Honda-SOHC
Other Stuff => Misc / Open => Topic started by: Athame57 on October 17, 2018, 11:50:50 PM
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Just wondering!
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Summer of 78.
Central London.
I worked exclusively for a publisher in Little Essex St. (Angling Times and Nursing Times are the ones I remember best).
I took the pasted up copy to the typesetter in Bedford. Twice a day.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Sub contracted to Arrow Express, Oxford St late 80's / early 90's
Main work was;
Hit & Run / Gailforce management ( Phil Collins )
Shell
Total oil marine ( Stirling wait and return on a Wednesday)
BP ( mail from PO box Park lane to head office Hemel Hempstead )
Mobil ( Kicked me out of bed early Saturday morning 24th march to deliver all the press statements for the exxon Valdez )
Berwin Leighton London Bridge
And many more :o
Have put up this vid before >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKZ9VoBw654
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Yes, worked for Federal Express (Fedex) based in Swiss Cottage London during the winter of 1989, froze my nuts off. I was out of work at the time, adverts in the Motor Cycle News promised wages of £500 a week so off i went, my next door neighbour was demolishing Croydon power station and offered me free digs on site. So i stayed in Croydon during the week and rode 200 miles home for the weekend on my CBR600. £500 a week back then was a fabulous wage but to earn that you had to know the area like a London cabbie, so me having to thumb my way through the London A to Z on every call i wasn't getting much over £100, on top of that i had to contend with lunatic 4 wheel drivers trying to wipe me out on every junction. So after a few months i decided enough was enough and said goodbye to the Smoke.
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Have put up this vid before >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKZ9VoBw654
Brilliant vid Trigger.
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Yes, worked for Federal Express (Fedex) based in Swiss Cottage London during the winter of 1989, froze my nuts off. I was out of work at the time, adverts in the Motor Cycle News promised wages of £500 a week so off i went, my next door neighbour was demolishing Croydon power station and offered me free digs on site. So i stayed in Croydon during the week and rode 200 miles home for the weekend on my CBR600. £500 a week back then was a fabulous wage but to earn that you had to know the area like a London cabbie, so me having to thumb my way through the London A to Z on every call i wasn't getting much over £100, on top of that i had to contend with lunatic 4 wheel drivers trying to wipe me out on every junction. So after a few months i decided enough was enough and said goodbye to the Smoke.
To earn top money on that job, you should never work for a big company like Fedex. You have to know not just London like the back of your hand but, all major cities. I would earn more than £500 just for the Wedensday and if there was a postage strike, you could earn 15 to 20 times more than a postal worker. Postal strike were the best times for us lot, office wallah's waving 50 pound notes trying to get you to stop. No change given ;D ;D
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Did you seen how many were using CX500 ;) also known as the "Maggot" , here's a photo of mine , cheers Mick ;)
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I'm shocked, you taking advantage of those poor hard up loads-a-money yuppies ::)
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Did you seen how many were using CX500 ;) also known as the "Maggot" , cheers Mick.
Back in the day we called them "plastic pigs"
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Did you seen how many were using CX500 ;) also known as the "Maggot" , cheers Mick.
Back in the day we called them "plastic pigs"
That was the title given to Reliant's when we were younger (along with "Tupperware taxi") the CX was the plastic maggot!
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Did you seen how many were using CX500 ;) also known as the "Maggot" , cheers Mick.
A few CX's :) Best bike for the job, Chasbikes had 130 out on rental at one point in the early 90's.
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Did someone mention Maggots ! Here is some old pictures of my old yard back in 1993 and a few engines. Oh and a VT500
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It was like a whole squadron of bombers taking off at the traffic light change to yellow in that era. Going round Wandsworth roundabout with great herds of CX also. ;D
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Back in 1983 I worked in London for West 1 in Newman St, then for Walker Dispatch in Tottenham Court Road. I too was seduced by the high salaries promised by the motorcycle mags. I didn't make much but it was a good experience all the same. I only did it for 6 months before my 400 Superdream blew up on the M4 by Chippenham.
Later on I worked out of Cardiff for Cycle Despatch on my GS850 doing country wide jobs.
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(Attachment Link)
Graham - VT500 - wasn't that mean't to be a move on from the Maggot? Any good, never saw / see many?
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(Attachment Link)
Graham - VT500 - wasn't that mean't to be a move on from the Maggot? Any good, never saw / see many?
The VT was the successor of the CX and had the V twin longitudinal which meant that the rear cylinder overheated, two cam chains and a seat that was like sitting on a razor, compared to the comfy CX which you could rest your arse on all day ;)
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I think I can beat you youngsters as I was despatch riding just after the Stone Age. I was booted out of Thames Poly (now Greenwich Uni) in 1974 and so like everyone else big wages were the attraction.
I started by using my faithful candy gold CB250K2 and working for some mob in Swiss Cottage. Did that for a few months until I locked up the front wheel in the wet on the Embankment and was on my arse in an instant. Bike was quite damaged so I thought use somebody elses.
So I joined Mercury Despatch thrashing orange Suzuki 250s around the capital. Did that for a few months and just got fed up of all the near misses and not really getting all the money I thought I'd get.
Went off driving van sales for Lyons Cakes after that. Eat loads of just out of date cakes and got fat.
PS After nearly 2 years, I have booked an MoT for the K2 next Thursday. Don't know if it will pass as it is LOUD! I'll let you know.
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I think I can beat you youngsters as I was despatch riding just after the Stone Age. I was booted out of Thames Poly (now Greenwich Uni) in 1974 and so like everyone else big wages were the attraction.
