IT’S A
GENERATION
GAME
WORDS: Roger Moroney
GRANDDAUGHTER SAFFY HAVING HER
FIRST TASTE OF TWO WHEELS… WITH
GRANDPOPPA CHASING BEHIND
hen the reaper takes someone close
to you away, you, inevitably, at some
stage, get called upon to either look
after stuff or take ownership of stuff. Which
in the wake of the loss of my eldest brother
and fine biking mate Paul meant some
motorcycle “stuff”.
Yeah, some interesting books about
grand prix stars of passed eras and some
interesting old magazines and general bike…
stuff. And a couple of slices of that stuff have
been rolled into the shed for storage, and
care and keeping.
The last set of two wheels I possessed
had fittingly been passed into my brother’s
ownership (he wanted to do the tyred thing)
and here, all this way down the track of life
and destiny and whatever, a couple of his
motorcycles have headed my way.
Which he was happy about during his final
gruelling days. For he knew I was as besotted
with things on two wheels as he was and, his
pride and joy, a beautifully crafted and built
replica of a Mike Hailwood era 350 Honda GP
bike is now tucked away.
I’ve got the electrics pretty well sorted and
now I’m on the hunt for a couple of litres of
84 KIWI RIDER
the rather volatile octane liquid it needs to
set the pistons into action. Then I’ll take it up
the street just after midnight when there’s
nobody about and set the brakes up…
Well no, I think not. One has to be sensible.
I’ll wait until 3am.
So anyway, I also have the little slice of two-
stroke fun the dear boy bought about 30-
odd years ago. A Yamaha PW (Pee Wee) 50
all in its original red, white and black livery
and with a couple of scuffs and cracks where
one of its many pilots through the years
misjudged a turn on the grass or shingle. But
it runs perfectly.
I cleaned the tank out and sorted the fuel
filter thing and blew the cobwebs (and other
miscreant items) out of the air cleaner and
put in a new plug. On about the sixth kick
it sparked and struggled into an initially
unsteady idle then smoothed out. So hey,
I had to take it around the backyard (in a
shroud of blue smoke). Legs straight out in
front as I can’t get them to bend anywhere
near the footpegs these days, and it was an
absolute grin-maker. I’d ridden it when I was
34 and now I’m tearing up the grass under
the clothesline on it at the age of 64.