The likely lads……….

“Whatever happened to old……?”

Mr Fitforx-Roger Hammond?

I can report he is alive and well,
living the good life in the tranquillity of Champagnac la Riviere,
in the Limousin in central France.

“Where the hell is Champagnac la where….?” -I hear you say!

Suffice it to say,a million miles
from the hurly burly of his former business life
in the West Midlands!

With time on his hands
to devote to the restoration of his eclectic collection of bolides
-dirt and tarmac-his available space in the “sous sol”
below his lovely new house grows smaller every day

as his list of acquisitions grows-nearly 30 at the last count!

I,ve said it before- its a virus
-once in the blood ,you can never get rid of the biking bug!

Roger is quite happy to potter about-why not?
Last year he started his retirement
in idyllic rural France with an unplanned
first hand experience of the French Medical system!
Years of inappropriate ,uncaring medical treatment in the UK
resulted in an emergency;near critical situation for Roger.
Fortunately,good sound BASIC diagnosis
by the French Cardiac team bottomed the problem,
treated it ,and now Roger is probably better than ever!

He is very keen to do some twin shock enduros
here in France and has been busy buying appropriate machinery to do so
-a PE250,an SWM and a CZ scrambler!(dont tell Ann his wife!
She didnt know about the 3 lockup garages full of bikes in the UK
-she thought there was one!Still I,m sure she,s got lots of clothes ,
hidden in the wardrobe
HE doesnt know about-eh!Know what I mean guys?)

Here,s one of Rogers bikes- a lovely 250 Ossa enduro

Beautiful,original plastics-too nice to risk damaging in competition?

He could be persuaded to part with it
-cross his palm with 3000 euros!

Or how about a Greeves Silverstone special?

A Silverstone frame,a hybrid motor
-Alpha bottom end,the rest unknown!

250cc-very quick,very light-diminutive size.
Last major outing-Hoghton Tower sprint

LUVVERLY JUBBLY!

Interested?-send him an email at roger.hammond@orange.fr

-he might part with it if the price is right!

red ducatis 3

“Beauty is as beauty does”

Well I reckon this bike ”is” and ”does” in equal measure.

A 1990 900 SuperSport-aircooled V twin-perhaps Ducatis most popular engine?

I bought the bike from Phil Hems- a professional (and very talented)paint sprayer from Stafford.

My pal Roger Hammond, (who was  at that time the owner of “FITFORX”

- a business reconditioning bike forks and other restoration services)

had taken a trade stand at The classic bike show at Stafford.

To attract visitors to his stand he was displaying an NCR Ducati 900,

and Phil had lent his Duke to do the same.

Love at first sight!

I begged Phil to give me first refusal if he ever sold it.

He subsequently broke his wrist ,couldnt ride comfortably,rang me up…….

To say it was immaculate would be a gross understatement.

It was better than new .

Phil had stripped and repainted the frame,wheels,bodywork etc.

Being a perfectionist he had polished and painted

the inner surface of the fairing(normally quite rough)

to the same high gloss finish as the outside.

He had even made a beautiful stainless steel panel

fitted to the front cylinder,s  rockerbox  to keep roadmuck off the engine.

Penske shock(£800!),Baines racing stage 2 tuning,

DandD carbon cans,Maxton forks-nothing but the best!

Absolutely beautiful to ride on our quiet French roads.

120mph could be held all day(on private roads of course officer)

Handling allways rock steady.

I kept the Duke for a couple of years and only sold it

when we moved to a small house  with no proper storage.

It was bought by the Ducati concessionaire in Limoges,

who cherishes it as I did.