On Wed, 07 Apr 2021 20:41:05 +0100, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

snip

I did spend time on rusty bits of the Quickly, which had been my
dad's. Its demise was rear wheel failure. The drum brake was only
half the width of the hub, so the housing was stepped. It failed
with a complete circumferential crack at the change of section.
Luckily I wasn't moving too fast at the moment the back end began
to feel very sloppy indeed.

I bet. ;-)

A Honda 50 kept me mobile through my student years.

So that was yer classic main tube + pressed frame step through with 3
speed crash (auto clutch) gearbox and leading link front suspension?

Towards the
end it had a few problems - the timing seemed to need almost
weekly adjustment,

Strange?

I was in the bike shop the other day and I think they suggested the
retail price for genuine Honda Honda 50 points were 50 quid!

the oil drain plug thread was worn, and needed
a cereal packet packing washer to seal properly.

;-)

There was an occasion, whilst plodding along the East Lancs Road,
when the slightly oscillating engine sound that I now know to be
the sign of a worn/ stretched chain was followed by the noise of
the chain wrapping itself around the sprocket.

Ooops. Didn't the 50/70/90 have full metal chain guards?

I hitched into Warrington, bought a new chain and chain wheel (no
sprocket in stock), removed flash from the sprocket using the
kerbstone, and continued on my journey.

That was the way in those days. I used a flat bladed screwdriver to
work a slot in the solder on the condenser and then a rock on the
screwdriver to peen the solder back over the points wire (on the Nth
Circ near the Chiswick roundabout on the way back from my girlfriends
late one Sunday night).

Eventually I upgraded to a Honda 175, but was no longer doing
long runs. Sadly, I managed to collide with a car when I was
turning right. Luckily it was the bike that went down, whilst I
ended up on the car bonnet. I mended, the bike didn't, so it was
back to a Honda 70, which lasted me until my first car.

I fancied a Honda 90 at the time (nearly a real motorbike) but the
nearest I got was a Yamaha Townmate (an 80cc shaft drive step though)
but it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. ;-(

Cheers, T i m