Chris Richardson

Back to me

This was the Road Cow (24):

We loved our VW Transporter, we no longer have it.

Left to right, my first car, a Hillman Imp, Vauxhall HA Viva Van, Audi Coupé. Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture

Motorcycles I have known

I have owned many motorcycles in my time. My love of them started when I was 15, Nick Winter started me off with it, he had a Norton 350 Navigator that was virtually a pile of scrap that he used to get out of the shed and tear around on now and again. This gave me the urge to own a bike of my own

Click on the thumbnails for larger images

Bantam 175 D14-4

I started with this one that I rebuilt. It cost me 18 quid. I ran into a bread van doing a U turn at Marfleet about a month after getting on the road with it. It was written off. This photo was taken in 1972

Honda CD 175

My dad would not let me have the more sporty CB 175, I could not understand why. Taken in 1972

Suzuki GT 250

After a while, I moved up to this. Taken in 1974

Norton 350 Navigator

I then passed my test and bought Nick Winter's Norton off him, I was forever taking it to bits to fix it. This one was taken before I owned it, early 1972

Suzuki GT 750 (Kettle)

These were taken around 1980

Around 1980 I built a BSA Bantam D14-4 from bits found all over the place. A frame that I dug out of the soil at the back of the now demolished 'Marfleet Motorcycles'. An engine I picked up from some bloke in Hull and a load of other bits from 'Temple Street' motorcycle dismantlers. One part I could not find oddly enough was the tail light and number plate assembly. I made one up from scratch out of a piece of heating ventilation system I found at work. The bike was a solid little thing that went like a rocket. At one time I let my mate Megson use it, he had it for a while and he used to really give it some hammer all over the place but it stood up to it very well. I don't remember what happened to it and I have no photographs of it either