Kick starting a BSA 250

Rethinking two-wheel A to B

Marshall: It makes sense to travel on two wheels in times of global warming.

Craig: Saves some energy, yes. Cheaper, yes.

Marshall: And motorcycles are more docile now. My first motorcycle, a 1939 BSA 250 side valve, had a complicated starting procedure: pump the plunger on the carb, set ignition to retard, raise piston to TDC, pull the decompressor and kick, then release the decompressor. After half a dozen or ten kicks you might get lucky and it would chug into life. 

Craig: My student days were like that, too. Wherever possible park on a rise for a downhill start.

Marshall: And the prayers you sent up trying to coax the thing into life. Please, I beg you, I beseech you, fire up and keep running,

Craig: Finally I gave up on British and bought a Japanese Honda 50.

________

Voice-over

Now that fossil fuels are being legislated against, electric bicycles seem a logical progression. Once again, Japan may offer pedestrian products but they are robust and you meet the nicest people on them.