Dream Machines

We’ve been in England over two weeks now and have yet to drive on a half-kilometre of road that didn’t seem to be occupied by at least one other vehicle. We’ve been hemmed in by heavy transports and cut off by motorcycles. I have always known the latter are infinitely more versatile than anything else on the road. Whether they’re on country lanes or six lane motorways I am always prompted to say to Bev “That’s the way to go”

So it was with some enthusiasm that I rolled up at Dream Machines at Poole last night. There were, we thought, perhaps 1000 motorcycles, out of the showroom and almost as old as us; as built, or heavily customised into all kinds of things.

The oldies were of great interest: here was the water-cooled Velocette that Evan rode in 1957. Next to it a beautifully restored “Beeser” Bantam that Basil had. Further along the line were some that I had short but non-eventful tries in 1951. One was a big Norton that my cousin later wrecked in a bad accident; another a Matchless that I swapped for my 48cc power cycle for a short but terrifying trip along Evans Bay in 1952. And there was a very smartly presented Honda that I borrowed from my son to go from Dunedin to Christchurch in 1977. But his one, against a gale, couldn’t do more than 80 kph up the Canterbury straits and I was late for the meeting.

But nowhere could I find that that Rolls Royce of scooters, the 250cc Triumph Tigress. In 1965 mine went up the new motorway extension in Auckland at 70mph with two of us aboard. It was with her that I learned the craft of being reasonably safe on two wheels. She was a beautiful bike and for four years she served me well. So it was for her that I yearned last night, more than for any of the V8 powered monsters that we saw. And I can tell you there was quite a lot of yearning…

I suppose if congregations are somewhat like motorcycles, I am on the side of the small ones. They may not always have the comfort of the big trikes with upholstered saddles, they may not be as fast as the supercharged Harley D‘s, they may not be as comfortable as the lowered Road Kings, they may not look as flashy as the custom machine that sported the rear end of a Porshe 911, they don’t usually have all the architectural qualities of the bike that was encrusted with industrial diamonds.

But small bikes, like small churches, can do their job, they can be simple to maintain and even when petrol is over $3 a litre, they’re needn’t cost much to run. We need more of them - perhaps like the Triumph Tigress.