When I was a boy, in between drawing tiny pictures of Vincents (10p piece for wheels was usual) and daydreaming about what I’d love to own when I grew up (more Vincents, SS100 Broughs, cammy Velos, Gold Stars, racy Sunbeams, Rex-Acmes, maybe the usual stuff for a classic enthusiast, although perhaps not a 10-year-old…) the two actual motorcycles I thought I’d conceivably manage to aspire to acquire were a BSA A65 and a Velocette Venom.
In my mind’s eye I could – and still can – picture exactly how each one would look, with central to the mental image of ‘my’ A65, the big, red glass fibre petrol tank. Actually, that was pretty much as far as my daydreaming went, with the petrol tank the key element, with an otherwise standard A65; I wasn’t even fussed about the Spitfire’s twin cabs, for example. The Velo would be black and gold, incidentally, a Thruxton lookalike but with flat bars – I’ve never really got on or felt comfortable with clip-ons.