I started by using my faithful candy gold CB250K2 and working for some mob in Swiss Cottage. Did that for a few months until I locked up the front wheel in the wet on the Embankment and was on my arse in an instant. Bike was quite damaged so I thought use somebody elses.
So I joined Mercury Despatch thrashing orange Suzuki 250s around the capital. Did that for a few months and just got fed up of all the near misses and not really getting all the money I thought I'd get.
Went off driving van sales for Lyons Cakes after that. Eat loads of just out of date cakes and got fat.
PS After nearly 2 years, I have booked an MoT for the K2 next Thursday. Don't know if it will pass as it is LOUD! I'll let you know.
Do you realise that you don't legally require an MOT for vehicles registered before 1978, unless it's for your own peace of mind.
The Swiss Cottage mob, was that Federal Express ?
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(Attachment Link)
Graham - VT500 - wasn't that mean't to be a move on from the Maggot? Any good, never saw / see many?
The VT was the successor of the CX and had the V twin longitudinal which meant that the rear cylinder overheated, two cam chains and a seat that was like sitting on a razor, compared to the comfy CX which you could rest your arse on all day ;)
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Just wondering!
You started this, so what's your story ??
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On one occasion, I was asked to take a package to Top Shop in Oxford Street. It was one of those aluminium photographic cases with cosmetics in it. Anyway, I delivered it and they refused to sign for it. This was when the IRA were making themselves known so perhaps I can't blame them.
I kinda stiff-armed them into signing for it anyway as I had multiple drops to make and I was parked on double yellows.
About 5:00, I was trying to get home but Wigmore St, Mortimer St etc, were blocked with buses and taxis. Very odd.
I was watching the six o'clock news and, it seems that a mysterious package was delivered Top Shop and the Bomb Squad was sent for. Oxford St and Regent St was sealed off while a miniature tank carried out a photographic box and did a controlled explosion on it.
No questions were asked thankfully.
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On one occasion, I was asked to take a package to Top Shop in Oxford Street. It was one of those aluminium photographic cases with cosmetics in it. Anyway, I delivered it and they refused to sign for it. This was when the IRA were making themselves known so perhaps I can't blame them.
I kinda stiff-armed them into signing for it anyway as I had multiple drops to make and I was parked on double yellows.
About 5:00, I was trying to get home but Wigmore St, Mortimer St etc, were blocked with buses and taxis. Very odd.
I was watching the six o'clock news and, it seems that a mysterious package was delivered Top Shop and the Bomb Squad was sent for. Oxford St and Regent St was sealed off while a miniature tank carried out a photographic box and did a controlled explosion on it.
No questions were asked thankfully.
Maybe you should change your name from Mike the Bike to Tom the Bomb ;D
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No, this was before Fed Ex even got established here. The Swiss Cottage dispatch company was just a bloke with a 'phone who advertised in the Evening Standard promising good money which turned out to be a load of b****x.
I thought an MoT was a requirement for getting the bike registered here. Am I wrong? Its still on its Colorado plates and was going to insure it for the trip to the tester by using the frame number. Is that they way to do it?
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Yup, but do not take out the insurance till you are ready to go as frame number insurance is time limited.
It is my understanding that you need the mot for first registration but not afterwards
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I checked with James H on this recently and its all changed again quite recently. No MOT or insurance needed for the process of registering an imported bike with DVLA. (I'm assuming that if it's younger than 40 years, you will still need an MOT but not sure on this)
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Just wondering!
You started this, so what's your story ??
OK. I began in 1982 with an awful company called Olympic where I spent more time on the pavement than a pigeon, I moved over to 'Hotline' soon got the sack, then 'Ambassador' and then 'Delta' where I started to get good. I moved on to a roguish little firm called 'Falcon' great lads (& Lasses') ..oh, forgot my flirtation with 'Professional couriers' and 'Express'....dispatch is a job where you can change horse three times in a day. I also rode with Addison Lee a while and ...gawd there's loads. The best company though was GLC (Greater London Couriers) with their 25% attendance bonus and no advertising their jobs...word of mouth! I rode a gaggle of CB250 RS's one reached 77,000 miles. A CB250 wet dream, a GT380 (got me nicked) A z400J..came off at 70mph and never hurt myself, came off again at about 15 mph and thought I'd bust my leg. I did get a ban for 6 months and knew most of the Police station cells from being arrested non payment of fines lol. I couldn't resist turning up now and then on my RG500s. I quit the job in 1991.
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WOW !!, you've been around, not many that you hav'nt worked for, what work did you change to?
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WOW !!, you've been around, not many that you hav'nt worked for, what work did you change to?
The maddest thing...Life assurance salesman. FLUNK. I went back to sea while after that.
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Not another bloody mariner!!
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Not another bloody mariner!!
AYE AYE! We are endangered though! http://seawitchartist.com/Red-Ensign-Roseate-Tern.htm
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Was you deck, navi or engin?
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Was you deck, navi or engin?
Steward...the only way in for an adult at the time.
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On my last ship there was another ex dispatch rider. It showed as well, on the wheel he hit that quayside in the kiel canal....I was on my bunk and the point of contact was right be me!
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I was engineer aprentice to 5th. We always reconed that if all the navis fell overboard we would get somewhere just no idea where whilst if all us went they would just drift!! Sterwards were most important as they kept us fed. Three months running propane to Saigon in 75 decided me to finish!
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Three months running propane to Saigon in 75 decided me to finish!
...did you happen to know a rowdy steward called Spike Stokes on that run?
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Not that i remember but it was a loooooong time ago