The name’s Bond


I expect you have been inundated with pictures and accounts of first bikes but I thought you might like to see mine.

It was a 1952 Bond Minibike Deluxe fitted with a JAP 125cc unit construction three-speed gearbox bought by my father for £15 in 1959 for me to ride, having reached my 16th birthday.

He thought it would be safer than a proper motorcycle but with tiny wheels, square rear tyre and a heel-operated rear brake arm connected directly to the cam it certainly taught me how to cope with unusual attitudes – both from a skills point of view and the ridicule of my motorcycling chums!

Article continues below...
Advert

Enjoy more Old Bike Mart reading in the monthly newspaper.
Click here to subscribe & save.

As the brake shoes wore down – the front being fairly ineffective – the cam would lock the shoes fully on and back wheel accordingly. Great on wet roads!

It followed a cammy Velo field bike (what sacrilege) but on my first ride out on the Bond I rounded a corner straight into a huge pig which squealed off into the distance.

The impact released a lot of filler in the massive front mudguard, doubtless placed there and painted over from previous collisions.

Article continues below...
Advert

I’m still enjoying motorcycling 60 years on and cannot imagine being without a bike or two.
Congratulations on a brilliant monthly which is read from cover to cover.

Roger Kimbell

Read more Letters, Opinion, News and Features in the March 2020 issue of Old Bike Mart – on sale now!

Article continues below...
Advert

Advert
Subscribe to Old Bike Mart Enjoy more Old Bike Mart reading in the monthly paper. Click here to subscribe.