My First Bike chris Potter – Honda cB125S

Oh, to be young again! Seventeen, to be precise, a shy, skinny boy who was about to feel freedom for the first time. In early 1978 this came in the form of a 1975 Honda CB125S, bought for £150 with a knackered open-face helmet thrown in for a fiver. With the addition of my old school parka, (complete with smelly rabbit fur hood trim), wellies, and a pair of ex-police mittens, I was ready to hit the highway.

I had been lucky enough to land a place on a year long, ‘job creation’ scheme, learning how to paint and decorate under the guidance of an old hand, and spent most of 1978 riding this wonderful little bike to village halls and other establishments across the county to give them a lick of paint.

My little red Honda had six-volt electrics, points and a kickstarter, with a chain-driven overhead cam adding to the complexity. I had little ‘previous’ in the way of tinkering and didn’t even own a 10mm spanner when I bought it, but this soon changed. Poverty and a certain self-reliance meant that with the help of the ubiquitous Haynes, I was soon changing oil, setting tappets, adjusting chains, changing tyres, repairing punctures, and with the aid of bits of fag paper, setting points. These early habits have seen me well through the last 40 years or so of being a motorcyclist. In fact, I consider them to be an intrinsic part of what the legendary motorcycle journalist ‘Ixion’ called ‘The Enthusiasm.’ Being able to tinker is one reason why I still tend to ride older machines.

The local lads I hung around with at the time tended to ride two-strokes which were faster, smellier and less economical than my little Honda, though it did on one occasion achieve

68mph on the speedo. This was whilst lying flat on the tank with the needle hovering around the 10,000rpm mark, (the CB125S ‘sports’ model, had a rev counter!). This rather scary event was not repeated and I tended to prefer tootling along country lanes at around 40mph, another habit that has fortunately lingered. Where the CB125 surpassed itself was in fuel economy, and I could regularly exceed 110mpg. As petrol cost around 70p per gallon at the time, it was dirt cheap to run, and I recently calculated that the Honda could have taken me from my home in County Durham to Dover and back for £5. That’s if I’d had the nerve or need to do so. How times have changed.

Do other riders sometimes have a tune in their heads when riding? I remember the one that used to accompany me along the lanes on that little Honda – Black Betty by Ram Jam. As for other bikes, I have owned quite a few, but tend to keep them for a long time. I’ve had my T140V Triumph for almost 40 years now and my ex-plod R80RT for 25, as well as other stuff. I wish I’d never sold my little Honda, which went to finance a 250 that would take me round the Lakes. But I see that KEF 537P is still on the DVLA database – I’d love to have him back!

What’s your First Bike?

Do you remember your first bike? Of course you do – tell us the story (in about 500 words, preferably with a picture) and we’ll print it in Motorcycle Rider. Send your My First Bike story to editor@bmf.co.uk