Motu -- didn't know your old bike was silver

[xwhatsit]

Fiddling around restoring old colour photographs. You might like this one, I always wondered what the hell your bike looked like.

[Motu]

Wow,that's a bloody good job - I only had an Instamatic in those days and knew nothing about photography,so it was always a crappy photo.The bike was olive green,a standard Rickman colour - but you can just see a touch of red down on the side cover by the kickstarter,I dropped the bike one day and chipped the paint off and found the red underneath.Why would someone want to change from red to drab green? The frame was nickel plated,like all Rickman's.No sidestand,so I carried that powerpole with me all the time.

[Taz]

.Why would someone want to change from red to drab green?

They did some strange things in the first world war days ya old codger!

[xwhatsit]

Wow,that's a bloody good job - I only had an Instamatic in those days and knew nothing about photography,so it was always a crappy photo.The bike was olive green,a standard Rickman colour - but you can just see a touch of red down on the side cover by the kickstarter,I dropped the bike one day and chipped the paint off and found the red underneath.Why would someone want to change from red to drab green? The frame was nickel plated,like all Rickman's.No sidestand,so I carried that powerpole with me all the time.

The red wasn't primer or something? Maybe it blends better into the forest -- easier to do a runner from some crazed farmer after you ripped up his land Actually I think it looks prettier in that greyish green than it would be in bright red, provided the alterations I did to the image are correct.

Hahaha, that power pole looks a bit big to fit into a tank bag.

Here's the avatar if you want it, although I automatically associate your posts with the reddish tinged original, so that would be confusing

[Paul in NZ]

I'm pretty sure the Rickman kits colour was in the gel coat from memory (was on mine) and the colour option was red (Guards red) or british racing green (usual colour)

[Motu]

Yeah,they were always coloured in the gel coat,mine was painted over the red.I know the standard colours were red and BRG....but I've seen them in plenty of other colours,but not the sort of bike you walk up to and coin the tank.I remember the bike several years before I got it,and it was always the olive green.I had seen a red road registered Rickman years earlier when I was a young teenager....I was just so blown away with someone street riding the bikes I had just seen racing at Mangere Mountain.It was one of the very few ''I'm going to do that one day'' promises that came true.For that alone the bike was special....but the best thing about the bike was it turned me from a rider who wished he could ride like the guys on the track,to someone who really could do those amazing feats,well,in my eyes anyway.But I could never race it as it was not even remotely competitive....no such thing as Classics then,just worn out old bikes to pick up cheap.

[xwhatsit]

Mangere Mountain.

Whoah, what?! I live a few streets away from that -- they used to race bikes there? Google Earth satellite images don't show anything, and the first link I clicked on in a web search only comes up with random shit about 500-year old Maori cultural history on the hill.

I'm going up to have a look.

[Motu]

Yep,motocross in the city,cool eh? I was up there a few years ago and tried to trace out the course from memory,but it seems to have changed - has there been an eruption recently? They went up to the western rim,and then back down into the crater,it was a hell of a decent on a heavy British single,and a lot would come to grief.They wore pudding basins and footy jerseys,jeans and boots,with a kidney belt...you can imagine the carnage on volcanic rock.I saw my first Bultaco's there,and they were scary things,so alien and making a hell of a noise.Then came the CZ's and the big bikes were gone.

I must qualify my statement about being able to ride like the guys on the track.Up until the mid '70's MX tracks were natural terrain,smooth corners that built their own berm over the race meeting,the jumps were low,they went through streams,up banks and through swamps.The bikes would take the turns crossed up,sideways with the front wheel in the air....not a momentary step out,but a big hua of a slide,then the hook up lifted the front wheel....and they just rode it out.The bike did this shit and they just stayed on the bike and fought it out or dumped it.The jumps were long and low,the bike landed on the rear wheel and went down the straight like that.The bikes were sideways or wheel standing all the time.

Bike or car,I just want to cross it up...sideways gives me the biggest thrill of all.And that's what the Rickman did for me - hit a turn,lay it in deep and punch the throttle....it just crossed up perfectly,in complete control.But in the '70's there was nowhere you could ride a bike competitively like that,apart from speedway.So that's why I rode on gravel,and still do.....and still getting a little crossed up.

[xwhatsit]

No eruptions on Mangere Mountain in recent history heh -- the houses beneath would be a bit worried.

Went for a wee look today before work. Haven't been up there before, despite living a short walk away. Couldn't go too far up before the road turned into a car-park (and sports fields! WTF) and had to walk the rest of the way up. Tell you what, looks like it'd be a right laugh riding around there. Steep and rough as all hell though. Half a mind to borrow an XR250 and ride up there in the middle of the night. Some crazy Maori Bachelor of Arts graduate would come and beat me up for trashing her cultural heritage though

I was watching some classic trials on Youtube the other day. All natural terrain stuff too -- down through streams and between trees and over roots etc. Looks fun.