I'm dating myself but it was a Mondial 50cc that I converted to foot gear
change by using bits of a brass casement window stay. I was about 12 and
didn't have it for long before I swapped it for an old Triumph sprung hub
650 Thunderbird. Thing ran away with me the first time I rode it - there's
me going downhill at a great rate of knots, just my fingertips on the
handlebars and couldn't get forward enough to close the throttle. Lucky, I
didn't fall off and then followed several more Triumphs and other Brit bikes
until I went to work for Honda in 1968 and fell in love with the then
radical 750. Couldn't afford a new one then but eventually bought one in
1969 or 70 that had thrown the chain through the crankcase and the owner
couldn't fix it. Mended it and haven't looked back since. As a matter of
interest, the motoring press said that we'd never sell the first 750s
because for one buck more one could buy a new VW Beetle.
Paul H
