A good friend of mine always responds with the subject line when asked "Oh are you a biker?".
I refreshed my avatar recently with an image of me on another good friend's Velocette Venom Thruxton, taken by the bike owner. Between myself, the two people I've already mentioned and a third local friend we own all four late model (1960s) Velocette 500 cc singles (photo-opp in the offing), and they are marvelous bikes. But the Venom Thruxton is the queen. She was race-ready out of the factory and was named after the famous racing circuit at Thruxton, Hampshire, England. All of us have fun restoring and riding vintage British motorcycles- a very rewarding pastime.
Hi John. Thanks for posting this, as I was having a hard time figuring out what bike that was from your avatar! This is very cool and I am a gentleman motorcyclist also. I have not gotten into the vintage bikes, but I will post a picture of my main ride here so you can see it. Happy motorcycling and keep the shiny side up!
John those are some awesome bikes I located a place you can get some the 60's British bikes rebuilt !! A little pricy but sure looked good !!!
My favorite from that time .. actually a little before is the Vincent Black Shadow Got to ride one here in Miami a few years back. The black with gold lettering and gold trim is just elegant !!!
I rode a 1948 Vincent Rapide a few years ago Alfred. The owner was on the pillion so I didn't see what she could do (!) but it was an awesome experience in the true sense of the word. Vincents were the fastest motorised stock conveyance of the day. A late model Velo similar to the one above and mostly unmodified from the factory still holds the world record for a 500cc single doing 100 mph for 24 hours straight- on the Montlhéry track in France. I think there were four riders who spelled each other off so to maintain the average of a ton, they actually had to do well over that when running. Reports are the lighting wasn't very good around the track!
Dave- The Venom Thruxton had the "Ace" handlebars (from the Ace Café in London) and rearsets. It is not the most comfortable bike I've sat on but absolutely sweet to ride and quite fast.
I'm no speed demon. I like to waffle along country roads at 40-50 mph and stay away from highways.