Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126801
~ ~ M/CTIREWORKS NEW YEAR SALE DUNLOP 510-17 120/80-18 410·18 400-18 130/80-18 450-18 140/80-18 510-18 510-18 300-21 ~ 00 O'l ~ O'l >- ~ ro :l $49.95 $34.95 $47.95 $38.95 $35.95 $50.95 $36.95 $44.95 $53.95 $46.95 K190 K490 K138 K690 K490 K138 K490 K690 K138 K139 BRIDGESTONE t:: ro 410-18 400-18 510-18 300-21 ~ M22 M22 M22 M23 $35.95 $37.95 $39.95 $31.95 METZELER ~- $56.95 $67.95 $54.95 $57.95 $58.95 $62.95 $65.95 $45.95 $47.95 450-17 500-17 410-18 460·18 450-18 510-18 150/80-18 300-21 325-21 ., .... ·F- '?'---0 '. I ' TERAFLEX 510-17 6/28-17 510·18 6128·18 $56.95 $63.95 $56.95 $63.95 ... - 530-17 560·17 410-18 460-18 530-18 560·18 300-21 325-21 C755 C760 C755 C755 C755 C760 C755 C760 $32.95 $33.95 $25.95 $29.95 $31.95 $35.95 $22.95 $24.95 BARUM $35.95 $32.95 $34.95 $25.95 140/90-17 425·18 475-18 300-21 SALE GOOD WITH AD ONLY. SALE ENDS WITH PUBLICATION OF NEXT ISSUE San Fernando Valley 9025 Sepulveda Sepulveda. CA (818) 893-7806 .,.. Torrance-South Bay 26023 S. Western Lomita. CA (213) 539-4150 Cot _ opbdoa' Wl'lte • letter to the editor! ~ Iil~IIII\1\11 " '-\rR~'(.'1l \, IH-'I( ...... Con.tructed Wllh uttra.lignt. ,nd""uC!lb6e IF R.P 1PBnels and , totally unlttzec:l steel frame & chaSSI', far superior to flber"I'.. or alumInum Irallers. 12'1045' standard &. 5th wheel•• Each Ira,ler cUSlom-made 10 your need•. Pt.... Mnd" lor broc::hur••: T,.Ie,.. T.P.D. 851. Fruitridge Ad .• Suit. Sac,.mento. CA 9&826. (91a) 38'·0832 e. M*STAR/MAICO "100 S'"". R..... S.~.P.rt •. ~ce seMc:. Yoshimur•. Meu"',. EBC. Ko..... O·N.... M. s_ 76 . ( ( CHENG SHIN SAMURAIIIIl/C CENTER (213) 473--,,072 2109% 5 _ Av.~ W. LA., CA IOO2S I ; .. , ... , ( '( ( If 'I f "'" • \ ( I II 7- t. By Neale Shilton The inscription on a stone which stands on the village green at Meriden, half a mile from what used to be the Triumph factory, claims that this is the geographical center of England. Twelve miles away to the east is the place which the Romans decided was the center two thousand years ago and they may well have been right. It is called High Cro s and is the meeting place of the long straight road along which the Roman Legions marched. As a boy I cycled along those roads, the Fosse Way, Icknield Street. Watling Street, and in later years I rode all of their-long miles on Triumphs. ortons and BMWs. Along them towns have grown where once were Roman camps and their names all end with the letters TER. Leice ter. Chester, Cirencester. Exeter. Uttoxeter and many others. The 300-miles-long Watling Street runs northwest from Dover on the English Channel through London to the port of Holyhead on the Irish Sea and the Fo e Way is a hundred. miles longer. It [allows an almost-straight line between the river Humber where it flows into the North ea, southwest to the Cornish town of Pen lance and Lands End which is the most westerly point of England. When I joined the Triumph com· pany in 1946 I was designated representative for the southwest area of England which was rather mislead· ing because it included two eastern counties and half of Wales. Riding 1000 miles per week I visited all of the 120 dealers every two months and tbe Fosse Way accounted (or the majority. of those miles_ My peed Twins, Tiger 100s and Tb u nderbi rds became well-known along that old Roman road. Their headlamp have pierced the fogs and flOWS of the Danmoor wildness and the Cotswold hills. The memories of many rides remain and especially thaton Christmas Eve 1947 along the Fosse Way. On the morning of that day I was still headed eastwards from Truro the county town of Cornwall after sayi ng farewell to old Triumph dealer Bill Hicks, who on each of my visits never failed to tell me the story of the first Humber car which hedrove to Truro from the Coventry factory. The snow was coming out of the Atlantic when I rod away from the Penzance dealer with three more calls to make, and the desolate Bodmin Moor before I got to 'the last one in the town of Launceston. The winter afternoon closed down on the Fosse before I passed the village of Bodmin and starred the long mile across the lonely moor. The driving snow had almost obscured the sign toJamaica Inn. the remote hostelry made famous in the book of that name by Daphne du Maurier. The time was 5:30 when I reached Launceston and was greeted by my dealer friend John Wooldridge. Over 250 miles lay ahead as I left him half an hour later after filling the Tiger tank. Always my Triumphs would make that distance without a refuelling stop and in those day of petrol rationing. no filling stations were open at night. For 30 miles the road from Launceston out of Cornwall is almost straight until reaches the edge of Dartmoor. the wild expanse of hills and river famou for the prison which is as forebidding as the bleak moors on which it stands. Even the Romans de ided to put a bend into the Fosse and go around the northern hazards of Dartmoor from their camp which is now the city of Exeter, the county town of Devonshire. On the 70 miles from Launceston to Exeter I rode through the remote villages with glimpses of Christmas trees through cottage windows to remind me that it was the night before Christmas. (Five years later I stayed in one of those villages with the curious name of S.ticklepath on the edge of Dart· moor. The small guesthouse hal;! once been a monastery and the only other visitors were a couple from Singa· pore with their young son who was eager to see snow for the first time. I wa on my way to Cornwall and when the snow began to fall as I approached Sticklepath. I abandoned the plan to ride to Launceston and found a room in the ex-monasterv. It was late when I arrived and the hoy had gone to bed but I asked his par-