens" - named after the caravan
> site just behind it.
>
> I keep saying I'll try Tony's Café, but so far I never have.  I also
> remember Tony's when it was a Little Chef, or sunnat similar.
>
> Maybe this Sunday ? ? ?
>

I never went there when it was a Little Chef or was it a 'Grim Consumer'
(Happy Eater).

The Food Stop gets my custom occasionally if on the Husky, Morini or
even the Gilera a couple of times, but if I was out that way on the
Sunbeam it would only be to start a VMCC run from Tony's.

Greater seating area in Tony's possibly but no 'conservatory' or sunny
terrace with benches.

Will need to be a tad warmer before I visit either again.

--
Moto Morini 2C/375, Moto Morini 2C/350
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
1937 Sunbeam Model 14 250 Sports
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

On 13/01/2022 13:53, wessie wrote:
> Champ <neal@champ.org.uk> wrote in
> news:8m50uglp69uvun28d420bhf7cvqq4409q6@4ax.com:
>
>> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 09:19:43 +0000, Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Ronnie Spector, the leader of The Ronettes, has died at the age of 78
>>>
>>> <https://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the-ronettes-icon-ronnie-spector-died-
> 136
>>> 447/>
>>
>>> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC
>>> radio news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee
>>> bars, and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.
>>
>> Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
>> member of UKRM!
>>
>> I have memories of the sixties - my dad coming home with the latest
>> Beatles single (Eleanor Rigby), and watching the moon landings on TV -
>> but I certainly wasn't old enough to go to biker caffs :-)
>
> my first musical memory is playing Paperback Writer but I think I would
Obladee obladah [sp?]
Or maybe "puff the magic dragon"

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On 13/01/2022 15:03, Champ wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 14:10:36 +0000, Pete Fisher
> <peter@ps-fisher.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> We've done this before.
> We have
>
>> My first record purchase - Dave Brubeck "Take Five".
>
> Slade: "Gudbye t'Jane"
ABBA: Greatest Hits

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On 13/01/2022 18:06, wessie wrote:
> "ChrisND @UKRM" <chrisnd@privacy.net> wrote in
> news:j4b16kFdlldU1@mid.individual.net:
>
>> On 13/01/2022 13:53, wessie wrote:
>
>>> [1] this album
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Threshold_of_a_Dream that my
>>> sister bought dates the period to 1969. Sounds about right. My
>>> introduction to prog rock...
>>>
>> Hmmm, I never quite thought the Moddy Blues fitted the 'prog rock'
>> idiom - always seemed far too 'commercially aware'!
>>
>
> https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-best-prog-rock-bands-of-all-time-17276/2-pink-floyd-12221/
>
> the top 10 in that list would suggest there is considerable overlap
> in the Venn diagram of bands fitting those two criteria.

I have never thought of Rush as Prog Rock

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On 13/01/2022 17:40, Champ wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Jan 2022 15:52:23 +0000, Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>>>> A short piece of one of the Ronettes tracks was played on the BBC radio
>>>> news this morning, instantly taking me back to the caffs, coffee bars,
>>>> and biker transport caffs of the early sixties.
>
>>> Blimey, if you have memories of that then perhaps you're the oldest
>>> member of UKRM!
>
>> <gulp>
>>
>> First rode a bike in our (long) back garden, I think that would be 1957
>> - I'd be 13 at the time. Could just get it into 2nd gear (hand change)
>> before braking.
>
> <sums> So you turn 78 this year? You're 2 or 3 ahead of Pete Fisher,
> then. Might be the same age as crn
>
>> Took the same bike on the road on my 16th birthday, but waited two years
>> 'til I got a proper bike (Velocette Venom) before turning up at the
>> Busy Bee transport caff (Watford), a nice ride out on a summer evening.
>
> I was 16 annahalf before I got on any powered 2-wheeler. And wasn't
> exactly a natural - I crashed within the first hour, and I remember it
> being a couple of weeks before I could reliably pull away without
> stalling it. But I got there in the end :-)

1st bike on the road, I was 18. A CD175.
Mudguard slipped down (2 bolts snapped) on the way home, stopped the
front wheel and down I went.

It was a couple of weeks before I had my am out of the sling and able to
get back on.

--
Bruce Porter
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