Has there ever been a more handsome bike than that AJS (with the green tank)?

If truth be known, it is actually a Matchless G12 (which I bought for £ 60). That's a 650 cc twin (for those who don't know). I rebuilt it when I was stationed at Colchester (so that would have been 1972/73). I remember I had a Ducati 250 at that time as well.

The picture was taken up in the hills overlooking Gloucester, and I can still remember my wrist aching from that heavy clutch coming around the North Circular Road (A12->A406->M4 then off at the Swindon turning and along the A419).

The "rider" is my younger brother, Jim, who would have been 12 or 13 at the time.

The little Honda is standing outside the "Electro-Med Hut" at 50 Command Workshop REME, out in Hong Kong (on Kowloon side). That would have been 1975.

The Triumph (with the blue bucket) would have been about the same time. It was a 350 Triumph Twenty-one. I used to ride it up the hill to the BMH. Only a couple of miles. I remember that the bike was quite "well worn", and burnt a bit of oil (valve guides). It also used to like to jump out of second gear, which was a bit of a pain.

But it was able to carry the wife and I up through the Lion Rock tunnel and into the New Territories to allow us to escape the hustle and bustle of Kowloon from time to time.

The Yamaha 425 was quite a beast. That's me on it just outside of Jeddah. I'm sure you can just make me out! Ha, ha.

That would have been back in 1982. Happy Days!

My Dad bought that old AJS (B&W photo) for 10/- when I was twelve years old, and promptly handed it over to me (unusually, I must have been in his "good books" for some reason or other ... helping him during the harvesting season, I should imagine).

That was a 500 cc twin, and had (as you will no doubt notice), a Burman gearbox and the famous "jampot" rear suspension units.

I was 16 by the time that photo was taken (and must have been on leave from the army).

The truck in the background is an ex-army 1942 Canadian Chevrolet.