As previously noted, my first motorcycle 'riding' involved me grabbing a suitable stick on one of many family walks, and immediately pretending I was a scrambler charging round the hills making a suitable rasping noise....
A further memory was watching a round of the British MX GP at a nearby track in the hey dey of Air cooled strokers such as Maicos, Honda Red Rockets, Yam TT's and HL's, Suzuki RM's and a CCM or two. So whilst my first actual motorbike riding was exclusively on road (apart from a few off road forays round Heriot Watt uni campus) I always had a hankering for some kind of trail bike.
It wasn't until a 350 BSA came along, courtesy or my mate Rick, that I eventually realised this dream. Well sort of. When I got it, it was in road trim, as they say. But it was a much modified ex army B40. These were quite the thing as BSA produced an ideal bike for the forces by bunging a beefed up version of their somewhat lame 350 lump into the rolling chassis used on production scrambler Victors. The Army needed a big tank and it had normal bars but conversely had a 20" front wheel and a trials gear box with 1st to 3rd low ratio with a large jump to top for road cruising. Mine had a Victor cam, bigger inlet valve, normal gear ratios and a decent sized amal carb instead of the odd CV the standard thing had. Over the next year or so I sourced a 20" front wheel, high level exhaust, wide bars and a slimmer tank. Bing bashing soon followed and a steep learning curve. My first attempt was on a small bing in East Lothian I'd scoped on a bike ride. It was rather wet and trying to get up a bank led to a lack of rear wheel traction and forward motion. Instead of easing it back down the hill I pulled the clutch in, whereupon it started freewheeling backwards at increasing speed. Of course the bike wobbled, the bars whipped round and it highsided me down the slope, it crashing to the ground close by.... No damage apart from pride however some advice was needed.
This came from a couple of friends who were involved in a charity working with dispossessed youths to rebuild bikes and then ride them on a bit of waste ground / bing near Livingston. This site proved a good place to practice away from prying eyes and my technique soon improved.
After my disastrous ride down to Hemsby and the fun the following year, I really went to town with it - 21" front wheel, full knob tires, modified forks to extend travel, longer rear shocks, an odd but light CZ scrambles tank, zero electrics, quick action throttle and a home made single seat. I should have scrambled it really but for bing bashing it was super fun. West Lothian was once the worlds oil epicentre as oil was discovered in huge volumes, locked up in the shale that constituted a lot of the ground in the area. After the oil was extracted, the waste - 'blaes' - was piled up into vast heaps. Once the industry had been overtaken by middle east drilling, these bings were all that remained and soon became a haven for off road bikes of all kinds. No-one bothered you and even the Police recognised that they were the best place for motorbikes, rather than more public areas....
Not a trial....
Next up was another B40, but this one was heavily modified (actually 'miller-ised,' i.e. Sammy Miller) for pre 65 trials. Bent and chopped frame for less weight and a steeper head angle, tiny alloy oil and petrol tanks, super low gears and lots of scrapes. I joined the Scottish Classic Racing club and went trialing. Except most of the events had only a few pre-65 bikes and many 'modern' trials bikes so the sections were hard. I made a good account of myself at these events and got quite adept. The B40 was a bit of a handful, to be honest. I did a lot of work on it to get it running right but I discovered what the works riders worked out in the '60's - it was just too much for nadgery sections which classic trials favoured and only good for blasting up steep bits if there was plenty of grip. A 250 would be a far better prospect.
So cue a Greeves Scottish, also from Rick (well his Dad actually.) This was a gem as it was purpose built for trials, right out of the factory. I'd not long moved to Fife at this point and fortuitously there was a local bing to get to grips with this fine machine. That said, it's first major outing was to the Isle of Mann.
After this I did some work on it, changing gear ratios, adding full circle flywheels for more pep and radial tyres. But time was at something of a premium at that point so apart from another IOM expedition and much mucking around on the local bing, I never actually trialled it in anger. A few years later it became one bike too many so off it went.
In the meantime, I'd ventured off road on the big GS, but it wasn't much fun trying to control 230kg of Bavarian behemoth on the dirt (or even gravel) after the nimble Greeves. Then my dirt stable gained a couple of additions. First up was an Ariel HT5, made famous by Sammy Miller and widely seen as the best of the pre '60 trials machines. It was an absolute wreck having been hard used for trials by the previous owner. A fair bit of work went into it and soon after getting it sorted we went to the Manx in a van so it was the obvious bike to take.
The other one was more modern - A Suzuki DRZ400. It was the road version but a bit of work removed as much extraneous weight as possible and it made a fine trail bike as its road legal exhaust was whisper quiet so you didn't announce yourself to the entire world - most useful when riding a trail of dubious legality.
Annoyingly, just before this, there was a raft of changes to Rights of Way legislation in England, specifically aimed at curbing vehicle use off road. By the time I got the DRZ, many trails had been closed, frustratingly including a few on the English side of the border hills which meant you could ride up to the border but not over it... I did a couple of expeditions to this area but it was clear you were seen as persona non grata, largely thanks to hoards of idiots taking to the hills on loud and powerful enduro bikes with not a care for the trails or other users.
Worse, the bings were becoming off limits as local people re-discovered them for local walking. The Police were forced to take action and suddenly you weren't welcome. One particular close shave I had was on an extensive area of forestry and bings near Fauldhouse. I'd noted the CCTV poles at certain access points but managed to avoid them and hit a few obviously well used trails, figuring the CCTV was for show given how heavily used by motocross bikes the area clearly was. This was fine for an hour or so until I met a local youth on an old MTX 125. His chain had come off so I helped him sort it as he hadn't any tools to loosen the back wheel. After disappearing back towards the road he then repaid the favour by suddenly re-appearing shouting that the Police had arrived!
To be honest I was going to ride out and take what was coming but the lad stated there was a back way out onto the edge of a small housing estate. He was going to head further into a large area of waste ground to lie low until the Police left. I found the access easy enough but had to squeeze round a locked gate which was very nearly too narrow. Thanks to the quiet exhaust, no-one in the nearby houses heard me so I made good my escape. The benefit of having a road legal machine meant I could just get onto the road and ride away. I actually encountered a Police van, the occupants of which gave me a hard stare. But my bikes obvious indicators and lights suggested I was a responsible motorcyclist, and so they left me alone.
This and a few other close encounters meant I kind of lost interest in such things. Until 2011 when the IOM beckoned once more. For the first time in a few years it was going to be dry so I was camping again and on a whim left the big Beemer at home and took the suzook.
Thereafter I got more and more into long distance bike riding and the DRZ became a full on commuter machine. It excelled at this of course but I tended to use it through the winter so it quickly deteriorated into something of a rat.
Having given up taking the GS off road I was now looking to give up riding it on road by this time given its vast weight, but when another new machine came along, well described as a big dirt bike rather than an adventure bike, I figured it was time to hit said dirt once more.
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