I would like to email Stu directly rather than in Comments because I have so much more to say than can be put in his Comments.

So in lieu of that opportunity I'll use this page knowing I can always cut and paste should the chance arise.

The internet is swamped in crap that purports to be helpful advice when its actually someones opinion based on complete ignorance of the subject and who's to say mines any better?

However for what its worth, here goes.

I started my motorcycling career at the age of 14 with a variety of cyclemotors such as the Italian Mosquito thru various home made deathtraps such as a 125 Sachs direct drive into a childs bicycle frame with no throttle or clutch, no brakes and a crash gearbox which when engaged by hand as often as not caused the output shaft Woodfruff key to shear requiring an hour or two's repair before the next attempt.

From there I graduated to various mopeds such as the NSU Quickly and the Raleigh moped and ancient 98cc but quite stout ones like new Hudson etc. none of which I owned but the owners were usually quite willing to give test rides on because we all hung out at the Church Youth Group which was our unofficial low budget Ace Cafe substitute.

There was nothing to do where I lived, it was the Youth Group take it or leave it once a week and so our membership ran from callow youths like myself to apprentices who earned money and could buy proper motorcycles which we neophytes drooled over and were occasionally given thrilling pillion rides on once around the block.

Ones parents were oblivious to this dark side because as far as they knew our youth club only offered instant coffee and table tennis plus a few girls who invariably closed ranks to all males and hung around only to find out what boys were and their parents probably felt the same about that as mine would have if they had known about the forbidden motorcycles.

Our conversation was almost entirely about the pros and cons of various motorbike brands none of which were Japanese and few of which were Italian and occasionally German but almost all were the old British Singles and twins, mostly singles as twins were too expensive even on HP (finance).

The Norton and BSA were the favourites usually 500 or less, AMC AJS and Matchless 350's and the C15, Tiger Cub and Bantam bringing up the rear, so to speak.

It was a rare club meet when someone wasnt fixing or adjusting something, so by hanging out and 'helping' IE:- being a bloody nuisance and getting in the way, one picked up a lot of very useful practical experience or advice.

So when the time arrived to get ones own proper bike, one had a pretty good idea of what to get, why to get it and what to expect although that was often tempered by ones funds and what was available and various other pitfalls such as having to get a licence and the Law not being very understanding.

So after a couple of false starts with really antique bikes such as my 1936 Coventry Eagle of which the less said the better I finally bought a 500 BSA A7SS with a box sidecar which had done a lot of duty as a tradesmans hack and where my real education began.

Okay so now you know, I've done my time, I'm not some wet behind the ears squid and got started properly in 1963 and legally in 1965 and ridden just about everything from AJS to Zundapp. I do not lay claim to know everything but what I do know I learned the hard way.