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Character in Motorcycles (2020)

When articles or road tests of motorcycles are read the author of the article often makes a statement as to whether they feel that the motorcycle they are writing about has “character” or not, and if not then the usual assumption is that said motorcycle is therefore rather bland if not boring. Yet what is this supposed “character” intended to represent and why do we consider it in any way important. After all, being that we all tend to like different types and models of motorcycle, can it ever be anything other than an individual feeling that would mean something entirely different to someone else.

On my 1959 Francis Barnett “first bike” in 1965 “grey porridge” to some but still a treasured possession for me

I remember that back in the 1980s the four Japanese manufacturers had more or less so perfected the smooth running of their four cylinder engined motorcycles that journalists started scornfully referring to them as UJMs (universal Japanese motorcycles) because they felt that although they did all that was required of them they had no “character” when compared with the Italian makes. This was despite the fact that at that time the Italian makes, with the possible exception of Laverda, did not exactly have the best reputation for reliability. Surely the possibility of unreliability was not the “character” they were looking for. Japanese bikes of that era, although having more or less faultless engine characteristics, did not have frames that matched up to the engines and very often left something to be desired in the area of handling. Apparently the Italian makes were so much better in that respect that many (or journalists at least) were prepared to forgive some aspects of unreliability - for the “character” of the bike, that is how it made them feel when riding it. Nevertheless this “character” didn’t actually result in as many sales as the “UJMs” and it seemed that most buyers, who after all were using their own money for their bikes, wanted reliability and I never saw too many despatch riders doing their work, day in and day out, on Italian motorcycles. So was this “character” as far as journalists were concerned just something that they inferred because of how good a particular motorcycle felt when they were thrashing around on someone else’s bike without any worries about who was meeting the bills if it went wrong or concern of how they would get to work the following day after it had broken down. Or is it something else entirely, which cannot be quite so easily defined, after all those same journalists never seemed to grant the British bikes that same concession when it came to a measure of unreliability.

When it comes to old motorcycles – and I make no attempt to define what should and shouldn’t be termed as “classic” so avoid using that word and all its connotations – we have such a wide range of interests in those who are interested in them that virtually anything goes and so it should, because, leaving apart the “investment” crowd, people get involved with old bikes for all sorts of reasons. For some it is to re-live long past days with models that they had previously owned in their youth, while for others it is a chance to own bikes that they wanted back in those days but could never own for either financial or other reasons. There are also others who just like the idea of trying a lot of different bikes and haven’t yet settled on anything in particular and haven’t the room, finance or reason to own more than one bike at a time and all of these people have very different ideas of a bike’s “character” and what it should be, and mean, for them.

I suppose that in journalistic terms none of the 83 motorcycles that I have owned so far during my motorcycling life could really be described as having “character”. In fact most of them would probably now be described as “grey porridge”, a term I first saw used many years ago by a columnist in Motorcycle Sport magazine going under the “non de plume” of “One Track” and referring in particular to the poor old side valve 250cc C10 BSA, but which has now got into general motorcycling use to describe just about anything “non sporting” especially if it has a smallish capacity engine. The nearest that I have probably ever got to owning anything which journalists might consider as having character was when I bought a Scott motorcycle. These had always fascinated me as being a large capacity two stroke twin and water cooled when that was a very rare thing and it was also those features which gave them a sort of journalistic “character”, even though the term was eventually used to sort of justify why they were still being made, being bought and cherished by their owners, long after they were hopelessly outdated. I loved the unusual characteristics of the machine at first but after eleven years of ownership that same “character” was the very reason that I felt that I no longer wanted it any more. It might have been fun to own but was just not practical for what I wanted or needed a motorcycle for unless it was only just for a certain few particular outings. For those it would still be probably more enjoyable than any other of my bikes but for all other occasions it would just be sitting in the garage unused. In most cases the “grey porridge” models would not only be more useful but actually more enjoyable to ride as well. So, is character in a motorcycle something to be desired only when you do not actually need to use the bike other than as a plaything?

The nearest I probably got with most journalists idea of what an old bike with “character” is, My Birmingham Scott – fun for about 10 years

Like many enthusiasts over the years, who have a certain amount of space, I have tended to have a small collection of motorcycles which vary from year to year, despite the very obvious fact that I can only actually ride one of them at a time. I have tried to justify this to myself in various ways, for instance, bike A is better for a certain use than B while the reverse is the case at other times or, A is for winter use while getting B ready for next summer etc. This sort of justification gets more difficult when more than two bikes are involved and especially so when looking for a reason for yet another addition to the garage. Years ago, when our son was small, a friend of mine was greatly amused when my son said about something that he wanted, “ I can’t bear not to have it !”. My friend, who like me tended to collect more bikes than he could use, was no doubt amused because really my son’s statement is the only true justification any of us have for continuing to aquire more bikes. After all, any “character” in a particular bike is something which we can only feel by actually riding the thing and not by just putting it in the garage to look at it.

