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- Oct 7, 2005
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That was 5 years or so after I left N-V to go work for Boeing, around Easter 1968. The Wolverhampton guys had turned the Commando program over to Plumstead and I spent the last 6 months of my N-V career on the AJS Stormer program, ending up with the '68 ISDT bikes for the Royal Air Force Motorsports Association.
I got a lot of fun riding those bikes around town. On one occasion, someone in the Competition Department had been fiddling with ignition timing. I went on an errand across town and as I was rolling to a stop at a traffic light, the engne died. I did a quick clutch drop and got it running, but it sounded a bit odd. When the light changed, I opened the throttle and dropped the clutch, only to find the back wheel trying to climb the radiator grill of a double-decker bus behnd me. The engine had restarted running backwards.
You can bet I had words with the mechanic who'd been messing with the timing.
It's odd that it doesn't seem that long ago!
I got a lot of fun riding those bikes around town. On one occasion, someone in the Competition Department had been fiddling with ignition timing. I went on an errand across town and as I was rolling to a stop at a traffic light, the engne died. I did a quick clutch drop and got it running, but it sounded a bit odd. When the light changed, I opened the throttle and dropped the clutch, only to find the back wheel trying to climb the radiator grill of a double-decker bus behnd me. The engine had restarted running backwards.
You can bet I had words with the mechanic who'd been messing with the timing.
It's odd that it doesn't seem that long ago!