This is one of those bikes on my wish-list for some time and when one came available a few years back I had to have a go.

Unfortunately it came up at a time I was just getting over an operation on my knee which meant starting one of these was a bit of an issue. When I got it, I had to get the previous keeper to start the bike for me so I could ride it home and just hoped I didn't have to restart it on the journey.

I'd never had one of the older style Brit bikes and despite it being some 5 years newer than some of GT380s I play with, it's so different and so old school setup it was back to basics to work it all out.

Bike was in great shape and the Lester alloys look very trick on this bike. Starting was always a bit hit and miss, but once up and running it ran really well.

Had it for a few years then traded in for a Ducati.

Bike was in excellent condition when I got it. The chap beforehand had done a running restore and the bike looks fantastic.

I'm no expert on bikes from this era but it's about as nice a looking one as you'll see in general day-to-day use and I'd not seen another on the road as good as this one.

As with all classics you need to tinker a bit to keep them running. Replaced all the internals on the carbs as well as the rubbers as it was running a bit lumpy at low revs. Swapped the UK internal setup for the US internals which had been on it. This cured the problem for the most part, but still seemed lumpy. Changed the grade of the plugs and it's perfect now.

Capable of breaking the 100mph barrier and handled well.