Loved it. Also, the spellings reminded me of why I like living in this country.

No mirrors, no turn signals.  What's the "L"  on the headlight?  Learner?

They put the girl on a scooter.  Those gender-challenged folks have no right being on a manly motorcycle, eh?

This was really interesting.  I love this stuff.  Thanks.

Yea the "L" was for learner, it was after the written test for the equivelant of a permit but before the road test. They couldn't ride at night which is one of the reasons they covered the headlight with it.  

Can you left turn on red in the UK?


--Steve

Thanks for the posting.  Boy, talk about things that trigger memory and rumination.  Watching that video did a couple of things.  First, it took me back to my childhood.  That was made when I had only been riding for about six or seven years.  I was a "Newbie", and everything on two wheels, especially if it was made in England, was wonderful. ( I had a 64 Bonny at that time.)  There weren't so many bikes or riders on the road at that time, and so it was still a wonderful adventure, a way to be different, and something that was liberating.

A second thing that the video triggered in me was produced by the sound.  Motorcycles sounded different then.  A lot of singles and vertical twins.  They don't sound anything like 4 cylinder bikes.  They don't sound like v-twins.  And the difference in rpms.  BIkes back then loped down the road.  What a difference.

FInally, I was taken by the setting. I have not been lucky enough to ride a bike in Britain, but I have driven a car all over the island, from Land's End, to John O Groats.  Once you get off the M roads, even today, 50 is about as fast as you are going to go (unless you are suicidal.)  That is one of the reasons for all of the great 250-500cc bikes.  You really didn't need, and couldn't use a faster machine for the riding that you were doing.

All of which brought me into a fit of nostalgia.  SInce reading the posting, I have lowered the rpms and the speed when I ride, and have tried to recreate the sound and experience of a different age of riding.  It has been great!

My God.  That was even better than the first one.  I think that it would actually make a great instructional film for new riders today.  Did you notice how little traffic there was on the roads, even in the cities?  Also, I was amazed when at one point in the narrative, it was stated that 1/5 of all vehicles registered in England at that time were bikes.  Boy, I would sure love to do a little time travel and be able to ride in England  in the mid 50s.