Bikers up to no good in the 70s

[Chop!]

 

I don't remember anything about this photo I found on a disk I was given, it was in the 70s and there was a biker rally nearby.

I apologise on behalf of the bikers involved.

[nicknorman]

 

I don't remember anything about this photo I found on a disk I was given, it was in the 70s and there was a biker rally nearby.

I apologise on behalf of the bikers involved.

Which one is you?

Edited February 1, 2013 by nicknorman

[Chris Pink]

to me they look more curious than malicious. Maybe at least one of them is now a boater

[Chop!]

Which one is you?

 

I'm not there, even then I worked all week for a fiver and saved all year so I could ride my BSA to the Dart Valley Railway and work voluntary for my holidays, I have always had an appreciation of all things old and weird, so this wouldn't have been my cup of tea.

[MtB]

I'd forgotten how WIDE the flares were we used to wear, looking at the bloke sitting on the gunwhales.

 

And the bloke next to him is using the world's first mobile phone!

 

MtB

[TNC]

to me they look more curious than malicious. Maybe at least one of them is now a boater

 

They are probably all now IWA Council members.

[Chop!]

to me they look more curious than malicious. Maybe at least one of them is now a boater

 

As most of you have probably noticed, there are a lot of bikers and ex-bikers on the cut.

I don't think any damage was done, most likely, it just became somewhere to plonk themselves for a drink and a joint

[Psycloud]

I'd forgotten how WIDE the flares were we used to wear, looking at the bloke sitting on the gunwhales.

 

And the bloke next to him is using the world's first mobile phone!

 

MtB

 

I lost count of how many times they got caught in the chain/sprocket on my bike!

[Chop!]

I'd forgotten how WIDE the flares were we used to wear, looking at the bloke sitting on the gunwhales.

 

And the bloke next to him is using the world's first mobile phone!

 

MtB

 

A long time before mobiles LOL! The first mobiles had briefcase batteries that lasted no time.

[Laurie Booth]

I'd forgotten how WIDE the flares were we used to wear, looking at the bloke sitting on the gunwhales.

 

And the bloke next to him is using the world's first mobile phone!

 

MtB

You are wrong, the person using the mobile phone is a time traveller

 

 

 

[Boat&Bikes]

One of them looks a lot like i did back then...im sure it wasnt me though as i had no interest in boats at the time,too slow.How time changes one.

 

Ian.

[Chop!]

You are wrong, the person using the mobile phone is a time traveller

 

 

 

 

Hmmm, that's wacky!!

Edited February 1, 2013 by Chop!

[eightpot]

Hells Angels go boating:

 

Boat content about 15 mins in.

Edited February 1, 2013 by eightpot

[Hawkmoth]

 

I don't remember anything about this photo I found on a disk I was given, it was in the 70s and there was a biker rally nearby.

I apologise on behalf of the bikers involved.

1. Once again us bikers are getting a bad press.

2. Who says they're bikers?

3. Keep on ridin'.

[Laurie Booth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8smO4VS9134&list=FLfQ7auzkdijxheomwacpKLg

Another time traveler spotted, the girl on a mobile phone 0:50

 

[Skye]

Nice to see them wearing the traditional "boaty" waist coats!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8smO4VS9134&list=FLfQ7auzkdijxheomwacpKLg

 

Thank you, that was eye "wateringly" brilliant

[Dovetail]

1. Once again us bikers are getting a bad press.

2. Who says they're bikers?

3. Keep on ridin'.

 

Look more like early punk rock to me leather biker jackets were all the rage. That’s about as much anarchy in the uk we had back then.

[David Schweizer]

They don't look like proper bikers to me, they look too young. I grew up during the Biker era, you had to have 500cc bike to be consdered a proper biker, and from recollection the minimum age permitted for a bike of that size was 21.

 

There were two bikers living either side of us in London, Richard had a BSA gold Star 500, and Alan had a Triton 650.

Edited February 2, 2013 by David Schweizer

[Jerra]

from recollection the minimum age permitted for a bike of that size was 21.

.

 

I am not totally sure your recollection is correct (or I knew a number of illegal riders). I was at college in the mid to late 60s and friends under 21 rode a matchless 500, AJS (Big but cant remember the exact size) and a Triton.

 

The Matchless 500 lead the rag parade beside a much smaller police bike. Nothing unusual about that apart from the fact he had an ex police helmet saying Phillip on the front a white faring very similar to the big police bikes of the day and a mock whip aerial. As the floats moved off he pulled in beside the copper and received a welcome nod (the sort you might give to a colleague, we were told at the end he was half way round the route before he realised the bike wasn't from the force.

[cariad]

They don't look like proper bikers to me, they look too young. I grew up during the Biker era, you had to have 500cc bike to be consdered a proper biker, and from recollection the minimum age permitted for a bike of that size was 21.

