This picture
was taken from the NLM website.
My First
Morini was this 1979 125H. The list of things I didn't want was quite
long; No two strokes, no race replicas, no cruisers/customs, and no
trail bikes. The result was a trip to North
Leicester Motorcycles
and the purchase of the bike above. It's about 80 miles from
Ellistown to Luton and other than my CBT some 8 month before I hadn't
been on a bike for 7 years, but Stewart (the owner of NLM) assured me
that I'd have no trouble riding it home. There was a slight hiccup
when I went to set off as Stewart had forgotten to outfit the bike
with 'L' plates to make my journey home a legal one. This was quickly
remedied and I fired up the engine to set off. Once I'd remembered
that the gears were on the right, I pulled in the clutch and pressed
the lever down. The result was a lurch and a stalled engine. Unlike
the 3 1/2 and larger engines the 125 and 250 singles and the 250 Vee
have a wet clutch and occasionally these will refuse to release if
the bike has been stood. Stewart's mechanic and son Alex, quickly
sorted it out and I was on my way.
Disaster, just
a couple of miles down the road and the clutch cable snapped. A quick
mobile phone call and Alex is sent out with a replacement clutch
cable which is fitted in a couple of minutes. Apologies are offered,
but I wave them away, after all where better to break down and now I
have a loverly new 'featherlite' clutch cable. The speedo cable also
gave up the ghost on the was home, but a new cable is supplied by
next post. After all the bike came with a warantee.
Over the next
year I put about 8000 miles on the clock and got bitten by the Morini
bug. The handling is superb and very forgiving of a novice rider
although the engine is a little harsh, even if a willing
performer. Not long after passing my test I traded this bike
back in to NLM.
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