Recently, events have caused me to reappraise the way I look at the motorcycles I own and caused me to make decisions which I would not even have given thought to a few years ago and is the result of the recent re-occurrence of an old knee injury which happened thirteen years ago and which forced on me the realisation that it will always be a weak point which is not going to improve as time goes by. It was nothing to do with motorcycling and yet it has given me a legacy which now dictates what type of bike I can ride and enjoy in the future and probably precludes just about any bike that motorcycle journalists would describe as having “character”. Also increasing back pains started forcing me to think much more about the weight of bikes and the difficulty of getting them onto their stands.

The Ariel Leader that I thought so stylish at first, then I didn’t, but now I do again – opinions change over the years

In any case, thinking back over my motorcycling years and being honest with myself, my opinions on various motorcycles have fluctuated back and forth quite a bit as I have aged – some would say matured. For instance, when a child I adored being taken for rides in my uncle’s sporty looking sidecar outfit and yet, not too many years later and as a young and relatively new motorcyclist, I wrote a letter to a club magazine saying that I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to attach a sidecar to a motorcycle and ruin a good riding experience. Then some more years later and as a then 28 year old new father I turned to a sidecar as a means of still being a motorcycling family, learned to love the sidecar driving experience as an addition to solo riding and have had a sidecar outfit ever since.

A reappraisal of my thinking on sidecars meant we could stay a motorcycling family

Similarly, when my same uncle bought a new Ariel Leader when they were first announced (and I was still only 10 years old) I thought it an amazing looking bike. And yet, once more as a still relatively youngish motorcyclist I decried the same Ariel Leader model for using so much pressed steel, particularly for the frame, feeling that it presented motorcycles with the same rust problems that beset cars and which a proper (ie tube) frame would avoid. However, only a few years later and becoming fed up with getting covered in road filth when riding to and from work in winter, I ended up getting, what else, but an Ariel Leader. I was eventually given my uncle’s original Leader and, looking at it in profile, I still think of it as a very stylish bike and no longer fear the pressed steel frame, even if I did rather fear the front brake’s lack of performance.

Two friends reminded me of statements that I had apparently made in the past, but had long forgotten. The first told me that I had once said to him that, “I wouldn’t ever see myself as wanting to ride a Harley Davidson.” He, of course, reminded me of this just after I had bought one many years later, and indeed our son still has it. However that friend can’t feel too smug about it now because in those years he said much the same himself and now he has just bought one. Similarly the other friend reminded me, just after I had bought a BMW to hitch to my sidecar, that I had once said to him that, “I would never be old enough to want to ride a BMW.” I don’t actually remember making either of those statements, but I obviously did. In my defence though I can justifiably say that I most definitely feel that I am now old enough to not only ride a BMW but just about anything that I can still manage to heave on and off its stand and actually start.

No journalist would describe this bike as having “character” but it gives me quite a bit of enjoyment on occasions

Oh! And about those recent events which resulted from my revived old knee injury? Well, I changed my ideas and cancelled what I was just about to buy, had to sell a favoured bike that was now no longer going to be so easy for me to ride and instead bought a small modern scooter for winter use and also times when my knee dictates that I can not bend my leg far enough to swing it over the saddle of a conventional bike. I did not actually enjoy riding it quite as much as I do one of my conventional bikes but it was still a whole lot better than having to use a car all the time and ideal for the reasons I bought it. Even so, although it served me well for three years I found that although the scooter was easy to keep looking clean it was a real pain to do any real cleaning or proper servicing on the parts that made it go. Everything was hidden by panels which had to either come off first or had to be dealt with by bending over the thing and trying to get to things from the top. This was still not easy and also involved bending over it all the time. By now my knee problem was seeming to be under control provided I was careful but my back was starting to give me a lot more trouble and bending over to work on the thing was getting painful, so in turn the scooter went to a new home and its place was taken by another small 125cc bike instead. Whereas when I was a young and new motorcyclist the first thing I looked for in motorcycle magazine road tests was a bike’s performance figures to see if I thought of a bike as being “worthy”, the first thing I look for now is the weight, ease of stand use and how high the tail end of the bike is compared to the saddle height. I will let others worry and fret as to whether their bike is considered to have “character” or not, I just want to be out on the road and I no longer really care what the bike is as long as it allows me to do just that. Riding and the enjoyment of it, as well as ease of use and maintenance, is what motorcycling is really all about, anything else is just not really important, especially to me.