 

There were two bikers living either side of us in London, Richard had a BSA gold Star 500, and Alan had a Triton 650.

 

From memory the age restriction to ride a motorcycle was 16 in the early sixties,but the law changed about this time ( late fifties or early sixties ) to a maximum capacity of 250 c.c. , then once you have

 

passed your test you could then ride a motorcycle of any size. The wisdom of the law makers at the time allowed you to ride a motorcycle of any size as long as it had 3 wheels, what was

 

the sense of that ?. Whilst you had "L" plates the only passengers that could ride with you had to have passed their test, but this didn't apply if you had 3 wheels. Having ridden both types of motorcycles

 

i found from my experience the 3 wheeler was the more difficult, this was also the opinion of many of my fellow bikers at that time.

[Chop!]

They don't look like proper bikers to me, they look too young. I grew up during the Biker era, you had to have 500cc bike to be consdered a proper biker, and from recollection the minimum age permitted for a bike of that size was 21.

 

There were two bikers living either side of us in London, Richard had a BSA gold Star 500, and Alan had a Triton 650.

 

They were all 'proper' bikers, most of them under 21, most of them road bikes of 500cc or more, I had a BSA 650cc A65 at the age of 18.

This picture was taken during a bank holiday bike rally.

 

1. Once again us bikers are getting a bad press.

2. Who says they're bikers?

3. Keep on ridin'.

I'm sorry, I can't change history, they were (and most still are) bikers

But we were young, drunk, stoned and foolish at times, like most other people our age, bikers or not.

I still have my 3 BSAs 1968 A65 750cc, 1953 B33 500cc and 1939 G14 1000cc v-twin.

 

Like I said I wasn't happy finding this pic

[Serenity Malc]

Yello,

 

This was my scoot in the 70's ..... I built it from a police Triumph Saint TR6P.

 

 

 

Malc.

[nicknorman]

They don't look like proper bikers to me, they look too young. I grew up during the Biker era, you had to have 500cc bike to be consdered a proper biker, and from recollection the minimum age permitted for a bike of that size was 21.

 

There were two bikers living either side of us in London, Richard had a BSA gold Star 500, and Alan had a Triton 650.

As has been said, once you had passed your test at 17 you could drive anything. I went from 250 at 17 to 500 at 18 to 750 at 19. Much to my mother's consternation of course. Sorry but I think you are suffering from the same problem as when you think policemen are getting younger! It's true that these days, you still see those same bikers on the road and they are all in their 50s and 60s with very few young bikers below the age of 21, but that is just due to the difficulty of having a big bike when you are young, and a cultural shift where having the lates hairdo, phone and clothes is more important than a pair of wheels. Shame!

 

On the subject of troublemaking, my experience was that bikers were in general well behaved if perhaps a little mischievous. It was the football bunch and others of that ilk who were the trouble makers. We were too busy rebuilding our unreliable British engines (until we got Japanese!) to have time for trouble!

Edited February 2, 2013 by nicknorman

[Chop!]

1. Once again us bikers are getting a bad press. Old thing, When we do right, no-one remembers, when we do wrong, no-one forgets.

Sorry I can't change history, we were young & foolish, drunk & stoned, and did stupid things sometimes, as did young non-bikers

2. Who says they're bikers? I say they were bikers (and most still are!)

3. Keep on ridin'. I still am a biker and have my 3 BSAs, 1968 A65 750cc, 1953 B33 500cc, 1939 G14 1000cc v-twin

 

Oops! some of that double posted

 

Ride safe

 

Yello,

 

This was my scoot in the 70's ..... I built it from a police Triumph Saint TR6P.

 

 

 

 

Malc.

 

Love it!

 

Here's mine, one of 3 BSAs that I still own :-

 

 

Hells Angels go boating:

 

 

Boat content about 15 mins in.

 

Great video, thanks for that

Edited February 2, 2013 by Chop!

[David Schweizer]

As has been said, once you had passed your test at 17 you could drive anything. I went from 250 at 17 to 500 at 18 to 750 at 19. Much to my mother's consternation of course. Sorry but I think you are suffering from the same problem as when you think policemen are getting younger! It's true that these days, you still see those same bikers on the road and they are all in their 50s and 60s with very few young bikers below the age of 21, but that is just due to the difficulty of having a big bike when you are young, and a cultural shift where having the lates hairdo, phone and clothes is more important than a pair of wheels. Shame!

 

On the subject of troublemaking, my experience was that bikers were in general well behaved if perhaps a little mischievous. It was the football bunch and others of that ilk who were the trouble makers. We were too busy rebuilding our unreliable British engines (until we got Japanese!) to have time for trouble!

My memory has clearly failed me on this one about age restrictions. Both my neighbours were Ace Cafe regulars and given my age at the time they will be in their 70's nowadays